Monday, December 28, 2009

They got the snow off the roof and things are looking better. We will still need major repairs, but I'm hoping we can be open around them. We still have so many great 1/2 price bargains on Christmas fabrics and kits, it would be a shame to miss them.
I don't know how many of you are able to travel and might want to come to the shop. We discovered that our roof was almost ready to collapse due to snow weight. We will be doing repair work this week and business will be disrupted or we might actually have to close. Please call ahead if you plan to visit. 712-764-7012.

Hope you are all recovering from the storm. I'll give you our tale of woe in a few days.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

We're going to have to be closed today, Saturday December 26. There is now, snow and more snow, almost impassable roads and lots of power outages in western Iowa. Have no fear, we'll still have all the great after Christmas bargains next week.
Hope you had a good Christmas.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Karen has been "playing" with our new faux sherpa and animal skins cuddle. Her friend Patti is playing the part of the "tiger". We just got the patterns and the fabrics and Karen says both are easy to work with.

Yesterday I was busy packing up all the food items our Christmas Open House participants brought to share with some needy families. Eveyone was very generous. While hinking about those who need help not just at Christmas, but all year, I found this Link
It has links to lots of sites that can use our help with quilting/sewing projects (that can use up some of our stash fabrics) and also places who can use donations of fabric, etc. I haven't had time to look at all of them, but I think with some study we could all find good uses for the fabric and supplies we no longer use.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Barb brought show 'n tell Friday. She had made our Shiloh topper in Chrismtmas colors. Our pattern uses the flip and sew method so she took the trimmed corners and made the miniaturized versions (she had also made a Fall topper). For these she used paper piecing. I never visualized my pattern so small.

We will b e demonstrating our little laminated cosmetic bags again today at the shop. I quilted some very nice fabrics the other day and made the bags from these. If you still need to make some really quick gifts, try them.

Thursday, December 17, 2009



I've decided to name the quilts in our Doll Quilts IV series for my nieces. The top one here is #2, Erika which I just finished. The bottom one was the first, Elizabeth. I have eight nieces and five grandnieces, but there is a set of twins in there so it should work out.
Don't forget, you can still get in on this Series - we'll catch you up.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Our friend Gail made this quilt using Lakehouse's Teatime Floral group. I thought we could use a breath of Springtime in the middle of this rotten weather. It's going to be a long Winter. Hope you're stocked up on sewing and quilting projects. We've mailed the first of our Doll Quilt Series IV quilts and still have some memberships left. Maybe you could give a hint to Santa.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Carol just completed this Blessings Baskets quilt. It's a Jan Patek design made from her Moda Blessings Fabric collection. It uses jelly rolls for the blocks, so a lot of cutting is done for you. Carol machine appliqued her baskets and vines and Mardell did agreat job of quilting it.

For Christmas Open House on Monday we put our Christmas kits on sale at 25% off. Because the weather has not been too great, we still have some left. They could make good Christmas gifts.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Here's Carols completed Sleepover Quilt. The case is attached to the quilt (kind of like the old "Quillows".) Of course she made it in flannel and we will be doing kits. It would be fun to use a themed fabric to fit the interests of the child who will receive it.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

The blizzard they were predicting actually materialized. We closed the shop for the second time since 1992. Actually we were closed three days in a row for the big storm a couple of years ago. We will open tomorrow as Mardell lives in Elk Horn and can probably get there. It might be afternoon before they clear our roads here in the country.

We were supposed to have our staff Christmas party this evening. Guess we'll try for tomorrow night. This gave me an extra day to decorate and clean house.

Tonight I will do some hand work on a few Christmas gifts. I'm trying to do some embroidery using the satin stitch. I haven't done that since my grandmother taught me to embroider years ago.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009




Carol completed the paper doll quilt. We waited a long time for all the fabric to come in. The top photo shows the envelope on the back that holds doll clothes. Some little girl would love this for Christmas and there is still time to get one done.
We had a pretty good turn out for our Christmas Open House yesterday considering the threatening weather. We collected lots of food for the needy and enjoyed the afternoon and evening with old friends.

Sunday, December 6, 2009


We definitely get all wrapped up in our quilting! Mardell had just finished quilting this "sleepover quilt" for Carol and couldn't resist wrapping it around Pam and herself.
I took a rare Saturday off to spend the day with Charlie. It was a nice day and we drove a few miles into Nebraska to do some things he wanted to do.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

We've been waiting for this fabric to arrive ever since Quilt Market. It's a Minkie-like product called Cuddle -- softer than you can imagine. There were throws made of a combination of several of the "skins". We'll be doing a sample and a kit for it. You can see one of the dots. We have this in three color combinations. It was used in really cute kid's items. There are even two "faux sherpa" pieces - one pink with beige and one brown with blue. We have several Kwik Sew patterns to use with these. You need to come see these. There is probably something quick you can still get finished for Christmas - how about a pillowcase?

At our Open House on Monday the 7th we'll be demonstrating the laminated fabric cosmetic bags, an "origami" bag, baked potato bag and a super fast table topper. there will probably be more ideas by Monday. There is still room in both sessions (2pm and 6 pm) of our workshop, just call to register.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

I finished block four in our TV series - Chained Star. Tomorrow we will be filming program 4.

As soon as we finish filming we'll be making the kits for our Christmas Open House workshop next Monday. Our project is the little "Peace " pillow I showed you last week. I like to design a new hand project each year for the open house.