Needles & Pins

Holiday Preparations

2011-11-14T20:33:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving is on the way! We are consumed with finishing all of our holiday projects so that all who visit with us will find some inspiration for handcrafted gifts and decorations - the very best kind.

We've had some lovely autumn weather with great color this year. You can bring that color to the Thanksgiving celebration with a runner or placemats, pretty napkins and an apron for the cook. Don't forget the wool felt turkeys and some great hostess gifts!

Many of our customers have a tradition of holding a "craft party" as part of their day (particularly nice for anyone not interested in wasting the day in front of the television - and yes, that's an editorial comment everyone who knows me will appreciate.) We have many excellent project ideas for you - both no-sew and sewn. Just stop by and see what's new.

Stitching Up Halloween

2011-10-04T00:02:00.006-04:00

BOO!

There's nothing scary about Halloween around here. Even our bats hang around in purple stars and green polka dots.

Our fourth Holiday Table Setting is out with a Halloween party theme. It's amazing how adults have taken on this territory once mostly populated by trick-or-treaters and made it into the second most popular holiday in the year. We're happy to help you find fun ways to decorate your home, jazz up the youngsters venturing out for candy and generally have a hauntingly good time.

The plan for this table setting began late in the summer when I saw the "Pumpkin Party" place mat pattern from Susie Shore Designs. Susie brought us the very popular cupcake placemats, tea cozy and accompanying designs earlier in the year, so I knew that these jack o'lanterns would be easy and fun to make. By the way, I satin stitched the eyes, noses and mouths on these mats, which the pattern doesn't call for, but if you want to wash them, you'll want them stitched.

Next, we needed a table topper as a base for these mats, so I used some fun witches from Clothworks as a center, added borders and corner blocks and quilted. Note the tea-sized polka-dot napkins in the mugs.

If you are putting together a cute buffet table for your Halloween gathering or assembling some food gifts to deliver to friends, you need some equally cute containers. The cookie carriers in Tidings, last year's Christmas book from Art To Heart, are perfect! What a great way to use up some Halloween fat quarters you might have in your stash. These use double-sided fusible Peltex and some ribbon. Fast and easy. They store flat and can be washed.

If the purple bats hanging overhead (Spooky Hollow by Little Quilt Company) weren't enough, you can go batty with these guys from the Art To Heart book Count on It. Purple button eyes and candy corn button teeth make these very dressy bats.

Every trick-or-treater needs a roomy tote bag for stockpiling goodies, and I found this free pattern using the Scribble Monsters II fabric line online at www.quickquilts.com. (Go to "bonus patterns" - then to Quick Quilts - then the Oct-Nov issue - then to the table runner using the fabric line.) It's big, lined, easy to make and uses blocks from the Scribble Monsters panel. Lots of fun!

If you take a close look at our table area, you'll see a couple of items from years past. Our Halloween Mouse from Country Stitches is still around, as well as the little mouse in the pumpkin hanging on the table-top stand. The cat flying above the table is a long-favorite primitive piece from a pattern that is long gone. We also have these retro-style wall or door hanging panels that are easy to make, as well as a quilt-as-you-go wall hanging from Fast & Fabulous Holidays. No tricks here; just fun projects that are a treat to share this Halloween. Enjoy!

We Just Can't Get Enough Applique!

2011-09-20T22:05:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday we held a "mini" applique quilt show to complement the big show at the Delaplaine Visual Arts Center and show off the fabulous work of our monthly applique groups. My friend Sandy Steele, owner of The Loft At AI www.theloftatai.com, graciously allowed us to use her lovely furniture and home accessories vignettes to show off quilts and to give our girls plenty of working space.

So, Joanne Langan, our pied piper of applique (at right, top photo) kept the crew stitching through the day while also showing off quilts to visitors and selling raffle tickets for the Clustered Spires' raffle quilt which we also had on display. Here are some view of the quilts, Sandy's wonderful offerings, and our intrepid stitchers. A special thanks goes out to Joanne, Sandy, Penny, Marilyn, Cathy, Ann, Susan, Debbie, Elaine and Colleen (apologies to anyone I missed) for sharing their day and their work with us!

While the appliquers were at work at one end of Everedy Square & Shab Row, our friends Ann and Mike at Flights of Fancy were celebrating the shop's 25th anniversary with wonderful activities for kids and adults and raising money for the Diabetes Association. As you can see here, our girls found time to visit the balloon artist while our own Creative Saturday activities were underway as well. Thanks to everyone who made it a great day!

September Quilt Shows and More

2011-09-15T21:27:00.000-04:00

I worked on college campuses for many years, so September will always feel like the start of the new year to me. Quilt shops also feel that way as the seasons begin to change and the fall and winter holidays approach. What better time to have a quilt show?

The Delaplaine Visual Arts & Education Center in downtown Frederick www.delaplaine.org is hosting their second national juried quilt show this month, and we are delighted to sponsor the prize for the best traditional quilt. Beautiful pieces are on display, and I encourage you to visit. The show ends on September 25th. The Clustered Spires Quilt Guild of Frederick meets at the Delaplaine each month and the members are volunteering at the show. The quilt shown here is their 2011 raffle quilt, "A Bevy of Batiks," on display in our shop, and we are happy to help them sell tickets.

In conjunction with the Delaplaine show, we have our own Quilt Block Scavenger Hunt going on here in Everedy Square/Shab Row until the 25th. I've placed 14 framed quilt blocks in 14 shops - find the blocks and fill out our entry form and submit it here at our shop. You'll be entered to win gift certificates! While you are out-and-about, you'll see a variety of our quilts displayed in shops as well.

Why have one show when you can have two? This Saturday, September 17th, we are hosting a one-day, "mini" quilt show of applique quilts made by members of our monthly applique groups led by Joanne Langan. The show will be held just up the street from our shop at our neighbor Sandy's shop, The Loft At Antique Imports (125 N. East St.) from 10 am to 3 pm. Here are some of the girls in action at a recent Friday meeting, and pictures of two quilts from Bunny Hill Designs: Joanne's finished version of "Snowbound" and Penny's ready-to-be-quilted version of "The Night Before Christmas."

