Remember:  Miniature Quilt Show: May 9,  at 2 p.m. at the library.  Entries due:May 8 by 3p.m.

I will post pictures from the Show-n-Tell in another post later this week since this one is so long.

This is what we talked about last night:

Online Shopping Tips:

Look for “natural light” pictures.

Use fabric color grids that some shops (like Hawthorne Threads) have

Compare color card solids

Try to find projects people have made with fabric on blogs, Facebook, Flickr or Instagram

Pay close attention to written descriptions

Be aware of signatures of different manufacturer’s specialties For example:  Art Gallery is a drapey light weight fabric.  

If you have a question, ask.  Most shops will respond pretty quickly.

SHOPS

Hawthorne Threads:  http://www.hawthornethreads.com/  Giveaway regularly with an e-mail filled with pictures of new lines they’re carrying along with links to free projects and for purchase patterns.  Lot’s of natural light pictures.  Color grid to match colors with. Often have pictures of projects made from fabric.  Have their own in house lines as well as other manufacturers.    3+ yard cuts 25 cent discount.  Total yardage (of order) 3 + 25 cent discount and up from there. Always pay shipping.

Fabric.com:  https://www.fabric.com/    Wide range of fabrics.  Sometimes detailed information.  I like them best for apparel fabric.  Free Shipping on orders over $35.  Good sales sometimes

Fort Worth Fabric:  http://www.fortworthfabricstudio.com/  GREAT Sales.  Sale section divided by price.  Search isn’t always the greatest.  They do have a color grid to search with.  Usually use manufacture pictures so I go by what I know and sometimes look other places to check.  Always pay for shipping.  I think the shipping’s a little high.  Through today (Thursday, April 23) use code 15MORE for an additional 15% off their sale fabric (only).

Wawak.com http://www.wawak.com/Sewing notions.  (OLFA 5 pack $16.85)  Free shipping over $100.  Good sales.

Connecting Threads:  http://www.connectingthreads.com/  Great prices.  Great sales.  Free Shipping over $50  Fabric quality varies—I don’t know how to discern here.  They’ve just started carrying some designer fabric and seem to have frequent sales on that.

Stash Modern Fabrics:  https://www.stashfabrics.com  Free Shipping over $50.  Mostly Modern Fabric, but some really fun ones.  Kind of spendy.

Hancock’s of Paducah:  http://www.hancocks-paducah.com  I haven’t used them a lot, but I love their catalog.  Lots of batiks.

Keepsake Quilting:  http://www.keepsakequilting.com/  I love looking at their catalog.  They have great kits.  Their customer service is terrible and shipping is slow.  Always pay for shipping—occasional free shipping sales.

Fat Quarter Shop:  http://www.fatquartershop.com/ Pretty wide range of fabric with heavy focus on Moda.  Have a great sale section and the grab bags I’ve purchased have been incredible.  They have some free patterns and some “how to” videos.

Missouri Star Quilt Company:  https://www.missouriquiltco.com/ $5 flat rate shipping.  Daily Deal.  Wide range of precuts and yardage.  They also sell kits.  Also lots of “How to” videos on Youtube for different quilt patterns.

ETSY:

You have to create an account, but one account allows you to buy from a lot of shops.  You can search for whatever you're looking for and if you narrow the category to "Craft supplies and tools" and then "fabric: you can find lots of fabric.  

 Some charge a lot for shipping.  Many will refund overages—watch for that.  There are a few that charge a flat rate.  People often de-stash here and you can find some great deals.  You have to watch though.  Always look at shipping info—some folks ship every 1-2 weeks.  Also watch fabric amount in description a lot of shops sell fatquarters or by the 1/2 yard.  Here are some shops I like:

LuckyKaeru:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/luckykaerufabric  Lots of fun novelties—always great quality.  Sell by the ½ and full yard   Usually priced about $1 below everyone else.   

LlamaFabrics: https://www.etsy.com/shop/LlamaFabrics  Very Modern fair price

Sewmeasong:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/sewmeasong  Great sale prices and fun quirky prints

PatternCrush: https://www.etsy.com/shop/PatternCrush  Focus on Modern and organic

IndeedFabric:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/IndeedFabric  Focus on Modern and organic

SpunSugarQuilts:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/SpunSugarQuilts  fun 30’s fabric and texty stuff

Lucyintheskyquilts:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/lucyintheskyquilts  Wide variety, mostly by the yard.  Best selection of flower fairy fabric I've found.

Bywaterfabric:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/BywaterFabric  This is a new one for me, but I got some great quality novelty fabric from them.

