Playtime!

 Are you in a playful mood?  

Do you have need of a cute kids' quilt?

We have the Kinder line of fabric by Heather Ross for Windham Fabrics in the store now!

Charming little kid-friendly motifs are scattered across the yardage.  Who wouldn't love a frog, 

or a herd of frogs, leaping around?!

The colors are good strong shades, and the artwork was inspired by the drawings of Heather's own kindergartner daughter.  

So this is "kid approved"!

This is the Rainbow quilt, a free download on Windham's website.

Here's something else the kids love--a drawstring backpack!  Pattern is free on the Windham website.  Personalize it if you wish, using the cut-out letters from the alphabet prints.

Easy raw edge applique can spell out the child's name, a favorite expression, or something funny.

Shop with us any day of the week!

We know that many of you have a lot of other things going on 

day-to-day.  That's why our business hours are perfect for you!  

In addition to daytime hours, we are open 3 nights a week 

(till 9 on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday) and even 

Sunday afternoon (12-4).  

There must be a chance for you to stop in the store sometime during the 64 hours each week that we are open!  

Looking forward to your visit!

Our Fancy Forest Saga

Once upon a time, a year or so ago, I saw the Fancy Forest quilt by Elizabeth Hartman on display at Quilt Market.  It drew me in like a magnet.  A really strong magnet, like you might find if you have an MRI!  The pattern book came home with me, and taunted me from my collection of "Things I would make if only I had more than 24 hours in the day!". 

But, we all know that there are only 24 hours in a day.  Many more pressing things take priority over whimsical quilts that have lots and lots of pieces in them.  But I knew that if only I could make it, my little grandsons would think I was the most fabulous grandma ever!  I even tried to coax my own mom into taking on the project, just so it would get done and I would have a little part in it!  She didn't bite.

Then, along came the kits from Robert Kaufman Fabric!  This was really, really hard to resist!  The fact that I could have all the right colors in all the right places was such a temptation.  I'm generally not a person who goes with a kit, although since I've been working at Bear Patch and picking and choosing for kits, my thoughts on buying a kit have changed.  In this particular case, a big part of the attraction of this quilt is the range and shading of color groups.  Having all of that worked out by the designer was very compelling!

Then, along came Laurel, who was determined to make this quilt for a Bear Patch class!  I could maybe even use the class as motivation to make my own!

But, fate intervened, and Laurel had a great fall.  Unlike the nursery rhyme, Laurel will eventually be put all together again.  But it will be awhile before Laurel can put the Fancy Forest all together!  

So, we put on our thinking caps and came up with an alternative plan--it takes a village to pick up the pieces for Laurel!  Now, 3 more people have been sewing little forest animals from Laurel's beginnings, and our Fancy Forest Family is making a quilt!

Laurel made the Fancy Foxes before she had her great fall!

I stitched the Frances Fireflies--not butterflies, because these have a little white light on the tail!

Marlene finished up the Bunnies that Laurel had started.

Linda put together Hazel Hedgehog blocks.

I worked on the Allie the Owl blocks.

And Marlene made the Thistles!

We are so happy to now have all the blocks sewn, and ready to be finished next week when I have some serious sewing time!  We are starting our class in a couple of weeks, and we have a few spots open in either the 1PM or 6:30PM sessions.  And, we have kits!  So, whether or not you are in the class, this kit is available for purchase.  It includes the pattern ($24), and is $230.  This includes all of the coordinated colored fabrics for the blocks, the black and white used for accents, the Robert Kaufman's Essex yarn-dyed linen blend for the background, and fabric for binding.  That's a total of 17 3/8 yards of goodness!  The number of kits available does have a limit, so don't procrastinate too long on this one!  Call 651-429-1039 or email info@bearpatchquilting.com for more information!

Update: 1/20/17

All of the animals have come together! Yay!

It's April, So Gypsy Wife Continues...

First, I have to admit, I am feeling pretty good about just keeping up with the Gypsy Wife quilt monthly assignments for this sew-along.  Hopefully my luck will last!  It's always easy to start a plan like this, but can be very hard to stick with it all the way through.  At least, that's my experience!  

Here is the collection of the blocks I have made for the first two months, following the plan here:

These are not in any kind of arrangement nor order, just stuck up on my design wall randomly.  I have started to think about where these blocks belong in the final layout, but there is a long way to go before I can start putting sections together.  I have also started cutting some long 1 1/2" strips from the assorted prints, because they are used in and around and above and below all of the blocks.  Some carry through from the top to the bottom with block interruptions.  I'm not quite sure what I am doing with that, but I do realize that I will need some long strips, so to save having to piece strips together, I am cutting some now and setting aside for later.  

There has also been some stash improvements, as I see what I need more of to keep a balance.  Some were pieces that I find as I look into my own stash, some are pieces that are new.  It's good to see them in a picture like this, because I can see the value better; i.e., light, medium, dark within the color family.  Looks like most of my golds are mediums, so I will have to see about augmenting that little group with another dark and probably a light.  I haven't included my assorted light/background type of fabrics here.  

I picked out fabrics for the April blocks:

...complete with labels so I know what my first intentions were.  I may have to make some substitutions, but I didn't cut anything yet.  Most of these are Courthouse Steps blocks in varying sizes.  I will start cutting the pieces and get them arranged so I can get a better idea of how they are going to turn out.  Stay tuned!

The Gypsy Wife

Progress has been made!  I have sewn up the February blocks that I had up on the design wall and it feels good!  I'm actually done before the month is done!

 I am basing my color choices on some fabric from a line of fabric by Moda, the PB&J group by Basic Grey.

One of the key pieces is a large floral.  From this print I am putting together some assorted coordinates.  Some of them are pieces of the same group, some of them are from my own shelves.  I am grouping them by color here.

red

blue

yellow

green

and lights--

These should carry me for most of this quilt, in various amounts.  Something like this just takes a little trial and error to get it right.  And patience!  And a bigger box!