And here's Carol with some autumn blocks in process, too. All in all, this is one busy bunch of quilters! Join us on Saturday to visit with them and enjoy their work.

This is also our monthly Creative Saturday, so you can also make the rounds of our ongoing demonstrations from 10 am to 3 pm. Great fun! Do join us!

Taming The Scraps!

2011-06-25T19:28:00.000-04:00

Want to know something about a quilter? Look at her scraps! We've had a great two days of "Taming The Scraps" sessions and getting a look inside the quilting lives of eight participants. Great fun!

Our sessions included thoughts on just what is a scrap ( definitions can be different), options for sizes to cut, storing and using what you cut. The goal, of course, is to turn that "pile" in a basket, bag or clothes basket into usable fabric again. As Betty noted, " Why am I buying charm squares? Look at the pile of 5" squares I've cut!"

We started with the basic premise that cutting 2", 3 1/2" and 5" squares gives you sizes that can easily used in a variety of ways for quick-and-easy scrap quilts. Here's a great example of that: small squares forming blocks set on point. This quilt is the result of a quilt bingo. Scraps session participants Kathy, Susan, Ann and Ruth brought it along for show & tell.

Then we took the premise a step further: cut sizes that work for the projects you do most often. Georgia cut a lot of 4 1/2" squares because one of her fellow guild members makes a quilt a week for charity and she uses those squares. Her fellow members keep her supplied! Georgia also cut the size squares she needs for a tumbler quilt she wants to make. Melanie cut squares and rectangles because she's going to make the Flying Geese quilt that Joyce Nichols showed at last week's Creative Saturday. Kathy opted to cut all strips of varying widths - she can then sub cut as needed for various projects. I noted that I have a bin of 1 1/2" strips that has already produced one scrappy Log Cabin quilt and it still holds enough for another one. I also just made two Chubby Charmer bags - which use 5" squares - and I now have lots of squares to make more bags. (The shop model of this bag will be on display in the next couple of weeks.)

There are lots of useful rulers on the market today that can speed your cutting of scraps. You might want to try Creative Grids' Charming Strip Stashbuster. It is 5" wide and has a center 2 1/2" line and some cross lines at 5" - that's it. It's very easy to use when you're working on those 5" squares and 2 1/2" strips.

Last Thursday evening, just before our scraps session began, Joan Watkins came to dinner with a baby quilt for show & tell. This quilt is a perfect ending to this post -- it's all scraps! Joan used 3 1/2" squares and alternated them with 3 1/2" scrappy rail fence blocks. The black inner border stops the design and frames it perfectly before adding the red and yellow border print. Joan is always reaching into her stash and scraps and wowing us with fabulous baby quilts - it's become a tradition at Thursday night potlucks! What an inspiration!

So, take a look at your scraps and see all the potential waiting there. We'll be offering more scraps session in the coming months. Spending a few hours with us might just find you taming your scraps!

Father's Day Baking

2011-06-20T19:40:00.001-04:00

Father's Day has always been a baking day for me, and that makes me think about the women of my family as well as my Dad.

I come from two families of women who have always pursued the traditional female roles with some unique differences along the way. Both of my great-grandmothers were very strong-willed farm women who ran their homes with a great deal of authority. My father's grand-mother, Lela Brandenburg, was a tremendous quilter. She and my great-grandfather had a basic rule for their married life: what's inside is hers and what's outside is his. Whatever she put on the table, he ate. If he had wanted to paint the barn lime green, so be it. The only exception to that was the kitchen garden -- that was hers and it was planted and tended as she specified. Produce from the gardens and orchard were preserved by canning, drying and storing in the root cellar. The quilting frame went up in one of the front parlors in October, when the garden was done, and came down in April, when it was time for the garden again.

My mother's grandmother was Lucinda Reaver (the first Cindy - I am named after her). Married young to a widower, she had step-children almost her own age, and then my grandmother and two other children. Widowed by middle-age, she continued to farm until her death in her 80's. She didn't have much time for needlework, but she did sew of course, and cook. This was her mixing bowl, and when I first started to bake, my grandmother gave it to me. I set rolls to rise in it for years, but now I keep it for the memories.

Like her mother, my maternal grandmother married an older man and had her first child at 17. Several years later, when an eye injury kept my grandfather from working on the railroad any longer, my grandmother, Elsie Reaver Dixon, walked to Springfield State Hospital to look for work, probably in housekeeping. She found herself (now a mother of four with an eighth grade education, no less) in a nurses training program. By the time my mother was born in the midst of the Depression, she was a general practice nurse who provided the majority of the family income --- not the usual situation in those days.

I learned to cook and bake from both my mother and my grandmother, whom we lived near and saw often. We picked apples, pears, peaches and damsons in her orchard and grapes from her arbor. She taught me how to weed a flower bed to her satisfaction and to pick a chicken (that's "picking" as in removing feathers after butchering, not "picking" as in choosing!) She could look at you and cut out a dress to fit you without using a pattern. She and I sat together in front of her TV the night of the moon landing and watched with amazement: she could remember the first time she had seen an automobile, and here was man on the moon! She kept a black-and-white school composition book of recipes that she copied from many places, as well as those given to her by others. It is a keepsake, written in her hand (along with my scribbles from childhood) that I use often.

My father's mother also led a working life that was different for the women of her time. Jeanette Brandenburg Powell left the farm for the city - Hagerstown was a busy industrial city in the first half of the last century - and worked outside the home all of her life. She raised two sons alone and sewed for a living, remaking furs professionally, and as a seamstress as well. She didn't quilt, perhaps because her mother did, but she did exceptional handwork of different kinds. She died young, and I often wonder what I could learned from her had the circumstances been much different.

When I was about 8, my parents gave me my first very own cookbook for Christmas. It was Let's Start To Cook from the Farm Journal, and to this day, I use the brownie recipe very Sunday night during the school year in preparation for my Monday night reading group at the Police Activity League. (Note the cover art: who said cupcakes were the new trend? Obviously we are have a renaissance!)

