When each new fabric line comes in, I’m antsy to sew something with it. But it’s not actually that often that I get to finish a project out of anything in a timely manner. (Thank goodness for all our wonderful shop display sewists!) But when I found myself fondling Half Moon Modern every single day, I felt justified in starting a new project. So I set out to modabakeshop.com for something quick using pre-cuts, and found just the thing: a tutorial for a quilt called Home Sweet Home. Here’s my version, made with just 2 charm packs and some Bella White Jelly Roll strips.

And speaking of being antsy, I’ve been pretty impatient with binding lately, so I bound it completely by machine. I love beautiful hand-binding on quilts that deserve it. But sometimes I just want it done, and if it will be well-used I figure a machine binding will be especially sturdy anyway. I have a quilt at home that’s been waiting for it’s hand finishing for a year, while I’ve finished several machine bindings recently. After trying a few different techniques, I’ve been most often using the method I found in this tutorial from A Quilt Is Nice. It basically involves sewing the binding first onto the back of the quilt, then folding it to the front and edge-stitching it down just inside of the first stitching line. Here you can see what my binding looks like from the front on the left, and from the back on the right.

I like doing it this way for a few reasons: 1-Even though you can see the stitching on the front, since you’re sewing it from that side you can make sure it’s nice and neat. The imperfections are on the back, where I won’t see them. 2-I don’t have to worry about not catching the binding, like I do with the stitch-in-the-ditch method (which is still great, I’m just not very good at it.) 3-I don’t have to pin. Sometimes I use my Wonder Clips, but mostly I just fold and hold with my fingers as I go.

I know not everyone is with me on the machine binding, but I’m curious to know if any of you have machine binding tips or methods you like.

Anyone who visited the shop at the right time on a certain day last September was probably a bit confused to find the lights off and cords all over. They camera crew were mostly pretty stealth and quiet, but the lighting was the giveaway. Some may have figured out that those shots were going to be for Quilt Sampler magazine! The crew was a blast, we even got to go out and celebrate with them at the end of the long day.

Part of our feature in the magazine will include a quilt pattern we designed. The quilt itself is actually in Iowa right now so they can style & shoot it. So Monday when we had our big live announcement we unveiled a miniature version. Right now we’re calling it Pencilmania, and for this version we used a bunch of polka dots that are in the original, larger version.

Kathy and I have both always loved school supplies. Back-to-school shopping was so exciting, and we still love picking out new pens or getting markers in every single color. So this quilt really suits us, and is sort of the patchwork version of neurotically arranging your writing utensils in color order. Personally, I think it would make a really adorable gift for a child’s teacher. We’ll be making several versions of the pattern, who knows what form it might take next!

One great thing about 2012 is that we don’t have to keep our secret any longer. We found out last Summer that we would be featured in the Spring/Summer 2012 issue of Quilt Sampler magazine! The catch was that we couldn’t tell anybody, all while being interviewed, having photo shoots, and designing and making the quilt that would be featured in the magazine. Well we’re thrilled to finally be able to share this exciting news!

Quilt Sampler comes out twice a year, from American Patchwork & Quilting, published by Better Homes & Gardens, and features the top quilt shops in the country. What an honor to be chosen after only being open 2 years! The issue is released May 8, so mark the calendar for a big celebration in our shop that day. We’ll be counting down till then with some fun stuff that we’ll be updating you on.  In the mean time, we made the big announcement on Monday in our store by drawing for some prizes, and unveiling a miniature version of the quilt pattern we designed for the magazine.

The American Patchwork & Quilting ladies gave us this bag to give away, and Ann won!

Julie was the winner of the $100 Moda bundle. Lucky!

Thanks to everyone who joined us to celebrate our big announcement! We’re so lucky to have the supportive customers and staff who make our jobs not just possible but so much fun.

Each year when holiday time approaches, the local newspaper, the Preston Citizen, publishes a free coloring book for children, the pages of which can be colored and brought in to local stores for a chance at winning prizes. I have fond memories of coloring them myself when visiting my Grandma in Preston. At Suppose we display the artwork that gets entered here and then have the winners come in for picture taking.  Thanks to all the cute kiddos that brought their colored sleeping teddy bears pictures in!  And now without further ado, here are the winners: Dru, Ella, Ty, and Jed.

How’s that for a self-explanatory post title? Anna Maria Horner’s Loulouthi Needleworks prints are so cool you have to hardly do anything to them to turn them into something pretty and useful. Just sew up the sides and cut a boatneck like Ashley did for a cute new shift dress!

I followed our Exposed Waistband Skirt instructions but left out the pleating for this one.

The added twist was that I used black mini-ball fringe to trim the hem! Seemed to add to the gypsy feel of the skirt without being too crazy.

I dare you to try it with regular sized pom pom fringe. Not really. Wait, there probably is someone who could pull that off without looking silly. Just not me.

Just a few more of my fave photos from market. International Quilt Festival happens just a few days after Quilt Market but we don’t always have time to stay, so thank goodness that they have exhibits set up during market. It’s great for a little bit of a rest and huge bit of inspiration.

