Five Days for Five Years

Cortez Quilt Company turns FIVE on August 15. Boy, did that go by fast! We’re going to celebrate this milestone for five full days – August 16-20. Here's the scoop.

Tuesday, August 16
6:30 p.m.
Memory Lane Celebration

Bring a Show & Tell item that you've made over the last five years with fabric purchased at Cortez Quilt Company. Enjoy appetizers and visit with friends before the Show & Tell. Karen will make a brief presentation about the history and future of the shop. RSVP required. Call 970-565-7541 or email us. Adults only, please.

Wednesday, August 17
Yarn Shop Day

All yarn will be 20% off. No limit! Stock up for winter knitting and crochet projects. Local yarn excluded. We will also be offering Introduction to Knitting and Introduction to Crochet informal lessons from 10 until 5. Purchase any ball of yarn and set of needles or crochet hook and either Anne or Karen will get you started with the basics. No appointment necessary - just drop in.

Thursday, August 18
Game Day!

Starting when we open at 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. come by for coffee, muffins, and informal board games with your sewing and quilting friends. We'll have Scrabble, Rummikub, LRC, card games, a jigsaw puzzle, and more set up and ready for you to play.

Then in the afternoon we'll play for great prizes as follows . . .

1:00 p.m.: Left, Right, Center. We'll provide each player with 2 fat quarters to start. Bring more if you want to stay in the game longer.

2:00 p.m.: Quilter's Bingo. We'll play as many games as we can in an hour with some very desirable prizes for lucky winners.

3:00 p.m.: Quilter's "Jeopardy." Put on your thinking caps for this one. Trivia questions will include those about quilting, our shop, the local community, and more. Again, we'll have some special prizes for the winners.

Friday, August 19
Travel in a Pack Day

Show up at the shop before 5 p.m. in a group of 5 and everyone will receive 20% off their entire purchase. We'll "number" you when you come through the door with your group. Heads up to our out of town customers . . . this is the perfect excuse for a fun road trip!

Saturday, August 20
It's Your Lucky Card Day

The first 50 people through the door on Saturday will choose a card for a free gift or merchandise discounts up to 50%! In addition, we'll be drawing for five nice door prizes at 11:05, 12:05, 1:05, 2:05, and 3:05. You must be present to win. 

We hope you'll come help us celebrate Five Days for Five Years!

We'll share more about our celebration in next week's newsletter. Yes, we have even more good things up our sleeves!

Twined Bag
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
$60

Guest teacher Caroline Spurgeon will teach a full-day class in twining on Wednesday, August 17. Twining is an ancient technique that is quick and easy to do. Twining is suitable for a variety of projects and adaptable to many materials. Twined bags have many uses depending on the size and material used. They may be simple and durable bags for shopping, knitting or book bags, or elaborate bags made with fine yarns and intricate in design. Students will be working on their own adjustable loom. We will begin with the warping process and continue with the basic techniques and complete with finishing ideas. Students will leave class with a finished bag and ideas for twining more of these useful bags.

Ages 14 up. Students need to bring scissors, heavy or bulky yarn to twine with – you may bring your own or buy yarn. Looms will be available to borrow or buy. Instructor will furnish warp yarn and items to accessorize your bag.

Click here to see all yarn shop classes.

New Fabric

Think of the most feminine woman or little girl you know. Now think how happy she'd be to receive a quilt made from this darling pink and blue fabric.

We received another Christmas collection last week. This one has some cute Santas and his little animal friends. This fabric will make great pillowcases for holiday giving.

The Tip: Adding A Sleeve to A Finished Quilt

Have you ever made what you thought was going to be a lap quilt and then decided it was so beautiful that it deserved to be displayed on a wall rather than draped over the back of the sofa? No problem. You can add a sleeve to your work of art even after it's been quilted and bound. Here's how.

1. Cut a strip of fabric 8-10" wide (depending on the diameter of what you intend to use to hang your quilt) and 2" shorter than the top width of the quilt. You may use muslin or, preferably, use fabric that matches or coordinates with your quilt backing. 

2. Hem both short ends of the fabric by pressing 1/2" to the wrong side twice and then machine-stitch.

3. With right sides together make a 1/2" seam on the long side of the fabric to create a tube. Press seam open.

4. Turn tube right-side-out and press flat with the long seam centered in the middle of the tube.

5. Position the tube on the back of your quilt about one inch from the top. Pin carefully along the top edge of the tube so that the sleeve is level from side to side.

6. Use hand-quilting thread and a blind hem stitch to hand stitch the sleeve along the top edge of the quilt. Be careful so that your stitches do not go all the way through to the front side of your quilt.

7. Move the bottom edge of the sleeve up a little bit (1/3" - 1/2" depending on the size of your  dowel or rod to create some extra space (aka, "give" or "play"). This will ensure that the dowel or rod is not too tight within the sleeve causing it to push forward and show once hung. Pin carefully and hand stitch down as you did the top edge.

8. Hang your quilt and enjoy!