Kanzashi Flowers

I've been playing around with the Kanzashi Flowers and the Clover Flower makers today. What fun! And great quick gifts to make. We have 4 different flowers patterns by La Todera. The poinsettia, the orchid and the Kafflower in the picture are all made without any special tools. Stitches are done by hand and are easy handwork to do. Clover has come out with some plastic flower makers. The smaller flowers in the picture are made with the Pointed Petal flower maker. I'm planning on pinning one of them onto the Lollipop bag by Atkinson Designs. I think they will be great for decorating bags, hats etc. Think of all the possibilities!
The hardest part on all of the flower brooches was figuring out how to use my hot glue gun without burning my fingers. The flowers could also be made with any kind of quick setting glue.
We'll be showing how to make these at our Quick Gift Demo on Saturday, November 26. The demo will run from 10:00-1:00. Need a quick gift? Stop in and take a look.

Mystery Weekend 48

All four sessions of Mystery Weekend 48 are done. We can't show the Mystery Quilts yet because some folks are still working on the quilt via Mystery by Mail. But, we can share all the fun "show & tell" that we saw during the Mystery Weekend sessions. We saw lots of quilts from past Mystery Weekends and many other fun projects that participants have been working on recently.
We snapped some photos during "show & tell" so we could share all the fun in a slide show. We've labeled quilts that use Glad Creations patterns plus some that were made in other classes at Glad Creations. It's so fun to see our Glad Creations designs come back made up in so many different color combinations! You'll also see a preview of some of the quilts that are in the works for our Sylvia's Bridal Sampler show that we'll be hanging in January.

This free slideshow design generated with Smilebox

Market finds

Back from market and now I'm trying to sort out all of the new items and ideas in my brain. So much to see and to choose. So much stimulation. We'll be showing you some of our new finds as they come into the shop.

Some of the new patterns that I think you will love are the Kanzashi flower pins from La Todera. What fun gift ideas. We ordered 3 different flowers and are working up samples so you can see them. The patterns will be arriving any day. These are easy and fast to make. We'll be showing these at the Quick Gift Demo on Saturday, November 26 along with other quick gift ideas. The demo will run from 10:00 - 1:00. Hope you can make it.

South Minneapolis Quilters

We had a fun time last night at the South Minneapolis Quilter's meeting. What a nice bunch of quilters. The focus of our talk was about Glad and all of the wonderful quilts that she has made. Many of those quilts have been prize winners. I think the group was most surprised that she hadn't started quilting until nearly 60 years of age. She's 93 now, so all of the quilts we showed and many, many, many more had been made within about 35 years. We told a little about Glad, her other interests and were able to show about 35 of her quilts. She was able to come to the meeting and I know she enjoyed visiting with all of the quilters and seeing old friends. This is a photo of Glad in her favorite applique chair.


It was also fun to show some of her other craft projects she had been involved in while we were growing up. Did you know she use to make Panorama Sugar Easter Eggs and decorate sugar cubes to sell at a candy store? And some of the quilters at the meeting told us they use to buy her handmade purses back in the 70s--before we opened the shop.

She's just starting her next applique quilt. I think she has a couple blocks done. So it won't be long until we have it on display. We always have a few of her appliqued quilts displayed at the shop. Stop in and see them. You will be amazed.

Sew Many Stars

The newest Glad Creations pattern,"Sew Many Stars", is now available! We put Susan's Jewel Tone quilt on the pattern cover but if you stop in the shop you can also see Nancy's "Jo Morton" combo. The pattern includes instructions for the quilt in two sizes - 78" x 90" or 90" x 102". Our quilts shown in the photos are the smaller quilt. The larger size adds a strippy border. We'll have kits for both quilts up on the web site soon.
Keep an eye on Nathan's blog. He has his quilt top done and will be posting a photo soon. I saw it a couple days ago and it's fantastic!

Sylvia's Bridal Sampler

When we started our Sylvia's Bridal Sampler club a year and a half ago, it seemed that a quilt show in January 2012 was a long time away. Now it's just around the corner. We're having our last sessions of the club this coming Monday and Tuesday. The members have really stuck with it--although some of those blocks were really hard! If you don't know about the Sylvia's blocks, they are from the book Sylvia's Bridal Sampler from Elm Creek Quilts by Jennifer Chiaverini. There are 140 six inch blocks using a variety of techniques. I think we will have enough quilts in our show to put up 2 quilt displays. Our only criteria for displaying your quilt was that it had to be completely finished--quilted and bound. I think some of the members made all of the blocks and will have a bed sized quilt--some will be lap quilts or wallhangings. We'll have all the specifics for entering your quilt ready by next week. If anyone else has finished a Sylvia's Bridal Sampler Quilt or if you are not coming to the final club meeting, let us know so we can send you the entry information.

Several of the club members have used the classrooms to lay out their blocks and make their final decisions. It's been really fun to see the blocks in different fabrics. Both Nathan and Dee have posted photos on their blogs. Check them out--we have links to their blogs on this page.

I've made all of the 140 blocks--I guess that's the pressure of being in charge of the club. I might not use all of them in my quilt. Now to make the final decision--how to lay out the blocks. One bed-size quilt or 2 lap size? I've been playing with some different layouts. Should I use a straight setting with sashing?




















Or set my blocks on point? Maybe I should use alternating squares. Time to make those decisions. I have a quilting date set in December, so it's time to sew blocks together.










I'm really looking forward to seeing all of the quilts. I know it will be an amazing show--or maybe 2 shows. Watch for information on the dates of the show. We will have all the specifics in our next class schedule and in our E-mail update. We hope you will come!

Fall Fun

The next session of quilting classes will be starting this month. We have some fun ones in the lineup. Whether you want a traditional quilting class taught by Pat Cox, a beginning machine piecing class taught by Annemarie Yohnk, a Lone Star class taught by Cheri Merritt or a once a month club we have something for you. Check out the class schedule on our website to see the complete list of fall classes.
Cheri teaches our Lone Star Class. She has made many Lone Star Quilts. She won a ribbon on one of them at the Minnesota Quilt show in June. You can see a photo of that quilt and another one that she has in progress on her blog. And don't let the Lone Star Quilt scare you! The small quilt you make in the class will teach you the techniques needed for perfectly matched points, perfect set-in corners and a star with a flat center. Your friends will really be impressed!
And if you want a monthly club, there are still a few openings in the 1:00 session of Scrap Tamers Plus From Marti and Me Club. We're excited to get a new year going.

Don't forget to enter our September Anniversary Drawing. Enter you name every time you come into the shop during September. We're giving away a really fun quilt called Northwoods.