Give Away!

This last week I had the honor of giving away our first Quilt 4 Cancer. This quilt was given to Chris, the Director or Nursing and co-worker with my daughter. 

Our next gift is going to Connie.  Connie has had 2 brain tumors removed.  She just found out last Saturday that her brother has been diagnosed with cancer and her sister-in-law had 1/2 of one lung and her lymph nodes removed on Friday. As you can imagine, she is dealing with depression because of all this - her illness and then finding out about her family.  Any and all prayers for both Chris and Connie will be appreciated. 

In celebration of gifting our first quilt we'll be having cake and ice cream at our Quilt Til You Wilt tomorrow night and I'm giving away a Bali Pop!

Leave me a comment here if you are coming to Quilt Til You Wilt tomorrow night.  And all you have to do to be eligible to WIN the Bali Pop is leave me a comment here and tell me - What's your favorite ice cream?  Mine would have to be Pistachio Pecan. MMMMMMMMMmmmm-mmmmmm-mmmmmm!  I'll be awarding the Bali Pop before the Night of Hope Cancer Walk on August 13th. 

Happy Quilting!

Up In Stitches!

We've named our little group.  Thank you April!  Fellow quiltmaker April came up with the name "Up In Stitches" for our little Quilt Club.  And it describes our group perfectly.  Anyone and everyone is welcome!  Come and go and donate as you please.  We meet every other Friday night and Quilt Until We Wilt.  We meet at or around 6 p.m. at BORDERS Quilt Shop. The first hour our group meets we donate our love, our time, our skills, our fabrics to making Quilts 4 Cancer to be donated to our local cancer care center and friends or family of our members with a cancer diagnosis as the need arises.  We spend the remainder of our time together working on our own projects, finishing our UFO's (Un-Finished Objects!), show and tell, sharings tips and advice, eating, drinking and bein' merry!  BYOB!!!

Next Quilt Til U Wilt

Quilts 4 Cancer

Friday

July 30, 2010, 6:00 p.m.

BORDERS Quilt Shop

Sidney, Nebraska

(308) 250-5515

Underground Railroad

Learn how fifteen quilt blocks may have played a significant role in communication between the slaves on their way to freedom. Includes a color page depicting the "Story of the Underground Railroad" that can be photocopied onto Photo Transfer Fabric and included in the quilt. FOLLOW ME!

Underground Railroad

We finished the quilt top just today.  It's beautiful!  Soft gorgeous creams, browns and aqua's.  The top will be on display at the shop for the weekend.  I can't wait to quilt this one!  If anyone is interested in making the Underground Railroad it is a fabulous beginner quilt.  The book for this quilt is an Eleanor Burns Quilt In A Day publication.  It was published "For the brave runaways that risked their lives for Freedom."  The history of the Underground Railroad is fascinating.  And each traditional quilt block in this book comes with a short historical story speaking of the history hidden in quilts from the Civil War Era. Quilts were used to communicate information in code to the Underground Railroad guiding runaway slaves to safety and freedom.  For example, the "Monkey Wrench" turns the "Wagon Wheel" toward Canada on a "Bears Paw" trail to the "Crossroads."

I am beginning a class to make this quilt this coming Saturday.  If you are local and are interested in making this quilt with us please be at the shop at 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 24th.  Class One is Fabric Selection.  We will try to meet each Saturday at the same time for the next step. The classes are FREE when you buy your fabric for the quilt from us!  For those of you who are not local and want to make this quilt along with us - I will be posting the instructions weekly.  If you would like to purchase the book that accompanies this class please call 308-250-5515 or  e-mail BQS2004@yahoo.com and I will mail you a copy.  The cost of the Underground Railroad pattern book is $24.95 plus shipping. If you would like a block kit sent to you each week in the color combination of your choice each block is $15 and the shipping for the book and each kit is FREE.  The fabric kit for the sashing, borders and binding of the quilt is $40 which is paid for when you register for the class. There are 15 quilt blocks in this series. We would love to have you join us!

Happy Quilting!  Visit http://www.bordersquiltshop.com/ where we are "Always in Stitches!"  New Website COMING SOON!

MODA's Martinique

FIVE KITS AVAILABLE.  And then it's gone!  Get yours while they last.  E-mail bqs2004@yahoo.com if you are interested.

