Picnic Day Facebook Live Event

 Tomorrow, Tuesday April 23, 2024, is National Picnic Day!

To celebrate myself and six other shop owner friends have decided to do an online Facebook Live Shop Hop. The way this will work is that each of us will go live on our respective Facebook pages one at a time, starting at 11 am MDT. Each of us will entertain you for about an hour and then send you over to the next shop. The schedule is as follows:

11 am MDT Linda from Kruusn Quilt Shop & Retreat Center

12pm MDT Kristi from My Quilting Loft

1pm MDT Cheryl from Colchester Mill Fabrics & Quilting

2pm MDT Lynn from Alamosa Quilt Company

3pm MDT Georgia from Calico Mermaid

4pm MDT Gail from River's Edge Antiques & Quilt Loft

5pm MDT Michelle from Bound in Stitches

Everyone will be offering a mix of brand new items, clearance items and fun projects. Join us live or watch after the fact. The Picnic Day event videos will be on our respective Facebook pages for several days after the event.

As for my shop, you don't have to watch the Facebook video to get in on the fun. You can just go to my shop website, AlamosaQuiltCompany.com, and click Shop>Picnic Day Facebook Live Event to view all the items I shared in the video and shop.

Note: the link for the event will not be live on my shop website until tomorrow, Tuesday April 23, 2024. I will leave it up through Saturday April 27, 2024.

 I finally have the pattern finished for the shop sample using the new Wild North fabric collection we received recently. I'm calling it Wild North Zoom Meeting. If you've ever attended a Zoom meeting in gallery view then you get it. I was picturing all these animals in their nests and dens on their laptops chatting with each other.

The quilt measures 42" by 50" - a great lap/baby size. It's not quilted yet and thus not bound. The binding will be the same fabric as the inner border. The cost of the kit is $64.99. The kit includes all of the fabrics required to piece the quilt top plus the binding fabric and the pattern. You'll need 1 1/2 yards of fabric for the backing. If you are purchasing the backing from my website then you need to put a quantity of 3 in your cart, which is equivalent to 1 1/2 yards. We will use the Wild North Wildlife in the Mountains Slate for the back of our sample. The pattern is an Alamosa Quilt Company exclusive pattern and not available separately as it was written specifically for this fabric collection by me.

Kits are available both in store and in our online shop, AlamosaQuiltCompany.com.

Wild North Fabric Collection

Wild North Zoom Meeting Quilt Kit

New :: Whimsy Quilt Kit

 While the shop sample is not new, the kits for it are new.

The quilt measures 55" by 55" which is a good lap/wheelchair quilt, large baby quilt, or wall hanging size. The piecing is fairly simple, appropriate for an advanced beginner. The colored fabrics are from a charm pack. You cut the charm squares in half and use a folded corner technique to make four point units required for each block. There is a little sashing in the blocks then the blocks are just sewn together. A small outer border is added from the background fabric so that the design "floats" in the center. The binding fabric is the same fabric used for the little corner stones in the middle of each block.

The kit contains all of the fabrics required to make the top plus the binding fabric and the pattern. The kit is $74.99 and is available both in store and in my online shop.

Whimsy Quilt Kit Whimsy Fabric Collection

Customer Show and Tell :: Nancy's Wild Stallion Quilt

 Nancy has her version of our Wild Stallions kit completely finished! We have two more kits left and not enough of the fabrics to make up more kits. We do still have some of the fabrics on the bolt and have a few more of the panels left in stock.

Note that Nancy opted to get extra fabric and the border print (which we are sold out of) to make a larger version of our kit. If you want to make a larger version like Nancy I suggest you substitute the all-over horse print for the border print. It's called "Stallion Stallions" in our online shop.

The kits and fabrics are available both in store and in our online shop, AlamosaQuiltCompany.com.

To view the kit and fabrics in our online shop click the following link: Stallion fabrics and kit

March Meowness 2024 Winner

  We have a winner of the 2024 March Meowness Contest. Fabric S Cat in the Box Cats & Boxes is the winner!

