Westside Modern Quilt Club January Meeting

The house was packed at last night's Westside Modern Quilt Club meeting!

Geri started us off reiterating that the club's mission is to expand our skills and knowledge, and to that end she'll be presenting the group with optional exercises, challenges, small group get-togethers and more. The first exercise is to explore the possibilities with a log cabin block. Let's see how how many variations members bring to the next meeting, Feb 17th!

This year's exhibit quilts will be inspired by Northwest Native Americans. Geri gave out details of size and some ideas for an exhibit title. We're looking forward to what everyone comes up with by August!

It's always fun to see what everyone is creating after the fabric leaves our shop. Here's some highlights from Show & Tell:

Deslee Waters' "Happy Quilt" for her granddaughter

Sandy Vick's Kittens quilt (pattern by Elizabeth Hartman) proves that batiks can look modern when used with a modern design and a white background.

There was a bit of an Elizabeth Hartman theme since Colleen Barnhardt brought a Fancy Fox variation she quilted for Wanda Brouse.

Susan Dottarar brought her "Big Girl" quilt she made for her granddaughter.

Cathy Erickson wowed us with her micro quilting and showed us design boards of the quilt she's making featuring one of the Pantone Colors of the Year.

Mallory Jarboe entertained us with her sweet pillow-pocket for her grandson.

And Nancy Stanley showed off her first ever paper pieced project (and second quilt project).

The main event was our presentation by Jody Houghton. She walked us through her creative process when designing fabric panels and accompanying line of coordinates. Hearing how she starts with a theme and her "characters," then adds a color palette inspired by that theme, chooses a few key elements or icons, and then works through creating repeating patterns of various sizes was educational and inspiring. Whether we work modern or not, the principles of design and the creative process is essentially the same. Many in the audience were undoubtedly taking notes so as to incorporate a process like Jody's into the creation of their challenge quilt for August.

The next meeting will be on Wednesday February 17th at 6:00 at The Pine Needle.

New Year, New Fabrics

We've had a huge influx of new fabrics in the last few weeks. It seems like we re-arrange the shop every few days.

One new thing is our rainbow table of cotton half-yards. When you like a fabric, but don't have a specific project in mind, these are perfect!

Isn't this Into the Deep collection (plus some of our favorites to splash around with it) by Michael Miller Fabrics dreamy?

Modern batiks by Me + You from Hoffman are super rich, and perfect in our Illumination quilt kit.

And, for fans of ditzy prints, Small Wonders by Mary Fons is a new classic. Our Lovejoy pattern would look super with any of these world travel themed fabrics. We have bundles by country as well as yardage, and a wide backing fabric with the collection's simple drawn heart.

Stay tuned for even more fabrics as they arrive!

Join the Open House fun

Today, Friday Jan 15th was the first day of Open House and the fabric was flying! Customers enjoyed hourly drawings and inspirational demos and class samples from our wonderful teachers, Pam Raby, Rachel Kerley, Vickie Pierson, Dawn White, and more.

Coleen Barnhardt wowed us all with her Coloring Quilts class samples.

Nancy is demonstrating gadgets to help keep accurate seam allowances of several widths.

Author and teacher Sheila Snyder of A License to Quilt will be on hand. Here she's explaining her Turban Stool class to intrigued customers.

Plus, enjoy a jewelry show and sale by Kelly Forester of Kis Designs.

If you missed today's fun, there's still time tomorrow, Saturday Jan 16th. Come on in from 11 to 5 and check it out!

Batik Baguettes

We've got new fabrics coming in every day! The Stripes Collection by Anthology Fabrics is delicious and these one yard "Batik Baguettes" are calorie free tasty treats.

Winter Open House Festival

Welcome to the new year! 2016 is off to a great start at The Pine Needle with lots of fabric and events on the horizon. I'm Kristin, the newest "Pine Cone," and I'm going to don the social media mantle. I hope to keep the blog humming along with updates monthly if not more. Our Facebook and Instagram accounts will be getting more attention too.

What's coming up? Don't miss our Winter Open House Friday Jan 15th and Saturday Jan 16th from 11am to 5pm.

Come meet our outstanding staff and take advantage of their professional input and receive discounts on many items. Our instructors Pam Raby, Rachel Kerley, and Vickie Pierson will share inspiring projects and upcoming classes. Dawn White and Nancy McGuire will demo a few of their favorite products.

Meet author and teacher Sheila Snyder of A License to Quilt who will be on hand to help select fabric for her Turban Stool class. And, enjoy a jewelry show and sale by Kelly Forester of Kis Designs.

If that's not enough, we'll be having hourly drawings for great prizes too. We hope to see you here!