Again this year, we are joined by three other quilt shops in the Albuquerque metro area: Quilts Olé, Busy Bee Quilts, and Southwest Decoratives. Our theme this year is “High on Albuquerque,” and all of the shops have used hot air balloon motifs in their blocks and quits. For our block, shown at the left, we created a Sunbonnet Sue Special Shape. Sunbonnet Sue has, of course, graced our shop for 37 years.
As in past years, Passports stamped at all four shops will be entered into the drawing for more than 50 prizes, including three sewing machines donated by area sewing machine shops, and 4 prize baskets (assembled by the four shops) valued at more than $250 apiece.
Each shop designed its own unique block and created a free pattern for it. The shops also designed settings for all four blocks. Our setting of the blocks is shown on the right; we call it “Shapes ‘n’ Plates.” The “shapes” are, of course, the balloons, and the “plates” are the fabric license plates associated with the four shops. If you look closely, you will discover that our quilt is a map (drawn to scale) of the Albuquerque area, and shows the location of each of the four shops. We used rick rack to represent the Rio Grand, and red Glitterspun ribbon to mark the paths of I-25 and I-40. We used darker patches for the more mountainous regions of our map. Southwest Decorative’s block is on the left, Quilts Ole’s block is on the top, and Busy Bee Quilts’ block is in the upper right. You must, of course, visit all four shops to get patterns (or kits) for their blocks; the same is true of the Fabric License Plates.
We recommend (and describe in our pattern) “sew first, cut second” methods for creating the pieced background for our quilt. But, of course, you can cut and sew half- and quarter-square triangles (and save some fabric in the process).
ALBUQUERQUE METRO QUILT SHOP STROLL — Friday & Saturday, 14 & 15 August 2015
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