Stars & Stripes

I am about half way done with my Stars Aligned Quilt.  I am really loving this one.  This evening, I will be assembling the fabric kits for this one.  The pattern is available online right now; fabric kits will be added tomorrow.  

Its been getting a little more hectic around here, which is usual the week before a quilt show.  We have so many new kits and patterns and it takes some preparation to figure out how to show everything.  For those of you who live in the San Jose/San Francisco area that have been asking me about classes, this is your chance!  Remember, I will be teaching a Basic Foundation Piecing workshop on Wednesday afternoon from 1 to 4 at Pacific International Quilt Show in the Santa Clara Convention Center.  I will also be teaching an Advanced Foundation Piecing class on Thursday.

This is my version of Julia McLeod's Kaleidoscope Pineapple.  The Kaffe fabrics are so billiant with the contrast of the black fabric.  I will have a few of these kits available at the quilt show and have ordered a lot more fabric so I can also put it on the website.  This truly is a piece of art!  It measures 30" x 40" so with a little border (or not) it would be a perfect baby quilt.  I can imagine it in pastel fabrics as well. Doesn't that make you wish you could re-make every quilt about 3 or 4 times, just to see how different, yet still beautiful, you can make them?  Oh, if only there was more time!

For those of you that always ask, I don't have much of a vegetable garden this year.  I have a couple of tomato plants, artichoke plants and strawberries but that's about it.  We did get about 4 gallons of ollallieberries this year.  And, we do have lemons, limes and new this year is the mandarin orange tree and blueberries.  I have had very little time to putter in the garden and it does make me sad.  I keep telling myself there will be time.

I just put this quilt on the long arm and hope to spend a little time this evening getting it quilted.  These are all batiks and we do have the kits for this one as well.  This is another one of those quilts that totally change according to how you place the colors.  This quilt is one that lends itself to chain piecing so it goes quickly.

Remember that this month we are featuring our stripe blocks, the boat banner and the fish banner.  We have also included our Jelly Cake pattern on special.

There are so many different ways to lay the blocks out for this quilt. (See another layout at the top of this post.)  We used one jelly roll, one layer cake and a little bit of yardage.  If you want to make it bigger, just add another border on the outside.  Its perfect for a twin bed or as a throw. Enter SUMMERSTRIPES10 at checkout to get 10% off our specials this month.

I hope to see you at PIQF next week.  As an added bonus, if you come by the booth and tell us you get our blog, we will have a little something special for you.  Hope to see you there!

Until then, HAPPY QUILTING!