Two Bus Trips in Two Months!

Tirck or Treat 2011

Our wonderful group of 35 Ladies

Lots of shopping in great quilt shops

Bus Mom Bonnie has lots of fun games after the shopping was done!

We played Trash, LCR, and bobbed for apples!

Some of the activities happened on the bus between shops, here we colored!

All the shops knew how to feed us good!

Download our recipes from shoppers here.

As a special project the participants of the bus trip will be making blocks to sew together for a quilt to be donated to the healthy woman program in 2012. The healthy woman program's Paint Ponca Pink raises money for women who cannot afford mammograms. We will accept any 12 1/2" block before November 30th to be used in the project. 

Download the corrected Quilt Block Pattern here.

Thank you all for traveling with us, we hope to do many more trips like this one! 

he Golden Ticket Bus Tour took us to 10 amazing quilt shops from Oklahoma, to Texas, Kansas and Missouri. We had tons of fun, played games, partied, ate and shopped! These are some of the highlights from our favorite shops and some must have items we couldn't live without.

Some of our stylish quilt ladies were dressed to shop! These beautiful bead necklaces featuring wound bobbins really show a cute and elegant side to quilt jewelry. The Just Bobbin Along Necklace can be found on their website for $18.00 and is available in a few different color options. 

Robbin and Kathy were dressed to shop every day! Here they are in Kearney Missouri at And Sew Bee It.

Our Rock Star Bus accommodated us perfectly! We were one lucky bunch, our bus never had any problems or issues and we were very comfortable in our big black bus! We even had a VIP driver, David, who shared our love of fabric shopping and sewing! He was the best driver we could have ever asked for, and on any future trips with this company he will be our requested driver!

On the bus we spent our time sewing, watching videos and playing games. Our video's were part of a subscription series from McCall's Quilting called Inspire Design and Create. I couldn't find a source to order these videos, but if you have any more info please leave it in the comments section. The biggest sensation was the video we watched on our way to McKinney Texas. The video was a demonstration on English paper piecing, and after the video about half the bus was buying hexagon papers and pre-cut hexagon fabric. We all had so much fun getting these done together, and even played the video a second time! Send me your pictures of your finished projects to share with our bus group.

Arriving soon at Completely Quilted: Paper Pieces Hexagons in various sizes, Frixon Gel Ball Pen, Rotary Cutting Mini Mat, Quilter's 3-Way Sandboard, 

We had planned games and activities on the bus, with lots of prizes won! We played Bingo for a huge stack of 40 fat quarters and other prizes. We also had a very popular coloring project, everyone was so enthusiastic to use crayons to color their very own block. Every block turned out different and unique. Here is the Bus after they were done coloring their blocks.

The Rock Star Bus trip promised Hour devours and Cocktails in the evenings, we got to the hotels at a pretty late hour and we were tired. However, when we arrived in Columbia Missouri we were ready for a little night cap. Thanks to Linda from Specialty Quilts, and Chris from Sewflakes, we treated ourselves to a little wine and margarita wine coolers! Cheers!

One of my Highlights was seeing Tula Pink and her Mom Kathy Runyan owner of The Quilt Shoppe in Stewartsville Missouri. They have a large open store with great bathrooms! Shown on the rights is the Tula escape, a whole section of everything Tula Pink! 

The shop in Webster Groves was brand new and very cute! They had lots of modern fabrics and unique shelving on the walls that made it very easy to see all of their fabric selections. 

Here are some of us relaxing on the porch at And Sew Be It in Kearny Missouri. They had a cute shop that was bright and cheery, and also Rocking Chair Quilts in Butler Missouri with their adorable town square and beautiful building, we had a great time in Missouri!

Pictured from the bottom left front row; Pat Thompson, Wanda Sheehan, Nancy Shepard, Anna Lewis, Patsy Williams, Pam Mann, Renee Weyl, second row; Patti Pfanseti, Janie Lee, Kay Gawel, Sue Roy, Colleen Patterson, Nancy Rathbun "Bus Mom", Judy Bradly, Linda Paulsen, Sue Bond, Brenda Berman, Robbin Seymour, Samantha Cales, Jo Tarp, Kim Courtney, Wilma Spangler, Donna Lessman, Carolyn Long, Third Row; Betty Lindsay, Ruth Zachary, Leura Marler, Kay Duvall, Jane Steele, Karen Shurts, Liz Johnson, Robbyn Hall, Linda Brown, Thomasine Hendrickson, Kathy Hughes, Cathy Fisher, Annette Ham, and Judy Wohletz.

Thank you everyone who made this trip so much fun! We don't have to wait long to take another bus trip, come travel with us to 11 different shops on our Trick or Treat Bus trip in October! See our website for more details and call to sign up!

Tick or Treat Bus Trip

Our customers completed for the gold in our Jelly Roll Races!

Make a quilt top in minutes with just 1 jelly roll

Watch the video and description of the Jelly Roll races here http://blog.heirloomcreations.net/?tag=jelly-roll-races We loved the idea of the Jelly Roll Race and thought it would be fun to do in our store! I sat down and timed myself while sewing my Jelly Roll quilt and was clocked at 45 minutes and 46 seconds. We will see if anyone could beat my time!

Completely Quilted race rules and pre-preparation 

We have a large variety of Jelly Rolls to choose from to prepare for your race. Preparation time can take up to an hour.

Customers came prepared for the race and started their sewing machine engines! Intense minutes followed as they hurriedly sewed their laps to create a Jelly Roll masterpiece.

