Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Treasures from Gramma {Photo Heavy}

As promised I took photos of the box of treasures my aunt included with my Gramma's sewing machine.


There are three embroidery hoops to add to my collection. I have several ideas for ways to use these other than they way they were intended to be used. Hopefully someday I'll actually implement one of these ideas.

The ziploc bag along the side contains some tatting done by my great grandmother, Bernice (my grandfather's mom).


According to my aunt she was a prolific tatter. My favorite is the white with yellow flowers. I hope that someday some of it will end up in something I make.

This is a runner. It is folded in half. Both halves are identical.


This is a pillow case. There are two of these. Never used. They were folded neatly and tied with a ribbon. Probably meant to be a gift. I bet these were from her stash of handmade items just waiting for the right occasion to be gifted.


Not many folks, if any, use these pillowcases any more. I would like to cut the embroidery part out, add a border and make them into smaller pillows for a sofa or chair. Someday.

These are some counted cross stitch houses. No clue what I'll do with these.



At the bottom of the box there were a few dish towels that she hadn't got around to doing anything with yet. A couple were machine appliqued but most are blank waiting to be embellished. And then there is this box of floss. 


Look closely at the photo above. The bottom right corner contains some pre-printed labels.


Anything I make from these items will get one of these labels.

Lastly there was this little guy.


He stands about 2.5" tall. I assume he is a Christmas ornament. I'll add him to our ornament box at some point. For now he will watch over things in my sewing room.

There is one more treasure to show you. I don't have a photo of it yet. I decided to wait to take a picture after it has had some repair work. It is a framed sampler. I took it Saturday to the frame shop for some TLC. When it is spruced up I'll photograph it.


Monday, January 25, 2016

Alamosa Quilt Company Update

Just a quick post to show a few store photos. We've started entering the fabric into inventory and cutting fat quarters.

We received a group of dot fabrics.


These below are all wide backs, two of which are flannel. I've never seen flannel wide backs any where else so I just got two to see how we like them.


The fat quarter cubbies are starting to fill up.


We have a lot more fabric to process and more is arriving almost daily. I realized on Friday that opening is only a few weeks away and had a mini panic attack surveying all the work that needs to happen before we open. Luckily I have fantastic employees and friends who are willing to help. It will all get done.

If you would like to receive our newsletter please go to the store website: Alamosa Quilt Company. Depending on the size of your monitor and how you have your browser set, you may need to scroll down a bit to get to the newsletter sign-up form. It is located on the main page. The link above will take you there.

The first issue will go out later this week!


Thursday, January 21, 2016

My "New" Machine

Yesterday I traveled to Colorado Springs to meet my Aunt and Uncle who brought me my Gramma's sewing machine and a few other treasures. My aunt believes she was purchased in the 1960s.


They included the cover my Gramma made for her!



Look at all those feet! And lots of bobbins. These feet and bobbins will fit my other "new" machine too. 

I'm looking forward to sewing with her later today!

I will photograph the other treasures over the weekend so I can show them to you next week. 


Monday, January 18, 2016

Alamosa Quilt Company Update

I wish I had some sewing to show you but I haven't been doing any sewing lately. I've worked almost every weekday at the store getting ready for the up-coming opening.



As you can see by the photos above, notions are now up on the walls. All of the notions have been entered into the computer and priced, but we ran out of hooks to hang everything up. More hooks have been ordered.


Friday, January 15, 2016

Frosty Trees

We had some snow last week which gave way to some foggy mornings. When it is cold the fog clings to the trees and makes everything look white and frosty for a few hours before the sun chases it away.


These photos were taken last Sunday. It was a little windy that morning. If you look closely you can see a little of the snow/frost falling from the trees. In person, it looks a like fairy dust to me.

The sky was so very blue that morning. It makes a nice contrast with the white trees.


Unfortunately there is not much sewing going on at my house these days. On the other hand progress is being made at my soon-to-open shop, Alamosa Quilt Company. I don't have any more shop photos for you yet. Mainly what I've been doing this week is entering the products we've received thus far into inventory so that they can be sold. It's pretty boring and there isn't anything to photograph. I'll try to have some photos for you next week though.


Monday, January 11, 2016

More Wild & Goosey Units Plus AQC Update

I've made a few more Wild & Goosey units.


I need 16 for a block for my flying geese sampler. I'm making 8 with light "sky" fabric around the geese and 8 with dark "sky" fabric around the geese. I will set them without sashing to make a 12" finished size block.

Alamosa Quilt Company Update:

The classroom is mostly ready to go. I still need to cover the design wall with batting, but the batting is now here so that will happen soon.


The cutting table is ready for customers.


The chair shelf turned out great. A selection of batiks is modeling for you.




Friday, January 8, 2016

Small Peak

I have been working on my guild challenge. I can only give you a sneak peak for now because the challenge won't be revealed until mid-April.


The challenge hasn't even been given yet, but since I'm in charge this year I know what it will be. *wink* I plan to have it finished before the end of this month. Since I hope the store will open next month, I wanted to get this project done before then.


Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Wild & Goosey

I seem to be in a flying geese phase. At least these geese are larger than the last ones I made!

I am putting together a flying geese sampler block of the month for my scrap group. One of the blocks we will do is the Wild & Goosey block. Here is my first unit:


These units finish at 3" and are paper pieced. The pattern is by Bonnie Hunter. You can download the paper piecing pattern and print them out four per sheet.


I pulled out my packet of Carol Doak printer-ready paper piecing paper and printed out a few sheets.

All of the information for this pattern can be found by clicking this link which will take you to Bonnie's website.

Click here for the link to print out the paper piecing patterns, it's the last one listed on this page.

I'd love to make a whole quilt with these blocks but we'll see how far I get. A couple of blocks may be enough for me.

For future reference for me: the light triangles are 2" squares cut on the diagonal (3 squares per unit); the geese are 2.5" squares cut on the diagonal (5 geese triangles per unit); the side triangles are 3" squares cut on the diagonal (1 square per unit).


Monday, January 4, 2016

Insanely Small Flying Geese and AQC Update

I saw a photo over the weekend on my Facebook feed of a project similar to this. I realized that I had everything I needed to make one, so I did.


I used my Wing Clipper ruler to make the flying geese. They finish at 0.5" by 1". I have a few more key chain kits so I may make more, but making this one seemed to get it out of my system for now.

Alamosa Quilt Company Update:

The boxes have been opened!



Two of the four rolling shelving units also have fabric on them but I didn't get them in either of these photos.

I wanted to get all the fabric out so I could see what I have because another fabric rep. is coming to visit later this week. I don't want to order things too similar to what I already have.