Believemagic:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/believemagic This is the shop that made my fun girl art quilt.  She sells patterns, art quilts and some spoonflower fabric.

Red Rock Threads:  http://www.redrockthreads.com/  Wide range of threads.  Once in a while a free shipping sale.  Best price on Aurifil thread.

Spoonflower:  http://www.spoonflower.com/welcome This company is very expensive, but you can upload your own graphics, pictures etc to be printed on the fabric.  You can also buy designs from others.  Prices range from $17.50 a yard to $38 a yard depending on your fabric choice:  everything from cotton to silk (including minky)

Welcome to the Mystery Quilt

You'll need to pick out 3 Suspects:

"MUG SHOTS"

Feature         Medium

Coordinate    Light

Contrast        Dark

List of suspects:

Fabric ID                 Yardage            First Cut                      Second Cut

Feature                     1 1/4 yard           4 Strips 6 1/2" x 40"      20 squares 6 1/2" x 6 1/2"

                                                         4 strips 3 1/2" x 40"       40 squares 3 1/2" x 3 1/2"

Coordinate                1 1/4 yard           4 strips 6 1/2" x 40"       20 squares 6 1/2" x 6 1/2"

                                                         4 strips 3 1/2" x 40"        40 squares 3 1/2" x 3 1/2"

Contrast                    1 yard                8 strips 3 1/2" x 40"       80 squares 3 1/2" x 3 1/2"

BORDER FABRIC ID's and Finishing Requirements
Fabric ID                                     Yardage                Cut
Inner Border (Coordinate)             3/4 Yard               6 strips 3 1/2" x 40"
Middle Border (Contrast)              3/8 Yard               7 strips 1 1/2" x 40"
Outer Border (Feature)                  1 1/8 Yard            7 strips 4 1/2" x 40"
Corner Stones (Contrast)               Scraps                  4 Squares 3 1/2" x 3 1/2"
Batting                                         1 package Twin Size Batting
Backing                                        4 3/4 Yards
Binding                                         2/3 Yard

CLUE 1:
1.  Gather forty 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" feature squares and forty 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" contrast squares.
2.  Sew the feature and contrast squares in pairs (two patch with feature fabric on the left and contrast fabric on the right).  Press the seams toward the contrast squares.
3.  Gather the remaining 40 contrast squares and forty 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" coordinate squares.
4.  Sew the contrast and coordinate squares in pairs (two patch with contrast fabric on the left and coordinate on the right).  Press the seams toward the contrast squares.

Clue 2:

1.  Gather all of the pairs from clue 1.
2.  Sew one of each pair into a Four-Patch unit,  Make sure the contrast squares are opposite each other on the diagonal.  Make 40.

Next Clues to be revealed at the May Meeting
You can download a PDF of this post by clicking on this link:  PDF

NEWS

Next Meeting:  April 22,2015 at Jeri's Bring batting ideas.

Library Quilt Show May 9, 2015 Speaker at 2p.m. at the library

(Deadline May 8, no later than 3p.m.)  Click HERE for details

Mystery Quilt information is available on blog.  If you want to bring fabric choices and/or first blocks to next meeting.  The Next Mystery will be presented at our May meeting.

Show and Tell

Chiska forgot to bring them, but she made Pi Day of the Century Shirts (mathematical PI) for her family.

Sweetie Pi, Mud Pi, and Super Pi

Sue had a fun show and tell for us with this wood sewing table she got at a garage sale the fits her Featherweight perfectly.  She was also wearing this gorgeous scarf that she made.  She even spun the wool.

Carol brought two fun projects that she made at a craft night at My Favorite Things

It was only $10 each project and you got to use their supplies (paint etc).

Kathy made a robe for her son-in-law

with a cell phone pocket

Here she is modeling it.

Sue brought this cute wall hanging her daughter made her.

Isn't the quilting fun?

Then Sue used this to show us some binding techniques. 

 Go here to see the technique she shared with us.

It makes perfect mitered corners and reduces the bulk where it's joined. 

She brought a second handout, if you're interested in it let me know and I'll e-mail it to you.

Just a quick blog note, I'm still learning how to do this.  I think I've set things up so you'll be e-mailed each time a new post is posted.  In order to have a page with posts on it I have to post it on the main page.  What that means is the Mystery Quilt will have it's posts on the main page, but they will be sort of indexed in the tab at the top of the page.  Hopefully that makes sense.

One other Mystery Quilt note, I misplaced the border fabric requirements so I will post those as soon as I track them down.  Thanks so much for your patience with this!