December 2012

We have all of Kaffe Fassett's woven stripes in stock. Judith is designing our Shop Hop Project 2013 with these stripes and it is fabulous. "Stripe It Rich" is still available! The kit is $82 ppd and you can call 802-824-5700 to order.

"Stripe It Rich"

Our "Cut The sCRAPs" Challenge party was another memorable event. Twenty quilters participated in the challenge and attended the event. There was delicious food and wonderful entries. We had 3 big winners and several quilters won door prizes.

Our happy winners... Susan, Cathy and Claire! We will be announcing our new challenge for 2014 in January.

Our 2012 $5 Club Block of the Month was a huge achievement. We had over 90 members sewing our combo block of the month mystery quilt. We offered the top in two versions, bright batiks or "Annie's Farmstand" fabrics from Lake House. Here is the final batik version...

And here is Annie's Farmstand... Yep that's my ladder in the pic...had to get an aerial view!

These two sampler style quilts are on display here at the shop and are for sale.
Our next Block of the Month Club will be announced in January too! There will be some changes to the format for example, it will be available by mail only this year. This means no monthly meetings. We will be working with a very interesting block and Kaffe Fassett fabrics for this quilt. No more hints now!

This year we have added to our teaching staff 3 wonderful quilters. Susan Damone Balch, Truddi Greene and Jessica Vandenburgh. These ladies have brought to the WWHQS their amazing expertise in various areas of quilting and sewing. We are so fortunate to have them on our staff. Our website calendar has our class schedule through February. We will be adding some of Jessica's classes to our February schedule ASAP.

Here is one of the student's results from Truddi Greene's "Helios" class.

Love these neutral hues of this fabric by Philip Jacobs.

Susan is best known for her naturescapes and intuitive quilts. Here is a sample of her work...

Her classes in January and February are full, but she will be back in the Spring!

In March 2012 we traveled to Long Island for their big Quilt Show. It was terrific! Here is a pic of our booth...

With Andrew setting up the cash register! "Hey, lower the drape on that table and hide those boxes!" We are scheduled to do another Quilt Show April 20th and 21st at the Richmond Middle School in Hanover, NH. This is the Northern Lights Quilt Guild biennial show in which we participated in April 2011.

Speaking of March 2012, the Vermont Shop Hop was a big success. We had quilters visit from all over New England . Shop Hop 2013 promises to be a blast, so try not to miss it! To hop around the state and visit all of the participating Vermont Quilt Shops you will need to purchase a $6 Passport from any of the participating shops. Go to the shop hop website to get the latest updates on our 2013 Hop.

With the sale of each passport, you will receive a free gift. This year's gift is a place mat craft pack that includes four 13"x18" pieces of Bosal Craft-Tex Plus double sided fusible interfacing. Just add your favorite fabric to both sides and press and you have a 4 piece place setting, cool!

Over the past year, I have been posting about our newest fabrics, books and patterns. We continue to offer the latest and greatest products from our Industry's best designers. We maintain our focus on bright contemporary prints, more dots and stripes than you can imagine and a wide rainbow of Kona solids and Andover Dimples. You can count on us to carry patterns and books from the hottest new authors. Here are a few new offerings...

Cassandra Ellis has a unique approach to quilting and sewing. She urges you to create projects that are personal and special to you and your loved ones using fabrics from memorable times in your life.

And Tricia Cribbs has two new books with patterns suitable for beginners. Adding book #9 to her "Turning Twenty" series is...

This pattern looks fabulous on point. I just finished a queen size batik version on point, based on the pattern on the cover.

And a new series, Turning 10 book #1. These patterns use 10 half yards to complete. Fresh and fun! We love Tricia!

We now have "Dear Stella" Confetti Dots in every color, 13 in all!

Oooooh! Judith is working on the cover quilt of "Turning Ten" using this group of new dots.

Our annual shipment of new Batiks has arrived from "Island Batiks" They are lovely...

Cool Colors

Purples

Hot Colors and more....

And a bit more wool...

Soft brights from "In The Patch Designs". I am currently working on a wool Block of the Month Club that you can also join by mail in 2013. Many of these blocks will use some of my own designs.

Last but not least is my finished sample quilt using the "Circus" fabric from Michael Miller. What fun this was to sew. The center is a panel. You add borders, layer, quilt, bind and voila.... a perfect gift for any little one.

