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!

I'm back!

Wow!  I've been away from the blog much longer than I had thought!  A lot has been happening so I guess I need to catch you up--

We just finished our annual Customer Appreciation Sale and very successful food and toy drive, thanks to our generous and loyal customers!  It was a fun 2-day sale with lots of happy shoppers!  Would you be surprised to know that many quilters came on both days?  Doing the preliminary shopping and reconnaisance on Day 1, then going home to make a list of what they really need to finish a project in progress and/or kick off something new!  Day 2 finds them back at the store with a grip on their lists!  We all had a good time, and it was a new and unusual experience for us in other ways-- both Debbie and Laurel could not be present due to some health problems, so the minions dug in and went to work!  We pretty much pulled it off without a hitch, except for the power outage just a few minutes before closing on Friday.  That really stops everything, including the few customers remaining in the store!  Very hard to match fabrics by the light of your phone!  The whole downtown area went black because of the wintry storm we were having at the time.  When the power came back on later, attention was needed to make sure all the computers (which are our cash registers) were back up and running normally.  And the Friday totals and daily deposit could be accounted for before we were back at it on Saturday morning.  All in a day's work!

Flipping back through the calendar and my pictures, one big thing that happened since I last posted was a trip to Houston for International Quilt Market.  If you watch our Facebook page, we did post some albums of pictures there at the end of October.  So pop over there for all that good stuff!

Since I have an avid interest in longarm quilting, one thing that I look for at events like Quilt Market are examples of interesting quilting that I can take home in pictures.  Here are some selections:

Here's the overall picture of a wallhanging of circling dragonflies.  Look below for a closeup of the quilting.  The straight line quilting in the widening hexagon shape makes a great backdrop for those dragonflies, and would be very do-able on a domestic machine.

The wings in this dragonfly show very close quilting in matching thread colors.  A pretty effect, and, again, very doable on most any machine.

Another great example of creative and basic straight-line quilting:

The lines don't even have to be consistently spaced for this to work.  Just attach/engage that walking foot, and you can try this out for yourself.

Here's a picture of Brigitte Heitland, the designer of Zen Chic for Moda.  

The arrows look like the route that Debbie and I walked all around that convention center!

 Below is another Zen Chic pattern, and very interesting quilting to fill in all that blank space surrounding the colored triangles.  I liked that there were variations in the quilting design in that background, making me re-think my approach to the same sort of situation on my own quilts.

And just for some variety, here's a cute little baby romper that just was irresistable to me.  I'm a sucker for these!  And, with my #3 grandson arriving in March, this is a must-do!

We are still receiving new items almost daily that were ordered during our days at Quilt Market, so there are a lot of great ideas popping up!  Time for new samples!

Which Witch?

It's almost time for spooks, and buying some candy in the "fun size"--which means fun for me to eat!  But seriously, it's now time to buy the candy to hand out, not eat!

To go along with that candy, here are a couple of Halloween machine embroidery designs that we have ordered and will have soon.  These are from Claudia's Creations, and they had 2 samples made of the same quilted wall hanging, to show the different appearance when done on black vs. white background.  Either looks great!

 They also have this very pretty smaller design, if you want something that is not so "Halloweenie"--

I'm picturing this done in less purple and more autumn colors.

A new Christmas tablerunner design is coming our way, with options for separating the elements to make towels, aprons, napkins, etc.  I consider 

Now, switching gears back to a new tablerunner pattern for all those stripes and border prints!

This is Mitered Magic from The Designer's Workshop.

Unless you have been living under a rock, or are reading this because it just makes such fabulous reading, you probably have heard of Tula Pink.  Her colors and designs have gained quite a following, and now she is beginning her signature line of notions.

This looks like they are fighting over those beautiful scissors!

She also has a seam ripper and a little snips scissors, all done in that iridescent metal.  She told us she has more notions in the development stages.  We have ordered these for the store, and can't wait to see them arrive!

Something else that we have been wanting to bring into the store for quite awhile are the Rennaisance ribbons.  So we finally placed an order for an assortment, and we will be showing you some fun ways to use them in your projects.  These are gorgeous top-quality designer ribbons.

We visited awhile with Sue Daley, and in my last posting, I mentioned her designs.  What I didn't include there was this picture--

It shows some quilt and block designs, all using English Paper Piecing.  We have these instructions and the paper packs for these now, so I hope to see some fun stitching soon!  If you are interested in learning more about this technique, Sue has some great instructional videos on YouTube.

Great Colors!

Here's a few highlights about fabric choices we have made for you!

And you don't have to like them all!

This is an example of a color card, which is just the fabric design printed on paper, not fabric.

This is often what the sales representatives show us before the fabric is made.

This one is a few choices from the Riley Blake company, designed by Sue Daley, and I intend to go crazy with fussy cutting this for English Paper Piecing!  EPP is a fun and addicting form of hand sewing, and you can learn all about it 

at our monthly Paper Pizzazz group.

Below is a display for the Calico Days fabric designed by Lori Holt, also made by Riley Blake.

We will be stocking this fabric group and there will be 

a sew-along that is web-based.

The blocks in the quilt displayed will be made and joined into a quilt.  And it's likely there will be other go-along projects, too!  Watch our Facebook and email to find out more when the fabric is ready for you in early 2016.

One of the quilting world's favorites for a long time is Pat Sloan.  She and Debbie are standing in front of a quilt made of fabric she has designed for Moda.  She is always happy and vivacious, and she hosts a radio/podcast for American Patchwork and Quilting.  If you haven't listened to it before, you should.  She has contacts with so many people and interviews them on her program.  So you get to find out about what's new and current for fabric and quilting.

