2010 Christmas Fabrics

Be the first on your block to have Moda 2010 Christmas fabrics!

We now have Charms, Jelly Rolls, Layer Cakes, Fat Quarter bundles and more, available for Basic Grey's Fruitcake,

Holly Taylor's Northwoods Botanical,

Sandy Gervais' Makin Friends,

and Kansas Troubles' Wrapped in Paisley.

Bolts of these fabrics should be arriving in May and June, but here's your chance to be the first to own some of the fabrics now!

If you'd like to be notified when these and other fabric lines arrive, click on the photo of our "Sneak Peek Kitty below to get to our home page. Then go a little more than half way down on the page and find her again. Below her is a list where you can select the fabric line you're interested in and sign up to get an email when it gets here.

I taught a Hunter’s Star class a few weeks ago and handed out a sheet I wrote eons ago on how I put together blocks or units of my quilt. You can have them all stacked together and still get them in the right order! Some of my students had been doing it since I first taught it in 1981. I thought I’d share it with you, in case you'd like to add it to your quilting repertoire. You can print out a copy from this link.

I Love Tools!

I’m working on a paper pieced store sample and want to share a tip with you. Paper piecing is one of my favorite things, but the miniatures are sometimes a little tricky to work with. I’ve started using my fabric glue pen to hold the little pieces in place before I sew them together. Here you see me putting dots of glue on the seam line. I put dots a few places on the seam, depending on how long the pieces are, but definitely at the beginning and at the end.

I like the Fabric Glue Pen, which I’ve mentioned before, because the glue is blue and you can see where you’ve put it. (There's a search box in the upper left of the page so you can find older projects or items.) The color goes away and becomes clear, and of course washes away, but it stays blue so you can see it while you need to. We have refills, (53458) too, but it’s surprising how long one glue cartridge lasts.

Something else I like for the miniatures is the Add-An-Eighth tool. It lets you trim excess fabric and provides a straight line for placement of the next fabric piece.
(73632)

Here’s one of the sections of Think Spring (29013). It still needs the ribbon for the vine, as you can see in the package cover photo. There are a lot of pieces, but it goes together easily, and I love the precision of paper piecing. There’s no way I would attempt something like this with traditional piecing and templates! We have a fabric pack if you like the convenience of being ready to go. (68768)

(To find the item on our web page after clicking on the link, hold down the "Ctrl” key and touch F. Enter the 5 digit number in the box, and you’ll be taken to that item!)

Textured Applique

I’ve enjoyed using larger pieces of fabric that I’ve textured in purses and accessories, and decided that the leaves on my new quilt could benefit from this treatment. I was right!!

Here’s my Carolina Lily 4 Block Quilt 48130.

(It uses the Wing Clipper Tool 48109 to simplify the flying geese units.)

(Tip: to find the item on our web page after clicking on the link, hold down the "Ctrl” key and touch F. Enter the 5 digit number in the box, and you’ll be taken to that item!)

I made a leaf pattern to use with the Texture Magic. If you buy the Carolina Lily pattern, be sure to put a note in the special instructions that you’d like me to email it to you, so you don’t have to do it yourself. I have the stitching lines on it, too. You can trace it on your Texture Magic. By the way, we had requests for bigger pieces than the half yard, so we have that available now!

If you'd like to see more detailed information, you can download the a sheet I wrote for my Creative Sewing Club here.

This is my constant helper. Every step of the way: over, under, around, between! If you have a Crafter Kitty, we’d like to feature your kitty in our newsletter. Take a look at the kitties we have this issue.

Maggi Sweeney, one of my Creative Sewing Club and Embroidery Club members, is also an avid cross stitcher. She happened to mention that a number of the people on the message boards she visits are using 12 weight Sulky Cotton Blendables thread for designs. With the soft color blending of this thread, the results are spectacular! Rather than having to change thread colors, the one thread does it all! She posted a note for people to send me photos of their projects, so I can share the photos and information with you here.

Dee G. from New York stitched the two projects above. Both are done on 18 count Aida, using one strand of 12 weight Sulky (instead of the usual 2-3 strands cotton floss, regular or variegated). "Christmas Cardinal" is stitched with Sulky Blendables #4007, Brick Red. "Christ is Born" is stitched with Sulky Blendables #4056, Periwinkles.

Virginia Knutson, (VeeandCo Cross Stitch Designs), who designed the charts above, sent a picture of two of her ornaments. They are done with 12 weight Antique Christmas #4107 on 25 count fabric over 1 thread.

Karen Lee, from New Jersey, sent a picture of her Multicoloured Swirls Biscornu, stitched on 18 count black Aida using 12 weight Sulky Thread in Primaries. (I had to ask if these are worn as pins, and was told that they're just displayed as objets d'art. If a loop and tassel are attached, they become ornaments. Or they may be used as pincushion since they're little pillows.

Teal Elder from Pennsylvania shows us Arabesque Couer done with Sulky 12wt (color 4115, Wildflowers) on 25 count Lugana.

We wondered why we were getting so many orders for this size Sulky Blendable Thread, and now we know. Thanks, everyone, for sharing.

I had always wanted to make a Hunter’s Star quilt! I loved the look, but didn’t really want to fool with the star centers. So when I saw Deb Tucker demonstrate how easy it is with her ingenious Rapid Fire Hunter Star tool, I decided now was the time! I loved doing it and love the finished result.

These are two key things I used: Vanish Lite Water Soluble Thread 36217 or 36218, and Bumper Batting 88178, a very thick batting. (To find the item on our web page after clicking on the link, hold down the "Ctrl” key and touch F. Enter the 5 digit number in the box, and you’ll be taken to that item!)

I did trapunto for the stars, and thought I’d share with you how I did it. I designed a wallhanging using the same technique, and wrote and illustrated instructions for my Creative Sewing Club. You can download them here. In the instructions you’ll also see photos of the quilting on my quilt. Please send me photos if you use my idea!

It's time for us to wish you a Happy New Year!

We have our annual Footbowl Widow's Sale on New Year's Day in South Bend, and it's also on our website. Check this email announcement online if you didn't get it in your inbox, to see details.

"See you" next year!

Our big online newsletter will be posted next week.

Erica

More Texture Magic

I really liked the looks of the Serenity Shoulder Bag, and wanted something new to demonstrate at our last shop hop. We didn’t have any leaf fabric like that shown on the cover, so I looked around the store and found this beautiful Jinny Beyer floral. (981533)

The morning of the demo I layered up Texture Magic, my favorite batting, put my fabric on top, and put it on my Handi Quilter frame. I chose a cone of Isacord thread that blends with the fabric, and in no time I had stitched around the flowers and the leaves, with denser stitching in the background.

On the left is what it looked like on the back when I finished, and on the right is what it looked like on the front.

When I started steaming it, with Shop Hoppers gathered at the demo table, our jaws dropped! Wow! What a beautiful textured fabric it created!

I traced an interesting shape on the back to make my flap piece and finished up the bag. I used the un-textured floral for the outside back pocket, so you can see the “before” and “after” state of the fabric.

The body of the bag is a Tonga Batik, 979546.

Try it! You'll love it!




(To find the item on our web page after clicking on the link, hold down the "Ctrl” key and touch F. Enter the 5 digit number in the box, and you’ll be taken to that item!)