What a beautiful week we have in front of us! We had the April showers which brought the weeds, followed by some heat which will cause the weeds to die out on their own or with a little help from Mr. Landscape Guy, and the May flowers can begin to cover the grounds! I have one prolific flower that loves to grow freely all over my yard. I don’t know it’s name for sure, but the leaves are lacy like a fern, and the flowers are the brightest yellow, like snowballs the size of pencil erasers and they seem to be very hardy indeed! Like a gift from heaven! Except for the fact that they seem to be the only thing on this earth that I’m allergic to, and if my skin touches the yellow darlings, I break out in bumps that itch so bad that I can literally rub my skin off! No amount of Benadryl helps, nor any skin lotion, nor anything that I’ve found. How can anything so pretty be so awful…I wonder this about a few things, mind you, and I have no answer. But Mr. L. Guy tells me that with the heat coming the next 2 weeks, that the little darlings will just die off and grow dormant until next year when, lucky me, they will again come back with a vengeance to torment my delicate skin. But it’s still a beautiful week we have in front of us, right?!?!

So with that in mind, let’s concentrate on the upcoming week, ok??? Wed. and Thursday, we have Bag Camp. So what is bag camp??? You pick your by Annie’s bag pattern and your fabric, and Lynn M. is here to help you get it made with no frustration! If you’ve already started a bag, bring it in and get it finished! We have the patterns, mesh, webbing, hardware, zippers and more for you, so all we need is YOU. Join us and become an El Suprimo Bag Lady.

That leads me to SEW SMART on Sat. Surprise: WE Do Have a Topic, and a great one, I think. Last week we had panels as our special, and we had various questions about what to do with them. As per usual, I had a few answers for that, when I decided to make an event of it. Cora and I got to talking, and we’ve come up with some really different and unique uses for panels, and we plan to show you some great quilts we’ve made using the same pattern. Amazing how different they all look, to the point that you don’t realize that they’re using the same pattern. I’ll bring my One Block Wonder horse quilt for you to see---it began its life as a single panel then grew into a beauty that I’m very proud of. We’ll also concentrate on pre-cut pieces, and how to make your own strip quilts the fast and easy way like I do. Jot down the instructions, pick your fabrics, then get started (and finished the next day!). Bring some of your own panel and/or pre-cut pieced quilts to SHOW AND TELL! We all like to show our work to others who fully appreciate our efforts, right? Now is the time! It will all start at 9:30 Sat., and as a Thank You for attending, Sat. only SVQ will be offering you all BERNINA and bernette Serger Presser Feet at 25% off, not the regular special of 20%. And I’m pretty sure that I can talk myself into offering you 25% off our panels, patterns and pre-cuts Saturday only, if you’re here for SEW SMART! You’d be sew smart to attend, and take advantage of this one day special offer!!!

Saturday afternoon, join ASG (American Sewing Guild) for their monthly club meeting at SVQ, and we hope that you all will come in early and join us for SEW SMART! Also, the newest monthly Door Banners will be here for you. They are in kit form, from Riley Blake, and you can make all 12 of them or just pick and choose . FYI—we just got in the Patriot Dreams door kit for July, and I want to show you the heartwarming kit we have, also from Riley Blake, also patriotic, titled “I’m Coming Home”. This one contains fabric for the quilt top, pattern and binding. It is a wonderful kit, and it’s a wonderful panel quilt kit, so subject to the 25% SEW SMART attendance discount (while kits last!).  

Sunday, from 1-3, Andi will be here to teach Longarm Techniques for those signed up, and will concentrate on FILLERS. Remember that we open Sunday at noon-4. Monday, come in for Rope Bowls, with Cora, for just $25, and learn the basics, new techniques plus “rope-wrap”! You will have time to make and finish at least one rope bowl, and then let your imagination carry you away. Embroider on them, glitz them up, feather them down, button them around. Have fun! Sign up and let us know you’re coming, and pick up your supply list.

Tuesday through Thursday, you’ve asked for another Edge-to-Edge quilting in the hoop. This has been a highly successful and fun camp, and you might want to repeat the class and still learn new things from Jan. It is a fun and easy way to quilt on your domestic machine, allowing you to be the one and only sewist on your own quilt. You CAN do your own quilting: think of the satisfaction AND the money saved!!! By using your embroidery machine and standard hoop or larger, you can quilt a three-yard quilt in about 6 hours! You just have to learn how!!! And that you will learn. Sign up, get the things on the supply list, bring your machine and module with hoop, a small quilt or table runner to work on, and you will learn the basics for this quilting method! Give it a try. If you have trouble downloading the designs, let us know and we can have you ready to go by class time. Now is the time to learn and/or refresh.

For our fabric special of the month, I’ve chosen Landscape fabrics, at 20% off when you give us the code: LANDSCAPE20. Now, this lasts all week, and the Saturday SEW SMART Specials at 25% off panels, patterns and pre-cuts is for those attending the SEW SMART Event Saturday only. We hope to draw a big crowd, and we want you to bring in your show and tell quilts so we can “oooh and ahhh” at your work and get inspiration or steal-and-build-on your ideas! How fun will THAT be?!?! Have a beautiful blooming week, and join us often (and thank you for being YOU!).

Barbara and the baby bloomers at SVQ

Sun Valley Quilts / 9857 W. Bell Rd. / Sun City, Arizona 85351 / 623-972-2091

To Visit our Web Site www.sunvalleyquilts.com

To Visit our Class Schedule www.sunvalleyquilts.com/classes.htm