Wish Upon a Quilt Blog

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?

I am happy to be a sponsor of the first ever Bloggers Quilt Festival! This online quilt festival is open to everyone and has some great prizes, including gift certificates to Wish Upon A Quilt, so make sure you enter! Quilt Dad, John, found this great festival so be sure to visit his blog to see his great virtual quilt!

I’m entering this quilt which was my most recent project. I used a brand new pattern called Jewel Box by Janice Pope of Anything But Boring. This is a great pattern using the disappearing nine-patch technique set on point. The pattern is charm pack friendly and quick! I pieced this top in just 2 hours! My fabric selection was Spring Magic by April Cornell for Moda. I love the bright cheery colors. Many of our customers have wanted to make a quilt like this one, so we do have a kit available. What is on your sewing table today?

Ever wish your bobbin would hold more thread? When I found Superior’s Bottom Line, I thought it was a great idea, and loved the way it quilted. However, being a purist and loving to keep all my work 100% cotton, or at least 100% all natural threads, I couldn’t use Bottom Line (100% polyester) on anything I wanted to “last into the next generation.” When I found Superior Threads Masterpiece by Alex Anderson, I knew I had found a product I would love for a long time!

I have invested in several colors and love it! A bobbin will hold close to twice as much Masterpiece as a regular 50 weight thread, yet is strong enough for quilting. The secret is this: it is made of 2-ply long stable cotton. Combined with Superior’s King Tut as the top thread, I don’t break threads when quilting and that makes me very happy! I have also heard that some people like to piece with Masterpiece. The reason is that their blocks turn out the right size because their thread is not so thick! If you have not tried it for the bobbin for a machine quilting project, I would recommend it!

Although I made my first quilt in 1977, it did not become my full-time passion until 6 years ago. I prefer to design my own patterns for bags and quilts. (Translation: I am better at writing insructions than trying to follow them!) I have stumbled on to several tricks and tips that are available in my patterns which are sold at Wish Upon A Quilt. For example, I have always prefered to use bias binding rather than crossgrain binding on my quilts. My directions for making Jiffy Bias Binding are included in the Schlepping Bag pattern.  I also love to experiment with color and value placement in quilts. I have an extensive collection of batiks as well as African fabrics, which are a passion of mine. 

I work after hours at Wish, making sure our inventory on line matches what we have in the store. Currently I am serving as the President of Capital Quilter’s Guild. My term will be over in June this year, and I hope to have more time for developing patterns and marketing. I also have my own company, Anything But Boring and my website is www.janicedpope.com.  The Wish staff is so much fun to work with and they have been great to have as friends!

Ever since Quilt Market, I have not been able to catch up! I know I am not alone with not enough hours in the day but I have really wanted to share these photos from the Quilt Market floor.  I realized after I came home that I don’t have pictures of all of the fabric that I ordered, but here are a few. Let me know what you think of them, they will be at Wish Upon A Quilt between now and March….

From the top left to right-Alphabuddies by Andover Fabrics, the Blank Quilting booth with a fun fabric tree, Citronella by Robert Kaufman (one of my favorites), City Blooms by Benartex, Etosha by Fabriquilt including the zebra, and Sakura by Red Rooster

Wait there are people in these pictures…Remember when I told you about my Mom? Thankfully, she has fully recovered and she attended market with me! She is in the middle on the bottom row, so meet my Mom, Jan….love you Mom! (She will not be happy that I posted her picture)  

Many of you know Janice Pope from Wish…the last picture is Janice with her Two Hour Tulip Purse and Traveler’s Trio patterns by Anything But Boring at Quilt Market! Janice sold out of what she took to market and we are all very happy that she was a big success at the international market. She was one busy lady, she found time to keep all of our vendor appointments with me, work in a booth, and was a Quilt Angel at the Festival.