Letter
From Linda…..
The first of any year is filled with
promise and fresh starts. 2007 has taken
off in a big way for the shop and we are very happy to be able to share all of
these ‘happenings’ with you.
We were approached by Jodi Barta from
Ruttger’s in late December about the possibility of hosting a Quilt
Retreat and we agreed to do it the
weekend of March 16th.
Since it will be our first, we have been
spending time planning exciting activities for all levels of quilters. AND, we are also fortunate enough to have a
quilt designer to teach us a new technique and spend the weekend doing what we
love best: Sharing!!
One of our other December topics was a
long-arm quilting machine. After much
discussion, we decided to go ahead with the purchase and the machine is now in
the shop in the classroom—yes, it does seem LARGE!!
We also tackled our end-of-year inventory
.We requested NO more deliveries from the manufacturers until January. So, now it is almost a daily activity to
get a new shipment of fabric. All of them are lovely — so many fabrics and
so little time!
To keep you in the loop of world events,
we signed with Hoffman Fabrics for their 2007 Challenge. This is a great opportunity to exercise your
imagination and creative skills! Since
it is the 20th Anniversary for Hoffman, they have filled this year’s challenge
with great prizes and gifts — just for entering!
And, as if that is not quite enough to
fill our schedule, we will also be participants in the FIRST statewide
Minnesota shop hop in August.
So, sit back , relax and enjoy the
newsletter and we hope to see you soon at the shop!
Linda
PS. April
3rd will be the anniversary of our ownership of ABC’s and there will be lots of
fun, prizes, specials & food!
Details as soon as I can get to them!!!!
ABC’s
1st Annual Spring Retreat
ABC’s has partnered with Ruttger's Sugar
Lake Lodge for our FIRST annual retreat.
We have had several requests for a retreat
and decided that by March we would all enjoy a weekend of quilting.
March 16th, 17th and 18th are the dates
and since it is during St. Patrick and St. Urho Days, the theme will involve
lots of GREEN and PURPLE!
Kelly Irwin, (Ames, IA) of KIDesigns, will
be conducting a class on her design of World Piece. This is a unique method for making a
‘positive/negative’ colored quilt. A
sample of the quilt will be on display in the shop the beginning of
February.
If you don’t want to participate in the
class, then just bring a current project and spend the weekend enjoying the
games, small projects, and fun of sewing with friends.
Call Ruttger's (218 327-1462) to make your
reservations and we will send a packet of information about the weekend to
you.
Hope to see you there!!!!!
Minnesota Statewide Shop Hop
August 3rd
through 18th
In August of this year, Minnesota Quilt Shops will
host the 1st Annual STATEWIDE shop hop!!
The hop will begin on August 3rd and
continue until August 18th—and, yes, we will all be open on Sundays during that
time.
Moda Fabrics is working with Minnesota and has designed a line
of fabric that can only be purchased from a shop in MINNESOTA—how great is
that???? The fabric features many of the
animals and sights of Northern Minnesota and is quite beautiful.
Since this is quite a large undertaking, details
will unfold throughout the coming months.
We will have the information both at the shop and in the newsletter —as
soon as we know about it!
Recipe: One Bowl Chocolaty Football Bites
This is a QUICK, EASY, and FUN recipe — that can be adapted for any
occasion — just change the shape of the BITE!!
________________________
6 squares Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 Tbsp. butter or margarine
1/2 tsp. vanilla
4 cups Cocoa Pebbles Cereal
White Decorating Gel
Microwave chocolate, corn syrup, and
butter in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 2 1/2 min., stirring after 1 1/2
min. Blend in vanilla.
Add cereal; mix well. Cool 10 min.
Shape into 18 (3-inch-long) football shapes with lightly moistened
hands. Place on large sheet of wax paper;
cool completely.
Use decorating gel to add ‘lacings’ to
‘footballs’. Let stand until gel is
firm.
New
Fabrics, Books, and Notions
Now that the dreaded INVENTORY is completed, we
have new shipments of fabric arriving almost daily!
The most recent are:
·
Hoffman
Challenge Fabric
·
Moda - several new lines: including Fayette,
Kashmir, Ella, Abundance, Democracy, Baby Flannels, & Oodles of Poodles.
·
Thimbleberries
Garden Graphics
·
RJR
Painted Meadows
·
Benartex Marleigh—yes, the WHOLE order is now here!
·
Maywood
Woolies II Flannels in FOUR colors
·
New
Batiks
·
Blenders
in most every color
·
Several
new books and patterns
·
New
notions on the board
·
LOTS
of new samples!
Stop in and check it all out! We love to have an opportunity to talk
‘quilting’ with you!
