Ready for another Sew Along?

 I'm hosting another sew along through my Alamosa Quilt Company Sew Along Group on Facebook. 

The Sew Along information has been posted in our Alamosa Quilt Company Sew Along Group Facebook page. If you haven't joined the group you can click the link, answer the two simple questions, and you will be in the group. You MUST answer the simple questions. The questions are a simple line of defense against spammers and creeps. The questions will keep out the chatbots but not real humans so if you see anything funny being posted on the page please let me know.

Details: This is a fat quarter based project but you can also use scraps.

If you are using scraps you need to separate your fabrics into two piles - lights and darks. Cut everything 1 1/2" by 2 1/2". You need sixteen light 1 1/2" by 2 1/2" pieces and sixteen dark 1 1/2" by 2 1/2" pieces per block.

If you want to use fat quarters like I did then don't do any cutting ahead of time. I'm going to show you how to cut your fat quarters the most efficient way. For my quilt I am using 10 fat quarters - 5 lights and 5 brights/darks. This will make a 40" by 48" finished size quilt. More fat quarters will obviously make a larger quilt.

This will be a one day quilt along, Saturday March 18, 2023. If you are busy that day or just want to wait to see what the project is before you commit, that is just fine. The directions will stay in the Facebook group for a while. Later in the week afterwards, the directions will be collected into one post and put here on my blog with a link to the blog post on the Free Patterns page on the shop website. So there are several ways to get the information after the fact, but the only way to get the clues on the 18th is through the Facebook group or come to the shop and sew here.

If you want to come and sew along at the shop on Saturday, March 18, 2023, then just let me know. Our classroom can comfortably seat 5 people with sewing machines, but we can rearrange a bit and squeeze in one or two more. The regular Sew Day rate of $5 for the day applies.

Infinity Scarves

 Recently I received a shipment of batik rayon fabrics. These are incredibly soft and beautiful! I ordered them for infinity scarf kits.

There are 10 different color ways and all of them are lovely. I picked my favorite blue to make up a sample. Each kit contains one yard of fabric and the pattern, which is very simple. It took me about 30 minutes to make one.

If you would like to make one too I have kits available to purchase for $19.99 each both in my physical shop and in my online shop. To view the kits in my online shop click the following link: Infinity Scarf Kits 

These would make great gifts!

My Potato Chip Block Quilt Top - Again

 I had some unexpected sewing time at the end of last week so I decided to add the inner border and a pieced outer border to my Potato Chip Block quilt.

I used up all but about a dozen of the pieces I cut for this project! The inner border was cut 2" wide, just like all the pieces. It took me a little bit of trial and error to get the outer border pieces sewn so that the pattern continues around the corners AND no fabric was sewn to itself. That last part got harder as I had fewer pieces left over to work with, but I did it!

I am going to quilt this one myself and try out a new brand of batting in the process. If I like the batting I will tell you all about it. If I don't I will follow the "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all" rule.

Instructions for the Potato Chip block can be found by clicking the link.

My Potato Chip Block Quilt Top

 I finally got all 20 blocks made and sewn together!

I have some pieces left over. I am thinking about putting a small inner border around this, probably 2" cut, then sew all my remaining pieces together to make an outer border. Not sure if that will happen or if I will just quilt it as it currently is. I have other projects in process right now so this one will have to wait for a bit longer to get finished.

As a reminder, if you want the free instructions for the Potato Chip block, click here. It's a great scrap buster project! And Accuquilt makes a die for both sizes of piece you can use for these blocks if you don't want to cut your fabrics with a ruler and rotary cutter. 

A Day of Learning

 As a shop owner you have to always be learning! You need to stay current on social media, marketing, new products, changes to taxes, insurance, e-commerce, ... the list seems endless at times. On Monday of this week I spent the entire day on Zoom learning through the Virtual Schoolhouse sponsored by FabShop Network. This is basically a virtual version of the Schoolhouse sessions held the day before Quilt Market opens. One of the great things about going to Schoolhouse at Market is all the swag you get. The Virtual Schoolhouse also has swag.

I learned a lot. Already placed some orders for new stuff. 

It was a fun but long day. However, I still prefer this to running around a large convention center all day. There was no line for the bathroom. Snacks were free and readily available. I was able to eat my lunch and watch. I even fixed dinner while watching.

Mystery Boxes

 My idea with these boxes is to make them a gift that you purchase for yourself. I think that most of you are like me - you are the gift purchaser for your family, including yourself. It isn't often that you receive a gift and not know ahead of time what it is. Well, this can be one of those rare times when you don't know what you are getting!

I am sold out of all the January Boxes and only have a limited number of February boxes left. If you'd like to purchase a February Mystery Box you can do so by clicking on the following link:

February Mystery Box from Alamosa Quilt Company

The February Box is $49.99 plus applicable tax and shipping. Every month the boxes will be different but all of them will contain a pattern and the fabric to make it (a kit) plus some other goodies.

Now that everyone has their January Box I can share with you what it had in it. My customer/friend, Rose, kindly allowed me to photograph her opening up her January box. I meant to do this BEFORE packing up the last one but forgot!

When you open the box:

What's inside:

Everyone got a cute tin. Inside the tin was a pink Frixion marker, a pair of my favorite little embroidery scissors, a small spool of Aurifil thread, and some candy.

Then there was the pattern and fabric. All of the fabric was included for the January project - the fabrics for the front, the fabric for the back and the binding fabric.

Rose didn't waste any time starting her new project. She got it completely finished too!

The February Box will be similar in that it will also contain a pattern and all the fabric required to make it (front, back and binding fabrics) plus some fun goodies. I am going to try very hard to keep the price of these boxes at $49.99 for the entire year. If the pattern makes a larger project then I probably won't be able to include backing fabric too but you are always going to get the fabric for the front and binding. 

In January I made up the boxes as they were ordered because I had plenty of the items available that I was putting in the box. February is a different story. I only have a limited number of these boxes because I purchased items specifically for them and was only able to get a limited number of some things. So if you are interested in getting a fun surprise in the mail from me you need to order soon. You can order through February 14, 2023. I will remove the item from the online shop at 5pm (USA Mountain Time) on February 14, 2023. The boxes will be mailed out on February 15, 2023 or available for pick-up at the shop starting at 10am on February 15, 2023.

You can order these boxes yourself every month or pick and choose which months you participate. Or you can let me know that you want the box every month and I'll just charge your card on file on the 14th of each month before shipping it out to you.

Customer Show and Tell

 I haven't shared any customer projects recently. These were all made by the same person, Nancy C.

First one of several Twister quilts Nancy made recently.

Nancy took a class at my shop on the Twister ruler and loved the technique. She had me order all of the various sizes of these rulers for her and she has made several quilts with them.

This is Nancy's second Potato Chip quilt. (The link will take you to the free tutorial I wrote for this block). For this one she used a stack of hand-dyed fabrics she dyed years ago. She wasn't happy with them when she dyed them because they didn't work for whatever project she had in mind for them. However, they look fabulous in this quilt!

Finally, Nancy has been bitten by the English paper piecing bug. She started this project years ago and just recently finished it.

Many of the fabrics in this one were scraps left over from dresses Nancy made for her daughter, who is now in her 30s. So this was a nice trip down memory lane for them both!