A HUGE THANK YOU!!!!

We want to shout out a big thank you to all of you for supporting our Hen House Open House this weekend!  We had a wonderful time and gave tons of tours!  It made us feel so great that you are all as excited as we are for this new adventure!  I thought I'd share some pictures and a little more about what's next...

Our "Hen House" logo designed by Karisa Hillman will be painted on the building in the upper left hand corner of this picture.  The boarded windows below will feature darling hens she created that will perch with their crafts and welcome everyone!  Didn't Windsor's Nursery do a beautiful job on our pots and hanging baskets?   WOW!!!  They are stunning!

This gives you a glimpse of our work room with a solid 5' x 12' work table with 16 plug-ins and plenty of circuit power for machines and personal irons.  You can see the foldout ironing boards in the corners that swivel 180 degrees for added convenience.  I have to say... Doug did an amazing job on our design walls - all 4 of them!   Although our awesome sewing chairs didn't make it here for the open house, they are scheduled to arrive Monday and will be here in the store for you to test and review!

We were so lucky to get a trunk show from Cluck Cluck Sew to display at our open house!  Allison is such a sweetheart and her blog is full of wonderful tutorials from car seat covers, to skirts, to camera straps, to fresh modern quilts... I could go on and on and on and on....  The red club chairs are perfect to sink into with your knitting or handwork!

I'm loving the cutting table that Jenele's husband Barry crafted for us!  It is the perfect height and just right for several cutting mats to be in use together. 

Lori decorated the apartment with rustic decor and it is just as cute as can be!  With a full kitchen, you can bring your own food, or choose one of our flexible food packages.

I know it's probably too small to see in this picture, but Doug (my husband) embroidered "the hen house" on our towels!  It earned him the nickname of "Jack" this weekend for being such a jack of all trades!  So, if you forget his name, just call him "Jack".  :-)

And last, but not least... these are the half dressed beds.  I didn't get the shams done in time for the openhouse, but hey...that just means the rooms will be even cuter when you get here!  Doug and Barry built these darling beadboard beds and we garnished them with solid cream quilted bedspreads and bedrunner done in a new line called Hometown by Sweetwater.  It will hit the store in August, but because everyone is already in love with it, we will be taking pre-orders beginning July 1.   Click the link to see the colors in all their splendor! 

Now, for the fun part... as a reward for reading this entire blog, you get to be the first to find out who won the doorprizes and what they won!

5 Moda Jelly Roll winners are:

Diane Willis

Stephanie Crumrine

Ann Roe

Rebecca Cress

Laura Yeaman

5 Moda Honey Bun winners are:

Shelley Steen

Lee McKinlay

Carolyn Krohn

Phyllis Fletcher

Collen Tilby

5 QuiltMania Magazine winners are:

Sylvia Lyman

Lori Toplife

Mike Strunk

Deanna Wheedleton

Susie Smith

5 Cluck Cluck Sew Pattern winners are:

Shylane Higgins

Dakota McEwen

Christy Gardner

Makenzi Oneida

Brenda Anderson

You can pick up your prize at the Quilt Barn anytime.  Thank you again for all of your support!  We appreciate you!



Upcoming Events - Mark your Calendar!

This weekend is our Open House for the new Hen House Retreat Center located behind the Quilt Barn in Kimberly, Idaho. By now, you've gathered your chics, picked your dates, and are ready to take advantage of the introductory savings we are offering! If you are unable to attend the open house, you can still save by booking your retreat over the phone. We will honor the introductory offer until June 30, 2011 and the retreat must be held before the end of the year.

Daily Schedule of Events

Tours of the Retreat Center 10AM - 6PM

Demonstrations and Make & Takes 11AM - 4PM

Refreshments will be served and we will have DOORPRIZES galore!

For more information about pricing and our introductory offer, visit our BLOG!

One lucky group who books a retreat during our openhouse will get an additional $100 off! Drawing will be held Saturday at 6PM - you do not need to present to win.

Upcoming Events - SAVE THE DATES!
July 4th - July 9th: Good Neighbor Days SALE - this is one of our 2 big sales each year! More details will be posted to our blog soon!

August 5th & 6th: National Floriani Event at the Quilt Barn! If you have never attended one of these embroidery extravaganzas you will not want to miss out! You will learn extensive embroidery, stabilizing, thread and software techniques PLUS receive gifts valued up to $599.

Don't miss out on all the Floriani fun! Click here to register!
See you soon,

Heather & the Quilt Barn Chics

Quilt Barn
241 Main Street N.
Kimberly, ID 83341
(208) 423-5092
www.quiltbarn.blogspot.com

Hen House Retreat Center

The Hen House at the Quilt Barn...where the chics gather!  Our retreat center is going to be looking amazing for next weekend's Open House Party.  In today's economy, it can be hard to justify spending hundreds of dollars on a retreat for yourself, so we have created an option that is affordable for everyone.  For example, gather 6 friends and book a 3 day, 2 night retreat for just over $80/person.  Book it during the openhouse and take advantage of our introductory special - save $100 plus get goodie bags for your entire group.   Treat yourself!

