Electric Quilt 7 - My Newest Challenge!

We purchased the Electric Quilt 7 (EQ7) program recently and I have been working with it this weekend for the first time. What an amazing program! It is user friendly and awesome in what it can produce.   I watched all the tutorial videos and worked through several of the lessons that are included to introduce the features.

We do quite a bit of quilt designing at the shop, coming up with original designs for kits and for customers.  The challenge when creating original quilts for kits is then to write the pattern so it is complete, accurate, and easy to understand. I am hoping with EQ7 we can more efficiently come up with original designs and also write better instructions. 

We have gotten in several military-theme fabrics recently, and here is a quilt we came up with to showcase some of them. 

Another new quilt kit available exclusively at Lickety Stitch Quilts --Golden Batik Leaves Quilt.  Very elegant - very easy. Limited edition!

Family Blessings Quilt Kits

The Family Blessings Quilt Kits are almost ready.  If you like this, reserve one today as they are going fast and will be available in limited quantities due to one of the main fabrics has been discontinued and we can't get any more of it!  Polly outdid herself in designing this one for us. 

Celebration - Preview what is coming next May!

 

I thought you might like to see what we have ordered to be arriving next May.  The Stonehenge Celebration collection is a limited edition and is really going to be wonderful for those of us who love red, white, and blue!  Plus we will have the battery operated lights to make your wall-hangings REALLY light up!

Shipping May 2014

Independence Day is a day for family fun, picnics and barbecues. Celebrate this great American tradition in style with Stonehenge Celebration created by Deborah Edwards.  The group features fireworks, stars and textures in classic red, white and blue.   

Plus we have new multi-colored battery operated lights (FLLITES-10) to light up your Celebration wall-hangings!

 

This is the panel that will be central to the Celebration Collection.

 

Make a Terrific Teepee

 Winter in the Pines Flannel Quilt Kits are done and ready to go!  68"x80"

What could be more fun, if you were a kid, than your very own teepee? Terrific Teepee patterns are now in stock.  We made ours up in Mossy Oak Break Up Infinity Camo, which is 100% Cotton and is 60" wide.  Good for any surface, indoor or out.  Folds easily to store. Big enough for a grown up and a child.  Very easy to sew!  Designed by Connie Jubitz.

All are available at Lickety Stitch Quilts! (click to go to our website)

New Flannel Quilt Kit available

We now have the Polar Pals Flannel Rag Quilt Kits in the store.  Made from two layers of warm soft flannel, these kits go together in a few hours. The seams are fringed by clipping every 1/4 inch, washing, then drying the quilt.  No quilting or batting is needed in this quilt so it finishes extra quickly.

What to do with Onsies after baby grows out of them.

BetteLu shared a picture of the delightful quilt she made for her great-niece.  What a cute idea to capture precious memories after baby has grown out of all those cute little onsies! The center of the star blocks have fairies in them.

Quilt Inspiration

Where do you start in designing an original quilt?  Here is an example of the very beginning of a quilt idea.  The word blocks came from a new arrival in the shop, Heartfelt Home Faith Panel from Timeless Treasures.  We cut apart the various shaped blocks, along with some tile blocks from the Aphrodite panel made by Northcott.  After laying them out on the floor and playing with the arrangement a bit, the above grouping is what I came up with.  I took a picture so I could remember the layout, then packaged up the fabrics, along with some coordinating fabric for putting the blocks together, and sent them to Polly,  one of our quilt designers and sample makers.  We can't wait to see what she comes up with!  Panels are available now at Lickety Stitch Quilts.

Ordering fabric for the shop

One of the perks of being a shop owner is getting to see all the new fabrics that will be coming out in the next season.  Representatives for the fabric companies and distributors visit the shop on a regular basis bringing with them suitcases full of samples and swatches of hundreds and hundreds of new fabrics and collections that will be shipping in the next 6 to 9 months.  Out of the suitcase comes swatch card after swatch card of every color and print that you could imagine.  They pile up high on the counter until the case is empty - then she starts folding them up and putting them back.  We watch carefully as they go - "No, not that one." "I love it but we don't need it." "Hmmm, interesting, but not quite right for our store."  "That one is really unusual - maybe a little too unusual for our customers."  But - there are a few that we pull aside and put into the MAYBE pile.  After 4 suitcases have been shown, our MAYBE pile is pretty big.  We only have room and budget for a small percentage of what they show - which means we have to make some very hard choices!  We ask ourselves:  What do our customers want to see when they come into the shop?  What colors, types of collections, novelty prints, do we need in the shop right now?  We also wonder what is the next popular notion or fabric that will hit the quilting community - so we can have what is new by the time our customers look for it in the shop.  Above is pictured Kristy Osborne, who reps for a number of fabric companies. She spent 3 hours today showing and advising us on fabrics for the next year.  We hope that the 100 bolts of fabric that we ordered are just what our customers will be looking for.  These fabrics will be arriving from now until next June. I hope to show you some of them here as they arrive and see if you are as excited as we are about what is new! 

Winter in the Pines Flannel Quilt Kit

Here is a preview of our newest flannel quilt kit - Winter In The Pines. 67x80  Made from Moda's luscious flannels, it will be cozy and warm for cold winter nights.  Available November 29, 2013.  A Lickety Stitch Quilts Exclusive.  Limited number available. Call 307-334-9963 to reserve one today.

Jane's Old Red Truck Quilt

Having difficulty coming up with an idea for a quilt for the man  in your life?  Here is a great quilt - and it goes together quickly.  Strips of the focus fabric - here one with old red trucks - are alternated with strips of complimentary fabrics between them vertically, then bordered with the same.  Easy. Fast. Fun.

Taking it from here.....

As the owner of a quit shop, there is always a myriad of jobs needing done and so many things that get put off until tomorrow because of lack of time.  Blogging has been one item that has definitely been put on the back burner around here for quite awhile - but I intend to change that as of today!  Many times in a day something comes to mind that we want to share with customers and friends - new fabrics, techniques, projects we make or our customers make, interesting facts...  So, we will see how this goes and hopefully keep much more current from here on out.