• The Modern Quilt Guild.  I’ve seen it mentioned on Sew Mama Sew several times and meant to bring it up.  Alert listener Carlyn reminded me about it.  Are there any Modern Quilt Guild members listening?  Send me an email or leave a comment if you are a member.  I’d love to hear what it is like.
• The Ladies’ Art Company Block Tool by Connie Chunn.   What an awesome reference!  It has a great variety of blocks and gives cutting sizes for up to 5 different block sizes. 
• The Quilter’s Newsletter had two patterns that I loved this month.

Have a listen!

Hey, check out our new pup!  Actually he is full grown, so he isn’t a pup anymore. 

Things I mention…

Check out the cover of the Spring Keepsake Quilting.  What a beautiful quilt!

How to make a pinata.  I’m making a clone trooper pinata for The Boy’s birthday party.  I hope it turns out ok.

I talked about how to make quilting frugal in this episode.  Being frugal is the new thing to do, ya know!  This episode I talked about piecing frugally…you guessed it: do it by hand!  Here are the basics to get you started:

• Fabric – 100% cotton is your best bet; but really anything that is stable and doesn’t stretch will do
• thread – 100% cotton or polyester thread is good. 
• needles – you’ll probably want to use needles called ‘sharps’ from the quilt shop.  I use size 10.
• pencil – a mechanical pencil is great for outlining templates
• a permanent marker can be helpful when you are making your templates.
• pattern – you can find lots for free on the block resources page.  And don’t overlook a free source for TONS of info – your local public library!
• 1/4 inch ruler
• template material – I use template material from the quilt shop.  It’s a see-through plastic.  What you use doesn’t have to be see-through, but it helps if you want to fussy cut.  You can use lots of things that you find around the house for this…the pioneers did!!

 Thanks for listening.  Have a great day!!

There are lots of ways to get your quilt fix by snail mail – who doesn’t love getting mail?!

Show notices – glossy brochures to upcoming shows are lovely to get.  Here are a few I’ve recently received:

• The Original Sewing & Quilting Expo has 4 upcoming Spring events around the United States, including Cleveland on March 26th, 27th, and 28th.
• AQS Quilt Show & Contest in Paducah Kentucky, April 22nd – 25th.  Big Gammill giveaway – go here to enter for free or join up as a member.

Sewing catalogs!  I love catalogs!  Sure you can shop on the internet too but then you don’t get the joy of touching glossy paper.  And you can still browse when the electricity goes out.

• Keepsake Quilting - order a free catalog for yourself here.
• Sewing with Nancy - order a free catalog for yourself here.

Magazines!!  There are tons of magazines to read, here are the three I get:

• Quilter’s Home
• Quilter’s Newsletter
• The Quilting Quarterly (from NQA)

What about…

• Block of the Month programs – otherwise known as BOM’s.
• Fabric subscriptions – some shops offer a subscription service similar to fruit-of-the-month clubs, with themes like Bali or Moda fabric, etc.

Many thanks to those leaving comments!!!