Dog Days of Summer - Week 2!

So I’m a little remiss here in that I was late…nearly the entire week late…before realizing I have said literally nothing on the blog about our Dog Days of Summer event.  By the time I realized this, it was late enough I figured I might as well just start with Week 2 and call it good enough.  

So what are the Dog Days of Summer?  I mean, aside from this "extremely summery" snap we’re having…I'm not not saying it's hot out, but I am saying a couple Hobbits tried to throw a ring into our backyard.  But for real now. Every week starting July 25th through August 27th something different will be on sale.  Tomorrow starts Week 2!

Week 2 (August 1st – 6th) is 20% off all Flannel.  

I know.  It’s 97 degrees out, and we put Flannel on sale?  

That’s right.  …are we insane?  Best not to answer that, but we’re thinking very cool and chilly thoughts while sweating our butts off.  We want cooler weather, and we want it soon – so help up manifest some more temperate temperatures and think chilly thoughts with us.  It’s all about the Flannel.

So what to do with Flannel?  Flannel quilts of course are awesome, but think about all the other neat stuff you can do with them.  Back a cotton quilt in a flannel to give it a little more warmth and plushness.  Who doesn’t love a comfy cozy flannel shirt?  Flannel makes lovely and soft receiving blankets, bibs, and burp cloths.  Pajama pants are always a win, and hand warmers in a festive flannel are a cute (and practical) quick gift to whip up for someone.  A flannel pillow looks great in fall fabrics, and of course you can’t go wrong with a soft flannel pillowcase. It's great for mug/tumbler cozies because they can keep the heat away from your hands better than a regular cotton.  If you need another fast gift, flannel makes for a very cute scarf.  

Looking ahead though, it’s not going to be too much longer until we as quilters start to think about the Holidays.  It may not feel like it, and we sure may not be ready, but it’s true!  Now’s the time to snap up those Flannels before the season for it gets here – once some of these are gone, they’re gone! 

See you in the shop soon….and don’t forget about UFO Challenge Day on August 13th! 

Backing Day is Saturday, July 30th!

Here's a reminder from your friendly neighborhood Cotton Patch that Backing Day is this Saturday, July 30th!  

If you're new here and don't know what Backing Day is...

Bring in your finished quilt tops (100% complete, no more borders to add, done) on the last day of the month and receive 25% off your backing of choice, even Clearance!

The usual rules apply:

• If the last day of the month falls on a Sunday when we're closed, then Backing Day is the day before (Saturday). That's the case this month!
• Discount valid on single-fabric backings only.  Sorry, this is not valid on several cuts of different fabrics for a pieced backing.  
  
• Sale prices not combinable with any other offer (this includes deals from Five Stars, redeeming points, and coupons)
• Sale prices good in-store only on the sale day and limited to stock on-hand. 

We can't wait to see what you've created - see you on the 30th!

Calling Our Shots for the UFO Challenge

We are less than a month away from our UFO Challenge! 

Have you been working on your UFOs yet?  If so…awesome!  We can’t wait to see what you’ve done.  If not…you still have time to get started!  You can finish as much as you like, but minimally one thing.  We can manage one thing, right?  

Don’t know about our UFO Challenge?  Check out the original post here: https://keizercottonpatch.blogspot.com/2022/03/coming-august-2022-ufo-challenge.html

Being about a month out, it's getting to be about time to call our shots.  I thought it might be good to share the projects we’re planning to have done – we aren’t just walking the walk, you know?  We have skin in the game (no prizes for us though…those are all yours!) But in going through my UFOs and choosing what I want have ready for our UFO Challenge, I started to observe a couple undeniable trends.

I don’t have any projects that haven’t been started.  All of my UFOs have been started in some fashion, and only a couple are in the block assembly phase.  Don’t worry – that’s not a brag.  My slice(s) of humble pie are coming.  While I am pretty good at not compiling TBD projects and pretty good about getting blocks done…it’s clear I struggle in two key areas: 

1. Once the quilt top is done…I’m done.  It appears once I finish a quilt top it goes into the Bin of Shame with the (many) other finished quilt tops, and there they stay into perpetuity. 
2. When I do manage to get a quilt quilted…apparently unless it’s a shop sample we need done now, it goes into the Pile of Shame to enter the war of attrition.      

As you go through your UFOs, what trends do you notice?  Maybe you really enjoy choosing fabrics and getting things pre-cut, but struggle getting started.  It could be you have no problem getting started, but if it’s a big project your enthusiasm fizzles after your 400th HST.  You might be great at getting projects done but have a hard time getting them through quilting.  Or maybe, you too loathe doing bindings.   

Whatever the case is, knowing where in the process your projects go from projects to UFOs is really helpful because then you can figure out how to avoid the pitfalls that make you set a project aside.  If big projects get overwhelming in a hurry, break it down into manageable chunks.  Sometimes a quilt is a marathon instead of a sprint, but that doesn’t mean you have to do all the blocks at once!  Mete them out in a way that makes sense and feels good to you.  If you also dislike doing binding, try another method.  Now that I have the hang of it (because WOW my first few were rooooough), I am more likely to finish a quilt if I do machine binding versus binding by hand.  Do I prefer the look of hand binding?  Yes. Do I hate doing hand binding?  Also yes. So why fight it? Machine binding it is, and I have found I am finishing more of those fast.  If you struggle to get started, consider pre-cutting so it’s easier just to sit down and sew when you can.  Just because you’ve approached your process a certain way for a long time, doesn’t mean you can’t change tack if there’s a part of the process you don’t enjoy as much.  Like I said in the first UFO Challenge post (linked above), just because you started a project a certain way, doesn’t mean you are locked into finishing it according to that plan.  It’s just fine to change your mind. 

So, all that considered, what does it mean for the UFO Challenge?  Whelp, for me it means there’s a lot of low hanging fruit sitting there in the Pile of Shame waiting for bindings.  I looked, and a few of those are YEARS old.  (Have I mentioned I don’t like to do bindings?)  So let me call those shots…I have NINE UFOs that just need their stupid bindings put on and sewn down.  So I will stop being a whiny baby, and get those bindings done.  I also have seven pillowcases on the Shelf of Shame that need to be done.  One pair is for the bed quilt I made for us…TEN YEARS AGO.  So, I think I can manage to eek out those pillowcases.  The plan had been to use the French seam method, but I think I’m more willing to whip these out on the serger.  And, while I can’t call her shots for her, I know Mom is finishing the quilting on her Swamp Star to have ready, and has another star quilt following that.  She too mentioned several unfinished bindings but I don’t think I can commit her to those just yet (believe me, I’m trying).

UFO Challenge at The Cotton Patch

August 13, 2022, 10:30am

Finish your UFOs - as many as you want - and bring them for Show and Tell! 

Let's celebrate our creativity, ingenuity, and resourcefulness in reimaging our UFOs with some good eats and prizes (not more fabric, Promise!  Think tools and useful notions to help get through that Stash)!