Sarah's Sewing Circle News 

Hello Sarah Members!

What a busy year I have planned for you!  In addition to the Circa 1880 Quilt and other club patterns, we will be starting the year with some quilts and projects made with my Charlotte line that FINALLY arrived today!  We were getting a little bit worried, since the Charlotte BOM starts next week.  We still have a couple of openings if you are interested, and it is also available for mail order:

 

 I did finish my Sarah's Mini Medallion Fibonacci Challenge quilt - well, the top - that is finished in my book!  As you can see, I used my Charlotte fabric for the quilt.  I was thinking about writing a pattern, but I think I will skip that.  The math is too annoying.

 Karen also finished hers.  She sent me a picture as she is getting it ready to quilt:

 Brenda also finished her top - shown below:  Anyone else?

Another cool thing that happened is that Tara Lynn Baisden, of Quilter's Ridge, designed 5 little quilts using my Charlotte fabric.  We will do at least a couple of these in Sarah Club - but I think I am going to do them all!  Which ones do you like the best?

The last one - Little Bits - uses a lot of scraps, so it looked like a natural for Sarah Club.  Maybe somewhere down the line.  

So many things to do!  I had better get sewing!

One Day Closer to Spring.......

New Classes for Summer 2011

 Hello Pieceful Quilters,

I just wanted to show you Katie's new Wool BOM.  It is Edyta Sitar's Sweet Sixteen quilt.  Katie did it using wool on a really neat Moire, which goes really well with Edyta's border fabric.  Be sure to sign up for this great class!  Registration starts this Saturday,  April 2nd at our Summer Open House and Early Discount Registration.

I know the pictures are a little fuzzy, but I hope you can see the embellishments.

Katie even decided to try beads on this one! 

Hope to see you all at registration!

Happy Quilting!

Carrie

What's Happening!

Hello Pieceful Quilters,

Just in case you think I have been slacking, I want to fill you all in on a few things I have been working on! This should make you all feel better about your own UFO's!

First - I finally finished the never-ending triangle exchange project:

My Triangle Exchange Quilt Top - Waiting to be quilted....

And speaking of exchanges, here is my project (so far) for the upcoming strip exchange next week. I am doing the Courthouse Steps project from Edyta Sitar's book, Friendship Strips and Scraps. I am plugging away. I might even have a good part of it assembled!

Friendship Strip Exchange - my Courthouse Steps project

Continuing around the fabric dump that I call my sewing room, you will find my 1000 Pyramids project taking up most of my design wall. This is a charm project that I started when we did a charm square exchange in Sarah Club last session.

1000 Pyramid Charm Project

Moving around the room we will find a few more unfinished projects:

A Mini 9-Patch from a year ago - or so, some blocks from a guild Stack & Whack project that I hope to finish, Nine Pineapple blocks - a lot more are started - somewhere around here.....

A fairly organized stash (but I am not showing the overflow), and a few more UFOs that are hanging on the door.

Finally, my next two projects - the papers and fabric for the half-square triangle exchange we are doing in Sarah Club next week, and Alice's Washday Blues Quilt.

So - if you are feeling overwhelmed with your UFOs - this is just the tip of the iceberg. I have more in the closet, more in the guest room, and more in the basement.

Be sure to attend the Pieceful Auction - I will be purging a few more of my UFOs!

Happy Quilting!

Carrie

Hello Pieceful Quilters,

As many of you know, we are starting a new quilt with our ongoing Civil War Diary/Love Letters Club. Technically we are finished with the CW quilts, but some are still working on them, so I will continue to have the kits and handouts until everyone is done.

But - I digress - we are very excited about the Hobo Quilt, and to get us started, Debi Henninger, the author, was here on Saturday to talk about the book and Hobo culture. She brought along the wonderful quilts from the book and more to share with us. Here are pictures of just a few of the quilts she brought with her. This should help club members decide what direction to go with their blocks. We will be doing all 60 blocks in the club, but that doesn't mean that you have to do all of them, or to limit them to just one quilt. There is no reason you can't do several of the quilts from the book with your blocks, or come up with something of your own!

So - here are the pictures:

The crowd listens - why aren't they always this attentive?


The main quilt from the book using all 60 blocks


Cute train quilt using just one block


A small wall hanging or tabletopper using a handful of blocks


A small wall hanging using some of the more interesting blocks


Cute tabletopper - Debi is not happy because another one she had was stolen!

