Sweet Home Quilt Co.

We’re coming down to the wire for the Greater Atlanta Quilt Shop Hop, which will take place March 18-21…less than two weeks away! Our theme is As American As…Mom and Apple Pie. My original plans for shop decor did not come together, so I had to think of a back up plan. It seems to me that Mom can’t bake apple pies without apples so we’re going to have an apple tree as part of our decor.

Mike and I started constructing the tree today, and I have to say we didn’t say one harsh word to each other. That’s not to say there wasn’t some strong language at times…my hands look like I’ve been mauled by a mountain lion…chicken wire will do that to you!

The heaviest piece of equipment I had to pick up was the heavy duty stapler, which is a good thing. Power tools and I mix like oil and water!

OUCH! Time out for splinter removal!

Tree trunk in place…now to add the limbs…

It’s starting to resemble a tree, don’t you think?

Not the best picture…sorry! The tree trunk and limbs are now wrapped with chicken wire, which is why my hands are scratched and bloody! I know, I should have used gloves and I tried, but they were just too cumbersome. All in all, it took us about 2 hours to get this far…not too bad! I’m not going to add the paper mache until next weekend because it is supposed to rain all week and I really don’t have a good place to store the tree without it getting damp.  Stay tuned for How to Build a Tree – Part Two, this time next week!

Melisa

Remember this…

It has been replaced with this!

FINALLY!  All I need is a few days to get everything back into its usual format (so I can find stuff!!) and I’ll be back in business. Notice the widescreen monitor? I ‘almost’ don’t even need my glasses!!! (Ignore all the ugly wires…this was right out of the box before I rearranged everything.)

You’re going to be sick of hearing from me after a few days…I’ve been storing up all my blog posts over the last few weeks and I’m about to unleash them all on you unsuspecting readers (that’s assuming I still have some readers after my lengthy silence!) Someone said yesterday that she thought I’d been buried in the snow since my last post in mid-February indicated I was going to play in the snow…hahaha…funny girl!

The weather is beautiful here today…sunny and mid-60’s. Mike and I will be building a 7 foot paper mache apple tree…it’s a prop for Shop Hop. And I have to make the apples to go on it…I’ll post pictures. Hopefully, we will both live through this escapade…we don’t usually play well together when it comes to stuff like this, so we’ll see. If one of us disappears, the other should be the prime suspect…just kidding!

Melisa

I have closed the shop early this afternoon due to the weather conditions. I will make the decision on Saturday’s opening tomorrow morning when I see the weather conditions. If you planned to visit us on Saturday, Feb. 13, please call before you make the trip.

Now, I’m going home to play in the snow with my grandies!  If it is snowing where you are,  GO PLAY!

I’ve got loads and loads of customer show and tell to share with you, but I just had to share this amazing baby quilt that Nicole brought in to share with us!

No way does my photography do this quilt justice (I think if you click the picture it will enlarge). Nicole is so creative, and this baby quilt features alphabet blocks that have all been signed by family and friends. She used my absolute favorite little boys’ fabric line, Animal Party from Kaufman. Notice how she enlarged the animals from the border fabric and appliqued them onto the quilt – the hippo, giraffe, monkey, etc. – just makes me smile!

Melisa

A new shipment of books arrived from Kansas City Star Quilts today, with some really good possibilities whether you’re in the mood for handwork, piecing, whimsy, or just a little reading.

A Bird in Hand: Folk Art Projects Inspired by Our Feathered Friends by Renee Plains

Feathered friends take fanciful flight in this diverse collection of 21 projects inspired by the timeless charm of folk art. Whether you love hand appliqué, rug hooking, piecework, or cross stitch, Liberty Star designer Renée Plains offers something for every quilter in this book. Included are 6 avian-embellished appliqué quilts and 3 pieced quilts with bird-themed blocks.
For those who enjoy making smaller scale projects such as pincushions, the book also features 8 vintage-style sewing accessories ranging from pinkeeps to sewing pockets—perfect for your sewing room or gifts for fellow sewers. And Renée has also designed four additional whimsical accents—a pillow and hooked rug for the home as well as a casual tote and notebook cover to take along when you’re on the go. $29.99

