Sentimental Stitches

Announcement ! Announcement ! Annoouunncement!

by Gay on 4:57 pm in Blue Hill Fabrics, facebook, Free Patterns, News, Shipshewana, Twitter

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I have some news to share with all of you and wish I had a recording of one of my favorite people who is blessed with the most lyrical way of making announcements for our table at the Dear Jane Retreats in Shipshewana. Did I mention the retreat is coming up in about a month? It's actually 23 days for me and I know I'm not alone in counting down the days. I haven't missed one in over 10 years and can hardly wait until we're there.

Back to the special news announcement..............

I'm proud to announce I have joined the family of designers at Blue Hill Fabrics!

My first collection is a children's group called Petticoats & PolkaDots.
I'll give you a sneak peek as soon as I can but know you're going to love it as much as I do. It's guaranteed to touch your heart and inspire your stitches.
If you're a shop owner you should be able to place an order for it soon. I'll be in Chicago at Troy's Fabriganza April 11 and 12 on my way to Shipshe to introduce the collection and share quilts and other projects I've designed using the fabrics.

I'm trying to coordinate everything to keep things running smoothly and could use your help.
Please go to the new Sentimental Stitches facebook page and become a fan!

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You'll be sure to get the latest updates on fabric releases and new patterns. We'll also avoid crashing my current page where you may have signed up as a Friend. If you get too many Friends, facebook freaks out and we don't want that to happen.

After you've become a fan of Sentimental Stitches , please become a fan of Blue Hill Fabrics and let them know how much you're looking forward to Petticoats & PolkaDots!

If you follow me on Twitter you should continue to receive tweets as usual and if I've linked things correctly, facebook and Twitter will work together. If you aren't getting tweets, follow Clutch and I by clicking on the link in the sidebar or HERE.

Now on to some practical things like excess fabric and just general stuff that's in the way.

I'm sorting my fabric stash and putting fat quarters, yardage and scrap bags in the Online Store for a while before I move them over to ebay. I'm going through color by color so keep checking back. If there's something special you've been looking for I might just have it and the prices will be easy on the piggy bank.

Most of the linens and quilts will be on ebay.

Boutique clothes and jewelry.....not sure where they'll go first. I might try both places!

I need to take care of some big financial obligations before the end of the month. After that I can spend time on more free quilt patterns for the blog and just have fun with all of you. Help Clutch and I if you can.

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Revised Beyond The Cherry Trees Block 6

by Gay on 9:21 pm in Antique Quilt, Applique Quilts, Block of the Month, Free Patterns, News

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This breath of spring block now has a few more layers, some hidden stitches found and a cute cheddar bird but I think it's complete.

Here's the center flower with the additional layer outline stitched and the tiny bird.

It turns out the two flowers on the sides of the block are not the same as I first thought. This is the one on the right with the additional bottom layer of green outline stitched.

I was really excited when I took out the magnifying glass to look more closely at the flower on the left. The tiny brown pieces of fuzz looked like they might be more of the purple print fabric originally used for the grapes but I'm not sure.

I did some reverse stitching on one of the flowers to take a look at what might be left of the fabric underneath. It doesn't appear to have any print design on it.

The fabric seems to match up to the worn away fabric in another block that was used for leaves and stems so I think it's pretty safe to assume the lower layers were green.
I think I'll decide on a fabric for the center of the lower left flower when I get to it. If purple looks good - I'll use it. If not, I'll go with the green.

You can download the revised block - HERE

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Stop Those Stitches on Block 6

by Gay on 12:00 pm in Antique Quilt, Applique Quilts, Block of the Month, Free Patterns, News

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Last night I kept looking at the two block pictures I uploaded for this month's Beyond The Cherry Trees block and darn it all, there were hidden stitches staring me right in the face. It looked like a simple fix of just adding the quilting designs to each side of the block. Not too worry, the block is the correct size with all it's leaves but there's a little more to it so I've taken the file down until I can make some additions and will post it again later today.

Here's the hidden flower quilted on the right side of the block.

This is the empty space where a flower was quilted on the left side of the block.

After this discovery I decided I'd better pry the quilt away from Clutch who had claimed it to cushion his perch on the corner of the couch. Not wanting to disturb him I drafted the pattern working from a photo copy I'd made of the block a long time ago. Okay, okay, yes, Clutch is one spoiled Mama's boy and the lesson learned here is to draft the pattern from the actual block on the quilt because look what I found.

See that little snippet of cheddar fabric? That's what's left of the tail feathers on a tiny bird. Need to add that!

I think there is a bottom layer the this flower where the fabric is completely gone. Need to determine the original color and add that!

I think there is a bottom layer to these flowers where the fabric is completely gone. Need to determine the original color and add these!

Sorry guys, I'll be back in a while with the corrections.