Great setting!


Debi's newest venture - appliqued and embroidered blocks.

Check back here for further information on ordering it.

Our Hobo Club starts this week (September 7th or 8th) and we are really excited about the way it is turning out. Instead of doing regular applique, we are doing wool applique. I think you will find it is much quicker and simpler. Katie has a running start on the blocks:

A few of our blocks - some pieced and some with wool for the applique

We will be doing 5 blocks each month, with the applique blocks fairly evenly distributed. Our kits will consist of snippets for each fabric in each block and wool pieces as needed. The price for the kits will vary, depending on how many fabrics, but we expect them to run around $12-15.00.

There are still a couple of openings in the Hobo Club. You have a choice of the first Tuesday evening of the month at 7:30 or Wednesday morning at 10:30. We start this week, so call right away to reserve your spot.

Hope to see you all there!

Carrie

Hello Pieceful Quilters,

Just a quick reminder and teaser about our registration this weekend. Our wonderful teachers have been bringing in their samples to hang in the classroom, and I have taken pictures of a couple of our new class offerings that I thought might interest you. Be sure to come in this Saturday, April 10th, to receive a 10% Discount on classes!

We will also be having a BIG SALE - Saturday only. Since it is our 4th Spring Open House, we are having a 4 Sale - Buy 4 Pre-Cut Fat Quarters, Get 1 FREE - Buy 4 Pre-Cut Snippets, Get 1 FREE, All Sale Fabric in the classroom will be $4.00 per yard - one yard minimum.

Here are a few of our new class projects:

Twisted Spools Tube Quilt with Jean

Tulip Bag embellished with Texture Magic taught by Jean

Paper Pieced Mariner's Compass with Deb

Holiday Projects - Monthly classes with Diane

American Summer Block-of-the-Month with Diane

54-40 or Fight Advanced Beginner Quilt with Theresa

We also have many of our old favorites this summer, and all of our continueing Clubs, such as Sarah's Circle Sewing Club, Featherweight Club, Civil War Diary & Love Letters Club and MORE!

Be sure to stop by on Saturday to see everything, sign up and take advantage of our sale!

Carrie

Hello Pieceful Quilters,

I just thought I would share my latest obsession - to add to the hexagon thing....
This is the next quilt we are doing in Sarah's Circle Sewing Club. Like the hexagons, it is done using the English Paper Piecing method. Anyone that knows me is probably wondering where my brain jumped the track. I usually refer to anything that has to do with handwork as "slit-your-wrist" work. Not my favorite - however, these paper-pieced blocks just make me happy. Go figure! Anyway, we will be learning the method in Sarah's Club at our next meeting on February 23rd - right after our monthly Seasonal Samplings FREE Demo. We are really having fun in this club, and we can still take a few more members, if you are interested.

Call the shop for info - or click on the link above.

Hope you are all having a great week - waiting for the snowstorm, and hoping they are wrong!

Piecefully Yours,
Carrie

A Few Pictures

Hello Pieceful Quilters,

We have a winner! Nancy Luehrs won the 2009 Pieceful Gathering Quilt Pink Raffle Quilt. Thanks to our great customers who came through at the last minute after I confessed that I had done a truly pathetic job of promoting the quilt this year, and bought enough tickets to double the amount we will be sending to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. We will be sending a check for $320.00 thanks to all of you!

Nancy Luehrs with her new quilt!

Yesterday, I worked during the Baltimore Album Club meeting. I was so exhausted from standing all day on Saturday that I decided to sit and stitch with them for a little while. Talk about a fun group! I just sat and giggled the whole time. I had to take a couple of pictures to share with you. They are working on a method called Papercuts, where they actually cut a pattern out of paper and use it to create beautiful applique blocks. Watching a bunch of women that are a long way from kindergarten trying to cut paper was amusing, to say the least. Here are my pix with captions:

"Are you serious? Where are my magnifying glasses? Does anyone have some sharper scissors?"

"Ta-Da, it's a snowflake - ok, so maybe it's a melted snowflake."

Of course, I am just making fun. The actual blocks are truly amazing. Stop by the shop to see Joanne's sample blocks.

That's all for now. Be sure to stop by and sign up for our Spring (Jan-April) classes and clubs!

Piecefully Yours, Carrie