YIPPEE!!!!! It
is finally SPRING!!
I saw my first Chipmunk this week, so I know that Spring is
here!! The dogs will be happy
now….something ELSE to bark at during the day!
Susan and I have been doing some Spring Cleaning, too — in
the shop, of course! We have cleaned
out, spruced up, and rearranged (again…) the shop. There is now more shelving
to house the new fabrics — which continue to arrive daily along with new
books and patterns.
In addition to doing all of that, Susan has been very busy
learning all about our Long-Arm Quilting Machine and we are happy to announce
that we are now able quilt for our customers.
April 3rd, is our FIRST Anniversary. Susan will just be back from vacation (she is
in Alaska visiting friends) and I will be getting ready to LEAVE for vacation
(I am gong to see my grandchildren and my mother). Be sure to read the ENTIRE newsletter for
little tidbits about our Anniversary Date.
May will mean a trip to the International Quilt Market in
Utah. We have our rooms booked, the
flights arranged, and our class schedule all ready—update when we get back!!
We do want to THANK each of your for your support, your kind
words, sharing your fabulous quilts with us, and most of all for your
friendship during the past year. We are
very touched by all of you!
Linda
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ABC’s Anniversary |
4/3 |
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Monster of the Month
Club |
4/4 |
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Easter Tax Day — Oh Joy! |
4/8 4/16 |
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Susan’s Birthday Thimbleberries Club |
4/184/19 |
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Monster Club Fishing Opener |
5/2 5/12 |
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Thimbleberries Club Memorial Day |
5/17 5/28 |
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10 NW 5th Street Grand Rapids, MN 55744
www.abcsofquilting.com
Abc’s of quilting
On April 19th, we will celebrate
Susan’s Birthday.
This means that all purchases during
the day will receive DOUBLE PUNCHES!
Susan’s REAL birthday is the 18th,
but since we already know that we will both be gone that day, we will save the
celebration for THURSDAY, April 19th so that you can come in and wish her Happy
Birthday!
April & May 2007
Volume 2, Issue 2
As we mentioned in our last newsletter, the shop purchased a
Gammill long-arm quilting machine.
And, we are very happy to let all of you know that we can now
offer Long–Arm Quilting as one of our services to you.
We have the price list and all of the information about the
types of quilting we can do both in the shop and on the web site.
Plus, we have several quilts that Susan has completed hanging
in the shop so that you can see the type of work we can do for you!
Oh yes, we have been asked if we have ‘named’ our machine
like the people in the commercials. So
far, the only name we call it is THE BEAST!!!
Not quite as feminine as the people on TV but it works for
us!
Monster of the Month Club:
This is such a great time—the Monsters are so great and there
are now SIX of them up in the shop!!
Next meeting is on April 3rd and Susan will have TWO new Monsters for us
to see.
Thimbleberries Club:
The 2nd Quarter Lap Quilt is completed and hanging outside of
the shop—ABC’s did the quilting—so you can see the blocks/project as you
progress with you own.
Mystery Quilt
April 1st marks the beginning of the 4th piece to the
mystery. We hope that you are further
than we are on making the quilt a reality.
Neither Susan nor Linda have even started theirs!!
There are only TWO more pieces and it will be complete. Then you have the summer to have it quilted
and bound. We will hang them in the shop
beginning on September 1st!!
Books & Patterns:
Shrimp Cocktail—Thistledown & Co.
Little Charmers II—Anka’s Treasures
Any Occasion Tablerunners/Placements—Carolyn’s Creative
Designs
Floral Duo Tablerunner—Carolyn’s Creative Designs
Piccadilly—In the Doghouse Designs
Bunny In a Basket of Eggs—Castillija Cotton
Gran’s Gingerbread—Simple Pleasure Series
Luscious Lilacs—Carolyn’s Creative Designs
Striptease—Brenda Henning
Liberated String Quilts—Gwen Marston
Serenity—Gathering Friends
Suduko—Cyndi Hershey
Square Dance—Martha Thompson
Circle of Friends—Cheryl Phillips
Strips & Curves—Louisa Smith
There are probably many more but these are the NEWEST ones,
so I just added those!!
Come in and browse—remember we do have that chair in the shop
so you take your time making a selection!!!
The fabric collections we have been ordering since last fall
are coming into the shop daily. And,
strange as it sounds, this includes the CHRISTMAS FABRIC, too!
We put out the fabric as it arrives (mainly because we want
everyone to see it but also because we have NO place to store it…) and this
year we wanted to let you know that all of the CHRISTMAS FABRIC will
be in the shop NO later than July!! Mark
your calendars so that you don’t miss seeing the gorgeous new lines!
Currently we have several new collections for spring and
summer. We have also added new blender
colors, BRIGHTER colors, and new novelties fabrics for your graduation,
wedding, and baby projects.
There are also several new quilt samples hanging in the shop
for your enjoyment! Here is the latest update:
·
Nature’s
Whimsey—Northcott
·
New
Leaf—Michael Miller
·
Spring
Fling—Moda
·
Canoe
Country—Moda
·
Spice
Market—Benartex
·
American
Heritage (a great fabric with horses) - Kaufman
·
Bayside—Marcus
Brothers
·
The
Roaring 20s & Beyond—RJR
·
A
Day at the Beach—Wilmington Prints
·
Several
new White on White fabrics by Blank, Timeless Treasures and Maywood
·
London
Lawns II—Moda
·
Gossamer
Petals -
The Statewide Shop Hop runs AUGUST 3RD—19TH!
