Fancy Pansies

Fancy Pansies

Fancy Pansies is a delightful, easy-to-make pattern filled with colorful garden flowers. It was created by Terri Massee for Grandma's Attic.

The pansies, with their wide range of colors and pretty “faces,” appear to be floating across the fabric in a three-dimensional setting. Created from a a gorgeous pansy panel, you’ll definitely want to create this sunshine-filled charmer. 

The pansy panel and pansy fabric are also available for purchase; however, you can also make this pattern using any panel with 7" squares.  Instructions for making two matching pillows are also included.

Seasons Remembered

Seasons Remembered

Seasons Remembered is one of my favorite Patti-Ann Publications patterns. Designed by Jane Davis, a dear friend who recently passed away, the quilt features 12 different 18" applique blocks, each representing a month of the year. Surrounding the applique blocks is a simple leaf border. This leaf border pattern was taken directly from an 1840s era Red and Green Quilt similar to our Seasons Remembered. The quilt can be traditionally appliqued or made with fusible web. If using fusible web, you can use buttonhole stitching, either by machine or hand, to finish off each block.

According to Jeana Kimball, an applique artist, these types of quilts were considered the favorite type of 'best' quilt during the period of the 1840s-1860s. They were often made as a Presentation Quilt. A Presentation Quilt was a quilt made to present to a prominent member of society, such as a minister or politician. The red and green colors used in the quilt were often accented with yellow, pink, orange. Occasionally blue was used.

 Looking at the quilt, you can see that the first block in the upper left hand corner is January's block, Snowflower Blossoms. February's block is the second one in the first row. March is the final block in row one. The patterns continue in this manner until December's block, which is in the bottom right hand corner or the quilt.

This quilt and its patterns are available for purchase in several different forms. First, the quilt itself is available as a Block of the Month Club. In this format, you receive the pattern and fabric needed to complete one block each month until you have received all of the blocks. Once you have received all of the blocks, a finishing kit is sent to you so you can add the final border.

Seasons Remembered Pattern Set

Seasons Remembered is also available as a complete set of patterns but no fabric. All of the instructions for making the quilt are included. Each block can also be purchased individually as a kit with fabric included. The monthly patterns with fabric are:  Snowflower Blossoms;  Heart's Desire; Irish Rose; Tulips; Peonies; Bridal Wreath; Patriot's Rose; Calendula; Dahlia Wreath; Oak Leaves; President's Wreath; and Holly Wreath.

This quilt is a timeless heirloom that can be passed down for generations.

American Made Fabric

100% Grown and Made in America

Driven by a desire to bring America's once flourishing textile industry back, Clothworks is debuting their American Made Brand. After teaming up with some of the country's oldest textile companies, they have brought to market a fabric that is sourced and manufactured entirely in the United States.

There are currently 50 solid colored fabrics in the fabric line. This 100% cotton product is grown right here in the United States using Upland variety cotton. The cotton is then in spun into cotton yarn, woven into cloth, and dyed--all right here in America.

These solid-colored fabrics can be made into a myriad of beautiful quilt and sewing projects. Grandma's Attic is celebrating this Farm to Fabric movement by carrying American Made Brand fabrics and sourcing patterns that will help you use them. Look for these at our website in the very near future!

Kimberly's Garden - 1930s Fabric

Kimberly’s Garden is a beautiful new collection of 1930s era reproduction prints by Fresh Water Designs. Kimberly was a sales representative for the E.E. Schenck company. She died from pancreatic cancer at Christmas time. Sick for approximately 13 months, she had been working on a hexagon quilt using vintage 1930s-40s fabrics from a salesman sample book. After she passed, the company decided to print a line of fabrics in her honor. They chose many of the samples that she had been using in her hexagon quilt and dedicated a portion of the profits to the American Cancer Society. Grandma's Attic is proud to carry all 39 prints from this beautiful collection. To order, click here.

Fusion Illusion Fabric

Fusion Illusion Fabrics by Blank Textiles

Here's a cheery group of fabrics that speak of Spring and new beginnings. With its swirls of color, this nice group of fabric blenders can add depth and dimension to just about any quilting or sewing project.

Fusion Illusion, by Blank Textiles is a beautiful blender group by Blank Textiles. Grandma's Attic now has this fabric group available in many different colors of the rainbow, from red and orange to violet and indigo on the other side of the color spectrum. To order them, click here.

