Just giving everyone a head's up....
All you intrepid quilters out there in SE LA..... because Isaac is waffling around out in the Gulf, we are still deciding whether to be open Tuesday and/or Wednesday. We are open today for all your sewing needs but please call tomorrow and Wednesday to be certain.
985-845-9554
September is almost here and with it brings our 9th Anniversary. Pearl and the crew have some fun things in store and you can learn more about it in the up-coming days here and through our newsletter.
Stay safe and we'll see you on the other side of Isaac!
Monday, August 27, 2012
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Monday, August 6, 2012
Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!
Shop Hop 2012 is just a little over a week away. Have you been making your plans as to strategy? You know what I mean......
1. Depending on your personal location, you map out a route to take you to the various participating shops...... allowing enough time to get your passport stamped, to fill out a entry for the shop's $250.00 value basket and browse around for new ideas and see what that shop has to offer and head off to the next/nearest/most convenient shop. If this is your first time at any given store, you might want to spend extra minutes, especially if it happens to be one that is at a great distance from your home town.
2. All the 9 shops are extending their open hours from 9am to 6pm Thursday, Friday and Saturday, August 16, 17 & 18, to accommodate the hoppers. Here's a good tip: try to get to the shop that is the farthest away and be there when the store opens for business. That gives you more leisurely time to travel to the others and get something to eat in between.
3. Food, mustn't forget food on your travels. Is there a restaurant you've heard of in one of the towns and needed an opportunity to check out? This might be the perfect time to drop in! Or ask one of the shop employees.... you know they have recommendations.
4. To make the trip more interesting, take along a friend, even one who doesn't quilt. This could be your wife, if you happen to be a guy who quilts and she doesn't! Or vice-versa.... a gentleman who had accompanied his wife on several hops decided to purchase his own passport one year and he was the winner of our basket! You never know!
5. Above all else, Have Fun; this is not the time for stress. This is the time you give yourself to play. Think of it as recess. Remember those fleeting minutes at school when all the worries of lessons and grades were totally gone from your mind and you were completely in the moment. Just playing. Let your imagine run free and your eyes see something new. Meet old friends and make a few new ones.
Laissez Les Bon Temp Rouler indeed. Let the good times roll once again at our annual South Louisiana Shop Hop!
1. Depending on your personal location, you map out a route to take you to the various participating shops...... allowing enough time to get your passport stamped, to fill out a entry for the shop's $250.00 value basket and browse around for new ideas and see what that shop has to offer and head off to the next/nearest/most convenient shop. If this is your first time at any given store, you might want to spend extra minutes, especially if it happens to be one that is at a great distance from your home town.
The Red Stars show locations of each of the store.
2. All the 9 shops are extending their open hours from 9am to 6pm Thursday, Friday and Saturday, August 16, 17 & 18, to accommodate the hoppers. Here's a good tip: try to get to the shop that is the farthest away and be there when the store opens for business. That gives you more leisurely time to travel to the others and get something to eat in between.
3. Food, mustn't forget food on your travels. Is there a restaurant you've heard of in one of the towns and needed an opportunity to check out? This might be the perfect time to drop in! Or ask one of the shop employees.... you know they have recommendations.
4. To make the trip more interesting, take along a friend, even one who doesn't quilt. This could be your wife, if you happen to be a guy who quilts and she doesn't! Or vice-versa.... a gentleman who had accompanied his wife on several hops decided to purchase his own passport one year and he was the winner of our basket! You never know!
5. Above all else, Have Fun; this is not the time for stress. This is the time you give yourself to play. Think of it as recess. Remember those fleeting minutes at school when all the worries of lessons and grades were totally gone from your mind and you were completely in the moment. Just playing. Let your imagine run free and your eyes see something new. Meet old friends and make a few new ones.
Laissez Les Bon Temp Rouler indeed. Let the good times roll once again at our annual South Louisiana Shop Hop!
