Customer Show and Tell

 I have been sewing like crazy over here but not able to share any of it yet. It will be a few more weeks before I'm able to share. So how about some customer show and tell.

First up is Linda C.'s Birds in Toyland quilt. This quilt is from a book called Birds in Toyland from the Piece 'O Cake ladies.

Next we have Susan W.'s completed Accidental Landscape class project.

I really love the beaded flowers she added in the bottom corner!

Debbie E. was given some special shirts and asked to make a quilt with them. She brought them in to get some advice and this is the pattern I suggested, which turned out to be perfect. The binding isn't quite done yet in the photo, but is probably done by now. DeAnna B. quilted it simply for Debbie as the shirts are the star of this quilt.

The pattern I suggested to Debbie E. is a free pattern from Windham called 3-Step. Here is a link to the pattern if you'd like to make one too: 3-Step Pattern The pattern calls for flannel fat quarters but the shirts worked just fine.

Meet Sheba

 We did get a new family member. No one stepped forward to claim this sweetie and we didn't see any fliers posted about a missing kitten. We have been trying out a few names but have finally settled on Sheba, unless the vet tells us that this one is a boy. If that is the case then the name will be Oscar - it's a long story.

She loves to sleep in a lap.

And she isn't picky about whose lap she is in.

The first vet appointment is Friday. So far she likes her carrier but all that might change come Friday afternoon.

This month you could win an embroidery machine!

  Alamosa Quilt Company has participated in the monthly online FabShop Hop for over a year now. There are always great prizes each month but this month the grand prize is an embroidery machine with a retail value of over $2200! You got to be in to win it though! All the details are lower down in this post so keep scrolling and get ready to starting hopping.

Do you like shop hops? If you do, are you familiar with the monthly online shop hop hosted by FabShop? It's a fabulous opportunity to find great independently owned local quilt shops. Alamosa Quilt Company is participating. To register yourself and start hopping, go to our website, AlamosaQuiltCompany.com, scroll down a bit until you find the image of the Hop Bunny. Click on the bunny and that will take you to the page where you can register, read the rules of the hop, how to win prizes and such.

They have a Facebook page too. Search for FabShop Hop on Facebook and you'll find it. You can join that page as well as their private Facebook group.

Looking ahead, my shop will also be participating in the December Online BlowOut Event again. That will be the last week of December 2023. I've already started loading fabrics in the Clearance Section so if you want a head start feel free to head over to the Clearance Section right now. New fabrics are being added weekly right now. If you like batiks, you should really go check it out as all of my batik fabrics are currently in the Clearance Section.

A New Family Member?

 Yesterday morning I was the only one up having my coffee when the doorbell rings - at 7:30am. I reluctantly went to the door and it was some friends who live a few blocks away on their way to work. They had an adorable little black kitten with them.

They found the kitten running in the middle of the road through traffic and rescued him/her. They put the kitten down on the sidewalk and it started following them. They were walking to work and couldn't take a kitten with them. Since we live on the way they stopped and asked if we could take it for the day.

Well, it didn't take long for us to all fall in love. The kitten was very hungry so we got him/her some food and water. Then we made up a little make-shift litter box, which it used almost immediately without me even showing it to him/her. I've posted a photo of him/her in a local Lost/Found Pet Facebook page, but so far no one has claimed him/her. So, we may have gotten a kitten yesterday!

Honestly, the only family member who hasn't fallen in love already is our older cat, Ms. Spooky Boo. We haven't tried to introduce them yet because there is no point in putting Ms. Boo through that if someone comes forward to claim him/her. But Ms. Boo does know that there is a kitten living in the garage. She is not impressed but wasn't too put out about it. The rest of us are kind of hoping that no one does come forward to claim him/her. He/She is very cuddly and friendly with a very loud purr that starts up as soon as you pick him/her up.

No name yet, but we've already started brainstorming possibilities.

The Product I Didn't Know I Needed!

 These Needle Grip-Its are fabulous for hand sewing!

You put one on your thumb and one on your forefinger, right where you pinch them together to pull the needle through. They help reduce hand fatigue by gripping the needle to help you pull it through your project so you don't have to pull as hard. They stick very well and can be used several times before they stop sticking. I'm not sure how long that is because I'm still using the first two!

For proper placement, pinch your thumb and forefinger together pretty hard like you are pulling a needle through a project. You'll see an indention or lighter colored circular area on your thumb/finger. That's where you put the dots. They are repositionable so if you get it in the wrong place you can move it. I accidentally washed my hands (with soap) while wearing mine and they stayed in place.

