Table of contents for Spring - Summer 2016 - Special in Quilt Sampler

When we reviewed the shops and projects for this issue, each person on our team thought the same thing— variety. As we heard the story of each shop and reviewed the submitted projects, it seemed like we had it all! You’ll read about shops that have been in business for more than 50 years and shops that opened recently. There are shops on small-town main streets, in off -the-beaten-path locations, in a booming metropolis, and in suburbia. And the stories of the shop owners are as varied as their locations. We feature owners who have taken over family businesses and folks for whom the shop is a career reinvention. We showcase shops that launched because of initial success on the Internet, and one that has customers who come to town…

location: Barrington, RI established: 2013 size: 2,000 square feet Shop owner Yvonne Weiss spent the first nine years of her life in Holland, where knitting was part of the school curriculum and handwork of all types was popular. As an adult in America, even with a busy life as a pediatrician and the mother of five, she spent the wee hours of her mornings before work quilting, knitting, crocheting, weaving, cross-stitching, and making Nantucket baskets. As the last of her children left the nest and she was ready to try a new adventure, Yvonne heard that the quilt shop in her town of Barrington, Rhode Island (about 10 miles southeast of Providence), was closing. A friend suggested that Yvonne open one of her own. True to her well-organized style, she…

MATERIALS • 31∕2 yards solid white (quilt center, inner and outer borders) • 24—1∕2-yard pieces assorted textured solids: 2 yellow, 2 light blue, 2 pink, 2 red-orange, 2 lime green, 2 dark pink, 2 purple, 2 turquoise, 2 red, 2 dark turquoise, 2 orange, and 2 mint green (quilt center, outer border) • 11∕2 yards solid magenta (middle border, binding) • 91∕2 yards backing fabric • 113" square batting Finished quilt: 1041∕2" square (queen-size with 22" drop; king-size with 14" drop) Yardages and cutting instructions are based on 42" of usable fabric width. Measurements include 1∕4" seam allowances. Sew with right sides together unless otherwise stated. Press seams in directions indicated by arrows on diagrams. If no direction is specified, press seam toward darker fabric. ABOUT THE PROJECT Designer Joanne…

location: Kirkland, WA established: 2015 size: 2,000 square feet Circa 15 Fabric Studio, on Lake Washington in picturesque Kirkland, Washington, just 12 miles from downtown Seattle, welcomes customers with expansive front windows that make it a bright stop even during the region’s rainy season. Custom-made fixtures include natural wood shelves supported by pipes for a chic, industrial feel. Fat quarter bundles and patterns fill the shelves. “It looks clean and modern,” owner Kristen Suzuki says. That contemporary feel suits a locale that’s home to tech giants Google and Microsoft. Kirkland, one of the fastest-growing cities in the state, also boasts a marina, a seasonal farmers market, and a pedestrian-friendly downtown filled with galleries, restaurants, and chic boutiques. Owning a shop here wasn’t something Kristen set out to do. She attended…

MATERIALS • 6—18×21" pieces (fat quarters) assorted light prints (blocks) • 18—18×21" pieces (fat quarters) assorted dark prints (blocks, border) • 1 yard postage-stamp print (blocks) • 11∕4 yards solid navy blue (sashing, binding) • 18×21" piece (fat quarter) yellow print (sashing, border corners) • 11∕2 yards cream tone-on-tone (setting and corner triangles) • 37∕8 yards backing fabric • 68×83" batting • 51∕2"-square acrylic ruler • Template plastic (optional) Finished quilt: 591∕4×75" Finished block: 10" square Yardages and cutting instructions are based on 42" of usable fabric width. Measurements include 1∕4" seam allowances. Sew with right sides together unless otherwise stated. Press seams in directions indicated by arrows on diagrams. If no direction is specified, press seam toward darker fabric. CUT FABRICS Cut pieces in the following order. To fussy-cut…