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Flower Box Medley
Bright Hopes Quilting hosts several local quilt groups each month and one of them is Sharp Needles, a collection of quilters with various sewing techniques. Several are into applique and two are working on this beautiful project, Flower Box Medley by Colette Belt.
This pattern is perfect for both the experienced quilter as well as the beginner. The pieces are large enough to have fun with and there aren't too many of them to get intimidated by.
Linda (left) using a technique of finger-pressing the seam allowance to the back and basting it fast. She then pins the pieces to the background and proceeds to stitch each piece in place.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Dry-Erase Board, Your New Friend in the Sewing Room
LuAnn Kessi wrote a blog-post some time back that I had the great good fortune to stumble upon and she opened me up to a new idea I want to pass along!
I do my own machine quilting on a Tin Lizzie 18 (love my machine!) and am constantly on the lookout for exciting new quilting lines to try. I love to free-hand with the thread and don't care to use pantograms although I do think they are useful on the right quilt-top.
Coming up with new repetitive motifs is always something of a challenge and when I can't come up with something new, I tend to revert back to my same-ol' same-ol'. So doodling is a natural way to explore, letting the mind go free and see where the pen takes me. I also end up with a lot of wasted paper....... and that is where LuAnn Kessi comes in.
She showed photos of her dry-erase board and images of how she creates her lovely flowing lines of a fiddlehead fern as a quilting motif and my mind went "boing!!!!! Why didn't I think of that!?"
Not only is this a tool to practice your hand movements before you start stitching, it is great to have hanging close by as a reminder of various lines you plan to use as you travel from top to bottom. Thank you, LuAnn!
I do my own machine quilting on a Tin Lizzie 18 (love my machine!) and am constantly on the lookout for exciting new quilting lines to try. I love to free-hand with the thread and don't care to use pantograms although I do think they are useful on the right quilt-top.
Coming up with new repetitive motifs is always something of a challenge and when I can't come up with something new, I tend to revert back to my same-ol' same-ol'. So doodling is a natural way to explore, letting the mind go free and see where the pen takes me. I also end up with a lot of wasted paper....... and that is where LuAnn Kessi comes in.
She showed photos of her dry-erase board and images of how she creates her lovely flowing lines of a fiddlehead fern as a quilting motif and my mind went "boing!!!!! Why didn't I think of that!?"
Not only is this a tool to practice your hand movements before you start stitching, it is great to have hanging close by as a reminder of various lines you plan to use as you travel from top to bottom. Thank you, LuAnn!
Friday, July 20, 2012
Chez Moi "Sophie" by Moda
A few weeks ago, a friend on Facebook posted this handy chart she found by Benartex and I thought, how nifty is that!
So I promptly saved it in for future reference. Go ahead and print it out..... I'll wait!
As a FQ fan, I tend to collect them, (lots of them!) and when I want to make a pattern or come up with one myself, I have to stop and do the math..... Not Any More. With that chart, I can quickly determine what I can get out of what I have on hand. It is amazing what you can cut out of a yard or two of fabric.
Which brings me to this:
"Sophie" by Chez Moi at Moda
Here is a bundle that's hard to resist....... 6 fat quarters and 1 1/2 yard length of the beautiful bouquets... The colors are clean and perfect for a simple quilt for just about anyone. It would a great sleep-over quilt for a young girl or with enough blue, it can even be a sweet baby boy's crib quilt.
Well, what can you make with 3 yards of fabric? Slice up the FQs into half square triangles, make them spin in pinwheels and throw the outer border on for a fast lap-quilt.
Need it bigger? Add a splash of Moda Marble blue as sashing and inner border.
Need it even bigger? Add your own neutral or dark chocolate as a background color for the pinwheels and double the size of the finished quilt.
What can make it even better? How about 30% off as a FlashStashSale?
Call us at 985-845-9554 or email us at: brighthopes1@bellsouth.net
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