July Quilt Circle of Friends

We started our evening with our condolences to the family of circle member Sue Risius on the passing of her mother this week. Sue and all of her family are in our thoughts and prayers.

After a few updates and reminders, it was around the circle for show and tell.

Barb was relieved to have finished this sampler quilt.Very nice!

Nancy is making several of these quilts, using her father in laws old Hawaiian shirts.

Janet put together this quilt from a kit. Aren't the polka dots cute?

Janet also finished this stunning quilt. Isn't this spectacular?

A lovely baby quilt - - 

And Celia's table topper, ready for fall.

Another Mystery quilt is done, also Celia.

Next up is Margaret with a jewelry travel case her sister made for her above and a darling batik quilt below.

Deb has been busy using up donated fabric to make comfort quilts. Above are some blocks she is testing her own comfort level bein "scrappy".  Below are more scrappy strip sets.

Deb also shared these quilts, put together at a recent community sew day she sponsored. These quilts will be donated to domestic violence shelters.

Joyce is also getting ready for fall with a table topper above. Below is a table runner and place mats she made for a wedding gift.

Sold to the lady in the 2nd row!! Nancy picked up a lot of fun things at an auction recently including this stamped place mat and napkins set.

Our demo for the evening was this heart block. It may look difficult but it is really just hearts appliqued over a large pinwheel block.

As always, it was a great gathering with my Quilt Circle of Friends. Thanks to Deb Semmens for taking our pictures this month.

Our first or three Sisters of the Cloth meeting!

We gathered at the Adel Library last Saturday for our September Sisters class. 

Carol brought this quilt to show us. It uses the house blocks she collected in our 2014 series of classes. Isn't this cool? She just made it up the setting.

This month, our program was about patriotic quilts during the Civil War and what women of the era did to support the troops via their quilting. Marty brought this quilt to show.

Kris brought this one she has been growing for a while.

And this one came from Kay.

While our speaker, Phyllis Kaldenberg, talked about the new quilt museum coming to Winterset, Quilts of Valor and the books she has written, members worked on their Patchwork of the Crosses blocks.

It was a lovey morning. Thank you to all.

Show and Share

Susan Body stopped in to show us this quilt. This was a kit from our shop, maybe over 10 years ago but guess what? It's done now!

This is a close up to show the border effect Susan added.

Susan is not only a gifted quilter (just won best of show on a quilt she made and entered at the Ankeny Area Quilt Guild) but also has a long arm quilting business, Cottonwood Quilting near Polk City, IA.

For more about her long arm business, contact her at 515-778-2405 or susanbody@bigcreek.com.

Machine Applique Class

August 1 at 10 am in Adel, - - -  Machine Applique class. 

What is the best fusible product to use?

How does a pressing sheet make this job easier?

How do you make stitches come out even at a point?

How do you reverse images?

How do you go around a curve or a corner with a machine buttonhole stitch?

How do you reduce bulk with fusible applique?

Learn all the best ways to fuse fabric to a background and then finish the edges with machine stitches.

This class we be held at the Adel library and taught by sate-fair-blue-ribbon-winning-quilter, Diana Weirich.

Class fee is $30 and includes all supplies required. Call the shop to pre-register at 515-993-1170.

Row by Row refresher

Click here to go to the Row x Row Experience website. See completed row quilts there from all around the country plus all the information about this fun program.

If you are a Facebooker, search for Iowa Row by Row and see completed row quilts from Iowa.

"Sucited!"

This little boy was so "sucited" to see the tractors and waited a long time for them to come by. They did not disappoint.

Me and Magnum PI

Cowgirl boots and denim shorts. Summer in Iowa!

Today at Open Sew

Want to see what the gals were up to today at Open Sew?

We gather again tomorrow. Join us if you can! Adel Library, 10 am until the last stitch is made.

New Today!

New Tonga batiks!

This may not be a very colorful picture but these are the always hard to find, cream colored batiks!

And, as you know, we have seriously been expanding our selection of batiks. These are the newest shades to join the club.

Sunday Sewday!

Here are the rest of the barn blocks. They go to Diana W. today to do the machine applique stitches and then back to me for a little embroidery.

Most of the blocks do not have embroidery. In the blocks above, embroidery will complete the windmill and fence.

Want to learn machine applique? Register now for our August 1 class. Learn all the little tricks and tips that make it fun.

Scroll down a few posts to see the first 4 blocks. This 9-month bom starts in August for just $10 a block plus the book. 

See how it grows!

We are just a few blocks short of a quilt! This will be sashed together and sold at auction for Dallas County 4-H. So many beautiful blocks. Thank you to everyone who contributed - - - - "Just One Block."

Lorna's show and share - - - -

Lorna brought these quilts in to show. Above is like a Jelly Roll Race quilt but made using 1 1/2" strips. Of course I love all red and white quilts. This will be a baby gift.

