It's Here!

Just in today - the Spring edition of Block from Missouri Star Quilts. They will be here today and gone tomorrow! $5.99

Spring Dates to Note!

Who is ready for Spring!?!?!

Strip Club and Cozy Wool BOM - March - - -  Now!

Spring Shop Hop Scavenger Hunt - March 26, 27 & 28

Adel Chocolate Walk - May 2

Outdoor Quilt Show and (new this year) Block Challenge - June 20

These are the truffles that were served in last year's Adel Chocolate walk by Next 2 New.

Even more show and share - -

JoAnn S. stopped by after the Des Moines Quilt Guild meeting to show me these quilts.

Jo Ann loves blue so this one will stay with her at least for a while. Here is another one that will work nicely with the new All Iowa Shop Hop fabric, delivery due in April.

These two quilts are made from Comfort Blocks. The quilt above was made from charms (5" squares) and a jelly roll strips 

(2 1/2" x 42").

This quilt was made from all Jelly Roll strips. The beautiful scrolling feathers that JoAnn quilted on these quilt really enhanced their beauty.

Development Hearts

These are called Development Hearts and are provided to parents in hospital nic (neonatal intensive care) units.

While the mother or father is present in the nic unit to care for baby, this heart is worn on the chest like a burping cloth. When the parent is absent, this flannel heart is placed in the bed with baby for comfort.

Above, the pink heart is a finished sample. On the right is a stack of hearts we have cut. These are free to you.  If you would like to stitch and return some of these, we will make sure they are delivered. Just stop by to pick up.

Or, make from your own scraps. These are flannel, 9" wide and 7" high. Cut 2, stitch right sides together, turn inside out and top stitch near edge.

This is the poem written for this program:

Hand to hand,
Heart to heart,
Heartfelt love to share.

Place this heart against your chest,
and parent's love you'll share

Then place this heart in baby's bed,
throughout each passing day.
Another chance to show you care,
in a unique and loving way.

Your baby smells your presence,
whenever you can't be near.
It tells them that you love them,
and wish you could be here.

Your baby will always remember,
your heartfelt smell of love.
As parents you will always cherish,
this special gift of love.

POTC

Here's what I have been playing with lately.

The name of this quilt block is Patchwork of the Crosses. It's becoming so popular that it has been shortened in quilter slang to POTC.

We will learn more about this block in our July Sister's of the Cloth class (series of three classes - 3rd Saturday mornings July, September and November). Register now while there are still a few openings left.

Free Sock Knitting Class!

WHAT A DEAL!

Free Class:   Knitted Socks for Beginners

Must know knit and purl stitches.

Teacher: Julia Swallow, quilter and knitter

Where: Adel library upstairs conference room

When: 10-12 (mornings) March 10, 24, April 7 and 21 (Tuesdays)

What to bring:

1.       Sock Yarn.

My favorite is Opal. It changes color as you knit for fabulous results. Check with Yarn Junction in Valley Junction or Heartland Fiber on the square in Winterset.

2.       Knitting needles, size 1 or 1 ½ , double pointed.

·         The size depends on your gauge. If you knit a little tighter then 1 ½ is better.

·         Needle size can be affected by how the particular type of yarn knits up. Yarn store employees can help you with this.

·         The bamboo needles are very nice since they don’t slide out of your knitting as easily.

3.       A darning needle to stitch the toes together when done.

4.       Hot or cold beverage. The library allows it, I asked.

Class size is limited to 8. Call to reserve a spot.

Julia Swallow,   515-988-2906

Yoga Babies!

I spent this Sunday Sewday with these guys. Here they show me how they do the yoga position, Downward Facing Dog. They make it look so easy.

Jackson converted these building blocks into skates and the tile floor was his ice rink.

Lots of New Stuff!

Quilted Silver Thermofleck! This is great for all kinds of projects - - - iron board covers, hot iron caddies, pot holders, oven mitts, etc.

Remember this barn quilt? We were lucky to get the fabrics in one more time. We have kits, panels and everyone's favorite scattered print that we used on the back.

Love this new Zebra red/black line.

Remember these caddies? We have them in stock in red, black and green. Best little organizer to have near your sewing machine . Holds all of your basic notions and is ready to pick and go with you.

And this new panel. See the quick soft book Lonnie whipped up below. 

New magazines just in - Quilts N More and the brand new, first issue of Mod Block. Just in but won't last long.

This was part of my Sunday Sewday, a little dolly sleeping bag. It comes in several sizes, shown in size medium for a 15" doll.

February Deal of the Month!

Bags 40% off! See more on the website now.

Scrappy New Year projects

Update on our Scrappy New year projects:

If you are saving and stitching together 2 1/2" strips per our January 10 post, here's a tip:

Wait until you have a good assortment of color/prints before you start sewing together the sets of 4 strips. You can even go through your stash and cut small pieces up for more variety.  You don't have to use just width of fabric strips. Any piece that is at least 
2 1/2" x 8 1/2" will work for now.

I was recently working on a quilt using all Kansas Troubles prints. If I cut a 2 1/2" strip from each of those and sew them together, I won't get a good scrappy look. So, I am going to cut and save my strips for a bit until I have more variety.  Besides, you know the strips need to marinate for a while, right?

To be truly scrappy, once you have a nice variety of strips in your bag, reach in and pull one out. Reach in, without looking, and pull out another. No matter what they look like together, stitch them together. This is what will add the scrappy beauty to your quilt.

Be sure to check back the 15th of each month for more scrappy news.

