Fresh Fabrics For Spring

After a post-Puyallup Expo lull, new fabrics are arriving nearly daily!

Who's hungry for sushi? This fresh combo would make fun kitchen accessories like the French Flea Market Apron (which includes a kid size as well as an adult one), accents on towels, or maybe even some fun Pea Pod or other zip bags.

Maker Maker's graphically simple cats and dogs, and a collection of nubby linens from Lecien have a quiet, minimalist color palette perfect for totes and table runners.

Another lovely neutral collection is Destination Paris from Windham Fabrics. Are you dreaming of a European vacation yet?

Check out this purple and orange and blue from Robert Kaufman, Anthology, M&S (Australian), and P&B -- who knew they'd all look so rich and delicious together? Well, we kind of did.

We've refreshed our beachy blues and corals.

We've got a super cute collection of juvenile fabrics from Makower UK, mixed with some of our favorite basics, ready to be made into baby quilts and more!

And, Carrie Bloomston's Dreamer collection is finally here. We're making kits for our Hip To Dream and Lucy's Garden sample quilts, as well as having yardage for you to choose your own adventure!

Westside Modern Quilt Club June 2016

Our June meeting was filled with inspiration and food for thought. 

First off, Geri caught us up on details for the Tribal Winds challenge. Hopefully everyone wishing to participate is already well on their way creating their quilts! 
• The 2016 Challenge will debut at Northwest Quilting Expo in September 22-24, 2016. Please print out the entry form from the NQE website (the link is on this page) and bring it, filled out, with your quilt to our reveal party. Write in Westside Modern Quilt Club in the Special Exhibits box. The $20 entry fee is waived for our Challenge quilts. 
• Our reveal party pot luck will be at 6:00 on August 31st at Millennium Park in Lake Oswego. If your last name starts with A-L, please bring a main dish; if your name starts with M-S, please bring a salad of some sort; and if your last name starts with T-Z you may bring dessert.
• The challenge is open to anyone wishing to honor the heritage of the Northwest Native Americans in a Modern Quilt format (please avoid decidedly pictorial solutions). 
• Your piece must measure either 32"x 44" or 48"x 66" and use some amount of the Benartex fabric Sevilla in gold or gold and white. 
• It must also have a 4 inch sleeve attached to the back of the quilt for hanging, and must be bound or otherwise finished (facing, satin stitch, etc.).

As always, Show and Tell was fun!

Cathy brought her Floribunda fabric quilt. She created a design which used fat quarters as efficiently as possible. She still had a few leftover bits, so she incorporated them into a simpler, graphic, back, which she's decided she likes better, so it is now the front!

 

Kathy E brought a vintage hexagon quilt she recently purchased. She's thinking it's great inspiration for a more Modern version. The crafts(wo)manship was gorgeous.

Pat's been using up her stash fabrics. She brought a striking wall hanging made of neutral colored triangles, and a contemporary interpretation of a log cabin in a very Modern green, orange and grey scheme.

Deslie showed off her Fish Fish Fish quilt which features a lively, you guessed it, fish print batik.

Grace brought her shashiko placemats and gorgeously stitched "hexie" quilt, plus a fun bright quilt with a relatively simple design but great impact.

Jane showed two very different quilts, one with batiks and one a nearly whole cloth quilt made from a vintage tablecloth and osnaburg fabric. She did gorgeous long-arm quilting on both.

Susan brought her little sketch quilt from a Jean Wells Intuitive Piecing class, plus two more even tinier ones made from the leftovers. These little compositional studies are like potato chips -- you can't make just one!

Linda D brought the big color wheel quilt she made with a Tula Pink pattern, and her newest Billie Bag adorned with graphic crows.

Robin brought flower quilts! One was a brightly colored quilt from a Weeks Ringle pattern, which Robin quilted as if she were a bee flitting from flower to flower. It's full of charming loops and meanderings. The next is a big sunflower which she created using a Pine Needle kit purchased when she was just learning to quilt. The last was a lovely blue, white, and yellow quilt featuring flower baskets which Robin embroidered masterfully.

Geri showed off some of the new fabrics in the shop -- like a Marcia Derse alphabet panel, House of Hoppington by Portland's own Violet Craft, and especially our new batch of Australian fabrics which we've paired with the Me+You modern batiks to great effect. 

Our guest speaker was Judy Livingston, a pattern designer and former buyer with Maywood Studio and EE Schenk distributors. She gave us an insider's look at what a fabric company looks for when designing fabric lines, and what a buyer keeps in mind when purchasing for a distributor (plus Geri got to chime in from a quilt store's point of view). She talked about new colors for old designs, creating designs from artwork, the batik process, and the difference between batik, silkscreen, and digital prints. I don't think many of us realized how long the process can be, and how many choices have to be made along the way. By the time the fabric reaches your local shop, it has been carefully tailored to that shop's needs. One of Judy's favorite projects was working with Maywood's Japanese-inspired line of taupe fabrics. To celebrate the 10th year of the line, she designed a beautiful quilt using all the fabrics produced for the collection over the ten year period. 

Judy also spoke about inspiration and creativity. She gave us tips for cultivating creativity by simply finding ways to relax and percolate. Learning whether you find thinking about a creative project relaxing and can drift off to sleep letting your subconscious work at it, or find it invigorating and can use the quiet time before getting up perfect for planning an approach to a project, can help us better tap into our creative selves. As a pattern designer, Judy finds inspiration in many things. She likes to look outside of the quilt world, and often looks to nature for interesting color palettes. She showed a "dresser scarf" she made with repurposed pieces of an appliquéd vest -- which was a pretty creative use of fabrics she liked...

but that project then went on to inspire a new pattern design based on colors and Broderie perse flowers.

