Bits & Pieces and New Book

Have been going through some boxes in the attic recently and found a treasure trove of small fabric samples to cut into 1-1/2" squares for my postage stamp quilt............would love to have it be a Charm Quilt also.....each fabric used only once!  The packets above represent only a small sample.....the four at the top of the photo are the Smithsonian samples from around 1994-95!  When I first opened my shop in 1990, we had few salesreps (and no Andover, Moda, or Windham yet!) and this was the method of ordering fabric..........never one to throw anything away, I saved them.  I know where there is another box full but not all the fabrics will be useable to me as they are not all reproduction.  

This is a lovely new book from Betsy Chutchian and these are the two quilts I would like to make!  Love this Courthouse Steps done in mostly madders and shirtings, with a few greens, yellows and indigoes thrown in for good measure!

And then another Favorite!  Pinwheels, again in the madder fabrics I love.....brown, rust, gold, red, pink and again I see some poison greens and indigoes for interest!

Just finished quilting the border on "Stars to Freedom" from Carol Hopkins' "Civil War Legacies" pattern.  Love this wavy border that I have been using for a few years.....have 3 different sizes.  The red pen is "Sewline" from United Notions....I use only the White tho it comes in other colors too; it gives the nicest, and thinnest line, to follow while quilting and by the time the quilting is done, there is not much left that is easy to remove just by brushing or using the eraser on the pen.  Great also for marking applique pieces.....

Another darling little Four Patch quilt from my friend, Wendy!  She used Brackman's "Metropolitan Fair" line...............love how she placed the stripe for the borders!  Machine-quilted around the blocks but hand-quilted border with her lovely stitching!  Should have used a coin for a point of reference.....the blocks are 1" finished.

This little quilt hangs in my shop ......made it about 16 years ago when someone gave me a shoebox full of 1950's scraps (and some a bit earlier)......all neatly cut and stacked in the box....perhaps for a railfence block?  The string star pattern just happened to be in an issue of Miniature Quilts (sure wish we still had that magazine available!) received about the same time!

New fabrics in the shop!  Jo Morton's "Blue Variety" with shirtings!

This is "Virginia" from Windham......these Jacobean prints always make my heart go pitter patter!!

The final 4 bolts from "Women of Courage" by Windham.

  That's it for now, but stay tuned, another scrap box is nearly full for a Giveaway!!  Newest additions seen below!  The "scraps" are mostly all full widths (44-45") strips 5" or less.