Back to School

After I graduated from college and my babies were small, I was weeding my flower bed on a sunny August Day.  It was the first day of school.  As children walked by with apprehension and excitement on their little faces, dressed in brand new clothes and weighted down with their too-big backpacks, a wave of nostalgia rushed over me.  I realized in that moment that for now, there was no Back to School for me.  I felt a little empty because Back to School was always one of my favorite times of the year.  I loved the stiffness of new clothes, the scent of pencils and erasers and books, the sound of children on the playground, and the smells of food wafting through the school as the cafeteria staff  made hot lunch each day.  I loved learning!

Lucky for me, and for you, learning doesn't have to end when you graduate!  As the kids are heading back to school, so can you!  We have added two fantastic classes to our fall lineup:

Beginning Quilting

In this six-week class, expert quilter Vonda Proctor will walk students through the basics of quilting, including fabric selection, rotary cutting,  piecing, borders, and binding a quilt.  Students will complete a 12-block sampler made from fabrics of their own choosing in this class.

Students will select and purchase 10-15 fat quarters during the first class to be used in making their sampler.

Whether you're new to quilting or have been quilting a while, this is a great class to improve your piecing skills.  Classes will be held weekly on Tuesdays from 10 am - Noon beginning September 8.  Cost is $100 for all six sessions.

English Paper Piecing

Need an easy to carry project?  Want to use up some leftover fabrics?

Come and learn traditional English Paper Piecing with Aniva Willoughby!  If you've seen Aniva's work, you know you will be learning from a Master!

Four Class Sessions will include:

Tools, Tricks and Tips
Every Girl Loves a Diamond
Fussy Cutting is Fun
It's a Jig Saw--Fitting Shapes Together

Cost is $55 for all four sessions and students can choose whether to attend Wednesday afternoons from 2:00 - 3:30 or Saturday mornings from 10:00 - 11:30.  Classes are held once per month and begin September 16 (Wednesdays) or September 19 (Saturdays).

To make registration easy, you can do one of three things:

 * Stop by to see the projects and register in person

* Call the store at 801-492-7929

* Register online at our website

Spaces are limited and are filling up quickly for these amazing classes!

Happy Sewing!

Beehive Shop Hop Summer Buzz

Mark your calendars now for the Beehive Shop Hop's Summer Buzz!  It will be held June 2-6.  No passports are necessary, just hop from shop to shop for sales, prizes, and FUN!  Enter to win one of two $50 gift baskets to be given away at each shop.  Every shop will have a free pattern for a "Mini" project.  It's going to be Sew much fun!

Visit the Beehive Shop Hop Blog for a map and store directions.

Color My World Wednesday

Do you ever struggle to find just the right color combination for your new quilt project?  Moda's Palette Builder is a great tool that can help you overcome that stumbling block.  I'm so addicted!  It's a tool that you can use to find coordinating Moda Bella Solids, Aurifil Threads, and Hex Values for an image that you upload.  Say you have a fabric you would like to find coordinates for.  I used this new Gardenvale Print as an example:

Simply scan your fabric, load the image into the swatch builder, and voila - recommended colors magically appear, complete with the names of the coordinating solids, threads, or Hex Values!  There are six dots on the picture that you can move around to pull in whichever colors from the image that you like.

In the past, a fun exercise for me has been to pick a palette of Bella Solids I love, then walk around the store looking for prints that match.  This will make it even easier to build a great palette for a quilt.  For added fun, you don't have to limit yourself to building a palette based on fabric swatches!  I am currently getting ready to make a quilt for my parents, who are gardeners extraordinaire, so I found a photo of a Farmer's Market, uploaded it, and moved the dots around until I came up with a combination that looks fun.  Now I'll start looking for fabrics in those colors and hope that the final feel of the quilt will be garden-y.

Head on over to Moda's Blog and Select "Palette Builder" at the top to see for yourself how quick, easy, and FUN this tool really is!

Happy Sewing!

Triple Love Tuesday: Farm Girl Vintage

Today's Triple Love Tuesday Pick is Farm Girl Vintage by Lori Holt:

There are several reasons why I am so in love with this book.  First, the photographs are amazing!  Every page is full of eye candy.  When I browse through its pages, I want to make every single project in the book!  Lori's happy colors and Farm Girl Vintage style are so easy to love.

Second, I love the layout of the book.  The first section is filled with instructions for the Farm Girl Vintage Blocks.  Lori's directions are well organized and easy to follow.  The one comment I've heard from many quilters of all skill levels about all of Lori's patterns is that her directions and the way she puts the blocks together make it easy and fun!

Finally, I love the way the finishing instructions are put together.  Simple and concise cutting and assembly instructions. 

Perhaps the biggest bonus in this area is that not only does the book include instructions for the Sampler quilt, but there are patterns for seven additional quilts and seven "Mix & Match Setting" quilts.  

Simply put, Farm Girl Vintage gives you a lot of bang for your buck!  But be careful, once the book is in your possession, you simply have to start making!  Instead of going to bed like any sensible person would do, I pulled some fabrics from my stash and put together my very first Farm Girl Vintage Block last night...and can't wait to get back down to my sewing room to make more!

Happy Sewing!

New Monthly Clubs at Just Sew

We're excited to introduce three new monthly clubs:

First is our Kimberbell Bench Pillow of the Month Club:



Each month, we will have kits available for a new pillow cover.  You will make the pillow form with the first month's pillow cover.  You can choose to sign up for all twelve, or you can pick and choose which ones you'd like to make.

The cost to sign up is $10.00, which includes the muslin to make your pillow form.  You will then determine which pillow covers you'd like to sign up to make.  We have a sheet that shows pictures of each pillow for your reference as you are signing up.  Your kits will be available starting the first of each month.  Pick them up as early in the month as possible.  Each kit will be priced based on the amount of fabric used in the kit and will include the pattern.  Kits are estimated to range from $25-$40 including pattern.


Our First Saturday and Monday of the Month Block of the Month Club will be a Mystery Quilt.  

Beginning March 2nd, we will be working on a Mystery Quilt.  Each month we will make one or two blocks from the book "501 Rotary Cut Quilt Blocks":



We will make a total of twelve 9" pieced blocks and six 6" pieced blocks over the course of a year.  Which blocks we make, the block setting, and borders will be a mystery that will be unveiled the last month of the series.

The signup fee for this club is $29.99, which buys your book.  When you come to pick up your first block on March 2nd or 7th, you have two options:  You can pay for the balance of the program, which is $70, or you can opt to make twelve monthly payments of $6 each.  We will hold tutorials to give you tips on block assembly for each month's block(s) at 10:00, 11:30, and 1:00 on both pickup days.

To pique your interest and satisfy a little of your curiosity, here is the first month's block:



We will be using these colors for the quilt, as well as some yellows and pinks.



Our third club is our "Bring Me Flowers" block of the month, featuring the patterns found in Jen Kingwell's book, "Bring Me Flowers."



This block of the month program will run the same as our Mystery Quilt Block of the month, except you will pick up your blocks and have a tutorial on the 2nd Saturday and Monday of each month, and the pricing will be as follows:

Signup Fee:  $28, includes book
Participation Fee, due when you pick up your first blocks on March 9 or 13:  $90, or $8 monthly

Our first blocks look like those shown below, and we WILL be making the borders with the white solid and the black and white polka dot as shown in the picture above.  We will make 2-3 blocks each month, using a variety of methods.



All three of these options will be a lot of fun!  Bring a friend or two along with you as you sign up for one, two, or all of these programs!