Sew Much Fun! Kids Classes Great Success

June brought Kids Sewing 101 and Sewing 102 to Country Traditions. Scott was the instructor and he had a class of 4 for Sewing 101. They made 4 projects (pillow case, duffle bag, FlipFlop pillow and table topper (shown) and watched five "Let Me Show You" demos given by him during the course of a week. They also took home their very own sewing machine! Everyone enjoyed the class so much they all went on to join another student in Kids Sewing 102 the next week! Kids Sewing 102 was for the more advanced student and over the course of a week they each made a quilt. From chosing the fabrics, learning how to rotary cut, design layout, piecing and then layering and quilting, each one did a beautiful job of designing their own quilt. The photo shows the students wrapped in their quilt when it was in the layering process and just ready to be quilted.

They were all excellent students and we hope they all go on to make many more quilts! Great job, guys!

Kids Sewing 101/102 is available every summer for kids 12 years old or older.

Class Date Changed

Due to a conflict in schedules we've had to reschedule the X-Block Excitement class to July 31st. This is a fun class with a unique spin on making an easy block/quilt look quite complicated. With the use of an

X-Block ruler you'll take a simple nine-patch and put it on it's ear, so to speak. It will look like you spent hours cutting various shapes and stitiching them together. And the remnants of cutting the blocks are used in the borders so there is no waste at all! Sign up today for this fun class. $19.99 And remember, during the summer months we are giving DOUBLE Class Cash for taking classes. This "cash" can be used at our Holiday Affair Auction on December 13th. Class Cash is only for class participants, so your "cash" will be worth a lot during the auction.

This Just In!

I've added a new feature to the What's New page on the website. It's called "This" Just In! and will feature all the new books, notions and fabrics that come in. It will give you a quick place to check to see what's the latest and greatest. All the books/patterns and notions will be available in the store and in the webstore immediately. The fabric lines will be in the shop and eventually online (as time permits). If you can click on the item, it's available online now. We've changed the look of our online store, too. Books and patterns will be catagorized by Publisher. And I'm taking the time to list if the books/patterns are Fat Quarter, Charm Pack, Layer Cake or Paper Piece Friendly. This should help you when you've purchased some of these new fabric cuts and looking for projects to use them on. I hope you enjoy the "This" Just In! feature and check it out often. You can get to it from the What's New tab at the top of the website menu. Enjoy!

PFAFF Creative Vision Takes Top Honors

SVP Worldwide, owner of PFAFF, has announced the PFAFF CREATIVE VISION sewing and embroidery machine has been awarded the prestigious internatinoal 2008 Red Dot Design Award - The Best of the Best. The state-of-the-art machine offfers unprecedented sewing precision, brightness and more sewing space and is easily recognized for it's pioneering design.
I,personally, can attest to the beauty of this machine. I have been a PFAFF owner since 1994 (Creative 1475) and knew that when I got a new machine it would be another PFAFF as I use the IDT feature all the time. This feature is like a built-in walking foot - another set of upper feed dogs integrated with the lower feed dogs to push the fabrics through at a perfectly even pressure. Plaids and stripes don't move. When I stitch in the ditch I never get a pucker at the end of the seam because the layers aren't moving at the same time. I finally decided to jump into the wonderful world of Embroidery and bought a CREATIVE VISION. I didn't sell or trade my 1475 in, I'll piece quilts with that while the new "baby" is stitching out embroideries. I'm totally spoiled by the new machine. Not only does it do commercial quality embroidery (on the largest embroidery field in the market) but it's a wonderful sewing machine in itself. A bright, adjustable light field, huge workspace and light, colorful screen. I can see why it received the prestigious Red Dot Award. I've always enjoyed the bobbin sensor on my older PFAFF (tells me when the bobbin is running low) and the needle threader (makes threading the machine a 4-second operation) but now I can't live without the thread cutter. It not only ties off and cuts the threads, it draws the top thread to the back! I can use the foot pedal to raise and lower the needle and pressure foot (that has come in handy while I'm working on some clothesline bowls) ... how spoiled can you get! If you have a chance, do stop in for a demo on the creative vision. All the sewing and quilting features can save you all kinds of time piecing (you never have to fumble for the pressure foot lever again!) and you can do some gorgeous "embroidery" quilting along with free motion quilting to make your projects a dream to make ... and so professional! Excellent job, PFAFF!

Jelly Rolls Meet Strippers!

If you have not used a Marti Michell template or ruler you are in for a real treat - and a great aide in making precision quilts. Marti is a math wizard and lives to make precise piecing as easy as possible. Her templates are not only notched at the end, but "smart " cornered - no more dog ears and perfect matching. They are perfect for rotary cutting multiple layers at once, 1/4-inch seam allowances are already included and they are laser-cut acrylic so you can easily see your fabric under the template as you cut.

Marti's latest templates are called Strippers and are made specifically to cut shapes from 2-1/2" strips (or "Jellyrolls") that are not already available in the B Template Set . There are 3 templates and they cut 7 shapes: Hexagon, 60-degree Diamond ,45-degree Diamond, Equilateral Triangles, 60-degree Conehead, and Small Triangle that matches the hexagon for another "I Spy" size. These can be used to make some of the following blocks.

What makes your sewing so precise is the fact that Marti has placed precise marking points at each intersection. They are pre-drilled holes made to fit a sharp pencil lead. This makes it much easier just to sew to the 1/4-inch seam allowance for all set-in seams. You'll be impressed with the accuracy you can achieve!

Bonus! You can also use the Strippers templates with Set B and 2 1/2" strips to make 4" x 2" finished Flying Geese units and 9 5/8" finished size 8-pointed star blocks!
Extra Bonus! The Log Cabin Ruler #8038 is perfect for Jelly Rolls, too - just place it on 2 1/2" strips and cut "logs" to perfect lengths!

Beat The High Cost of Travel!

Join us for a fun-filled mini-Shop Hop June 27 and 28th and leave the driving and travel plans to us! We're working with 7 other Quilt Shops in Iowa, South Dakota and Minnesota to bring you a little summer trip at a great price. Visit 7 shops in 2 days for the inclusive price of $139.99. That includes the bus trip, lodging at a brand new Holiday Inn Express in Sheldon, Iowa (shown in photo), AND meals. How can you beat that? Call a friend and sign up today before it's too late. We'll have a little Bon Voyage Party (7:15AM)at Country Traditions before you leave on Friday (8:00AM departing time) and you'll be back Saturday night around 7:00PM. Come and enjoy the fun, comaraderie, and shopping experience with us! Click on title for more information and to sign up. Or you can call us at 402-721-7752 to book your passage.
P.S. You can come along on the trip even if you don't have a roommate for the lodging. You can book a single room for an additional charge.

Give the Gift That Lasts A Lifetime

Do you have a teen boy or girl that has shown an interest in sewing? Then this is the perfect opportunity to start them on the road to learning a skill that will last their lifetime. Our Kids Class 101 will teach them the basics in a week long workshop. And they will have 4 completed projects PLUS a sewing machine to take home! If they have taken 101, or know how to sew a seam, they can take 102 and learn how to make a quilt, start to finish. What a rewarding way to spend some time this summer. Check out the details of these and other classes by clicking on the headline above.