Stattler Long Arm Machine is HERE!
In mid-January, we purchased a Stattler
Long Arm Quilting Machine. And, we are
quite thrilled!!
As many of you know, the machine is
sitting in the classroom and we are in the process of ‘learning’ how to use it.
One of our reasons for the purchase is to
quilt our samples and get them up in the store faster — for your viewing
pleasure!
Eventually, we will be able to include
Long-Arm Quilting as one of our services.
We have not set a date for that, though, as we are still ‘practicing’ on
our own tops.
Have some patience with us! At least we have now progressed from practice
on muslin to using our own quilt tops.
News of the date, costs, etc. will
probably be in the next newsletter or on the website!
Class,
clubs and Mystery Quilt Update
Our January classes are up and
running—and we are having a great time working with those of you in them!
The Mystery Quilt has been
well received again this year—you can pick up your next piece of the puzzle on
February 1st. If you want to be part of
the fun, you can still sign up!! We have
had a wonderful time seeing all of the color choices for the quilts—these
should be VERY nice!!
Thimbleberries 2007 started on
January 18th and we played BINGO this month!
It was fun to see all of you after the holidays.
Monster of the Month Club is
in full swing and the next ‘monster’ date is February 7th.
Hoffman Challenge 2007
Every year a team from Hoffman Fabrics
chooses an upcoming fabric design and then issues a challenge to quilt,
clothing, doll and accessory makers to create an original item using the
fabric.
ABC’s of Quilting has purchased the
Challenge Fabric and many of the fabrics that will coordinate with it.
Hoffman is celebrating their 20th
Anniversary so every entrant is eligible to receive over 2 yards of beautiful
Hoffman Fabric. In addition, every
entrant will also be entered into a drawing to received one of 20 gifts from
Kelly Gallagher-Abbott, Curator and owner of Jukebox quilts.
There will be seven categories:
·
Pieced
Quilts
·
Appliquéd
Quilts
·
Mixed
Media
·
Dolls
·
Clothing
·
Accessories
·
Group
Quilts
The challenge curator and a group of
assistants jury the entries and then a select team of judges chooses the award
winners.
The juried collections then travel to be
exhibited by quilt and other fiber guilds, shops, museums, and textile
shows. The exhibitions are displayed and
enjoyed in several hundred locations across the US and Canada. Hoffman and ABC’s welcomes you to enter the
challenge!!
Information about the challenge can be
picked up at ABC’s of Quilting or you can download it from the Hoffman website:
www.hoffmanchallenge.com
All of the rules, prize lists, hints, and
ideas, and other information are on the website.
Tired
of making BIG projects????
Stop in and check out the great new
placemat, purses, and table runner patterns.
We even have new books for just sweatshirts, pillows, and small wall
hangings!
Quick
Basting Tips
·
Use
temporary spray adhesive made for use with fabric.
·
Spray
the wrong side of the quilt back (Spray outdoors brrrrr...or in a well
ventilated area)
·
Pin
the back on a design wall or on the floor, wrong side facing out.
·
Spread
batting over back, smoothing out any wrinkles.
·
Evenly
spray wrong side of quilt top.
·
Spread
top over batting, smoothing out any
wrinkles.
·
Remove
from wall or floor and press with a dry iron.
Trip
to Quilting Market in May ...
In May, we will attend the International Quilt Market in Salt Lake City,
Utah!!
We will be looking for new techniques, make and takes, patterns, fabrics,
and notions.
If there is something you want, look for the sheets located in the store
and we will do our best to find it for you.
We feel it is our responsibility to make your quilting experience fun and
fulfilling by providing the latest products, projects and fabrics!
We can only accomplish that goal with your help—so let us know what you
want/need!
Did
you know…..
Last fall, ABC’s signed a contract with www.quiltvisionusa.com
and the webpage is almost
completed.
The site shows a map of Minnesota with all of the shops in caricature
format—it is pretty amazing. Check it out and watch the construction of our
state.
Plus, if you are traveling, there are other states listed and you can check
out the shops along your trip route
Upcoming Events:
|
Feb. 7th (6pm) Monster BOM Club |
|
Feb 15th & 17th Thimbleberries Club |
|
Feb 15th—17th Stars of the North Shop Hop |
|
March 7th (6 pm) Monster BOM Club |
|
March 11th Daylight Savings Time Begins! |
|
March 16th — 18th ABC’s Spring Retreat |
|
March 22nd & 25th Thimbleberries Club |
ABC’s
Celebrates FIRST Anniversary in April!!!
Since our next Newsletter will not be published until
April 1st, we thought this might be a good time to let you know that we are
planning a Celebration Day on April 3rd—Details will be at the shop in March!!