While my father spoke of the meals he knew at my great-grandmother's table, and my grandmother Dixon played a role in my learning to cook and bake, it was my mother who had the greatest impact, of course. Her cookbooks - the Betty Crocker Cook Book and the Farm Journal Freezing and Canning Cookbook you see here - are still important to me. Her notes on everything from pickles and peaches to pepper slaw and grape jelly are here. We canned barbecue sauce and froze mincemeat; cut umpteen dozens of quarts of corn from the cob and snapped green beans until I could do it my sleep -- and milked cows around it all.

So, to get back to Father's Day, where all of this started. For Dad, the usual sour cherry pie, which doesn't have much sugar in it at all because, as Dad would tell you: If the good Lord has wanted those cherries to be sweet, he would have made them that way. And then a lemon meringue especially for my sister, who wants something sweeter. And most importantly, Mom's pie crust, which was Elsie's pie crust, and Lucinda's pie crust. Because that's what a family is all about.

A Special Quilt Project

2011-06-07T18:17:00.000-04:00

My sister Judy wanted to make a quilt for a colleague undergoing chemotherapy, and it needed to be a fairly geometric design - no fussiness, in dark, warm colors. So we went to Terry Atkinson's designs and settled on Triple Treat from the book Happy Hour. We had made a shop model of this quilt several years ago, so I knew it would go together quickly, and we settled on batiks.

With fabrics washed and ready, we got together for cutting and then laying out the three strips that make up each block. Judy chose her color/design combinations and laid out the blocks on the cutting table.

As Judy sewed, I pressed. (Notice the double teaming of the ironing boards!)

Here's a block that's been sewn and pressed. Now on to the floor for layout when all the blocks are ready.

It's a tight fit on the living room floor, but once they are in place, it's time to sew the blocks into rows and the rows into a completed top!

Now the top is ready to go to Judy Castle for machine quilting!

Finished! Bound and ready to go off to it's new owner. Here's the best news: the recipient just had a great report from the doctor after finishing this latest round of treatment!

Waiting For Spring

2011-03-11T17:16:00.000-05:00

I fell off the wagon last weekend.

The remainder of a Borders gift certificate (thanks again to the Florida Knechts) was burning a hole in my pocket, and I was out for a rare evening with my sister, so we ended up at the bookstore. (To clarify, only three of the books here are from this recent trip and, yes, I do have bookshelves, they just happen to be full. So sue me.)

Now, bookstores of all kinds are for me what quilt shops are for quilters who don't own one. I could spend hours just perusing the shelves. And while many friends extol the virtues of the electronic devices for reading, I can't understand giving up margin notes and reading while I eat. And most importantly, what do you use for home decorating?

This comes around to sewing because having new novels in the house means that my attention is diverted from the sewing machine, where it should be focused. I am a rabid user of audio books for this reason, but nothing in the world replaces a beautiful new book that I can hold in my hands. So I've been reading while the rain has poured and the winds have blown in recent days, and then the guilt overwhelms me and I turn on the iron.

But now I am on to my last new book (the newest Father Tim novel by Jan Karon, In The Company Of Others, for all those old Mitford fans out there) and I am not such a greedy reader with it, not needing to read it straight through right now. So last night I put the binding on our newest baby quilt, an Attic Windows using a new panel from Benartex: Baby Geniuses Speak Up. Judy Castle quilted a very cute teddy bear design in the outer border - be sure to look at it when you visit with us.

In the last week I've also made a spring table runner that had long been on my "to do" list. This Cottage Basket Table Runner is from Nancy Halvorsen's book Cottage Charms (Art To Heart) and it's one of those pieces that looks much more complicated than it is --just takes time for the fusible applique and blanket stitching. How cute for spring, right? The little bunny bag is also from the same book.

See the Easter eggs in the picture? We have classes coming up for both the Yo-Yo Egg at right (March 26th) and the folded fabric eggs in the basket (April 9th), so let us know if you want to add these lovely eggs to your list of Easter goodies. (Time is of the essence for the Yo-Yo Egg; you'll need to make your yo-yo's in advance.)

Here's something else that's new - more colors of Wool Felt! Can't you see an Easter egg or two in that lovely shade of lavender called Hydrangea? Yummy.

Tomorrow is our morning class in the easy Mitered Placemat (you can still join us - just show up at 9 am with your sewing machine and fat quarters). Tonight I'll prep for that and, well, maybe read just a little bit.

Let's Order Some Fabric!

2011-02-25T21:17:00.001-05:00

Customers often ask, "How do you order all this fabric? Are there books?" Well, yes, there are catalogs that come in from manufacturers, but most importantly, there are sales representatives.

Yesterday, Barry Spingarn, our rep for Hoffman of California and Needlecraft, Inc., a fabric distributor, came to visit. It was the perfect time to take a couple of pictures and talk a bit about how we buy fabric.

Sales reps bring both actual fabric samples and samples on paper. Most of these fabrics will come available to us two to six months from now, and must be ordered and received in a timely fashion - or they will be gone - with the exception of basic and blender lines that stay in production for longer periods of time. Yesterday, I ordered our Hoffman Holiday fabrics as well as other holiday lines (Halloween, Autumn and Christmas) and some other pieces as well. (Hint: If you are a Halloween fan, keep your eyes open for this year's Red Rooster line, Happy Hollow II, which should be a big hit. If you love snowmen, watch for Red Rooster's Winterberry Lane.)

As you can see here, there is always more fabric available than we can possibly order --lots and lots of choices from many companies. So what to do? I try to achieve several goals:

Offer variety within some specific groups: You know that every shop you visit has one or more specialties. Over the last 17 years, we've become known for our holiday collections, batiks, 19th reproductions, baby/children's collections, as well as the specific lines Art To Heart and now, LakeHouse Dry Goods.
Keep specific groups deep enough for quilts: This means that in each of the groups listed above, you should be able to find enough fabrics to put together a quilt.
Keep fabric moving: You want to see new fabrics on a regular basis, so we want to buy in amounts that allow us to keep fabric flowing. This is also a reminder that fabrics age rather quickly. If you are making a quilt that will take a long period of time, be sure to buy enough fabric up front -- chances are good that it will be gone if you come back for me much later!