Sometimes Mom & I share a brain. We both love tiny pieces in a quilt. The itty bits in this one just make me want to devour it!

"Kindergarten" by Tadako Nagasawa.

Japanese quilter Harumi Asada has become one of my idols. Her work is unbelievable and seeing it in person is always such a treat. This one was a birthday gift. Could you imagine being the recipient?!

close-up of "Happy Birthday" by Harumi Asada

How does she find the time…

"Harmony in Nature" by Harumi Asada

It’s the details and those tiny appliqued creatures that have me so enamored.

close-up of "Harmony in Nature" by Harumi Asada

There was an exhibit of quilts from the South Korean quilt guild, which I especially loved because of my fondness for the country since my visit there this summer. We don’t hear much about Korean quilters despite much of our quality fabrics being made there. What a relief to know quilting is going strong in Korea!

"Opening the Window" by Young Kyu Ko

And again with the shared brain thing. The favorite quilt from all of market for both Mom & me was “Stairway to Heaven” by Hong Joo Kim. Ta da!

"Stairway to Heaven" by Hong Joo Kim

Not sure what the story is with the shape of the quilt, think it might be a traditional Korean quilt design. What a great idea for a new way to do a log cabin though.

close-up of "Stairyway to Heaven" by Hong Joo Kim

See more quilts from the exhibits on our Flickr. Oh the quilts make me so happy I just wanna eat them or something. Can’t wait to get to more sewing.

It’s been 4 days since we got back from market and I don’t know if we’ve recovered from the excitement and the exhaustion yet! Things are more inspiring than ever in the quilt industry though. The community is growing and there are so many new great things at our fingertips. We wanted to share a bit of we saw that will be coming into the shop.

I’ve been yearning for neon fabrics for a while (It must be that I’m a child of the 80′s) and we found Robert Kaufman’s upcoming Stockholm line for a neon fix. We expect it to arrive in January, a perfect bright pick me up for Winter.

Also arriving in January is a new Dr. Seuss collection, the Lorax! We know how much you guys love the Dr. Seuss stuff, and we spotted this especially darling Lorax quilt in the Robert Kaufman booth.

You might find this hard to believe, but it’s hard to find just the right “pretty” fabrics. But we found a winner in Moda’s Papillon collection by 3 Sisters that will be arriving in February. It was inspired by the fabrics on the back of an antique quilt, which you can see here with the new quilt made of the collection.

Anna Maria Horner’s booth is always one of the most vibrant and breathtaking at market. This time she had her new velveteens (arriving next month) and embroidery on display. Supergorge.

Butterflies seemed to be really popular at Market, and embroidery is still going strong too–as it should! This particular piece is from Anna Maria also.

One of our favorite voices in quilting is Australian author Sarah Fielke, of Material Obsession fame. She’s got a new book, Quilting from Little Things, and we got to see some of the quilts from the book on display in her booth.

Love her hand quilting. And check out those cute tabs around the border.

The buzz started before market about new Moda designer Lucie Summers and her upcoming (April) collection, Summersville. Her perspective is so fresh and happy, and of course we picked up her entire collection! We’ll even have kits of this string quilt in the shop.

I couldn’t get enough of this Summersville quilt. The reverse applique is so darling!

I hope you get a bit of a sense for the thrilling things that are happening in quilting. That’s really just the tip of the iceberg.  You can see many more photos in our Flickr Market photo album, and we’ll keep bringing you more good stuff.

Imagine Halloween Day, a long working weekend is coming to a close, being exhausted but knowing you still have a long flight ahead of you. Then coming across this joy of joys, THE GHASTLIES IN REAL LIFE!

The guys at the Alexander Henry booth were in costume on Monday at quilt market, as The Ghastly family, the spitting images of the ever loved fabrics. See some closeups of the fabrics here, and you’ll recognize little Cordelia in her bow, with Matilda and Mister Ghastly. Ever earning our adoration, those Alexander Henry guys.

There is SO much I could be telling you right now. Some of it I can’t talk about yet and some of it I’m too exhausted to talk about. We arrived home from market last night, and I’ll be posting photos tomorrow, but in the mean time I just had to get a photo of my spiderweb star block up.  In the Suppose Creative Guild this year we’re making medallion quilts, following the instructions on Bloomin’ Workshop. We’ll be adding 2 borders each month, but I was behind from the beginning. At least I have a center block now!

It makes me so happy to look at. Now if I’d just dare add to it.

We’re more into sewing than crafting, but when I saw paper-covered pumpkins in one of my mom’s magazines I thought, why not with fabric!  I actually think applying fabric to a curved surface was easier than paper would be. We used real pumpkins because we knew we’d want different fabrics next year, and I loved the idea of seeing a real stem and ridges but a fabric body. Though you could definitely use fake ones if you want them to be reusable. You can see what you’ll need and our tips to decoupage your own fabric pumpkins right HERE.Our pumpkins feature fabric from the City Weekend and Bon Vivant collections.