Quilts by Pam Thiele and Becky Kramarz

Pam Thiele is a friend of ours who belongs to the embellishment group Nancy formed. We meet once a month at the store and learn a new technique. Earlier this year it became Pam's mission to finish several quilt tops. I can't remember which one this was (maybe #11 or 12), but it was one of Nancy's and my favorites. Every month she brings the finished quilts for our show and share part of the embellishment group. Pam is definitely inspiring the rest of us to finish our UFO's.
Way to go Pam!

Next is a Color By the Yard quilt made by Becky Kramarz. Becky took our class in Spokane. Her quilt is made of flannel--a great cuddle quilt, especially since Spokane has already received its share of snow. The close-up photo shows how rich and beautiful the prints are and the wonderful quilting. The quilt was quilted by Becky's friend, Lois Carpenter. Becky says that her quilt has inspired many of her friends to make one because it is perfect for whittling down a fabric stash. Color By the Yard is from our book Super Simple Strips.

Thank you Pam and Becky for sharing your quilts with us! Keep quilting and inspiring others!

Lynda and Nancy

Joined in Hope Update

Back in October, I told you about the Pink Ribbon Bagel Campaign that we were working on with Panera Bread Company and the Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers Foundation. We designed and made a quilt to be auctioned off with proceeds going to RMCCF. As you can see, the quilt is gorgeous and on the back are signature blocks signed by local community leaders. Bidding closed at noon (MST), Wednesday, December 24, 2008.

We will be getting together in January to put together the quilts from the other blocks that were submitted. I'll let you know more about that soon.

If I don't get another post in by tomorrow, have a great holiday.
Lynda

More yummy recipes for the holidays!

Here is a terrific Southwest Appetizer and to go along with it, Baked Mexican Chicken. It is about 3 degrees here in Denver and we had an all time low last night, so I am looking for anything hot--temperature and taste. I spice up the chicken with a spicy salsa. Now, anything hot and spicy needs to me tempered with a delicious Margarita--anyone willing to share their favorite recipe?





Happy cooking,
Lynda and Nancy

Murphy and the Popcorn Popper

I have a Wheaten Terrier named Murphy who is afraid of everything. My daughter Kim was popping some corn on Saturday night. Luckily the camera was right there and she took this video of Murphy. Notice he never gets very close and looks up at her every once in awhile to see why she is not protecting him from this strange creature. At least he sounds ferocious!

Enjoy, Lynda

Cooking Possibilities--Pizza Crab Dip

Several years ago, we put out a cookbook titled Cooking Possibilities. We asked five top quilt shops to submit recipes. They in turn, asked their employees for submissions. The recipes were terrific and it is one of our all time go to cookbooks. Unfortunately it is now out of print, but we would like to share some of our favorite recipes with you from time to time. Since this is the time of year for lots of holiday parties, we would like to start with a great appetizer from Judy Carpenter, our Buyer and Show Coordinator. It is easy and soooo delicious!

Pizza Crab Dip
8oz cream cheese, softened
1 ½ cups ketchup
2 tbsp horseradish
1-2 6 oz cans crab &/or shrimp, drained
1 cup green peppers, chopped
1 cup tomatoes, chopped
1 cup green onion, chopped
½ cup black olives, sliced
1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
Crackers

Spread cream cheese on small dinner plate or decorative 8” pie plate. Mix ketchup with horseradish and spread over cream cheese. Sprinkle with next 6 ingredients in order. Serve with crackers.

Enjoy!
Happy Holidays,
Lynda and Nancy

Happy Thanksgiving

We'd like to take a minute to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving! It's kinda quiet here at work today. I guess that many are getting a head start on the cooking. It is always a nice holiday time here at the store because we get many out of town visitors stopping in.

We are thankful for so many things--our families and friends, our wonderful employees, our great customers! We are also happy that we share our passion with so many wonderful people. Thank you to all who came to our lectures and took our classes this year. You have enriched our lives.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Lynda and Nancy

Making Beautiful Clay Buttons

I finally finished the slide show of how to make the clay buttons pictured in our blog of October 19th, 2008. The buttons are very easy to do and add a one-of-a-kind embellishment to your work. We have added beads to the buttons to stitch them to this wallhanging. This is the added bonus project included in our pattern booklet, Cappucino. Visit our website to see all of the embellishment product we have, including the Makin's Clay and the Jacquard products. Enjoy the slideshow!