We try to make a lot of models to show you what fabrics "look like" when they are used. That may sound strange, but you have probably seen a fabric used in a purse, quilt, jacket or potholder and said, "I never would have looked at that twice on the shelf." It's also fun to see how customers pull fabrics together; it often leads us to do the same in a new model. All good fabric combos are welcome!

When I look at fabric samples, I think about how we - and you - can use the pieces I've viewing. This isn't a big issue with Hoffman batiks, but it is very important with specific floral groups or novelties. I also look at groups in terms of the "support" that comes from the manufacturer - free online patterns and advertising, for example, and support from designers' website, books and patterns. Before the Internet, everything that came out of the sales rep's bag was a surprise. Today, I often peruse the manufacturer's emails and websites in advance to see what might be coming in order to do a bit of planning and to compare lines. There is only so much money to spend and only so much time to sew (just as it is for our customers), thus we must try to plan and buy as thoughtfully as possible. Of course, no matter how hard I try to order what I think will be popular, there's always fabric that just doesn't appeal to many shoppers. This means that you'll always be able to find some great buys in our attic on marked-down fabrics.

I've been very fortunate to have worked with four very experienced and knowledgeable sales reps over the years (I limit the number of reps that I see due to time and money limitations). They have all taught me a great deal and have been a great help in working through the process in good times and bad. Their personal approaches to the business can never be replaced by the computer, and I always enjoy their visits. When Barry comes to call, his gracious wife Nerma joins him, and we take time to visit and catch up on all the news of grandchildren, vacations, business and politics. Such good friends are a delightful "extra" that comes along with the wonderful fabrics!

Aprons On My Mind

2011-02-21T18:49:00.000-05:00

There's been a resurgence in the wearing of aprons in recent years, which must mean that our grandmothers and mothers really did know best. It certainly is nice to be able to take off a messy apron and run an errand without having to change clothes or be embarrassed by the chocolate dripping down your shirt. No one should know about kitchen mishaps unless you want to tell them!

We have several new aprons on display in the shop right now. This cute little girl's apron from Cindy Taylor Oates' book, Little Retro Aprons, made up well in pink and brown polka dots and checks from LakeHouse. The white rickrack added a little zing, too. And for lining -- the accompanying rickrack stripe!

We like to have a traditional bib apron around as a reminder of that popular style as well. Sandy made this one with beautiful dragonflies and tulips using a panel for the bib and the accompanying stripe for the skirt. We also used the stripe in a towel and more panels in hot pads. Mother's Day is just 2 months away --- what a great combo gift!

Our chickens are dressed up and back in the kitchen! Timeless Treasures has some of the best chicken prints, and this time the "chicks" are cooking. I used Cindy Taylor Oates' More Retro Aprons for this version with darts for a fitted look, a ruffle and pocket. As with the little girl's apron, I like the straps that go over the shoulders and down through loops at the waist. This eliminates the ties around the neck.

We're also raving about Karen Montgomery's one-sheet pattern for a quick and easy half apron. Perfect for beginning sewers, too. You can make this in an evening and have a great housewarming, birthday or hostess gift. It takes 2 half yard pieces of fabric and thanks to smart construction - no hemming. No worry about whether or not the apron will hang straight. I'm going home tonight to make one in the chicken fabric for a friend who just moved into a new house. Happy sewing -- and cooking!

Thinking About Gardens

2011-01-13T17:14:00.000-05:00

It's cold today and as I was putting a shipment of books away on the racks, I picked up a copy of Garden Club: A Bouquet of Quilts and Projects, by Blackbird Designs. I had to sit down and page through this lovely book - suddenly spring didn't seem so far away.

Alma Allen's introduction tells us how the history of The Polk Garden Club of Polk, Nebraska, was the starting point for this book. The Club began in 1957 and was active through 1988. Meeting minutes, a scrapbook and information about the members gave Alma and Barb Adams, her partner in Blackbird Designs, ideas for developing two applique quilts and other projects, as well as fictional stories accompanying each quilt block. What a great read on a winter day!

Joanne Langan, our applique instructor, has led students through other blocks designed by Alma and Barb for their book When The Cold Wind Blows: Quilts and Projects To Keep You Warm. Two of their other books, Home Sweet Home and You're Invited: Quilts and Homes To Inspire, are equally lovely with beautiful photography and interesting copy. As a whole, these books encourage us to create warm and welcoming homes where stitchery of all kinds is both useful and decorative.

I think we will try to create models of Garden Basket Pennymat and the Garden Club Needleroll from Garden Club for this spring. Joanne's applique plate is pretty full right now, so I don't know if we'll see any applique from the book right away, but I bet she puts something on her list!

Speaking of applique, we welcome appliquers of all skill levels to join us at our monthly applique group meetings. The Sunday group meets on the 2nd Sunday afternoon of the month, and the 3rd Friday group will meet tomorrow, January 14th, at the shop beginning at 10:30 a.m.

Making A Pillowcase In A Tube

2010-12-10T16:53:00.010-05:00

I promised to put these instructions on the blog and am late, late, late. So, I apologize! There's still plenty of time to make pillowcases for the holidays, so here we go:

1. We pre-wash and press our fabrics. You do not have to cut any specific size pieces for the body and cuff, but we do tear off wide selvedges.

2. Make your accent strip the width you desire. We usually cut our strip anywhere from 1 1/4" to 1 3/4" wide; fold in half lengthwise (wrong sides together) and press. Remember to press across the ironing board to keep your strip straight.

3. Lay the body fabric right side up with the edge that will be attached to the cuff at the top. This picture is sideways (sorry!) The edge that will join the cuff is to the left near the ironing board.

4. Lay the folded accent strip on the body piece matching raw edges. (Gold accent strip at top)

5. Lay the cuff fabric right side down on top of the accent strip and body fabric, matching raw edges. (There may be more body fabric than cuff fabric, especially if you are using a directional fabric in the body and have turned the fabric - this will be cut away.)

