September 20!

It's a challenge to pick what's the next fun anniversary treat each month!  So many good things to choose from - we want something fun, unique, handy to have.

When we saw these little cork coasters, it seemed like a natural choice.  Because it's a natural product!

It fits in the bottom of the cup holders in your cars, trucks, boats, strollers, RV, and probably even in your private plane!  We'll have to try that in our corporate jet.

It catches any drips from your cups and bottles.  It keeps the cup holder clean, and can be removed easily with a little notched edge.

And here's an action shot of my corkie coaster in my cup holder, ready to welcome the bottom of my cup or water bottle on the way to work!  

(And my quarter for an Aldi cart and a charger cord, also essentials!)

We will be handing our a Bear Patch cork coaster to anyone who comes in the store on Wednesday, September 20.  One per person, while supply lasts.

But wait!  That's not all!

(I feel like I'm selling Ginsu knives at the State Fair!)

We have a plethora of pretty pre-cut prints for Christmas!

Now you can benefit from our enthusiasm for ordering beyond our usual supply!

We will give you 20% off any of the Halloween or Christmas pre-cut packages -- this includes packs of  2.5" squares, 5" squares, 10" squares, 2.5" strip rolls, and bundles of fat eigths and fat quarters packaged by the manufacturer.

Plus, any of the panel prints from 2017 Christmas fabrics!

You probably know a little about pre-cut fabrics, but if you are wondering what all the fuss is about, here's the info:  these are die-cut fabric pieces of a line of fabric by a specific designer.  They are cut at the factory, wrapped and labeled and shipped.  So you get a range of coordinated fabrics to work with in a pack.  

This is some of our stock, we have more squirreled away in the storeroom.

Please note, this is not a sale on fabric yardage.

We do have an assortment of books and patterns that are written for these pre-cut sizes, so we can help you find a reason why you must take advantage of this sale!

Those little 2.5" squares are like candy to me!  Very hard to resist and just as fun.  

Unless we're talking about M&M's!  

If you are possibly looking for more inspiration for quilt patterns specific to pre-cuts, then you should hop on over to the website for the Moda Bake Shop.  You can even search their files according to the size of the pre-cut pack.

So mark your calendars for next Wednesday, September 20, from 9am - 9pm.

See you then!

Short Stories

Here is a not-so-short story about Short Stories!

We get many types and varieties of pre-cut fabrics, but by far the #1 choice is the "Charm Square Pack".  If you are unfamiliar with this concept, just hang around a quilter for 10 minutes and you will probably hear a reference to "charms" or "charm pack".  These are terms that have become associated with a stack of 5" squares, stemming from a stroke of brilliance on the part of some clever marketing person behind the scenes at Moda Fabrics.  As far as I can tell, this is where the packs originated.  They became a good method to capture a little bit of all of the fabrics within a specific design collection, usually upwards of 25 prints coordinated around a theme.

I'm not totally sure of why they picked this name, Charm, but I think it might go back further in the history of quilting.  There is a group or type of quilts called "Charm Quilts" or "One Patch Quilts".  

The distinction of these quilts is that they are made entirely of one shape (square, triangle, hexagon, etc.) and very often with no repeated fabrics.  The makers of these quilts often carried on a lively trading habit with friends and strangers to acquire so many different prints.  If you have any old quilting magazines, I mean really antique like from the 70's, you will find little ads in their "classified" section, making a request for anyone to send squares or scraps of a certain size to someone wanting to add to their charm quilt fabrics.

Fast forward to the present, when the charm square quilt can take on many more meanings, but usually centered on the concept of the 5" square and parts thereof.  Not sure where the arbitrary measurement of 5" came from, but it seems to stick.  Usually these packs are diecut by the manufacturer, and come to us all neatly stacked and fastened together with a label of some sort identifying the maker/designer.  They usually contain 42 squares in the Moda packs, but the numbers can vary by manufacturer, so be alert to that if you are shopping.  And the price will reflect that.

There are those among us who love to collect fabric, and picking up these little charm packs has created a whole new opportunity for collectors!  Often, we fall in love with a certain group of fabrics from a designer, and would love to have it all.  But with fabric groups composed of 30 and often more prints, that can be real hard to buy even 1/4 yard of each.  Enter the amazing charm pack that lets you own a little bit of each one!  The patterns that have been written to make good use of the 5" squares have proliferated and offer many choices.  But you really don't have to make anything with your collection, they can be perfectly fine just stacked with their friends in your fabric stash, just perfect for dreaming and planning for that next perfect quilt!

One of our favorite fabric companies is Anthology Fabrics, especially for their wonderful richly colored batiks.  (For a quick refresher on a popular blog post about batiks, click here.)  We have just received in some new charm square packs of their assorted batiks, and these would be a wonderful addition to your collection!  They call their collections "Short Stories", because every quilt tells a story.  FYI, they are also running a competition for some great prizes if you have made a quilt with their pre-cut fabrics and yardage.  However, the deadline is 12/15/13, so there is no time to waste!

Here are some samples of the packs we have on hand:

The back of the pack shows each of the colors it contains.  They are all nicely encased in a plastic wrapper, which we love at the store because the fabric dust that results from all of those cut edges really adds up!

If you are looking for a great way to store your own treasured charm squares in the style they deserve, these little ArtBin boxes are perfect!  They also make a super gift idea for a fellow fabri-holic, filled to the brim with 5" squares!

And Christmas is just around the corner, so instead of making your quilting buddy a quilted gift, just give her the box full of squares and let the creativity go wild!

Pre-Cuts For You

We have been bringing out a good assortment of pre-cuts to the store shelves, and you might want to get some of these while they last.  We do have bolts of some of the groups already, with more expected to arrive.  It's always a dilemma for all of us when we get the Moda pre-cuts because they are sent to us well ahead of the coordinating bolts.  That leaves you wondering if you will have any good-sized yardage to pull together a total project with that jelly roll or charm pack.  The best plan is to buy the squares and rolls when they are available and pick up some yardage later.  By then you will have maybe decided which pattern you want to use and will actually know how many yards to purchase!

The Boo Crew by Sweetwater--excellent small scale Halloween designs!

Happy-Go-Lucky by Bonnie and Camille, flowers with great coordinates.

Aspen Frost by Basic Grey--love their color tones!

Holiday in the Pines by Holly Taylor, building upon the classic woodsy designs we love.

In From the Cold by Kate Spain is Christmas without being Santa and reindeer.

Snowman Gatherings by Primitive Gatherings, classic small prints and blenders.

Those little bitsy 2 1/2" square packs that you see right above are perfect for making these English paper pieced tumblers--

If you haven't tried it or are not even sure what English paper piecing is all about, we would be happy to help you.  Watch for a fall class that will give you hands-on learning for this fun technique.

If you want to see more of the contents of the pre-cut fabric packs, look at the Moda website for details.