Alice's Washday Blues has Arrived!

Hello Pieceful Quilters!

I am happy to announce that my fabric line with Blue Hill Fabrics has finally arrived in the shop! Pictures of the fabrics are shown below. We are busy cutting fat quarter and snippet bundles, and we will be starting on the kits for the quilt I designed in the next couple of days.

Call the shop for more information or to place your order!

Thanks for all of your support and encouragement!

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,

With Sarah's Sewing Circle coming up next week, I thought I should take a minute to outline what we are doing this session. You are welcome to join our club at any time, and now would be a good time! At our meeting next week we are having a half square triangle exchange. If you want to get in on the exchange, there is still time to do the pre-work. It is fairly simple, and it promises to be a lot of fun!

First, I would like to show you what we did last month. As you may know, our projects are intended to replicate antique quilts. The first project this session was based on an antique 16-patch quilt top that I own. It is actually a strip of an unfinished quilt:

Unfinished Antique 16-Patch Quilt

The club members liked the way it looked, so we decided to do it as a runner:

Sarah's 16-Patch Table Runner

We put some extra fabric in the kit so that you will have a chance to play around with the setting. I had enough left over to make a small doll quilt.

As I said, next month we will be doing a half square triangle exchange. We will be reproducing a small quilt that is owned by Sandy Schweitzer. The original was made in the 30's, but our reproduction will be more Civil War. We will be sewing 1" finished Half Square Triangles using Triangulations Software sheets. To make the smallest size, shown below, you will need to sew 4 sheets. We are all using the same setting fabric. If you want to get involved, stop in soon to get the full instrucions. Here is a representative of the quilt we will be making:

Sarah's Kites Doll Quilt

For March we had decided to do a replication of one of the quilts from the book Childhood Treasures by Marikay Waldvogel. The quilt I chose is this cute (and simple) Churn dash:

Churn Dash from Childhood Treasures

Of course, it seemed like a good idea to use my fabric, "Alice's Washday Blues," which will surely be in the shop in plenty of time. So, I designed it using the blues:

Alice's Washday Churn Dash

For April, the club chose to do one of the larger quilt tops in my collection. I don't think we will do it quite this big, but maybe a large wall hanging or lap quilt. Of course, if you want to do it larger, that will be your choice.

The Final Quilt for this session

I just loved the way the quiltmaker did the sashings, with red strips going in one direction and light blues and other colors in the other direction.

As I said, we are always open to newcomers. You will only pay for the remaining meetings in the session. Club members receive 15% off club kits that they purchase at club meetings. Kits are available for sale after the club meetings have taken place.

Hope to see you all at our next meeting!

Carrie

Exciting News about Alice's Washday Blues!

Hello Pieceful Quilters,

Sorry I have been so bad about writing. We have been going nuts at the shop trying to get ready for all the events we have coming up. I just wanted to share the news that we have finally received some yardage of of my fabric with Blue Hill, "Alice's Washday Blues," and to post some pictures. We are expecting the bolts in the next couple of weeks, and in the meantime, we are going to be busy making up samples. Here is a picture of the one that I designed for the free pattern from Blue Hill - it is based on the original quilt that inspired the line:

We will be kitting this one, for sure. Let us know if you want us to hold one for you. Here are individual pictures of the fabrics. There are 21 skus in the line:

You can pre-order as follows: Fat Quarter bundles $58.99, SnippetBundles $19.99, Half Yard Bundles $104.99.

Once the actual fabric arrives, we will have some kind of event to celebrate, so be sure to watch our weekly email for details!

Thanks for all your support!

Carrie

What I've been doing

Hello Pieceful Quilters,

First, I would like to thank all of you for your thoughts and prayers over the past couple of months. My Dad's illness and subsequent passing were made so much easier by all of you - your kindness, sympathy, and above all, your patience, have been amazing! I can only hope for each of you as wonderful a circle of friends (for you are all my friends) as I have.

Now, in case you were wondering if I have been sitting around and staring into space, well, yes, to some extent you are right, however, I have taken my own advice to so many of you, and turned to my quilting for therapy. There is nothing quite so soothing as sitting at your machine and choosing fabric after fabric to put in a scrappy quilt, and then piecing them through in a long, long string of pieces. So, here are a couple of things I have been working on:

First, the most recent Sarah's Club project. I didn't quite have it done in time for the meeting last month, but it is finished now, and Vonnie has it all quilted. All I have to do is put on the binding and add a label. I am really pleased with it:

Sarah's Patriotic Quilt

Then, I have been working on three great scrappy projects at the same time. Sewing a bunch of pieces from each, then ironing and then more sewing. First is the 1000 Pyramids quilt that I am making from the Charm Squares we exchanged in Sarah Club. I still haven't found the two missing rows that I brought to the shop to show you. I am sure they will turn up, but in the meantime, I have continued to move along. Here is six more rows at the end of my guest room bed:

1000 Pyramids

Next comes the quilt I am working on using the triangles from the exchange. Some of you may have seen part of it at the demo, but here is some more on my design wall. I have started writing the pattern, too, and it will be available free on our website, soon.

Hidden Diamonds - Triangle Exchange Quilt

Finally, I have started my project for the next exchange. If you haven't heard, we will be exchanging 1" x WOF strips to make quilts from Edyta Sitars newest book, "Friendship Strips and Scraps." Information about the exchange is in our current newsletter. If you didn't receive one in the mail, you can download one from our website. I am doing this adorable Courthouse Steps quilt. The one in the book uses slightly bigger strips, but it is working just fine with 1" strips. Here are some of the blocks in progress on my ironing board. Don't they look kind of like they are floating? Hmmm - Magic!

Strip Exchange Project in Motion

So, no need to worry about me. I am doing fine, and getting plenty of therapy in my sewing room. Gosh - I might even finish something! And, if you see my missing triangles somewhere, please tell them to come home so I can add them to their quilt before I finish it!

Happy Sewing Therapy!

Carrie