Lynda

Another sneak peek

Here is a sneak peek at another of our new Block of the Month programs we will be starting in January. Judy is already working on this one. Let us know if you would like more information.

It is a gorgeous fall day here in Denver. It is so nice that we have the doors opened wide. My husband, daughter, and I spent the morning and part of the afternoon raking leaves and putting the summer furniture away. It was very satisfying, but the wind has picked up this afternoon and more and more leaves are falling. Raking leaves reminds me of cleaning house--just when you thought you were finished it is time to start again. Well, speaking of cleaning, I'm off to the basement to work on my sewing room. Time to clean it up and get started making my Christmas presents.

Lynda

From scrapbook paper to fabric--Urban Couture

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We just received the entire Moda fabric line of Urban Couture by BasicGrey. BasicGrey is a scrapbook paper company known for their refreshing palettes and exceptional prints. Here is what Moda has to say about this line: "Upscale attitude with a touch of metro-style, Urban Couture features illustrative prints, natural form, and unconventional design. You can now take your favorite scrap booking papers into the sewing room. This flawless translation from paper to fabric still has an edge and reminds us that attitude is everything."

Enjoy watching the slideshow of the collection for yourself. We do not have the fabric online, but you can get the SKU numbers from the Moda website and call or email us at info@greatamericanquilt.com with your order--or better yet, stop by the store and see it in person.

It's great fun waiting to see what the UPS man brings to our door everyday. We bought some great stuff at Quilt Market including several new Block of the Month programs we want to start in January. We just need to decide if we want to do them all at the same time or stagger them. Two of them are Christmas BOMs that would be nice to start in January.

Here is a sneak peek at a block from The Night Before Christmas. Judy can hardly wait to start this one. I'll give you more sneak peeks of the other BOMs over the next couple of weeks and if you are interested in any of them e-mail or call us and we will keep you updated with information.

Have a terrific weekend!

Happy stitching,
Lynda and Nancy

InterFaith, Diaper Dash, & Tie One On Day

If you are local to our store you no doubt know that we are avid supporters of InterFaith Community Services. This fantastic organization serves families in-need in the Denver area. Recently we participated in the Pack-To-School program, where we provided new back packs, all school supplies, new school outfits, and other little surprises, to a group of deserving kiddos. We received some of the most wonderful thank you notes from these kids, and we've posted them on our website, so feel free to take a look.

InterFaith is always in need of donations of many kinds. In November, we are asking your help. During the week of Nov 2-8th we are sponsoring a Diaper Dash. Bring in one package of 10 or more diapers of any size and get 20% one item of your choice. The much needed diapers will be donated to InterFaith.

We are also celebrating Tie One On Day (Nov. 26) for the entire month. Tie One On Day celebrates the humble apron and the spirit of women of earlier generations. On the eve of Thanksgiving, wrap a loaf of bread in an apron, tuck a note of hope in the pocket, and deliver it to someone in need. Don't have time to bake? Join us to donate money to InterFaith for their food drive. For your donation of $10 or more, you will receive a coupon for 20% off one item of your choice valid during December--just in time for Christmas shopping. Also, throughout the month we will be featuring some great patterns for aprons and kitchen accessories.


We, and InterFaith appreciate anything that you can do to help!

Lynda and Nancy

Amy Butler Trunk Show and Bread Bag Ties

We are lucky to have a trunk show from Amy Butler. She sent us several bags and articles of clothing and we added all of the fun stuff that we have been making. We have a great selection of Amy's books, fabrics, and patterns in now, so if you are in need of inspiration, we have it. Enjoy the pictures of the display.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

This next photo is of my 20 year old son, with his permission. He had braces for several years---way, way longer than any of his friends. He is missing a tooth and needs to get an implant. But, he lost his retainer several months ago--he swears Murphy, our dog, buried it. I think not, but I have noticed that Murphy's teeth are looking straighter. Well, he finally made the appointment and I said that I thought the Dentist should make sure that his teeth have not moved too much. He assured me that they were OK since when he had his retainer, he would leave it out often and it would only be uncomfortable for maybe 5 minutes when he put it back in. Besides he said, "I tie them together with bread bag ties".

OMG, if I had only known, we could have saved lots of money in orthodontist fees--I would hate for his orthodontist to read and see this. : ) Luckily his implant appointment is coming up in about 3 weeks. Till then, I'm saving bread bag ties.

