More Here Fishy Fishy Challenge Blocks

There were so many lovely blocks from the Here Fishy Fishy Challenge. It was great getting a comment from Janet Monahan in the first posting of these blocks. We love to see how each line is used in sewing and quilting projects and it has be extra fun because Here Fishy Fishy by Heather Mulder Peterson is such a whimsical line. To see so many different blocks made from the same fabric is an extra treat for us. We can't wait to see the finished quilts!

"Thank YOU, Henry Glass for posting the photos! The Jackson Hole Quilt Guild had a great time with this fabric. We are putting the blocks together this Sunday to make 3-4 quilts for our local charities that need quilts for kids and families." 

Janet Monahan Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Adorable! Remember to enter to win a bundle of fabric. Today is the last day. Deadline is at 4 p.m.! Good luck and have a great weekend.

-hg

Here Fishy Fishy Challenge

At the end of last year, Scott Fortunoff, President of our sister company Studio e Fabrics was invited to speak at the Jackson Hole Quilt Festival. Henry Glass Fabrics had sponsored their Here Fishy Fishy Challenge and he was there to see the winning blocks and all of the other 32 entries.

Here Fishy Fishy is a line that was designed by Heather Mulder Peterson of Anka's Treasures. The prints featured fish, of course, waves, dots, chevrons, houndstooth and bubbles.

The folks back home in the NYC offices of Henry Glass were so excited to see the blocks in person. We are going to feature them over the next while here on the blog. Let's give the quilters some love! The top two and the one below were the winners of the challenge.

Here is a close up photograph of the cute worm on the hook. The quilter used the gray plaid print and added stitches to give the image some depth. Very cute.

These first blocks are wonderful. Thanks to all who participated.

-hg

pdq* Club [*PRETTY DARN QUICK] - January 2014 Edition

The pdq* Club [*PRETTY DARN QUICK] was so much fun last year that we asked Jill Finley of Jillily Studios to continue it this year. This year will be a little different though. Jill will still design some beautiful projects but she will also give us her best quilting tips. This month Jill gives us some of her great tips for piecing. 

Before we get to the January Edition of the club though, we want to show off Jill's latest fabric collections. Twirl and Jams & Jellies are sweet collections with lots of ballerinas, ballerina flats and fresh basics. The collections should be hitting the quilt shop shelves sometime in February. Meanwhile, you can view the entire lines and also download the pretty quilt pattern on our website here.

Hello Quilters!   This year I think I will use my PDQ Club to share some tips with you that I have learned through trial and (many) errors.  Every once in a while I will give you a free pattern, and we will learn a lot through the year.  Join me every month for my PDQ Club, and we will all be Pretty Darn Quick quilters!!!

Some Tips for Piecing Perfection

We all would love to have perfectly pieced blocks with no cut off points, and matching seams, but it doesn’t always work out that way!  Since fabric is woven, it has “give” and can stretch and ease--  even when we don’t want it to.  So here are a few tips you can use to make your piecing more accurate.

1.   SCANT ¼” SEAM ALLOWANCE:   Quilters usually use a ¼” presser foot on their machines.  But even with this foot, and perfect ¼” seams, sometimes your block ends up a little small.  That is because it takes a little bit of fabric to “turn over” the seam and that can make a difference.  Make sure you use a SCANT ¼” seam allowance, following the 1/4” mark before your foot rather than the edge of the foot.  (This is especially true if you are sewing with tiny pieces!)

2.  PRESS AS YOU GO:  Don’t wait until the block is done to press.  Press after each seam, and give it a shot of steam to “block” it in place.  If you use the long, side edge of your iron to open up the newly sewn piece, it won’t distort like using the point of the iron.  

3.  TRIM DOWN TO SIZE:  If  your block uses smaller sub units, like half–square-triangles, I like to make them a little larger, then trim them down to be exactly the right size, with the points exactly in the corners.  

These are just a few little tips to give you more accuracy in your piecing.  But don’t worry too much about it—after all, if you try this and still have less-than-perfect blocks, remember the galloping horse theorem:

“If you can’t see it from a galloping horse, it doesn’t matter.”

--annonymous 

Thanks Jill!  Great tips.

Tell us your favorite tip by January 31, 2014 at 4 p.m. and we will pick a random winner to win a bundle of fabric [our choice] to get you inspired.

Have a great weekend.

-hg

Little Quilts Likes Honey Bee Mine

The ladies at Little Quilts package wonderful kits for sale. They sent photos of kits featuring Honey Bee Mine by Shelly Comiskey.  With all of the snow that hit us in NYC, seeing this happy collection made up in two adorable projects is lovely eye candy. You can call up Little Quilts and order these from the Little Quilts shop. Information is on their ordering page here.

Little Quilts sent along a note and a couple of photos of the fun projects. With all of this snow, we think that it is a great idea to stay inside and sew!

"Kits for quick and easy baby quilts are always popular here at Little Quilts and they don't come quicker or easier than this! We simply added border strips to the sides of the Honey Bee Mine panel for a 34" x 42" quilt. We also sell a lot of towel kits and thought a strip of Honey Bee Mine fabric trimmed with jumbo rick rack made very cheery towels."

Stay warm.

-hg

The Great "I Am"

A while back designer Leanne Anderson of The Whole Country Caboodle designed a line The Great "I Am" and a book has been released that is based on the same artwork. Congratulations on the publication of Leanne's first children's book. You can read more about the book and how to order it from Leanne on her blog.

We are pleased that the color cards for her next line, Clearwater Critters, should be in the hands of our sales representatives. Your local quilt shop will be viewing this line soon. You can get a sneak peek on our website. We love Leanne's adorable critters, don't you?

[Clearwater Critters by Leanne Anderson]

-hg

Spot On!

Happy New Year to you! We can feel the energy of the new year already. This year we are going to continue to INSPIRE you! There was a lot of energy and excitement her on the blog last year and we are going to build on that! Jill Finley will continue with her pdq* [PRETTY DARN QUICK] Club and we will be challenging you in our Desire To Inspire series. That's not all but we will pace ourselves!

While cleaning we saw this cover for a Pottery Barn catalogue. We were giddy with excitement because it reminded of one of our new and exciting collections, Indigo Blues. This line will hit the store shelves in March.

The prints in the Indigo Blues collection include butterflies, bamboo and swirls in the luscious indigo colors.  Any project that you make from this line will be colored by the glorious textures in the prints. The full collection is posted on our website and you can get a close up view of the prints when you click to enlarge the photos. You will see the love detailed images on each print. On our website we are offering a couple of free patterns that use the Indigo Blues collection too. 

See you back here soon!
-hg