Our 11th Celebration of our 20th Anniversary!

We just love to celebrate!  We find many occasions to celebrate our customers, our store, our employees, the fact that the sun was shining all day yesterday, etc.!
You know we have been celebrating our anniversary all year long, right?  So, November 20 is upon us!  And what better thing to share with you than one of our favorite pattern designers!  

Pat, of Villa Rosa Designs, is always producing plenty of inspiration!  I can't even tell you how many times we have used her patterns, sometimes repeatedly!  Her patterns are printed on heavy cardstock in glossy color.  One side of the card is a full picture of the quilt, with the very succinct directions on the reverse side.  This is the "no-frills" set of directions, very easy to understand.  Many of these patterns are good for a favorite print or panel that you don't want to cut up into little bits.  Others are just right for a pack of 5" charm squares or a 2 1/2" roll.  There's great diversity!  

Maybe a Prince tribute??

We call them Rosecards, from Villa Rosa.  The price ($2.25) makes them perfect to collect for yourself or a friend. 

And notice that one on top of the stack?  It was custom printed for Bear Patch and features the Quilt MN fabric from a couple years back.  It was used as an incentive prize for shop hoppers!

A few years ago, Pat visited Bear Patch and did a "bed turning" show of some of her quilts.  We really need to have her back!  Comparing the picture on the card to a sample made of different fabrics and colors can really bring on that "aha" moment.  We are displaying 2 or 3 hot-off-the-sewing-machine samples right now for our Christmas display, and that's a perfect example of how different the resulting quilt can appear from the picture.

So, Monday, November 20, from 9am-9pm, we will be handing out 1 Rosecard per customer!  No purchase required.  Just pick a card and get happy!  We have a lot of the newest designs to share, carried home from Quilt Market just for you.  And, of course, we have many on hand for purchase, if you want to expand your collection.

Last Call For Houston!

 We loved our trip to Houston!  If you don't follow us on Facebook, you should jump over there to see all of the pictures and fun that we shared.  Here are a couple happy endings for you!  We stayed at Le Meridien hotel, a very good home away from home for 4 nights.  It was an easy and safe walk to the Convention Center and since the weather was nice, we enjoyed the stroll.

I wanted to share this design on the wall in our room above the headboards. 
It's crafted to look like somewhere out in the galaxy! 
It really was a very cool statement wall.

And you know how we quilters can find quilt inspiration everywhere we go! 
This was the hallway carpet!

And how thoughtful that they put a hexie pillow in the room!  It was kismet!

And great graphic design in the hallway!

And then, there's the food!
Our favorite morning stop on the jaunt over to the
convention center is Phoenicia. 
It's a blend of market, deli, bar and restaurant. 
We stopped there for breakfasts and sandwiches or salads for our lunches. 
I love the tasty Mediterranean specialties that I don't see back at home.

Even the names of these salads are enticing!

And how about all the varieties of beans and legumes
on the never-ending shelves! 

Condiments, sauces, marinades, etc., etc.

A still life of fruit and olives!

Knowing that this city so recently suffered damages from Hurricane Irma, and that the same convention center was a temporary shelter, our experiences are all the more memorable.  Can't wait to go back!

It's All About The Pink!

 It's a Circle of Quilters Challenge!

The Bear Patch Circle of Quilters meets every other month to share design ideas, tutorials, product information and so much more!

For this challenge, participants were given a pack o' pink!

Not just any pink-- this is

Robert Kaufman's Color of the Year, Pink Flamingo.

There were very few rules.  Even though they were given a pack of 2 1/2" squares, they only had to use that color, in any amount, somewhere in their creation.

We are collecting votes for some prizes for Viewer's Choice.  Actually, 3 prizes will be given to the top vote-getters, 

plus 1 more from the employees.

Isn't that exciting!?

Customers can vote every time they come to the store 

between now and November 21.

I can't wait to see what happens, 

because there are 13 excellent choices.

I don't have pattern names or sources, so if you are dying to know those details, you can contact the store (651-429-1039) to leave a message.  When the names are revealed, we can put you in touch.

So, here we go!

This is the center of a longer tablerunner, with strategic placement of the pink.

One section of a tablerunner, with just a little pink in the butterflies to tie it together.

Finding the perfect fabrics to go with the strong pink could be an additional challenge!

Hotpad, trivet, coaster for a very large latte?  It all works!

Don't bikes just make you happy! 
This is done by machine embroidery, using just the right colors of pink and turquoise.

Someone was very clever here with the Bear Paw block!
How can we not love that?!

Some skilled paper piecing went into these blocks! 
This does look like summer!

This is a section of a tablerunner with some great
whimsical flowers with button embellishments!

The pink triangles really shine in this quilt!

A color wheel of Aurifil thread spools, plus the perfect quilter's mantra, are wonderful! 
There's lots of stitching on those spools to show the thread wraps!

Perfect hand embroidery, embellished with crayon shading, makes a colorful pillow cover! 
Can you spot the pink fabric?

This quilter took the Pink Flamingo fabric literally! 
We really do have the most creative people around!

These coordinates really blend nicely, and tone down that bright pink!

And a big round of applause for a job well done!

Maybe you will join us for the announcement of the winners at our next Circle meeting at 9:30 on December 9!