Worldwide Quilting Day

 

Grandma's Attic is participating in Worldwide Quilting Day, Saturday, March 15, 2014. To celebrate the day, we are kicking off 30 days of "Wrapping the World in Stars." By participating, you could win a $100 shopping spree to our quilt shop by making 12″ star blocks for charity. Make a 12" star block; then take a photo of each unique star block, upload it to worldwidequiltingday.com with a an original caption. Enter as many times as you like. Then take your 12″ star blocks to Grandma's Attic quilt shop where they will be donated to a favorite charity. Now doesn't that sound like fun?

Grandma's Scrapbasket Newsletter

Grandma's Scrapbasket Newsletter

For over 10 years, Grandma's Attic has published Grandma's Scrapbasket Newsletter, a fun monthly newsletter full of interesting articles. It's a fabric swatch club designed especially for those who want to see and feel the newest fabrics as they arrive in the shop.

A one-year subscription brings you 12 months of fabric fun. Each month, we send you ten 5" x 5" swatches of fabric, along with a monthly newsletter full of interesting articles. Newsletters include vignettes about quilting history, fun facts, reviews of quilt books and patterns, and information about our fabric collections.  A free quilt pattern is also included.

Grandma's Scrapbasket Newsletter is also available in a fat quarter size called the Fat Basket. Payable each month, you receive ten fat quarters in addition to the 5" x 5" fabric swatches and newsletter. It's a fun way to find fabric in your mail box each month!

Feedsacks III Fabric

We love those feedsack fabrics from the 1930s and 40s. Rural housewives of the time quickly discovered their potential and began to recycle these cotton bags for other uses. Yielding about one square yard of fabric each,  women opened up the bags, washed out the lettering, and turned them into household items, garments and quilts. Clothing, toys, underwear, aprons, pillowcases, laundry bags, curtains, table cloths, towels, dishtowels and diapers were just a few of the items made from these bags. By 1942, it was estimated that nearly three million women and children of all income levels wore garments made from printed feedsacks. Pattern companies and bag manufacturers even produced pamphlets on ways to reuse these bags.

Fabrics in Blue Hill's Feedsacks III collection are reproductions of these printed bags.  The bright and cheery fabrics include all of the most popular colors of those Depression era sacks, including pinks, purples, greens, yellows, blues, aquas and browns. These fun fabrics provide the diversity of colors and styles you need to recreate a 1930s/40s era project. Click here to view them.

Peppered Cottons

Peppered Cotton Fabric Bundle

New to Grandma's Attic this week are Peppered Cottons. By Pepper Cory of Studio e Fabrics, this new line of fabrics features 100% shot cotton fabrics that look like a solid color. The warp (lengthwise threads) and the weft (side to side threads) are different colors, so the resulting shades are muted and variable combinations of color. Viewed from different angles, the fabrics produce different visual effects.

All of the threads used are dyed before weaving so they have a nice tactile hand-woven quality. There is no wrong or right side to them. After weaving, they go through a finishing process where they are washed, dried and calendared--which means they have been through a heat-plus-pressing process to give them a subtle sheen and soft hand.

Peppered Cottons have a higher thread count than most shot cottons so they can be used with other regular weight quilting fabrics. Pepper Cory has prepared an article on how to work with these shot cottons. Click here to see what she has to say and to learn about a Peppered Cotton contest that is being sponsored by Studio e.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 6

Fabulous Fabric Packs

Welcome to the 12 Days of Christmas at Grandma's Attic! Every day from now until Christmas we will feature a different item from our quilt shop. You'll want to check the posts each day from now through the 24th to see what Grandma has for you this holiday season!

Day 6 of the 12 Days of Christmas is all about those Six Geese A-Laying. Six geese, while lovely to look at, would probably ruin your backyard in no time flat. Instead, we've got bundles of six fun fat quarters at Super Holiday Savings. Our Fabulous Fabric Packs are great for stocking up your stash. All fabrics are 100%, high quality cotton. If you order more than one fabric packet in the same colorway, we'll make sure you get packets containing different prints. These are definitely a fun treat for yourself or a gift for your favorite quilter, fabric artist, or crafter! To order, click here.

12 Days of Christmas Fun Fact:  One way to interpret the lyrics of this song is that on each new day, all of the gifts that were previously given by "my true love" are given again! This would make the total number of gifts (counting 12 partridges, 22 turtle doves, etc.) equal to 364 gifts in all, one fewer than the number of days in a full year. However, there are 376 gifts total if you count the pear tree as a separate gift aside from the partridge itself. It is interesting to note that 184 of the gifts are birds.

