New Arrivals

All those brown boxes are filled with the eagerly anticipated Prairie Paisley II and Twirl. A delivery like this is more exciting than Christmas, well for a quilter that is! Due to the courier schedule I am at the start of his route, 8:50 am that fabulous white van pulls up, and the best part is I never know what day the delivery is going to happen. For some that would be annoying, not me.

 
So, Prairie Paisley II is on the shelves and for the first time ever we have ordered all forty bolts of fabric. The blues and reds are gorgeous; the blues are the reason I purchased the entire range. Each bolt of fabric could stand on its own and be used as a feature fabric.  I also felt that the Prairie Paisley range was perfect for those of us who have boys, lots of paisley and small prints that don't scream flowers and feminine patterns.

Everyone that has passed through the shoppe this weekend has ohhhed and ahhhhhed over this collection.  I already know what I am going to do to show them off.  If I can manage some free time that is.




The creams and tans are pretty awesome as well, maybe I should just move into the shoppe and live with them, such is my utter devotion!

We also received a small collection of Twirl by Me and My Sister Designs.  This is so bright and cheerful, it would be perfect in a little girls room as either a quilt or a decorative item.  With summer coming, it would be the perfect fabric to use in making a rucksack for the beach.                                                                                                                                                                                                    
 
The lime green and orange is fun and bright.    I for one have had an extremely busy week and am utterly exhausted. Last weekend we had a fantastic time with a quilting weekend and this Saturday we had a full class in our Bag Workshop with zippers.  Zippers are easy and nothing to fear and everyone left with their completed bag. I will load some pictures up as soon as I can. Have a great week everyone and happy sewing!

Oh My, What A Weekend!

Boy oh boy, what a great time we had this weekend. Six ambitious quilters took on a fun challenge with the hope of combining fun as well as learning something new. We started on Friday with some serious cutting, no one was to go to bed until all was cut. A few of us that had ours finished helped cut. We headed off to bed around midnight.

Saturday morning after a good breakfast with plenty of caffeine we got to work. First up was the centre of our block, a square in a square using Monique's Fit to be Method. This is a great method and once you start using this method you'll never use the traditional method again. The ruler trims your block down with a perfect 1/4" seam allowance remaining and the triangles are perfectly sized.

Fit to Square Ruler

The group started in on their half square triangles. The pattern we were using had the half square triangles slightly larger than the finished size and would need to be trimmed down. We used the Quilt in a Day square up ruler. This is my own personal favourite, guaranteed perfection. You know we all strive for perfection. This step was a bit labor intensive but we did get good results.







We all called it quits around 11:00 Saturday night.
On Sunday we all decided that we needed to get the remaining prep work done and put a few blocks together to give us some extra motivation.
It was a great weekend and the girls who arrived as strangers are planning a electronic reveal on 16 March and are on about the making this an annual event! I have added the pictures to the Kilbora Quilt Shoppe Facebook page.

Happy sewing

Mairead's block is coming together

The brights Elizabeth is using are stunning

My blocks, can't wait to get it finished

The race to the finish

Gorgeous!

Keeping all your pieces organized

Gorgeous sunlight on Sunday Morning

Ta Da!!! Happy Faces

Quilting weekend!

Next weekend Kilbora Quilt Shoppe is hosting a fun filled "Quilt in a Weekend" workshop. We have 6 participants so far and knowing all of these gals we will be having a lot of laughs!

The project we will be tackling is very do-able for a weekend project and will be gorgeous when it is done. Also, the cutting was simple and doesn't need hours to prepare. The quilt requires 10 dark fat quarters and 10 light fat quarters. Now the darks can vary as you can see from the photo. I picked out blues,greens,  reds and oranges. I could certainly add in some browns as well. The lights are tan and gold, they are light in comparison to the darks.  All of the fat quarters were chosen from the Moda Kansas Troubles fabrics that we carry. I also chose a selection from Moda's Minick and Simpson collection as well. The lights are creams, tans and have a variety of prints. Varying the tones in both the darks and lights will give this quilt interest.

Because I will be using and teaching Monique Dillard's Fit to be square method I won't be publishing the cutting instructions for the lights just in case some of the girls want to try this method rather than the traditional square in a square piecing. The darks however are easy to cut, from each fatqtr you cut three strips. The first strip is 4 3/4", the 2nd strip is 4 1/2", and the third strip is 2 1/2". All of these strips are WOF (which of course is 22" because remember we are using a fat quarter).


Subcut the first strip 4 3/4 into 2 squares measuring 4 3/4"x4 3/4". Also, 2 pieces 4 1/2" x 3 1/2".

Second strip, 4 1/2" should be Subcut into 6 pieces measuring 4 1/2" x 3 1/2".

Third strip, 2 1/2" should be Subcut into 8 squares 2 1/2"x2 1/2".

There are three borders; first one requires 5/8 yard, second one requires 3/8 yard, and the third border requires 1 5/8 yard. The rest I'm afraid will be revealed next weekend! I hate to be so mysterious but that's what keeps life fun.

I highly recommend you take a look at Monique's website, Open Gate Quilts. I really enjoy her patterns and her quilts are gorgeous. I first heard about Monique and Open Gate thru Carrie Nelson of Miss Rosie's Quilt Co., Carrie highly recommended the Open Gate rulers. Well, everyone who knows me will attest to my love of rulers and gadgets! I just had to try these rulers out and put them to the test. It was love at first use! Once you get your head around the trimming you create perfect flying geese or square in a square. I can't sing praises high enough with regard to the rulers, which then of course led me to her patterns which I have found very straightforward and create beautiful results. We carry her rulers here in the shop and they come with a free pattern which is nice.

On another note, you know that spring is just around the corner when you look out my window and this is what you see! Awwww......and no mint jelly jokes - that's not nice.

Happy Sewing
Anne Marie