A Walk On The Boardwalk

IT’S ABOUT TIME we had another Treasure Chest winner, and it finally happened last Friday!

Jean Shepherd and her husband were in town for a visit, and celebrating their 58th wedding anniversary.  They spent a long time looking at fabric and patterns, and ended up buying a few.  Then Jean tried her key in the Treasure Chest, and it opened!!!

Here’s Jean with her winnings:

What did she win???  Here’s what was in the chest:

A Boardwalk Quilts tote bag,
a Pony Express Quilt Sampler pattern & CD,
a tube of Udder Cream,
a drink clip,
Tonga Treat batik squares in Coastal from Timeless Treasures,
a Button Box pattern,
a tape measure,
Mary Ellen’s Best Press in Caribbean Beach scent,
a Bind Up tool for quilt binding,
a Quick Turn tool for turning tubes of fabric,
an Instant Table Runner kit,
a pair of Fashion Cuts scissors,
a pair of embroidery scissors, and
a Twist & Turn quilt book.

Altogether, about $175 worth of quilting goodies!!!  Jean is a happy lady, and we’re glad we could make that happen for her.

If you want to join our four winners, we have one more treasure up for grabs!  All you need to do is spend $10 in the store and pick a key.  If you purchase online, we’ll draw a key and try it for you.  Maybe YOU will get lucky next!

I took a bunch of pictures to remind me of cool things we saw at Quilt Market in Houston, so here are some for you all to check out.

In no particular order…here’s a great modern quilt, love the colors as well as the pattern!

Some inspirations from Laurel Burch…

I love the way the colors stand out against the grey in this modern quilt.

A great booth completely covered in fabric from Kanvas!

A quilt called Urban Spaces from the Fall, 2012, issue of Fons and Porter’s Scrap Quilts magazine…Patti Brown was making a great example of this quilt at our recent retreat!

A quilt from the upcoming Comma collection from Moda…we have some of this fabric on order for spring!

Zebra Patterns does these bird applique quilts…patterns for them are on the way to us for a block of the month, and we will later be doing the sea life one shown next…

Isn’t this a cute cat quilt?  It’s made from the veggie cat patterns from Story Quilts.  They also have the CAT pattern that follows…

I love this hexagon quilt cut from a Michael Miller stripe (you can bet I plan to order this one!) and the following bright quilts also from the MM booth…

Here is a great quilt pattern from Swirly Girls using their new Creative Grids Circle Savvy ruler…we saw this pattern everywhere!

Check out these cute patterns for kid’s placemats and bibs…they’re on the way to us right now.  I can’t wait to get some samples of these hung up!

Okay, enough for now.  More great pictures to come soon, stay tuned!!!

Teri and I are absolutely wasted from visiting exhibitors, taking classes and meeting with product reps. Believe me, this is NOT a vacation!

But do we ever have some great ideas and some fantastic new products and fabrics coming in the next several months.

We have some patterns that you have already seen but they will be kitted in new fabrics and color ways. We have some exciting new patterns that will be coming into the store soon. We have some new programs, events and ideas that we will be introducing over the next several months.

AND, we are working out a deal with a guest speaker for a very special presentation. We feature her patterns in the store, we have given classes on a few of her designs and we have several samples of her designs all around the store.

She is Stephanie Prescott of A Quilter’s Dream (seen here wearing an apron made from her new fabric line Macchiato – Yes, we have it on order) and we are trying to arrange a trunk show/presentation with her, probably around May. We are letting you know now so you can plan for it – you really DON’T want to miss her, because she is not only a great designer but a great entertainer, as well. You WON’T be disappointed.

I’m showing a few photos of Quilt Market here and I’ll add more tomorrow. Teri will be putting some of them on Facebook. We will be flying back in just a few days, but the ideas and products we have absorbed here will make our shop someplace special for a long time to come.

We wish you could be here to see everything that we are seeing, but we will be passing on our discoveries to you very soon.

Now, I’m going to go crash for an hour or so before going to dinner.

Dave

We’ve collected a few more photos of great projects by quilters that come to visit us at Boardwalk Quilts.  We thought you might be interested to see what others are working on.

First is a cute embroidery and crazy quilt combo, from the pattern Snow Crazy.  This one is by Glennys Hess.

