February Sneak Peek!

I can't believe tomorrow is February 1st!  I almost missed the sneak peek; it's unbelievable how fast this month has flown by.  So here what's coming up... tomorrow...

New, hand-dyed wool bundle, GREI

New,  Hearts Ornament kit- how we love our wire tree!

'Sorbet'

New, Hand-dyed Fiber Pack, 'Sorbet'

  

New, Embellishment Pack, 'Be Mine'- Quantities Limited

New, LIMITED QUANTITY, 'Midnight Blue', Dazzle thread

Lots of fun, new cotton fabrics

Giveaway!

Visit us on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/SueSpargoFolkartQuilts, to enter to win this fabulous silk thread pack!  Quick, contest ends Saturday January 28, 5pm EST.

Where Are You?

"Your blogs are getting scarce..."  that's the text I received yesterday from a friend of mine; my response was, "I know".  So where have I been?  What have I/we been doing?  Well, we have been working really hard on a little secret which I am really hoping to reveal the beginning of February- but I just don't know if it/we will be ready!  Besides that, we have been working on 2012's BOM and trying to prepare, or should I say trying to wrap our heads around the International Quilt Festival (retail show) in Cincinnati we are attending this year.  The stock of- everything- we need to prepare for the show makes me want to pass out.  It's an ongoing joke that Peg loves to order, and order, and order- especially threads and ribbons. Last week she was on the phone placing one of our massive thread orders for the upcoming show.  The order went on and on- I was seriously breaking out in a cold sweat.  I looked over at Cathy and asked her if she would bring her flashlight and iPhone to work the following day so we would be able to see and pull the orders- I was sure we would not be able to pay the electric bill after that order went through.  Cathy looked at me and mouthed "I know- my heart is palpitating"-  I have no idea where we will store this kind of stock!  My grandma suggested we order one of those large crates or containers that we could put in the driveway.  It is actually not a bad idea.  Usually when there is something 'extra'- like if we have stuff to take to Goodwill or we have a ton of boxes for recycling- my mom tells me to store them in the trunk of my car- or her's- really- I'm not kidding.  The trunks will just not do for this...

Anyway- I spent the morning unloading and inventorying wool for the BOM- again- I have no idea where we are going to store this...

Hundreds and hundreds of yards... the pictures just don't give it justice.

Giveaway!

How about another giveaway?  Be one of three lucky winners!  To see what's up for grabs and enter to win, visit http://summerkitchenquilts.blogspot.com/2012/01/little-giveaway.html.

And while you are there be sure to read the post titled 'Woman Who Inspire Me~ Sue Spargo'.  I am so taken aback by this post.  I know my mom is one of a kind, but to read someone else's view of her is truly touching.  Beautiful Angela, just beautiful!

Embellishing with Silk Ribbon

Earlier this week I received an email from a customer who had purchased our new 'Waves of Grain' hand-dyed fiber pack.  She loved the fibers in the pack, but asked 'what can I do with the silk ribbon'?  I promised to post a few examples of what we have done to embellish with silk ribbon (below). 

I hope this encourages all of you to experiment with silk ribbon and incorporate them into your embellishing.   

Waves of Grain, silk ribbon

 Pictured above, the closed fly stitch (the center of the leaf) and pistil stitch (3 stitches at the top of the leaf)

All fibers (excluding the wool) contained in the Waves of Grain Hand-dyed Fiber Pack were utilized in this leaf example 

Down center of the leaf is the closed fly stitch (with silken pearl) over the grosgrain ribbon in the fiber pack

The silk ribbon is used to couch the fiber along the outer edge of the leaf

For the really brave and experienced stitchers- above is where my mom has created flowers with silk ribbon.

If you have not had the opportunity to purchase this wonderful new pack, here is the link- http://www.suespargo.com/index.html.

Wishing everyone a creative and relaxing weekend,

Avalanche!

At the beginning of this week we began putting together January 2012's BOM.  These pictures just do not give the 500 packages justice.  I tried, but failed, to meticulously place each pack on our large cutting table so you could truly have a sense of the enormity of the task we conquered by January 2nd.  Several large boxes remained, so my best guess is this may be around 350 block 1 packs.

We are all pretty proud to be so on task- January=check.