Quilters Friend Shop Hop

The Quilters Friend Shop Hop is on from August 12 - 28th 2011. I have been busy making and quilting my shop hop quilt and finally I finished it this afternoon so see below.
The 6 shops involved are -
Village Books & Crafts - Palmerston North, Cherry Pie Bernina - Levin, Sawmillers Quiltery - Te Marua (Upper Hutt), Quilters Land - Masterton, Crafty Pea - Pahiatua and QuiltWorks in Waipukurau.
We have given you 3 weekends and 2 full weeks to visit each of these shops to participate. When you pay your $40 registration you choose what colourway quilt you would like to receive. My quilt is Batiks (lime, purple, turquoise and black background), Cherry Pie Bernina's is Bright Childrens; Sawmillers Quiltery's is 1930's; Quilter Lanes is Blue and White, Crafty Pear's is Country and Quiltworks' is Kaffe Fasset. You will soon be able to see all quilts on the website http://www.quiltersfriend.wordpress.com/ .
Here is my quilt "The Grape Harvest"

After paying your registration fee and choosing your quilt colourway you can collect a block pattern and enough fabric to make 2 blocks from each shop. At the end of your shop hop you will have enough fabric to make 12 blocks. Each shop has made their quilt up in their own layout and will offer a limited number of finishing kits with sashing, borders etc. I, and a few of the others, will offer you choices in your layouts. I had fun creating The Grape Harvest using these wonderful batiks in lime, purple and turquoise which I partnered with a black background. I decided to set them on point - this is really easy, it is basically a 4 x 4 layout with a black block in each of the corners so it merges into the background and then a large triangle of black fabric is added to each side. To fill this large black triangle I decided to applique grapes and vines. As I made this quilt over 10 days I did use raw edge applique but you can choose to do needleturn etc for your quilt. I like to applique and quilt at the same time so I stitch over my appliques through the batting and backing so I am only stitching once. I quilt using a domestic sewing machine and have had fun creating different patterns for each block. I decided that since the quilt was a sampler block I would quilt each block differently and you can choose what kind of quilting you want to do after seeing this. I quilted a leafy vine around all the blocks using a variegated green thread which makes the sashing appear to be a different fabric. I now have the quilt hanging in the shop so do call in if you can and see it and decide which colourway you would like for your shop hop experience. On registering you will receive a quilters friend 'passport' - if you spend a minimum of NZ$10 at each of the 6 shops you will receive a stamp on your passport. When you have all 6 stamps write your contact details and leave the passport at the last shop and we will enter you into the draw to win a Janome Sewing Machine. You will also receive a 10% discount at each shop on production of your quilters friend passport for the duration of the shop hop.
Although I have set hours I am happy to open up at any other time if you ring or email me. I will be around all 3 weekends so can open up later no problem. Check with each of the other shops as well as many of us are happy to open later to suit your travel arrangements.I look forward to seeing you.
Come in and register now. Get a group and travel together to each of the shops. Have fun and drive safely.
Dianne