Some Personal Sewing

 I don't get much time for personal sewing these days. As a shop owner, most of my sewing time is spent on store samples and class samples. One of my nieces is getting married soon and she asked me to make some little duffle bags for her to give to her bridesmaids. So all last week, in between my regular shop duties, I made 7 duffle bags for her.

I used fabrics from my stash so all of the fabrics I used are older, discontinued fabrics. For the zippers, I used a package of By Annie's zipper by the yard. I picked white with multi-colored pulls so that I could make each one slightly different. All of the pulls are different colors and while the outsides of several are the same, the inside is different so all bags are unique.

The pattern I used is also an older pattern, A Little Duffle Do It. The pattern is very similar to a currently available pattern, Chunky Wee Zippy Pouches. The older pattern calls for binding on all 6 of the inside seams, which I really like. The Chunky Wee Zippy Pouches just has you pink the seams instead. Towards the end I was really wishing I had just pinked the seam allowances as the binding took the longest for this project. But they are done now and on their way to my niece!

These are really fun little bags to make! The thing I really like about the Chunky Wee Zippy Pouches is that in addition to the three sizes of finished bag included in the pattern, the pattern writer also gives you fill in the blank "formulas" so that you make whatever size bag you want. You start by filling in the blanks with the finished size you want to end up with, then follow the directions to work your way back to what size you need to cut your fabrics.

Wildlife Trail Shop Sample

 This is the shop sample and kit I designed using the new Wildlife Trail fabrics my shop received recently.

The pattern was written by me specifically for this collection so it's only available in the kits. The quilt finishes at 60" by 76" (twin size). The kits are already listed in my online shop.

I didn't get the entire collection but got one color way of the fabrics, pre-cuts (2 1/2" strips and 10" squares) and the panel.

Click here to view the kits and fabrics

I can also make a few queen size kits. The queen size version would have 20 blocks (4 by 5) instead of just the 12 blocks in the twin size version. Queen kits are only available by contacting the shop directly as I only have a little of the fabrics left. Stop by in person, give me a call 719-937-2555, or send me a text (719) 480-8483, if you are interested in a queen size kit.

Twin size kit is $99.99 and includes the pattern plus all of the fabrics required to piece the top and the binding. Queen size kit is $169.99 and includes the pattern plus all of the fabrics required to piece the top and the binding.

Picnic Day Facebook Live Event

 Tomorrow, Tuesday April 23, 2024, is National Picnic Day!

To celebrate myself and six other shop owner friends have decided to do an online Facebook Live Shop Hop. The way this will work is that each of us will go live on our respective Facebook pages one at a time, starting at 11 am MDT. Each of us will entertain you for about an hour and then send you over to the next shop. The schedule is as follows:

11 am MDT Linda from Kruusn Quilt Shop & Retreat Center

12pm MDT Kristi from My Quilting Loft

1pm MDT Cheryl from Colchester Mill Fabrics & Quilting

2pm MDT Lynn from Alamosa Quilt Company

3pm MDT Georgia from Calico Mermaid

4pm MDT Gail from River's Edge Antiques & Quilt Loft

5pm MDT Michelle from Bound in Stitches

Everyone will be offering a mix of brand new items, clearance items and fun projects. Join us live or watch after the fact. The Picnic Day event videos will be on our respective Facebook pages for several days after the event.

As for my shop, you don't have to watch the Facebook video to get in on the fun. You can just go to my shop website, AlamosaQuiltCompany.com, and click Shop>Picnic Day Facebook Live Event to view all the items I shared in the video and shop.

Note: the link for the event will not be live on my shop website until tomorrow, Tuesday April 23, 2024. I will leave it up through Saturday April 27, 2024.

 I finally have the pattern finished for the shop sample using the new Wild North fabric collection we received recently. I'm calling it Wild North Zoom Meeting. If you've ever attended a Zoom meeting in gallery view then you get it. I was picturing all these animals in their nests and dens on their laptops chatting with each other.

The quilt measures 42" by 50" - a great lap/baby size. It's not quilted yet and thus not bound. The binding will be the same fabric as the inner border. The cost of the kit is $64.99. The kit includes all of the fabrics required to piece the quilt top plus the binding fabric and the pattern. You'll need 1 1/2 yards of fabric for the backing. If you are purchasing the backing from my website then you need to put a quantity of 3 in your cart, which is equivalent to 1 1/2 yards. We will use the Wild North Wildlife in the Mountains Slate for the back of our sample. The pattern is an Alamosa Quilt Company exclusive pattern and not available separately as it was written specifically for this fabric collection by me.

Kits are available both in store and in our online shop, AlamosaQuiltCompany.com.

Wild North Fabric Collection

Wild North Zoom Meeting Quilt Kit

New :: Whimsy Quilt Kit

 While the shop sample is not new, the kits for it are new.

The quilt measures 55" by 55" which is a good lap/wheelchair quilt, large baby quilt, or wall hanging size. The piecing is fairly simple, appropriate for an advanced beginner. The colored fabrics are from a charm pack. You cut the charm squares in half and use a folded corner technique to make four point units required for each block. There is a little sashing in the blocks then the blocks are just sewn together. A small outer border is added from the background fabric so that the design "floats" in the center. The binding fabric is the same fabric used for the little corner stones in the middle of each block.

The kit contains all of the fabrics required to make the top plus the binding fabric and the pattern. The kit is $74.99 and is available both in store and in my online shop.

Whimsy Quilt Kit Whimsy Fabric Collection

Customer Show and Tell :: Nancy's Wild Stallion Quilt

 Nancy has her version of our Wild Stallions kit completely finished! We have two more kits left and not enough of the fabrics to make up more kits. We do still have some of the fabrics on the bolt and have a few more of the panels left in stock.

Note that Nancy opted to get extra fabric and the border print (which we are sold out of) to make a larger version of our kit. If you want to make a larger version like Nancy I suggest you substitute the all-over horse print for the border print. It's called "Stallion Stallions" in our online shop.

The kits and fabrics are available both in store and in our online shop, AlamosaQuiltCompany.com.

To view the kit and fabrics in our online shop click the following link: Stallion fabrics and kit

March Meowness 2024 Winner

  We have a winner of the 2024 March Meowness Contest. Fabric S Cat in the Box Cats & Boxes is the winner!

I thought I would share with you some photos of completed projects using cat fabrics. I have been a collector of cat fabrics since I started quilting in 1995. In 2022 I made a table cloth quilt for myself and family using a variety of cat fabrics that I have collected over the years from various quilt shops I visited.

The backing fabric is also cat fabric. You can see that back and read about the quilt by clicking on the following link: New Table Cloth Quilt You can download a copy of the free pattern I used to make the quilt if you follow the link. I used different size squares for my version because I needed it to fit my table.

I've also made several bags with cat fabrics. These Tourist Totes were made in May 2023.

You can read more about them by following this link: More Tourist Totes

And a customer made this one.

The cat fabric used is fabric M: Puddy Cats Funny Felines which I still have in stock.

Thank you to everyone who played along! I will do the drawing to select the winners of the fat quarter bundles of cat fabrics tomorrow, March 26, 2024. Since I had so many folks play along I decided to choose four winners instead of just one. I'll notify the winners privately tomorrow, Tuesday March 26, 2024.

I had so much fun with this silly little cat fabric contest that I've decided to do something for the Dog Days of Summer. The official dates for that are July 3 - August 11. I haven't decided exactly what we'll do for Dog Days of Summer but it will be something fun and silly like this and will most likely happen the end of July or early August so stay tuned for that.