International Quilt Festival in Chicago

Here is the Sampler's booth at the International Quilt Festival's spring show in Chicago. Karol and Mary spent four wonderful days greeting customers and selling everything Kaffe Fassett. The booth looked fabulous, with several never before seen quilts on display. One of the quilts was still being worked on at 10pm the night before.

Waiting for the Kaffe Fassett book signing.

Liza Pryor Lucy, Karol, Kaffe Fassett and Mary having a great time at the book signing.

Kaffe and Liza's new book, Simple Shapes, Spectacular Quilts is a wonderful book. Customers loved it, we had none left by the end of the show.

Kaffe came by the next day to go shopping with the class the he was teaching. What could be more fun then to go fabric shopping with Kaffe Fassett.

All good things must come to an end.
Be sure and stop by the shop during the Twin Cities Shop Hop

April 29, 30, and May 1. We will have lots of new quilts and great fabric. New classes are now being added for the summer. Check out our website for more information. http://www.the-sampler.com/

Pillowcase Mania at The Sampler

As part of American Patchwork and Quiltings 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge we have been making and collecting pillowcases that will be donated to local charities at the end of this yearlong project. Customers and staff have been busy creating wonderful pillowcases. This week we have collected hundreds of pillowcases. What do you get when you combine 4 friends, food, fabrics and a lot of fun? 82 pillowcases! This 3 day process even involved the Boy Scouts. Thanks Julie, Kim, Jenny and Maria for this great effort. Also this week members of the local Binkie Patrol donated 20 pillowcases with the promise of more to come.

On Saturday, March 20th The Sampler hosted a Pillowcase Sewing Day. A dozen customers took up our challenge and transformed our classroom into pillowcase heaven.

Thanks to Valerie, Monica, Mattie and Katie and their moms' and grandma, and Kelly, Maggie, Julie, Marlys, Sandy, and Mary for making the day a wonderful experience and successful sewing day. Congratulation to Mary Stoner, who made 10 pillowcases over the course of the day! We will be planning more fun sew-ins throughout the year so stay tuned. For more information about the 1Million Pillowcase Challenge you can contact The Sampler at 952-934-5307.

Christopher Straub Speaks at The Sampler

On Friday, March 12 over 30 lucky customers heard Christopher Straub of Project Runway fame speak about his experience on the show, how he was chosen to be on the show and what he is designing now. The question and answer period lasted a couple of hours. Christopher answered all those fun questions about Project Runway. Two of Christopher's handbags were given away to lucky attendees.

Claudia Clark Myers at The Sampler

We were thrilled to have award winning quilter, designer and author, Claudia Clark Myers share her talents with a group of quilters on Sunday, March 7. The quilters spent a day learning new techniques and being inspired by some of Claudia's beautiful quilts.





























Claudia taught some great paper piecing techniques. Everyone had time to practice and achieve some great results.





































Claudia shared many of the quilts from her new book.
Everyone had a wonderful time and we look forward to having more quilting events like this one at the Sampler.



Coming up Friday March 12 Christopher Straub of Project Runway fame will be speaking at the Sampler. Visit our website www.the-sampler.com for details.

Excited New Quilters

Our Beginning Quilt class just finished up their sessions with teacher Diane Entrikin. We wanted to show off their accomplishments. They had a lot of fun and are ready to start on their next quilting project.






























Be sure to watch for new classes and events coming soon to the Sampler. We are especially thrilled to have Christopher Straub of Project Runway fame coming to speak at the shop on Friday, March 12. Check out our new website www.the-sampler.com for details.

What we're talking about at the Sampler this month!

The Carousel Lap Quilt
From: Cozy Modern Quilts book
Here is just a sample of what this quilt looks like. It is fast becoming a customer favorite. The rich colors and great textures bring this quilt alive.

Here is another quilt filled with texture. The Seashell fabric is from Westminster Fabrics by Phillip Jacobs. It looks great combined with Kaffe Fassett fabrics. The pattern is called Midnight Garden.

And speaking of texture....We are very excited about the fabrics from Art of Possibility Studio, designed by George Mendoza for Free Spirit Fabrics. Art of Possibity
Studios represent physically disabled artists. Find out more at their website.
http://www.aopstudios.com/ We have a sample, quilted beautifully by Shannon Atwill, hanging at the shop. Mary Deeney quilted the one on the left for her son's apartment.

What we've been up to lately

We enjoyed our twelve days of fun at the Minnesota State Fair. The weather was perfect and we met many new quilters and sewers. Immediatly after the fair was over Karol and I were off to Madison, WI for the Quilt Expo put on by Wisconsin Public Television and Nancy Zieman Productions. This is a wonderful show and well worth the 4 1/2 hour drive. You would think we would want to take a break...not at the Sampler. Our fall newsletter is out and classes are filling fast. In October the Sampler will be celebrating 25 years in business. We have many special events planned (25 days of fun) so check out our website, http://www.the-sampler.com/ or call for a newsletter, 952-934-5307. New merchandise is lining the shelves and new samples are up to inspire you. We are excited to announce we now carry original hand dyed fabrics by Diane Swallen. You will not be able to resist these beautiful fabrics. I can't wait to put them into a special project.

Here is a peek at some of the new samples we have been working on.
And the Sampler wouldn't be the same without something new from Kaffe Fasset. We just received his new book, Quilt Romance. It is a beautiful book, full of great quilts.
There are also some great deals on Bernina sewing machines coming up that will be hard to resist. Stop by and talk with Tracy or Sandy about getting a new sewing machine before winter rolls in. Don't forget we service all sewing machines right in the store. Rick is a certified technician and takes care of all makes and models. See you at the Sampler......Mary