6. Fold body fabric up and wrap the cuff fabric around the body fabric to form a tube that encases the body fabric and accent strip. (The photo below shows the body fabric (red) being folded up to go underneath the white cuff fabric.)

7. Make sure all of your raw edges are even and pin. Stitch with a 1/4" seam forming a tube.

8. Pull body fabric through the end of the tube. Press.

9. Fold pillowcase with wrong sides together to stitch French Seams (seams that enclose all raw edges). Pin. Stitch with 1/4" - 3/8" wide seam. Trim any extra fabric or wide selvedges.

10. Turn pillowcase wrong side out and press. Stitch the seams again using a wide enough seam to encase the previous seam. Turn right side out and press.

Holiday Sewing Countdown!

2010-11-22T02:30:00.002-05:00

It's Thanksgiving week and the holiday sewing countdown is underway! Are you ready?

We just returned from our monthly Saturday fabric arts group meeting, Imagine.Create.Enjoy (see our last post for details on the 2011 program) and we re-staged our displays of holiday gift and decorating ideas. There's lots to see with plenty of holiday fabric, books and patterns on hand to get you started on anything from ornaments to quilts!

At Saturday's meeting, we focused on the designs of Nancy Halvorsen and Art To Heart (http://www.arttoheart.com/). As you can see from the photo at top right, there are lots of wonderful projects to choose from in Nancy's many books. We brought out all of the many models we've made from her books over the years and added some new ones. You can see the three sizes of cookie carriers from this year's book, Tidings, made by Joyce Nichols. Another of our teachers, Joanne Langan, contributed dove ornaments and showed off her place mat and runner set from an earlier book, Santa's Coming. We still have the Merry Christmas door banner from Tidings to hang later this week.

Nancy's newest book is Count On It and it offers a year of stitching fun! We began - where else? - with January's little quilt. The book gives us letters, numbers and designs that you can arrange to celebrate all the special events and occasions of the coming year. Isn't our snowman cute? (Reminder: you need to interface your white snowman fabric before fusing it to a colored background!)

We used Nancy's 2010 holiday fabric line, Tidings, from Benartex (http://www.benartex.com/) for this and the other new projects we showed on Saturday. As a really special treat, we welcomed Harriet Binder, our Benartex sales representative, as our special guest for the day. Harriet gave our members a special sneak preview of Nancy's new fabric lines for 2011, including Jingle All The Way, the next holiday line, as well as other lines. The folks at Benartex graciously sent us goodies to hand out to all members, too. What fun!

We have a new shipment of this year's Tidings line arriving shortly and it will also be available through out online store (go to our website: http://www.needles-n-pins.com/ and click on "visit our online store"). We'll also have more of this year's Advent Calendars that have been sold out for some time. It's never too late to choose one of Nancy's projects for the holidays!

Join Us At Our Saturday Group Next Year!

2010-11-12T18:48:00.004-05:00

Where can you go one Saturday morning a month and

share time, space and ideas with people who love what you love,

chat over brunch,

see what's new in the world of quilting,

ask questions,

have dessert,

laugh,

gather new ideas,

watch a demo or two,

have more dessert,

shop,

make something fun,

enjoy the best show 'n tell since first grade,

point out all of your mistakes in the same show 'n tell and have everyone tell you they don't matter,

have more dessert and

generally take a few hours off without phones, computers, men, children, dogs, cats or jobs and

have nothing else to do but show up?

You can join us at Imagine.Create.Enjoy. This is our month Saturday gathering for the fabric arts (known simply at our Saturday Group) that meets at the New Market Grange Hall on (mostly) the 3rd Saturday of each month (there are some months that vary a bit due to availability).

We offer:

12 programs with themes based on designers, new fabric lines, holidays, skills
Additional Applique Group and Skill Booster sessions for free
Show 'n Tell, door prizes, demonstrations, occasional make it-take it projects
brunch
shop on site
monthly discounts on theme-related merchandise
BIG packet of a year's worth of coupons just for members

Annual Fee: $25 per month x 12 months = $300.00. Payment is due in full by December 10, 2010 or you can choose to pay half ($150) by December 10, 2010 and the second half ($150) by January 5, 2011. Doing so commits you to the entire fee; the first half of your payment is non-refundable. 2011 program is dependent on participation of minimum number of members. If minimum number is not met by December 10th, all fees will be returned.

We look forward to having you join us!

A Weekend Away To Sew

2010-11-10T23:21:00.000-05:00

There's nothing quite like a couple of days away from home with friends and sewing machines to revive your spirits! I just spent an annual (well, we try to make it at least bi-annual, but this year we only made it once) get-away with wonderful friends Kate and Elaine on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. It was productive, relaxing and restorative -- and the food was superb, as usual!

We always have more projects along than we can possibly work on or complete, but hope always springs eternal when quilters are packing to go away. Setting up sewing machines, finding thread and rulers doesn't take us much time and we are quickly off and running. Elaine showed us pieces she has been working on this year in a design group from her guild teaching new techniques and design elements including use of color, scale and much more. Kate is always the first to start sewing - this time she began with a Christmas stocking for our project for Montevue Home. I went to take a nap.

By the time I was back in the sewing room, the stocking was completed and Elaine was working on a beautiful table cloth for her daughter.

Later in the weekend, Kate and I laid out the easy A Little Something Jacket in her lovely blue batik so we could match the design on the jacket fronts and sleeves. There were more projects: binding to finish on holiday place mats, a pieced pillow cover, a small machine applique wall hanging to begin from the new Art To Heart book, Count On It (very cute!)

Of course, we had time to talk and catch up since our last visit; to cook together (after the departure of Jack, world's greatest personal chef, if we do say so ourselves) and to enjoy the sunsets. Each visit is a treat beyond price and a treasured gift!

Stockings For Montevue

2010-09-21T15:54:00.000-04:00

We have begun our special project of making quilted Christmas stockings for the residents of Montevue Assisted Living, Frederick County's home for idigent elderly members of our community. We need 70 or so stockings by November 28th, so if you are interested, please stop by to pick up a kit for $10.00. When you return your finished stocking, you will receive a $10 gift coupon to use in our shop and you can sign up for a special drawing featuring a Juki sewing machine as the grand prize. You can read all the details in our September 2010 newsletter at http://www.needles-n-pins.com./

As promised in the kit directions, I'm posting photos of the stocking construction process. If you have any questions as you make your stocking, please don't hesitate to call!

