If you come in the shop, you will see a patterns with yellow covers from a company called "Vine Designs". That's us!! Kathy and I have been designing quilts, tablerunners and so on for about 2 years and finally have used our newsletter printing company to create a pattern line. In 2009, I wrote "Bits n Pieces" patterns to use up our scraps and leftovers fabrics. Now, they are an official pattern with professional graphics and directions. Lots better than my hand-drawn and photocopied originals.

Watch for more of these patterns to come out in the future. Every day we are working on getting some more out in the shelf and into distribution.

Traveling in alaska

Dan and I are having a wonderful time seeing the vast wilderness of
Alaska. Haven't visited in any quilt shops yet--think that will happen when we get on the boat. I certainly have found much to inspire me here. The wildflowers and scenery just make me want to create a quilt. Lake Forest block of the month looked just like the Byers Lake area and I can't wait to finish mine. Embroidery and applique beckon to let me design a quilt. Alaska is quite beautiful and certainly a mostly untouched wilderness. Now if I can just see a moose somewhat close up...but not too close!!

Traveling in

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Art Quilt Class

Last Saturday was the art quilt class with Lenore Crawford. 17 of us piled into our old storefront and listened attentively as Lenore told us how to proceed with her techniques of Misty Fuse and fabric. Then we began to cut out and fuse our fabrics. Poppies and coneflowers began to come to life. There wasn't much conversation because we were all concentrating so hard! Music would have been nice, but we didn't think of that beforehand. Towards the end of the class, Lenore demonstrated her techniques with fabric paint that added a 3-D effect to the art quilt. Some used her paints and brushes to try it out. Everybody had a fabulous time and could hardly wait to finish what they had started. Lenore had her patterns to sell....they are also available at her website: http://www.lenorecrawford.com/ If you have never seen her work, check it out! She is a resident of Midland, Michigan but travels all around teaching her techniques.

Fabric, Fabric and more Fabric

Hi ladies - and gents too! This is Amy I am going to try to get on here now and then. Lately Cathy and Kathy have been bringing in more and more beautiful fabrics. I told them the other day to stop it, I want it all!!!!! As I sit here and look out the grass is getting greener by the day. I can see little green sprouts starting to show in my flower bed. I am getting inspired to want to work with light and bright colors again. Winter and bog us down and perhaps that helps make spring time even better, it is a time of renewal. Did anyone else make a quilty lent promise this year? I did, I gave up the piecing process. The result, I have quilted 6 lap quilts in 6 weeks. I actually have one more king sized one to go that has to get done by the end of the month. Another idea I heard about was making charity quilts only. Let us know if you made a quilting promise this year and how it went.