Frozen, Handi Quilter and Minions!!

Hope you are all staying cool in this heat wave!  We have been trying to keep as cool as possible at the shop this week.  Inspired by the heat, I decided to have the Quilt Blast Friday sale on the Timeless Treasures Frozen Collection!  Enter Code FROZEN to obtain a 15 percent discount off this line.  Offer valid 7/31 through 8/4/15.

This was the first week Carter hasn't had swim lessons in a month.  I think he might be missing his new friend Meg and missing his lake time outside everyday.  But, I do think he is glad that Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Anne and his cousins are back this week from their travels.  Carter really enjoys getting undivided attention and having playmates, of course maybe every 2 year old does.  He is going to be sad come September when his cousins go back to school and Grandpa goes back to work.  I'll have to come up with fun craft activities for him at the shop. One of which can be his Michael Miller Color Me placemat- he LOVES to color!

My parents had a fabulous time at the Quilt Odyssey Show in Hershey, PA last week spreading the word about our Cutie Quilts, Packs and Patterns.  This Collection has been so much fun to work on and everyone who sees them seems to love them.  I have a few more I am currently working on and will be sharing with you in the coming weeks.  I'm so excited that my newest Sun Kissed Quilt is such a huge hit!  I just love these fabrics by Alison Glass!

Now that the Handi Quilter Infinity Pro-stitcher is back from Hershey, my father helped me get it set up to machine quilt my first king sized quilt.  It's coming out gorgeous!  This is a wedding gift for friends of ours, and I know how much they are going to love it.

As a reminder, we have a Machine Quilting Class coming up on August 8th! We have limited space available. This is for home machines and the Sweet 16.  View our Newsletter for additional details.

For those of you interested in the Longarm Quilting Retreat on October 17th and 18th- we have this available on our website for signup and payment.

Finally, I have a secret to share...the Minion Fabrics are coming to Pawling in mid October!!!  I have quite a few good ideas of what I will create with them.   Keep your eye out on our website to pre-order these adorable prints! THE MINIONS ARE COMING!!

I had better get back to my machine quilting!! Have a fantastic week!

Sarah

Quilt Odyssey and Cuties!!

Happy Friday!

This week my parents are away at the Quilt Odyssey Quilt Show in Hershey, PA.  They have a fabulous booth set up with over 20 different Cutie Quilts!!  If you are in the area, be sure to stop by and see our booth!  All 26 of our Cutie Patterns are available at the show as well as on our website.  Of course we have a very large variety of different Cutie Packs to choose from to make your special Cutie Quilt with.  Just choose your favorite Cutie Pattern and match it with your favorite Cutie Pack! Some of my favorites include Oh My Stars, Follow My Lead, Spring Flowers, Sun Kissed and Tillie.  Of course I have to admit, I just love them all!  My mom, Cathy, and I have been very busy coming up with new patterns so check back to see all of our fun new designs! I am pretty excited about my newest pattern coming soon. I had some help from my very talented cousin Susanna.

We would love to see the Cutie Quilts you make with the different patterns and packs. Be sure to send us a photo so we can add it to our Cutie Gallery.  Send an email with your photo to orders@quiltbasket.com

Carter and I have been busy running the shop this week.  We are lucky enough to have some help from our friends Holly and Elaine.  They were even nice enough to let Carter and I leave for a couple of hours to attend library story time and swim lessons!  Tomorrow is the last session of swim lessons we are currently signed up for.  Carter seems to LOVE the water and his swim instructor Meg.  He talks about her everyday and tells me about how they scoop, kick, blow bubbles and even jump together!  I might just have to sign him up for another 2 weeks this summer!  As a kid, I was in swim lessons and then on a swim team through middle school.  I really hope Carter enjoys the water as much as I still do.

My mom's cat Bobbin is at my house visiting for the week while my parents are away.  It always takes her a little while to acclimate to her surroundings and my 2 cats, but by the looks of it I'd say she feels right at home! 

I am sure you are waiting anxiously to find out what the QBF sale is this week.....wait no longer... It is a 25 percent discount off ALL P&B Textiles Fabrics!!  Enter code PBFABRIC25 to obtain the discount.  Offer valid 7/24 through 7/28/15


If you are in the area, we would LOVE to see you at the Hershey Show!

Have a fabulous week!
Sarah

New Cutie Quilt and Color Me fabrics!