MODA's Martinique

Stop in and view our quilt.  The quilt top is done.  I hope to get it on Maggie (my Millennium Long Arm Quilting machine) soon.  The top alone is gorgeous.  Kit's Available!  E-mail bqs2004@yahoo.com if you are interested.

CHRISTMAS IN JULY

All gift purchases, Christmas related books and patterns, Christmas fabric and Red or Green prints are on sale at 25% OFF now through July 31st, 2010.  Get it while you can!  New Christmas fabrics are arriving soon. 

I've given up on my old website.  Incredibly difficult to maintain.  I've hired a webmaster to help me with setting up a new website and I will have this new website up and running VERY soon.  The site address will be the same.  http://www.bordersquiltshop.com/ My in store promotions apply to the web site purchases as well!

And don't forget to request our PROMO card.  For every $200 you spend on regularly priced merchandise from our store or website receive $20 in merchandise FREE! 

Quilt Along! Piecing Instructions

Day 3: Quilt Along! Piecing Instructions

Read all instructions FIRST. :)

NOTE: The first (top) and last (bottom) strip do not have an accent strip sewn to the outside edged. However you can cut more fabric and do so if you wish. You can also cut more strips of every size to increase the size of your quilt. Mine was for a man so I did cut two additional 6 1/2 focus strips (cowboy print), two additional tone-on-tone strips (red), and four additional accent strips (gold) increasing the dimensions of the quilt from 41" x 56" to 41" x 76". You can even add borders to this if you'd like to make it even larger!

1. Sew one accent strip to the top and bottom of the tone-on-tone strips. Remember the top and bottom tone-on-tone strips will only have one accent strip attached unless you choose to do otherwise. Set those aside to stitch on last.

2. Sew rows from Step One to your focus strips. If your focus fabric is directional pay attention to this as your sew. You don't want your cows upside-down!

3. Sew all rows from Step Two together in ther order as shown in the picture.

4. Add your top and bottom rows you set aside from Step One. Quilt top is all done. Now quilt it or have it quilted (I can help you with that!) and bound (I can help you with that too!) and enjoy the gift giving. This is my FAVORITE part. :)

Happy Piecing!

Quilt Along Cutting Instructions

Quilt Along Day 2: Here are your cutting instructions for our first Quilt Along:

Focus Fabric: Cut 5 strips 6 1/2" by WOF (Width of Fabric)
Tone On Tone: Cut 6 strips 3" by WOF
Accent Fabric: Cut 10 strips 1 1/2" by WOF

If you would like to increase your quilt from 41" x 56" to 41" x 76" (which we did!) you will need an additional 14" by WOF of Focus Fabric; 6" by WOF of Tone on Tone; and 6 " by WOF of Accent Fabric. Cut:

Focus Fabric: Cut 2 additional 6 1/2" strips by WOF
Tone On Tone: Cut 2 additional 3" strips by WOF
Accent Fabric: Cut 4 additional 1 1/2" strips by WOF

Sewing instructions and photo's of our quilt in process next! 

Quilt Along!

Hi all. I am starting some new and exciting things! The first is this blog. The second is my Quilt Along! What is a Quilt Along? A Quilt Along is ~ I piece my quilt top at my quilt shop or home and post the instructions here for you to do the same in the comfort of your own home. That's it. If you can sew a straight line - YOU CAN DO THIS! I'll be posting photo's of my quilt in process. If you've always wanted to quilt - now is the time. I'm here to help and answer your questions as needed. And if you are local - come to the shop for help any time at all! That's what we are here for - to share our passion (and therapy) with you. We are the Quilt Therapists. So lets get started! The first project is a small one. You could piece this entire quilt top in one afternoon if you wanted to. This is my FAVORITE charity and gift quilt pattern. It's quick and easy. This quilt measures approximately 41" x 56" when finished. Your first assignment is to choose your fabrics. You need 1 yard focus fabric (novelty prints are fantastic for this i.e. the cows in the photo), 3/4 yard tone on tone (the solid looking lime green in the photo), 1/2 yard accent fabric (the black in the photo), and an additional 1/4 yard of binding from one of your fabrics if you would like it to match. That's it! Cutting instructions to follow tomorrow.

If you are into Christmas in July - Christmas fabrics look MAGNIFICENT in this layout. READY ~ SET ~ GO! I can't wait to see what you all do. : )