Here are the rules:
·
The
state will be divided into FIVE Quadrants—I know, I know, a QUAD is
supposed to be a QUARTER, but I didn’t pick the names of these things, okay?
·
To
qualify for the BIG prizes, you must have a minimum of EIGHT shops in each
section.
·
Each
shop will give a FREE pattern for an 8” FINISHED block from the Moda
Focus Fabrics.
·
Shop
Hop Hours are: Mon—Fri 10 am—6pm
Sat. 10
am—6 pm
Sun. 1
pm—5 pm
·
You
will need a Quilt Minnesota Passport when you start your journey. It can be picked up at the shop or you
can download the passport (www.quiltminnesota.com).
·
Prizes include: FIVE $100 Gift Certificates; ELNA
Sewing Machine; A weekend at Gruber’s Retreat Center (for you and 13 quilting
buddies) and a Bed & Breakfast stay
at Harvest Inn, Ashby, MN for the Hopper who visits the MOST shops!!
·
Call
if you have questions!! We are here to HELP you have FUN with this HOP!
There are many new books on Quilting, but this is one that
you can use over and over again!!
The book is a guide to using panels, borders, and theme
prints in your quilts. These fabrics can
offer challenges to any quilt maker and are unlike most other fabrics.
Since many quilters now want to have PANELS to use for quick
projects, the real challenge is how to use the fabric and keep the artwork and
design alive.
This book gives a variety of examples (patterns included) and
provides a wide array of ideas, too!
At the end of each project, there is a section call ‘Other
Options’ which will show you how to adapt new fabrics to the project or modify
it to fit your needs.
If you like SCRAPPY quilts, this book will give you the
opportunity to empty those overflowing scrap bags or boxes. Dissmore has also
included fat quarters in many of the materials lists so you can coordinate the
quilt with current fabrics!
It’s hard to believe, but there continue to be NEW products
that we all NEED to make our quilts!!
We have been waiting until we attend Quilt Market in May to
purchase some of these gadgets since we will get to see many of them there.
However, here is the list of the latest items:
·
Insul-Bright
is now available by the yard—and you can still get it in the packages, too!
·
Marker
Removal Spray—gets rid of marking pens/chalk used on your quilts.
·
Bias
Square rulers! These are terrific when
doing all of those half square triangles!
·
Thimbleberries
Stencils—these are the ones recommended for use with the new House and Garden
line.
·
Quiltvision
USA maps! These are great—they show most
of the shops in Minnesota! You can check
it out at www.quiltvisionusa.com
Last year we had many requests for ‘project’ classes during
the summer. But, since we were just
getting started we didn’t have the time or the instructors available to make
that happen.
We also had some concerns that the classes wouldn’t be
well-attended because most of us spend time in our gardens, have visitors, go
fishing, or, as I like to do, sit outside and just soak up the sunshine —
without a coat, boots, a scarf, mittens, etc!!!
This year, we do have the instructors, lots of ideas for
quick projects and we will have SUMMER SCHOOL for all of the quilters who want
to come in and have some fun!
The Summer Session will begin in June and ends in August.
Each month we will offer several quick and easy projects that
will give you an opportunity to spend some time visiting with your quilting
friends and learning something new.
Since, Linda is a little ’behind’ in working out the
schedule, it is NOT included in this newsletter. However, she will have all of the dates
worked out by May 1st and the Class List will be both in the shop and on our
web site (www.abcsofquilting.com).
Here are the Classes:
·
Folded
Flower Pin Cushions
·
Chenille
Hot Pads
·
Table
Scraps
·
Going
in Circles
·
Stained
Glass
·
The
Ol’ Bag
·
BOM
Pillows
·
Charm
School
·
Christmas
in July
·
Old
Glory Flag
·
Anything
else that Linda thinks of before May 1st!!
NEW
MAGAZINE!
Asian Fabric
by
Kona Bay!!!
“Old Quilters never die, they just FRAY away!”
Linda and Susan will be attending Quilt Market in Salt Lake
City, UT in May.
As always, if there is something in particular that you
want/need, please let us know and we will be happy to search for it!
Doreen will be totally in charge of the shop while we are
gone! She is great with color selection
and is terrific at helping you find all of your quilting supplies, too!
Stop in and see her so she doesn’t get lonely while we are
gone (and you can check up and see if she is actually working, too)!!
10. A Quilting ROOM
9. Chocolate!!
8. Rotary Cutter & Mat
7. Rulers
6. Sewing
Machine
5. Good Iron
4. New
Projects
3. A nice Stash
2. Money to
buy fabric
1. Great
Quilting Friends!
To Quilt is human, to finish — DIVINE!!!
Need a gift for Easter, Mother’s
Day, Graduations, or Birthdays????
How about a GIFT CERTIFICATE from
ABC’s of Quilting????
We’re on the web at
www.abcsofquilting.com