Home Sweet Shop

This is really a story quilt!  A life’s story that came into my life.   I loved quilting it.The back is muslin, a wall-hanging, but it really shows off the quilting.

Thursday’s sewing studio was very productive.

This will be a 2 1/2 Times Square

Cathleen finished her commission

I love interesting quilt backs.

Jessica bound her sampler

Another Amy Butler Bag. This time with Studio E and Art Gallery Fabrics

New embroidery design

Leave a comment if you want the free download

Finishing the binding

It was inspired by something I saw at  Brimfield. And I will be teaching a class in the fall.

When will I finish this?

One of  several in-progress projects.

Just plain inspiring!

Michele and Pierre-Emanuel’s little project, Nathanael

 

Camp Weekend

and other topics I’ve missed telling about… Lots of pictures

It’s been busy around the shop.. I take the pictures, celebrate the finishes, but have little time  to crop, resize and post.  Lately, it seems, there are so many last minute gifts, graduation, wedding, even weddings in my family that require pause for designing and executing that special quilt to make the bride and groom know how much I love them.  So here in not any specific order I have loaded some interesting images from the past few weeks that need recording.

I gave this amazing embroidery artist a lesson on how to bind this work of extreme motherly love.  Libby executed this hand-embroidered masterpiece over the last year to honor little steps in her daughter’s life, bits of clothing embellished with perfect embroidery to represent a lifetime of memories.

A yearlong ( at least) project. Holly reprised a family heirloom for contemporary appreciation, ie. her couch.  She mended and quilted  the old suit strips so it will  last another 100 years. What’s next Holly?

Cathryn put so much thought and planning into her sampler.  And then it was on our Gammill frame – now officially a quilt.

I quilted this patchwork with a retro geometric pattern.  I have another quilt top from Janine  to finish this week and, to think, she’s a knitter.

Quilt camp was a huge success.  Not just the food, but the number of projects finished and started in three short days.

Big piles of cut  fabric turned into quilts.

What MP finished and what she will be starting after camp…

Kiwi, Camp Mascot

Next episode: New fabrics have arrived

 

Meanwhile at the shop…

My wonderful young women sewists are producing the most extraordinary projects.  Here are just a couple from last Sunday.

They used some of their scraps and other fabrics to make decorative guest towels or wall hangings.  Aren’t the colors just “Springy.” They really took off the with sewing machine decorative stitches like pros.  

Sandy fussy-cut a Heather Bailey flower for hers.

Debbie Zig-Zagging

 

Brave and patient feather stitching

 

Aqua, lime and brown are a great combination!

We will get everyone else started on this project next Tuesday, when our class changes day and time.  Don’t miss it!

 

New Wave

I am so proud of the young women sewists who have taken so beautifully to the craft and the results of some of their first projects is amazing.  We have adapted an Amy Butler pillow to fit a beginner’s skill set.  The lesson includes color choices, strip cutting, top-stitching among other techniques.  I can tell that the women are really enjoying  the Sunday break and the common bonds they are developing. Thanks Jenn, for the Mother’s Day Goodies.  And I’m having so much fun!

P.S. It’s a drop in, so it really works around their busy mom-schedules and anyone can join in at any time.

 

Look what Debbie made with her scraps!

 

MQX

A few shots from the Machine Quilters Expo of this week.  Many models of long arm quilters converged upon Manchester, New Hampshire for the big show and all the different ways you can make feather patterns (among other things). I didn’t realize that this was the scene of my very first quilt-show-shop-vending experience from two+ years back.  I was especially glad to be on the “other side of the booth” this week, feeling like an explorer  of all things long arm.

Ally stopped by for some mom-girl time.

Mary, Laura and I took numerous classes and Nancy was sorely missed but ever so busy building Dorms on a Drawstring.
The Quilter’s Alley has many new pantograph patterns and thread colors for our customers quilts.  Bring them on!

 

Classes on everything from templates to tension kept us occupied and bleary-eyed  for most of our visit.  My head is spinning with ideas and all the new possibilities for making quilts into signature works of art.  Each instructor had a spin, and the truth that emerged was to find our own spins: editing from these industry masters what works for us.  