MATERIALS • 3∕8 yard medium green print (blocks) • 13∕8 yards yellow print (blocks, outer border) • 13∕8 yards blue print (blocks, outer border) • 2 yards rose print (blocks, outer border) • 1 yard purple print (blocks, middle border) • 1 yard light green print (blocks) • 13∕8 yards dark green print (blocks, inner and outer borders, binding) • 31∕4 yards backing fabric • 57×75" batting Finished quilt: 481∕2×661∕2" Finished block: 18" square Yardages and cutting instructions are based on 42" of usable fabric width. Measurements include 1∕4" seam allowances. Sew with right sides together unless otherwise stated. Press seams in directions indicated by arrows on diagrams. If no direction is specified, press seam toward darker fabric. CUT FABRICS Cut pieces in the following order. From medium green print,…

location: St. George, UT established: 2003 size: 3,000 square feet People come from across the continent to St. George, Utah, to test their limits in triathlons, marathon qualifiers, and senior sports competitions in an area surrounded by majestic mountains. Likewise, Quilted Works pushes quilt shop limits and surpasses expectations with precisioncut appliqué shapes, a wide selection of fabrics, patterns featuring a variety of techniques, and quilting cruises. The shop rallies a following among quilters of all skill levels and interests. Fabric bolts in layers three deep serve as a warm-up to the shop’s open layout. “We carry a little bit of everything, because we love it all,” shop owner Barb Johnson says. She and Sharla, her daughter-in-law, share a love of both traditional and contemporary quilt styles. Barb says the…

MATERIALS • 25∕8 yards taupe linen (A and B blocks, inner border, binding) • 3∕4 yard pink tone-on-tone (A blocks) • 17∕8 yards pink-and-green floral (A blocks, outer border) • 21∕4 yards yellow floral (A and B blocks) • 17∕8 yards white-and-pink dot (A and B blocks) • 43∕4 yards backing fabric • 69×85" batting • Lightweight tracing paper or other foundation material of your choice Finished quilt: 601∕2×761∕2" Finished blocks: 8" square Yardages and cutting instructions are based on 42" of usable fabric width. Measurements include 1∕4" seam allowances. Sew with right sides together unless otherwise stated. CUT FABRICS Cut pieces in the following order. From taupe linen, cut: • 8—21∕2×42" binding strips • 7—1×42" strips for inner border • 31—61∕2" squares • 32—33∕4" squares From pink tone-on-tone, cut:…

location: Branson, MO established: 1982 size: 9,950 square feet A tornado hit Quilts & Quilts The Fabric Shoppe in Branson, Missouri, on February 29, 2012, reducing it to wreckage and rubble. What had been a thriving quilt shop for nearly 30 years was turned into a crumpled heap of debris. Owners Cindy DeMeyer and Lacey Colbert, a motherdaughter team, saw the devastation as an opportunity to rebuild not only what had been but to make it bigger and better. “The storm pushed everything on the floor,” Cindy says. The shop’s best quilts—including an appliquéd barn quilt worth $8,000—were buried under cinder blocks, mud, and tree limbs. But circumstances were in their favor: A two-day, rain-free window allowed 13 people to dig out and clean up four tons of fabric and…

MATERIALS • 13∕4 yards solid lime green (A and B units) • 43∕4 yards solid light gray (A and B units, sashing, border, binding) • 21∕2 yards solid dark gray (A units, blocks) • 11∕4 yards solid navy blue (Flying Geese units) • 11∕4 yards solid white (Flying Geese units) • 81∕4 yards backing fabric • 99×109" batting • Lightweight tracing paper or other foundation material of your choice Finished quilt: 901∕2×1001∕2" (full-size with 18" drop; queen-size with 15" drop) Finished block: 10" square Yardages and cutting instructions are based on 42" of usable fabric width. Measurements include 1∕4" seam allowances. Sew with right sides together unless otherwise stated. CUT FABRICS Cut pieces in the following order. Cut solid light gray sashing and border strips lengthwise (parallel to the selvages).…

location: Chattanooga, TN established: 2013 size: 1,600 square feet “We’re here for all quilters, no matter who they are or where they are on their quilting journey.” Shop owners Maddie Kertay, Flaun Cline, and Les Kertay opened SPOOL with the goal of celebrating the diversity in the quilting world. “Everyone is welcome and has value, from the hand piecer to the most modern machine quilter,” Maddie says. The shop—located in a turn-of-the-century brick building in the Highland Park neighborhood of Chattanooga—has a diverse customer base, which is reflected in SPOOL’s ambience and thoughtful displays. SPOOL is an exclusive distributor of hand-dyed Cherrywood Fabrics and includes sections of novelty prints that focus on female superheroes, “geeky” motifs, and skulls and skeletons. “We’ve had quilters, such as a mom with purple hair…

