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