Friend Jan shared this link with me. This is a technique for trimming half square triangle units from Little Miss Shabby. Give it a try. It looks to be brilliant. 

Note: Jan tried it and advises to be sure your can "see the stitch line" when you trim. In other words, don't set the ruler right on the stitch line or you will come up a smidgen short.

Thank you to Little Miss Shabby and thank you to Jan for sharing.

Super Weekend!

Our Super January Sale Ends today!  Sale fabric - $5 a yard. Sale Fat Quarters, $1.95 each or 10 for $15! 

Hearty Vegetable Beef Soup

I love all soups but this is one of my favorites. 

Start by cutting about 1# of round steak in bite size chunks and brown in a soup pot in about 1 T. Olive Oil. I sometimes use ground beef.

Next stir in 1/2 chopped onion and 1 C chopped carrots. Let those sweat for about 10 minutes. Add about 1 C rough chopped cabbage.

Then add a 28 oz size can of whole tomatoes. I like to give the tomatoes a rough chop before adding.

Now let the tomatoes tenderize the steak for about 15 minutes, cooking on low.

Finish it off by adding 1/4 t pepper, 1/2 t chili powder, 2 Bay Leaves, 2 T brown sugar, a small can of un-drained green beans , a small can of un-drained corn, a 32 oz box of beef bouillon and a can of tomato soup.

Simmer slowly for about 4 hours, and then add 2 peeled and chopped potatoes. Simmer another hour or until it thickens a bit.

Salt to taste. I like to wait for salt as bouillon can sometimes add enough salt flavor.

Sunday Sewday, Part II

This is part II of my Sunday Sewday. I made this quick pair of pajama pants from the new Stella Designs flannel. Really easy and really comfy!

Sunday Sewday!

I started my day doing a little cleaning. Garrison Keillor comes on the radio at noon though, so I try to be in the sewing room by then.

This is a super simple heart block. Quilt Circle of Friends recently used this block pattern for an exchange. 

Everyone used the same red to help keep the project blended. The other two colors we each used were selected from a word search game we played and everyone paired their colors with white.

Here's a holiday table topper I made with a few of the blocks.

And here is a table runner I designed using just two of the blocks.

Super Weekend in Adel

We will be closed, as always, on Super Bowl Sunday. However, we have our own Super Weekend planned for you!

Our Bargain Shelf has just been re-stocked AGAIN with lots of new selections. Regular price is $10.99 and up. Bargain Shelf price is $6 a yard but, through Saturday, shop the Bargain Shelves  at just $5 a yard. That is nearly 60% off! No minimum cuts this week on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Plus, we've added another basket full to our Clearance Fat Quarter selection - $1.95 each or 10 for $15.

More? Come in on Friday to say Happy Birthday to Lonnie and have a birthday cupcake!

Updated Newsletter

See the Spring 2015 Newsletter on the website now.

Strip Club is back!

Here it is - - - all done this time. This is our next Strip Club project, starting in March. This project will run for 6 months. For $18 a month, come in any time during the month to pick up pre-cut strips to build this entire Full size quilt, including binding.

Choose to do this quilt in Brights (shown above)

or Kansas Troubles prints

 or grey and yellow tones.

To make this into a Queen size quilt, just add a border.

Registration opens today.

Visit us in Adel! Tell us "Happy Local Quilt Shop Day" and receive 20% off one item. Saturday, January 24. Hours 10 am to 5 pm.

Announcing!!

We have just been authorized to release pictures of the new fabric designed specifically for the 2015 All Iowa Shop Hop!

We will start taking orders in April or May and fabric can go home with you June 1 or later.

What do you think of this?

Lots of new fabric coming in - - -

Cotton kids prints - not flannel.

This panel actually makes a soft book.

Fun farm fabric

New selection of civil war repro fabrics

Classic Red and Blacks

The two pieces on the right end just came in to join the rest of this elegant grouping.

and pink ribbons on a batik!

Quilt Circle Reminder

Tonight is our Quilt Circle of Friends Holiday Party at the Adel Library, 6 pm.

Bring:

• Exchange snowball blocks if missed November meeting
• 3 Heart blocks for gift exchange
• Salad to share
• 6 - 5" squares of Christmas fabric for game
• Archive Get Er Done Challenge Quilt

Sunday Sewday?

How about Friday, Saturday and Sunday Sewday? I was invited to join 6 other quilters for a weekend of stitching at a friends home. Here is just some of the progress:

 Jan was happy to put the final borders on this block of the month quilt by Bonnie Hunter that she started several years ago.

Nancy was making this darling cupcake quilt for a young lady going to culinary school.

 Abbie was very focused and productive this weekend. She finished this quilt top, a block of the month featuring Judy Rothermel fabrics.

 This is another block of the month she is working on. This one, from Hoop Girls, is all done on the embroidery machine.

Janet finished up this Jelly Roll quilt, started by her step-son.

She also whipped up this quilt top, a kit from Posh Fibers.

 Using some of the donated blocks from our Ladies of the Lake Quilt Retreat, Sue put together this comfort quilt.

Gloria, fairly new at quilting, worked hard on this quilt all weekend. When I left this evening, she was putting on the borders. Nice job!

I started the weekend with some catch-up, putting binding on two large quilts and finishing up a stack of exchange blocks. Then I moved on to these.

These small quilts, from the book Cozy Quilts, combine wool and cotton. We plan to feature them in a "small quilt of the month" program starting soon.

Special thanks to our hostess for converting her living room into a great sewing space. What a fun week-end get away!

New from French General - Petite Prints in dark reds and dark tans. Very pretty in person.