Six geese a-laying, according to the 2013 PNC Christmas index, will cost you $35 each, for a total of $210 in all.

Christmas Quote:  "My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?" < Bob Hope, Comedian/Entertainer, 1903-2003 > 

Dishtowel of the Month Club

Dishtowel of the Month Club

You have to admit, the dishtowels in this monthly club are absolutely adorable! The designs are inspired by vintage dishtowels of the past, and include a variety of subjects and patterns. Whether you decide to keep them for yourself or use them as fun gifts, you'll love creating them!


These dishtowels are not only practical, they're decorative! The first six months are shown here, including Henrietta the Hen, Coffee Break, Carrots, Bluebirds, Playtime Puppy and a cute little guy playing baseball.


Each month during this 12 month club, you will receive the supplies you need to create a hand embroidered dishtowel, plus the fabric and rick rack to create a fabric border and hem. The flour sack dishtowel is just like the ones your Grandma used, pre-washed, bleached, 100% cotton.


This club is really fun. To join, click here.

Autumn-Inspired Projects

Autumn Splendor by Pat Lee

With autumn in the air and the children heading back to school, our sewing machines start calling to us! And what could be more fun than dreaming up an autumn-inspired project to put us in the mood for Fall. 


This beautiful quilt is a real show stopper! Designed by Pat Lee of The Art of the Quilt, if you look closely, you can see that Pat used a multi-color fabric to create the leaves, sashing, borders and binding, yet it looks like there are many different fabrics involved. Isn't that clever? Suitable for seasonal or batik fabrics, the pattern is designed so that you create the effect of using many different colors. The pattern itself includes instructions for a 58" x 72" wall quilt, and two Medallion wall hangings that are 40" x 40".  To order this pattern, click here.

Harvest Barn by Calico Hills Farm

Another fun project for Fall is Calico Hills Farm pattern, Harvest Barn.This pattern, created by Roxy Burgard,  is practically timeless. Whether you've constructed these wall quilts back in the 1980s, or made one today, it looks absolutely perfect displayed in your home or given as a gift. My favorite block on pattern is the little pumpkin with the heart in the middle. The pattern includes two small wall quilts and two tiny pillows.

Autumn Reflections Fabric bundle

 These Autumn-inspired fabrics are by Exclusively Quilters and Kona Bay. Featured as our September 2013 Fabric Bundle, they are designed to take the chill out of the night air and warm your heart. There are cornucopias, sunflowers, pumpkins, corn, and other vegetables, all in the Fall colors of green, gold, orange and brown. The sunflower piece is particularly like-like. We liked it so much we used it in a couple of projects here at the shop.

Snap Sack Sunflower Wall Quilt Kit

When Grandma Rachel and Aunt Cheryl were at the Spring Quilt Market in Portland, Oregon, they discovered Snap Sack patterns by Joan Ford of Hummingbird Highway. The Sunflower Wall Quilt Kit includes the pattern you see here, plus all the fabrics you need to create it. The sunflowers are three dimensional and the leaves are finished with a bit of quilting for embellishment. This project makes up quick and easy. You'll be ready to hang it up on your wall in no time. As with all of our Snap Sack kits, you can take the class for free if you purchase the kit. Aunt Cheryl will guide you through construction.

Sunflower Cottage by Calico Hills Farm

Sunflower Cottage is another one of Roxy Burgard's patterns from Calico Hills Farm. I love the way Roxy adds so much imagery and puts so much thought into even the tiniest of details. The pattern includes two small wall quilts and two tiny pillows, one with a house design and one with a sunflower design. As you can see from the image shown here, you can use them to decorate a little spot in your house that friends and family will really enjoy.

1930s Sears and Roebuck Catalog Ads

Here's a page from a 1933 Sears and Roebuck catalog showing different types of fabrics that were available for a few cents per yard. My favorite pieces are the fabric in the upper left hand corner of the page.

This second advertisement is for Silk Bubble Crepe fabrics from a 1934 catalog. It is a really nice representation of the colors of silk bubble crepe that were available. Crepe was all the rage for dress fabric during this time.

International Paper Dolls

Do you remember the paper dolls that used to be included in the McCalls Magazine? Each little doll would be carefully cut out and glued to cardboard; then her clothing would be cut out for hours and hours of enjoyment dressing up the dolls and playing with them. I used to love finding the dolls in the magazines and cutting them out.

