Shop Samples

 Getting new fabrics into the shop means new shop samples. I have lost all of my sample sewists, so I'm now sewing everything myself. This is another reason why I haven't had time to share things with you. I'm finding it a challenge to sew everything myself and do all the other marketing, buying, managing employees and such that is part of running a business.

This first one is called the Sunkissed Quilt. It's 56" by 72". The pattern is one of my favorite Villa Rosa Designs patterns that calls for a panel called Foxfire. In this kit you get to choose the order in which you add the borders. Whichever fabric you choose for the first border is also your binding fabric.

My husband and I took a drive in the mountains recently and I took this quilt with us hoping for a photo opportunity. My husband is a really good sport and super supportive of my quilting and the shop so he is holding it for me while I took pictures.

This next one is super easy. It's just a panel! No piecing required. The fabric collection is called Dragon Friends. The backing I used is the Blue Geometric print from the Dragon Friends collection. The binding fabric is the Purple Geometric print from the Dragon Friends collection. The panel is 36" by the width of fabric. So this finished at about 36" by 43" - a great size for a quick and easy baby quilt.

The Dragon Friends collection features a second panel and it has a border print. I'm planning a second kit for this collection that features the other panel and the border print. As soon as I get time to sew it up!

This last one features the new Anna Marie Horner fabric collection called Jumpstart. The pattern is another Villa Rosa Designs pattern called Ebb Tide.

The Ebb Tide pattern doesn't have the outer border, but I wanted to add an outer border to this one to show off more of the fabrics in the collection. Our kit includes the outer border and the additional instructions required since the outer border is not part of the Ebb Tide pattern. The kit makes a 57" by 71" finished size quilt and includes the exact fabrics shown here plus the pattern and the binding fabric. The collection includes two wide backs and I used one of them for the back of this quilt. Below I flipped the corner back so you can see the backing fabric I used.

The links included previously in this post take you to the fabric collection or quilt kits I am showing on my website. If you would like to check out my shop website, here is the direct link to the home page.

Alamosa Quilt Company

If you have a local quilt shop in your area I encourage you to please check with them first to see if they might carry anything I'm showing you that you might want. But if you don't have a local quilt shop in your area or your local shop doesn't carry what I'm sharing, I'd love to help you get what you want/need!

A New Half Pack Pattern

 The ladies from Sassy Sunflower release a new Half Pack Pattern every year. The new pattern for this year is called Miles of Tiles.

This one finishes at 50" by 64". Like all of the half pack patterns, it's easy and uses pretty much every bit of the half pack kit.

You can view ten of the half pack patterns by clicking this link: Half Pack Quilt Gallery

And you can view all of the half pack kits I offer in my shop by clicking this link: Half Pack Kits

If you decide to order a Half Pack Kit, you do need to let me know which pattern you want with your kit. If you don't, I'll send you the one I used for the shop sample or just one that I think will be good for that kit.

Wildlife Trail Shop Sample

 This is the shop sample and kit I designed using the new Wildlife Trail fabrics my shop received recently.

The pattern was written by me specifically for this collection so it's only available in the kits. The quilt finishes at 60" by 76" (twin size). The kits are already listed in my online shop.

I didn't get the entire collection but got one color way of the fabrics, pre-cuts (2 1/2" strips and 10" squares) and the panel.

Click here to view the kits and fabrics

I can also make a few queen size kits. The queen size version would have 20 blocks (4 by 5) instead of just the 12 blocks in the twin size version. Queen kits are only available by contacting the shop directly as I only have a little of the fabrics left. Stop by in person, give me a call 719-937-2555, or send me a text (719) 480-8483, if you are interested in a queen size kit.

Twin size kit is $99.99 and includes the pattern plus all of the fabrics required to piece the top and the binding. Queen size kit is $169.99 and includes the pattern plus all of the fabrics required to piece the top and the binding.

 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

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.

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.

Final Half Pack Project :: The Tippy Tote

 If you aren't familiar with Sassy Sunflower Half Pack Quilt Kits click the following links to read about them and to see the others that I have shared - First post about Half Pack Quilts and Second post about Half Pack Quilts and Third post about Half Pack Quilts and Fourth post about Half Pack Projects.

The pattern used for this one is the Tippy Tote using our Elephants Half Pack.

There is a pocket on the outside of the bag as well as inside the bag. The pockets inside the bag are completely customizable to fit YOUR stuff.

The kits are now available on my website! You can click the following link to view all the Half Pack Projects on one page: Half Pack Project Gallery. Finished sizes of each project are listed along with how much backing fabric is required for each project. All of the quilts require 1/2 yard for binding. The tote bag does not need binding but does need some interfacing and batting. All that information is on the Half Pack Project Gallery.

