Happy 4th of July! Here are some fireworks from my fabric stash!
Happy Independence Day!
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Author Archives: Maggie Ball
Amish Quilts in Shipshewana, IN
In May, I enjoyed a day in Shipshewana, IN and my two previous blog posts feature a couple of stores in that Amish town. In this blog I’m sharing more beautiful quilts that I saw during the day. These were displayed at The Lang Store adjacent to Lolly’s Fabric Store, the Little Helpers Quilt Shop and in the hallway of the building which houses Yoder Department Store and other vendors. The Amish quilters tend to make traditional pieced quilts and all of these are hand-quilted with small and even stitches. The workmanship is outstanding and if I was ever considering buying a high quality quilt with hand-quilting, Shipshewana would be a great place to go. Since I’m not in market for buying one, I simply looked and appreciated them.
The Lone Star was particularly beautiful with gorgeous hand-quilted feathers and arcs enhancing the design. It was inspiring to see all these wonderful quilts in so many locations.
Little Helpers Quilt Shop, Shipshewana, IN
In May, I had the pleasure of spending a day exploring Shipshewana, a town in the heart of Amish country in IN. We particularly enjoyed our visit to the Little Helpers Quilt Shop which boasts a large variety of Amish hand-made crafts including beautiful quilts, rugs, jams and jellies, baskets, bird houses, pillows, mail boxes and more. The store is located at 1,030N 1,000W on the outskirts of Shipshewana. If you are in the area, allow plenty of time to take a good look in this wonderful store. The Amish lady in the store gave me permission to take photos and to post these so that you can have a virtual tour.
The bed was piled high with beautifully made quilts all hand-quilted and there were quilts hanging all over the store. If you ever decide to purchase a traditional bed quilt, the choice here is fantastic and the workmanship outstanding. As well as quilts, there were quilt racks and wooden quilt hangers.
I loved this Tumbling Blocks quilt with the blocks falling away at the bottom. On the shelf are lovely quillows which are pillows that unfold into quilts. Finally, here’s a sampling of baskets and birdhouses. Altogether a delightful stop on our outing.
Lolly’s Fabric Store, Shipshewana, IN
In May, I had the good fortune to visit the Amish town of Shipshewana while staying with a friend prior to teaching at the Village Quilters of Lake Bluff/Lake Forest. This town is a quilter’s Mecca and boasts two enormous stores selling quilting supplies as well as many other selling gorgeous hand-quilted quilts. Here’s a pictorial tour of Lolly’s Fabric Store. This is a beautiful, well-lit store carrying around 13,000 bolts of fabric, quilting tools, book and patterns. Look at the wonderful quilt samples hanging on the walls too.
As you can see, this store is well-worth visiting and you will find a wealth of enjoyable places in Shipshewana, the heart of Indiana Amish country.
Bobbini bobbin holders
When I was teaching for the Sew Broke Quilters in Mars, PA, one of my students had these nifty bobbin holders. They are made from squashy rubber and are a very handy way to keep a bobbin with the corresponding spool of thread. I think they are ingenious and am ordering some. Once again, I was introduced to an awesome new gadget during a workshop.
Here’s a YouTube video from the makers, Smartneedle Inc. These bobbin holders are available on Amazon and cost $9.99 for a pack of 12, (no shipping charge if you have Amazon Prime).
Yarn Bombs in Franklin, PA
I spent the first week of this month in PA where I taught at two quilt guilds in the Pittsburgh area. In between, I went to stay with a friend in her cabin in the beautiful Allegheny Mountains. We stopped in the attractive town of Franklin for lunch and to meet the quilters collecting me. Right in the center of town outside the Court House was a green strip with cherry trees adorned in colorful crotchet and knitting. These yarn bombs were sponsored by the Wooly Wonders Knitting Guild and Diane’s Yarn Shoppe both based in Franklin.
What fun! I loved these vibrant tree wraps. Clearly there were many contributors and their work was all pieced together in an inspiring way to make a bright and cheerful display. Here are some closer shots including some Granny-squares, and don’t you just love the bee!
Kitsap Quilters’ Guild celebrates their 30th Anniversary
At our recent Kitsap Quilters’ Guild meeting, we celebrated our 30th anniversary by honoring our founding members. Five of the original ten were at the meeting. Here they are, from left to right, Norma Tipton, Donna Endresen, Margaret Mathisson, Helen Heins and Evelyn Bright. Each reminisced and shared some of their quilts. We heard about the first retreat where they slept in bunk beds and had to clear away their hand-sewing projects from the table in order to eat their meals, and the first quilt show held in a church hall. All except Helen were joint owners of the quilt shop in Poulsbo, Heirloom Quilts, which was incredibly supportive to the guild in numerous ways. These ladies were pillars of the guild for many years and still remain active. Their contributions have been amazing and they constantly inspire us.
