NEW SWAP!!

Are you ready for another swap?  Everywhere on the quilt blogs I read online they are talking about swapping Mug Rugs! I can't resist it anymore!


MUG RUG SWAP! It's on!

Your mug rug can be any design, any color but must measure around 6"x10" in size have a front and back and binding made of fabric and it must be quilted with batting in the middle just like a little quilt.  These are perfect little projects for using up fabric scraps and leftover bits of binding.
So these are basically little mini quilts perfect for resting your coffee cup on with a nice biscuit, scone or cookie right beside it! Or just beautiful little quilts to collect, display around your house or give as gifts.

Be creative there is a bit more design space than the postcards we previously swapped so have some fun BUT on these please do not embellish with anything bumpy or unwashable since we want our cups to rest on these and we are likely to wash them. As with all exchanges please remember to give the quality work and fabric you want to receive back!
For each mug rug you drop off to swap, you will receive one back made by someone else AND for each mug rug you swap you'll put your name in for a $50 gift card drawing to Quilters Crossing!
Win, Win right?
Drop off your completed Mug Rugs by May 31st and put your name in the gift card drawing once for each mug rug you swap.
Pick up your new Mug Rugs on June 7th or later (sorry you'll have to come back to the shop for these as they are harder to mail). We will have them in the shop for a week on display for the first week of June.
We will announce the Gift Card winner on June 7th on the blog.


For a tutorial on how I made the mug rug shown above click here. 


There are mug rug swaps going on all over the internet right now so search for mug rug images if you need inspiration. They can be traditional or abstract, pictorial, colorful or monotone the sky is the limit with design choices so try it out.  It also makes a great little spot to practice some fun quilting.
If you have any questions just let us know. We'll have a few on display at the shop so come on in and check them out! 

Quilting your quilt!

We have a really wonderful series of machine quilting classes offered at the shop. Ida Anderson teaches Machine Quilting 101, Grids and Feathers.  These classes have been getting great reviews. They really build the quilting skills of our customers and the confidence of our customers in their quilting.

Ida suggested some other really great ways to practice machine quilting is to use these Skillbuilder panels:

 Panel 2 has feathers:

We currently carry Skillbuilder Panel one and two.  

We also recently got the Skillbuilder Companion:

 This book gives lots of tips and suggestions on using the panels.

We also received in the Machine Quilting Design Builder workbook which comes with a CD.

All these products are designed by Renae Allen.

New Fabrics Black, White and....

Green!!

Aren't these cool? I might need a springy new purse? Or new placemats? Or a quilt? How about you?

I love this well balanced line: lights, mediums and darks all different scales and textures. 

That is what I call a well designed line!

 With St. Patrick's Day this week, I thought I was all greened out until I saw these. Then I thought I could maybe handle a bit more.

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We also got these pretty, bright tone on tones 

 and a pretty stripe.

I am getting fond of using stripes for binding and I can't wait to play with this one!

"And I'm just about to lose my mind"

Just in:

"Through the Grapevine"

put out by RJR fabrics.

It has this fabric with 6 different panels on it. Below is one close up. They are all about pot holder size.

Fruit and cheese, a collage of maps and wine and corks.

Love the corks.

This is a grid with a barrel border. It has pretty squares about coaster size....

Bottle openers and map fabric.

I am seeing coasters, placemats, table runners, wine bottle bags, etc...What great gifts these will make

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We also got McKenna Ryan's latest patterns in called,

"Home Tweet Home"

You can finish these 9 blocks into a quilt or she gives directions for mounting them individually on canvases for wall hangings.

We got the ombre print fabrics she uses in the backgrounds so you can really achieve the same soft look when you make these yourself.

What a fun week!

The beautiful weather has brought a humming. The redbud and dogwood trees in the Relics by the Railroad neighborhood are all out and blooming. The shop was buzzing with customers who were ready for new projects, classes with new techniques and busy little bees (quilting bees that is!) starting and finishing projects.
The Made to be Cancelled Bee met on Sunday- this is Tri-County Quilt Guild's postcard bee. 