I thought I would share with you some photos of completed projects using cat fabrics. I have been a collector of cat fabrics since I started quilting in 1995. In 2022 I made a table cloth quilt for myself and family using a variety of cat fabrics that I have collected over the years from various quilt shops I visited.

The backing fabric is also cat fabric. You can see that back and read about the quilt by clicking on the following link: New Table Cloth Quilt You can download a copy of the free pattern I used to make the quilt if you follow the link. I used different size squares for my version because I needed it to fit my table.

I've also made several bags with cat fabrics. These Tourist Totes were made in May 2023.

You can read more about them by following this link: More Tourist Totes

And a customer made this one.

The cat fabric used is fabric M: Puddy Cats Funny Felines which I still have in stock.

Thank you to everyone who played along! I will do the drawing to select the winners of the fat quarter bundles of cat fabrics tomorrow, March 26, 2024. Since I had so many folks play along I decided to choose four winners instead of just one. I'll notify the winners privately tomorrow, Tuesday March 26, 2024.

I had so much fun with this silly little cat fabric contest that I've decided to do something for the Dog Days of Summer. The official dates for that are July 3 - August 11. I haven't decided exactly what we'll do for Dog Days of Summer but it will be something fun and silly like this and will most likely happen the end of July or early August so stay tuned for that.

March Meowness Round 5 - Final Round of Voting

  Time for Round Five in my March Meowness Contest!

Today we are starting with the 2 cat fabrics that survived round four. You need to vote for your favorite 1. The winner will be announced on Monday, March 25, 2024. Every time you vote you get your name in the drawing to win a fat quarter bundle of cat fabrics.

There is no purchase necessary and everyone is welcome to participate, no matter where you live. If you win a prize and you aren't local then you can opt to pay the shipping for me to send you your fat quarters (should be around $4 in the continental US) or I can send you a PDF pattern for free.

You can vote right here by leaving a comment on this post or you can head over to our website, AlamosaQuiltCompany.com, and click on the March Meowness image right at the top of our home page to get our email address, see all the images larger and vote that way. Whatever works best for you is fine. And if you are local, you are welcome to come into the shop, see the fabrics in person and vote in person.

March Meowness Round 4

  Time for Round Four in my March Meowness Contest!

Today we are starting with the 4 cat fabrics that survived round three. You need to vote for your favorite 2. On Friday March 22, 2024 I will post the most popular 2 cat fabrics and you'll need to vote for your favorite 1. We'll keep whittling down the field until we have winner. The winner will be announced on Monday, March 25, 2024. Every time you vote you get your name in the drawing to win a fat quarter bundle of cat fabrics.

There is no purchase necessary and everyone is welcome to participate, no matter where you live. If you win a prize and you aren't local then you can opt to pay the shipping for me to send you your fat quarters (should be around $4 in the continental US) or I can send you a PDF pattern for free.

You can vote right here by leaving a comment on this post or you can head over to our website, AlamosaQuiltCompany.com, and click on the March Meowness image right at the top of our home page to get our email address, see all the images larger and vote that way. Whatever works best for you is fine. And if you are local, you are welcome to come into the shop, see the fabrics in person and vote in person.

March Meowness Round Three

  Time for Round Three in my March Meowness Contest!

Today we are starting with the 8 cat fabrics that survived round two. You need to vote for your favorite 4. On Wednesday March 20, 2024 I will post the most popular 4 cat fabrics and you'll need to vote for your favorite 2. We'll keep whittling down the field until we have winner. The winner will be announced on Monday, March 25, 2024. Every time you vote you get your name in the drawing to win a fat quarter bundle of cat fabrics.

There is no purchase necessary and everyone is welcome to participate, no matter where you live. If you win a prize and you aren't local then you can opt to pay the shipping for me to send you your fat quarters (should be around $4 in the continental US) or I can send you a PDF pattern for free.

You can vote right here by leaving a comment on this post or you can head over to our website, AlamosaQuiltCompany.com, and click on the March Meowness image right at the top of our home page to get our email address, see all the images larger and vote that way. Whatever works best for you is fine. And if you are local, you are welcome to come into the shop, see the fabrics in person and vote in person.