Can't wait to see everyone on June 24th & 25th for tours, demos, and giveaways!

Smocking is coming back!

I've come to realize that if you live through a fashion trend, it's not quite as amazing the 2nd time around.  Here's what I'm talking about... last year when I went school shopping for Halle, I was disappointed to find clothing that looked a whole lot like my wardrobe in 1984.  Shirts with big "V" stripes and waistbands and shimmery plaid button down dresses with belts wasn't exactly what I had in mind.  I lived through the 80's once and that was enough for me.  On the flip side, I love the retro colors from the 70's, and when I sew Halle's clothes in the delicious earth tones of Anna Marie's Innocent Crush, my mom will say something like, "That is the most darling outfit, but those colors are straight out of the 70's"

Well, guess what?  I had a smocked dress in 1st grade, and even though I lived through the smocking era, when I saw these darling smocked aprons at Quilt Market, I went crazy!  The Apron Lady had the cutest smocked apron patterns ever, in fact, she let me buy an apron to display at the store!  There is a Children's Apron pattern and an Grown Up pattern, too!

I got a lesson and it is easy, breezy, lemon squeezy!  I can't wait to teach a class at the Quilt Barn! 

Watch for it this fall, because this would make the best little Christmas presents ever.  When I look at that adorable smocking, visions of couch pillows and pin cushions dance in my head! 

It's International Yarn Bombing Day!

 (photo from yarnbombing.com)

This is a really expressive and wonderful idea. People all across the globe are knitting up yummy looking installation pieces that are placed throughout their communities. They start by coming up with a location and idea. Then they knit out the pieces and sew them on to statutes, around trees, street signs, posts, benches, buses and just about anything throughout local communities. It creates such a wonderful celebration of design, creativeness, and adds a touch of homespun love to the urban world around us. Check out these to links to see some really awesome yarn bombing: Yarn Bombing and International Yarn Bombing Day . You can also check out a lot of great examples on Flickr!

Lila Tueller Designs

  Lila Tueller's Booth was gorgeous!  My pictures don't begin to do it justice.  You have to visit her blog and see the booth in all it's splendor!  We were inspired by all her new bag patterns sewn up in vinyl coated fabric - they were incredible!  Her booth was decked out with home decor, wearables, and my favorite...a whole collection of her new "Deluxe Organizers" made in vinyl coated fabric.  You get all sorts of organizers - travel, sewing, cosmetics, first aid, etc as well as bags for laptops, I-pads, and Kindles all in one big happy pattern!  I'm so excited!  The new vinyl coated fabric is already arriving and the patterns will be here toward the end of June.  I need a new makeup bag.  I use the word "need" loosely, because I really just want a cuter makeup bag.  hee hee

See all these projects in her new "Deluxe Organizers" pattern?





Cluck, Cluck, Sew

Another of my many favorite booths at market was Cluck Cluck Sew.  Talk about new fresh, modern patterns!  I love the zig zag quilt in those fantastic solids... we NEED that hanging in our store.  The patterns are in stock - who wants to sew it?  If only I had as much time as I have fabric.  I've always known that if I found a Lamp and summoned a Genie, one of my 3 wishes would be that I wouldn't need to sleep.  I could get so much done while everyone else was regenerating!  Sleep is such a waste of time - I can sleep when I'm dead.  :-)

Jaybird Quilts & Lazy Girl Designs

I loved the class on the Lazy Angle ruler! Julie of Jaybird Quilts and Joan Hawley of Lazy Girl Designs presented a mouth watering trunk show - quilts made with new Jaybird new patterns featuring the Lazy Angle Ruler. The fresh, modern look Jaybird displays is appealing to the Modern Quilter and the Lazy Angle Ruler is fun and easy to use! I see some classes in our future at the Quilt Barn! We've ordered all of the Jaybird and Lazy Girl patterns, and most of them are already in stock. See for yourself...

Livin' Large II

Livin' Large II by Anka's Treasures

I was excited to see another Livin' Large book, because I love quilts designed for large print fabrics.  You know those fabrics that sit in your sewing room forever because they are just too beautiful to cut?  So, you look at them, admire them, touch them, smell them... until they go out of style?  Don't pretend you don't have any!!!  Heather Mulder Peterson has given us 9 more patterns with 25 different size options to showcase those treasured fabrics.  Here are some pictures of her beautiful market booth.  It's hard to decide which quilt I want to make first...I'm leaning toward the one at the bottom.  What do you think?  Leave a comment and you could win a FREE Livin' Large II book in our first of many blog giveaways!  Even if you aren't the lucky winner, the book is a great deal - 9 patterns for $16?  Nice!