MATERIALS • 2∕3 yard solid white (A–C blocks) • 23∕4 yards solid dark gray (A–D blocks) • 21∕4 yards solid medium gray (A–D blocks) • 1∕2 yard solid dark red (A blocks) • 1∕3 yard solid medium red (B blocks) • 25∕8 yards solid bright red (C blocks, inner border) • 31∕2 yards solid black (A–C blocks, outer border, binding) • 5∕8 yard solid light gray (D blocks) • 73∕4 yards backing fabric • 92×112" batting Finished quilt: 831∕2×1031∕2" (full-size with 14" drop; queen-size with 11" drop) Finished blocks: 10" square Yardages and cutting instructions are based on 42" of usable fabric width. Measurements include 1∕4" seam allowances. Sew with right sides together unless otherwise stated. Press seams in directions indicated by arrows on diagrams. If no direction is specified,…

location: Hayward, MN established: 1982 size: 4,500 square feet “Look around, see what you like, and let us help you find the kit.” Calico Hutch Quilt Shop in the south central Minnesota town of Hayward (just east of Albert Lea) displays approximately 350 quilted samples, which is more than one per local resident in the community of 243. With easy access to the shop from interstates 35 and 90, many travelers passing through the area find reason to stop for a bit. Unlike conventional highway rest stops, however, Calico Hutch wakes up the senses to brilliant fabric combinations, textures, patterns, and possibilities. “This is not a five-minute stop,” says owner Carolyn Matson, whose big ideas and quilting merchandise are worth the detour. Ample parking—even for RVs—takes customers quickly out of…

location: Fairfax, VA established: 1974 size: 4,000 square feet “Quilting is very relaxing if you let the process be the goal.” A reverence for the past abounds at The Quilt Patch in Fairfax, Virginia. The shop, located in a home built nearly 100 years ago, opened in 1974. Leslie Pfeifer purchased it in 1989. Though The Quilt Patch has attained senior status, there’s nothing stodgy about it. Fabric, arranged by color, fills multiple rooms and includes lines from Daiwabo, Frond, Hoff man California Fabrics, and Robert Kaufman Fabrics, among others. Batiks are a favorite, and Leslie and her staff of 11 encourage customers to use them in quilts with wovens and quilting cottons. “We have tons of notions and hang patterns everywhere we can put a hook,” Leslie says. She…

MATERIALS • 2∕3 yard solid dark gray (appliqués, border units, border strips) • 17∕8 yards mottled cream (appliqué foundation, border units, border strips) • 2∕3 yard solid dark pink (border units, binding) • 1∕3 yard each of solid green, solid yellow, and solid turquoise (border units) • 1∕4 yard solid salmon (border units) • 22∕3 yards backing fabric • 48×56" batting • Lightweight fusible web Finished quilt: 40×471∕2" Yardages and cutting instructions are based on 42" of usable fabric width. Measurements include 1∕4" seam allowances. Sew with right sides together unless otherwise stated. Press seams in directions indicated by arrows on diagrams. If no direction is specified, press seam toward darker fabric. CUT FABRICS Cut pieces in the following order. Patterns A–D are on Pattern Sheet 1. To make D…

location: Sandusky, OH established: 2014 size: 1,200 square feet Shop owners Debbie Neill and Jackie Sennish could star in their own reality show. They would use their nicknames—Mabel and Ethel, respectively—and would infuse each episode with the wisecracking banter and funny stories that entertain customers in their downtown Sandusky, Ohio, shop. Or they would detail their many adventures, braking for “treasures” they find by the side of the road. Many of these rescued items—a washtub, iron fence gate, old doors—have been repurposed in their shop as display and accent pieces. The alter egos came about seven years ago when the two women started a blog—mostly to amuse each other—to document their funny estate sale and auction-going exploits. The nicknames began as a lark but have become a defining feature of…