These next items are a neat little bag, zipper wallets, and tissue holder Leslee Erickson made for herself and her golfing buddies.  Also shown is her version of the Two-Hour Tulip Purse in the blue and yellow floral.  Leslee and her mom Noralee Stanton are wild about making bags, and they venture into table runner territory pretty often too.

Now we have two wall hangings designed and sewn by Marguerite Brady-Ciampa, in the style of Frank Lloyd Wright stained glass.  I have to say that the colors in these are even more vibrant in person!

And here, we were so thrilled to see that Andrea McGee finished our 2010 Kite Festival quilt, designed by Dave.  Didn’t she do a great job?

Finally, this one is a great Laurel Burch panel that was appliqued and finished with fabric paint details, and centered into this colorful quilt.  Unfortunately, I can’t find the name of the quilter, darn it!

That’s all we have for now.  I hope you enjoyed the show and tell as much as we do at the store!  Feel free to bring in your projects to show and get added to our blog.  We love to see what you’re working on.

Are you looking for something to do in September?  We have two very fun quilt classes planned for September, and there is still time to sign up!  Both of these classes are beginner-friendly, and taking a class is a great way to sharpen your skills and swap helpful hints with other quilters.

Here are the classes on the schedule:

HOKEY POKEY

First, on Tuesday, September 11th, is the Hokey Pokey class, from the pattern by A Quilter’s Dream.  Here’s the sample quilt hanging on the wall in the store:

This is a fat quarter pattern, and should be made in a light/dark color scheme as we used here, or a 2-color scheme.  I’ve seen the 2-color version made up, and it is as impressive as this light/dark one.  If you don’t like green, how about blues, or maybe (my favorite) blue and green?

The name of the pattern comes from the cuts that slant some to the left and some to the right.

We have a new teacher for this class…meet Margaret Parcel.

Margaret started quilting back in the 70′s, and she says she finds the Log Cabin to be the most popular quilt.  In her earlier years, she traveled from the East to the West coasts and overseas with her husband Bob when he was in the service.  (Now Bob is a quilter too!)

Margaret worked for JCPenney until retiring after 20 years.  She and Bob have 2 daughters and 3 grandchildren.  They have a home in Spanaway, WA, and a beach house in Long Beach, where they enjoy crabbing and clamming.

Margaret most recently worked for 3 years at Parkland Parish Quilt Shop in the Tacoma area.  She’s ready to spend more time at the beach, so we have the advantage of a new local teacher!

BENTO BOX

On Saturday, September 22nd, is the Bento Box quilt class.  This one is from Karen Snyder’s book Bundles of Fun.  Here’s one of the quilts Karen made and featured in her book:

This is another fat quarter quilt and very beginner-friendly!  It is made from 12 fat quarters, half in blues, and half in white/cream.  It’s recommended to select two colors of different values as in this quilt, or contrast prints with solids.  This class will be taught by Teri.

Both classes run from 10:30 am to 4 pm and the class fee is $30 for each.  Boardwalk Quilts gives you 15% off all materials for the class (pattern, book, fabric, etc.) and 10% off any other purchases the day of the class.

Come join us for a day–or two–of quilting fun and friendship!

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending a quilt show in Raymond, held by the Willapa Bay Quilters, and accompanied by my friend Pat Mathison.  It was a small show, but very pleasant, with a lot of variety in the quilts shown.  Here are some highlights of that show.

The first quilt we saw was this one, with bears, mountains, bear paw blocks, and bear paw prints.

This is a classic and classy Log Cabin quilt, in black, white, and red.

I don’t remember what this geometric quilt was called, but I think it’s very impressive!

Here’s a neat quilt with pine tree blocks, in wonderful colors.

A Double Wedding Ring quilt with lovely cool colors.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a better angle to get a straight shot.

I think this was a stack’n'whack Kaleidoscope quilt.

How about this for an impressive quilt???  The notes said it was a complicated quilt to make, and I have to believe it!

A Spool block quilt in bright colors, with a cool applique border.

This awesome bright geometric quilt was made from a pattern called Gemini.  I think I’ll order this one to have at the store!

There were some fun food quilts, such as this one with ice cream cone blocks.

Next was this bright popsicle quilt.

I was very impressed by this Feathered Star quilt, in muted colors.

This one was made to copy a Frank Lloyd Wright stained glass window.  Looks like the quilter did a great job!

Another food quilt, with watermelon slices and a cute border.