Here's to fun, inspiration, and innovation!
Lynda

Quilting Treasures, Marie Osmond, Wynken, Blynken, and Nod

Whew! Another Fall Quilt Market is over. We work hard getting ready to go, we work hard while there, and we work hard catching up when we get home. But, we really have a great time!!!

Our new line from Quilting Treasures, Wynken, Blynken, and Nod, made it's debut. Wynken, Blynken, and Nod is a poem written by Denver journalist, Eugene Field, in 1889.
Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night
Sailed off in a wooden shoe...
Sailed off on a river of crystal light
Into a sea of dew.
The main print is a panel and it's supported with some other fun prints, including a star that would be a great addition to anyone's stash. The best thing is that the fabric wasn't supposed to be in until December and we already got ours--yeah! For quilt market we made lots of samples, including 3 quilts, teddy bears, a slumber sack, a day pack and lots more. Nancy quilted the entire poem on one of the quilts and embellished the stars with crystals.

Another fabric designer for Quilting Treasures is Marie Osmond. She actually came to Quilt Market and spent part of the day being photographed and signing autographs in the Quilting Treasures booth. Here she is below (sorry for the blurry pic) with Cranston Print Works President, George Schuster. Cranston is the parent company of Quilting Treasures.

Isn't it a shame that some people have soooo much hair (I'm referring to Marie, not George)--I sure could have used a little more. I especially liked Marie's Gypsy Breeze fabric line. The color palette is soft celadon, aqua, periwinkle, and purple.

While Ashley and our good friend Peggie manned our booth, Judy, Nancy, and I set out to see what QM had to offer. We looked at hundreds of fabric lines--including 5 Christmas 2009 lines at one booth alone. We have lots of new patterns and books coming in--if you are in town, we have a QM preview coming up Nov 19th. Last market we pooh poohed the Clover pom pom maker--this market we saw a demo on how to make wonderful fabric Hydrangeas and we ordered two sizes!

Needless to say, we had a great time, ordered wonderful product, ate delicious food, met up with good friends, and will be ready to do it again in May! I'll be sharing more pictures soon.

Welcome to November,
Lynda

New pattern booklets, more cupcakes, and clay buttons

I'm lovin' it!! We had a great National Cupcake Day! Our daughters, Kim and Ashley, made cupcake cakes and we had delicious mini cupcakes from Mulberry's. We featured cupcake aprons, mitts, pincushions, cupcake fabric and more. But, best of all, our new Ode to a Cupcake quilt that Nancy made, was featured on a wonderful cupcake blog--Cupcakes Take the Cake. Wow! These creative ladies were featured on Martha Stewart! I'm jealous...

We have 4 new pattern booklets. Each one features a quilt and an embellished wall hanging. The Leaf Wall Hanging (detail above) from the Cappuccino pattern features air-dry clay buttons. I'm putting on the finishing touches to a slide show that will show you how easy they are to make. Check back soon.

Lynda

National Cupcake Day

Hooray! Just a few hours to National Cupcake Day, October 18, 2008. Join us in the store or online to celebrate! In the store, we'll have mini cupcakes, 2 GIANT cupcakes, fabric, patterns, and MORE, MORE, MORE. Nancy made a really, really, cute cupcake wall hanging--we have patterns and are taking orders for kits if you are interested. Send us an e-mail or give us a call. Best of all, you can get 20% off one item of your choice, in the store or online. What a great opportunity to buy that Bendable Bright Light or a Cupcake Quilt Kit, or one or our 4 brand spanking new pattern booklets or ???? Enjoy the sweets!

Yum yum,

Lynda and Nancy

Bakerella

One of my new favorite blogs is Bakerella. Here is a little of her Halloween handiwork. Check out her blog for how she makes these Spooky Sweets. I think my favorite is Scream, although the Mummies will be sure to put a smile on your face!

Only 19 days until Halloween and only 6 days until National Cupcake Day. Hooray!

Lynda

Joined in Hope

We have joined with Panera Bread Company and Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers Foundation with their Pink Ribbon Bagel Campaign. Panera customers are given the opportunity to decorate a 6" square of fabric with a special message of hope and inspiration. We will then join these squares together to create quilts that will be donated to RMCCF. On Saturday Oct. 11 and Wednesday Oct. 15, you can join us at GAQF to decorate a square yourself. We are providing lots of supplies and ideas for your inspiration. Check our website for more information. We hope to see you on Saturday or Wednesday...and, Panera is providing some goodies. Yum, yum!

