Sweet Home Quilt Co.

Just in time for Halloween, the winner of last week’s Friday Favorite Spooky Ghost kit is:

1. Diana Says:
   October 23rd, 2009 at 6:26 PM What a great wall hanging. I have a wall that needs covering. Would love to ave an entire year to finish, should be enough time.

Diana, I don’t have an email for you so you’ll need to contact me with your snail mail address so I can get your kit off to you. Congratulations!

We’ve started to do a little preparation for end of year inventory, and we’re finding stuff we didn’t know we still had – great stuff, too! We never want to count more than we have to at inventory time, so I’ll be giving away some of these “finds” over the next few weeks so they’ll have new homes before we have to do inventory! Thus, the Friday Favorite this week is an oldie, but goodie!

It was a “treat” (get it, Halloween = treat – never mind!) to find a box of kit leftovers of Moda’s Shangri La collection from 3 Sisters. I think this line was from about 18 months ago and we had put aside some charm packs and yardage for extra kits that somehow got shoved to the back of the shelf; I don’t even remember what the kit was now.  Not quite vintage, just a little aged (but not nearly as old as some of the stuff in my stash!) and it blends perfectly with the newest 3 Sisters collection, Glacè, which we still have in stock.

The Friday Favorite giveaway this week is for not one, but two charm packs and a one-and-a-quarter-yard cut of the large focus print as shown above. Enough for a small project, but you could always add to it from the Glacè line if you want to make something bigger – I’m telling you the two collections are perfect together!

Here’s how the giveaway works – help us spread the word and get more chances to win!

• Leave a comment for one entry.
• Leave a comment and post about our giveaway on your blog and receive 3 entries.
• Leave a comment and add us to your blogroll and receive 5 entries.

Remember to leave a link to your blog and/or an email address so we can contact you if you win! I’ll announce the winner in the next Friday Favorite post!

What could be better than new flannel pj’s? How about a flannel rag quilt to go with?

Made with the Jingles Christmas flannel collection by Minick and Simpson for Moda, we have pre-cut rag quilt kits for $74.99, and pre-cut batting squares, too, for $18.99 – all you have to do is SEW!  Easily made in an afternoon since we’ve done all the cutting for you. Quilt measures approximately 47×68, a perfect snuggle size for the sofa! Quick to make for Christmas gifts, too!

Notice the little boy’s flannel pj’s in the picture? I do not sew garments, so I asked my mom to sew up a sample of the little boy’s and little girl’s pajamas from Indygo Junction’s Jack and Jill Jammies pattern.  Also made with the Jingles Christmas flannel, they are sized just right for my grandies, Hayden and Haylee, so they’ll get them for Christmas! While not as quick to make as the rag quilt kit, these pj’s would be fun gifts for any kid at Christmas! (click the photo at right to see an enlarged image of the pattern.) Pattern is $14.99 and includes boys and girls sizes 4 thru 12.

It’s not too early to be making those Christmas gifts. Visit the shop soon to see more gift ideas and Christmas fabrics for inspiration!

First, let me apologize for being late with this week’s Friday Favorite. My back is giving me fits and sitting at the computer has been almost impossible. This will be short and sweet.

The winner of last week’s Friday Favorite book, Designer Quilts: Great Projects from Moda’s Best Fabric Artists, is #10:

1. Leisa Says:
   October 19th, 2009 at 9:15 PM edit o.k let try this again, i did not win the fabric last week. so let see how this one will go. Another 1-800-GOT-TO HAVE IT. i am a big fan of moda.

Congratulations, Leisa! I’ll send you an email!

This week’s Friday Favorite is one of my favorite kits that we’ve done this year, and while it will be too late for this Halloween, you’ll have a head start on next Halloween! We only have a few of these left, so I thought I’d give one away!

This little kit includes everything you need to make this adorable wallhanging (except the thread). The ghost, stars and moon are wool, while the background, borders, binding and backing are cotton fabrics. It works up quickly and is just sooooo cute!

You know the drill, leave a comment on this post before I post next week’s Friday Favorite and you could be the winner!

I’m off to commune with my heating pad … hope you have a quilty weekend!

Happy Anniversary to the love of my life! I am thankful that you are a man of values and that you have passed those values on to our sons, who have all become fine young men. I am thankful for your love and support in everything that I do, even when you don’t necessarily agree! You make me a better person every single day!

‘BACK’ SOON!

These are a few of the pictures I took of quilts while antique shopping with my Mom on our recent trip. Lots of color and pattern inspiration here!

I’m a sucker for black and white anyway, and this black and white toile was stunning combined with the brightness of the blue. Notice the really worn and threadbare border fabric – I think it was black at one point.

Tiny one inch hexagons in velvet! Never a fan of Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilts, I really really like the non-traditional settings.

Love me some red and cheddar!

I had to force myself to walk away from this one! This log cabin variation was in pristine condition – just look at the hand quilting!!! Fortunately, or unfortunately, it also had a ‘pristine’ price tag!

Tattered and worn, but oh, the many hours of work in this Cathedral Window.

I suspect the tan pieces were once green.

Not very attractive colors, but the Improved 9-Patch has always been one of my favorite patterns.

Love the funky borders on this one!

A nice scrappy string-type variation, but the double-pink setting blocks are what really caught my eye!

Don’t you wish you knew the stories behind these old quilts?

