The Quickie Chicks - Cindy and Teresa had beed quilting for years and like most of you loved to go on quilting retreats! This is where the idea for the Sole Cool Hot Iron Bag was born. They saw a need and filled it! 

You know the scenario: Your’re at a retreat, and it is almost time to leave.  You have just two borders to sew and your quilt will be finished…. and you must show your quilt before you go.  (Isn’t that part of the retreat experience?) So…. you sew those last few seam and press.  You are done!)

Now what do you do with the hot iron?  Unlike the “old days” when you tried – usually unsuccessfully- to balance it in the back seat of the car for the trip home, now you can simply pop it into the “Sole Cool Hot Iron Bag“ and go on your merry way!  It’s also perfect for use after those workshops, classes, and bee’s we seem to be involved in.

You’ll enjoy making this bag and you can use any fabrics you love and they made the sewing simple and fun. So simple, you can make one for yourself and one for a friend!

***Look at these finished cute bags!
They are pretty enough use a everyday tote!

Large Iron bag with my large iron in it:

Small Iron Bag (my large iron does not fit in it):

Pattern Review:
Skill Level: Confident Beginner
This pattern had lots of instructions and pictures.
If you purchase 1 yard of Insul Bright - there is enough to make both large and small bags. 
Hint: Make a paper template of the bag bottom and use that for a pattern. 

I include enough “Insul Bright” for free the large bag with this pattern.
Purchase these patterns here:
 Sole Cool Hot Iron Bag

Fabric Requirements:
Large Bag:
5/8 yard (lower bag, bag sole bottom, handle, front tap, flap closure)
1/2 yard (upper bag, side tabs)
5/8 yard (lining)
1  yd 36″ x 22″ Insul Bright

Small Bag:
1/2 yard (lower bag, bag sole bottom, handle, front tap, flap closure)
1/2 yard (upper bag, side tabs)
1/3 yard (lining)
3/4 yd 27″ x 22″ Insul Bright

***A special THANK YOU goes out to my friends Sue and Kitty for making these Sole Cool Iron Bags for me!!

The weather forcast for today is 1 – 3 inches of snow – but I know Spring is here because: 

1. These very fat robbins I’ve been seeing:

2. Crocus are blooming in my garden:

3. My basketball team is in the ELITE EIGHT!!!

GOOOOOO MSU!!!!

Proud 
By Keri Beyer from Clothworks Textiles 

Keri’s new collection is all about being gorgeous! The rich colors, the exuberant, large-scale designs, and the layering of the patterns are all saying it loud and proud.  The free handout pattern shows off the collection in a bold, colorful display.

Here’s some of the web pictures:

There is also a really cool quilt kit with a free pattern:
Dazzling Diamonds
Finished size: 73 1/2″ x 82 1/2″
Skill level: Intermediate – it you can piece you can do this quilt!
The pattern is easy to read, with lots of pictures and instructions.
Cut out diamonds, sew in strips and sew strips together.
Included in kit all fabrics for top and binding:
Free pattern
5/8 yard of the fabrics listed below – diamonds
3 1/2 yards white – diamonds and inner border
2 1/3 Yards blue peacock collage – diamonds and outer border
1 1/4 yards blue tonal circles – diamonds and binding

These are the fabrics from the middle diamonds:

and the outside border:

 Mariners Compass Quilt Class!

  Have you ever seen a quilt that was so beautiful that you just had to try and make one?  Well, that’s what happened to me! I’ve never paper pieced before but I couldn’t help myself and signed up for the class.
Here’s the quilt and the quilt maker/teacher Mary Warden:

I convinced my sister-in-law (SIL) Barb to take this 3 part class with me.  We didn’t know how to paper piece, so Mary said she would try teaching us using a easy pattern. She brought the pattern and the fabrics, which for Barb and me was a blessing! 
After 3 hours and lots of patient instuctions we finished our sample block:

 Ok that was fun and we decided to take the Mariners Compass class!

The hardest part of the quilting process for me is picking out what fabrics to use.  So I enlisted the help of my quilting friends Sue and Kitty and found the perfect fabrics: 

Off to the class – I thought we were going to start with the smaller block and took the fabrics for it.  Wrong – we started on the largest block and had to make the fabrics work.

The class was fun!! This first block was easy and fast (it took 3 hours to make!)

It was so much fun that I thought I would make a 2nd block using my first choice of fabrics  and that’s where the “Adventure Begins”
Here it is in four sections -

I had 4 templates from the 1st block and had to make 12 more -
and these were a different size!

Things I learned so far:

1. Bring all your fabrics to the class!

2. Make extra paper template sheets -
  coping all at the same time.

3.  Have the tools needed for the class -
ex: special ruler, plastic template and good
seam ripper!

4. Measure everything 6 times
and plan on a few learning mistakes 

5. When starting a new block -
make all new paper templates!
I found when I made more sheets later
the printer mysteriously changed the size of my template!

Next the small blocks – more blogging to follow later…………..

Celebrate! Celebrate! Celebrate!
NATIONAL QUILTING DAY
MARCH 21, 2009

The National Quilting Association has declared the third Saturday in March as National Quilting Day. There are many ways to celebrate the day: make a quilt to donate to a charity; gather friends together to sew, hand quilt a quilt, or wrap up in your favorite quilt and watch a movie!

My Web Quilter

 The ice has started to melt on our lake and it looks like a river running though it!

These prices are for  COTTON ONLY – 10 yard max in flat rate envelope.
FLANNEL – 6 yards max in flat rate envelope

USA
Small Pattern: $.74
Large Pattern: $1.34
1/2 yard: $2.25
1 1/2 yards: $2.86
2 – 10 yards: $5.10
over 10 yards: $10.35
Max shipping cost: $10.35

 Canada:
Small pattern: $1.11
Large Pattern: $1.61
1/2 yard: $2.82
1 1/2 yards: $3.76
2-10 yards: $10.35
Max shipping cost: $32.85

World:
Small Pattern: $1.84
Large Pattern $2.85
1/2 yard: $3.95
1 1/2 yards: $8.55
2-10 yards: $12.95
Max shipping cost: $51.80