This has been another hectic week around the shop.  We have been busy getting ready for the Odyssey Quilt Show in Hershey, PA next week.  Be sure to stop in and see our booth if you are at the show!!

I of course have also been busy with summer fun activities with Carter, including story time, swim lessons, playgroup at the park, and playdates with friends.  I am looking forward to our town community day on Saturday.  They have trains to ride, bouncy houses, prizes and lots of fun snacks!

I am so excited to announce my newest Cutie Pattern "Sun Kissed" this week.  I was inspired by the Andover Fabrics Ex Libris and Sunprints by Alison Glass. This was a great way to use the panel and the patterns together in one quilt.  The cutie pack, panel, and pattern are all available on our website.  I decided to use the lime green as the backing for an extra pop of color too! 

As promised last week the new Michael Miller Color Me fabrics are available on our website.  Today Carter spent the afternoon coloring his new placemat grandma made for him.  We decided to use washable markers so he can use it over and over at different meals.  He had a great time and yes he had a little help from his godmother, Susanna.

This week's Quilt Blast Friday sale is all about Northcott Fabrics! Enjoy a 20 percent discount off all Northcott fabrics.  Offer vaild 7/17 through 7/21/15  Enter code NORTHCOTT to obtain the discount.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Sarah

Best Press, Precut Sale, and New Cutie Patterns

I am holding a baby (toddler) while writing this blog.  Since Carter has officially given up nap time at the Quilt Basket, not only have we been missing swim lessons in the evenings, but we also need to have extra snuggle time at work.

Carter and I officially began story time yesterday morning at the Beekman Library.  This means we come in to work in the early afternoon on Thursdays, and yesterday I think this worked out well.  We walked in to the shop to a disaster of different bottles and liquids on the carpet.  Apparently, when everyone else came in yesterday morning they found one of our shelves containing Retayne, Synthrapol, and Best Press on the floor.  I'm glad we were not around for Carter to play in the mess!  This leads me to my tip of the week:

We love Best Press.  It's the only spray starch we use in the shop to iron our fabric.  It protects fabric from stains and wrinkles.  While other spray starches make the fabric stiff, Best Press does not.  It comes in several lovely scents to make ironing more enjoyable!

I just found my new favorite luggage tag!  I think it is so funny, and I will be putting it on Carter's diaper bag.

Our Quilt Blast Friday this weekend is a 20% discount off precuts. 
Enter coupon code PRECUTS to obtain the discount.  The offer is available from today until 7/14/15.

 Here are a couple of our latest Cutie Patterns.  We just got the quilts back from our machine quilter, and they came out beautifully!  The patterns will be available on our website soon.  Be sure to check out all of our Cutie Patterns!

 Santa Clara Pattern using Free Spirit Sketchbook

Dresden Daisy using Andover Downton Abbey II

I am currently working on putting the preorder fabrics from market up on our website, including Atrium by Joel Dewberry and the new 108" backing fabric by Tula Pink.

Also keep your eye out for the brand new Color Me fabrics from Michael Miller.  I will be putting them on our website soon.  These fabrics are like a coloring book!  After your child colors in the fabrics with permanent markers, they can be made into pillowcases, placemats, sundresses... Anything you can think of!  I cannot wait for Carter to color in the spaceships!

Have a great week!
Sarah

Washing fabrics, fabric sales and summer fun!!

Now that summer is officially here for a week and the weather is nice, Carter and I started our swim lessons.  I was pretty nervous about the first lesson for a few reasons.  First of all, Carter hasn't really been "swimming" since last summer, which to him is a lifetime away.  Secondly, it is Monday through Friday evening, which isn't always Carter's most cooperative time of the day.  Surprisingly, Carter had a fabulous time on Monday and Tuesday! He enjoyed all of the fun water games they played including singing new songs, and seemed  to make some new friends.  However, Wednesday it was back to work at the Quilt Basket and someone refused to take his afternoon nap.  Of course this meant he fell asleep on the way home and regretfully I woke him up to attempt swim lessons...let's just say we did not attend swim lessons and the rest of the evening was interesting!  Thursday he once again refused to sleep but I talked to him in the car to keep him awake until we got to the lake.  Although Carter did not exactly win the participation award, at least we were able to attend.   


We do not have lessons today because of the holiday but I am hoping next week goes a little smoother, especially since I signed him up for 4 weeks straight! 