Stay tuned for information on National Cupcake Day which is Saturday, Oct. 18th--more yummies!

Amy Butler's Daisy Chain has arrived at GAQF

The new Amy Butler Daisy Chain line has arrived at Great American Quilt Factory! It is fresh and fun. These are the colorways, but each colorway also includes other designs. You can see all of the prints on our website. For some Daisy Chain inspiration click here. I can't wait to see what Amy has in store at Quilt Market.


Happy creating,
Lynda

Dahlias & Roses, Manito Park, Spokane, WA

I promised that I would share some more flower pictures with you. Well, here they are! I hope you enjoy viewing them as much as I enjoyed taking the pictures. I'd love for you to share your comments. Thanks again Mary Lou!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Annette Horner's quilt

Annette Horner and her husband visited our store in September and she shared this lovely quilt with us. It is a variation of Christmas Joy from our book Super Simple Strips. Her quilt started with a charm squares exchange in her quilting bee. She color coordinated the blocks and then set them with black sashing. Annette is from Trinity, Florida. Thanks Annette for sharing your quilt!

Lynda and Nancy

Spokane Quilt Guild

Last week we spent 5 great days in Spokane, Washington. Nancy and I did two lectures and two classes for the Washington State Quilt Guild, Spokane Chapter. What fun we had! Michele Crawford, the workshop chairwoman, picked us up from the airport and transported us to the Hampton Inn. We had a nice chat and learned about her company, Flower Box Quilts.

Later in the afternoon, Jackie Wolff, owner of the Quilting Bee, picked us up and took us back to her shop and gave us the grand tour--WOW!--it's always fun to see behind the scenes. We have been friends with Jackie for many years and had always wanted to visit her shop. Thanks Jackie for the tour and thanks for the delicious dinner. We enjoyed meeting your husband!

On Thursday, Carolyn Kruger, the guild president, picked us up for the guild meetings, gave us a short tour of downtown Spokane and then took us for a delightful lunch at the Elk. The Spokane guild is very active--over 300 members present for the afternoon and over 150 for the evening meeting. Inbetween, we had a great dinner at the Moose, with several guild members. It's always inspiring to see the guild's show and tell--in this case, I have never seen so many large quilts. Great job ladies!

Friday and Saturday we taught two different classes, Friday, Color By the Yard and Saturday, Christmas Pickle. In CBTY we had a Lynda, another Lynda, a Linda and a Belinda. : ) I'm sure that in the not to distant future you will be seeing some finished quilts right here on the blog. Check out the slide show.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Friday evening, we met up with Mary Lou Weidman. Mary Lou is a fellow teacher and fabric designer. She took us to Duncan Gardens in Manito Park. WOW again! We were so lucky to see the gorgeous dahlias and roses that they are noted for. Check out this picture of Nancy and a beautiful rose colored dahlia and yes, the flower is bigger than Nancy's head!!! I will share some more flower pictures in a few days.

All in all, we had a great time and thank the Spokane quild for inviting us to Spokane. Maybe we'll be out your way again.

Nancy and Lynda

forever e.friends October block

Happy October!

October is one of my favorite months. The weather is cooler, the colors are gorgeous, and Halloween is coming. My house is decorated to the hilt with everything Halloween.

We celebrate forever e.friends in October with a cute witch, a scary ghost and some yummy-looking candy corn. We've added recipes for Freaky Franks and Creepy Corn Casserole. The extra October project is a Crayon Frameup--just perfect for the little ghouls in your family.

It's a great time to start a new project--or perhaps finish up one you've already started.

Have a BOO-tiful month!

Lynda

Show and Share

One of the best things about working at GAQF is the inspiration we get everyday when customers and students come in with or send pictures of the projects they have been working on. This last couple of weeks we have had several people share with us and thought that you might like to see them, too.This stunning quilt is by Edlith Haak, a longtime customer. Nancy and I both love red and black quilts. I'm not sure of the name of this pattern (and I wish my photography was better) but the quilt is beautiful. What's next, Edlith?

This is a Pineapple quilt made by Robin Newton. She took our Pineapple class in Wichita a couple of months ago. She chose to use lots of homespun plaids and made me wish that I hadn't pared down my homespun collection. Robin, I love the quilt and your backyard!

