August Civil War Club Meeting

Today our Civil War Club met; what a fun bunch of ladies. It was a smaller group than usual as several members were lucky enough to be on vacation or up at a Quilt Retreat. We discussed what we will be doing at the next few meetings. I could not believe we started to talk about our meeting in December! How fast the months are passing.
I'll share what is upcoming for the next two meetings:
In September Karen Housner will be sharing her "old" quilts with us & sharing her knowledge of dating quilts with us. Karen is a AQS Certified Quilt Appraiser. If you are interested in attending this meeting but not a regular member please contact the store to let us know you'd like to join us. The meeting will be Friday September 9th from 10am - 12pm. Cost is just $5.00. In October we will be doing some hand sewing of Hexagons. In the book, Civil War Sewing Circle that we are currently using in the club. There is a small quilt that features 9 Grandmother's Flowers. We will be making one of the flowers that day during our meeting. We always have Show n Tell: now the quilts & projects do not always have to be Civil War projects. We quilter's love to look at any quilt related item in any fabric or style. So here are some of the items that were shared today.

Jeannie shared a double diamond ruler table runner in Halloween fabrics & some whimsical place-mats ants with BBQ treats.


Sue Williams shared 3 projects that she has done since our last meeting. This triangle quilt was her own design; she was one of the participants in our friendship triangle exchange last fall.
What a beautiful creation from 2 inch half square triangles.








The next quilt pattern designed by Kim Diehl; one of Sue's favorite designers.
Sue also, used a fabric line designed by Kim.
Sue did a fabulous needle turn applique on the border.











Sue found the quilt in the photo to the left on Moda Bakeshop. The pattern used a layer cake & she did machine applique on this one!
The next photo is the back of the quilt & hopefully you can see how beautifully Sue quilted it!!














Until next time Happy Quilting everyone.

Here's What's Happening

It's that time already! Valley of the Sun Shop Hop
passports on Sale beginning Monday August 8th.
Passports are still $5.00 & have the 2011 limited edition quilt block charm.
There are 12 shops participating this year. We have geared up to provide all you hoppers an educational (demos), quilt show (shop hop quilts), & most of all lots of fun. Don't delay in purchasing your passport, you don't want to be left out of the fun.

*************************************************************************************
The delivery of new fabric has kept us busy organizing & moving bolts around. It also means we have moved some fabrics to the 40% Off section. Theses are some bolts that no longer have coordinates or have just been on the shelf a tad bit too long. These will make great backing or several would be wonderful in your next charity quilt. Do not wait on purchasing, these fabrics don't last long at this discounted price.
We also found several bolts that went into our end of bolt basket.
These are discounted by 20% and range in size from 1/4 yd to 1 3/4 yd.
*************************************************************************************
All the Christmas fabrics have finally arrived in the shop. The staff is wondering what I was thinking! There are LOTS, from very traditional Christmas red & green, a soft pastel snowman & angel line, to the bright, fun, & whimsical collection I've featured in the next photo.

We have the cutest wall hanging kit made with Christmas Candy fabric line from Riley Blake designs. The sample quilt top is hanging in the shop; it is bright, fun, & totally whimsical. We have changed the outer border to a white background with cheerful wrapped Christmas presents. We have several kits available. We also have a sample of the Sassy Little Apron pattern made using the Candy on Red & polka dots on white.
There are lots of samples to give you ideas & inspiration. Come in & check them out.

Get started on your holiday projects while the selections are at the best!
*************************************************************************************
CLASSES

The class schedule for August, September, & October is ready.
The teachers have got a wide variety of projects.
There is something for everyone.
We decided to feature a new bag/tote once a month. Each one will teach you a new technique.
We are repeating the basic classes;
paper piecing, fusible machine applique, simple binding, quilt labels.
We have a new teacher; Sandy Davis for machine quilting basics.
Sandy machine quilts all her own quilts on her regular home machine, she has lots to share with her students.
Check out our class schedule on our website at: www.aquiltersoasis.com
There a now pictures of the class projects along with the description & basic information.

Inspiration

Several beautiful Holiday fabric collections have arrived in the past week.

We have been browsing our books and patterns for just the right projects to inspire you to create your holiday decorations or make gifts for your family and friends. We have got lots to share with you!

Fa La La La La

Exactly what you would expect from designer

French General for Christmas 2011. Tres francais! Moda's fabric has a rich, current color palette, muted and elegant, graced with lacy snowflakes, french script, poinsettias and Jacobean roses.The beautiful faux linen texture adds fine detail to the Rustic florals and give these fabrics a worn and vintage look.

We have charm squares, layer cakes, and yardage.

Elegance by Sentimental Studios for Moda.

For those yearning for a soothing, traditional holiday celebration will find solace in the simple, classic Elegance and grandeur of lavish, rich red poinsettias, the crisp scent of fresh cut pine, and snow white magnolias in full bloom.

Charm squares, layer cakes, and yardage are available.

I LOVE SNOW

Way cute is the new I Love Snow flannel fabric by Shelly Comiskey for Henry Glass. You will love this soft 2 ply flannel print fabric with such cute snowmen ... What fun these hot cocoa loving snowmen are having.

With temps in the 100's; there is no better place to be then in the cool a/c of your sewing studio. So let's get started and get those projects completed.

Annual Quilt Retreat

What a wonderful weekend the staff & I had. This is the retreat group.

It was filled with LOTS of sewing, some un-sewing, several completed quilt tops, totes, bags, pillowcases, pillow covers, table toppers.

This is the beautiful room we spent most of our days in. SEWING!!!

Here are some photos so you can see what we accomplished.

Terri Teeple's Charm Square Table Topper

Teresa Brook's Field of Flowers using a Bali Pop.

Lorrie Danowski used the mini Twister & made 4 place-mats with Christmas fabric.

Michele Klein used a charm pack & made this cute mini quilt with the 5 Inch Twister.

Harriet Cheek was the most productive out of all of us. This is an embroidery that she framed to make a throw pillow for Christmas.

Our nature lesson:

This is one of the many animals that we saw while spending a great weekend in Pine. Each evening at dinner we had 3 deer come into the yard. What a treat it was to watch these animals.

One lesson I learned; never leave your camera charger at home, my battery went dead on Friday so I don't have pictures of everyone. I hope to get some from the ladies. I hope you enjoyed sharing in a bit of our retreat.

Big thank you to Breath of Life Retreat; Candy, Jim, Sharon, Zelma, & Priscilla for a wonderful weekend filled with great food, lots of laughs, and best of all socializing with friends.