The kits are available for purchase either by following the link from the Half Pack Project Gallery or with the following link: Half Pack Kits.

Fourth Pair of Half Pack Quilts :: Candy Lane and Square Affair

   If you aren't familiar with Sassy Sunflower Half Pack Quilt Kits click the following links to read about them and to see the others that I have shared - First post about Half Pack Quilts and Second post about Half Pack Quilts and Third post about Half Pack Quilts.

The pattern used for this one is Candy Lane using our Sunday Half Pack Kit.

Then there is the Square Affair pattern using our Motorcycles Half Pack Kit.

The kits are now available on my website! You can click the following link to view all the Half Pack Projects on one page: Half Pack Project Gallery. Finished sizes of each project are listed along with how much backing fabric is required for each project. All of the quilts require 1/2 yard for binding. The tote bag does not need binding but does need some interfacing and batting. All that information is on the Half Pack Project Gallery.

The kits are available for purchase either by following the link from the Half Pack Project Gallery or with the following link: Half Pack Kits.

New kits will be available next week after I finish the Tippy Tote Bag project, which is almost done. I'll share it with you here soon.

Third Pair of Half Pack Quilts :: Hashtag and Picnic Basket

  If you aren't familiar with Sassy Sunflower Half Pack Quilt Kits click the following links to read about them and to see the others that I have shared - First post about Half Pack Quilts and Second post about Half Pack Quilts

The pattern used for this one is called Hashtag using our Bird & Bloom Half Pack quilt kit.

This one uses the Picnic Basket pattern and our Snow Flower Half Pack Quilt Kit.

Both of these patterns require very simple piecing and large pieces so they go together quickly. The finished sizes of both of these is about 50" by 60".

The Second Pair of Half Pack Quilts :: Spin Me Round and Quick Strip

 If you aren't familiar with Sassy Sunflower Half Pack Quilt Kits click the following link to read about them and to see the first pair that I shared - First post about Half Pack Quilts.

Our sample of Spin Me Round uses our Kansas Troubles Half Pack Kit.

Next is the Quick Strip Pattern using our Outer Space Half Pack Quilt Kit.

 None of the Half Pack patterns are really what I would call hard, but the Quick Strip pattern is probably the easiest pattern of all of the Half Pack patterns.

The First Pair of Half Pack Quilts :: Tumble Block and Window Pane

 Are you familiar with Sassy Sunflower Half Pack Quilt Kits? It's a fairly new program and I just signed my shop up to participate. I've been busying making up the samples for the last several weeks.

The way it works is there are 9 half pack patterns to choose from and LOTS of half pack quilts kits. You pick the half pack quilt kit you like and then choose the pattern you want. The patterns are not available for purchase separately, only with the purchase of a half pack kit. (Our kits will be $39.99). We are still busy cutting the kits as shops cut these kits themselves using fabrics from their shop. As soon as we have enough kits cut I'll start adding them to my online shop but for now you can just look at the pretty quilts.

So what's a Half Pack Quilt Kit? It's five half yard cuts of fabrics. Yep, both of the quilts I'm sharing with you today requiring only 2.5 yards of fabric total for the quilt top. Binding and backing are not included but all of them require 1/2 yard for binding and they all require between 3 and 3 1/4 yards of backing fabric.

I'm going to share these a few at a time with you. The first is the Tumble Block Pattern using our Horizon Half Pack Quilt Kit.

Then we have the Window Pane Pattern using our Americana Half Pack Quilt Kit.

All of these quilts are lap size in the 50" by 60" finished size range. None of the patterns are what I'd call hard. Most of them took me about two to three hours to make, that included my time cutting out the quilt and then sewing and pressing. A true beginner will need a little help but a confident beginner (someone who has made one or two quilts already) can do it on their own. 

If you are one of those people who gets frustrated when you buy a quilt kit with a lot of leftover fabric, you are gonna love these kits. Just about every bit of fabric from the kit is required for the quilt top. None of them generated very many scraps. The downside is that there really is no oops fabric built into these kits. The upside is that the cutting is very easy and the patterns give detailed cutting diagrams so that you can see how to cut each half yard piece.

I'll share a couple more of these quilts next with you next week.

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.

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.

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!

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.

New Table Runner Shop Sample

 I just love the Easy Striped Table Runner pattern! It's fast, fun and all four of the layout options sew up so nicely. Here is our latest version using the new Nature's Winter collection from In the Beginning Fabrics.

And here is the back.

These are the fabrics in the collection :: Nature's Winter Fabrics

The beauty of the Easy Striped Table Runner pattern is that it really only uses one fabric, a border print. You do need backing and binding fabric too plus a 60 degree ruler to cut your pieces. And it gives you four layout options.