Except for a quick trip out west to visit my grandchildren, this past month has found me home in Virginia with the opportunity to meet many of you. Between quilters arriving on buses and those who have traveled from near and far to take classes, the Studio has been bustling.  In our last newsletter, we showed you a picture of empty shelves. Just a couple of weeks later, we celebrated the arrival (finally!) of our much delayed shipment of Milan fabrics and are making Florentine kits as fast as we can.
 
While I'm enjoying being home, I am also looking forward to two trips I have ahead of me. In the fall, I am going back to India, this time with Jim West of Sew Many Places. In February of 2015, Jim has planned an African tour - elephants, giraffes, beads, weaving and even a hot air balloon ride! It is one of my favorite areas of the world and this promises to be quite a trip. There are still a few places left on each of the trips. Won't you join me for the trip of a lifetime?

This newsletter is packed with information. Take a peek at four new versions of a favorite quilt using time-saving pre-cuts. Quilters Quest is sooner than you think so we have information to help you start planning. We have suggestions for quick quilts for grads, tips to make your quilting life a little easier, a link to our new blog and the all-important pattern for the next installment of our Block of the Month.

Crayon Box comes in 4 colorways: Grassland, Galaxy, Sunset & Tropics

The staff and I have been trying to figure out which colorway of Crayon Box we like best but can't decide. I suppose it's like trying to choose your favorite child-impossible! Please help us out by taking this ONE question survey and tell us which is your favorite.

Tell Us Which Colorway You Like Best

Yes, it is once again that time of year when we suddenly realize that there is a graduation quilt needed in the near future...very near future. Let us come to your rescue with several quilts which are fast and easy yet still have great style.

*    Ambrosia - Bright and cheery, the bold colors of the quilt featuring large, vibrant rectangles, pack quite a punch.

*    Kinetic Energy - Create the sense of movement and dimension in this graphic quilt. Using strips to create a strata followed by simple rotary cutting, makes this quilt surprisingly fast to assemble.

*    Parquet - Super-easy strip construction will have this quilt ready to put on your finished list in no time.

*    Warp and Weft and Pick Up Sticks - Let the fabrics do the work for you!  Jinny's ombre fabrics create a wonderfully woven 3-dimensional effect with just one block and two fabrics.

This month's tip proves the old adage, "Necessity is the mother of invention." Recently, I was using a rotary cutter with my new diamond templates while experimenting with a quilt design. Every now and then, the template would slip ever so slightly. You know how frustrating that can be! Nearby, were my two packages of Needle Grip-Its. These are wonderful dots, worn on the finger, which help me pull the needle through when hand quilting or piecing. I grabbed the larger ones, the Grip-Its 2, put a couple of the dots on the underside of my template and, "Viola." No more slipping! Now I use the Grip-Its 2 not only for my templates but on any rotary ruler and the regular Grip-Its for their intended use.