Karen Hammond, also of Wichita, chose to use 30's prints. Each of her Pineapple blocks starts with a black print square. We were playing with mirrors trying to decide on corners. The narrow black strip seemed perfect. It seems like her friend here agrees. : ) Great job, Karen!

Another long time customer of ours, Dorothy Mannon, made this gorgeous Pineapple quilt in a class here at GAQF, taught by Jane Dumler. I love the beautiful blues accented with the red. Way to go, Dorothy!

Last, but not least is a wall hanging made by Nancy Sampson. She made it in the Mini Licorice Star Garden GAQF class taught by Ann Petersen. Ann won a 1st place ribbon for her Licorice Star Garden quilt at the IQA show in Houston last year. Nancy's piecing is beautiful and her quilting is great. Nancy also made this incredible DU quilt. She is always up for a challenge, so I think we will be seeing more of her work. Thanks, Nancy!

Thank you all for making our jobs more fun and inspiring! Our goal is to open up a gallery on the website to share the inspiration. Please keep sharing your projects with us.

Lynda and Nancy

My new favorite notion

I have a favorite new notion. It is this Bendable Bright Light that easily attaches to the side of your sewing machine and directs a powerful beam of light just where you want it. And...it doesn't get hot. I spent several hours appliqueing a new quilt (sneak peak here) and it helped sooooo much! I could move the light to help me see the threads to pull to the back and then move it back to see the applique. It is terrific! Call or e-mail today and we will save one for you from the order that should be in this week.

Another product that was very helpful was the new Sewline pencil. I used the yellow one to draw a vine on this very dark chocolate colored fabric. It was easy to mark and it stayed on the entire time I was appliqueing, then erased off just as easily. I do admit that I am a gadget junkie.

Have a great weekend. It is a beautiful almost fall day here in Colorado.

Lynda

Winners of Postcard Challenge

We have the winners of our Postcard challenge. All of the postcards were great and we really enjoyed seeing how they were embellished. The winners are shown below.

Purple Autumn by Monica Blitger, from Spain

Zen by Carol Waugh, from Denver

A Quilters Peace by Michelle Jackson, from Denver

Fern Goddess by Susie Johnson, our employee winner

Sophisticated Lady by Michelle Jackson, our online winner

A big THANK YOU to all who entered, our talented judges, and for all of you who voted online.

To see all of the customer entries, click here.

Frenchy Bag and Blue Sky Hat

Let me introduce you to my daughter Kim. Kim has worked at GAQF since she was about 10 days old. Her job then was to just look cute--seems like she holds the same position today, along with many other responsibilities.

Here she is looking cute in the Amy Butler Blue Sky Hat, holding the Frenchy Bag. She made these herself and she is very proud. She's been sewing quite a bit lately and is working up to the Lotus Tunic. Kim, along with several other kids, was the inspiration for our I'll Teach Myself series of kids sewing books.

For those of you in the area that are Amy Butler fans, we have made several samples with the Midwest Modern fabric and have two classes on our fall class schedule . Maybe you'll see Kim there with helpful advice or maybe, just looking cute. : )

Lynda

Postcard Challenge, Summer 2008

We thought we would like your help in choosing an online winner for our Postcard Challenge. Preview the postcards by playing the Smilebox slide show below and then email your vote to Ashley at ashley@greatamericanquilt.com . Vote by September 14, 2008. One vote per email address, please! We will announce the winner Sept. 15th. Thank you!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Renee's Boxes

I told you that I would share some more pictures of Renee Peterson's work. Below are 2 boxes that she has made. She uses a variety of techniques to make each one unique. Renee has taken embellishment classes and participates in a monthly 'creative' session, here at Great American Quilt Factory. The box below showcases many different embellishments, including Lumiere paint, Angelina fibers, sequin waste, clay, wire, and special buttons made exclusively by our friends, Terry and Michele. See lots more of their buttons at EYEmbellishments.

The hexagonal box below, also showcases several techniques, including Angelina fibers, clay, handmade beads, sequin waste, and two more buttons from EYEmbellishments--Michele writes a might fine and fun blog. Check it out by clicking on it in "Our Favorite Blogs" on the sidebar to the right.

I hope the creativity that is shown by Renee's patchwork pillow (see August 26 blog) and wonderful boxes inspires you to bring a little embellishing to your projects. Please check our website to download an informative brochure on these embellishment products. Happy Labor Day!
Lynda