Virtual shop hop: Susan’s Calico Creations

Don’t let a traditional term like “calico” in the quilt shop name scare you modern quilters away from from Susan’s Calico Creations at 1108 4th St., Fulton, Ill. The shop carries more than 5,000 bolts of fabric in just about every style from the historical reproduction prints to contemporary batiks and Asian prints. The trademark […]

After quilt retreat: Batik tree skirt

I spent 25 hours working on the batik tree skirt for the Mississippi Valley Quilters Guild’s tree in the Festival of Trees fundraiser next month. The first seven were spent cutting the fabric. The pattern and templates were all on paper. I had one chance to cut the templates right so I had to take […]

Before quilt retreat: Christmas New York Beauty

I’m headed to quilt retreat on Thursday. It’s four glorious days of quilting, eating and sleeping. It’s a great opportunity to make significant progress on projects. I started a New York Beauty quilt in Christmas fabrics last fall at retreat and haven’t worked on it much since. This week I hope to get one half […]

Stunning Christmas tree skirt in batiks

I LOVE batiks. I can’t get enough of them. So I was in heaven when the benefactor for the Mississippi Valley Quilt Guild suggested buying fabric from SewBatik.com to make Judy Niemeyer’s Christmas Celebration Tree Skirt. The benefactor business, Quilting By-You in Bettendorf, Iowa, is purchasing the fabric and donating the quilting for the tree […]