If you are local, I have an open package at the shop. If you'd like a pair to try before you buy, just ask me for a pair the next time you are in the shop (offer valid only while the first open package lasts). Each package contains 70 dots, which is 35 pairs so one package should last you a while.

If you aren't local, I do have these packages for sale on my website, AlamosaQuiltCompany.com.

Click right here to go directly to the Needle Grip-It product page on my website.

Majestic Mountains

 I just finished a new shop sample last week. The quilt has been sent off to be long arm quilted so it isn't currently hanging in the shop yet.

The pattern I used is called Diva 5. It's a great pattern for a panel and includes instructions for the three current most popular panel widths of 24", 30" and 36". I had to adjust the pattern just a tad because this panel has a printed border around the outside that I wanted to cut off, but it's very easy to adjust. All I needed to do was add 1/2" to the cut measurements for the inner border that goes around the panel for the top and bottom border pieces. You can't even really tell that the top/bottom inner borders are a little wider than the sides!

The panel and most of the coordinates except the light blue are all from the Majestic collection. The light blue is from the Dry Brush collection and it's the Pale Blue one. Again, the pattern used is called Diva 5. If I still have enough of these fabrics left when the quilt comes back from the quilter then I will make up a few kits. The binding is going to be the dark blue fabric used in the quilt top. This is the challenge for quilt shop owners - as soon as I make up a sample whatever fabrics I used start selling quickly and sometimes I don't get the sample completely finished before I run out of the fabrics used! So if you want a kit sooner just let me know. You can leave a comment on this post or contact my shop, contact information can be found by following this link. 

And don't forget about the chance to win a new serger from the online FabShop Hop. See this post for details of how to participate and enter to win.

Want a chance to win a brand new serger?

 Alamosa Quilt Company has participated in the monthly online FabShop Hop for over a year now. There are always great prizes each month but this month the grand prize is a serger with a retail value of over $1700! You got to be in to win it though! All the details are lower down in this post so keep scrolling and get ready to starting hopping.

Do you like shop hops? If you do, are you familiar with the monthly online shop hop hosted by FabShop? It's a fabulous opportunity to find great independently owned local quilt shops. Alamosa Quilt Company is participating. To register yourself and start hopping, go to our website, AlamosaQuiltCompany.com, scroll down a bit until you find the image of the Hop Bunny. Click on the bunny and that will take you to the page where you can register, read the rules of the hop, how to win prizes and such.

They have a Facebook page too. Search for FabShop Hop on Facebook and you'll find it. You can join that page as well as their private Facebook group.

New Pillow Cover for Me

 I shared this idea with you previously in July. Click here to read that post. I finally got it finished!

Here is what it looks like all stitched but not sewn into a pillow cover yet.

For those of you who are curious, here is what the back looks like before I sewed it up into a pillow cover.

I cut a piece of batting the finished size I needed the pillow to be. Next time I would cut the batting about an inch larger than the finished size. I added the fabric directly on top of the batting and hand stitched each piece down one at a time.

Here it is with the pillow form inside and ready to use.

It looks a little lumpy because (1) the whole thing shrank up about 1/2" from all the stitching and (2) I didn't put any fabric on the back of the pillow front, just the batting so the pillow form didn't want to slide easily into place. 

Lesson learned, the next one I will cut the batting larger to start with then trim to size before turning it into whatever it will be. And if I decide to make another pillow I will put some fabric on the back so the pillow form will slide more easily into the cover. I've been using it for a couple days and it looks better already!

The back is a simple envelope back closure, also used scrap fabric for that. Thus, in a certain sense, this was a free project! The pillow form is actually an old pillow that I keep making new covers for. Not even sure how old it is, but it still works.

Whimsy Shop Sample - Free Pattern

 I have a new fabric collection which means a new shop sample. The fabric collection is called Whimsy. It's a really nice "basics" collection. A basics collection is a collection of fabrics that are designed to be blenders or "go with" fabrics for the trendy, designer prints. These are the fabrics everyone needs to have in their stash to compliment the designer prints and allow them to shine, the supporting actors so to speak.

But just because these fabrics are basics doesn't mean they don't look fabulous on their own in a project! Most of the prints in this collection read as a solid from a distance, but all of them have a pattern to them. This is the sample.

This quilt used pre-cuts (5" squares) and a little yardage for the background and the little squares in the sashing. I'm gonna use that same fabric for the binding once I get it quilted.

