July 19, 2010

The shop has been busy this summer with quilters from the area and from around the world. This month we have welcomed quilters from Scotland, Ireland, Italy, Brazil, Australia, Japan, Denmark and the U.S.A. What fun we are having meeting them and hearing about their quilting adventures. We have been lucky enough to see digital images of their completed projects and works in progress! Digital cameras are great for sharing.

Holidays away can inspire us to explore new directions in quilting. My holiday in Victoria at the end of June was inspiration for a few new landscape projects, which I will be blogging about one Sunday this summer. A gift of fabric that Faith, brought back from her trip to Scotland, will be a new tote bag for Fall. The wonderful summer weather has also been inspiration for a few fun quilts in bright colours! Drop in to see what’s on the work table.

Speaking of kits, Jackie has created a simple bow tie quilt design in 30’s prints. This makes a quick and easy baby quilt. Faith used Dimples fabric by Andover to create the same quilt for those that prefer bright colours. Both are kitted for a quick weekend project.

New Workshops

Summer Learn to Machine quilt in Sections: Learn Machine Quilting Basics and Quilting in Sections in a one day workshop on August 13. These techniques allow you to quilt your own quilts on your domestic machine. In this class participants learn basic quilting and assembly techniques. This is a next steps class if you have taken the Beginner Course or you have quilting experience.

Our teachers and staff are busy working on new samples for Fall. The complete class list will be posted on this website in early August. I offer you a few teasers here: One of Jackie”s three new workshops is A trip for Two to Boston, a great class to take with your FQP (Favourite Quilting Pal) . You will both participate in the construction of two quilt tops that are very similar—one for you—one for her.

Pat will be teaching traditional Hand Appliqué. This blocks will be suitable for a pillow or wall hanging, or make a few more for a bed quilt. Faith will be teaching her popular Smoosh Tote bag class. We are pleased to have Charlene Horwood teaching workshops this Fall. Charlene is busy working on a new Block of the Month for us. In addition, she has a wonderful paper-pieced table runner for beginners and intermediate alike.

As always we have beginner courses with a completely new sample to show how versatile basic blocks can be. Registration begins August 1 and this workshop fills quickly, so sign up early to avoid disappointment. This is great refresher course for anyone who has been away from quilting for a while.