Sweet Home Quilt Co.

If you’re planning to be in New York City this spring, you must make time to visit the American Folk Art Museum which has declared this the Year of the Quilt, a celebration of our unique art form and three centuries of creativity from American quilters. Numerous quilt exhibits will be on display for much of the year, including the current exhibition “Quilts: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum,” which highlights the best of the museum’s textile collection. This exhibit will be in place through April 24, 2011.

In March, a special exhibit of more than 650 red and white quilts entitled “Infinite Variety: Three Centuries of Red and White Quilts,” will mark the largest quilt exhibition ever to be displayed in New York. And best of all, the exhibit is FREE and open to the public!

I strongly encourage you to grab a couple of quilting friends and plan a quilty weekend in NYC!

Melisa

Smokey River
Finished size ~ 75” x 97”

The sample is finished and has been sent off to the quilter, and we now have kits available. Smokey River (pattern by Whirligig Designs) features Stonehenge fabrics and Stonehenge Stone Strips by Northcott. Kit includes pre-cut 2 1/2′” strips and three coordinating fabrics for the top, binding and original pattern. Quilt requires 5 3/4 yards of backing fabric (not included in kit).

Melisa

Bounty of Blues
Designed by Mellie Watts
Machine Quilted by Elaine Poore of Pooregirl’s Quilt Co.

We’re so excited! Our Mellie has a quilt published in McCall’s Quick Quilts in the April/May 2011 issue! Not only that, but it was also machine quilted by Elaine, who quilts 99% of our shop samples. The magazine hasn’t even hit the stands yet, but I’m sure if you stop by the shop when you get a copy Mellie would be happy to autograph it for you! (She’s here Tuesdays and Thursdays and some Saturdays.) The magazine also has an ‘I Spy’ version of the quilt, which is fun, too!

Melisa

Doris stopped by the shop late last week to share her Sister’s Choice quilt with us. The quilt is made with the ‘cool’ colorway of Stonehenge in blues and greens with a narrow black sashing…it is really stunning! And Doris’ custom quilting design is fabulous as well…I wish I’d thought to get a picture of the back so you could see her lovely quilting. Great job, Doris! I know you’re glad to have this one behind you, but the result was truly worth all the hassle!

Last Saturday was the beginning of our Quilting Fundamentals for Beginners class. We have five enthusiastic students taking part in the class. We spent the first class session learning about the necessary tools and how to use the rotary cutter and rulers. The homework for this week was to have their strips cut to make nine-patches for their quilt.

In today’s class we mastered the 1/4” seam allowance, and made the strip sets necessary to make the nine patches for their quilt. Each of the ladies got one nine patch completed in class…

Didn’t they do a great job? They all left feeling better about the sewing and cutting process and anxious to get their nine patch homework done for next week. We’ll move on to the Monkey Wrench blocks next week.

I love teaching beginners to love quilting like I do!!!!

Melisa

June used the techniques she’s been learning in Groovy Girls to create her own designer look-alike tote bag. Great job, June!

Evelyn shared several quilts she recently finished including the cute trees quilt and an Asian-inspired quilt made for her son-in-law.  She also shared her beautiful completed Blooming 9-Patch with its backing pieced from the leftover fabrics (below)…love it!

Great job, ladies! Thanks for sharing with us…

Melisa

Sew…how cute would this be on your Super Bowl table to put the chips and dips and wings on? It’s made using the Easy Striped Table Runner pattern, a 60 degree triangle ruler, and a cute football stripe fabric…just five seams and some quick straight line quilting and it will be on your Game Day table in no time! Complete kits for this version are available ($15.99) as well as others using really great stripes!

I’ll bet even the male football fans in your house would be impressed!

Will Punxsutawney Phil see his shadow tomorrow? Folks have been tracking that crazy groundhog and his shadow since 1886! The record shows he has seen his shadow 98 times, has not seen his shadow 15 times, and for 10 years his prediction is unknown.

Here is Phil’s prognostication record if you’re interested…

As the story goes, if he sees his shadow then that means six more weeks of winter weather. And if he doesn’t, spring will come early. We’re remaining optimistic, but either way, you win!

• If he DOES see his shadow you can take 25% off any one regular price item.

• If he DOESN’T see his shadow you can still get a great deal with 15% off any one regular price item.

This deal is good for Groundhog Day only (Wednesday, Feb. 2nd) in the shop or online. Online shoppers please enter code PHIL2011 in the Comments section of the shopping cart to receive your discount. We will adjust the order total before processing your credit card.

And if that wasn’t enough fun for you, why not bake a Groundhog Cake to celebrate!  I ran across this link this morning and thought "what a fun idea!" This isn’t normally a holiday most people celebrate, but this cake is so cute how could anyone resist?  Click here for the recipe. Enjoy!

Happy Groundhog Day!

Melisa