Special Exhibit of Sylvia's Quilts

We are proud to be a part of the Special Exhibits at the Minnesota Quilt Show in Rochester.  The Sylvia's Bridal Sampler Quilts were from a 2-1/2 year club we had at the shop based on the book Sylvia's Bridal Sampler Quilts from Elm Creek Quilts by Jennifer Chiaverini. When this book arrived at the shop, Nancy and I thought it would be fun to make this quilt, but more fun with a group of quilters to share and motivate us.  140 six inch blocks seemed a little overwhelming.   Little did we know there would be about 100 quilters who would choose to join our club!  The plan from the beginning was to have a quilt exhibit in January of 2012 from anyone who finished their quilt.  Members could make as many of the blocks as they wanted and choose their own setting and fabrics.  What a variety of ideas those members came up with!  We ended up with 43 quilts and 2 special exhibits.  It was a great display!

35 of those quilts will be in the special exhibit in Rochester.  Thanks to all of you quilters and a special thanks to Patty Von Arx for putting this exhibit together.

Quilters have been delivering their quilts to the shop for their trip to Rochester.  Here's a sneak peek of the quilts so far.  What a stack!  We can hardly wait to see them on display.  Hope you can see them too!  If you won't be at the show, you can see the  slideshow of our exhibits on the blog that we wrote in January 2012.

Glad Creations will be vending at the show, so be sure to stop and say hi.  We'll be in the Taylor Arena area.  The quilts and displays will be in 3 different areas of the convention center--so be sure you don't miss anything!  Hope to see you there.

White Christmas

OK, all you quilters that have been dreaming and wishing for a white Christmas. You can stop now! Your wishes have come true! It definitely will be a white Christmas! After 2 snow emergencies in Mpls, they have now restricted parking for the rest of the winter. So, just a word of warning--there is no parking on the North side of 34th street. (that's across the street from the shop) until April 1--or until a lot of this snow melts. You can park on the south side of 34th (the side the shop is on) or on either side of Bloomington Ave. This may be frustrating at times, but you will find it much easier to drive on the Mpls streets. You may want to car-pool if possible, especially on a class day. Those of you coming to Scrap Tamers could come to one of the smaller afternoon sessions for easier parking if that would work for you.
Enjoy the beauty of the snow, think warm thoughts, get some quilting done and we hope to see you soon.

Are you coming?

Two days until the Twin Cities Shop hop. It's always a really fun time. We have our folders stuffed with all the information you need to start the hop, our sample made, kits ready, new samples hanging, door prizes ready and the shop all spiffed up. All 10 shops are ready for 3 days of fun. Its been great getting to know the other shop owners and working together for this fun event. Get in the drawing to win some really great prizes by getting your card stamped at each of the shops. We are giving away 4 sewing machines, a bundle including a $50 gift certificate from each shop and each shop will have it's own selected prize worth $200. Ours includes a kit to make the Forever Friends quilt. I love that quilt!
Hope to see you and good luck on winning. Susan

Mystery Weekend 45

March was a busy month with 4 sessions of Mystery Weekend 45. Nearly 80 people participated in this round of Mystery Weekend sessions! Now we can reveal our quilts. We call this quilt "Fancy That!". We'll be adding this quilt to our line of Glad Creations patterns sometime this summer.



One of the highlights of Mystery Weekend for us is the Show and Tell. We saw lots of recently completed quilts - what a productive group. Check out the slide show below of the Show and Tell from all 4 sessions. I added quilt names to the designs that are Glad Creations patterns.

By the way,the new carpet is in place and we've put the shop back together - whew! Come in and check it out.
Nancy

This free slideshow customized with Smilebox

New Years Resolutions

Do you ever look at those beautiful photos of sewing rooms in magazines and books and feel jealous? I do! Oh, to have all that space and everything in its place.
The best part about not completing your new years resolutions is that you can use the same ones again. So this year I will try again to conquer the sewing room mess. OK, this photo was taken last year and nothing much has changed. If fact, it may be worse. I will try again. But maybe not until I finish this next project I'm working on.
Susan

Scrap Tamers Mystery Quilt

The mystery has been revealed! This is a photo of my Scrap Tamer mystery quilt from last session, Sept. 2008-August 2009. Many of the club members made it from their stashes. How fun to see so many fabric combinations as they've been choosing their border fabric. I'm guessing we will see several for show and tell when the new club starts. The first session of the next Scrap Tamers Club will meet on Sept 19 and run for 9 months. There is still room in the afternoon sessions if you missed the signup day. We will again make a mystery quilt as part of the club. Check out the class schedule if you'd like more information about Scrap Tamers.
Susan

Peppermint Purse

What a fun and wild week it has been! The Quilt Minnesota shop hop is in full swing and quilters are having a ball. It still goes until August 16th, so if you haven't started, there is still time. Visit the 12 shops in the metro section to be eligible for some great prizes. I did have time this week to make a new sample. This is the Peppermint Purse from the book Big Bags Little Bags by Atkinson Designs. I used the Quick YoYo Maker by Clover. I thought it turned out really cute.
Susan

Sylvia's Bridal Sampler Club

We just had our first meetings of the Sylvia's Bridal Sampler Club. We had a group on Monday night and another on Tuesday night. Everyone will be making the quilt from the book Sylvia's Bridal Sampler from Elm Creek Quilts by Jennifer Chiaverini. The quilt is made of 140 ~ 6" blocks. The photo shows a sampling of the blocks we talked about in our first session. We will meet for the 2nd session in July and then after that one time a quarter. Our plan is to put on a quilt show of these quilts in January 2012. If you had not heard about the club or missed signing up, we will repeat the 1st 2 sessions again in the Fall, followed by the 3rd session. Watch for information in the Fall newsletter. Sign up for the 1st 2 sessions and you will be ready to continue on with the group. Come in to the shop to see some samples up close! We have about 70 quilters working on their quilts now! Nancy and I are thrilled that so many of our quilting friends are joining us in this adventure.
Happy quilting! Susan