Last Blogger Post

It's getting busy over here at CWQ... so anything that makes our life easier is right up our alley.  One thing that seemed to be holding us back was an old outdated version of our website.  It was tedious to load new items... and very unfriendly to users both inside the company and out.

We always get such compliments from all of you on our technologies at shows... and so we decided to go with a completely integrated website and blog application that could be updated while on the road... even from the iPad.  This will create an almost Live Feed experience for our customers during Quilt Show weeks and workshops and lectures.

So that being said... this will be the last post from this particular Blog site.  We will leave the site up and out there on the web so that you can still find us... but the new blog will be on the Blog page of our website at http://www.cabininthewoodsquilters.com.

We are very happy with the new site and blog... which gives us an additional boosted presence on Facebook and Twitter as well so we can reach all of you wherever you visit most... however you like to browse.  The good news is all the posts are searchable and you will be able to get a better idea of what we are doing here at the Cabin.

I still hope to see what all of you are still doing over here at Blogger... and will still comment on your blogs as well.  Thanks for following us... and make sure you get our "change of address" card.

~ Happy Quilting. 

Trash to Treasure

I have the pleasure of guiding another group through the process of creating their own scrap masterpiece. This process never gets old. This group of ladies (not pictured to protect the innocent), the Virginia Star Quilters from Fredericksburg, VA, make baby quilts for Mary Washington Hospital NICU as well as "senior" quilts for the Rappahannock Area Agency on Aging. 

The ladies gathered for a quilting class at the local library to learn to make the most of their donated fabrics and their home scraps for themselves and their cause.  It's always fun when you can energize people who do such amazing charity work to continue their passion with a renewed vigor. 

The blocks pictured are the start of a new charity baby quilt and is made from the scraps of previous baby quilt scraps.   This member brought a small box of scraps and realized that her quilt is 1/2 completed and their are plenty more scraps for more quilts. 

Many brought quite a few scraps and enjoyed playing and planning with their leftovers. Some spread out on the floor, some on the tops of tables and some pic directly from my bins below. 

The members get to add and pick scraps from my stash as well. These scrap bins could sure tell lots of stories. Some members dig in to see what I have, some share theirs with me and some use the bins as a source for just the right color to complete their strip set. 

It's always amazing to see what the ladies can complete in a few hours. It all depends on how fast you so and how quickly you loosen up and let loose. 

How exciting. The best part is they get a chance to learn the methods and make mistakes with me and it really gets the creative juices flowing. I even brought a few of my own "in progress" pieces to inspire them and show some them some of my challenges. Here are a few of the things they get to look at. 

All works in progress. Good luck ladies. I can't wait to see the pictures of all the finished projects. I know they won't take long. 

Frustrations Solved

Oh Happy Day!  I finally solved one of life's little frustrations.  As a designer, I am often times using another company or designers product to create patterns and make instructions easy for my customers.   I try very hard to use products that are readily available on the market so that you as the customer are not frustrated looking for the right companion products for my patterns and books.

While designing my All Scrapped Out! series I wanted to create a series of scrap books that used common rulers that you may already own (to reduce cost) or that can be purchased at your local quilt shop without much effort.

I was very frustrated when I recently called the distributor to place an order for rulers for an upcoming class only to find out that the product was no longer available... from a very reputable ruler company that is still in business.  I don't like to disappoint my customers by not having products available if they should choose to use them.  It's so frustrating.

In the last few months, with some cooperation from another company's equipment, I have been working on the designing of my own rulers and templates for new ideas.  It's always a struggle learned something new and trying to get it just right.  But this weekend we had a breakthrough.

I have been able to recreate some of these ruler sizes as templates and manufacture my own acrylic templates for All Scrapped Out!  Now instead of searching for the right size ruler... I can offer my customers an exclusive new product from CWQ completely designed for use with our All Scrapped Out! series.  In keeping with the simplicity of this method... the new product will be less ruler and more templates.  No pesky lines to measure to.  They will be available on an on-demand basis just like our books and will be manufactured right here at CWQ headquarters.

I am working on some brand new books and now I have some brand new templates to offer alongside those books.  It's all very exciting.  I am hoping to premier these new templates at our next event on Sept. 7th.  How exciting.

Here is a tiny sneak peak of one of our prototype templates.

The templates we have created so far for use with All Scrapped Out! include:

6 1/2 inch 90˚ Triangle

8 1/2 inch 90˚ Triangle

6 1/2 inch 45˚ Diamond

3 inch 45˚ Diamond

6 1/2 inch 60˚ Triangle

6 1/2 inch Trapezoid

These are some of the MOST popular rulers/templates for use with our pattern books (the trapezoid is brand new for an upcoming book).  This is so very exciting... and you get to see a little piece right here on the blog.  

We are also manufacturing a really neat new product by another designer.  These rulers are called "Strip Stix" and are used to strip cut various sizes.  They are the "Great Scrap Busters" and are used when you have a large numbers of strips of a certain size and get confused by the lines on your rulers.  These strip cutter templates come in two set sizes.  The small set are 1 1/2", 2" and 2 1/2".  The large set are 3", 3 1/2" and 4".  All the sticks are 24" long and are designed to cut the entire width of your fabric on the selvage to selvage fold without having to fold again.  CWQ is proud to be manufacturing this product and showcasing it at our various events.  They have been a huge success for any quilters that are making scrap quilts.  They are useful for lots of designers patterns.  Here is a photo of the small set below.

Aren't they FANTASTIC.  All products will eventually be for sale on the website.  We are working on updating our site for Retail Sales as well as Wholesale.  Until this update happens we will be offering them for sale online on our Square Marketplace storefront.  Click Here. to check it out.

Watch for new item updates happen all this month.  Pay online with a credit card and we automatically ship to your door.  Great new things are always happening here at the cabin.