What's Happening in the Local Quilting Community

Bolts to Binding has moved into their new space at 930 Wible Road, where JM's Just for Children used to be. The crew is still working on putting up walls and decorating, but the primary part of the shop is ready for business! Our guild had a sew-in at the shop yesterday, and the new classroom space is huge! There are lots of windows and natural light, two cutting areas, and two ironing areas. It was wonderful to spread out and enjoy our sewing time together! We were delighted to see that the shop is now carrying several colors of the Moda Bella Solids, as well as some Northcott solids in delicious, saturated colors. When I asked the shop owner, Jeri, about getting more of the Bella Solids, she said she has 20 new colors on order! The shop also carries the full line of Stonehenge by Nortcott Fabrics and wide backings to match, a variety of novelty prints, batiks, sewing bags, notions, and more! Bolts to Binding is the local dealer for Pfaff sewing machines and the AccuQuilt cutting system. Our guild sew-ins are held at the shop on the odd months of the year.


Strawberry Patches is the oldest quilting store in the area. Suzanne is always on the look out for new trends and ideas, and the shop is brimming with inspiration for a variety of projects! The shop carries most of the Moda lines, as well as a good selection of novelty prints, batiks, Japanese fabrics, Minky, and a very large selection of Kona solids. You'll also find a great variety of trims to spiff up any project! Strawberry Patches is the dealer for Bernina sewing machines, Koala Sewing Cabinets, and the Slice cutting system. All of our regular BMQG meetings are held at the shop on the third Saturday of the month, and we meet there for our sew-ins on the even months of the year. 


Announcement taken from the shop's blog: 
"On April 6^th & 7^th we will be celebrating Strawberry Patches' 27^th birthday by having a party and sale with 27% off all purchases*. This is our way of saying thank you for your friendship and support. We hope you'll join us in the store or on line for this sale. For on line orders, just say "Happy Birthday" in the comment box and we'll take 27% off your order at the register. Sale excludes: Sewing machines, sewing machine service, sewing furniture, blocks of the month, custom work and classes. Limited to stock on hand - no special orders or presales please."


The Best of the Valley Quilt Show is April 13th - 15th. You can find details on the show website.

Happy stitching,

Lynn

BMQG President

Question of the Week

 

Do you follow color trends, or do you march to the beat of your own drum? If you looked at your stash at this very moment, what color do you have most of?

Saturday Sew-In

Don't forget our upcoming sew-in on Saturday, March 31, 10:00 - 4:00, at Bolts to Binding. The shop's new location is 930 Wible Road, where JM's Just for Children used to be. Bring a project, a snack to share, and be ready to have some fun! 

Update On Flea Market Fancy

Strawberry Patches has all but two of the prints, and they are expected in soon! 

Flea Market Fancy by Denyse Schmidt

 

It seems that all the buzz lately has been about the re-release of Denyse Schmidt's fabric line, Flea Market Fancy. Denyse has updated the colors a bit, and I think they are lovely! One of our local quilt shops, Strawberry Patches, has received 14 of the fabrics, with the remaining prints expected in the shop over the next few weeks. You can purchase a fat quarter bundle of the 14 fabrics, and add your name to the list of customers wanting the remaining fabrics. 

 

One of the great things about buying it this way, is that you can spread your purchase between paychecks! I'm always up for  creative financing! 

March Meeting Recap

Blustery weather didn't deter a small but mighty group of quilters from our monthly meeting on Saturday, March 17 at Strawberry Patches!

Lynn announced that the Modern Quilt Guild will hold its first QuiltCon convention in Austin, TX February 21-24, 2013. The MQG is having a block design challenge using the QuiltCon logo colors. Several online shops have bundles of the fabrics available if anyone is interested in designing and entering a block. Closer to home, the Best of the Valley quilt show will be held April 13-15 in Lindsay.

Several door prizes have been donated to the Bakersfield MQG by our members. Thanks to all for your generosity!

Our sew-in has been moved one week later to accommodate Bolts to Binding's move to their new, larger location at Wible Road and Wood Lane (930 Wible Road). They'll be in the space that was formerly the JM's for Children store. Bring your machines and supplies and check out B to B's new space on Saturday, March 31 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Strawberry Patches has received 14 of the 22 prints in the Denyse Schmidt line. The other eight prints are supposed to arrive in the next few weeks. Since the whole line is not in yet, our guild will not start a challenge project using the fabric at this time.

We had a quick show-and-tell of members' projects, and then Christy led us in a Name the Quilt Block word scramble game, which was harder than it looked but fun! Next, we had a hands-on session where Pam taught us how to sew a kaleidoscope block and make those points come together!

Christy and Nicci were in the St. Patrick's Day spirit with their socks ...

... and we helped each other select fabrics for upcoming projects!

Our next meeting will be on Saturday, April 21st at Strawberry Patches, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Lynn will teach us how to add piping to our quilts for that extra bit of pizzazz. See you there!

~ Laura ~
BMQG Secretary

Question of the Week

 

It's that time again! As a longarm quilter, I have found it interesting that the focus on quilting in the MQG world leans toward minimalist, utilitarian types of quilting, with the quilt makers doing their own quilting. When I have been asked to quilt for the BMQG members, it's because their quilt is too big for them to want to wrestle with it on their domestic machines. This week's question is: Do you quilt your own quilts, or do you send them out to a longarmer to be quilted? What determines whether or not you quilt your own quilt?