A cheerful tablerunner is a simple way to decorate your home and mark the change of the seasons. Have it be the centerpiece of your holiday meal, or liven up the table by the front door (you know the one where you toss your keys!). It feels good to see things you’ve made being used and enjoyed in your daily life. It’s even better when friends and family are truly impressed at your craftiness! I made this table runner using the (not so) tricky “Disappearing Nine Patch”. No, it’s not a mystery novel, it’s a quilt block! This technique is so simple and turns out looking so complex; everyone will think you are a quilting master! Here’s how you do it:

First, make a nine patch!
I love bright colors, so I used my favorite teals and tangerines from Michael Miller and Sandi Henderson. Using 1/2 yard of 3 fabrics, I had plenty to work with. Fat quarters would also work wonderfully for this project. My block size for each fabric was 4″. Using a 1/4″ seam allowance, the finished nine patch was 11″. I made 4 nine patches total.

Second, cut the nine patch into quarters. With your trusty rotary cutter and grid ruler this is easy enough, right?

Third, reorder the blocks into four patches. Play around and see what type of design you like best. I liked that my gingham squares met on the diagonal, breaking up the strong pattern a bit!

Then, sew your four patches together in one long row. I added a 2.5″ border (1/4 yd of fabric) all around, and cut backing (1/2 yard) and batting to fit the top. I stitched in the ditch with my machine, and then used my pretty teal gingham to bind the whole thing together. My finished measurement was 14″ x 44″. I had fun making this, and hope you do too!

Denyse Schmidt’s collections always have a wonderful vintage feel. The prints are reminiscent of the 30’s and 40’s, but the colors are much more bright and modern. For her latest home dec line, Country Fair, she again draws inspiration from the 30’s, when “cheater cloth” was popular. Cheater cloth is fabric that has patchwork printed on it, ready for you to quilt. Patchwork Promenade is Denyse’s take on cheater cloth, where she takes prints from her quilting line, Katie Jump Rope, and assembles them into crazy log cabin blocks. So clever!

I took a yard and half (each repeat is one yard) for the front, pieced together the back from 3 yards of quilting weight cotton from Katie Jump Rope, and basted the layers together. I got out my trusty walking foot and machine quilted diagonal lines across my quilt. I thought about marking everything out ahead of time, but I decided to free hand instead. I think the off-kilter log cabin blocks are quite forgiving of my crazy quilting!

This whole process took a day’s worth of work, plus a few hours for hand sewing the bright red binding. I couldn’t be more pleased with this quilt! It was fun to see things come together so quickly, and now I can wrap up in a nice toasty blanket. I would like to do a hand quilted version of this as well, following the lines of all the blocks. I wonder how my family would feel about everyone getting a different version of this for the holidays? I know I would love making them!

Those of you in the Philly area may know that the Gee’s Bend Quilt Exhibit is opening at the Philadelphia Museum of Art next week. The show contains over seventy works by the quilters of Gee’s Bend, Alabama. I am always impressed with how modern and fresh these quilts look, and with unique use of materials and color sense. The one in the photo, by Ruth Kennedy, is made entirely in corduroy. Beautiful!

I received an invitation to attend the opening this Thursday, Sept.11 from 6-9, and would like to extend the invite to all of you. Tickets are required and can be purchased the night of the opening for $20. Since many of the quilters from the exhibit will be in attendance, this will be a rare opportunity to speak with the artists and get a sneak peek of what I am sure is an amazing show. Dilys Blum, curator of Costume & Textiles at the PMA, says “it is impossible to walk through this exhibit and not feel inspired — you will want to start making things after you attend.” Sounds wonderful! See you there!

This Brick Path quilt from Amy Butler has been quite popular around the shop! We chose 2 fat quarter bundles with our favorite oranges and and a touch of teal; it positively glows! This quilt is 55″ x 65″, a great size for a picnic blanket or for snuggling up on the sofa. It’s machine quilted with the simple “stitch in the ditch” technique. We are offering this class over the course of 4 Thursday evenings in September. This is a great intro to rotary cutting, strip piecing, and machine quilting.

This our Beginning Quilting Sampler Quilt. Beginning Quilting is starting up again the second Saturday in September, and running for a total of 5 Saturdays. In class, you will learn to rotary cut and piece 6 different blocks, using 5 coordinating fabrics. After you have pieced the top, you will learn to quilt by hand, and how to do the binding. The finished quilt measures 45″ x 36″. If learning to hand quilt and making different types of blocks sounds fun, this is the class for you! You can see some our past students’ beautiful quilts here.