Barbara welcomed new bee members Michelle and Rachael.  

They took full advantage of the beautiful weather to do some postcard painting on the porch, here Susi is teaching Laura and Rachael her technique.

On Wednesday the Tri-County's Spring Bee for beginner quilters had a paper piecing demo to add a new technique to their quilting "tool box".  They used a scrappy little heart for their first pattern. Nancy is hooked on the paper piecing now and has made 3 hearts already!



Deb was out sick a couple days this week with a cold so to welcome her back today we surprised her by making new valances for the classroom during free sew on Friday night.  We used the Mrs. Sew and Sew fabrics and they look really cute.  Thanks to my fellow Friday free sew ladies for helping me get them done Deb said it made her day when she saw them this morning!

Trunk Show

BJ Designs graciously offered us a trunk show of several of their fun and colorful patterns.  We were very excited to receive them in the mail the other day. We'll have them for just a few weeks so come in and take a peek!
Here they are in the shop- their patterns have been hot sellers since they were put up. Come in and check out these beautiful fusible applique beauties!

They use unexpected fabrics in a dazzling colorful design to make the patterns really fun and whimsical. Some in batiks, others in prints that you'd never expect would work in these pictorial quilts but the result is really stunning. 

Here is Ellie the Elephant

 Boots, Boots, Boots!

 Zoey the Zebra

 Talulah the Tortoise

We have other patterns available as well- an armadillo, a pheasant, a longhorn, a classic pick up truck and more!

Overheard...

These are things we have overheard in the shop and classroom lately- cute!

Is this too RED red? or not enough red?

You've got a thread on you....

Oh we are so bad!

Do you have anything that will match this?

Wait! You've got another thread on you.

Oh my gosh!

How big is a quilt exactly?

Does this store make quilts?

You are gonna hate me

It's me, your favorite headache!

You've got a thread right...there got it

Are we out of wine?

I need more fabric

I don't need ANY more fabric

Do you sell quilts here?

Oh that is beautiful.

Here let me get this thread off your shirt

I ran out of thread!

I need chocolate.

I cut my fabric wrong.

I cut my fabric wrong again!

Do you have any chocolate?

My machine is making a weird noise.

OH boy here I go again.

I will have to hide this when I carry it in the house.

I really don't need this but I have to have it.

Who made THIS?

I bent a pin.

OUCH!

That is just the cutest thing!

Put it on my tab please.

Oh I need one of these!

Do these scissors cut?

Oh! It got me!

OH would love this!

I don't need another project...

Have you tried this pattern?

Broke a needle!

I am sooo late!

My car drove here by itself, I swear!

I am my own best customer (Deb)

I have always wanted to learn to quilt!

I ate too much at Whistle Stop!

I am a beginner

My mother gave me this quilt and.....

I don't want YELLOW brown, I want GREEN Brown.

No that purple is too purpley.

No too light.

No too dark.

hmm...not dark enough.

I don't care for that.

I will know what I want when I see it.

You should see my stash!

I need to clean my sewing room.

I have too many projects started.

Anyone have a seam ripper?????

Wait now I am sewing what? to what?

No more zippers.

Shoot I lost my needle.

I am looking for a fabric with zebras on it.

Do you have fabric with chicken wire on it?

I need fabric with watermelons on it.

Do you sell any fabric with soccer balls on it?

baseballs?

hot air balloons?

basketballs?

golf balls?

Moose?

submarines?

purple and red flowers with white polka-dots?

Do you sell A&M fabric?

Oh God! Not orange fabric! WE are AGGIES.

You've got a... well, you know...

We love our customers. You guys are so fun, zany, sweet and talented! We are so grateful for all you share with us- stories, laughs, inspiration, suggestions, compliments, creativity, time and your beautiful, beautiful quilts. Thank you.