The collection contains 50 different fabrics. The pre-cuts (5" squares, 10" squares and 2 1/2" strips) all contain 50 pieces with no repeats, which is why they are a little more expensive than other pre-cuts that only contain 40 or 42 pieces, most with duplicates.

I have started sharing a free pattern every week in my weekly shop newsletter. This was the free pattern I shared this week. If you'd like to see this newsletter and previous newsletters, click here. The link will take you to my shop website, directly to the newsletter page. You can check this page every week or you can sign up to get the newsletter via email. It goes out every Thursday evening at 6pm Mountain Time Zone. If you'd like to sign up to receive the newsletter every week, go to my website by clicking here and scroll down to the bottom of the page to the newsletter sign up form. You can unsubscribe later if you decide it's not for you.

If you would like to download a copy of the pattern shown in the photo above, you can do that by clicking right here. The link will take you directly to the pattern where you can print it out or download it to your device.

Finishing Up a Found Project

 I started doing a little cleaning in my sewing room. As so often happens, I found an unfinished project. I started it thinking I would kit it up for my shop, but decided to use a different pattern to feature the panel. So everything got tossed in a corner. 

Last weekend I decided to at least get the top together.

It's big for a kid quilt, 60" by 67.5". I don't know if I will quilt it myself or not, but at least the top is done. I don't have a purpose for this quilt anymore. I like the other pattern I decided to use for the kits much better than this one for this panel. But it's not terrible! Surely someone will like it. I'll put it in my "to be quilted" pile for now.

I do have a few more of these panels and some of the coordinates too if you'd like some for yourself. Click here to view the panel and coordinating fabrics I still have.

Second Batik Rug Finished

 For this rug I used 9 yards of fabric. It finished at 26" by 36" but as expected the size shifted after washing and drying. It's now 24" by 37".

I have enough strips cut to make another rug using these exact same fabrics. For that one I can't decide how I want to order the six different fabrics. Should I use all of each fabric so the stripes are wider or should I pick a fabric order and use one strip of each so that the fabric changes every 6 inches or so? I'll think about it for a bit, then make a decision and get busy on the third one.

You can read my previous post about the making of this rug by click here.

And all of the batik fabrics I have in stock in my shop are currently in my clearance section for $9 per yard. If you'd like to make a batik rug similar to mine you can pick up some gorgeous batik fabrics for a great price, while supplies last. You can make whatever you like with them though, not just a rug. Click here to go to the clearance section of my online shop. And in case you are wondering, yes I will still be carrying batik fabrics in my shop but I'm going to start over with all new batiks once I've sold out of what I currently have.

A Quilter's Letter of Instructions

 Does your family know what they should do with all of your sewing, quilting and crafting items when you pass away? I know, no one wants to think about what happens when they are no longer here! But let's face it, it's gonna happen. Why not help your family out and leave them a Quilter's Letter of Instructions. 

My friend Deb over at Quiltblox.com has written a really great article about doing just that. She even has a list of questions you should think about before starting and a sample letter that you can download and just fill in the appropriate information. 

Click the link below to go directly to Deb's fabulous article on this subject. At the bottom of the article are links to the list of questions and the sample letter. I think most family members want to do the right thing, they just don't know what that is. Here's a way that you can help them when the time comes.

Click here to go read the article on Deb's website about making your own Quilter's Letter of Instructions.

Another Batik Rug

 I liked my first rug so much I decided to make a couple more. For this one I started with 9 yards of fabric cut into 1" by width of fabric strips.

Then I joined all the strips together and rolled it up into a ball. The ball is about 8" in diameter.

Now I'm crocheting it into a rug. I simply chain stitched until the chain is about 2" longer than the finished width of the rug I want and started single crocheting. I'll just continue to single crochet until I run out of fabric strips. It's about halfway done at this point. The first rug I made shrank by 2" in the width so I'm assuming this one will shrink about the same, but we'll see.

As you can see, for this one I opted to used more than one fabric. The more the merrier, right? I picked 6 batik fabrics in the blue/turquoise/teal color range (1 1/2 yards of each). I love how it is turning out. When I was joining the fabric strips together I just grabbed a handful of one color and added all of them, then picked another color and grabbed a handful of those strips and so on. No real plan to the color order or number of strips of each color added at a time.

You might also notice that I got a better crochet hook. The other one wasn't very comfortable in my hand so I looked around and found this one. It's much nicer to use!