Below is a quilt she finished up for her son's lake home. Perfect.

Barn Quilt Block of the Month

Here is some more of my Sunday Sewday. I worked on our block of the month sample. This is fun! I love them already and they don't even have the applique stitched with the buttonhole stitch yet. This is the first 4 out of 9 total blocks. Blocks will be squared down to 12 1/2",

This BOM starts in August. We are also offering a Machine Applique class on August 1. Register now for either one or both.

Sisters of the Cloth

This is the block for our optional block exchange at the Sister of the Cloth classes, July 18, Sept 19 and Nov 21. We are calling it a Charmed Block because we are starting with 5" squares.

If you are making blocks for our exchange in Sisters, use just three colors and place colors as shown in this picture. All four blocks do not have to be the same. In fact, it will work better for our exchange if they are not all the same.

Bring four to each class and take 4 others back home with you. In November, we will provide a setting pattern.

This is a fun block that can be made from any size squares - 2 lights, 1 dark and 1 medium color print. Sisters is using Civil War reproduction fabrics for the exchange.

Cut the light block in half one time.
Cut the dark block in half and then half again to make 4 squares
Leave the medium square uncut
Lay out and stitch to make block shown above.

There are just 5 openings left in our 2015 series of Sisters of the Cloth so contact us soon if you are interested on taking this journey with us. No previous sewing or quilting experience required.

T Shirt Quilts

Cindy Swanson stopped in recently and shared her website information - She has been making t shirt quilts for several years. I really like how she does it with no sashing or added fabric. She is located in Clive, Iowa. Check it out. I have not personally seen her quilts but I like that she has a website where you can see her work.

Want to see some new stuff?

This Amazing Grace panel with a coordinate.

a new grouping called Mimosa.  Yum, right?

And the Minions are in the house!

Here's a little bit of my Sunday Sewday. The Diva Wallet. I really like making these. At first I was intimidated but, the pattern is well written so taking it one step at a time was really quite simple. It only takes a couple hours to make one.

Our license plate fabric almost fit. I had to add a little side border to make it wide enough.

This is a view of the wallet open and laying flat. Jenny O suggested adding a little strip in the middle for a pen. Good idea, Jenny!

Happy Independence Day!

Christmas fabrics are in!

Batiks and Traditional prints from Moda - - 

Batiks from Hoffman and

Ok, these are not holiday prints but they are beautiful new batiks just in from Hoffman.

Plus new charm packs - Lovely Civil War era paisley prints.

Penny's show and share - -

Penny W. stopped in and brought quilts to show us.

This is a Mystery quilt she did through the shop in Manchester, Iowa, The Quiltmaker's Shoppe. Love the pattern and the fabrics!

Then, with the All Iowa Shop Hop going on, she thought we might like to see quilts she made after gathering blocks in  several of the Western Washington shop hops. Aren't they all impressive? - - - And done!!

All the way down the western coast of Washington state, quilt shops coordinate, using the same fabric line printed just for their hops.

Penny has friends that live there and has hopped with them as well as been recipient of some years when they did the hopping for her.

Isn't this an interesting setting? Nice job, Penny. Thanks for sharing.

Retreat Quilts

We are holding all quilt kits and patterns for these two quilts until July 18 for those registered for our fall Ladies of the Lake quilt retreat at Lake Panorama. 

If you are registered for retreat and want a kit, please stop in or call to reserve your kit(s) before July 18. We can deliver at retreat or ship for advance cutting.

This quilt from designer, Quilter by Night, is called Surrounded by Geese. In person, it is really vibrant as it is mostly Hoffman batiks. It comes in two sizes, 57" square (shown) and 81" square. The kit for the size shown is $69 and includes everything shown plus the pattern and binding. A queen size quilt kit is $114. This quilt could also easily be up-sized to a king with an outer border.

We will also feature this quilt, Magnetic Midnight from Seams Like a Dream designers. This will be one of our demos, showing how to make these fun blocks.

This is a close up of a few of the blocks so you can see the beautiful batik fabrics from Moda's jelly roll, Calypso. The black is not solid, it has small tone on tone circles.

The quilt shown is 64 1/2" x 78" and comes with everything shown plus pattern and binding for $89. It is also available in a larger kit, 82" x 95 1/2" for $113. This quilt could also easily be up-sized to a king with an outer border.

With all of the extra traffic we have coming through the shop this summer, we cannot guarantee kits and patterns will still be available this fall so, we just want to make sure all of the retreat guests have an opportunity to snag one now.

As always, our retreat guests have the option of working on one of these  group projects or stitching up a storm on projects already in their sewing room. Either way is fine with us. We love it all.

After July 18, these kits will be available in the shop for all customers.