Wish Upon a Quilt Blog » Amy Butler

Auntie’s Two Bali Patterns

wendy — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 03:36:06 +0000

Have you seen the latest pattern out by Auntie’s Two - the creator of the Bali Bowl patterns? I love the Bali flip flop pattern, Bali Bow to Go!. I’m thinking that the bag and flip flops matched with the Amy Butler Cabo Halter and Blue Sky Hat would make a fabulous summer ensemble. Are you stitching up something fun for summer?

Memorial Day Sewing

Cathy — Mon, 31 May 2010 16:44:38 +0000

First, a big thank you to all of our service men and women! I appreciate all you do for our country.

I finally finished a project that has been on my sewing table for at least a month. It wasn’t hard, I just kept getting distracted by other things…as usual . This is the Sweet Harmony Tote Bag by Amy Butler. I used Laura Gunn’s Poppy fabrics and love the size. It is not too small, not too big…just right!

What are you sewing this Memorial Day?

Jan’s Baby Quilt – Customer Quilt Show

Cathy — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 03:51:41 +0000

We love to help our customers find just the right fabrics for their quilts. While it is fun to help them in person, we also help lots of customers from all over the world on the phone and via email. Gotta love technology! Jan made this beautiful baby quilt for her little boy and was such a joy to help in the store. She spent over two hours choosing just the right colors for her special little boy. She also sent along a picture of a quilt made with Amy Butler fabrics that she just had to have! Gorgeous quilts, Jan…thanks for sending. What special fabrics are you all playing with today?

Where have we been?

Cathy — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 04:14:45 +0000

I must say that I have neglected blogging over the past couple of weeks. Not because I did not want to post, just not enough hours in the day. What has been keeping us so busy? We were exhibiting last weekend at the Quilting and Fiber Arts Marketplace. It was great to see so many of you there but for our non-local customers, I thought you might enjoy seeing what we have been doing. Here are a few pictures from our booth.

Cathy McKillip, Owner -Wish Upon A Quilt

The best part of any show for me is meeting so many great people. It also gives me a chance to show some of the things I have made. One of my favorite bags is Amy Butler’s Birdie Sling , can you find it? My new favorite quilt pattern is the Perfect Ten and my latest quilt features fabrics from Heather Bailey’s Nicey Jane, see it all the way in the back corner? My good friend Susan Emory of Swirly Girls Designs loaned me the Megabits quilt using Sandi Henderson’s Meadowsweet, it was fun to hear all of the wonderful ooohs and aaahhhhs as people looked at the quilts.

Everyone at Wish contributed to making the booth a big success but Janice Pope and Cindy Massey had the great fun of joining me at the show! Janice is the owner of Anything But Boring and her Two Hour Tulip purse pattern was the top seller at the show. We also had her College Bound, Jewel Box and Circle in Square quilts in the booth. All of Janice’s quilt patterns are designed to be quick to put together but not boring! How do you like them?

Cindy Massey and Janice Pope

The Jewel Box quilt is the one in the left corner with a white background and 5″ batik charm squares. The College Bound quilt is behind Cindy and is made with 10″ and 5″ batik pre-cut squares. Yes, we have these in the store

Cindy Massey

If you haven’t seen the Accuquilt Go! in action, stop by the store sometime and take a test drive. What is on your sewing table today?

Fall Quilt Bloggers Festival Giveaway

Cathy — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 04:01:09 +0000

Bloggers Quilt Festival

Welcome bloggers! I am excited to sponsor a great giveaway for the Fall Quilt Bloggers Festival! Just leave a comment on my blog October 9th-16th and you will be entered to win one of 3 $20.00 gift certficates to Wish Upon A Quilt. In addition, leave a comment on Park City Girl’s blog and be entered to win our prize of Free Amy Butler pattern of your choice and 4 1/2 yard cuts to start your project! But wait, there is more! Place an order at Wish Upon A Quilt using the coupon code: BLOGFEST and receive a Wish Upon A Quilt exclusive gift! Thanks for stopping by! If you are not receiving our newsletter, sign up here. We give away a gift certificate every month!

I almost forgot to share a quilt. I shared my version of this quilt here, so decided to post an alternate version. Quilt was pieced by Lynne Creasy (a fabulous Wish employee) and quilted by Angela Clark of Thread Waggle Quilting! Fabric is Whimsy by Michael Miller. Pattern is Perfect Ten by Swirly Girls Design.

Inspired by Amy Butler

Cathy — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 16:03:52 +0000

The best thing about Wish Upon A Quilt is that we get to share our customer’s excitement when they complete a project. Jessica loved Amy Butler’s Gum Drop Pillows and decided to make one using the Moda fabric 1974 by Urban Chiks. These are so much fun they bring a smile to everyone who sees them! Now I have to find time to make one myself. What are you making today?

