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.

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 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.

As we were leaving quilt market yesterday, we realized we hadn’t taken a single photo of ourselves during the trip. But really, aren’t we just interested in the fabric?  A lot of great things are happening in the fabric world. Here is just a bit of upcoming awesomeness we saw at market.

More and more patterns are becoming available from Australia, including designs from Don’t Look Now! This is a close-up of the Lilly Pilly quilt. We’ll have this pattern and more available soon.

Some of the best fabric we saw at market was City Weekend, the upcoming line from Oliver+S for Moda, available in September. The prints are on the softest cotton, and there will be some lovely interlock knits in the collection too! Here, Oliver+S have their children’s clothing patterns made up in the new collection. Plus, new patterns coming this fall, including some great designs for knits. Boy oh boy.

Here’s a closer look at the prints, in a sweet quilt that we will have available in kits.

The new Ice Cream Dress pattern made up in the new fabric.  Don’t you want one in your size?

There was a lot of talk at market about Liberty of London. Lots of fabric coming out made to have a similar hand to Liberty’s smooth & drapey Tana Lawn. Like Alexander Henry’s cotton lawns, of which we can hardly wait for the arrival.  And of course, there are the classic Liberty prints in new colors by Kaffe Fasset, on quilting weight cotton.  Always love Kaffe’s edgy color combinations made up in classic quilt patterns.  We’ll have these prints in soon!

And of course, we are always excited to see what Anna Maria Horner’s been up to. Her new book, Handmade Beginnings, is just out and it has so many fun things to make!

Here Anna Maria shows of lots of fun projects in the book, and some upcoming patterns–stay tuned for news on that.

This one makes me want to get embroidering.  And another exciting thing to look forward to: new fabric from Anna Maria later this year! (No sneak peeks yet. Can’t hardly stand it.)

That was just a tiny smidgen of what we saw, but don’t worry, there’s always more to come.

There’s so much to be excited about lately, you’d think we would hit overload, but not possible.  Just like it’s always possible to love another friend or another child, there is always enough love in our hearts for more fabric.  Like Nicey Jane.  Check out this sweet little slideshow Heather Bailey put together to show off her new line, then check out the complete collection here.

Everyone’s been all a buzz about Texture Magic, the stuff that shrinks your fabric to give it a gathered, puckered texture.  I experimented with it recently and every time I give it that first burst of steam and it starts to shrink it’s a bit of a thrill, especially if someone who hasn’t seen it before is there to shout in surprise when they watch it.

Out of the package, the Texture Magic feels like a synthetic satiny lining type material, but after the heat of the steam has shrunk it, it takes on a more plasticy feel, so you’d probably want a lining in whatever you’re making with your Texture  Magic.  Next we want to try putting batting between the layers to see how that feels.  On this piece I sewed the TM to the back of my fabric in a grid pattern, 3/4″ apart.

Based on the chart that comes with the TM, I calculated how big to cut my rectangle to get the finished size I wanted, but it didn’t shrink quite as much as it could have.  I sewed a second piece just like it but increased the stitch length to see what would happen and that one shrunk a little better.  I used those first textured pieces to make a handy little pouch (with fabrics from the Hushabye collection).  Haven’t decided yet whether it’s for lip glosses or pens.  This was just a quick little project to see what the TM looked like in something instead of just on a piece of fabric, but people are doing some really interesting things out there like using it as a substitute for smocking on the bodice of little girls’ dresses, or for visual and tactile interest in applique.

Here you can see a visual of the shrink rate. The piece on the right started out the same size as the piece on the left.  I sewed the Texture Magic to it with wavy lines that curve around the circles on the fabric.

You can create great effects depending on how you sew the Texture Magic and fabric together, for example straight lines can make it look similar to simple gathers.  Everyone around here thinks this one with stippling looks like brains. I’d like to try sewing it to a Kaffe Fassett print by following the design on the fabric and see how that looks.  Some have even tried quilting it into their entire quilt!  Surely there will be more Texture Magic experiments to follow.  Some of us started as skeptics but things are getting curiouser and curiouser.