Feedsack Secrets: Fashion from Hard Times by Gloria Nixon

The poverty of the Depression and fabric shortages during World War II made feedsacks highly important to the quilter during the 1930s and 1940s. In Feedsack Secrets, quilt historian Gloria Nixon shares her research through tens of thousands of pages of old farm periodicals, magazines and newspapers as she explains the story of the patterned feedsack. 
There are fascinating tidbits along the way: Women met for sack-and-snack-club fabric swaps. There were restrictions on jacket lengths, hem depths and the sweep of a skirt. Feedsack prints and bags played a part in political contests, even accurately predicting that Truman would win the 1948 presidential election. One feed-company promotion was a contest for the best-dressed chicken.  Nixon’s Feedsack Secrets is a colorful, fun and fascinating ride through a great period of American fabric history. $21.99

Adventures with Leaders & Enders: Make More Quilts in Less Time! by Bonnie Hunter

What if you could piece quilts even faster, work on more than one quilt simultaneously and save money, fabric and thread all at the same time? Bonnie K. Hunter will show you how to put the concept of Leaders & Enders to work quickly and easily, expanding your creativity, and upping your productivity all at the same time.  If you have ever found yourself paralyzed by your stash, overwhelmed by scraps you just can’t bear to toss out, arm yourself with a new rotary blade for your cutter, make yourself a cup of tea and start reading. This book is not only full of beautiful scrap quilts that can be made in between the lines of other sewing, but also contains many ideas for getting your ever burgeoning scrap stash under control, into useable sized pieces that work well with one another, and ready to be sewn into quilts you’ve always wanted to make. $27.99

Greetings from Tucsadelphia: Travel Inspired Projects from Lizzie B Cre8tive by Liz & Beth Hawkins

Greetings from TUCSADELPHIA! A place where inspiration flows freely and music floats on the breeze. The air is filled with the scent of freshly baked goodies and laughter rings throughout the land. That’s how Lizzie B sees it! In essence, Tucsadelphia IS wherever Liz and Beth ARE.
Let Lizzie B Cre8ive take you on a tour through some of their favorite places. “Greetings from TUCSADELPHIA” is a collection of some of Liz and Beth’s favorite travel-inspired projects. Like all quilters who travel, Liz and Beth collect FABRIC! They gather fabric from the places they visit and take those bits and weave them into a quilt; like Beth’s “Happy Hawaii” quilt. They make us smile and feel warm and fuzzy inside as memories of our travels flood back to us. Join them on a sun-drenched beach in “Happy Hawaii” or the bustling streets of “New York’s Got Soul”. Stitch up the quick and “Easy-Breezy Backsack”, then take a jaunt through Pennsylvania Amish country. Or pick your own favorite places for the “Wish You Were Here” quilt and adorn it with postcards and memories.
Don’t forget to bake some “Be Cre8ive Cookies” for your travels, and escape with the Lizzie B playlist. Whether you find time to stitch a little, “Kick Back and Relax” or do some “Peaceful Dreamin’” on your own travel pillow, remember that “All Roads Lead to Home”. And when it comes to the Lizzie B Girls…all roads lead to Tucsadelphia! We hope you enjoy the journey. Dream big, go far, and always Be Cre8ive!
Oh, and if you’re wondering where the heck Tucsadelphia is, it’s the official city of Lizzie B Cre8ive!  Beth lives in Tucson and Liz lives in Philadelphia, hence Tucsadelphia! $29.99

If you’re in the mood to start a new project, these books are filled with lots of eye candy and inspiration designed to jump start your creativity!

Melisa

We were happy to host this talented group of Girl Scouts and the Gwinnett Quilt Guild’s “Just 4 You” Committee on Saturday as they made donation quilts for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta-Scottish Rite Hospital. This is the second year this group has helped make quilts for this effort, and it is fun to watch their quilting skills evolve. Robin, the troop leader, is a friend through Batty Babes, and she does a terrific job mentoring these girls. The girls were tasked to use their teamwork skills as they paired off to complete their quilt tops. The group worked hard to finish their quilts, and were rightfully proud of them! They turned out great!

Debbie Frey (pictured here helping one of the girls pin her quilt rows together) is the committee chair of the guild’s “Just 4 You” program, and was the impetus for starting the community service project in 2001. The guild has made and donated hundreds of quilts to this effort over the years, and the three quilts made by this group will be added to the hundreds that will be donated again this year.

Debbie also brought along a surprise visitor on Saturday…someone we’ve never had the pleasure of seeing at SHQC.

Can you see him? It’s FLAT STANLEY! Debbie’s niece from Ohio sent him on his journey as part of a 1st grade class project. Flat Stanley has had quite an interesting visit with Debbie – he’s been to tennis matches, the dentist, shopping at Calvin Klein, the Cheesecake Factory (yum!), and to a guild meeting. Debbie’s husband took Flat Stanley to Italy and NYC, too! And now, he can add a visit to SHQC to his travel adventures! What fun!