We sat down with our "fabric rep", Julie, to look through new fabric lines coming from Moda.  So many to choose from!  We had to show some restraint, because we can't have it all!  One of the new groups we loved was by Sweetwater designs.

Below are some pictures of sample projects that the fabric companies bring to display.  As you know, it's always interesting to see something made of fabrics that you might not have considered before.  That's why we work all the time to create fresh samples of fabrics you can purchase.  These are 2 pillows and a pincushion, and I don't have pattern details for you, 

but I think it's worth sharing anyway.

That's all for today!  I have more to share in the next few days!  This afternoon Debbie and I will be returning to Minnesota, filled with ideas and plans!  Back to work and back to sewing!

To Market we go---

We are not letting any little hurricane get in the way of getting the goods for Bear Patch people!  There has been nearly non-stop rain for over 24 hours here in Houston from the effects of Hurricane Patricia.  So we dusted off the umbrella and tried to avoid the biggest puddles.  

One of the first places we stopped at was the booth for Tiger Lily Press.  We especially liked some new tablerunner patterns there, and we are picturing these in Christmas fabric to add to our next window display.

Just down the aisle, we visited the Andover Fabrics booth to get some ideas for the Little House on the Prairie fabric that is coming soon.  There are patterns and projects awaiting us!

Here's one of the smaller quilts that I especially liked:

A little later, we visited the booth of Sew Kind of Wonderful.  We have used their Quick Curves ruler, and have some new inspiration for using it.  Plus, they now have a smaller size to work with.  Here's one of my favorite designs:

And how do you like this animal quilt by Elizabeth Hartman?  Looks like a fun challenge!  We have ordered the pattern plus fat quarter bundles and solids needed for the quilt.

One of our favorite designers of bag and organizers is Annie (Patterns by Annie).  This stack of zipped up cases looks like something I would like to do.  The large one reminds me of the "train case" that my mom had when we were little kids.  I'm not sure why it was called that, but it's the shape that is similar to Annie's pattern.

A favorite Minnesota designer, Pam Dinndorf, of Aardvark quilts had a couple of new patterns that we purchased, and I like this round swirly one the best:

Another great Minnesota designer, Joanne Hillstead, has been busy growing her original Fat Quarter Pop-Up into new sizes and styles, some of them shown below.  I am teaching a class on making the Pop-Up next Friday, October 30, and Joanne has agreed to pop in for our Pop-Ups!

We have more goodies to share so we will get those posted here soon.  In the meantime, Debbie has been adding updates to Facebook regularly, so keep an eye on that, too!

Bits from Quilt Market

I have a hodge-podge of pictures taken at quilt market a week ago.  I didn't take as many pictures as usual.  (Sorry!)  I will do better next time!

Some interesting "big stitch" hand quilting.  I was thinking of my Slow Sew group when I saw this.

One of our long-time favorites, Stitchin' Sisters, with a couple new patterns.  Making good use of plastic screen and tape measures!  Watch for a class on how to use these hardware store staples in your next sewing project!

A galaxy of beautiful thread colors at Superior Threads--

Some quilting that caught my eye, which might end up in a quilt of my own.  It seemed pretty easy and forgiving, 2 key features of a good quilting design!

Ordering fabric at Moda can be a bit overwhelming.  The 2 pictures below show some samples of some of the fabric we ordered for the store.

And we really enjoyed the fabulous booth at Buttermilk Basin!  She is local, so transported a lot of display pieces and props for her booth.  It felt like walking into an old time general store!  We purchased several of her patterns, and here are some examples:

A Sampling of Patterns

Debbie and I challenged ourselves to find a broad range of new things to bring back to Bear Patch.  Here are some examples:

From My Heart To Your Hands (another Minnesota designer!) has so many beautiful samples hanging on display that it can be hard to choose.  Her work includes not only traditional quilts but applique, also.  Often that applique can involve the use of wool pieces, too, as in the one pictured below.  A good addition to our patterns for wool.

Who doesn't love a good bag?  And if you are like me, you are always on a quest for the perfect one!  So I was keeping my eyes open for something new to keep our bag samples fresh.  The 1st pattern below from By Annie's.  She puts out some great patterns with professional finishes.  And she was some friendly and helpful, she even taught me how to put a zipperpull back on a zipper if it comes off the end!

The tote pictured below is what I call a messenger bag.  The unique feature on this one is that the flap is removable and can be changed out for something else.  The best one was a cute bicycle applique, which I don't have a picture of, but we will get it along with the bag patterns from The Creative Thimble.  You might recognize this name from the Professional Tote and Mini Professional Tote.  I know that those bags have been made my many people.  Very well written instructions, a page of labels to mark the numerous pieces as they are cut, and good pictures/diagrams.

After ordering these and several other bag patterns, we hope to get several new samples made for the store.  I would love to put together a whole window display of bags of all shapes and sizes.

Now for another subject, here is a cute little Christmas tree pattern.  It is made with the Basix ruler, which Laurel demonstrated for 3 days during the Twin Cities Shop Hop last May.  If you were in the store them, you might have purchased one of these.  The pattern dovetails perfectly with the ruler, and could help you make use of one of those things you bought but only used once!  Now we will have this and several other patterns to help you get the best use out of your Basix ruler!

Machine embroidery designs were another segment of the pattern world that we shopped.  We really liked the look of these little mug rug patterns from Amelie Scott Designs.   We chose the wintery look and another for the football fans.  Make it in any color to show support for you favorite team!  Hopefully it will be beer-proof!  Additionally, we ordered the book of quilting designs to be done on your embroidery machine.

That's a fair sampling of the types of patterns that we seek out.  Watch for these and many more at Bear Patch!