New Fabrics Have Arrived!

Alright, these are the fabrics that I told you about last week. I'm sorry I didn't put them up sooner, but I have been quilting up a storm when I wasn't preparing for our show this weekend.

This first batch is Gobble Gobble by Sandy Gervais. We are working on a few projects out of this line from Anka's Treasures Sizzlin' Sixties book. Check out the store next time you're in, we'll either be working on them or hopefull we'll have them done and hanging up.





This line is called Millie's Garden. The colors are so vibrant and cozy feeling. It's the perfect focus fabric for your next project whether you choose the blue or pink colors - or both.




Let me introduce you to Animal Party. Full of adorable creatures big and small and the cutest panel and monkeys. This line will make a cute quilt for the little guy in your life. We have created a small quilt using this panel and coordinating fabrics. I'll have pictures once it gets back from the show.

These are the most b-e-a-utiful batiks we've had. Some of these incorporate a new technique in the line called Chop Chop. What this technique does is puts the fabric through the dyeing process twice creating color combinations that were never available before. You can kinda see this in the 2nd and 3rd bolts from the right, but for a better look, come in the shop and check them out for yourself. We don't see these fabrics lasting long.

An adorable panel of 30's fabrics dresses is the feature in the Sweet Pea line. With a couple coordinating fabrics, this line is cute just using the panel as a quilt, or mixing it up with other cute 30's prints.

Are you hungry yet? You will be when you feast your eyes upon the Girl Scout Cookie fabric that arrived. Complete with Tagalongs, Samoas, and Thin Mints this fabric has it all. Make your little Girl Scout a pillowcase or some pajama pants out of these fabrics to match their quilt.

Okay, we'll be at the shop and at the Cascade Quilt Guild Show tomorrow in Bath, Ohio. Come see us at either location and we'll help you either finish your projects or start another. You can never have too many (says the person that has atleast 15 projects currently going on! ooooppps). Atleast it keeps me out of trouble for the time being.

We'll post more pictures soon and show you some of what we have been spending our creative hours on lately. See you soon at the shows! If you have any questions on upcoming shows either call us, stop in, or check our website for more information. Off to hand quilt some more. I'm working on getting one project done. Let me know if I can help you finish yours!

Ready for a nap

We're ready for a nap, but it's for a good cause. Here's the scoop - We have just teamed up with ConKerr Cancer to make pillowcases. ConKerr Cancer is an organization that helps make hospital stays as pleasant as possible for children who are sick with cancer or other serious illnesses. ConKerr Cancer began when the founder, Cindy Kerr, took her son to the hospital for long stays and made him bright fun pillowcases to brighten his room. Soon after she began making pillowcases for the other sick children in the hospital and it grew from there - rapidly. Now ConKerr Cancer has chapters nationwide and is expanding globally.




We are now a drop off location for standard size pillowcases for children of all ages - even teenagers. All pillowcases dropped at our location will be kept within the area at Rainbow Babies Children's Hospital, Cleveland Clinic, and Akron Children's Hospital. Instructions to make a standard size pillowcase can either be picked up at our shop or found online at ConKerr Cancer's How To Help page. Unfortunately pillowcases are always needed, but remember that donations will be taken from now until forever.




What we will do for all of our generous customers and neighbors is this - for each donation made to the shop we will put your name into a drawing. Monthly we will pull a name and donate a $25 gift certificate to one lucky person. If you would like to donate but don't have the time to sew, other donations can be make to ConKerr Cancer if you visit their website by clicking here. Also, not all pillowcases have to be sewn. No sew polar fleece pillowcase instructions can be found on their website here. For more information stop in and pick up a brochure or visit the ConKerr Cancer website here.







Moving on... or moving around. On our last post we showed a glimpse into how the store layout was changing. We've continued that slightly and here's another sneek peek. It's still a work in progress, but come in and let us know what you think. I was told by a little bird there might even be goodies and coffee for taste testing in the near future!






Since we have moved the store around a bit the classroom is no longer where it was and it's purpose has changed into more of a multi purpose room. We're still going to have classes but it now has a really comfy chair and ottoman, a rocker, and a beautiful antique hoosier cabinet in it too. What we are planning to do since we are here six days a week and we understand life happens and schedules get hectic, our space is open to you. What I mean is this - If you and a friend want to come and just sew your hearts out in our space, call us and reserve the spot. If you are having a hard time with a technique or just want to sew with other people around, come on in! Or if you are interested in a class but your schedule just can't fit it in, call us and we can sit with you one on one. We understand sometimes space can be a premium that your house doesn't allow or another opinion can make you feel at ease. Come join us and just have fun!



