Sweet Home Quilt Co.

Wishing you a blessed Easter with family and friends.

Melisa, Mike & the SHQC Staff

(image from The Graphics Fairy)

I love it when I come across a new product that makes my quilting life easier and comes from a quality company…hot off the Big Brown Truck today:

In a nutshell, Lapel Stick is a glue stick for fabrics; no messy tips to clog up and completely portable. It’s a temporary non-toxic fabric adhesive that goes on quickly and dries clear for Quilting, Sewing, Crafting, and Embroidery – no need for basting stitching, pinning, tapes, spray adhesives, and stabilizers. My favorite part? It won’t gum up your needles or machines! I’ve tried other fabric glue sticks and always end up with gummed up needles and sticky fabrics.

Since it is non-staining and safe for everything from leather to cotton to silk, I can think of dozens of uses right off the bat. Perfect for applique – I can’t wait to try it on my wool applique. Use it to tack down the binding on small projects to hold it in place while you stitch it down, and think about how rick rack twists while trying to stitch it – a little Lapel Stick will hold it in place, too! I know you can think of dozens of uses, too!

Lapel Stick has been all over the blog-o-sphere as more and more people are discovering its many uses. Here’s another plus, Sweet Home Quilt Co. is the FIRST shop in Georgia to have this new product! And besides the fact that I think the product is worthwhile, I was impressed with the company’s philanthropy, too. For every Lapel Stick sold, the company donates 30 cents to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation!

The Lapel Stick was recently featured in Canada’s Quilter’s Connection magazine (the product is made by a Canadian company) as a Favorite Find:

and I “sew” agree! Stop by and grab a stick or click here to order online. I’m taking a stick home tonight myself…I plan to do a little wool applique!

Melisa

We’ve had some really awesome customer projects in the shop in the last few weeks…I’m a little behind posting because of Shop Hop, but that just means there are more to enjoy!

This is Kathleen’s crib size quilt from our Day & Night class…love the polka dot and the little sparkle of white! Great job, Kathleen!

Joyce stopped by during Shop Hop and shared this fun Halloween quilt…all hand appliqued!

Another hand appliqued stunner from Joyce…I love this quilt!

Donna made this paper-pieced beauty to raise money for Relay for Life…glorious colors!

Bea is back from an extended stay in her native Denmark, and she brought in a few projects she finished while there…there was too much snow to be out and about so she stayed in and quilted! This star quilt has fussy-cut cabins in the star center which gives it a warm, cozy feeling!

A couple more of Bea’s finished projects…do you see a theme going on here?

June made another Happy Holidays (Atkinson Designs) table topper and brought it by to share…love the colors of this one!

Debbie has been spending time lately organizing her fabric stash, and once she was able to see what she had she pulled fabrics to make this beauty! Everything is from stash…it is much more stunning in person!

Mary brought in this family heirloom to share…be still my heart! Look at the quilting! The quilt is in really good condition, with just a few minor age spots and a few splits in some of the red fabrics.

A couple of close ups…we decided that at least part of the background fabric was feedsacks as there is still some printing visible in a few places. I encouraged Mary to have this quilt appraised…it is a real beauty!

Hope you enjoyed the show…keep bringing in your projects to share!

Melisa

I often pick up things at thrift shops and antique stores that I can use for display pieces, and sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t. I had bought a child’s ironing board a while back at a yard sale, thinking that I could use it somehow in a display. The only problem was that it was covered with an icky check fabric that was filthy, and there seemed to be several layers of padding underneath also. I figured that the top was probably in really bad shape and that is why it had been covered. I tucked it away for a “someday” project.

This morning I decided to rip all the icky fabric off to see what was underneath and if the piece would be actually usable. It took over an hour, and it was a nasty job, but look how cute it is:

Can you see that the top is red? And not a scratch on it! I cannot imagine why anyone would cover up all that cuteness! And this is part of the mess I ripped off and the tools I had to use to do it with:

I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many industrial strength staples, and nails and DUCT TAPE! I don’t think I was meant to remove all that nasty stuff, but I persevered and I am so glad I did. It just goes to show that like books, you can’t judge an ironing board by its cover!