As always, the meeting was informative and inspirational. We look forward to next month's meeting the last Wednesday in July.

Did You Know?

We keep ordering these Australian fabrics from M&S textiles and they keep flying out the door, so we know they are hitting a chord with our customers. They definitely have rich colors and appeal to a wide audience, but did you know that they are not just pretty pictures? Each fabric is based on designs from Australian Aboriginal artists and each one has it's own story.

Come in to the shop and read about the meaning of each design. Some include native plants or animals, some have spiritual meaning, and some represent such geographic locales as sand dunes or salt plains. Each story is intriguing and unique and provides an extra layer of interest to your quilts and other projects.

We're Inspired by: Black and White

It's bold. It's graphic, it goes with everything!

Like the little black dress that's a must in so many women's wardrobes, black and white fabric is a classic mixer for anyone's fabric stash.

Whether it's playful typography, low volume shirting prints, or simple scattered designs on black, there's a black and white fabric you'll fall for.

This digital print of a stunning cityscape sold out within a few weeks. We can't wait to see the projects our customers start making with it.

Spring at The Pine Needle

Spring has definitely sprung at The Pine Needle! We're re-stocking after the whirlwind that was the Sewing and Stitch Expo in Puyallup, WA and there's lots of sunny colors and cute animals just in time for spring projects.

Bunnies and birdies and butterflies, oh my!

Summer Roads is our newest kit using our Crossroads pattern. It looks great in soft, springtime colors (to include the pink chosen by Pantone to be one of the colors for 2016).

Pink paired with grey and a deeper red says spring fling! Valentine's Day may have passed, but romance can still be in the air.

We've still got Katya kits and Quick Curve rulers for this stunner of a quilt. Some new cheery retro looking fabrics fit right in to the mix.

Spring means babies, and we've got lots of adorable flannels, and self-binding baby blanket kits that are perfect last minute shower gifts.

While the Cat's Away...

While the cat's away the mice will play! Geri and crew are at the Sewing and Stitchery Expo in Puyallup, WA this weekend, and while they are working hard there, the Pinecones staying behind at the shop are having a sale!

Selected fabrics with (all these in the photo above) are a mere $4.99 per yard. We've also got Marcia Derse half yards, selected fat quarters, our Awesome Odds, and fabric by the ounce all discounted 40% to 50% off. And, for those who like to add a little texture to their work we've got a table full of interior design samples for 50 cents each.

If you can't make it to Puyallup, we hope to see you in the shop in Lake Oswego February 25th through 27th.

February2016 Westside Modern Quilt Club Meeting

What a pleasure it is to see our classroom fill up on meeting nights. It must be the jokes!

Geri went over the challenge details (see previous post) and announced that in lieu of a March meeting we are organizing a docent-led tour of the "Contemporary Native Photographers and the Edward Curtis Legacy exhibit at the Portland Art Museum. It will be on March 30th at 10:00am. Please call Geri at the shop to sign up.

Quite a few ladies shared their log cabin variations (our "assignment" from last month). Maryanne cut a log cabin block and rearranged it in many variations to great effect. Cathy played with width. Rosalind's were a very pretty red and aqua. Mary Pat's were wonky and inspired by the colors of a sunset. Betsy brought a log cabin quilt she made as a mystery, and while the blocks were traditional, she had a lot of fun experimenting with different layouts. Kathy knit her log cabin!

Geri showed off our new Me + You batiks which have a great, flexible aesthetic. They pair perfectly with each other, especially for a Modern vibe, but are also equally comfortable with traditional batiks or prints. By the way, we love them in this "Illumination" quilt kit.

The best part of the night though, was Rachel Kerley, our guest speaker this month. In her charming, humorous style, she shared her quilts philosophy on making. She strives for excellent craftsmanship paired with flexible, improvisational design (she likes cutting with scissors because it "creates a look of unstraightness"). Though she uses prints almost exclusively, her style is Modern because, as she says, "It's not the paint that makes it Modern, it's the painter."

Show and Tell:

Cathy shared an art quilt inspired by a Beach Walk and a tree scene inspired by a class with the late Joan Colvin.

Deslee brought a triangle quilt in rich batiks.

Holly and Susan Dottarar made a fun school auction quilt featuring the childrens' handprints as umbrellas.

Robin brought a stunning red and white quilt (that was exhibited at IQF's Ruby Jubilee in Houston last year), showcasing the art deco architecture of the Chicago Board of Trade building.

Sandy showed off a bright diamond quilt made from a friend's collection of Hawaiian fabrics.

Keep bringing your Show and Tell, we love to see everyone's creativity.

Super Bolt Sunday

It's Super Bolt Sunday all weekend long at The Pine Needle!

Come on in today for deals on sample quilts, select fat quarters and half yards, and more. Then you can sew while watching the game. Or, come in on Sunday while everyone else is glued to the TV.

The Pine Needle is Prepping for Puyallup

Come see us in our two booths at the Sewing and Stitchery Expo in Puyallup, WA from Feb 25th through 28th.

  

The Pinecones are busy preparing for the show -- we're choosing fabrics and notions to bring, cutting and assembling kits, and sewing up samples to inspire our customers.

We've got snuggly flannels like misty greats and creams for our Highland Crossroads quilt (above), and absolutely adorable prints for self-binding baby blankets -- a quick, easy, and super-cute solution for the next baby in your life (below). 

We're proud to have Mary Fons in our booth as well. We'll be showcasing her new World Piece fabric collection gathered by country. We're busily sewing up lovely samples that make efficient use of these fun bundles.

It's not just about quilts. We've got smaller projects too, like the Noddlehead 241 bag and Market Tote patterns which shows off special fabrics beautifully.

We hope to see you there!