Here Ruth Z. is busy sewing her first lap. Each lap takes half the time as the previous, making the quilt easy to sew and fast!

Our morning Jelly Roll race competitors with their finished quilt tops, Jeannie M. with a time of 43 minutes and 09 seconds, and Ruth Z. with a time of 60 minutes and 02 seconds. Everyone is a winner at the Jelly Roll Race with their quilt tops!

Donetta H. and Teri P. racing the clock.

Thomasine H. and Barbara H. concentrating on their strips.

Our finished afternoon heat with their finished tops, Teri P. was the winner of a $50.00 gift certificate with a time of 44 minutes and 22 seconds, and Thomasine was right behind with a time of 45:33, Barbara 45:37, and Donetta 48:43. That is some speedy sewing!

 Isn't it amazing to see these wonderful quilts? Barbara and Teri both chose Summer House Jelly Rolls, their quilts turned out a little bit different. 

I challenge you to also dust off those Jelly Rolls you may have purchased and try your hand at a Jelly Roll Race quilt, post your times and send pictures of your lovely quilts!

BERNINA Univerisity is our time of the year to experience the amazing new products that BERNINA has to offer. We get to take classes and learn even more about the amazing machines we sell to you. Bonnie and I traveled 9 long hours to San Antonio Texas (I made it here in about 8 1/2 hours with 4 stops and a 30 min lunch). We are so excited to share all that we've seen and learned about, plus we are going to bring these new ideas to you!

Opening Night was fun, lots of cowboys and dancing, and authentic music! Then we were surprised with a appreciation award for being an excellence dealer, which means we do everything we can to keep our customers happy by offering the best service and classes. I accepted the award from H.P. Ueltchi the 4th generation owner and president of BERNINA.

Thank you to our BERNINA customers, we owe all our sucess to you! We are so excited to bring you the best year after year. We have some amazing things planned for you to celebrate our 4 year anniversary in August.

New this year will be a great new group of BERNINA sewing machines, the 5 Series.

At BERNINA University we learn so much, and it is our chance to take classes from the best sewing educators in the world. Bonnie and I took a class learning all the new features of the 5 series machines.

We both got to make a fun composition book cover, with free motion quitling with the BERNINA Stitch Regulator! They also feature NEW decorative stitches and some word combinations. These machines are made to create the most beautiful finished projects!

More on these amazing new machines to come!

Another great aspect of BERNINA University is being able to see some of the newest patterns and methods, straight from the creators. One of our favorites was Jenny Haskins 3-D Magic. These beautiful flowers use texture magic inside to create a realistic curling affect. They were beautiful in silk and featured on a quilting project, purses and broches.

Here are the flowers up close, they are made using machine embrodiery in the hoop. The background quilting is also done in the hoop using texture magic.

And more flowers in different colors on these fun silk purses.

As always we are overcome by the amount of beautiful embroidery designs and new products, I couldn't stop touching and feeling these beautiful projects. You know the feeling when you just have to have something? This was nost definatly one of those times!

Another amazing quilt done by the BERNINA International team, it features lovely classic patchwork blocks and applique. The soft feel and fun dimension made it unusual and classic at the same time. Look for this as a free project on BERNINA's website.

They also created a smaller wall hanging size matching sample with the NEW BERNINA 550 Quilter's Edition machine. I am really excited about this new sleek machine!

Expect to see these fun Floralicious project at Completely Quilted soon! These bright colored quilts use a matching machine embroidery collection. They feature in the hoop appliques.

I also loved these small projects, pillows, foot stool, table runners, and of course multiple quilts in both colors.

Now I have so many fun things to make! Where to start...

The journey to choose a block of the month is an intense experience. It all started for us back in October during International Quilt market in Houston TX. We arrived in Houston ready to SHOP! As soon as we walked though the door our eyes glossed over and we walked around drooling most of the weekend. Though the haze of fabric and books and purchasing I remember the first time I laid eyes on the Crystal Bright with Crystal Bloom Block of the Month....

I instantly recognized the fabric from Nancy Halverson's Garden Song. I love her whimsical prints that are the perfect mix between a pastel and a bright! Mom and I talked to the creator of this quilt for at least an hour. We talked about the pattern and the process they go through for a Block of the Month. The creator of this quilt owns a fabric shop and pattern company in Michigan. We liked her very much and LOVED her taste in quilts. So we took a risk and ordered 48 patterns to start the journey!

Re-grouping after quilt market takes at least a month! Each day we get something we ordered in the mail, like Christmas! Then one happy day the BIG box of patterns arrived! It was time to get our fabric and get cutting!

After all that cutting!!! Comes the fun part of sewing our store sample!

All of the employees worked together to finish the quilt in less than a month! That's how great a team we have! Making quilts on a deadline is great, as incentive to finish your blocks, make sure the last month's blocks are finished on demo day and it's FREE!

After we worked so hard on piecing this masterpiece, Mom got behind the Long-Arm machine and got down to the quilting. We looked at the picture that came with the quilt and she worked her magic, adding custom swirls and curls to make the quilt beautiful. She is an amazingly talented quilter!

I'm so excited about all of the prints in this quilt! Plaids, dots, florals, they are all just so cute! You Block of the month can look just like ours...Fabulous!

So how do you get signed up for yourself!? It's so easy!!!!

Click here to sign up.

I look forward to updating you with lots of other projects and fun times from our Block of the Month Demo Day, the first Saturday of the month, when we will show how to make that months blocks. Demo Day is $5.00, but if you bring the last month's blocks finished its FREE!! Sign up today!!!