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Saturday, December 24, 2016

Happy Holidays To All!

Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas and sincere hopes for the 
very best in the New Year!  

My heartfelt thanks to all of you for your kind words, support and patronage which allow me to continue working and creating in this 
quilting world we all love.  

May our needles be happy 
and  be merrily working 
all through the year! 

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Cheddar Lovers, Rejoice!!

Cheddar Lovers ~ Your voices were heard!  

Wow ~ as usual, you all blew me away with your comments!!  Love, love reading each one of them.  I am obviously in the minority with cheddar color fabrics and am so glad that you let me know how many of you would like to have them.   It means Marcus Fabrics and I are going in the right direction giving you just the lovely fabrics you'd like to play with.

So...after reading your comments I promptly placed an order for the entire collection!  Yay!

Therefore, in early February, I'll offer bundles for PRE-ORDER.  It's good to know (from your comments) that all of you don't necessarily want the cheddar but love the taupe, so I'll offer split color bundles of just cheddar, and just taupe, as well as the entire collection so you can be sure to get the fabrics you want and not the ones you don't.  

I'm afraid I didn't make myself clear in my last post with my offer to give-away a few Fat Eighths.  Because I only have a little bit of sample yardage right now, I don't have entire bundles to give.  I just have two cheddars and one taupe print (6 pieces in all) to share at the moment, but many more free patterns to offer.  Sorry for any misunderstanding.

Here are the winning comments.....

Amanda Best - I like cheddar in small amounts in reproduction style quilts, but too much is overwhelming to me.  Your cheddars and taupes are gorgeous!

Siam Kitty - LOVE your new Cheddars, and look forward to adding them to my stash! I am making a series of Charm Quilts, and Cheddars will really add zing to them! 

Lynne Stucke - You did an awesome job with the cheddars . . . yummy enough to get those crackers out and dig right in! (are the taupes representative of crackers???) YUM!

Laura V - Oh, I hope you offer fat quarter bundles, I'm not sure the shops near me will have these! You did a fantastic job and I'm not a cheddar fan all that much, but these are so warm and beautiful! And I agree taupe is so hard to find and it is great in quilts. Awesome!

Pamela T - You are right! up until now there were very few cheddar's but now yours are delicious! and the taupe oh yes. I would put some blues with those and I would have so much fun. Thank you for the opportunity to win ! 

Nel - Love, love, love the cheddars!!! I've used them in many quilts, and they add a great sparkle! Thanks for a chance to win! 

Melody in WI - Gorgeous shades. The cheddar color range is what will make a quilt sparkle. I'm typically not drawn to this color except when I quilt, My quilt needs to have a little yellow or orange in it. Now off to have a grilled cheese :)), with all of this cheddar talk it's made me hungry. 

Judy Zoll - I am not a big cheddar fan but do use the color sparingly sometimes. My friend loves cheddar, should I be lucky enough to win she will be gifted! The taupes would be mine! Your fabrics are beautiful. 

Marge - I, too, am a recent convert to cheddar (fabric that is, always have been with cheese. Have you ever had Cotswald - an orange colored cheddar with chives? Yum...I digress). I'll be looking for this collection in March because I would like to use cheddar as a main fabric in a scrap quilt. As for taupe - Yes! - Bring it on! Greys are one of my neutrals, and there aren't a lot of them. My favorite neutral is red because I took a workshop with Freddy Moran years ago. (I'm digressing again!) Thank you! 

Carol - I love cheddars and taupes. What's not to love - such richness is inspirational. Never mind the fat eighth and fat quarter bundles. Just go for the half yards and full yards. Don't mess around. 

Deborah from Valpo - I love cheddar.....and I always wondered why there wasn't more cheddar to pick from. I'm always nervous about using what is in my stash because I'm afraid I'll need it later and won't be able to find it! Beautiful collection of both cheddar and taupe! Thanks so much for designing it and the opportunity to win!

Candace - Oh....you've certainly disturbed MY force, in a very good way, I was late to the cheddar bandwagon so being able to add to my miniscule stash along with much needed taupes (yes, the quilt world is lacking), would rock my ship for sure! Thanks for taking the plunge, Pam! You are a force to be reckoned with!
Cheers! 

Gwynette from Arkansas - LOVE the cheddar and the taupes are going to a great addition to use with your blue, red, and plum fabric, also. So glad you stepped out of your box!!
All of the winners will receive a free pattern.  Since I have chosen more than 6 winners, the fabric will be inserted randomly into envelopes so we won't know who is getting it until it arrives at your door!  

Please email your mailing address to me at Pam@HeartspunQuilts.com and I'll get those envelopes in the mail.

Thank you all again for your wonderful and very funny comments.  Just when I think I'm "talking" to empty cyber space, you let me know you're there.  Makes me smile for sure!

