Some serious catch up

This is the first in a series of blog posts, featuring some of the things I have been busy with the last few months. I have missed some of my projects because of not having a camera, but we'll see what we can do. I will also be posting all the exciting things that have been happening in the shop. Firstly, we moved into a newly renovated space in the shop, just in time for our weekly quilt class. It was really nice to be able to have our class right by the shop instead of at the other end of the store. It's really only temporary though because of another venture we are hoping to add to the back of our building. Here are some of the first quilt tops put together by our talented ladies that faithfullly come each Thursday evening, rain or shine (or blizzard, Loretta! ;))!!!

Ticklish layer cake, pieced and hand quilted by Leona

Snap Pop layer cake, pieced by Loretta

Bungle Jungle, pieced and hand quilted by Loretta

Boho layer cake, pieced by Lucille

Sassy Layer cake, pieced by me

Boho layer cake, pieced by Leona

Most of those got hand quilted in  a quilting bee we had at our local fire hall where my husband is deputy chief. We are waiting for a few to catch up and then we will have an evening of sewing binding on by machine and hand stitching it to the back.

Next up: Jelly Roll Race Quilts! Very fun to watch these come together!


One evening when we were waiting for others to catch up and what not, a few of us made some nifty twister pot holders. They also await binding and finishing. I hope to feature a tutorial on that here soon as well.



That may be enough for now. Up next: Our current project, and more! Thanks for reading!

I'm Committed!

Source: victorianaquiltdesigns.com via Lisa on Pinterest

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Well, I dropped the ball and got it rolling! I sent out an email to interested customers concerning an upcoming quilt class that I plan to teach. I'm a little behind my projected dates because of several events (including my grandmother's passing at the beginning of the month}but better late than never!

The current plan is to meet in the back of my quilt shop in Fort Vermilion. I have a fair bit of space and I think it's a place to start and get a feel for how much room we require. The evenings I've picked to start with are February 5, 12, 21, & 26. We'll meet up around seven and see how things go, possibly shutting down around ten. I'm very open to feedback, as I want to make this work for those interested.

So the technique I've chosen to start with is a half square triangle trick. Each participant will take a layer cake of their choice and sew all the squares to each other, face to face, resulting in 21 blocks. We will then lay them on our cutting mats and cut them twice diagonally. This gives you four 6-1/2 blocks. Then each person will have to decide how random or how precise they wish to lay it out before sewing it back together.

Over the Christmas holidays I hosted a family sewing day at my house, and showed this technique to two of my favorite nieces . They caught on really quick and it was good practice for me to get a little feel of how this course might actually go. Jamie completed hers and left it for me to quilt, and Carley took hers home to finish.

I did one myself in late fall. I used  a Ticklish layer cake, which has such fun girly colors that really popped with this all over randomness.

The picture is really bad as my camera lens is scratched but you get the  idea.

I am in the process of quilting Jamie's but as soon as I'm done I'll post a photo of hers as well.

If you live in our area or know someone who does, please spread the word about the upcoming course. Everyone needs to bring a working sewing machine and basic tools. Email me at byathreadquilts@gmail.com or call my cell at 780-247-3160 for a complete list. The fee for the course is $20 payable before the course starts, and all supplies and fabric purchased at By A Thread Quilt Shop for this course receive a 15% discount!