Here’s another beautiful project made by customer Pat P. from Australia for her granddaughter, shown here with permission. I love how the bright colors in the dress echo the botanical garden around her. Australians are wonderful quilters and seamstresses!

Here is a closeup shot of the dress, using California Dreamin’ fabric by Jenean Morrison for Free Spirit. If you are “sew” inspired to make something similar, you are in luck as I just put that collection on sale for a limited time.

Here’s what Pat had to say about creating this dress, ” I made the dress because all you can buy locally are  dresses which are are the same as each other. This was economical and fun to make.

“The materials went together so well and were just perfect.  I used my bias binder to make the strips down the front. The fabric was so easy to sew and did not crease and I only needed a small amount of each fabric. I added some fancy buttons and little daisies. My grand daughter is 8 and still loves girly things.”

Ok, this seriously makes me want to venture out of my quilting comfort zone and try something new!

I just love it when customers send me photos of quilts they’ve made with my fabric! This Fairy quilt comes from Debra in Australia and I’m showing it here with her permission.

Isn’t it lovely? She used one panel unit of the Periwinkle Flower Fairies from Michael Miller and surrounded it with coordinating tone-on-tones and some patchwork.

Here’s what Debra had to say about her quilt, “I made the quilt for a family friend’s 11 year old granddaughter. I decided on the fairies and the colours because they represented colour, warmth and love of life. The frames around the squares were different sizes. This quilt was a real challenge and I really enjoyed making it.

“I have always sewn and knitted my children’s clothes. I got bored with sewing, knitting and crocheting and decided to make a  quilt and I haven’t looked back since.

“When someone wants a quilt, I try and take in all that I can about the person, because to me this is important in deciding what pattern and colours I will use.”

Way to go Debra!

I have such talented friends! And I love it when they let me share pictures of what they’ve made using my fabrics. My friend Alexis recently made a Roman shade from some Amy Butler fabric: Temple Tulips in the Cinnamon color from the Soul Blossoms collection.

Here’s a picture of her finished shade and a link to her blog Persia Lou to read all about it!

I have “sew” much fun in my quilting guild that I wanted to encourage you to join one if you haven’t already. My large guild of over 300 members has several smaller groups that meet once a month, called quilting circles. Here’s a report of Rainbow group’s July meeting:

We had a demo on binding and how to finish the ends so that they are neat and tidy.

We also had a book report on two fabulous scrappy quilt books that use jelly roll strips. They are called Scrap Basket Sensations and Scrap Basket Surprises. Our guild president, Bobbi has already made a few quilts from the book.

I liked them so much that I ordered several copies to sell on my website and it will be available the middle of August. I can’t wait!

The best part of our meeting, by far, is the show and tell. We have some absolutely talented ladies and it’s such a treat to see their work.

One of our members, Karen, won a weekend retreat with Ricky Tims and we were all jealous!! She dyed her own fabrics and designed a unique Rhapsody Quilt.

After such a fun and uplifting meeting I was inspired to go home and sew. That’s the point, right?

Ok, so it’s a different sort of shopping spree I had this morning – one of my fabric sale reps came by to pay a visit today bringing loads of new fabric samples and paper-mockups of new lines coming out this fall.

Here’s Ron from Westminster showing me the latest and greatest new fabrics from Kaffe Fassett, due out this fall. I scooped up a few geometric-looking lines and ordered a bunch of precuts. Westminster is getting on the bandwagon with that, much to everyone’s delight!

Next, I got to see paper printouts of Amy Butler‘s newest collection, Lark, coming in October. First the company prints the designs to scale on paper, then produces them on fabric after enough orders have been taken. I’m sure this one will be very popular!

I’ll be going to my next wholesale trade show in September but it’s nice that many of my sales reps will also make house calls. Now, I just have to be patient and wait for the good stuff to arrive!