Greetings!
We are just starting to get hints of spring weather here in Virginia, after a not very snowy but very cold winter. I know I'm happy to have those below-freezing temperatures move on!
I've got loads of travel planned in the next little while, with teaching trips to Prague, The Netherlands and Australia all scheduled. I'll also be teaching some new classes and some favorites at the Studio in Great Falls, VA in March and April. And one of my quilts is part of an exhibit at the Virginia Quilt Museum.
Lots more this month -- some wonderful new changes to our website, quilting ideas for Jinny's Garden, and the first block for our new BOM quilt, Jinny's Journey.
Enjoy!
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Great Things are Happening at jinnybeyer.com
| We've added some exciting new features to our website, jinnybeyer.com. Here are just a few. (Please be patient if you run into any glitches -- we've been working hard to take care of all the little details this past week!)
- You are going to love our enhanced fabric search capabilities. Now you can search for a fabric by color and/or pattern. Of course, you can still browse fabrics by collection, or check out just the border prints. And we're happy to say that only our in-stock fabrics will now display on the website.
- Every fabric, every quilt kit, every product has new, BIG images so you can see lots of detail. Just click on the images to magnify them.
- Now you can add fabrics and other products to a Wish List and save them for later.
- Or, add fabrics to the Swatch Wall -- you can compare fabrics side by side and see how they all look together.
- Block-a-Week from the old site is now called Quilter's Design Board. New blocks will be added twice a month (we promise!) and now you can see and sort images of all the blocks!
- We've gathered together all of my free patterns and put them in one place called (what else?) Free Patterns
We have also revised our shipping policies, so that the shipping fee you pay is based on the actual shipping cost. Our system is still not estimating perfectly, but when you check out, you'll get an estimate of what it costs to ship your order. (We expect that to be working smoothly later this week.) After your order is packed, we adjust the estimate to reflect the actual shipping cost. And as long as you create an account when you order, you'll be able to track the status of packages on our website, too!
There's so much new on the site that I encourage you to take some time to explore. I'm always a little hesitant whenever I first visit a familiar website that's changed. But I'm convinced that you're going to love all the new features and information on jinnybeyer.com.
Visit the website now.
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New Coraline Fabrics & Project
| My Coraline fabric collection is now available in quilt shops and through our website. There are 30 fabrics in all, including five colorways of the border print.
I've used those new fabrics in our Braided Table Runner kit, one of your favorite kits. I think it looks really elegant.
 | | Braided Table Runner - Coraline |
You can order the Coraline Table Runner on our website. And don't forget that the Coraline quilt pattern is a free download, too. |
Ask Jinny: How Should I Quilt Jinny's Garden?
| Monica is one of our subscribers who has been working on our recent BOM quilt, Jinny's Garden. She emailed asking for ideas on how to quilt it.
As I wrote her, I am strictly a hand quilter and very traditional in the way I quilt. Typically I quilt 1/4 inch in from the seams of each piece. If the particular patch is too small, then I quilt either "in the ditch" or up the middle of the piece. If it is a larger background piece, I might radiate quilting lines from the design or "echo- quilt" the individual pieces. Many of you, like many of my staff, are machine quilters. So I asked Barb Hollinger for ideas. Barb is our shop manager and she writes an article on machine quilting for each issue of Machine Quilting Unlimited. She went way beyond what I expected so we have two wonderful freebies for you!  Freebie #1: Free Article Download. Barb suggested approaching Jinny's Garden as 20th century quilters used to handle appliqué quilts, thinking of the flowers as appliqué elements. She wrote a fabulous article for Machine Quilting Unlimited on just this topic earlier this year and the magazine is making it available free just for our subscribers. (Thank you, MQU!) You can download it at the link below and also sign up for their free email newsletter if you like.
[Link for subscribers only]
 Freebie #2: Free Quilting Designs. Then, I guess Barb just couldn't help herself. Within a couple of days she had sketched up a lovely design for the sashing and setting triangles. And that design is free for you to download as well. For the blocks themselves, Barb recommends some form of straight-line quilting, just as I would do if I were hand quilting.
[Link for subscribers only]
Have you made Jinny's Garden? We'd love to see pictures! You can email them to us at newsletter@jinnybeyer.com.
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Jinny's Journey Block of the Month - Let's Get Started!
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 | Jinny's Journey - BOM Quilt for 2011
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Isn't it exciting to start something new? I hope you're planning to join me on Jinny's Journey.
This quilt finishes 86" square and is an adaptation of a design I first developed years ago. It's designed as a learning quilt: you'll learn skills in making the first blocks that will help you as the blocks get more challenging. You'll also have the chance to try a variety of quiltmaking techniques: rotary cutting, using templates, foundation piecing and more.
All the instructions for the quilt will be available free to you as a subscriber, month by month. The free patterns are only available via the link in this newsletter so if you don't download the pattern right away, be sure to save this email.
Kits containing all the fabric for the quilt top and binding are available now. And if you don't want to wait for the month-by-month patterns, you can purchase the complete pattern as well.
* * * * *  | | Block 1 - Flying Geese |
Our first block features flying geese in lovely shaded blue and purple fabrics. You can download the pattern, plus General Instructions (they're important!) and a Fabric Guide at the link below.
[Link for subscribers only]
For more details on the Jinny's Journey kit and pattern, click here.
Happy quilting!
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