Newcastle Fabrics has just released an adorable set of eight international paper dolls designed by Sibling Arts Studios that remind me of those old McCalls paper dolls. The Sibling Arts designers say that they got the idea for their dolls from a collection of paper dolls they found when they were going through the estate of their Aunt Lindy.

Each doll in this fabric panel comes with her own ethnic style clothing. Plus, there is also a coordinating bolt of fabric that includes more dress options. (One-half yard gives you all the other options you need.) What you can do is fuse the dolls to cardboard; then use fusible fleece on the back of the clothes so that they attach to the dolls. Make a fabric pouch to put the dolls and clothing in. It's guaranteed to be hours and hours of entertainment for the little ones in your life.

Order the panel by clicking here. Order the half yard panel by clicking here. Order fusible fleece by clicking here.

Clothesline Club 2011 - Sweet Pickins

In the 1940s, bright and cheery colors and fruit motifs were all the rage for decorating American kitchens. One popular trend during this time period was the use of red and white, blue and white, or green and yellow color palettes, with checkered or geometric patterns. Fruit designs included cherries, apples, strawberries, pears and grapes. Darlene Zimmerman has captured this look perfectly with her newest Clothesline Club fabric group, Sweet Pickins. Produced by Robert Kaufman, there are a total of 28 fun reproduction prints in green, red, yellow and blue. Fruit motifs, geometrics and checks are scattered throughout this collection.

These fabrics make fun projects, including aprons, curtains, hot pads, casserole covers, tea towels, oven mitts, bags, and many other fun sewing and quilting projects. In Darlene's Clothesline Club she has included patterns for aprons, a market bag and a tablecloth using this fabric line.

I'm pretty sure that these fabrics won't stay in the store for long. Last I checked, some of them have already been discontinued by the manufacturer. To view more of these prints or to order, click here.

American Flag Wall Quilt for Flag Day - June 14

Efforts to dedicate a day each year to the American Flag date all the way back to 1861, yet it wasn't until August 3, 1949, that an official Act of Congress, signed by President Harry S. Truman, officially declared June 14 to be Flag Day. During the 88 years between 1861 and 1949, Americans celebrated the American flag at different times of the year.

In an age before the telephone, sending postcards to celebrate special occasions was an inexpensive means of communicating with loved ones. During the Golden Age of Postcards (1898-1915), fine artwork in bright colors was featured on these postcards, many of which celebrated the American Flag. Today, these same postcards are very collectible and highly sought after. In fact, they're so popular that finding original postcards has become an intense hobby.

With no vintage postcards of our own to display, we discovered American Flags Set 1 by Olde America Antiques. We decided that these authentic images of vintage postcards, pre-printed on fabric, were just right for creating a small wall quilt. Olde America Antiques must have thought so too because, to our delight, a wall quilt pattern was included in the fabric packet.

The American Flags wall quilt, shown above, was constructed from a four pack set of images that were printed on 4"x6" panels of soft cotton sateen fabric. Because the company utilizes a new printing process called 8-color giclee, the panels are colorfast when hand washed in cold water. Making this 21" square wall quilt was easy to do, and we soon had our little quilt hanging up in the shop.

If you'd like to make your own American Flags wall quilt from these pre-printed fabric panels, click here. If you'd like to view our other pre-printed fabric panel selections, click here.

June - The Month of Roses

New to Grandma's Attic are beautiful fabric panels (4" x 6") of gorgeous flowers, printed on soft cotton sateen fabric, ready to sew and showcase on your wall. The panels come four to set and include a pattern for a small wall quilt. One of my favorites from our newest group is Flowers Set 3 - Roses by Olde America Antiques. The images are of the actual covers of vintage seed catalogs from 1893-1909.

During the Golden Age of Illustration (1880s until after WWI), seed catalogs featured covers of beautiful flowers that could be grown in one's garden. Catalogs from companies such as the Iowa Seed Company, Lippincott Seeds, John A. Salzer and John Lewis Childs were so bright and cheerful, people kept them on their parlor tables. And since roses have been cultivated for thousands of years, many of these covers featured paintings of roses.

Throughout history, many poets and authors have written about the rose. The Italian poet, Dante (1265-1321), writing in the 13th Century, declared, "The rose, wherein the word divine makes itself flesh."

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) refers to roses more than 50 times in his works. In Romeo and Juliet, he wrote, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet."

And the English Poet Robert Herrick (1591-1674) penned, "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying, And this same flower that smiles today, Tomorrow will be dying."