March Meowness Round Two

 Time for Round Two in my March Meowness Contest!

Today we are starting with the 16 cat fabrics that survived round one. You need to vote for your favorite 8. On Monday March 18, 2024 I will post the most popular 8 cat fabrics and you'll need to vote for your favorite 4. We'll keep whittling down the field until we have winner. The winner will be announced on Monday, March 25, 2024. Every time you vote you get your name in the drawing to win a fat quarter bundle of cat fabrics.

There is no purchase necessary and everyone is welcome to participate, no matter where you live. If you win a prize and you aren't local then you can opt to pay the shipping for me to send you your fat quarters (should be around $4 in the continental US) or I can send you a PDF pattern for free.

You can vote right here by leaving a comment on this post or you can head over to our website, AlamosaQuiltCompany.com, and click on the March Meowness image right at the top of our home page to get our email address, see all the images larger and vote that way. Whatever works best for you is fine. And if you are local, you are welcome to come into the shop, see the fabrics in person and vote in person.

March Meowness

 I am declaring March 14 - 25, 2024 as "March Meowness." It's time to put on your thinking cat (if you have one) and vote for your favorite cat fabrics we have in stock in the shop.

Today we are starting with the 24 cat fabrics we have in stock. You need to vote for your favorite 16. On Saturday March 16, 2024 I will post the most popular 16 cat fabrics and you'll need to vote for your favorite 8. We'll keep whittling down the field until we have winner. The winner will be announced on Monday, March 25, 2024. Every time you vote you get your name in the drawing to win a fat quarter bundle of cat fabrics.

There is no purchase necessary and everyone is welcome to participate, no matter where you live. If you win a prize and you aren't local then you can opt to pay the shipping for me to send you your fat quarters (should be around $4 in the continental US) or I can send you a PDF pattern for free.

You can vote right here by leaving a comment on this post or you can head over to our website, AlamosaQuiltCompany.com, and click on the March Meowness image right at the top of our home page to get our email address, see all the images larger and vote that way. Whatever works best for you is fine. And if you are local, you are welcome to come into the shop, see the fabrics in person and vote in person.

Easy Striped Runners

 I received a new shipment of border prints in my shop recently so it was time to make some new shop samples with them. These Easy Striped Table Runners are so much fun to make!

Shown are our two favorite layouts, but the pattern includes instructions for four different layouts as well as some smaller candle mats that you can make with the leftovers.

The pattern is called Easy Striped Table Runner. You can see all the border prints I have by clicking the following link: Border Prints. The two we used for our samples are: Groovy Garden Border Print and Winter Blooms Border Print.

Depending on the layout you choose AND how big you want to make it, you need between 1 and 1 1/2 yards of a border print. On my website I sell regular priced regular width fabrics in half yard increments, so that would mean you need a quantity of 2 or 3 per runner. 

FYI: For both of our samples we used 1 yard of the border print.

Chatsworth Block of the Month

 

Are you looking for a fun block of the month? The Chatsworth BOM (Block of the Month) might be just what you are looking for. We are offering custom kits for this beautiful quilt. The photos are simply examples of the quilt made up in various colors and fabric styles. We'll cut your kit just for you using fabrics from the shop. We can recreate one of these photos using our fabrics or make up something completely different for you. You can have as much or as little input into the individual fabrics in your kit as you want.

The Details:
The finished size of the quilt is 74" by 88". If you add an outer border it could be bigger.

The BOM starts January 25, 2024 and runs through August 22, 2024 but you can join anytime.

You will be making two blocks each month January - June. In July and August you'll be putting all the pieces together.

The pattern designer, Doug Leko, will be doing monthly video tutorials and lessons. If you join later, the video instruction posts will still be available.

The block information will be released each month on the 4th Thursday of the month. Your kit will include the link to the video tutorials along with a complete schedule of the block release dates.

We have no kits cut and on display in the shop! All kits will be custom cut just for you.