Our thanks to Debbie for inviting us to host this event, and to the girls for their participation. It was a fun day for everyone, all for a great cause!

Melisa

I’m ready to dump all my computers in a pile, and go back to doing everything with pen and paper! Not really, but it has been a really difficult week, technologically, both at the shop and at home!

First my laptop was hit with a Trojan/virus thingy and had to go to the computer hospital. It was a fairly easy fix, but then a few days later the darn thing popped up again. Thanks to step-by-step instructions from my computer guy, I was able to get it going again. Only problem is that I don’t have nearly all of my software programs on my laptop, so I’m pretty limited with what I can do with it.

THEN, the PC at the shop was hit with the same junk late last week and it proved fatal to that machine! The whole thing had to be wiped clean, and everything reloaded…still a work in progress, but hopefully sometime this week I’ll be back in business. I have an external hard drive for backups of photos and files, and luckily I had just done a full system back up at the end of the year. I’m hoping I haven’t lost too much, but it remains to be seen. Apparently, this particular piece of nasty code targets McAfee and Norton security systems, and is able to bypass other security programs so there is no fool proof protection…other than abstinence…now where have I heard that before??? (Sorry, couldn’t resist!)

Learn from my experience: If you get a screen or pop-up saying you have a virus, and another pop-up offers to fix the problem if you click on “install”, DO NOT TOUCH IT! Even though it appears to be legitimate Microsoft stuff, it is actually creeps looking for your credit card info. I knew better than to fall for it, but the marauding trojans and viruses were already wreaking havoc on my computer(s)! And trust me when I tell you, it is a royal pain to fix!

If you have sent me an email in the last week, I’m not ignoring you, but it will be a few more days before I can read it. If you really need to talk to me, call me at the shop!

Oh, and no worries, I’m not contagious!

Let’s all be safe out there…geez, I’m just full of puns tonight!!! Gotta laugh to keep from crying…

Melisa

“Spoolin’ Around” Beginner Paper-Piecing

Our class schedule through April is on the website! We have new dates of our most popular sessions, as well as all new offerings. We continually add classes as teachers become available and special requests are received so be sure to check back often to see what has been added. We also have some fun club groups to give you a little fun, uninterrupted quilting time. Take a little time for yourself in the New Year to make your first quilt, learn a new technique, or stitch up a unique gift for someone.  Classes are a fun way to improve your skills and enjoy crafty company!

A gift certificate to one of our classes would be a wonderful gift for the sewing enthusiast in your life? Better yet, you could take a class as well and spend some creative time together. We are happy to mail gift certificates anywhere they need to go, so please call the shop for details.

See you in class!

Melisa

Anyone still with me? I know postings have been a bit scarce lately (and I’ve taken a lot of grief about it, too!). I have been working, working, working. Along with all the usual year-end stuff and some fun, busy days at the shop, I’ve been planning lots of fun things for the shop (more on that later!), getting ready for Fat Quarter Frenzy, and planning for Shop Hop. And in between, there has been a little (very little!) cooking, cleaning, laundry, yada, yada, yada!

Since the weather here is rainy and yucky today, I thought I’d try to catch up on a few things. I’ve got a long list already that includes a little cleaning & laundry, a few small quilting projects that shouldn’t take long to finish, and blogging with you. I’ve got loads to share, just haven’t had time to post; hopefully, I can remedy that today.

I’ve been searching for a few quick Valentine projects, and I came across a few that I thought you might like, too. Still plenty of time to work on these…

These cute pennie pockets from Sew What’s New would make great favors for the kids’ teachers or friends, or maybe for a little treat for your co-workers.

Here is a beautiful small heart wallhanging provided by Janome that would work up quickly. There is also a matching pillow project that would be quick to make, too. Be sure to read about The Heart Truth project, heart disease in women is a real threat!

Check out this free tutorial for a Stack-n-Whack heart block from Bethany Reynolds – make 3 or 4 blocks and set them into a cute table runner or topper for Valentine’s Day.

Here’s a little surprise Valentine’s giveaway for you. Leave a comment and I’ll send this great little pattern to the lucky winner – make it for yourself or as a giftie for a quilting friend (or both!)  I’ll post the winner on Friday, Jan. 29th. Be sure to leave your email address with your comment so I can contact you if you win!

I’m off to tick a few things off today’s list. First on the list is to put on a loda of laundry, eat a little breakfast and read the Sunday paper…then the fun can begin!

Melisa

It’s Cold…brrr!