Land of Lincoln Sampler Program

End of summer and beginning of fall is a perfect time to start thinking about cozy lap quilts…here’s one to get you started! This design from Carol Hopkins, called Land of Lincoln Sampler, features 13 unique nine inch pieced blocks alternated with simple rail fence setting blocks.  The completed quilt finishes at 60 inches square, but you can always add more blocks and make a larger project!

Pick up the pattern and starter kit (includes six fat quarters to create your first few blocks) for $26.95. Complete any four sampler blocks of your choosing by September 30th, and receive a free strip set to make two setting blocks! Dig into your stash or purchase fat quarter bundles...Complete all sampler blocks by November 30th and receive a discount on your border fabric.

Best part is…you’ll get to show off your finished quilt here at Two Thimbles in February. This is a great way to improve piecing accuracy, use up some scraps or dig into your fat quarter stash if you have one... and you’ll come out with a pretty, scrappy new project!

We've got starter kits and patterns ready to go, as well as fat quarter bundles to supplement your stash...so let us know if you want to sign up next time you come in! You can also participate through the mail, so contact us if that is your preference.

 

Our sample is still in progress, but we have some completed blocks hanging in the classroom and on the display board pictured above. Stay tuned for more progress on the finished product...

Happy Stitching!

April 15 and after

Well, tax day for some of us...has come and gone.  Baseball season has started, we continue to have snow, but the trees are in bloom and the pollen is dusting a fine powder on everything.  Does that sum it up pretty well?!   I'm not sure how the tulips in the Skagit Valley are handling all this but, the bouquet I have inside is holding up pretty well!  

We took the small challenge quilts down (see our last post for more details), and include individual pictures of our top 3 vote recipients...We loved all the quilts for different reasons, and it was amazing to see the variety and influence color choices and value placement can make.  

Sylvia Owens

Donna Barwish

Donna Bybee

We'll have a blog update soon with details about our next challenge project...something smaller, and in May something a bit bigger.  As always though, a focus on 1800's reproduction fabrics - hope you decide to join in the fun either or both of those projects.  We have the details for Laura's 1870 Cradle quilt by Quilts Remembered www.quiltsremembered.com available in
the store now.

We have several new lines of bright fabrics, contemporary and novelty bright prints - Lucky Penny, Frippery, In Plain Sight, Socky....and some great new oil cloth prints (our most recent additions are shown below) perfect for a patio table, seat cushion or grocery bag...(oil cloth is sturdier than laminate or the flimsy interfacing style bags out there, and all it takes is a quick wipe down to clean!)

We also have some new extra wide quilt backs - mostly traditional styles perfect for your reproduction quilts so it might be a good time to plan ahead and check those out while we have a selection to choose from.  The photo below includes some of the latest group Townhouse Gardens by Paula Barnes - nice and dull ...but some great prints and some new motifs as well.  We love the variety of styles that Paula designs...maybe you saw the recent interview with her in Quiltmania magazine?

Townhouse Gardens

We still have room in the Gypsy Bag class coming up next Saturday, and the scrap lecture on Thursday the 25th, so call or stop by if you are ready to join us!

Happy Stitching!

Challenge Quilts and more!

With all the great weather last week I know a few of you left the sewing room and stepped into the garden...So we were careful to make sure our pincushion resembles a tropical snail and not anything polka dotted you may find in your yard!  Escargot pattern by Sewn into the Fabric www.sewnintothefabric.com, we've featured a couple of other designs by this company in the past and like them quite a bit!

Escargot...

Four-score by Quilts Remembered

Can you believe this gorgeous slice of cheddar?!  We have this beauty on display for a short time so don't miss a chance to come by and see it in person... Yummy!  http://www.quiltsremembered.com/

And last but not least - can you believe the creativity and response to our civil war sampler challenge?  Great job friends of 2T we love what you did and so appreciate your participation and generosity in sharing your quilts!  It's a great show so stop by and admire these beauties if you can!  For those of you who missed out - all these quilts started from the same pattern... Carol Hopkins Civil War Sampler http://www.carolhopkinsdesigns.com...And a few scraps!  

Thanks to one of our participants and her son...and Jan for making these photos of the sampler quilts possible.  It really does take a village sometimes!

Happy stitching!

Civil War Sampler Challenge

Sewing school is back in session! With summer starting to fade, we thought this would be a great time to introduce our latest program. It's a Civil War Sampler Challenge, and we're doing it a bit differently than a traditional block of the month. The concept is to make-do with fabrics at hand, and challenge yourself to use colors and patterns that you normally wouldn't, ...in other words, embrace scrappiness! 

We'll begin the program in September. Come in and purchase a pattern (we're using Carol's Sampler from Carol Hopkins Designs) along with a starter kit, which contains enough material for four blocks. Complete your 'assignment' over the next month, bring them in for show and tell or email us a photo...and receive your next kit free! Each kit contains fabric for four blocks, and the first part of this program runs through January...which means a total of 20 completed blocks, all for the cost of the first kit as long as you complete each set of blocks by the deadline (the fifteenth of the following month). If you miss a deadline, you can pay a fee to get caught up. The first deadline is the 15th of October. 

Then you'll have all of February and half of March to complete your project, using whatever fabrics you wish. Drop off your completed quilt by March 15th, and we'll begin a mini quilt show on March 20th, displaying quilts through the Tri-County Quilt Tour at the end of March. There will even be a couple of prizes for viewers' favorites!

Pictured below are some scrappy blocks from various projects...sometimes its worth taking a risk and putting together startling combinations, just to see what you can come up with!

The goal of this program is to challenge yourself- to use scraps, to stretch your limits in fabric selection, and to work on any technical skills that you may be struggling with (piecing accuracy with small pieces, for example). In the end you'll get to show off your work, and you'll be in the running for a prize...what beats that??

Contact us for more information- you can even participate through the mail with an additional fee for shipping, let us know if that's your preference and we'll work out the cost. 

This would be a great and affordable way to get back into sewing...after the long break of summer!

Just a reminder...we are back to being open 7 days a week!  We'll be open on Sundays from 12-4 through the fall and winter, beginning this Sunday, Sep 2nd. Just in case you are hard at work finishing a project and need some thread or fabric last minute...

Happy Stitching!

New and Exciting!

Never too early to start planning your Christmas projects, right? It's a nice thought, anyway! We've stocked up with some of the latest holidays prints and spruced up the Christmas corner...there are a LOT of gorgeous lines! This first one is called Blitzen by BasicGrey for Moda; we've carried lines from them before and they always seem to use the most in-style colors and prints. Don't you just love the grunge prints that work great as blenders? This would make a beautiful holiday throw or apron...they mix just great with lines from previous' years.

This fun print is called Christmas Kitties from Hoffman...don't you just see that as a fussy-cut stocking? Or a pillowcase-that's definitely a quick gift. We have a few more from that grouping, in an aqua colorway (snowflakes and sparkles)...come take a look!

This is our newest little quilt, and we're calling it Crimson Pinwheels...could be a really fun Christmas table topper. With that little bit of cheddar and yellow it could work any time of the year...as long as you like red and green! The pattern is called Puzzles with Nana, from Carol Hopkins Designs, and it finishes at a little over 20 inches square, and we have kits ready to go!

Speaking of new things...we've started carrying DMC Pearl Cotton in a couple different colors (great for big stitch quilting!), as well as a few more varieties of precut papers for English paper-piecing (tumblers, honeycombs, and a few sizes of hexagons, to name a few). Just in case you needed another project to take with you on your summer travels...

Happy Stitching!