Everyone seemed to like my "Quilting Tips" section last week advising how to clean your rotary cutting boards, so this week I have a new tip for you!  I received quite a few phone calls and in store customers inquiring about whether or not to wash their fabrics before quilting with them.  We have found in the last few years the suggestion to always wash your fabrics prior to working with them has been removed by some of the manufacturers.  In fact, some actually recommend not prewashing your fabrics.  The only exception I find to the rule is if I am working with any kind of hand dyed or batik style fabrics.  These fabrics tend to run and I would hate to find out after my quilt was all together! I do test a corner of the fabric to see if they actually will bleed, if not I leave them alone.  

This leads me to tell you about my tip of the week... I have been asked many times about the difference between Retayne and Synthrapol.  To be honest I used to have to look it up a lot because I would always forget. So here it is!

Retayne is a color fixative for commercially dyed cotton, linen or rayon fabrics that bleed.  In other words, Retayne is the product to be used in order to STOP your fabrics from bleeding.

Synthrapol removes excess dye from hand dyed fabrics.  It can also be used to remove sizing prior to dyeing fabrics.  In other words, Sythrapol should be used once you realize you forgot to test your hand dyed fabrics or batiks and they bleed onto other fabrics.  

In summary, when your fabric is still in yardage, wash it in Retayne.  Once the fabrics are sewn together and your quilt is complete, wash in Synthrapol. 

We have been having a blast with the Row by Row this year.  We have had so many new customers come into our Pawling Shop.  Not only have they enjoyed seeing our Frog Row, but they have also really liked our Cutie Packs and Patterns.  The most common response once we explain and show them the collections is  "Oh how CUTE!"  I guess we picked the right name for our collections!!!

We still have opening for our Summer Kids Pillow Case Class!! Next Friday 7/10 10am–12pm

Class Fee is $25 which includes a kit with your choice of fabric. Please come in to choose your fabric prior to the class.  Let us know as soon as possible if your child or a child you know would like to learn a little about quilting and go home with a finished product!!

 

This week's QBF is celebrating Christmas in July!!!!  Enjoy a 25 percent discount off all Christmas Fabrics.  Enter code JULY4 to obtain the discount.  Offer valid 7/3 through 7/7/15

 

 

 

Please remember we will be closed Saturday July 4th and Sunday July 5th for the holiday.  We will reopen on Wednesday July 8th.

If there are any tips you are interested in learning more about, please let me know and I will be happy to find out for you!

Sarah

Cleaning your cutting mat, Quilting Retreat and Fabric sales!!

It's officially summer and schools are officially out!! What a perfect time of the year to come down and visit this adorable village of Pawling! The Farmer's Market has begun on Saturday Mornings down by the train tracks and will continue through the middle of September.  I personally look forward to picking up some fresh produce on Saturday mornings.

Now that school is out the library is also apparently a very popular place to be.  Carter and I go to Story Time every Thursday morning at the Pawling library and have never had a problem signing up, until now.  Turns out the toddler sessions are all full and we have been put on the wait list. This does make us sad, but I may sneak down there on Thursdays mornings and see if Ms. Karen will let us in if some of the children don't show up.  Fingers crossed!!

My mother-in-law came for a visit the end of May to help celebrate Carter's 2nd birthday party.  We live in a ranch style home and we have 2 bedrooms on the north side and 2 bedrooms on the south side of our house.  We use the 2 bedrooms on the north side of my house as my sewing room and our guest bedroom.  Because of this we have a child gate blocking Carter from going down that hallway and we keep our kitty litter box down there.  You may be wondering why I am sharing all of this useless information with you, but wait.... a story is coming!!

While my mother-in-law was visiting, I put the kitty litter box in my sewing room so it wasn't in her way and because I knew I would be too busy that week to work on any of my "works in progress." Now that Carter's week is over and my mother-in-law has gone home, I am back to quilting in my sewing room and the kitty litter is back in its normal position in the hallway near the guest bathroom. However, my cutting mat is on the floor in my sewing room and even though it has been vacuumed and wiped off, I can tell it still has a gritty layer from the kitty litter that must have been kicked out of the box.  Finding this extremely annoying as well as unsanitary to the clean freak I am, I investigated "how to clean a rotary cutting board."  I thought this might be fun information to share with you in case you ever needed to clean yours.  I also learned that it is recommended that we clean our boards periodically to help with the "self healing," which in turn will help your rotary blades from dulling as quickly. 

