The quilting world is fast entering the “green” movement with eco friendly fabrics and fibers.  This latest creation is offered by Quilter’s Dream Batting.  Dream Green is a soft and cozy batting made 100% from recycled plastic pop bottles.  No only is this eco friendly, but it feels wonderful to the touch, your needles easily glide through and it can be machine washed with little or no shrinkage.

Quilter’s Dream Green batting keeps 10 pounds of plastic bottles out of the landfill with every pound of batting created.  If you are used to the usual polyester batting, you’ll find that these recycled fibers are indistinguishable from the “virgin” polyester fibers, yet they are made without depleting our natural resources.

Fun Green Fact:  Energy saved from recycling a single plastic bottle, as compared to creating a new one, will power a single 60 watt bulb for 6 hours!

The batting is available in all sizes and you’ll even learn the amount of bottles you saved from the landfill with the size of your choice!

As far as I’m concerned, Alexander Henry is the king of retro fabrics!  The latest holiday releases for 2008 are Pin Up Girls for Halloween and Christmas.  Holiday on Ice features girls on Christmas packages and Bewitched is a charming Halloween girl print.

These great prints are designed by Nicole De Leon, one of Alexander Henry’s co-owners.

If your tastes run more to cute retro children’s prints, you’ll love the new silhouetted “Halloween Lane” print.  Kids in costumes on a black background grace this print.

If you were like me (until recently), you’d likely have no idea what to do with the ultrafine fiber called Angelina. Much less know the difference between crimped cut and straight, hot fix or not!

I thought it was about time to find out more about this fun fiber and took a crash course on how to use Angelina.

First a couple of basics:

• Crimped cut is as it sounds, crinkled, and it’s shinier than straight cut
• A tiny bit of Angelina goes a long way
• 1/2 oz will create a 36″ square sheet of Angelina (when bound with heat)
• It only bonds to itself (not your iron, you, fabric, etc)
• Originally invented for NASA 
• Marketed for spinning and weaving, but the quilting group got in on it too!
• Needs combination of heat and pressure to bond
• Only the Angelina labeled “Hot Fix” is bondable

Setting up your sewing room in an organized fashion can save your precious moments for quilting and sewing, rather than digging through heaps of tangled threads, notions, patterns and more!

We’re always on the lookout for stylish storage solutions and recently found this Wisconsin-made line of Hinterberg Perfect Caddy cabinets.  Their furniture is solid ash and birch hardwood construction with a natural finish that is an investment in quality to last a lifetime.  No pressboard here!

The caddies are available in units with drawers, bins and shelves - just pick the size and style that’s right for you! You can be assured that the cabinets are built with the highest degree of workmanship using quality materials. These cabinets are well worth the investment and will provide a lifetime of beautiful storage solutions to your crafting needs.

Besides being beautiful, we love supporting small, family run businesses right here in the USA!

I had a great time this year in Portland visiting my first Quilt Market.  The very popular designer, Amy Butler, was there to show her latest Art of the Midwest patterns and Rowan fabrics.  I was lucky to meet her in person and enjoy her lovely booth.

Amy has revolutionized the look of fabrics today, bringing a hip, young look to our quilting and sewing world. She has brought a bold new look to our craft industry with fun, smart looking bag patterns, sleek and simple clothing patterns and large print fabrics.

One of our favorite new fabric lines is from Elizabeth Studios, designed by Faye Whittaker.  Faye is a British artist well known for her paintings of yesteryear.  She was influenced by the seaside towns of Northern England as is reflected in her wonderful depictions of children at play by the sea.

While watercolor is the medium for which she is best known, her designs can also be found in Cross Stitch kits and now in fabric.  Faye’s lovely seaside fabric collection works as well in textile as it does on canvas!

Those new fabrics that we ordered at the Spring Quilt Market are starting to roll in!  I’m particularly excited about the bold, new, black and whites with a touch of color.  We have the “Taxi” line from Timeless Treasures that combines large graphics in black and white with bright yellow.  

Arriving any day now we expect Michael Miller’s new gift sets of 18 black and white fat quarters, as well as a wonderful gift set for baby in red, black and white.

Also from Timeless Treasures, check out the new Asian Geisha fabric with coordinating bamboo, floral and majong prints.

We have a fun new line in from Australia.  These wonderful Australian fabric prints are designed by Aborigine artists in the outback.  Each unique design reflects a whole way of life through their art.

We also discovered a fabric company that is new to us - Art Gallery Quilts. Their fabrics are modern and creative, just right for the quilts, bag patterns and clothing.

In these busy times, it’s easy to let your hobbies slide for more “important” things. With the stress of daily life, the economy, and so on, often our own personal passions are set aside. Your personal time is important to you as a human being - for your state of mind and your well being.

So how do you make time in the day to keep up on your quilting, knitting or needlework? Here are a few ideas to keep your “crafting pleasures” in your life:

1. Keep a small project in a bag packed “to go” - for work breaks and bus rides
2. Dedicate 1/2 hr. a day as “Me” time - leave a project ready to easily pick up
3. During kid’s homework time, have a project by your side while you are helping
4. Keep a project by your favorite “TV” chair
5. Bring a project in the car for long rides (if someone else is driving!)
6. Bring your knitting or quilting bag along to meetings
7. Take your project to the park, beach and kid playdates
8. Have several projects going at once so they can be left in “easy to grab” places
9. Have small projects and larger projects to work on depending on your situation
10. Give yourself the time you deserve! It’s less fattening then chocolate!

Go forth and craft!

A limited number of Large Tutto bags are finally here!  When these are gone, we won’t have more until mid-May, so get them quick.  These very popular bags are in high demand for the toting your sewing machines to classes, workshops, on cruises and to groups.  Check out the available Machine on Wheels supply at Alice in Stitches.

Della Q creates a line of high quality bags and accessories inspired by the vibrant colors and rich textures of Vietnam.  Della Q combined style with function in their products to create lightweight yet durable designs.  Every season new styles are released in hot, one-of-a-kind fabrics.

Della Q’s products are handcrafted in Vietnam and a portion of the proceeds support Vietnam Quilts, a non-profit organization that trains low-income and rural Vietnamese women in the art of quilting.

Care Instructions

Your Della Q purchases are beautiful, but meant to be used!  To keep your products looking their best, give them a quick coat of Scotchgard.  This treatment will be repellent and minimize staining.

Dry cleaning is not recommended for most products due to the special lining materials that provide structure to the Della Q products.  Stain removal requires gentle dabbing with minimal water to avoid additional water stains.