Quilt Your Fabric before cutting out the stocking. I cut my 1/2 yard of stocking fabric half (forming 2 fat quarters) and quilted the front and back sections separately --easier that way. Layer the fabric and batting and, if you like, add a backing - (not your lining fabric) - could be a leftover of anything light in color or muslin.

I always test my machine quilting before starting on a project - it can save a lot of grief later!

Lay your pattern on the quilted piece and cut out.

Turn the pattern over to cut out a mirror image for the back.

This is what you should have!

Do the same for the front and back linings.

Layer the fabrics (both for the outside and the lining) right sides together and pin. Stitch with a 1/4" seam. Clip carefully at curves.

Turn the outside stocking right sides out but leave the lining with wrong sides out.

Cut the strips for the cuff rectangles and the hanger.

Stitch the two cuff rectangles together along one long side. Press.

Now fold in half, right sides together, as shown, and stitch the long edges together in a 1/4" seam. Press. Turn right sides out and press.

Pull the cuff (right sides out) over the top of the stocking body (also right sides out). Align top raw edges and pin. I placed the seam of the cuff along the back seam of the stocking. Make the hanger loop as described in the directions and pin it to the cuff seam on the outside

of the stocking.

Now gently and carefully put the stocking with cuff inside the stocking lining, which is wrong sides out, and align the toes to make sure everything is headed in the same direction. Align the raw edges at the top and re-pin. Stitch along the edge with a 1/4" seam. Take your time - you have several layers to work with - and use your walking foot or even feed.

After removing the pins, gently draw the stocking body out through the opening in the side of the lining.

The stocking is almost completely out!

Here's the stocking and cuff - cuff not turned down yet - and the lining.

Here's the lining stretched out and ready to be pushed inside the stocking. First, you want to close the opening in the seam. Turn the seam allowances inside, press and then stitch, either by hand or machine. I stitched mine on the machine.

The lining has been pushed inside and the cuff turned down. See how the hanger pops right up where it belongs? Shape the top of the stocking and press.

Thanks for making a stocking for Montevue! Good luck in the drawing on December 4th!

New Horizons

2010-09-11T14:19:00.000-04:00

Quilt Shop Girl #4 Emily (you know you've been around awhile when you have to number them) is off to Italy this semester, but before she left she wanted to create make-up bags for friends she worked with in Carlisle, PA this summer.

Em is a terrific bag maker, and we tossed around numerous ideas. At first, she designed her own and stitched up a prototype, but wasn't quite satisfied. She also decided that she wanted to use iron-on vinyl inside, and she knew that she would use the world-famous, super easy Lazy Girl (http://www.lazygirldesigns.com/) zipper method.

I suggested that she look at the free bag pattern offered as a quarterly challenge on the American Patchwork & Quilting Magazine website http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/ and see if that might work. She was able to turn it into just what she wanted!

In addition to adding the vinyl to the lining fabric, Emily used French Seams to finish the inside of each bag. She added her zippers using the Lazy Girl method, and she created fusible letters to personalize these wonderful gifts.

Em was able to use fabric scraps from various quilts and bags in these bags. She also finished a beautiful strippy-style quilt in green and white batiks for her brother Chris before taking off for new horizons. We are looking forward to seeing her photographs and hearing about her adventures when she returns in the new year. Have a great time, Em!

Getting Ready For The Quilt Show!

2010-07-28T21:18:00.003-04:00

We're getting ready for the Four County Quilters Quilt Show that's coming up next week, August 6 through 8 at the Frederick Fairgrounds, which is just around the corner from us. Everyone here in the Everedy Square/Shab Row neighborhood is looking forward to welcoming lots of visitors! Many of the shops will have quilts on display.

In the midst of cutting fat quarters and panels and figuring out where the second cash register will go, we're sewing, sewing, sewing. So many fall and holiday models to make -- and so little time! We also have to prepare for our monthly Saturday groups (the 19th Century group is having a tea party this month!) and get ready for Quilt Camp in September. Whew!

I've been having fun with Gudrun Erla's new book, Fast & Furious Holiday http://www.gequiltdesigns.com/. We're great fans of her Braid Runner pattern and the first Fast & Furious book, and this new one shows off neat ideas for gifts and decorations. The picture above shows our Trick Or Treat Wall Quilt during the piecing stage, which is also the quilting stage with Gudrun's quilt-as-you-go technique. Here it is with fusible machine applique and binding - boo! What's special about this piece? Notice the curved corners on the pumpkin. This is an easy technique that we'll be showing in the shop soon (or just ask if you want to see it sooner.) I used the Boo To You fabric line from Riley Blake http://www.rileyblakedesigns.com/ for this fun wall hanging.

We have a lot of holiday panels this year! Do you ever wonder what to do with them? We always try to give you lots of ideas with our models, and here's an early one. We have a panel with teddy bears, nutcrackers and a large train from the Holiday Home line from South Sea Imports http://www.southseaimports.com/. I put a green border on the train and made it into a long pillow. Toot! Toot! Here comes the Christmas train! Jump on now to get the greatest selection in holiday fabrics!

We hope you'll come to Frederick for the quilt show and stop by to see us. We have three quilt show coupons available for you: one is in our ad on the back cover of the July/August issue of The Country Register of Maryland, http://www.countryregisteronline.com/ a second one is online at http://centralmd.suddenvalues.com and you'll find a third one in your show program. You'll also find coupons in our August newsletter http://www.needles-n-pins.com/ and, when you visit Everedy Square/Shab Row, ask for a new neighborhood coupon book. You'll find a new coupon for us in there, as well coupons for lunch, ice cream and the other shops. The Saturday of the quilt show is also First Saturday in downtown Frederick, so we'll all be celebrating the "Dog Days" of August and there's a vintage VW car show scheduled for just outside our shop. Lots to do and see! Please come see us!

