We’re been waiting for ages to share this one and can finally unveil Square Cut Gems to everyone in the April/May issue of McCall’s QUICK QUILTS. What we really love about this design is relies completely on a fabric that many of us would normally fondle and admire at the store but never actually buy. We’ve all bought these unique beauties from time to time only to hoard them in our stashes assured by the quiet notion that it would simply be a sin to cut something so exquisite….

Sharpen you’re rotary cutters ladies! Colleen and I have come up with a great excuse to cut, sew and play with abandon – no tedious fussy cutting, no slaving away with templates, not stress! All you need is some Nuance from Paula Nadelstern (kits and fabric are available in our store) and a copy of the April/May issue of McCall’s QUICK QUILTS. Make one like ours or use the simple method we used and create a unique Square Cut Gem of your own!

Special thanx to Beth Hayes and her editorial staff at Quick Quilts for doing such an amazing job with the article . For a preview of April May Issue click here. Please be sure to send them your kudos when you see the Square Cut Gems article, it’s simple outstanding!

c & c

As some of you may know, we’re renegades and recently switched from a white to black design wall at the Toadhall Studio. We’ve found the black background doesn’t interfere with the colors and fabrics we are working with and provides a much a cleaner backdrop when we step away back to look at how everything is coming together. The design wall is made from a huge king size piece of black batting that we stapled to the wall and secured with molding around the edges to give it a framed and finished look. The fuzzy fibers of the batting attract the fabric and blocks and hold everything on the wall without the aid of pins so we can easily move things around, rotate blocks and design on the fly. We love our design wall and wanted to share more about the projects that are on the wall….

We just finished the most amazing quilt called Aurora for Quilters Newsletter using Robert Kaufman’s new Imperial Collection in blues, creams and rich bronze browns shown below – delish! And yes, we’ll have the fabrics in store soon along with the kits in the summer. We feel like proud parents on this one… Lots of work, and a wonderful challenge but the sense of accomplishment we feel having designed and sewn something so beautiful is simply unmatched. It’s already under lock and key with the long arm quilter so you’ll have to wait until mid July for the August Issue of Quilters Newsletter to come out. We are counting the days until we see Aurora again and can’t wait to hear what you think!

As soon as Aurora came down we started the next project for Quilters Newsletter, another stunner we’re calling Eclipse. This one I did have the good sense to take some pics of yesterday when we got the first group of blocks up. The collection we’re working with is called Shades of the Season, also from Robert Kaufman. You should have seen the focal print we cut the centers of the blocks from….…Yummy! (so sorry I didn’t get a pic of the fabric, I had a fabrigasm with the rotary cutter before I thought to get the camera out, oops – enthusiasm to get started got the better of me there, I’m sure you know how it is). So yummy we ordered 9 bolts of the stuff as we’re pretty sure you’re going to like it as much as we do LOL! Hope we’ve got your curiosity perked…. This one will be in the October issue of Quilters Newsletter, which comes out mid September and we’ll have a few kits, if you’re interested, let us know.

It’s winter and we know if you’re a quilter and you’ve got a design wall, you’ve got something on it… We’d love to know what you’re working on . Happy quilting!

C & C

We’re really excited about our newest idea for a contest and hoping you’ll all get involved. We really need some feedback from our loyal customers about the patterns you’ve purchased and hope a contest with a killer prize will be just the right incentive! The winner will be randomly selected from the comments we receive about our patterns….

How Can You Win?
Tell us about about your favorite Toadusew pattern and what you enjoyed about it! Leave your comment here before April 29 2010 (extended from 31 March) to eligable to win. The winner will be randomly selected from all the comments on 30 April 2010 ad be posted on the blog 1 May 2010. If you have more than one favorite pattern, multiple comments are welcome, the more comments you leave, the better your chance of winning!

The Prize

Robert Kaufman Fusions FatQuater Bundle
Color Me Happy Kit
Beautiful Bargello Book
Quilted Décor Book
Publish Your Patterns Book
Fairfield 80/20 Blend Twin Size Batting
Klasse Quilting Needles
That Purple Thing
Robison Anton Piecing Thread Assortment
A Few Other Treats We’ll use to fill the box!

We appreciate your continued support and can’t wait to read your comments and share them with all our customers!