Sweet Home Quilt Co.

Just in time for Easter, our very own Jo Beth Simons has another project being featured on McCall’s website! Baskets and Bunnies is an adorable wallhanging that will bring a smile to every face. Available exclusively at Sweet Home Quilt Co. while supplies last, the kit for this adorable project is $42.50 and includes fabrics as shown for quilt top and binding, plus full pattern; backing is not included.  Finished size is 31″ x 44″.  Available here.

The latest fabric collection from Karen Montgomery is called Counterpoint by Timeless Treasures. Soft and contemporary in soothing tones of blue and white, the patterns are mirror images in just the two colors.

We also have a quilt kit from these fabrics that just may be my most favorite sample we’ve ever done!  The quilt itself is so fresh and clean looking, and our sample has been beautifully machine quilted by local longarm quilter Ardis Young. Reflections is 60″x80″ with a gently scalloped border. Kit is $69.99, available here.

Each year as one of their primary community service projects, Gwinnett Quilters Guild members make quilts for children that are patients at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta – Scottish Rite Hospital.  When a child (ages birth to 18 yrs.) arrives for major surgery, long term treatment, or other serious illnesses, they are given a quilt to keep; something to comfort them during a very difficult time. Typically, guild members donate more than 200 quilts to this effort each year.

On Saturday we hosted a Kids Sew 4 Kids event at the shop with a local Girl Scout troop and members of the guild. We had five young ladies, and twice that many guild members helping out. The guild committee provided pre-cut quilt kits, and the girls made the blocks and sewed the tops together. In addition to helping the girls, the guild members also worked on donation tops, too. I think there were 10 or 12 quilt tops completed! I managed to get a few shots of the group hard at work and a couple of the finished tops, too.

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, and some terrific quilt tops were made for a great cause. Now the Just 4 You committee members will quilt and bind all the tops for donation to the hospital in May. Thanks to everyone who turned out to support this effort!

Melisa

With a nod to the Academy Awards tonight, check out this fun quiz at Blogthings.  Here’s what they said about me:

You Would Win Best Actor / Actress

You are confident and talented. When it’s time for you to shine, you step up. You have a strong personality. You love attention, and you can command an audience of any size. You tend to be a bit obsessive. You’re the perfect person to immerse yourself in a big role. You’re both empathetic and expressive. You understand and communicate well.

Thank you for this honor. I wish to thank my loyal followers….

Which Oscar would you bring home?

Melisa

Considering that it is now NOON(!) and I’m still in my PJs, I’m declaring today a “Pajama Day!” I couldn’t even muster up the energy for church or Sunday School this morning, so I’ve been lazing around, drinking coffee and catching up on my emails and blogs. I am waaaayyy behind on reading/commenting on blog posts so maybe I’ll be able to make a dent and get caught up today.

Busy, busy week for me. We’re frantically trying to get ready for a couple of shows (more on this later), not to mention Shop Hop , which is right around the corner. There are samples to be made, kits to be cut,  booth plans and Shop Hop theme decorations to plan…the list just goes on and on. I also spent three days in South Alabama with my mom and step-dad. She had surgery on Tuesday (she’s doing great – thanks to everyone who has asked about her!) and since my step-dad has Alzheimer’s, she needed a little extra help. It was good to see them both, and I’m thankful both are doing as well as they are. I must say that I commend every individual who is a nurse or caregiver – it is an exhausting job, both mentally and physically, and I am really thankful that there are people who enjoy doing it. I know that I do not have it in me to do it for any length of time.

I came rushing back home late Thursday night so that I could deliver kits and orders to members of Silver Thimble Quilt Club in Grayson. This weekend was their regular meeting date, although sans Mother Superior, who is still recovering from having her leg chopped off, as she puts it! The Thimbles had a “working weekend” where they worked to get caught up on various projects instead of a featured project. The backing fabrics for January’s Pinwheel Parade project finally arrived from Andover Fabrics, so I had all those kits to deliver. It is so much fun to see all these ladies enjoying themselves and their friends, doing something they love. The energy in that room is palpable and so real and genuine. I wish everyone could experience the feeling (contact Pat if you’d like to join the local Silver Thimble Quilt Club.)

We had a busy, busy day at the shop Saturday hosting a charity quilting event with a local Girl Scout Troop and Gwinnett Quilters Guild Just 4 You members. I’ll have a separate post on this event later today so stay tuned – lots of great quilting happened yesterday at Sweet Home!

So, although I had planned to get out to a couple of antique shops this afternoon to look for Shop Hop props and decorations, I realized that I truly needed a Pajama Day to catch my breath after this whirlwind week! That doesn’t mean I’ll be doing nothing today, though! In addition to getting caught up on my emails and blog reading, I’ve got several blog posts in mind to share with you, an email newsletter to prepare for you with updates on news and events at SHQC, and planning for next week (I’m a big believer in planning – it’s the only way I get anything done!) I’ve also been working on our Shop Hop quilt design in EQ6. I am not really a proficient EQ6 user, yet, so there’s definately a learning curve slowing me down. I drew the initial design layout the old fashioned way – on graph paper – but now I want to tweak the design and don’t want to have to re-draw every design element when my ideas don’t pan out. This project has to have top priority today. We can’t make the quilt until the design is finalized (duh!) and then it still has to be sent off to a longarm quilter, and Shop Hop is only 6 weeks away. Yikes. I’m done here…off to do more quilt designing.

