A little over a week ago the staff and friends of Quilters Warehouse and Prairieland Quilts gathered to spend a day sewing quilts for Project Linus.  It seems quilters are always quilting for others.  You can only use so many quilts for yourself and who would want to stop quilting?!  So most quilters quilt and give.  Look at all these quilts! There were about one hundred quilts made and collected to give to the local branch of Project Linus.

Project Linus will accept quilts any time of the year so feel free to make one up and donate.  Since the quilts aren’t large it’s a good project to get things rolling again if you’ve hit a slump.  A small quilt is also a nice break when you are working on a large or complicated quilt that you just can’t seem to finish.  Finishing that small quilt gives you a sense of accomplishment and some renewed energy to go back and tackle a big project.  Here’s a few quilt patterns that are just the right size for Project Linus. 

Bento Box is a quick and easy quilt and it’s fat quarter friendly. 

Hopscotch Too is another quick, easy quilt. This one is fun, too, but watch your s’s… it’s a “stack, slice, switch, and stich” project.  Try saying that just once without messing up, let alone five times fast!

It’s A Breeze it just that.  And you can make it any temperature breeze you like… warm, cool, hot, cold or how about sizzling just to be different.  This quilt looks great with a monochromatic color scheme.  AND the pattern comes with instructions for lots of sizes, not just a kid size.

Making one of these quilts to donate is a good test run to see if the pattern will work as a gift for the next lucky half-pint relative or friend.

Well if you missed QuiltersWarehouse.com April Fool’s product this year, you have a second chance.  They have decided to keep all their April Fool’s products active year around now.  So you can see all the year’s past products as well as this years ‘short arm QUILTER’

You can view all the QuiltersWarehouse April Fool’s on the web products here.   They are all ficticiously manufactured by a company called AFenterprise and their disclamer at the bottom of the page is worth the read.   Hope you check it out.

It has come to our attention that AF Enterprises plans on introducing a new product tomorrow. As in most years past, the corporate officials at ‘AF’ are tight lipped about this new product to be sure no other company can duplicate such a creative invention within the quilting industry.

Speculation abounds as this event draws near. Many manufactures are concerned as AF products released in previous years have turned the industry on it’s head. Be sure and visit QuiltersWarehouse.com during this exclusive and prestigious offering on the 1st day of April, 2008

Carol Hopkins, owner of Carol Hopkins Designs, a company specializing in Civil War Legacies and Vintage Legacies quilt patterns for reproduction fabrics is featured in the “Ask the Experts” column on the Marcus Fabrics webpage this month. In an article about creating with reproduction fabrics, she writes about fabrics found in old quilts and how to work with reproduction fabrics to achieve quilts with a similar look and feel.

Fabrics used in the classic quilts featured in Carol’s 32 patterns are 18th and 19th century reproductions. Her quilts range in size from wall hangings and doll quilts to napping and bed-sized quilts with 2″ to 6″ blocks. Her most recent pattern, Tribute to Judie, uses 550 different reproduction fabrics in 3 inch star blocks.

Carol Hopkins complete line of Quilt Patterns can be found at QuiltersWarehouse.

Our Cutting Mat Cleaner has earned
the “Today’s Creative Home Arts” Seal of Approval.
Here’s how it happened.

About six months ago we were approached by “Today’s Creative Home Arts” and asked if we wanted to have our cutting mat cleaner included in their product testing program. So what did we have to do? We were told to send one mat cleaner to 500 members of the “Creative Home Arts Club”. If 60% would respond positively we were to receive the “Creative Home Arts” seal of approval. As we were certain we could reach this goal, off went 500 cutting mat cleaners.

If your not familiar with our Cutting Mat Cleaner, it is a gadget which effectively prolongs the life of your cutting mat. With a stroke it removes the lint and fibers that stay behind when fleece, batting, or other soft fabrics are being cut with a rotary cutter. Then to clean, simply just rinse it off.

A few weeks ago the results were in: an astounding 92% approval rate guaranteed their “Seal of Approval” which each cutting mat cleaner now shows on its packaging.

You can find our Cutting Mat Cleaner at leading quilt stores or purchase online today…..Try it out – it works!

With kind regards,
Ursula Riegel
Designs to Share with You

At Quilt Market Thistledown & co. introduced our new line of Earthknit™ patterns that upcycles leftover cotton quilt batting into fabulous, thrifty new-found yarn. 3 great patterns to play with. “Earth diva” and “eco-purse: for the fashionista in you and “eco-pillow” for home decor. Help save the planet while you have fun making these new projects. 

Karen & I have just returned from Quilt Market where the Earthknits patterns were very well received along with the 2 new quilt patterns “Chocolate Chips” and “Spin Cycle”. Market was very busy and filled with excitement. There were lots of other new earth-friendly products shown, such as the Mountain Mist eco-friendly batting and fiberfill and the new Warm & Safe batting form the Warm Company. There were many first time buyers at Market and naturally loads of gorgeous new fabric introductions such as Mark Lipinski’s “Katmandu” for Troy Inc. Michael Miller, Moda and Lakehouse had some gorgeous offerings as well as so many others. Also of note, Marcus Bros. beautiful “Surf and Sand” fabric collection would be perfect for my “Serenity” quilt pattern, check it out. Enjoy your creative endeavors and as a gift to you I have a free earth-friendly holiday project for you to download. It’s easy and quick and lots of fun.
Please note it is copyrighted and limited to personal use or for classes, not for reprint.
Enjoy the Holiday Season,
Linda Zokan
Thistledown & co