Ho Ho Ho! We're Thinking Christmas!

2010-06-27T17:52:00.000-04:00

You may not have tried out your new swimsuit yet this summer, but we're in the holiday spirit! The boxes have been arriving - with more to come through July - with all but one large group on the floor and ready for you.

Kimmy, Hannah, Emily and Judy have been cutting fat quarters and we've been finding creative ways of housing everything: winter, Halloween, Christmas, summer and all the "regular" fabrics that are in stock at this time of the year.

The Hoffman Holiday collection is lovely, of course, and offers beautiful poinsettias, pinecones, holly and blenders in all the colors and metallics you want for a traditional holiday look. There are also some new and different pieces and colors that will shake things up a bit! Look for our first Braid Runner from this group after the July 4th weekend.

We have fabulous groups from Timeless Treasures (their Autumn collection is also a must-see!), Riley Blake and Clothworks. We have one of several lines from South Sea Imports in stock (Joyful Noise - with panel) with several more to come, including Debbie Mumm's line.

The 2010 line from Art To Heart is called Tidings and it offers everything from stripes and plaids to tonals and blenders. There are two panels - one of which is an Advent Calendar - and we hope to have that up by July 5th as well.

We kick off our annual Christmas In July celebration on July 5th, which is a holiday for many of our customers. Be sure to catch our July newsletter for a run-down on free classes and demonstrations throughout the month. This is the perfect time (especially with the heat!) to make project lists, sort through your stash and come see us to get a head start on the fall and holiday sewing seasons!

It's Magic!

2010-05-30T15:07:00.001-04:00

Olga Schrichte is one of the most creative quilters we know! Whether she is trying out a new technique for her own enjoyment, or preparing lesson plans for her Life Skills classes at Thomas Johnson Middle School, Olga always brings a her own unique sense of excitement to learning - and teaching - something new. It's hard to keep up with her!

We invited Olga in to share her recent experiments with Texture Magic, an exciting product from Superior Threads that lets you make your fabric into something new and different.

Texture Magic is quilted onto the reverse of your fabric and then steamed to shrink it approximately 30% and produce the neat texture. You can find specific information and see videos on the Superior Threads website.

As you can see from our photos, Olga had a notebook full of examples. She has used Texture Magic to embellish everything from baby clothes to tote bags and has used it with batiks, Minky and wool felt.

The flower at right was made using a wool felt base quilted to Texture Magic and needle felted with variegated yarn.

Olga showed texturized leaves made from wool felt that will be fabulous when appliqued; like the flowers, they bring dimension and interest to any project.

At the end of this fascinating demonstration, one of the participants told Olga, "I want to come and play at your house!" Taking a cue from that wonderful sentiment, we're going to have Olga continue to visit with us through the year in a series we're dubbing Olga's Playhouse. Keep in touch through our newsletter for updates on the next session with Olga. Thanks, Olga!

Welcome Kayleigh!

2010-05-23T16:41:00.000-04:00

We have a new baby in our extended family, so that means a new baby quilt as well! Kayleigh is my new grand-niece and the first little girl we've had to fuss over in more than twenty years. She's tiny and adorable with lots of hair and long fingers and toes. We met for the first time last week when four generations of girls (Kayleigh, her mom Susan, grandmother Judy, great-grandmother Annette and I) went to lunch. Kayleigh moved from lap to lap and stayed awake almost to the bitter end -- excellent training for all the lunch dates in her future!

I used fabrics from the Benjamin Bunny & Peter Rabbit line (www.quiltingtreasures.com) for Kayleigh's quilt and the Playmates pattern from Mary Hickey's book Sweet & Simple Baby Quilts (http://www.martingale-pub.com/). This is a favorite pattern which I've made before for the shop. It's a great choice for pictorial fabrics that you want to fussy-cut and for using border stripes. Mary's book is full of excellent patterns that are perfect for the confident beginner to intermediate quilter: not too complex but more than just squares and rectangles. The pattern has quarter-square triangle units, and if you are looking for a help in simplifying that piecing, I recommend Billie Lauder's method in Quick Quilt Tricks.

Susan's mom is also a quilter, so there are multiple baby quilts in Kayleigh's nursery and many more to come over the years. With any luck, Kayleigh will be a quilter someday, too!

It's Chicken Time!

2010-05-16T17:59:00.000-04:00

We're all about chickens right now! For this year's Chicken Challenge, we offered a free pattern for Patience The Chicken from American Quilt Retailer and asked participants to make their own Patience in their own way. Then we sat down and made six different cousins of Patience and sent them off to live at other shops here in the Everedy Square/Shab Row shopping area until the end of the month. This is Darcy The Dancing Chicken, and she's hanging out with the other dancers at Footlights, the dance shop next door to us.

All of Patience's cousins are part of our Chicken Walk, which is underway until May 30th. Print out the ticket on page 3 of our newsletter on the shop website http://www.needles-n-pins.com/ and find the chickens at the shops listed. Those fine folks will stamp your ticket and when you return it to us, you'll get a free fat quarter, a free gift and be entered into the drawing for one of two $25.00 gift certificates.

Our good friend and quilter Olga Schrichte enlarged her Patience pattern and used Texture Magic with a Hoffman batik to make a fabulous tea cozy as her entry in our challenge. Olga will be in the shop on Saturday, May 22 at 11 am demonstrating how to use Texture Magic and add a lot of interest to your projects. It's free -- stop by and see her.

Janice Trepper took her Patience pattern in another direction, creating a flock of embellished chickens in this wonderful wall hanging. Jan also made use of Hoffman batiks with chicken and chicken wire designs to set off her beautiful birds.

Come take the chicken walk with us this month and see everything that's new in the shop!

Not Your Mother's Panels

2010-04-24T20:35:00.002-04:00

In researching early 19th century quilt history for one of our Saturday groups, I learned that printed panels were some of the earliest fabric designs available to quilters - and they were greatly prized. As printing technology developed, quilters had more and more print and color options from which to choose. Applique and piecing techniques took off from there but panels never went away.

