Tessellating Windmill

Be sure you visit the classroom during the Twin Cities Shop Hop.  We'll be demonstrating the newest tool by Marti Michell, the Tessellating Windmill.  This quilt may look familiar, but is made with a different technique than you may have used before.  Use it to make blocks in 8 sizes, ranging from 2" up to 9".   With this technique, you'll end up with straight of grain on the outside of your blocks.  And the tool has specially engineered corners to help you line up your pieces. You use a "leap frog" technique to lay out your blocks and then chain piece blocks and rows.  We'll be demonstrating both Thursday and Friday from 10:00-12:00 and from 1:00 to 3:00.  
And be sure to check out our Daisy Basket quilt made with the basket blocks you'll be collecting.
The shop hop is May 3-5.  Thursday and Friday, we'll be open from 9am - 9pm.  Saturday hours are 9am - 5pm.
Hope to see you there.
 

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.

Lazy Angle Ruler

I got to play with another new ruler this weekend. I made a demo board for the Creative Grids Lazy Angle ruler. It is designed by Joan Hawley of Lazy Girl Designs. Cut 2 simple shapes in any of 6 different sizes and you can make hundreds of block variations. Joan Hawley also has written a book called Lazy and Lovin' It as a companion to the ruler. The book includes step by step instructions to make 250 different Lazy Angle blocks! It also includes companion blocks that will work well with the Lazy Angle blocks. We carry a couple simple patterns designed by her called Littles. They are both "Charm Square" friendly.
I cut a few extra pieces to go along with the demo board so you can try out your own variations and see how this works. We'll show you how to use this ruler at our "New From Market Demo" on Wednesday, June 8. The demo will run from 1:00 - 4:00. Come to the demo or if you can't make it, come in to see the demo board. It looks like a fun new tool.

Quilt Shop "Til You Drop 2011

We had our final shop owner's meeting today to finalize all the details about the Twin Cities shop hop. That always makes us aware of how soon it is coming. It's always a fun event and this year I think it will be extra fun. The dates are April 28-30. Hours are 9am-9pm on Thursday and Friday, 9am-5pm on Saturday. You will receive a free quilt block pattern at each of the 11 shops along the way. Each shop has designed it's own quilt pattern, using those blocks, available for purchase. We've added a Treasure Hunt this year as part of the event. You will receive a list of 11 unusual things to find along the way, one at each shop. Find them all and get entered into a drawing for a bundle of gift certificates--one from each shop! But that's not all! We will have a Trunk show of Annemarie Yohnk's miniature quilts on display. Both Annemarie and Susan will be doing demos during the shop hop, titles and times are listed in the class schedule and on the website. And of course there are some wonderful prizes you may win. Go to all the 11 shops and get your passport stamped to be entered into the drawings for these great prizes. Hope you can make it! It's going to be great fun!

Tea Leaf Tote

I just finished making the Tea Leaf Tote sample for the free demo on February 9. The pattern by Poorhouse Quilt Designs includes both this large tote (18" x 18" x 5") and a small mini bag. I think this technique gives the look of a cathedral window with much less work. The best part is the technique could be used in a number of different projects. Imagine this as a strip on a table runner or on place mats. Or you could add a pocket or strip on a different purse or tote bag. The demo will run from 1:00 - 4:00 on Wednesday, February 9. Hope you can come.

Layer 'em Up #2

Our 2nd Wednesday Demo this month will be on the technique in the book Layer 'em Up #2 by Sharyn Craig. I will be showing this technique on Wednesday, February 10 from 1:00-5:00. It's a fun technique and a well written book. It's a stack, slice, shuffle, sew and square up technique so makes for a fast and easy quilt. It's also a great stash quilt since you can use so many different fabrics. The book includes several different options for "box" blocks. Within each option, you can vary the look of the block by changing the measurement of your slices. I might need to keep this quilt for myself. It looks really nice on my couch.
Susan

Upcoming demos

We have 2 demo days coming up this week. The 2nd Wed Demo on September 9 will be on the technique in the book Layer 'em Up by Sharon Craig. A fun fast technique for making the X block. We will demo this technique from 1:00 - 5:00.





On Saturday, September 12th, we will demonstrate the Layer 'em Up technique again. In addition, we will also demonstrate the technique from the book Sew Simple Pineapple by Karin Hellaby. This is a technique to make the pineapple block using only easily cut squares of fabric. Those 2 demos will run continuously from 10:00 - 12:00 and 1:00 - 3:00. Come see us on Saturday to learn about these 2 fun techniques.

Hope to see you on Wednesday Sept 9 or Saturday the 12th.
Susan