Sweet Home Quilt Co.

Today marks the beginning of Aurifil’s 2012 Designer of the Month FREE block of the month program. The designer line up is pretty amazing — these are some amazing stitchers, y’all! Each month one of the designers will share a stitchery project with you with a focus on what the month is all about. Sherri Falls of This and That has designed a finishing layout and by this time next year (assuming you keep up!) you’ll have a cute wall hanging to add to your décor!

Aurifil’s focus on embroidery this year showcases their terrific 12 wt thread, which is perfect for embroidery of all types as well as big stitch quilting, sashiko and fine crochet! The thread comes in luscious colors and is equivalent to two strands of regular floss. I love it because it is spool wrapped allowing it to be kept neat and untangled!

These monthly stitcheries will be small and achievable by even the most novice stitcher, and there will be prizes involved! Participants may post photos of their completed blocks stitched with Aurifil 12 wt thread each month to the Aurifil Flickr site and be eligible to win Aurifil threads! Stitching fun and prizes…count me in!

I’m excited about doing this block of the month and thought it would be fun to gather a group to work on it together. We’re kicking off this fun year-long project with a “get started” session later this month to work on the January block. If you’re new to embroidery we’ll teach you different methods of transferring the design to fabric, basic embroidery stitches and other tips and tricks. (Check the Class Calendar for details.)  Then if you’d like to work on the projects with us each month, you’re invited to join The Stitcherhood for our regular monthly meetings on the 4th Wednesday of each month at 6PM (you don’t have to do this project at The Stitcherhood…bring any stitchery project you have in the works!) We will have the 12 wt thread kits for the first couple of months’ projects available later this month, and will continue to make the thread kits available throughout the year as they become available from Aurifil. These kits will be available in limited supply — call us at the shop if you’d like to pre-order!

Here’s the designer line up for the year and links to each designer’s blog so you can get to know a little about each of them.

January … Roseann Kermes from Rosebud’s Cottage

February … Sherri Falls … This and That

March … Victoria Findlay Wolfe … Bumble Beans Inc

April … Gail Pan … Gail Pan Designs

May … Anna … Thimbleanna

June … Pam Viera-McGinnis … PamKittyMorning

July … Sarah Fielke … TheLastPiece

August … Bari J … BariJ

September … Amy Ellis … Amy’s Creative Side

October … Amanda … Mrs McPorkChop

November … Emily Cier … Carolina Patchworks

December … Liz Hawkins & Beth Hawkins … Lizzie B girls

January Block “Snow Bird”
by Roseann Kermes of Rosebud’s Cottage
(photo by Roseann Kermes)

Let’s get this party started! Head over to the Aurifil blog to download the January block from Roseann. And while you’re there, be sure to read the interview with Roseann. She’s a very creative and inspiring woman!

Melisa

P.S. Be sure to call the shop to sign up for the “getting started” class and The Stitcherhood meeting!

My friend, Sherri Falls, is hosting “Mystery Monday’s” on her blog. The second mystery just started this week so you still have time to catch up. This mystery project has a holiday theme and you’ll have plenty of time to get it done by Christmas…if you keep up! (Click the picture to go to Sherri’s blog.)

And you can always go back and do Sherri’s first mystery, too. All of the parts are still on her blog, but I don’t know how long she’ll leave them up…check it out before it’s gone! Don’t peek at the last clue if you don’t want to see what it looks like!

Have fun, and please share your completed projects with me (and Sherri!) if you make the mysteries.

Melisa

I don’t know about you, but my Santa always does better when he has a list to shop from! So we’ve made it extra easy for your Santa to shop at Sweet Home this year. Just download a copy of our Holiday Wish List, fill it out, and leave it for your Santa to find (or be very up front and hand it over with directions on how to get to Sweet Home Quilt Co.!) You may even leave a copy with us and we’ll keep it on file for friends and relatives who may be shopping for you also!

Click here to download a pdf version of the Holiday Wish List.

Did you know you can also complete a Wish List online at our website? The details on how to set it up and how your Santa can make purchases from it are here (scroll all the way to the bottom of the page). Shopping at Sweet Home Quilt Co. has never been easier!

Melisa

Just because it’s only 16 days until Christmas doesn’t mean you can’t make this cute quilt from Clothworks, which features their 12 Days fabric collection. After all, there’s always next year!

Clothworks’ 12 Days quilt, designed by Sharon Sowell, is perfect for this time of year. The cheerful stars and fun center block are sure to brighten up your holiday decor. You’ll find the free pattern for this project and a cute runner from Clothworks here.

This pattern uses Clothworks’ holiday collection, also named 12 Days. We still have the collection in stock, and remember, all of our Christmas fabrics will be 50% off during our Holiday Open House this Saturday, Dec 11th. You’ll be ahead of the game for next year!!!

Melisa

I am a fan of Crabapple Hill patterns, and have been collecting black and tan fabrics for a while so I could do their Over the River and Through the Woods pattern. I enjoy stitchery, and I adore black with anything so this is right up my alley! I know I’ve been collecting black and tan fabrics for well over a year, but for some reason never felt that I was at a point where I had collected enough fabrics and could actually begin this project. I was continually on the hunt to add to my stash of black and tan fabrics so that “some day” I could make this project.  While continuing the ongoing battle to organize my sewing studio, I found several piles of black and tan fabrics which I corralled all in one basket.  Holy Cow! I had enough black and tan fabrics to make three of these quilts!!!

BUT don’t think that stopped me from gathering some of the Cambridge Square fabric line from Northcott to add to the project bin. This fabric collection is perfect for this quilt – guess I’ll just have to eliminate some of the others I’ve already purchased so I can work these into the mix.  Or perhaps there is another black and tan quilt in my future. I know my friend Debbie is working on a black and tan version of Pat’s new pattern called Scrappy Nines and it is stunning.  Hmmm…the wheels are turning! Any suggestions?

P.S.   Northcott also has a free pattern download here using the Cambridge Square fabric collection.

All of my Christmas shopping has been done for a while, thanks to the convenience of round-the-clock availability of the internet.  If there is one thing I hate it is going out to shop, but put me in front of the computer with a good search engine and I can do some shopping! The only real shopping I do each year is for the grandies, and they always have a very detailed wish list so shopping for them is easy. But I also like to give little tokens to lots of other people and those are usually something handmade. I thought I had everything and everyone on the list covered, but last night I realized there were a couple of people I had forgotten. So first thing this morning I was roaming through the shop looking for quickie projects that I could get made in a hurry. I came up with a couple that I thought I’d share with you, just in case you have a few last minute gift needs, too.

Here’s a quick apron project made from the tablerunner panel of the Moda Merry & Bright fabric line.  The kits ($15.99) will make either a tablerunner (you add backing) or this cute and quick little apron. All you have to do is hem the sides and one long edge, gather the other long edge and apply the waistband ties. The panel comes with a choice of edge colors – red, teal or green.  These kits are available in the shop or online.

 Here’s another quickie little gift that I can highly recommend – Potato Baker bags! I was given a set of these as a gift for my birthday, and I have used them over and over since then. If you want the convenience of microwave baked potatoes with the taste of oven-baked, then you need these bags. I use mine at least once a week, and trust me the potatoes taste just like you baked them for an hour in the oven…and it only takes minutes in the microwave.  These will be terrific gifts for teachers, newspaper carriers, your hair dresser or anyone you want to remember with just a little something.

Here’s a download of our instructions for the Potato Bakers.  Hope you enjoy making these, and don’t forget to make some for yourself!  Ummm, I think we’ll have Baked Potatoes for dinner tonight!

Melisa