Since Victorian times, roses have been associated with deep love, passion, beauty and everlasting love. They have been grown and cultivated both for their foliage and their perfume. Even today, companies like Jackson & Perkins in Medford, Oregon offer a seemingly endless variety of roses for gardening enthusiasts. Their catalog showcases "the newest and most exciting roses available" and provides practically everything you need to grow gorgeous roses.

You can bring the beauty of the garden into your home with these gorgeous flower images. To view our entire pre-printed fabric panel collection, click here.

Starry Night Block of the Month Club

Star Light...Star Bright...First Star I see Tonight... Do you remember wishing upon a star when you where young?

Here's a wish that can definitely come true: a brand new block of the month program at Grandma's Attic using Laurel Burch's Celestial Dreams fabric. Starry Night is filled with bright stars that twinkle in a night sky. Using a deep black background fabric, the prints sparkle with life.

Each month, you will receive the pattern, rotary cutting instructions, and all the fabric you need to complete a 12" quilt block. Finished quilt measures approximately 57" x 72". Click here for more details on this delightful block of the month program.

2011 Hoffman Challege

This year's Hoffman Challenge fabric and coordinating pieces have arrived! The challenge piece is a gorgeous turquoise and gold. The coordinates are equally as beautiful. You can view them at Grandma's Attic.

The curator of 2011's Hoffman Challenge is Julie Breidt who began as curator in 2010. Prior to that time, Kelly Gallagher-Abbott was curator for eight years. Margrit Hall managed the Challenge between 1998 and 2001, and before that, the curators and founders of the Challenge were Betty Boyink and Holice Turnbow.

Every year a team from Hoffman Fabrics chooses an upcoming fabric design and then issues a challenge to quilt, clothing, doll and accessory makers to create an original item using the fabric. The challenge curator and a group of assistants jury the entries and then a select team of judges chooses the award winners and cash prizes are given.

The juried collections then travel to be exhibited by quilt and other fiber guilds, shops, museums and textile shows. The exhibits are displayed and enjoyed in several hundred locations across the United States and Canada.

Since it's beginning in 1988, the Hoffman Challenge has grown to be a premiere traveling quilt, clothing and doll collection. The quality of entries and a growing number of exhibit requests have led Hoffman to establish additional traveling collections. Currently, twelve collections travel coast-to-coast within the United States and Canada.

In 2011, the Hoffman Challenge celebrates its 23rd anniversary. In 1987, the Challenge began with 94 enthusiastic quilters. Some years the number of entries have been more than 700. In addition to the three quilt categories (pieced, applique and mixed technique), new categories include clothing/wearable art, accessories and dolls. While the majority of the entries come from the United States, many international entries are also received.

Deadline for entries in this year's Hoffman Challenge is July 15, 2011. Click here for more information on how you can join the fun. To purchase this year's Hoffman Challenge fabric, go to Grandma's Attic

Flag Day - June 14

On August 3, 1949, President Harry S. Truman signed an Act of Congress designating June 14th of each year as National Flag Day. This was the culmination of efforts dating as far back as 1861 to have an annual day dedicated to celebrating the American Flag.

Over the years, there have been 27 official variations of the American Flag. Each modification occurred when additional states were added to the Union. The Flag as it flies today was adopted in 1959 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. It includes 50 stars for the 50 states, with the last one added for Hawaii.

Although the colors on the American flag were not given any meanings at the time the flag was created, meanings were given for the colors of the Seal of the United States, which is also red, white and blue. Red stands for hardiness and valor. Blue stands for purity and innocence. Blue is for vigilance, perseverance and justice. The House of Representatives issued a book in 1977 which stated that the stars and stripes had further meaning. According to this book, the stars represent the heavens and the divine goal to which man has aspired from time immortal, and the stripes are symbolic of the rays of light that emanate from the sun.

Each star on the flag has five points. Legend has it that Betsy Ross showed George Washington how to make a five pointed star with one snip of her scissors. Whether this is true or not, it's an enchanting story, and one that I discussed in our blog post about Betsy Ross on July 1, 2007.

You can make a five-pointed star just like the one Betsy Ross did. Click on the words five pointed star above and it will take you right to a page of instructions for making these stars.

If you are inspired to make your own patriotic project this summer, you'll find some fun patterns by clicking the link for Patriotic Patterns. You can also find American fabrics by clicking this link for Americana Fabric.

To learn more about flag etiquette and the proper way to fly a flag, go to the website of the U.S. Flag.