Our kits include all of the fabrics required for the quilt top plus the binding fabric and the pattern book. Price of the kit is $224.99 plus applicable sales tax. If you are not local, we will ship your kit to you for FREE.

There are a couple of optional items that you might want that are not included in the kit. The first is the Braided Flying Geese foundation papers (price is $34.99 for all you will need). The second is the Simple Folded Corner Ruler (price is $29.99). We will discuss these with you when we contact you about your custom kit to see if you might need or want these items too. 

Just so you know, the directions are written for traditional piecing of the Braided Flying Geese so you do not need the foundation papers. They are only offered to make those units easier for beginners or folks who like paper piecing. If you don't like paper piecing, you'll be just fine without the papers.

All of these examples use a light background but it would be just as lovely if you flipped the values and used a dark background.

What else can you do with a Half Pack Kit?

 Well, we have several other patterns that also require 5 half yard cuts of fabrics. The pattern used here is called Baby Links and I used the Maple Woods Half Pack Kit for the sample, but ANY Half Pack Kit would make this quilt.

Note: Every Half Pack Kit comes with a Half Pack Pattern, so if you decide to order one please let me know which Half Pack pattern you would like included with your kit. The Baby Links pattern is a separate purchase, but binding would be included in the Half Pack Kit because Baby Links only requires 4 half yards for the quilt top, the fifth half yard is your binding fabric. This pattern makes a smaller quilt than any of the Half Pack Patterns. The finished size of Baby Links is 39" by 43".

To view all of the Half Pack Kits and Patterns click the following links: Half Pack Kits, Half Pack Pattern Gallery

To view the Baby Links Pattern, click here.

Time for another Online BlowOut Event!

 My shop is participating again in the FabShop Online BlowOut event. The sale lasts all week long.

Everything is loaded in my online clearance section and ready for you. Lots of great fabrics are listed at prices as low as $4.99 per yard, which is more than 50% off. The usual clearance price for fabric is $9 per yard and the prices will go back up to $9 per yard at the end of this week. 

The clearance section has lots of great batiks, some Christmas fabrics, some Autumn fabrics, some great basics and blenders, and a few novelty prints. I also have panels at 50% off. There are also some patterns, books, kits, pre-cuts and notions in the clearance section.

If you like to check it out, click the following link: Alamosa Quilt Company Online BlowOut Event

If you are local you can select in-store pick up and not have to pay for shipping. If you aren't local, you can get free shipping by spending $125 or more. And all online orders come with a free gift or two, even if all you buy is clearance stuff.

Have you heard about Scrap Tape?

 Scrap Tape is a non-woven wash away interfacing. Have you ever heard of sewing to receipt tape or phone book pages as a foundation for sewing with scraps? Well, Scrap Tape does the same thing BUT, you don't have to take it off before using your scrap piece in your project. This is the part that really appeals to me! I hate ripping paper off the back of pieced fabric units/blocks! It's so time-consuming and messy!

Scrap Tape is currently available in three sizes:

5" by 25 yards Scrap Tape

2.5" by 25 yards Scrap Tape

13" by 10 yards Scrap Tape

I purchased a roll of the 5" wide Scrap Tape and used it to make this adorable 40" by 50" charity quilt.

I wanted to try out the scrap tape but didn't want to spend a lot of time on this trial project so I used larger scraps for this. I cut my pieces 6" long by a variety of widths, from 2" to 7" wide. A couple of the scraps I used were even pieced. I have lots of scrap tape left over so my next project will involve smaller pieces and more cattywampus style piecing.

It's simply quilted with an allover meander and I used a fun, older cat print on the back.

I had no problems sewing through the scrap tape. No problems with the piecing and no issues with the quilting. I could feel it in the finished quilt before washing, but it wasn't offensive. The pieced strips felt like they had a nice interfacing on the back of them, which they did. But after washing, the scrap tape is completely gone - can't feel it at all.

If scrap tapes sounds like a product you'd like to try all the links go to the individual scrap tape sizes in my online shop.