Quilting at the Beach

I spent last week at Corolla Light on the Outer Banks, and in between the delightful weather and plenty of beach time, I taught my neices how to quilt. Pictured on top is Rachel, 17, working on an Itty Bitty Bag and below are Christina and LeeAnn, both 10, with their finished quilts! They did all the piecing, machine quilting, the binding, and even the hand-stitching themselves. It was a great experience for me, and they were just tickled and so proud of their quilts and Rachel of her new purse. We had a sewing room all to ourselves, (the boys had a pool room!) two Berninas, and lots of great fabric as you can see! What fun, I highly recommend getting kids sewing at age 10 or so. They can reach the foot pedal, are great at following directions and have the attention span to keep working until the project is done. I am so proud of them!

Karen

Well, we no sooner get one entry made and another two big boxes of fabric show up at our door. Here are pictures of Free Spirit prints from a collection called Inspiration, by Terri Mangat.

Kathleen returned from her trip to New York with great things to say about this quilt shop in Victor, New York. It's called The Ivy Thimble and their store is an old train depot. Check them out on the web at http://www.ivythimble.com/.


This print is based on the Chinese calendar and has great characters on it. See if you can find yourself in there. They are really fun to read. What kinds of crazy ideas do they put in your head?








For the embroidery enthusiasts, we have new designs in the Embroidery Take-Out. Don't forget, I can create files in any format you need for your machine (Bernina, Janome, Brother, Deco, Babylock and Viking). Laurel Burch, "Jungle Songs" is in the New Arrivals, as well as Catberry Tails (Debra Mason) and Watercolor Florals (Jan Woodman). Great Notions has a beautiful "Pretty Peacocks 1. Some of these would make wonderful quilts.

Come in and get out of the heat! Our summer classes are on the schedule now. It is a great way to spend the hot days of North Carolina.

Celeste and Julie

New Fabric and Patterns

Julie and I are updating our blog so Karen doesn't yell at us when she returns from her vacation. We know you are checking this Karen.

I don't know how we keep up with all the boxes of fabric and patterns that arrive daily. We are so fortunate to have such a wonderful selection to choose from.

Some of the highlights have been the new Amy Butler patterns. Our favorite is the Gum Drop Pillow. It is a large pillow to be used as a footrest. We may have to special order that much polyfil for all of us.

Julie's favorite fabric has been the great Asian collection and I just love the turquoise and brown Joel Dewberry collection.

Also, Julie told me there will be a trunk show arriving next week for Turkey Track Designs. They are sending some of their bags for us to see. I can't wait! I love making bags during the summer months.
Here are some pictures of some of the new fabrics we've recently unpacked. Enjoy!!

~Celeste and Julie

Progress Report on Diane

Diane's hip surgery went well and she is recovering nicely. She is walking two hours outside each day. She is now free of two pains - her hip and her job. She also retired from Duke and will be spending more time teaching classes here. Yeah!
Julie

Viewer's Choice Winner

All the visitors to the CHHS show had a chance to vote on their favorite quilt, and the winner of "Viewer's Choice" was Anna Will, for her creatively sewn quilt. Her quilt is pictured here. Anna received a $100 Gift card to Thimble Pleasures. Congratulations to Anna!

Chapel Hill High Student wins a Bernina!

The students from Mary Zimmerman's CHHS sewing class presented their quilts for a special 2nd Friday Artwalk show last Friday and we had a great time going through their finished quilts and deciding on the winner of a brand new Bernina activa 210 sewing machine. The winner was Julia Taylor and her quilt was chosen based on her fabric and color choices, use of color value in her design, her sewing workmanship, attention to detail, and finishing technique. Her winning quilt is pictured here with her new machine. Congratulations to Julia! We hope this is just the beginning of a lifetime of sewing!