We are getting ready to begin our Fall Show Extravaganza! We are at several shows in the upcoming weeks - here, there and everywhere! For an updated list of the shows we will be attending as well as directions and other vital information, visit our website On The Road page. If you have any other questions about where to stay eat or other attractions to see, call us or e-mail us and we will try our best to help you out.


Oh, I almost forgot to mention - the details are still being worked out, but we are part of the Stepping Out Quilt Tour (Shop Hop) next month. It will run from October 12th through October 31st, three solid weeks to visit 13 different shops across Northern Ohio. More details will come soon, I promise. If you have any questions, check back soon and if that doesn't help give us a call!



We hope you all had a nice holiday weekend and you'll stop in and say hi! Come see us and the wonderful new things we have in store for you. And let me tell you, we have many new and wonderful things in store. Just this afternoon 23 delicious bolts arrived of batiks and Girl Scout Fabric. I will take pictures of those and other goodies that arrived last week and post them all here soon. If you can't wait, just stop in and see them for yourself! Gotta go, happy quilting!

Missed you much!

Alright, I know it's been awhile and we have alot of catching up to do. So sorry it's been a crazy month and once you read on I'm sure you'll see why.



First things first: The winner of the Nine Patch Challenge is Mary Lou Atkinson with Number 2. Congratulations and next January be on the lookout for another challenge quilt. What'll it be this year? I guess we'll just have to wait and see.



Okay, moving on. We (meaning Donna) rearranged the store recently and some more changes will be coming in the near future. Just for a sneek peek this is some of what you'll see when you walk through the door. Come for a visit and see the total transformation as it's happening. That's all I'm telling you on that for now, like I said: More to come later.








Some new fabrics have come in lately. More should be coming soon. Oh, and before I forget, the first of many Bali Pops by Hoffman Fabrics have arrived. More should be here any day now. The fabrics below are another goodie from Studio E called Deja Brew. For all the coffe lovers out there, this fabric line is truly delicious. Also, the stock of gorgeous Black and White fabrics has been replenished with some beautiful pieces. There are just too many choices now, I can't decide which to piece with first.

And to Patty and Halle, I'm so sorry it took awhile, but the two ladies took our Crazy Curves class awhile ago with Carol Chenoweth and these would be the results of their class time. The pictures do not do the quilts and fabrics justice at all, but I can assure you the ladies did a wonderful job with their first curved piecing and they did it in a flash! The earth toned one is Patty's and yes that is Halle posing with rollers in her hair next to her bright and fun quilt. For more information on any of our upcoming classes like this one, check our website here .

Okey dokey, I think that covers everything since the last post. Sorry again and I hope you missed us as much as we missed talking to you. Oh, and a big thank you to all of you who voted for the Challenge quilts. The ladies did a wonderful job! Check back soon for more updates, I promise there will be another one soon! Have a wonderful day and come see us soon!

Get Your Votes In!

Alright, Here they are! We have six entries into our Nine Patch Challenge. The voting begins immediately and runs through the end of the month. The quilts below are numbered, so you can either leave us a comment, e-mail us at cottonpickersquiltshop@gmail.com, or call us at 440-428-6449 to cast your vote. The voting is open to anyone who wishes to: your husband, your kids, your neighbor - we're not picky. Just let us know and we will tally all the votes and have the winner announcement on August 15th.

Quilt #1

Quilt #2

Quilt #3

Quilt #4

Quilt #5

Quilt #6

And as mentioned in our previous post, we're going to collect your favorite recipes. Just to share, nothing big. It's prime picnic season and we wanted to know what your favorite potluck/picnic foods are. Sometimes it is just too difficult thinking of a dish to take without using the same one you've used for everyother event. Becky's favorites are the staples like macaroni salad and potato salad and pasta salad (noticing a trend here - like carbs!) and Beth's are potato casserole and better than sex cake. We'll think hard to pick a favorite and post the recipe soon. Just leave us a comment of your favorites and maybe you'll discover a new dish to try.

