What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

 I've been trying to do more video content but I don't really like to be on camera. Editing the videos is a learning experience and time consuming. I am getting better but I never thought I'd be filming and editing videos as part of my job. You just never know what skills you'll need in life!

I made a video demonstrating how to make a basic bowl with rope. It's kind of a mini class. It's not perfect, but I think you can get the idea and learn something which is more important than ...

 I did a little experiment last week. I bought some liquid Rit dye from the grocery store along with a bottle of the Rit dye Color Fix. I followed the directions on the bottles and dip dyed a sewn bowl and some loose rope.

Here is the bowl before dyeing.

I used an old bucket to set the bowl and loose rope in with the dye. Then I set them in the sun in my backyard to dry.

Here is what the bowl looks like after it dried. 

Then I made another bowl with the dip dyed loose rope.

On ...

 I'm having so much fun sewing with the new rope I received in my shop!

The first thing I made with the new rope from The Mountain Thread Company was this Basket with Handles. I used the kit shown in the photos that the basket is sitting on to make it. I wanted to test out their kits. They are excellent! Each kit includes the amount of rope you need to make the project, a denim needle for your sewing machine and the instructions for the project.

 The ladies from Sassy Sunflower release a new Half Pack Pattern every year. The new pattern for this year is called Miles of Tiles.

This one finishes at 50" by 64". Like all of the half pack patterns, it's easy and uses pretty much every bit of the half pack kit.

You can view ten of the half pack patterns by clicking this link: Half Pack Quilt Gallery

And you can view all of the half pack kits I offer in my shop by clicking this link: Half Pack Kits

If you decide to order a Half Pack Kit ...

 First, I just have to share this adorable new fabric that arrived in my shop last week.

The collection is called Hey Cowgirl. It's got a little bit of a retro vibe to it and plenty of pink, coral and turquoise for that "girlie" cowgirl in your life. We've got several patterns in stock that would really show off these fabrics - quilts and bags.

I'm planning to make a Tourist Tote using the border print as the main fabric for the outside of the bag. I might use one of our new cork fabrics or faux leather ...

  My shop is participating again in the FabShop Online BlowOut event. The sale lasts all week long.

 I don't get much time for personal sewing these days. As a shop owner, most of my sewing time is spent on store samples and class samples. One of my nieces is getting married soon and she asked me to make some little duffle bags for her to give to her bridesmaids. So all last week, in between my regular shop duties, I made 7 duffle bags for her.

I used fabrics from my stash so all of the fabrics I used are older, discontinued fabrics. For the zippers, I used a package of By Annie's zipper by ...

 This is the shop sample and kit I designed using the new Wildlife Trail fabrics my shop received recently.

I didn't get the entire collection but got one color way of the fabrics, pre-cuts (2 1/2" strips and 10" squares) and the panel.

Click here to view the kits and fabrics

 Tomorrow, Tuesday April 23, 2024, is National Picnic Day!

To celebrate myself and six other shop owner friends have decided to do an online Facebook Live Shop Hop. The way this will work is that each of us will go live on our respective Facebook pages one at a time, starting at 11 am MDT. Each of us will entertain you for about an hour and then send you over to the next shop. The schedule is as follows:

 I finally have the pattern finished for the shop sample using the new Wild North fabric collection we received recently. I'm calling it Wild North Zoom Meeting. If you've ever attended a Zoom meeting in gallery view then you get it. I was picturing all these animals in their nests and dens on their laptops chatting with each other.

 While the shop sample is not new, the kits for it are new.

The quilt measures 55" by 55" which is a good lap/wheelchair quilt, large baby quilt, or wall hanging size. The piecing is fairly simple, appropriate for an advanced beginner. The colored fabrics are from a charm pack. You cut the charm squares in half and use a folded corner technique to make four point units required for each block. There is a little sashing in the blocks then the blocks are just sewn together. A small outer border is added from the background fabric so that ...

 Nancy has her version of our Wild Stallions kit completely finished! We have two more kits left and not enough of the fabrics to make up more kits. We do still have some of the fabrics on the bolt and have a few more of the panels left in stock.

Note that Nancy opted to get extra fabric and the border print (which we are sold out of) to make a larger version of our kit. If you want to make a larger version like Nancy I suggest you substitute the all-over horse print for the border print. It's ...

  We have a winner of the 2024 March Meowness Contest. Fabric S Cat in the Box Cats & Boxes is the winner!

The backing fabric is also cat fabric. You can see that back and read about the quilt by clicking ...

  Time for Round Five in my March Meowness Contest!

Today we are starting with the 2 cat fabrics that survived round four. You need to vote for your favorite 1. The winner will be announced on Monday, March 25, 2024. Every time you vote you get your name in the drawing to win a fat quarter bundle of cat fabrics.

  Time for Round Four in my March Meowness Contest!

Today we are starting with the 4 cat fabrics that survived round three. You need to vote for your favorite 2. On Friday March 22, 2024 I will post the most popular 2 cat fabrics and you'll need to vote for your favorite 1. We'll keep whittling down the field until we have winner. The winner will be announced on Monday, March 25, 2024. Every time you vote you get your name in the drawing to win a fat quarter bundle of cat fabrics.

  Time for Round Three in my March Meowness Contest!

Today we are starting with the 8 cat fabrics that survived round two. You need to vote for your favorite 4. On Wednesday March 20, 2024 I will post the most popular 4 cat fabrics and you'll need to vote for your favorite 2. We'll keep whittling down the field until we have winner. The winner will be announced on Monday, March 25, 2024. Every time you vote you get your name in the drawing to win a fat quarter bundle of cat fabrics.

 Time for Round Two in my March Meowness Contest!

Today we are starting with the 16 cat fabrics that survived round one. You need to vote for your favorite 8. On Monday March 18, 2024 I will post the most popular 8 cat fabrics and you'll need to vote for your favorite 4. We'll keep whittling down the field until we have winner. The winner will be announced on Monday, March 25, 2024. Every time you vote you get your name in the drawing to win a fat quarter bundle of cat fabrics.

 I am declaring March 14 - 25, 2024 as "March Meowness." It's time to put on your thinking cat (if you have one) and vote for your favorite cat fabrics we have in stock in the shop.

Today we are starting with the 24 cat fabrics we have in stock. You need to vote for your favorite 16. On Saturday March 16, 2024 I will post the most popular 16 cat fabrics and you'll need to vote for your favorite 8. We'll keep whittling down the field until we have winner. The winner will be announced on Monday ...

 I received a new shipment of border prints in my shop recently so it was time to make some new shop samples with them. These Easy Striped Table Runners are so much fun to make!

Shown are our two favorite layouts, but the pattern includes instructions for four different layouts as well as some smaller candle mats that you can make with the leftovers.

The pattern is called Easy Striped Table Runner. You can see all the border prints I have by clicking the following link: Border Prints. The two we used for our samples are: Groovy Garden Border Print ...