In the Garden Shop Sample

 I received a really lovely fabric collection recently called In the Garden. The collection includes two convenience fabrics - one is a panel and the other is yardage. They are both featured in the shop sample.

Above is the front of the quilt. It features the printed block panel. These blocks are about 20" by 20" and look like I did a lot of work to make them, but I didn't. It's printed just like that! Other uses for this fabric is to use one of two of the blocks as the outside of a tote bag, use one block for a pillow, use one block as the center of a medallion style quilt, or fussy cut out a block and applique it to the back of denim jacket or a sweatshirt.

For the back I used the petal print. Other uses for this fabric would be to use it to make orange peel blocks. You can simply iron fusible web to the back side, cut out the petals, fuse them to a background and stitch around them. Or you could cut them out and hand applique them down.

I like to label all my quilts but I didn't want the label to be noticeable.

Can you see the label in the photo above? If not, look below to see it.

These fabrics have such a nice feel to them! The quilt finishes at about 41" by 41". Right now I have the entire fabric collection in stock, complete with the block panel and the petal fabric.

If you want to make one too this is what you'll need:

One In the Garden Block Panel, 1 1/4 yards of In the Garden Petal Convenience Fabric (a quantity of 3 if ordering from my website), and 1/2 yard of binding fabric (a quantity of 1 if ordering from my website) - any of the fabrics in the collection would be good for binding but I used the In the Garden Dahlia Dream Verdant one. In addition to the fabric you'll also need some batting. I used a crib size package of Quilter's Dream Fusible 80/20. 

I opted to quilt it quickly with an allover meander, but you could also quilt this really fancy and hide the fact that it's a printed panel even more. However, everyone I have showed this sample to in person have thought that I pieced it. I have to point out to them that it's a printed panel - so anybody can make one of these!

Last Day for the August Online BlowOut Event

 Today is the last day of the Online BlowOut Event.

I still have plenty of good deals available! Click here to go directly to the BlowOut Event section of my website.

Secret Garden Honor Quilt

 I pieced this quilt several weeks ago as soon as the fabric arrived but I just got it back from my longarm quilter and finished the binding.

This is such a fun and easy pattern. It's a Villa Rosa pattern called Honor and it takes one yard each of five fabrics (this includes the binding fabric). The fabric collection is called Secret Garden. I sell fabric in half yard increments on my website so if you want to make one just like this you'd need to get a quantity of 2 of each of the fabrics. 

For my blog readers, if you want to do that then leave me a note at checkout or email me directly and let me know that you placed the order and you want a FREE copy of the pattern included in your order.

Official Start of the August 2023 Online BlowOut Event

 Today is the official first day of the online BlowOut Event. There are lots of great shops participating along with me. Click this link to go to the clearance section of my website and check out the great deals.

I have lots of great fabrics, kits, patterns, books and notions in my clearance section that are up to 75% off. This month I am featuring batiks in my clearance section. All batik fabrics are $9 per yard, full yard increments only.

If you'd like to check out some of the other shops participating click the following link: FabShop BlowOut Event Participating Shops

August 2023 Online BlowOut Event

 The official start of the Online BlowOut event isn't until Monday, August 7, 2023, but I'm giving my customers a head start. Click this link to go directly to the clearance section of my website.

I have lots of great fabrics, kits, patterns, books and notions in my clearance section that are up to 75% off. This month I am featuring batiks in my clearance section. All batik fabrics are $9 per yard, full yard increments only.

Please note that this is an ONLINE ONLY sale. Most of the fabrics in the online clearance section are NOT out in the shop nicely displayed for you to shop from. I will be having an in-store event later this month for those of you who would prefer to shop in-person. That event will is called I Love Fabric Days and is August 17-19, 2023.

New Pillows

 Last week was rugs, this week it's pillows.

Both of these are 18" pillows. I'm working on writing up the pattern and then I plan to make up some kits using these exact fabrics and then probably some other fabric combinations.

The first one I made is the blue one at the back in the photo above.

This pillow is made from the Winter Solstice fabric collection. It has an envelope back and the outside edge is finished with binding just like you'd do for a quilt.

The front pillow shown in the first photo above is the second one I made.

This one was made using the Holiday Flourish fabric collection. It also has an envelope back but no binding. I used the pillowcase method to finish it instead of binding.

Both pillows are very simply quilted in the ditch around all pieces. Pillows are a fast, fun and inexpensive way to change up your decor!