Fast forward to the late 20th century and the quilting revival. Panels were often called "cheaters" (puts one in mind of wayward spouses) thus denoting the fact that they did not require the effort of piecing or applique. But enter the technology of rotary cutting, strip piecing and machine quilting and another explosion of options - this time not only of available fabric styles but also methods. Suddenly we can move from the simplest of panel baby quilts to the most intensive of pieced and/or appliqued and/or embellished quilts. Choices -- not cheaters!

We carry a large selection of fabrics for baby quilts and quilts for kids all the time, and we include a wide variety of panels whenever possible. Sometimes we just quilt the panel and bind it - as we did with Paddington Bear and Benjamin Bunny & Peter Rabbit (both from Quilting Treasures). These make wonderful quilts for little ones to take with them wherever they go - just the right size and easy to wash (we use Hobbs' Polydown batting for easy care). When we want to use the panel as a wall hanging, we might add borders before quilting, as we did with our dinosaur panel from Timeless Treasures.

It's always fun to play with a panel, fussy-cutting blocks and using them within a pieced top. These law enforcement and rescue vehicles with their checkered borders from Clothworks really came alive with alternate blocks of bright color. Sashing sets off the cute animals from Studio E's Jungle, Jungle panel in this wall hanging.

When we need a little something to add to a baby shower gift, we go right to our cloth book panels. Easy to make and perfect for babies and toddlers and even early readers, these books can get dirty and be tossed in the washer. How simple!

Of course, there are other panels that aren't for babies, including some great holiday pieces. Some of those have just started to arrive in the shop this month, so I'll post some photos and info as we construct our shop models in the weeks ahead.

Sweet Liberty!

2010-04-21T19:33:00.001-04:00

Please don't think I'm rushing the season, but I'm getting pretty excited about what's new in red, white and blue for summer. Pat Sloan has a super new line for P&B that is just perfect for table accessories this year - and here are our first examples.

I made this edition of the popular Braid Runner by G.E. Designs last night. If you haven't made this runner yet, you are in for a treat. Gudrun Erla's quilt-as-you-go technique is fast and easy. After you make your first runner you'll never search for a quick gift idea again!

You do need 1 2/3 yards of backing fabric, but you'll cut that down the fold and have enough fabric to back two runners. Choose a neutral and hold the second piece for your next runner.

Pat's line is cheerful and bright with a fireworks-style print along with a piece with patriotic words like "country," "hope," and "liberty" among others. She puts those designs with funky flowers and great bold colors. You can picture these prints on your table with baskets of summer fruits and veggies or wildflowers in a mason jar. Yea for summertime!

Because one good idea begets another, Lois took some of the line home to make another model of Terry Atkinson's Happy Holidays pattern. She added a blue patriotic print from Hoffman for the small star points, and used the wavy stripe like I did for the binding. Since it's already on an angle, you don't have to cut it on the bias.

Lois has made two previous seasonal versions of this model, but this time she decided to go for a two-fer and used a large apple print from Timeless Treasures to create a topper for autumn on the reverse.

We recommend using Hobbs' Thermore Batting for all table toppers and runners. This thin polyester batting is lightweight, lies flat, washes well and doesn't change shape. You'll love hand quilting with it, too.

Here's to an early start to an excellent summer!

Bagging It For Earth Day

2010-04-20T19:07:00.001-04:00

Many years ago, when I spent some time in Germany, I delighted in carrying a basket to the market for my purchases - so European! Now many of us routinely carry totes and bags on shopping trips and, if you sew, your bag can be an extension of your love of fabric and style. What better way to eliminate plastic bags from your life!

There are an incredible number of bag patterns available to us --certainly something for everyone. We've made lots of shop models over the last few years: many Lazy Girl designs by Joan Hawley; everything Terry Atkinson at Atkinson Designs has created and numerous bags by Amy Butler. The Bow Tucks Bag by Penny Sturges is popular everywhere, and we love the Two-Hour Tulip Purse by Janice Pope. (You're looking at two of the four sizes in this picture. Our colleague Judy made the small one in a classy black Hoffman batik to carry during the evenings on a cruise last February.)

Many of our customers have found bags of all types to be great gifts. Take your favorite grocery tote pattern and tour your fabric stash first (won't you feel great about that!) Choose fun fabrics to fit the recipient. Fill the finished bag with an equally appropriate gift of food: cookies and munchies perhaps; or the makings of a favorite dish with recipe attached. Perfect for bridal showers, housewarmings, as a hostess or holiday gift. We have a free pattern for the bag at right that was created by local quilter and friend Joan Watkins. If you'd like to have a copy, send us an email with your name and mailing address.

Happy Earth Day!

Welcome!

2010-04-19T21:04:00.000-04:00

This blog is my newest way to keep in touch with the community of quilters and fabric lovers that surrounds us. Something new happens here every day: fabric comes in, books and patterns arrive, models change and - most importantly - customers and friends stop by with "show and tell" and ideas to share. I hope to use this new format to share the life of our shop with you several times a week.

I'd been pondering this creation for awhile when I mentioned the idea to my friend and children's book author extraodinare Debbie Wiles( deborahwiles1.blogspot.com). She helped me get started and then I allowed it to languish while I did other things - like quilt. Then, along came salvation in the form of another friend. Elizabeth Slade, quilter, photographer (whateyesseedaily.blogspot.com) and sign language interpreter graciously gave up a day to walk me through the process. Thanks, girls! As authors always note in the acknowledgements: I couldn't have done it without you, but all of the errors are mine and mine alone.

I want to show off our model of the Civil War Tribute Quilt from Homestead Hearth and Marcus Fabrics. It isn't up in the shop just yet because the size and weight demands special hanging apparatus, but we're happy to stretch it out for visitors. Lois Clow did a fabulous job (as usual) in her piecing and we are delighted with longarm quilter Linda Braun's work as well. Linda has more photos and thoughts on the quilting posted on her website and blog (adesigninmotion.com). There are 2,400+ pieces in this quilt (yep, Lois counted) of the wonderful reproduction fabrics chosen by Judy Rothermel for this challenging project. Those fabrics are now available in our 19th century fabric section and we still have one fabric kit remaining -- it's not too late to get started!