MORE FROM QUILTSCAPES

More from the Quiltscapes exhibit in Spokane, Washington. I forgot to mention that this exhibit runs through May 17th. Don't miss it if you are in the area.....

DREAMY NEW BATTING

We have two new battings in the shop. We just received our shipment of Dream Green, a 100% green batting. You will be amazed at how soft this batting is. It is made from recycled plastic bottles....each pound of batting keeps 10 plastic bottles out of our landfills. The recycled bottles are cut into chips, washed, melted and extruded into fine polyester fibers. These fibers are indistinguishable from "virgin" polyester, yet are made without depleting our natural resources. This batting is excellent for machine and hand quilting, is machine washable and dryable, and can be quilted 12 inches apart!

We also received our shipment of Dream Orient. This batting is a luxurious blend of Silk, Bamboo, Botanic Tencel, and Cotton. Silk is the strongest natural fiber in existence. Bamboo is soft, with antibacterial qualities, and is warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Botanic Tencel is made from environmentally friendly eucalyptus wood pulp from sustainable tree farms. It, too, is extremely strong, and resistant to wrinkles. Finally, cotton is the soft, breathable, traditional fiber that we have all come to love. This is an elegant batting with a very silky drape. It can be machine washed and dried with minimal shrinkage, and can be quilted up to 8 inches apart.

We have long been fans of the Dream company. Their cotton batting is wonderful, and I am very anxious to try these new battings.

A BIT OF SPRING ON THIS SNOWY MARCH 30TH

Isn't this a pretty tablerunner? Expecially today, with snow falling......

This is a new pattern, "Expectations" by Becky Jacobson. She's going to be teaching a monthly seasonal tablerunner class in the shop....and here's her first class subject! Patterns will be available soon.

HAPPY SCRAPPERS PART TWO

Gail Olson brought these wonderful quilts for show and tell at our scrap club on Saturday. The "Count Your Blessings" quilt will hang in her church, the middle quilt was made from blocks exchanged with friends, and the orange quilt was a mystery from http://www.quiltville.com/. Gail is amazing....she gets so much done!

HAPPY SCRAPPERS CLUB

Yesterday the Happy Scrapper Club met. Look who were there waiting when I drove up to open the classroom! No, we didn't let them join the club.....too disruptive...all that cackling!

BEAUTIFUL RAFFLE QUILT

This beauty is a raffle quilt!! The Flathead Quilters Guild, in Kalispell, will be raffling this amazing quilt at their annual show in September. Several of our staff members belong to this guild. If you would like to purchase tickets, contact the shop, 866-245-5718, and we'll make sure you get a chance to win!! I'd wish you good luck, but I really want to win it ;) Just kidding...thank you in advance for supporting the guild and I DO wish you good luck!

"QUILTSCAPES" EXHIBIT

What amazing luck! My husband and I were in Spokane last weekend to see kd lang. We were walking through our hotel lobby on Saturday night after the show and suddenly, my quilting radar went off. Now this was a huge lobby, and I couldn't imagine why the radar was going off, but I immediately started scanning the room, and way across the lobby was a little rack with flyers for this quilt exhibit! It was at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane, just minutes from our hotel. Now this was at midnight on Saturday, and we were going to get up and leave Sunday morning. I was thrilled that the museum was open on Sunday and we got to spend some time there before we left.

There were three crazy quilts in the exhibit. Here are some embroidery samples from those quilts. We're thinking of starting up an embroidery club at the shop.....now I'm really excited about that! I'll be posting more pictures from the exhibit over the next couple of days, or you can visit my Picasa Web Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/bigforkbaycottonco/NorthwestMuseumOfArtsCultureExhibitQuiltscapes#

LIFE IS A BOWL OF CHERRIES!

Kari just finished this shop sample, Cherry Delight! We changed the fabrics a bit from the original pattern, and I really like it! Did you notice her quilting....cherries! She's such a talented quilter. She makes her own pantographs to suit the quilt she's working on. This wall hanging quilts up very fast...you can see that it's just four basket blocks! There's some simple framing around the panels and voila! Kits are available in the shop for $42. The pattern is free and includes bonus instructions for placemats and a tablerunner. Supplies of this one are limited...

THE FAIRY FABRIC IS HERE!

The fairy fabric has arrived, and is creating a lot of excitement!

DO YOU LIKE QUILT HISTORY? CHECK THIS OUT....

I just came upon the best website if you're interested in quilt history. Check out www.thequiltcomplex.com. Julie Silber, quilt historian extraordinaire, operates this website/business. The best news is that DVD's are now available of the fabulous books, "Heart and Hands" by Pat Ferrero and Julie Silber, and "Quilts in Women's Lives" by Pat Ferrero. I absolutely love "Hearts and Hands"...I've read it several times.

PANEL PIZZAZZ

I never really know what to do with panels. I always want to just make them log cabin-y. I struggle for a creative idea. I love what Chris Schroeder did with this fish panel. Her setting is great, plus she did alot of threadwork, which I know is hard to see from the pictures. I'm going to challenge myself to do something jazzy with a panel this year...anyone want to join me in the challenge? Please do! and send photos!

EARTH, WIND, AND FIRE BY TONI WHITNEY

I'm just busting today! No sooner had I posted Peace and Holly Moose below, than Carol came in with Toni Whitney's new design, Earth, Wind, and Fire. This is the triptych version, with the three horses separated. She is now working in a version where all three horses are in one quilt. The pattern will allow a person to make it either way....or just one horse as a stand alone.

WE LOVE PARIS BOTTMAN!!!!

We are so grateful that Paris Bottman has allowed us to create quilts from her artwork. (Visit bottman.com to see more of her things....) Don't you think they look like they were made to be quilts? OK Carol Rockwell has worked so hard to get these just right....Sometimes it's hard to retain the spirit of the original artwork when you're recreating it in fabric, but she has done an amazing job with these. Thank you Carol, and thank you Paris. Now that the quilts are done, we're putting the final touches on the patterns, then they have to be recreated to proof them, so it will be a little while before we are ready to ship these...but I couldn't wait to show them to you! Please let us know if you like them.....

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!!

We're making a DVD!! We get asked all the time for help with how to make our patterns,so we have decided to make instructional DVDs. Here we are working on our first one....it will be about the basics of fusible applique. Then, after that one, we'll make one about how to do the more intricate designs. It's new to all of us....we're learning as we go. Wish us luck! We'll keep you posted as to release date, etc. Let us know if there are other techniques you'd like to see......

MYSTERY QUILT UPDATE

Here are some of the Mystery Quilt Steps 1 and 2 that were brought in on Saturday, when Step 3 was presented. I just love all the different combinations. Isn't this "world of fabric" that we all reside in just wonderful? I swear, if I had only one pattern to work with for the rest of my life, I could still be happy because of all the fabric choices we have.....