Just a few days until Santa arrives....enjoy your holiday!  Pam











Thursday, December 15, 2016

Never Say Never!

In previous posts, I proclaimed a "disturbance in the Force", a phenomenon known to all Star Wars fans, and a phrase I borrowed to describe a bend if you will, within me regarding a very long standing choice.  

A change in a long standing choice.....of what?

Well....this stuff I LOVE!  Say the word cheddar and I'm there, cracker in hand.  Say the word cheddar regarding fabric......well.......not so much.  

I'm on record for many years and in several publications that "I don't do cheddar" fabrics.  I know they were popular in the 1800's, and I maintain that I wouldn't have liked them then either.  It's just a personal thing and I know I'm in the minority here.

About the change.....so have I changed my mind?  No....not really.  Confused?  

The good folks at Marcus Fabrics called a few months ago to ask me if I would design a few cheddar prints for them.  Not one to shy away from a challenge, after a few minutes of thinking about it, and reminding them that cheddar is not in my wheelhouse, I accepted the challenge for several reasons.  Designing cheddar fabrics is much easier than designing a quilt using them, and......I think it's good to step out of your comfort zone now and then to stretch your imagination and skills.  
This new collection, called Cheddar & Friends has just 12 sweet prints.  

These are the six new Cheddar prints.  They range from a warm autumnal orange to the very bright classic cheddar orange.  There are prints suitable for small blocks and others for large pieces such as setting squares, border and sashings.  

The trouble is, for those quilters who really enjoy using Cheddar prints, they're not often available, so this little group will help them feed their stash!

 Cheddar make up six of the new 12 prints.  What about the other six?

During my conversation about the cheddar collection, I mentioned my love of taupe color fabric and how that color was another that is also missing on the quilt shop shelves.  I notice a definite trend for using more and more taupe fabrics in CW Reproduction style quilts.  I don't think it was an authentic color of the time period... I think what it does is give an aged look to quilts made with it.  We've all seen antique quilts where the muslin or light print looks brown and dirty and that is the color the taupe can show.  It's a warm color that I adore.  A true taupe is hard to find.....or shall I say WAS hard to find!

The "friends" in Cheddar & Friends are the six taupe fabrics included in the collection.

  The darkest print is a chocolate brown with taupe and burnt orange.  It mixes the two fabrics beautifully and would be gorgeous as a border or sashing with the cheddar and taupes.  I can hardly wait to begin playing and designing with them!

Click here to see the entire Cheddar & Friends collection.  The fabrics will be delivered to your local quilt shop in March, so if you like them, ask your favorite shop to order them!

Normally, I offer Fat Quarter and Fat Eighth bundles of every collection I desing but hesitate to do so with the collection.  I'm sure interested in hearing what you think about the Cheddars and the Taupes.  

If you have time, please leave me a comment about what you think and I'll choose a bunch of winners for free patterns AND a few people will get a Fat Eighth of these new fabrics.  

As any loyal Star Wars fan would say.....may the Force be with you!  Especially this weekend with the release of Rouge One!  Teehee!




Monday, December 12, 2016

R & R Stitching Time

A few weeks ago, in an update post about trying to get in some personal sewing time (aka Scraps of Time, Scraps of Fabric), I mentioned I was trying to finish a little Nine Patch quilt as a gift for Christmas.  Happy to report that while I have been doing a lot of sitting, recovering from surgery, it is indeed pieced, quilted and bound!  
My friend Ronda did such a great job quilting this little piece (12 x 15 inches) and I know my step-mom will love it.

I'm two weeks past my second hip replacement surgery and about to go full into PT which is so important and not fun at all!  Oh well....such is life!  

Christmas prep is in full swing and we're checking our cookie baking list twice.  We have less than 2 weeks to go!  AAHHH!!!


Do you remember a post of a few months ago of me saying that there has been a disturbance in the force?

Watch my next post for an explanation!  

Friday, December 2, 2016

In For More Body Work!

Dear Friends, 

Once again I'll be away from my sewing machine, desk and computer for a couple of weeks.  I'm going in for another tune-up for my second hip replacement.  That means I'll be recovering awhile at home.  (Yes....apparently I'm working on becoming bionic as this is my third joint replacement.  If only - hahahahaha)

My co-worker Deb will keep orders going while I'm on R&R, and my wonderful family will take good care of me.  I expect to bounce back with this one as quickly as I did with the other one just 7 weeks ago.  I'd better because I have lots of good stuff in the works and want to get started!  

I'm looking forward to some hand stitching time and lots of Christmas movies.  Oh, and I think I have a great excuse to get out of having to do all that Christmas wrapping.  

Be back soon......Pam