Crafty Quilters! Friday Girls Show and Tell

Sit and Sew Fridays at Three Crafty Quilters has become a wonderful group gathering of talented and fun local quilters.  The ladies are so warm, fun and talented.  Last Friday we had to bid a temporary farewell to some of our seasonal gals whom we will miss very much over the summer.  We snapped a few photos (again with the iphone, so pardon the poor quality) of the some of the super creative projects.

Carol created her own owls and birds for this adorable quilt!  Each owl and bird is created from modern, colorful fabrics.  So cute!  When not quilting for herself and her loved ones, she volunteers teaching sewing and quilting to women in a court mandated rehabilitation program, giving them skills, hobbies and a large sense of pride and accomplishment.  (they gladly accept donations of supplies and machines).

Colette is the gal responsible for getting me into quilting, as she used to create quilts for our children's school fundraiser and her handiwork intrigued me.  For a challenge, she created these clever quilted blocks based on a children's puzzle.  Each side is different!

Isn't this gorgeous?! - such a creative group!

Come and sit and sew, be inspired, have a great time with a wonderful group of quilters.

Every Friday from 10-5 (or whenever you can join us during that time).  

Megan's First Quilt

My friend Megan (10 year old daughter of my long time friend Lisa) came to visit the shop and play in my craft room.  Both of them are super creative (Lisa, when she is not teaching, paints custom party favors).   Megan was enthralled with my fabric stash and wanted to learn to sew.  She picked up sewing machine skills quickly and made a blanket for her American Girl dolls.  Being a mom of boys, I had a great time!!

Get the Point

Marianna, a terrific crafty quilter, took the gorgeous french braid quilt that she made in the class at our shop and finished it with batik prairie points.  Each prairie point is individual (no prairie point tool for her!).

It's hard to see just how beautiful the edges look (as I used my iphone for a photo...I know, shame on me.)  Sophie (her delicious Boston Terrier) was equally enthusiastic!  Great job, Marianna!!

Christmas (yes Christmas) is Coming

 To your local quilt shop, that is!  Our delivery this week yielded some holiday cheer!   While we are getting into the hot weather of summer (in Spring) it is not too late to plan some of the holiday gifts and quilts.

Surfing Santas - perfect for a Florida holiday, don't you think?

Gingerbread houses (complete with a recipe) is so sweet!  

We are starting to get in new books with a holiday theme (but ALWAYS have new books in general) plus patterns, samples and ideas.  Come by the shop and see what is new!

Riley Blake - Sugar and Spice

Wonderful new fabric has arrived at Three Crafty Quilters - Riley Blake's Sugar and Spice!  The colors are wonderful!  I'll post a photo of the ruffle bag - Nellie's bag - that I made from this.  The following are a sampling of the beautiful fabrics that are brightening the shop.  In addition, we have shiny, colorful buttons also from Riley Blake.  They are so pretty you can embellish just about anything with them!

Infinite Variety - 300 Years of Red and White Quilts

I had the pleasure of visiting New York City this week, accompanied by my good friend and fellow quilt enthusiast Tammie, to have a whirlwind quilting extravaganza of sorts.

The Folk Art Museum presented a collection of 650 red and white quilts that spanned three centuries.   The exhibit was actually an 80th birthday present from the collector Joanna Rose to herself (and to the quilting world).  It was a remarkable show, the design of the hangers in the Park Avenue Armory was art in itself.

If you quilt at any level, or even enjoy looking at the textiles, you cannot help but be in awe of the handiwork that went into each and every one of them.

There were simple, contemporary patterns that let the quilting of the piece be the focus (look closely at the striped quilt) and traditional patterns.

The piecing and movement of the quilts blew us away.  And remember, these were constructed before the days of modern quilting gadgets such as rotary cutters and fancy rulers.  And the quilting on these were certainly not done on any long arm machine with computer design!

Just about every pattern was represented from tiny piecing, to applique and redwork.

I hope you enjoyed some of the photos that I snapped at the show.  It was very inspiring and makes me want to do a simple color combination quilt.  What do you think about the red and white quilts?  Does this collection inspire you to quilt in red and white?  Or to hand quilt?

Happy quilting!