This quilt would be a wonderful gift for a piano player!

What a cute paper-pieced frog quilt, with dragonflies, bees, and a turtle!

Another froggie quilt, this one with embroidered  and pieced sampler blocks.

Super cool Halloween jack-o-lantern quilt!

Another cute watermelon quilt, this one table runner size.

Love this bright quilt!

I was impressed by this Flying Geese quilt, but I’m not sure I’d want to make that many geese myself!

I think this cute lion cub quilt is from a series of baby animal quilts in one of the quilt magazines.

Karen Snyder was the featured quilter at the Raymond show.  I’m not going to show a lot of her quilts, but I wanted to mention that this Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt is the first quilt she ever made.  It’s kind of amazing that she didn’t get discouraged, but went on to be a major quilter after starting on a project like this one!  Way to go, Karen!

Congrats and thanks to the Willapa Bay quilters for putting on such an enjoyable show!

It has been nearly 3 weeks since the quilt show in Sisters, Oregon, so it’s probably about time I posted some of the wonderful quilts I saw.  It was my first time attending the show, and I hitched a ride on a bus with the Fruitland Quilters from Salem, OR.  Thanks to Pat Mathison, whose mom Lucy is a member of that guild.  It was a great trip, and a fun group of ladies (and one gentleman).  Here are some of the highlights.

Love the cool blues in this star quilt, and the dappled shade increased the effect.

In contrast, this scattered block quilt looks hot in the full sun!

How about the geometric shapes in this strippy turquoise quilt?

The brown and turquoise combo in this quilt are very striking!

I’m a fan of brights, so this Hunter’s Star quilt is so appealing to me, and the color placement is so well done!

The pattern for this quilt is Hanging Gardens from Cozy Quilt Design, a strip quilt.

This sweet stack’n'whack quilt was made from candy prints.

It’s time for Christmas quilts…the red poinsettia quilting in the black border of this quilt is awesome!

Another great Christmas quilt with Log Cabin blocks.

This floral quilt is the ultimate in Flower Basket blocks.

How’s this for a super-scrappy quilt?

I’m so crazy about the border fabric on this Tumbling Block quilt!

Gotta love a traditional Log Cabin quilt!

As a cat lover, I was tickled by this quilt of cat blocks.

This is a super impressive star quilt!

Another great Tumbling Block quilt.

I like the calm, muted colors in this strippy quilt.

All these quilts were hung on the outside wall of the Stitchin’ Post quilt shop.  What a beautiful display!

With that picture, I think I’ll call it quits for this post.  I hope you all enjoyed this peek into one of the most famous quilt shows in the country.  We’re so lucky to have such a great show so close to home!

What do Boardwalk Quilts customers do in the summertime?  Sewing and quilting, of course, just like any other time!  This is the first in our ongoing feature of customers’ quilts and sewing projects that they bring into the store to show us.  If you want to get your project on our blog, you need to bring it in when Teri is in the store, since she’s the keeper of the camera.

Here’s what we have from recent shows & tells:

What a cute monkey and banana skirt!  Sorry I can’t remember the name of the lady who showed it…my apologies!

This is Jeanne O’Connor’s finished Hot Flashes quilt top, one of last year’s Block of the Month programs.  She changed some of the colors, and it came out great!

Here’s Karen Muzzy’s cute Frost Bite snowman quilt.  Can you see the missing carrot nose at the bottom of the quilt?

This is a quilt made by Jacquie Thoreson, using a Coffee Cat Cafe panel and a bunch of other coffee prints.

Jacquie made this quilt in our recent class using the It’s Good To Be Square pattern from A Quilter’s Dream.  It goes to show how amazing scrappy quilts can look!

Jacquie also made a Halloween quilt…it’s the season!

This is a table topper Jacquie made from watermelon and ant fabrics.

And here’s a sunny yellow quilt also made by Jacquie, from the Yellow Brick Road pattern, I believe.  Has Jacquie been a busy girl???  She says she’s up to about 17 quilts so far this year!

And finally, here is Alice Jackson’s jungle quilt from a class we held in April.  This one is from the A Crooked Mile pattern from A Quilter’s Dream.  Who would have thought it would look so cool in jungle fabrics???!!!

That’s all we have for now…more Show & Tell in a couple weeks, and thanks to everybody who brought in their projects.  There’s nothing we like better than seeing what you have created!