I mentioned before that I wanted to be more creative with my photography, and so one of the goals for this trip was to try to really stretch myself beyond my usual point-and-shoot pictures. I tried to look at things with an eye toward color and texture and shape. See what you think …

Sorry, I should have warned you that this was a picture-heavy post! I’m learning that pictures can tell a story without being posed; I think it is intriguing to see just a bit and be left to fill in the blanks from your own experiences. With a lot of these, I’d just take a couple of shots without taking time to really see what I was actually capturing, and while I deleted a lot, there were a lot that I was just really pleased with! I’m also learning that not every picture has to be cropped to death! I didn’t crop any of these and the extraneous ‘stuff’ just seems to add to the background story, I think! I so need to take a real photography class, but I’m having fun experimenting on my own!

Hope you enjoyed the visual travelogue! I’ll share some quilty inspiration next!

Last weekend, I rented a cabin from my friends Laura and Rita, who own Log Cabin Patchworks, and took my Mom off to the mountains for a couple of days.  She wanted to “see the leaves” so off we went in search of a little fall color. It was a little early for leaf-turning, unfortunately, but we had a wonderful three days together anyway.  It rained a good bit of the time, but we didn’t let that deter us from our adventure. We did a lot of antique-shopping, and quilt shop hopping, and there was lots of yummy food. I didn’t take anything quilty to work on, but I did manage to read two books in between several (!!) long naps. The weather was mostly cool and rainy so it was perfect for afternoons on the sofa with a good book and a warm quilt.

I brought my camera along on the trip because I was determined to capture some inspiration a la Roseanne. I am always amazed at the photos that she features on her blog – she’s so creative and sees just ordinary things with such a creative eye – so I paid a lot of attention to her ‘approach’ while visiting with her this past summer in Minneapolis.  As I worked on resizing the photos I took last weekend, I was transported right back to the places we’d been so I guess I must be getting better! Thanks, Roseanne, for inspiring me!

Our first day was spent enjoying the many quaint shops of Dahlonega.  The shops were all decked out with fall decorations, and the antique shopping there is unparalleled in my opinion. I could have spent the entire trip here!

Notice Santa hiding in the bushes, just waiting for Halloween to pass so it will be his turn!

Loved these pepper swags – I’m sure they came from someone’s local garden!

We enjoyed a late lunch at the Smith House, which is a family dining style restaurant, famous for their yummy food. As you can see from my plate, I enjoyed it tremendously! The fried chicken was perfectly cooked, and the vegetables were fresh, not frozen or canned. I’ll confess that this was not the only plate for me – oh my goodness, I didn’t think I’d be able to eat for a week!!!  (Trust me, that didn’t last long!)

Our last day was spent in Blue Ridge and Ellijay, doing more of the same – eating, shopping and enjoying the local flavor!

This was a beautiful “inner-city” garden right in the middle of downtown Blue Ridge. I took the picture through the bars of a black wrought iron fence, and I think the stairs probably led up to someone’s apartment.

Remember, I said I probably wouldn’t be able to eat for a week after the Smith House meal? Not true! Just look at the meringue on this pie! But I did only eat a half a sandwich before starting on this yumminess, so I wasn’t totally bad, right?

We didn’t buy pumpkins this trip, but we did get some fresh apples. I had planned to make an apple pie and maybe an apple crisp when I got back home, but the apples have been totally consumed out of hand, they were so crisp and so fresh! Nothing like fresh North Georgia apples to signify that fall is here!

It had been several years since I had been able to spend any length of time with my Mom, it is just so difficult to get away since I have the quilt shop, and I’ll admit that I resisted this trip, too. I always seem to have so much to do that I thought I couldn’t take the time, but I am so glad that I did. We enjoyed each other’s company tremendously and I came back rested and re-energized – it was just the tonic I needed! Mom has promised to come back in the spring for a repeat trip, and I’m going to hold her to it!

This post has gotten so long I think I’ll finish up later – stay tuned!

Welcome to this week’s Friday Favorite! First things first, though, I need to announce the winner of last week’s Friday Favorite, which was this yummy Aunt Grace 30′s print:

Using the trusty random number generator at random.org, the winner is #6,

Mary on Lake Pulaski Says:

1. October 9th, 2009 at 8:48 PM This is such cute fabric and could be used in so many fun ways. Thanks for having a give away.

Congrats, Mary! Send me your snail mail address and I’ll get a yard of this yumminess in the mail to you!

Everyone knows I love MODA anything! so this week’s Friday Favorite is a book called Designer Quilts: Great Projects from Moda’s Best Fabric Artists, published by Kansas City Star Books.

In this unique book, nineteen of Moda’s star fabric designers are brought together to share their lives, talents, and 12 beautiful quilts along with 4 special projects created just for this book. The designers’ biographies and photos offer an unusual behind-the-scenes look at the faces behind the fabrics.  Some of the designers include Alma Allen & Barb Adams, Lynne Hagmeier, Jan Patek, Laurie Simpson and Terry Clothier Thompson to name just a few. Here are some of the featured projects in the book:

This is a terrific book, very interesting to read about the designers, and the projects are enticing, too!

You know the drill – leave a comment before Friday, Oct 23, and you could win a copy of this great book for your quilting library. Mention the giveaway on your blog and leave another comment that you’ve done so and I’ll put your name in the hat a second time! Remember, I have to have a way to contact you if you win so be sure to put your blog address or your email address in your comment!

I’ve taught Eleanor Burns’ Day & Night quilt several times lately, and I wanted to share some of the blocks that have been made in those classes. I love this technique  because it looks so difficult but it is soooo easy to do! And the different fabric choices all have different end results!

I think Nancy is the only one who has finished her top to date:

I can’t wait to see the others completed! Get busy ladies so we can have a Day & Night class reunion!