Quilting in Williams

Alex and I made a rainy day trip up north and look what we found!  Williams is home to Grand Canyon Railway, Bearizona, and best of all, Quilts on Route 66
Easy to find in a turn of the last century building on the old Route 66 historic Railroad AVE of Williams, Quilts on Route 66 has tons of charm and some unique finds too:

This sample of Creative Girl Pattern from BelieveMagic stopped me in my tracks.

Yes, it really is raw edge applique, Customized with tiny sayings patch and script quilting too!

 

Here are handmade lampwork bead fobs. So great to find local arts represented:)

 

This sparkly Japanese floss was another  must-have find.

Quilts on Route 66 is a  great LQS for Americana and Route 66 fabrics -

Alex chose a prickly pear FQ, of course;)

 

An adorable shop in an adorable town, I can't wait to return:)

 



New Quilt Formats

Inspired by @AngieQuilts :)
Once upon a time...my first FB friend sent me this WOW! thread painted postcard!!
I had never seen anything like it! I believe Angie pioneered thread-painting in this new medium.

[No worries, you too can get one of Angie's amazing creations in Angie's Textile Art Etsy Shop]

 

While I still haven't quite got the hang of thread painting and fabric printing like Angie does,

I have been playing with the magic postcard interfacing

 

and..........

 

its perfect for quilted jewelry!

 

It took many tries to work out the finishing details over the years since I received Angie's lovely Sunflower Postcard all the way from Cheadle, UK,

but here at last is Hexagon Cuff

Thank you, Angela:)



Blue House

I started this as one my final project attempts for Quilt It Challenge! I wanted to go ahead and finish this dream project, a whole-cloth table runner.

I know you can't see it very well. I chose the new Connecting Threads variegated thread Denim Blues, which is great! Except I put it on closely matching large print fabric.

This is a Mary Engelbreit house in the woods. Love her art! Maybe I should spend more time on some thread painting to help the picture show up better? However, I'm having trouble deciding where the negative spaces should be....

What I am proud of - and why I wanted to finish this Challenge- is the free hand feathers. Not traditional feathers as I have been practicing, but more stylized to fit the "ME" picture. And it worked! At last I know how to talk to my machine:)

But this runner did not want to be finished! LOL Ran out of blue denim binding....

I still say variegated thread is a great choice for adding visual interest to whole-cloth works. Can't wait to use all my new CT variegated threads [Item No. 21289: I received set of 10 for Mother's Day!] on more whole cloth projects.

To be continued.....

Mom's Coffee

Quilt clubs are just one of the clubs that bring fun and friends together. Not only that but quilt clubs can teach ways to make pretty patterns and cool creations from just a little imagination! Mom joined  PHX MQG. This is where she learned foundation paper piecing.

With the new found knowledge of foundation paper piecing, she created this:

Can you tell what it is?

 

If you can't tell what it is, it's a purple travel coffee cup! Isn't that just like Mom?

 

There's even a straw for the cold drinks!

 

But it wasn't enough just to make a coffee cup, so Mom decided to sew it onto an apron for our friend Carolee's, Apron Decorating Challenge.



 

 Carolee models barista apron at outdoor boutique.

 



More from Cocopah North

Remember yesterday when we shared our visit to a vintage quilts exhibit in Sedona? Here are more of the amazing items we found at Cocopah North.

Molas!

Mola quilting is skinny layers of reverse applique. A tradition of the Kona Indians from Panama and Columbia in South America.

Fabric Baskets. Mom says these are "fussy cut." Cool!

Lots of cool beads from all over the world....

...like this catfish bead.

Trunks of weaving.

We knew you would like to see these too.

Tomorrow I will show you Mom's favorite quilt at Cocopah North. Here is a peek:

Quilting Tech - Vanishing Design Wall from Salt Lake

Happy Totally Tech Tuesday! I saw something truly unique at the Phoenix Quilt, Craft & Sewing Festival. A new company from Salt Lake City, no website but you can like them on FB. Vanishing Design Wall solves the problem of where to put the biggest space investment of your sewing center. They have created a design wall, full size 54" x 72", that truly does vanish out of site. Not a kit wall that you have to set-up and take down. This Vanishing Wall stays in a permanent secure home, and shows up quickly only when you need it! And, it is no more expensive than other quality design walls. I can't wait to get one!!!

Coffee sponsors blog with gift for Bee

Alex has a sponsor for her blog, it's Quilter's Coffee, our favorite coffee! Quilter's Coffee kindly supports Alex's blog by allowing their logo link here, so our friends can always shop coffee while reading about our family quilting business adventures. But wait there's more! Quilter's Coffee sent individual treats for our quilting bee friends at Gilbert Historical Museum!!! Here is a picture of Alex delivering coffee to the museum. I'm so proud. Her treat box includes:

• Log Cabin Blend
• Friendship Star Blend
• Bear's Paw French Roast (my favorite)
• Morning Star Breakfast Blend

Yum! And when we got to the Bee, look what the girls were working on: This is Cathy. It's an all blue Baltimore Album, but look closer it has lots of 3D effects: Did you ever see anything like this? Not me. Maybe you know the pattern? Please comment if you do, we are dying to know. Here is Joann, always working hard on the Bee quilts. Look at that applique border. They navy yo-yos on top of each swag are stuffed, and the double blue-bells are also 3D, all the way around the 106" square. Here is Darlene at the Bee with a memory quilt she just finished, and Linda's new baby girl quilt. Here is Laura with the log cabin she donated for raffle to support the museum: Is that awesome or what? Cathy said the only way that Bee could be more fun would be with good coffee, and now we have that too! Thank you Quilter's Coffee for making great coffee just for us quilters, for being our first blog sponsor, and for being so generous in sending coffee for our Bee. You made our day even better!