There are several free patterns we have downloaded for this line of fabric.

Another view...and another... Kits are available for $40. Call to order.

This quilt's finished size is "49x60"

Andrew has been manning the long arm quilting machine for over a year now and has become quite skilled in free motion quilting. He creates his own templates and tools and has a real talent for matching his quilting motifs to each particular quilt top. Here is a sample of his latest work on a customer quilt. He calls this pattern, "Starry Night" after the famous Van Gogh painting.

Photos just don't do his work justice, but this will have to do! This is a "Big Ten" queen size quilt, pattern by Swirly Girls.

I think this is my favorite quilt of the year that I pieced and Andrew quilted. The fabric is from V&Co. and so is the pattern. Again this is a quilt worth seeing in person. It will be hanging on our front porch this winter so you can see for yourself when you visit.

Sale? Did someone say "Sale"? Yes, we will be hosting our annual "End of the Bolt" Sale starting on Wednesday, December 26th and ending on Saturday, December 29th. Finish any NON-SALE bolt of fabric and get 20% off the total remaining yardage. This discount cannot be combined with our reward program.

We also have a few classes scheduled for Christmas Week. If you or someone you know would like to learn how to make a quilt, you can sign up for our Beginners Workshop on Friday December 28th. If you want to make a basic Tote Bag, join Judith on Saturday, December 29th. More details on these classes can be found on our website.

We want to wish all of our friends and customers a very happy and healthy holiday season and New Year. We will be closed December 23 thru the 25th and reopen on the 26th of December. We will also be closed on December 31st and January 1st and reopen on January 2nd.

We look forward to seeing you during Christmas week. Until then...

Happy Sewing,

Shelley, Andrew, Judith, Faith and Gracie

Look how easy this ornament is to make! Little embroidery hoops are so handy!

My little Matryoshka Angels! This is a pattern by Rosalie Quinlan from her book "Gift" which was published in 2008. We met her at Market that same year and I fell in love with her wonderful designs. I have since made half a dozen more...just can't stop!

Love the colors, eggplant, lime, tangerine,gray, turquoise, black and green!

I am making the "Jelly Belly" Quilt using one jelly roll and Kona Solid in "Flame".

A brand new title is now in stock, "Fifteen Minutes of Play" by Victoria Findlay Wolfe. She shows you how to take your scraps and make new fabric and improvise to create quilt blocks.

Very clever lady!

Pretty neat, huh?

Andrew did some swirly quilting to fill all that negative space. We have the precuts and patterns in stock.

There is a mini jelly roll with all of the solid ombre fabrics in the line!

And speaking of finished quilts, Susan Damone Balch brought by one of her intuitive art quilts for show and tell.

Susan will be teaching a series of Intuitive Quilting Workshops every Saturday in February, 2013! We have 1 spot left in this class!

Susan is an amazing talent and a terrific teacher! In January, Susan will be teaching "Naturescapes". This is her forte! Learn her secrets!

Here is one of her naturescapes.

Check the website for classes and more details on her upcoming classes scheduled for January and February, 2013.

Speaking of classes, we have the December and January Calendars at the shop and online. In December, join us on Saturday the 8th from 1:30-4pm and learn how to create Christmas quilt blocks using Cedar Canyon Paintstiks and rubbing plates. These "painted" blocks dry in 24 hours and then are heat set with an iron. You can use the blocks as a series of mug rugs, pot holders, hot pads or make a larger wall hanging...another great gift idea.

A styrofoam ball and 2 1/2" fabric squares plus lots of pins will make this ornament.

On Saturday, December 15th, Shelley will hold a wool ornament workshop. Simple embroidery stitches and beautiful wool make wonderful small gifts for giving or for keeping!

Here is a sample.

During Christmas week, we have a Beginning Quilter's Class on Friday, December 28th, 1:30-4:30. Young sewers that have some experience on a sewing machine are welcome with an adult. Learn all the basics of making a quilt. On Saturday December 29th for sewers with a bit more experience, Judith will be teaching her famous Tote Bag class from 10:30-3:30. Everyone leaves with a finished bag in this class.

Here are 3 happy young ladies with their finished totes.

We also have gift cards for you in $25 and $50 increments. You might want to give a hint to Santa about these....

Special Closings

We will be closed on December 23rd, 24th and 25th and reopen on December 26th. We will also be closed on December 31st and January 1st.