MATERIALS • 24—1∕2-yard pieces assorted cream, green, gray, and black prints (quilted squares, rose appliqués) • 21∕8 yards black tone-on-tone (front and back sashing, binding) • 66×76" batting (blocks) • Dressmaker’s tracing paper and tracing tool Finished quilt: 57×661∕2" Finished block: 9" square Yardages and cutting instructions are based on 42" of usable fabric width. Measurements include 1∕4" seam allowances. Sew with right sides together unless otherwise stated. CUT FABRICS Cut pieces in the following order. The instructions allow for very little fabric waste, though you will be cutting extra pieces. From each assorted cream, green, gray, and black print, cut: • 2—31∕2×42" strips (you will use 42 of the 48 total cut) • 4—91∕2" squares (you will use 84 of the 96 total cut) From batting, cut: • 42—91∕2"…

location: Oblong, IL established: 1982 size: 3,600 square feet About 100 miles south of Champaign, Illinois, beyond corn and bean farms and a Marathon petroleum refinery, downtown Oblong (population about 1,500) sports a main street that is two blocks long with a four-way stop. The small-town street is reminiscent of yesteryear, with Hen Peck Mercantile and Harmon’s Health Mart, complete with an old-fashioned soda counter. In this setting The Village Stitchery Quilt Shop & Retreat Center, with its sizable red awning shading two storefronts, invites quilters to come inside and stay awhile. “We have a country, down-to-earth theme,” says owner Lisa Pinkston, who has been the shop’s mainstay and cheerleader since 1982. She has furnished the shop with pieces from Oblong’s past, including a curved-glass cabinet from Perry’s Dry Goods…

MATERIALS • 1∕2 yard each of solid orange, solid red-orange, solid yellow, and solid red (blocks) • 12∕3 yards solid turquoise (blocks, binding) • 23∕4 yards backing fabric • 49" square batting Finished quilt: 401∕2" square Finished block: 20" square Yardages and cutting instructions are based on 42" of usable fabric width. Measurements include 1∕4" seam allowances. Sew with right sides together unless otherwise stated. Press seams in directions indicated by arrows on diagrams. If no direction is specified, press seam toward darker fabric. CUT FABRICS Cut pieces in the following order. Designer Flaun Cline prefers to make triangle-squares larger than necessary and then trim them to size. To use this method, cut 3" squares instead of the 27∕8" squares listed in cutting instructions. From solid orange, cut: • 16—27∕8"…

location: Story, WY established: 2004 size: 2,500 square feet “Our customers’ successes are definitely our joy and reward!” Situated in the quaint Wyoming village of Story— population 887—just six miles off I-90 and within sight of the Big Horn Mountains, Pinewood Cottage Quilt and Gift Shop sits on 2 acres under wide, open skies. “The shop is surrounded by a picket fence to keep deer and other nibbling creatures out of our yard,” owner Janet Ludwig says. Although critters roam about in this part of Wyoming, Pinewood Cottage boasts landscaping that includes flowers, bushes, boulders, water fountains, and a footbridge arching across a dry creek bed. The shop shutters feature cutout silhouettes that reflect the area’s abundance of pine trees and wildflowers. Inside, customers are met by what the staff…

MATERIALS • 11∕4 yards green batik (blocks, outer border) • 21∕8 yards blue-and-green stripe (blocks, outer border, binding) • 11∕4 yards mottled blue batik (blocks, outer border) • 21∕3 yards mottled dark blue batik (blocks, inner and outer borders) • 11∕4 yards light blue-and-green batik (blocks, outer border) • 5 yards backing fabric • 73×88" batting Finished quilt: 641∕2×791∕2" Finished block: 15" square Yardages and cutting instructions are based on 42" of usable fabric width. Measurements include 1∕4" seam allowances. Sew with right sides together unless otherwise stated. Press seams in directions indicated by arrows on diagrams. If no direction is specified, press seam toward darker fabric. CUT FABRICS Cut pieces in the following order. Patterns are on Pattern Sheet 2. To make templates of patterns, see Make and Use…