Please call the shop to reserve your space. See you soon!

Craig made this quilt for his 2 year old nephew, Asher. Asher has been the recipient of many wonderful handknit gifts, and now that we have a quilt shop he will be doubly warm! Craig chose Marcus Brothers Two Young Street line to get this quilt started. Those spaceships are ideal for a little boy! Then, he used Kona Cotton solids to make one of his favorite blocks, the Pinwheel, and add fun stripes to the border. After the quilt was all pieced, he sent it off to Kathleen at Guinevere & Me to quilt with a playful star motif. It turned out beautifully, and I’m sure Asher will love it!

The colors in Craig’s quilt are certainly appropriate for this holiday weekend! Spool will be closed July 4th, but we will be open our regular hours of 11-6 Saturday and Sunday. Hopefully you can grab a little time at your sewing machines this weekend, before you barbeque and enjoy the fireworks! Happy 4th!

Helen just finished her first quilt in our Beginning Quilting class. Isn’t it lovely? I like how she chose a floral theme and mixed it up with varying scales of prints. She did a great job coordinating her fabrics. That fuschia solid works so well against the cool greens and blues in the rest of the quilt. Not only did she do an outstanding job making each of the sampler blocks, but she handquilted and bound the whole thing. Fantastic! Helen says she very much enjoyed the class.

If you like to try your hand at quilting, our next Beginning Quilting class starts July 17. Thanks so much for sharing this photo with us, Helen. I look forward to seeing more of your beautiful work!

I wanted to make a new quilt top to hang in our front window to bring a little summer inside the shop. Alex Anderson’s new booklet, Super Simple Quilts had just arrived and fit the bill perfectly. This booklet features 3 quilts in 3 different sizes, with detailed directions for each one. I really like how she shows a swatch of the fabric from her original photo next to each yardage requirement so you know exactly where your own fabric choice will fall in the final design. I chose the aptly named for summer Hopscotch Quilt.

The beginning fabric for this top was the brand new mango Shot Cotton. Next, I knew I wanted to use my favorite hot pink Zazu chandelier fabric. Amy Butler’s oxford stripe tied them together beautifully, and gave me ideas for coordinating the remaining fabrics. Since Amy’s fabrics go so well together no matter what collection they’re from, I brought in the lime green rose and blue grey dots. My final choice was the yellow from the Sweet Escape line. This fabric has a very light yellow background with a tiny light green honeycomb printed over it. I think it gives the quilt top depth without being overly patterned.

This quilt was easy to cut and a cinch to sew. When it’s time for a window change, I will have the pleasure of deciding just how to quilt it! Happy Summer!

Aimee usually sews clothes for Spool, so we decided to change it up and get her making a quilt. We looked through our favorite learn to quilt book Start Quilting with Alex Anderson, and picked out the Nine Patch Variation quilt. Starting out with 2 peppermint and wintergreen shades of Kona Cotton Solids and one Amy Butler fabric, this quilt was dubbed Mintyfresh. Minty goodness is lovely, but when this quilt top was done it needed a little something extra. Kaffe to the rescue! The new Asian Circles print arrived just as we were looking for a border fabric. It works well with the cool greens, but brightens with vibrant purples and gives a more organic feel to the design. As if that weren’t excitement enough, Aimee chose Kaffe’s Big Blooms for the backing. This fabric is wild! It adds a spicy complement to the fresh flavor of the quilt top. Nice job!

Every new baby needs a handmade quilt, don’t you think? Alex Anderson’s Baby Quilts with Love gives us lots to choose from! This book is full of simple and adorable quilts for the little cutie in your life. We sampled the Tree of Life quilt to highlight Freesprit designer, Verna Mosquera’s Sweet Escape line of soft pretty florals. I love the vintage feel of this fabric and design - particularly the little border of stars that swirls around the edge. Very special!

Lots of sewers just want to have the fun of piecing a quilt top, and leave the quilting to the experts. Around the time that Michael was piecing this quilt, we had the good fortune to meet Kathleen. Kathleen is sweet as punch and a fantastic quilter to boot. She is the proprietress of a quilting business called Guinevere & Me. Who is Guinevere you might ask? Her long arm quilting machine, of course! We packed up our little baby quilt and sent it off to meet Guinevere. When it came back, we were thrilled. She helped us pick just the right pattern and thread to make our quilt special. In additon to machine quilting, Kathleen offers services such as binding and machine basting for handquilters. If you are interested in meeting with Kathleen, please call the shop for her information.

Wonderful work, Michael & Kathleen! This quilt is just lovely!