Quilty Goodness

Yesterday was my 36th birthday and so wanting to do something special I decided to go and visit my quilt shop near Winterthur. It is about a 50 minute drive each way, so I don’t get to go very often.

It’s located in a little village called Nürensdorf. I just love this one garden which I usually stop by on the way to the shop. The house and garden are both  so cute.

I just think bleeding hearts are one of the most beautiful and unusual flowers out there. I’ve got to get some.

This time I didn’t get any pictures of inside the quilt shop, so you will have to make due with pictures of my purchases.

I bought lots of fabric goodness destined for the sampler quilt I am working on. Specifically, material for an appliqué block I’ve decided to do.

As the sampler quilt is a great way of learning new blocks and that is why I’m doing this particular sampler, I have decided to try out one technique I have always wanted to try, and that seems the most scary to learn.: appliqué.

I picked out this very large 20″ block from this book:

I figure this block will go in the center of my sampler.

It was a challenge but with the help of the lady who runs the quilt shop, I was able to pick out these fabrics to go with the few fabrics I already had for the block.

I just love this one, which my quilt lady found for me.

I also picked out this fabric which I just had to have for my stash. The lacy one I had just a few meagre scraps left of it and when I saw that this fabric was almost finished on the roll, I jumped at it. As for the polka dots: you can never have enough!

I also bought some notions I needed. We will see what a difference these little finger thimbles make for my hand quilting.

I love the embroidery guide, I already have one, but this one is going to a friend!

After collecting advice on how to quilt my Windy Days pinwheel quilt I decided to try out big stitch quilting, so I’ve got the supplies for that now too.

So those were all my birthday treasures. I didn’t get any time to actually make any blocks yesterday, but I was studying up about how to go about preparing my appliqué.

Lots of new things to learn and so little time!

Well I wish you all a happy Good Friday and Easter weekend!

Jodie