I hope you’re having a great Sunday afternoon, pajama day or not!

Melisa

It’s been a while since I’ve shared show and tell projects from our customers so I thought I’d get caught up a little. We’ve seen some really beautiful and thoughtful projects coming through that just have to be shared!

This is Nicole showing her Blooming 9-Patch that she entered into her guild’s “green” challenge. The colors and fabrics Nicole used in her quilt represent the earth’s sustainable resources – water, trees, grass, etc. But the quilting is the most amazing part of this project! She quilted the center as a “globe” of the Earth, quilting the continents, and throughout the quilt she had quilted leaves and other natural elements. Around the outside she quilted footprints, representing the human “footprint” being left on the earth through our use and misuse of the earth’s resources. It is truly an amazing quilt, with a lot of “green” thought in its design.

Judy (L) brought in this t-shirt quilt to share with us which she made for her boss whose husband had died. The quilt is made with the husband’s Harley Davidson t-shirts and I had helped Judy pick out the sashing and background fabrics a while back. The quilt turned out terrific and is a true keepsake for the family. The quilt pattern is Quilted to a “T” by Little Black Dog Quilt Co.

Bernie (L) and Rose (R) are in our Beginning Quilting class, and this is their first piecing effort! They did not know each other before the class began and chose their fabrics independent of each other. I’d say they have the same tastes, you think!?!?! This Beginner Quilting class has been so much fun, the peals of laughter coming from upstairs each Saturday afternoon have everyone commenting on what a great time they must be having!

This is Bernie, too, with a banner project that she offered to make for her church. She’s not letting any grass grow under her feet! Her enthusiasm and new-found love of quilting are an inspiration to all of us each time she enters the shop! Keep it up, Bernie!

We love Show & Tell at Sweet Home so bring those projects in to share! I often say that I have to quilt vicariously through my customers since my quilting time is so severely limited! I love seeing what you’ve created.

Melisa

This is Mellie, who recently began working part-time with us at Sweet Home, surrounded by the barbershop quartet her sweet husband arranged to serenade her on Valentine’s Day. Actually, they came to the shop on Friday afternoon and surprised her! I had plotted planned this surprise with her husband all week, and I was really afraid we wouldn’t be able to pull it off! I had assigned Mellie to “sample duty” so she’d be upstairs sewing when they showed up and we’d be able to get them in place before she saw them. Lin (her husband) had warned me that Mellie “didn’t like to be sung to in restaurants and stuff” so I was a little afraid of what her reaction might be. The tears flowed, though, and she said “I think this is the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard of!” Good job, Lin! You’re definately in the running for “Husband of the Year!” based on this effort!

Hope your Valentine’s Day was filled with lots of sweet, special moments!

Melisa

I spent an enjoyable afternoon visiting with my friend Pat, who had her second (!) knee replacement surgery last Monday.  I took dinner over and managed to catch her in between “meds” and we were able to visit for a while. She’s doing really well, all things considered. She was helping Suzanne (no blog!) make price tags for her antiques booth when I got there.  It was fun catching up – I cannot tell you how many times I’ve picked up the phone this week to call Pat to tell her something or discuss something with her only to remember that she was incapacited! It will be interesting to see if she remembers any of our conversation this afternoon!

As always, Pat had wisdom to share so I’ll leave you with this little tidbit – did you know PEAS ARE BETTER THAN CORN?!?!?!   Let’s see if Pat remembers this profound statement in a couple of weeks! It may become her new mantra!

Melisa (who also made a quick stop at the antiques mall on the way home and picked up some great goodies for our Shop Hop theme!)

It’s not like I don’t have loads of fat quarters at my fingertips – we just went through nearly 8000 during Fat Quarter Frenzy, remember! Anyway, I just couldn’t resist joining Darci’s swap, especially since I requested an international swap partner! I love getting unique fabrics that I might not have access to – and although I’d really love to, I certainly can’t carry every fabric at Sweet Home! I’m hoping I’ll get some unique fabrics to add to my ever-growing stash!

If you’d like to play, too, you have until Feb. 11th to sign up. Go on over to Darci’s blog and join up! I know it’s going to be fun!

Melisa

Forget Punxsatawny Phil and the thermometer, which currently reads 32° at 5PM (!!!), this is what I found when I parked my car this morning at the shop!  Poor babies will probably freeze tonight, but they were valiantly standing tall this morning (when it was like 18° I think!).

I’m pining for some warmer weather…

Melisa