On the left below are a couple of Donna’s quilts. She loves to make scrappy quilts and says “Why use only four fabrics when you can use 40?”. Margaret’s are on the right, and as well as being beautifully pieced, they are hand quilted. She has been a member of a small hand-quilting group since the guild began and they still get together once a week and hand quilt around a frame, taking turns to quilt each other’s quilts.
Evelyn loves to applique and makes magnificent quilts. The quilt with the Christmas blocks was made from our guild Christmas block exchanges where people make 15 identical blocks. They keep one and the other 14 are exchanged so that everyone gets 15 different blocks. They usually gather up two or three year’s worth of blocks to make a decent sized quilt.
Norma began a voluntary program at the Women’s Correctional Facility in Purdy and for years went to the prison every week to teach the ladies there. Other guild members have also participated and this program continues. Our guild has donated yards and yards of fabric, batting and quilting supplies. The prison ladies make quilts for a battered women’s shelter. After they have made a certain number they are allowed to make one for a family member. The guild donated funds to purchase a long-arm quilting machine too, so quilt production is healthy at the prison and the women love it.
I encourage those of you who are in guilds to express appreciation to your founding members who did so much to help your guilds become established and to thrive. We celebrated with two cakes and made it into a lovely social event.
LED Sewing Machine Lights
An aspect I enjoy about teaching, is learning from my students and being introduced to new gadgets. A lady at my recent class at the Quilt Guild of Greater Houston had these awesome LED lights on her sewing machine. They come in a strip with an adhesive back and can be cut to the appropriate size for your machine. Nice patchwork pincushion tied onto the machine too!
The amount of light generated from the strip of little bulbs is significant. More light is always good for ease of vision and accurate sewing. Here’s a shot of the machine with lights switched off and you can see the difference. The view of the backside of the machine shows how the lights are connected to the power source with cables. On my machine, I used the clip provided to pass the cable around the back and I stuck the switch part around the corner on the end of the machine.
You can order these lights as a kit from Amazon and if you get the expansion kit with an extra transformer and connectors, you can do two sewing machines for $45 (instead of one for $30). Mine have just arrived and I’m very pleased with them. I will share the second set with a friend. A reviewer on Amazon recommends temporarily taping the lights up to try them out and move them with ease to adjust to the most advantageous position. Once you are satisfied that they are in the best place, then you can peel the paper away from the back to expose the adhesive strip and stick them exactly where you want them.
Here’s the kit including the extension with enough LED strip lights for two machines, connectors, and two transformers etc. Here’s a link to a YouTube video to help you with the installation if you decide to purchase them.
The Sewing Basket, Prosser, WA
My third stop on the way to Walla Walla, was at The Sewing Basket Quilt Store in the small town of Prosser, just off Interstate 82 between Yakima and the Tri-cities. If you only have time for one store, this is it. Here’s a little tour around this amazing place which boasts carrying in excess of 11.000 bolts of fabric!
From the outside, it looks like a small shop, but in that little house there are several rooms filled from floor to ceiling with fabric including one devoted to flannels. Next door is the Quilted Country Inn, where as many as a dozen quilters can stay for quilting retreats.
After perusing the rabbit warren of small rooms stacked with fabric in the little house, you can go out of the back door and follow the path to another building with an enormous room full of more fabric! There’s a huge wall of batiks, shelves and shelves of Christmas fabric, theme fabrics, 30’s and 40’s fabrics, Civil War fabrics and more. The floor even has Flying Geese and Star patterns in the tiles.
There are many fun theme fabrics. The bacon and eggs caught my eye, along with the chickens and cows. When you plan to visit this place, allow plenty of time!
Owner, Marilyn Dulstra, knows exactly where everything is, so if you can describe a fabric you would like, she will direct you to the right location. They are about to expand even more! In the past, they have held classes in the Quilted Country Inn, but this has now become so booked up, that there aren’t times when the space is available. They are about to acquire another building where they can have a gallery to display quilts and a classroom. I’m hoping to go back there to teach.
Sandy’s Sewing Center, Yakima, WA
Last week I posted about The Quilter’s Cafe in Yakima. This week I’ll give you a tour of Sandy’s Sewing Center, the second store I visited on my way to teach at the Walla Walla Valley Quilt Guild. Sandy’s Sewing Center is located at 404 W Chestnut in Yakima not very far from The Quilter’s Cafe, so it is easy to visit both stores if you are passing through Yakima. Sandy’s just celebrated their 4th birthday and are well established. The store has a spacious classroom and there were people busy at machines, sewing away.
They have frequent sew-in days as well as offering a variety of classes. They also have a long-arm sewing machine available for rental and a long-arm quilter who will quilt for customers.
They have a wide selection of quilting supplies and Sandy gave me a warm welcome. Check it out if you are in Yakima.
