Travels

Last week we made an unplanned trip to Pennsylvania, our home state.  While it is always good to "go home" we would have liked more time to spend with family and friends, more time to visit - to laugh and rememember but we made the most of the time that we did have and had a good visit.

While driving back to Michigan, we decided to take a little bit of a detour and visit a quilt shop close to Pittsburgh.  The shop - The Quilt Company - owner Karen Montgomery - is one that I have wanted to see for some time.  I have ordered several of Karen's patterns for the shop and have attended some of Karen's lectures.  Karen has some really "savvy" ideas for running a shop.

The building that her shop is in was built specifically for her quilt shop.  Can you imagine having a building that has all of the details in it that you think would be good for a shop?  It was a really nice looking shop - open, spacious with lots of walls to display beautiful quilts.  It was fun to look around and see what another shop has going on.  I bought some more of Karen's patterns and we already have things "kitted" and ready for our customers. 

Don't you love seeing other shops?  Each shop has its own flavor - every shop always has something different.  It's like having multiple candy shops with different tastes awaiting you in each shop.  Yum!

Yummy Stuff!

Have you all heard of the website Pinterest?  This is quite a site - it is like a giant bulletin board.  Everyone just "pins" information on that site.  And the information is endless in its amout as well as its variety.  There are pictures, craft ideas, recipes and more.  Check it out - but be warned - it is addictive!  Just go to http://www.pinterest.com/

Here is one of the recipes that we got from pinterest - and it works and is really yummy stuff!

Take one angel food cake mix and add one other cake mix - any other flavor - (we did one angel food mix and one devils food cake mix).  Put both of the dry mixes in a container - we used a zip lock bag - and mix both of the dry mixes together.  (You have to have an angel food cake mix as one of your cakes)

Then when you want a little treat:   in a small microwave safe mug, mix 3 tablespoons of the dry mix, 2 tablespoons of water, microwave for 1 minute and you get a great snack.

We thought about adding a Hershey's kiss in the middle of the mix before putting in the microwave and then it might be like a "molten lava cake" - you could add a carmel and some chopped pecans too - the combinations are limited only by your imagination - sort of like quilting!

So enjoy your next best snack while planning your next best quilt!

Happy quilting!

Different Path

When traveling to one place or another, there are generally different routes you can take to get to the same place.  Well the same thing is true with quilting - there are different techniques you can use to get the same result.  And as we all progress we are finding methods to do things that are really different than how they were done - even just a few years ago - but then that's the fun and the intrigue of quilting!

One of these techniques/methods is for the half square triangle.  If you don't like marking your squares down the center, sewing on either side of the line and then cutting here is another method for you:

To make 4 Half Square Triangles: 


1.  Take two squares of fabric (I used a 6 1/2 inch square but you can use whatever size you like depending on the size block you want) - one light & one dark so you have some contrast

 2.  Put them together - pretty side to pretty side - making sure all edges are lined up.

3.  Then just sew a quarter inch seam from the edge - all around the square.

4.  When finsihed sewing, just slice it on the diagonal twice and you end up with four half square triangles.

5.  Now you can arrange however you would like - makes a great pinwheel!

So have some fun and try things using a different path/method!

Happy Quilting!

What A Class!

Last night at the shop we had a class with beginning sewers.  What a great class!  Joy Halverson is the instructor and she worked with the 5 attendees as they chatted about their week.  They were working with knit fabrics - something that H2H does not carry but something that as "sewers" they probably will be using.  Anyway they learned how to make and sew on ribbing as well as other processes and they all completed a great little sleep sack that they can use either for their own little ones or for a baby gift.  I neglected to take my camera which was really a bad thing because I would have loved to show you all pictures of their projects!  These 5 "beginners" are so enthusiastic and can't wait to learn "everything"!  As they come in the door they are thinking about what they want to learn the next week  - way to go!  You could just see their minds working - exploding with ideas.  Hope this very encouraging and enthusiastic class continues to expand theirs and our experiences!

Happy January!

Can you believe this weather?  We have had more spring like weather lately than we had last Spring!  Well,  no, probably not but it sure has been nice.  I think even the birds and squirels are a little confused.  They sure have been chirping.  It's supposed to change though - snow is on its way but at least we are not supposed to get 15 - 18 feet of snow like they did in Alaska!  I guess it is winter after all isn't it?  So while the snow is falling tomorrow and the next day hopefully we all have at least one project that we can work on - anyone have more than one project or UFO?  UFO's seem to be the topic right now but then it is probably the time of the year when we think about cleaning out, paring down and finishing things.  And I am right there with you - I really want to finish some things - get some things wrapped up and move on to something new.  Here's wishing us time and energy to complete our projects in 2012.

Em is having a birthday next week and we (Hearts To Holly) are going to help her celebrate by having a birthday sale Saturday, January 14 and Monday, January 16 (her actual birthday).  Should be lots of fun and a good time for all.  Stay tuned for more info - gotta go - so Happy Quilting!

Happy 2012!

Just wishing you all a blessed, healthy and happy New Year!  We hope that 2012 (can you even believe that? - 2012????) is filled with wishes granted for each of you!

After the busy-i-ness

Have things settled down for all of you?  It seems we are still busy doing lots of things with family and friends and that's good - it's fun and enjoyable to see everyone and I really like that the "season" is extended to just more than one day!  Anyway I did the drawing for the third give away - the $50 gift card - and the winner is Heather!  Congratulations, Heather.  Let me know if you want to pick up your gift card or if you would like me to mail it to you - whatever works for you.

Thank you everyone for participating in our give aways and signing up on our blog.  One of my New Year's resolutions is to try to make the blog more fun - more informative for everyone so let's see how I do!

The shop is closed today - we are in the middle of moving some "stuff" around. So we will be at the shop but still trying to make things fit into place - we had some fabric upstairs at the shop that we decided to move downstairs where I could see it and actually be more aware of what we have.  The stairs at the shop are narrow and steep and I did not venture up there very often - it was more Mike's domain so when we put fabric up there it was kind of like out of sight out of mind and now it is all in our classroom and we will be busy for a bit putting it in order.  Wish us luck!