Amy Butler Trunk Show

Cathy — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 02:19:39 +0000

The Amy Butler Trunk Show has arrived at Wish Upon A Quilt! Here is a sneak peek, we have a good sampling of Amy’s clothing, handbags and even the Gum Drop Pillow. Our entire collection of Amy Butler designs is also on sale and the show will only be in the shop for about a week…don’t miss it! Don’t forget that we have extended our hours…open until 7 p.m. on Thursdays and until 4 p.m. on Saturdays.

A handmade holiday

wendy — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:24:30 +0000

Have you taken the pledge? Have you noticed this badge on the website?

In the shop, we were discussing fun quick projects for handmade gifts. Here are a few of my suggestions.

I liked the vintage lines of this clutch purse. It would be a great present for a mom, friend, sister, or yourself.

: Clutch purse

Inside of clutch purse.

I used a fat quarter that I found at Wish Upon a Quilt to make my own version of the clutch. I had to add some extra fabric to the sides to make sure I had enough width for the back and front and I added a few seams since the print was directional (I didn’t want the ladies hanging upside down.) The pin is optional since the clutch is fastened with Velcro but I added a pin I “borrowed” from my mother’s jewelry box when I graduated from college.

I also added a pocket inside before I assembled the lining. I’ve gotten too used to sliding an ID into the pockets of my clutches not to have one in this clutch.

I liked the handle of the clutch too. You hold onto the loop on the back but in a pinch you could slide it onto your wrist to have a hand free. (Great when at a party and you find you have too many things to carry all at once.) While I was sewing this I was struck with what a great present this would be for bridesmaids. It would look great being held with a flower bouquet or it could become a bouquet with a large corsage cascading down the front tab. They could be made in fabric that coordinated with the wedding party’s dresses. It is also quite roomy for a clutch. I could throw my cell phone, lipstick, wallet, and a few other necessities into this clutch.

Amy Butler

Inside of the business card keeper.

While working on the clutch I also tried out one of Amy Butler’s free patterns. I made her business card keeper. This sews up really

fast and would make a great gift for coworkers. The inside has two pockets for storing business cards, frequent shopper cards, or ID cards. You could make several out of one fat quarter. Amy Butler has several small projects that look like they would make quick presents – a scarf pattern, a portfolio cover, a fabric necklace, and a lavender eye pillow. I also noticed she’s added some new holiday patterns to her free projects too. They include napkin and holder sets, pillow with 3D flower, felt stocking, gift box sash (what a great green idea!), and a tree skirt, among other things. These projects would look great in the new Amy Butler Daisy Chain fabrics. I’m a big fan of Amy Butler patterns. The pictures are inspiring and the directions are well illustrated. She makes construction tasks like installing zippers and piping approachable.

Another project would be to make fabric gift tags or ornaments. This would be a great opportunity to practice your machine quilting on a small project. I dreamed this one up while working on the clutch and haven’t had a chance to do it yet. I want to run into Wish Upon A Quilt and Grab some of the Christmas prints for this. Once I have made this up I’ll post it. But here is my idea. The over all gist is to make a quilt sandwich, practice your machine quilting by stitching around the motifs in your featured, top, fabric. Leave a side open on each shape and leave room between the motifs for cutting them out after stitching. You can meander across the top to outline several different motifs. I would use a fat quarter or half yard just to keep it manageable. When you are done cut the motifs out, turn the ornaments/tags right side out. Topstitch near the edge to close the seam. Attach a ribbon for hanging. To make them tags just write on the back with a permanent marker. To make the quilt sandwich so that the ornament reverses properly you would need to layer a piece of muslin or canvas down on your work surface (this is to make sure the batting doesn’t get hung up on the feed dogs). Then layer down an appropriately sized piece of scrap bat (this is a great use for those long pieces of scraps from the sides and bottoms of other projects that didn’t quite fit the standard batting sizes). Note that you could just leave the batting and muslin out if you don’t want the body in your tags. Next lay your backing fabric right side up. Finally layer your featured fabric wrong side up. Make sure you can see the motifs well enough to stitch around from the wrong side. Baste as desired. Stitch around your motifs leaving enough space on a side open for turning. When you cut the motif’s out try to leave a quarter inch seam allowance. I’m thinking this would be fun to do with Winter Village by Quilting Treasures, the Penguins panel, the Mary Englebreit prints, and the Advent panel, among others.

Sandi Henderson of Portabellopixie has a nice tutorial on how to make beautiful Rolled Roses. You could add these to a bag or attach a pin back to these for gifts.

What quick and easy projects are you planning for the holidays?