Last month, I announced that I am not retiring but have decided to close my "brick and mortar" retail shop. I will still be designing fabric and, circumstances permitting, will resume the tours with Craftours.  Our internet business will continue but in a new location just down the street and better suited to the mail-order business. We have been busy assessing what we have, what we will move and where it is going to go.  While this is an exciting new chapter for the Studio, it was quite sad to see the "For Rent" sign go up on the shop.

As we sort through our products, watch for our upcoming moving sales on items which need to be pared down or discontinued. If you haven't done so already, we suggest you go to our homepage and sign up for the Weekly Web Special emails.

Because of all that is happening ahead of our move, we have decided that we cannot take part in Quilters Trek, the new name for Row by Row.  We do have a special project we designed for it but will be reworking it and will have that for you soon.  The Trek is allowing their kits to be sold through the internet and we encourage you to visit their website for participating shops.

Don't miss this month's lesson in my border print video series and other information on quilts and products below.  Stay safe and keep on quilting.

Arabic Tiles

This month's lesson is the second part covering diamonds in my border print series. As many of you have experienced, my border print fabrics can give a quilt using simple shapes a complex look. My lesson for July focuses on using mirror-imaged diamonds in two very different quilts.

See Lesson #4 - Diamonds, Part 2 here.

 

In the Arabic Tiles quilt, stars are created with fussy-cut diamonds and paired with additional diamonds made with my mini-stripe fabric. To make it easier to cut the pieces for this quilt, we have a template set with all of the templates you will need.

	Triple Play

 

Another quilt which uses mirror-imaged diamonds is the Triple Play quilt. The pattern for this quilt is in my Quiltmaking by Hand book. This three-dimensional quilt gets its name from the different effects seen simply by changing its orientation.

In addition to all of the current and upcoming border print lessons, you'll find so much more on my YouTube channel including fussy-cutting, creating mirror images and successfully matching border print designs. In addition, there are written tutorials on my " Tips and Lessons " page on our website.

 

 

You will find my YouTube channel here  and make sure to hit "subscribe" so you don't miss a single lesson.

There's a new look for our popular Perfect Piecer. This simple tool makes it easy for quilters to achieve perfect points and even stitching lines. It's new bright color and ruler markings are easily seen on light, dark and even high-contrast patterned fabrics.

See a video on how the Perfect Piecer works here.

 

Many of the visitors to our retail shop would walk in the door, say a quick "hello" and head right to our scrap bin. With the shop now closed, we don't want you to miss out on the opportunity to get these pretty scraps at a great price. Our scrap bags are now available to you online!   

 

Right now we need to limit these to one bag per customer since our supply is limited. We will replenish them as a nice selection of scraps accumulate. 

The CDC has issued statements that the wearing of facial masks will help to stem the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Since it looks like we will be wearing masks for a while now, our mask making continues. Studies have shown that good quality quilting fabrics, especially batiks, are excellent to use because of the high thread count. It is suggested that two layers of fabric with non-woven interfacing inside increases protection. While interfacing is in short supply, we have found a source.

We now carry non-woven interfacing, pre-cut, in packs of 20 and 50. Each piece measures 3 1/4" x 6" and they can be inserted into masks made with pockets or stitched directly into the layers of fabric in the sewing process. They are washable or disposable, depending on how you want to treat them.

Learn more about our precut non-woven interfacing here.

TIP: Not all fabrics and interfacings are the same. Qualities can vary. Try this simple test to check the penetration rate of water on your fabrics and interfacings.

1. Cut approximately 2" x 4" rectangles of materials you want to test. Place them on a piece of plain or colored paper, about an inch apart.

2. Put a 1/8 teaspoon of water in the middle of each swatch.

 

 

3. Walk away for four minutes.

 

4. After four minutes, check the paper under each swatch to see how much water has soaked into the paper. This should tell you which ones are best for keeping out droplets of moisture when wearing the mask.