Monday, February 17, 2014

Down to Earth

It's finally arrived! The Down to Earth fabric is now in the shop and the girls worked hard cutting all of your pre-orders!  The panel can be used as is, or you can embroider over the top of the design for added dimension.  We hope you agree, it's been worth the wait!







Gloria just finished her Hampton Ridge block of the month quilt, and as everyone always says, it's so much prettier in person! 









Kathy is ready for her class "Practice What I Preach",  so won't you come join her?  You will learn to use a variety of specialty rulers using Pam Buda's techniques. The class is March 15 from 10-4 pm in the Big Barn.  Cost is $25 and Pam Buda's book is required.

There's lots going on at the Barn!  We hope to see you all soon!

Friday, February 7, 2014

Can this be Love?

They say that "Love is in the air", but our "air" has been bitter, bone chillingly cold, with wind chills well below zero, just like around most of the country, but we have our love to keep us warm, right? LOL!  As long as we stay tucked up tight in our sewing rooms and keep our fingers busy this may be true, especially if our fingers are tucked down in this adorable wool project, "I Heart", from Helen Stubbings, one of our favorite  designers from the land down under!  

Helen's sample is originally made from cotton, but I made mine out of wool, so it is also slightly smaller than suggested due to the yardage width of hand dyed wool, but I had no problem fitting the design on.  It might be fun to throw in some of the hand dyed velvet, too that you can see in the foreground in the photo.  We have lots of great wools to select from as well as rolls quilter's candy for $2.50 that gives you just a nibble of a few colors.  To get the design just right, I actually traced the heart with the letter "edges" onto freezer paper and cut out the inside of the heart, and then ironed that template onto the wool so I knew all the letters had to fit inside my heart template.  This seemed to work really well for me.  
I don't know what I'd do without my freezer paper!  I go through a ton of it, as you can see from my giant size roll, especially now when I'm working on a new crazy design.  I have the design done and have started piecing the blocks for a new monkey block but still haven't quite figured out the setting....hope I've guessed correctly on the number of blocks so I don't have to go back and make more!




And speaking of crazies, here's some crazies that are perfect if you're "feeling the Love" this time of year! 

Love quilt
Our "Love" quilt is made from the letters out of "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" out of our "Crazy Among Friends" book. 

Crazy Little Thing Called Love










"Hearts" is out of our "Crazy Fun N Games" book.










And there's the ever popular single pattern "Heart Crazies"












And in case you are still looking for your "Prince Charming", we have one of those too!  Whatever you do, make your day happy, and here's hoping your love will keep you warm!