Okay, off to work on more projects. They tend to multiply around here while we're not looking. Happy quilting and cast your votes. Remember you have until the end of the month!

How Refreshing

Well, we had a wonderful fourth and we hope you did too! The baseball game was fun and the fireworks were spectacular. It was nice to have a couple days to relax and attempt to fish, but now we're back to our normal schedule. That's alright. So far this week we've seen some wonderful projects that are being completed. Everything from applique to rug hooking.

We've had some new arrivals lately in the shop. Too many projects are running through our heads right now. We have to try (really hard) to figure out what we want to do with each one of these goodies. And try to finish every other project we have started. If nothing else, all of these quilting projects sure keep you out of trouble!

This is Charisma by Chez Moi for Moda. I think Beth came up with a project for this one already. We'll have to wait and see what she does with it.

This is some wonderful wine fabric for those of us who love or know someone who loves wine. Honestly, we are in the middle of a well known wine region. Just doing our part to help boost the economy, one way or the other! This is Vintage Collection by Robert Kaufman.

These adorable cupcakes are from Robert Kaufman as well. This is part of the Confections line and we love it to pieces.

Here's some new batiks from Robert Kaufman that have come in recently. We know how much you love them and we can't seem to keep some of these on the shelf! Come and get them before they're gone. The last bunch didn't last long at all.

That's everything for now. We are currently working on cropping and uploading the pictures to the website for the Nine Patch Challenge. Check back real soon to vote!

Also this week we are working on scheduling the next round of classes. Please remember if we have are offering a class that you are interested in, but it doesn't fit your schedule, let us know when you are available. If we get enough interest for a different time slot, we might be able to schedule another class. It's not a guarantee, but we do understand life happens and not everyone's schedules are the same. If there is a certain technique or quilt you would like to try but would rather take a class than attempt it on your own, leave us a comment and we'll see what we can do.

Alright, off to make some blocks. I love it when you get projects finished! Oh, and just a hint: keep in mind some yummy recipes for the next post. I don't want to give it all away, but we have something wonderful in mind.

The 4th is Here

We made it through our shows and retreat, now we're looking forward to relaxation and good food. We will be closed on the 4th of July, but we will be back in the shop on Monday. Hopefully rested and full of good picnic food.

Just one new fabric line came in this week. Another good one from our new favorites, Studio e, this is Pungkin Peers. They're just too cute and make you smile. My favorites are the buck-toothed little pumpkin and the bug-eyed bats.




We received a few entries to our Nine Patch Challenge. We are currently uploading the photos online and we will give you all of the information on where to find the pictures and how to get a hold of us with your votes next week.

Sorry this one is short and sweet, we've got too many projects to finish and way too many bindings to do. Have a safe and happy 4th of July. See you all next week!

So Yummy...

Well, another week, a bunch of deliveries. We've seen some familiar and new faces in the shop lately. It's just lovely to chat and meet new people and see what projects and mischief everyone is getting involved in. There's just too many things to do and too little time. We'll have some pictures up soon of some projects going on here between classes and other things. More on that later.

So late last week we recieved the new line The Haunted Hallow by Jackie Paton. It's new from Red Rooster fabrics and the great thing is there is a wonderful panel within the line. It's a 22" square, but the even better thing is Red Rooster has a free pattern available at the shop for a wonderful wall hanging using this line. We have kits available for $18.50 which includes your panel, coordinating fabrics, and your binding. Here's a picture of the one Beth whipped up quickly before she left for retreat. It's just darling.

Today we got a shipment from Studio e Fabrics, our newest favorites. Just scrumptious fabrics I tell you. We have more on the way, but for now we received Nature-ology and Flourish. Nature-ology is fun prints with of course nature and birds and other wonderful things. Flourish on the otherhand is just as yummy with a large kinda contemporary/retro floral and wonderful coordinates. Take a look, I can see several aprons, purses, tote bags, and throw quilts out of these in the near future. Stop in and see them for yourself. I promise you they are even more marvelous in person.

Okay, I think I covered everything I needed to mention, Oh wait! I forgot something! Just a reminder that we'll have the deadline for the Stashbuster Challenge next week. Once we get pictures of all of the quilts, we will post them online and let everyone e-mail, call, or post who they'd like to vote for. One lucky person will recieve a prize from the shop.

Alright, now I think that's everything. Off to quilt some more! Check back soon for more updates and pictures!