Here are the directions in case you are interested in trying this. I know what I am going to do when I get home tonight.  I'm sure Carter will love to help me since water and bath time are favorite activities of his.

Fill your bathtub with room temperature water.  It is important to make sure the water is not hot, cold or warm but actually room temperature.  Add a 1/4 cup of vinegar and a splash of a mild dish detergent.  This should make a nice thick lather.  Scrub the mat gently with a soft brush, like a toothbrush.  Rinse the mat with cold water making sure to remove all of the residue.  Air dry but be sure not to have it in direct sunlight and to have it flat.   This will prevent warping.  The reason this is a good procedure to periodically complete, is the "self healing" materials with actually absorb the water and make the mat supple again.

I hope you found my tip helpful!  I'm investigating a couple of other ideas to share with you weekly.  If you have anything you would like me to research, please let me know and I would be happy to see what I can find out.

I am starting to schedule classes and events for September through December for our Fall Newsletter.  I wanted to make sure everyone knew right away about the Fall Quilting Retreat we have scheduled for Saturday October 17th and Sunday October 18th.  This 2 full day event is a very popular class so please let us know if you are interested in signing up.  The fee is $350 which includes breakfast, lunch and dinner on Saturday and breakfast and lunch on Sunday.  If you are from out of town and need a room, we recommend the Hilton Garden Inn located in Danbury CT. Here is a link to their website:
http://hiltongardeninn3.hilton.com/en/hotels/connecticut/hilton-garden-inn-danbury-DNBDHGI/index.html

This is Debby's write up of the class.

Fun, Fresh, and Funky Fillers
Whether you’ve never quilted a stitch before or you are just looking for some
new quilting ideas, you will discover some new quilting methods, markings, and
designs that will inspire you to finish your own quilt tops.

Where the Rubber Meets the Road
All machine quilters love to learn new patterns, but how do you actually use
them on a quilt? This class will take some quilting designs and show you how to
use them on the quilt tops that you already have stacked up at home.

Bonus: Make a Cutie Accessory project by the end of your two days.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

This week's Quilt Blast Friday Sale is a 15 percent discount off the American Made Brand Cotton Solids.  Enter code AMERICAN15 to obtain the discount.  Offer Valid 6/26 through 6/30/15. 

 
Have a fabulous week!!
Sarah

Aurifil Sale, New Fabric, Cutie Quilts and Graduations!

Hi Everyone!

It has been a busy few weeks around here!  My cousin Susanna graduated from Kennedy Catholic  High School and there has been a lot of celebrating.  We are very proud of her for graduating Valedictorian and getting a scholarship to Notre Dame.  Now that she is off from school for the summer, we are getting in as much time with her as we can around the Quilt Basket for her creativity and babysitting skills! I think she gets a little bored coloring with Carter since she is far past the "coloring in the lines," but for Carter it's a lot of fun and he is getting spoiled with all of the attention.  

Note her shoes in the photo...they were at hit at the graduation and people are still talking about them!

We are excited that the Row by Row is beginning this Sunday! This year's theme was H2O and it led us to create a Row using Frogs since the "FROGS- Friends of the Great Swamp" are located here in Pawling. Enjoy your Shop HOPPING - RIBBIT RIBBIT!  We named our Row "Cutie Frogs."

 I finished my newest Cutie Quilt yesterday and totally love it!!  I used the new Andover fabric line by Alison Glass, Sun Print and Ex Libris Panel.  I decided to name it Sun Kissed and the pattern will be available soon!  The Cutie Pack is now available on our website.

We have been getting in a lot of new Christmas and Fall fabrics in the past few weeks!  Believe it or not, it is time to start those Christmas projects and gifts!

P&B Rambling Holiday White on White

 

 Timeless Treasures Golden Harvest

 Timeless Treasures Holiday Panels and Coordinates

 Timeless Treasures Frozen

 Moda Jingle

Moda Winter's Song

This Week's Quilt Blast Friday Sale is a 10 percent discount off Aurifil Thread!  Enter Code FATHERSDAY to obtain the discount.  Offer valid 6/19 through 6/23/15

We will be closed Sunday June 21, 2015 for Father's Day.  We hope everyone enjoys their weekend!  I cannot wait to give my husband, Craig, the special gift Carter helped me make for him!


Thank you!
Sarah