Archive for November, 2008

Calla Lily Bouquet Tablerunner

Sunday, November 30th, 2008

Do you love calla lilies? This is our newest pattern which is a quick and easy project using fusible appliqués. Dress your table with calla lilies or accent your wedding décor with these made in the party colors.

Calla Lily Bouquet Tablerunner

You can find the pattern in the tablerunner section for $8.  It has instructions, a 11″ x 17″ design sheet and reversed templates for the shapes. The size is 10″ x 29″. It goes perfectly with the Calla Lily Day Dream quilt as a dresser scarf or to give a touch of spring colors.

For those of you who love white calla lilies you could use a black background so that the simple white calla lilies will blossom beautifully on your table. Find an interesting black and white print for the border and it will go perfectly with your décor.

We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving time with family and friends. We did here too. But the big news today is that our area of Michigan is expecting 6-10 inches of snow this afternoon and the next 24 hours. Our shovels are ready and I need the exercise anyway!

Have a great week,

Rochelle

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Story Block Project Coming!

Tuesday, November 25th, 2008

We are happy to announce that the first project using a story written by Laura Day, my daughter is expected to be ready by 2-1-2009! It’s a new Block of the Month quilt called Scrappy Bali Orchids. It’s a great pattern to use up your stash and 2 1/2″ squares and tonal scraps.

Laura’s story is fantastic, Orchid Remembrance, and is being printed by itself in book form. You can order it by itself for $4 or have it included in the pattern set bag. The main character is Olivia Wheaton who has a clue to solve to find her full inheritance left by Aunt Tabitha. Matthew Taylor, a handsome neighbor, is in the story too and offers his help. Will Olivia welcome a new life and romance in her world?

Story Book Project Coming!

We also are offering a preorder discount of 20% off the pattern set. The discount price is $22.40-the price of a quilt book! Which is the value you are receiving in the set of six patterns. Each block pattern has a big photo of each block, templates, design sheet and instructions. The discount is available until 2-1-2009 which is the expected shipment date. After that date the full price for the pattern set and book is $28. Or you can order the blocks by themselves and treat yourself to a block a month for $4. The first block has the book, Orchid Remembrance included with it and is $8.  These are excellent prices for a BOM pattern-much lower then the usual $5-$11 charged for BOM individual patterns. The discounts apply to quilt shops as well so let your local quilt shop owner know of this great deal for her customers and you!

If you are looking for a beautiful project to use your stash in and relax with in the evenings, then we hope you will consider our pattern and book.

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Toys for Tots Project

Sunday, November 16th, 2008

Here’s a project you can get involved in using your stash!

You Can Make This.com, a site that sells e-patterns, is offering a way for sewers to get involved with sewing for the Toys for Tots program.

 Toys for Tots project

 They are providing free patterns for you to download to make doll clothes for the dolls donated to the Toys for Tots program. Here is the link to their site and page that gives you the download for the pattern, FAQ’s about donating and where to send or take your finished items and pictures of doll clothes already made.

http://youcanmakethis.com/info/featured-products/FREE-Make-Twirls-for-Girls-for-Toys-for-Tots.htm

If you would like to see a video on You-Tube about this here’s link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzcYMpsIIdE

The girls at You Can Make This.com saw this effort add many dresses to bless little girls around the country last year. They hope that many more sewers will join in now. There are also plans to bless boys. From now to December 15th a portion of the sales of  e-patterns (or e-books as they call them) in the section, Make a Difference, will be donated to Toys for Tots to help buy toys for needy children.

Check out the links above….be inspired to help families at this difficult time in our nation.

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Hawaiian Appliqué

Sunday, November 2nd, 2008

I am in between quilt projects now having just finished the sample for an new Block of the Month series coming in the new year. I’m very excited about it! Not only did the quilt turn out gorgous but my daughter, Laura, has written a new story to go with the blocks! Her story is in the process of being printed separately and will be packed in the pattern set bag. I’ll let you know in the blog and newsletter when it’s ready to be released.

So with that done I need a hand appliqué project to take to the appliqué club I teach once a month at Fabric Fair-a quilt shop in Bay City, MI. A few years ago we did a quilt of Hawaiian blocks from Elizabeth Root’s book, The Pillows to Patch Quilt Collection…the Hawaiian Way. The girls wanted beginner blocks so that’s what I put in the project. But I’ve been wanting to go back to Elizabeth’s book and do some of the advanced blocks for myself.

Here’s my chance!! So I have a photo of the orchid block I’m making from her book. I’m using fabrics from my stash. The background square is from a fat quarter I won for getting a ribbon on  one of my quilts at the local quilt show one year. It’s from Textile Creations, Inc. and is a multi-color with gold metallic specks in it. It’s very shiney and makes an unual background.

Hawaiian Appliqué

The technique Elizabeth teaches is needle turn. I personally don’t like that method because it’s very hard to get consistent sized shapes. But I love how she teaches it by basting 1/4″ inside around the shapes. This makes it a doable project for anyone.

Hawaiian Appliqué

Here you can see the first orchid flower I’ve completed. I used my needle tip and a wooden toothpick to turn under 1/8″ to the basting line. Also clipping is necessary sometimes to get smooth corners.

I would like to complete 3 more of her blocks to make a small wall hanging for my sewing room. Or they could become big pillows. So in the future I’ll be showing more of the blocks as I complete them. Try her method! My beginner students liked her method too and took their blocks to ball games or traveling to work on.

Happy quilting,

Rochelle

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