 

 

What happened for me is the realization that I love stitching on my Gammill (I already knew this) but just watching someone else is not as much fun. It’s like: ” If Mary had the only spoon to the warm apple crisp with vanilla ice cream.”

 

Sewing as a Hobby

Nancy, one of our talented long-arm quilters and designers extraordinaire has loaned me this adorable sample of one of her toy horses. (She also has the real thing, but I wouldn’t know what to do with it.)   She will be doing a workshop on how to make one for yourself at the Quilter’s Alley in the coming weeks. 

 

A breather

from catching up after the holidays.  I wish I didn’t have to sleep  sometimes, because I have so much to do.  And with all of it going on, the Quilter’s Alley  parallel universe sustains.  

The decorations are down, finally,
the showroom has been reinvented,
January stock has started to arrive,
samples for new lines are in the works,
very pink super hero visits the  store,
the long arm machine is rarely idle,
the final editing of On The Grid continues,
new drawings for Molly’s Quilt must be done (to complement the book)
Classes have started and new classes are filling up 
Super Bowl Sunday sewing event is planned
Show stock is being prepared: March Empire Quilters
The Quilter’s Alley website is updated, again…
whew!
Pictures? Who has time, but…

 

Saturday and Tuesday and a bit of Friday

I’ve been working such long hours, the days almost blur together, but the reality is that if I don’t combine them for blogging purposes, you may never see all the wonderful work my younger students are doing. I am so glad I decided to teach more this season.

Need I say more?

 

So close but we keep going…

Friday, the 10th, just after Midnight, a fire broke out in the Alley where our store and two others maintain a business.  The building on one side was destroyed right through the roofing.  Luckily our former space has been empty for about a month, (We moved out last year.) but Hot Shoes took a beating and Milillo Farm is drying out from the water and smoke damage, hoping to reopen in a few days. Our shop got some smoke and a bit of water from the fire hoses, but is relatively unscathed.  It is quite amazing, since another building across from fire has melted siding.

When we arrived for work on Saturday morning, there were police tapes around the whole area, including our store.  We were allowed to cross them and enter our store, but we would return to the parking lot to retrieve our guest teacher, Leni Wiener, and all of the students who were taking class that morning. See [photos of Leni's quilts below.)

Presently,we are faced (literally) with a mess of charred wood, plaster dust, broken glass and the unlikely prospect that they will complete rebuilding in six months.

Inside the Quilter's Alley, we continue to move ahead with beautiful projects abounding.  

 

Amy

There are people on the steps in the full quilt.

Baby Goose - Thread not Feathers

 

Redwork without knowing how to draw? Yes!

 

 

The Norwalk Community Quilting Project continues to yield interesting results from participants.  
Lizzy Rockwell, who moderates the sewing group, brought in two of their latest quilts. One is obviously inspired by the Gee’s Bend book she showed them.  Their “first” quilt is still being worked on by hand at the Norwalk Senior Housing Community Room.

 

Somewhat like the first quilt with leftovers

 

Yellow Border

Coming Next:

The beginning sewers are making table runners today. 

A family heirloom is beginning to be quilted by hand.

My T-Shirt Quilts are almost done.  Just a bit of binding and handwork left.

Molly’s book is almost finished.

 

Slightly Out of Context

I have finally gathered and loaded images for some of the busy week’s activities.  They may blur together in your viewing, but the common “thread” is the joy and healing that is derived from the actions.

 

 

These are my Tuesday afternoon students and their bag projects.

 

These are two of the Saturday Sewing students and their second project.

Susan and friends made a healing quilt. First quilt for two of the gals with great tutoring.

  

Julie

The bird and anchor punches Shara gave me before she left

Days 1, 2, 3

 

 

 

 

Brochure Bird

 

Small Flock

This is a short You Tube Video from Tel Aviv sent this morning from our little bird.
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leIBMXz7x_Y

Yom Kippur 2008 – Kikar Rabin, Tel Aviv