Last Call! Freestyle Block of the Month Starts Tomorrow!

How It Works

1. Come to the shop on the First Saturday of the Month for class at 10:30am

2. Stop by the register to buy your pattern for $3.50 (or one regular priced, pre-cut Fat Quarter if you prefer.  You'll get a ticket for door prizes.  This is not a grab and go type of program - class is free and lasts about an hour. If you can't make it on class day, the block is $5
3. Grab a seat in the classroom - class starts at 10:30! 

4. We'll go over what's new and then how to do the block.  We'll go over anything that might be a new skill or something you'll want to be attentive to.  Then, it's time for Show and Tell, and door prizes!

5. Go forth and be creative...and get your block done before the next class! 

6. Bring you finished block back to class for Show and Tell the following month and get entered into the drawing for a free backing and other cool prizes.  But you have to bring your finished block to class to get entered in the drawing!

Things to Know

- There are nine total blocks.  You may do as many or as few as you want.  

- There will be a free chain block provided at the end of the program to help you make the quilt bigger if you choose to. 

- Class will have door prizes as always! However, you will only get entry into the bigger drawing if you bring in your finished block from the previous month for Show and Tell.  Blocks are available for pickup on the First Saturday during class for $3.50, and $5 after class.  We understand this may not be convenient for all, but this program doesn't operate on sign ups or larger fees so it helps us stay organized.  

This is a great opportunity to dive into a Block of the Month and use your stash at the same time.  We're excited to see how this new approach comes to fruition - no two quilts will be the same and all of the different interpretations will be awesome to see!  Plus... have we ever mentioned we love fabric?! Seeing a little bit of everyone's stashes is going to be very cool.  We hope you join us! 

See you tomorrow!  

EDITOR'S NOTE:  This information originally went out on 3/2/22 via our Newsletter.  Over the last couple years, we have had some really unkind messages come our way.  While the vast majority of feedback we get is positive or constructive, we have had some really hateful comments thrown in there.  We are always completely fine with constructive feedback (I mean, hey, we're human and humans are imperfect), but we received a couple responses to the Block of the Month information that went far beyond constructive criticism and went right into blatant mean spiritedness.  That is absolutely unacceptable, and we will not tolerate that behavior towards any of our staff for any reason.  Our goal for the shop has always been to make quilting accessible and affordable for anyone who wants to join in, and that is what we will continue to strive for.  

Our New Freestyle Block of the Month Starts 3/5/22!

2022 might be the Year of the Tiger, but it is also the Year of the Stash.  We all have a stash - some are small, some are big, and some we will never get through in our natural born lives - but all stashes are good stashes and are meant to be used!  This year we are looking at how to help you (and ourselves!) better use the stashes we have and to get more bang for the bucks we've already spent.  

This means re-thinking some things.  Taking a minute to stop and reconsider our approaches to things is never a bad thing to do in general.  Just because we've always done something a certain way doesn't mean we have to keep doing it that way, just because.  So we took a good, hard look at our First Saturday Block of the Month and decided it was time for a change - a Block of the Month where you get to use your stash! 

Freestyle Block of the Month - Starting Saturday, 3/5/22!

Cost to Sign Up:  NONE!  There are no sign ups, and no cost to join.  Come and go as you please.  

Cost per Month: $3.50 (or one pre-cut, regular priced Fat Quarter)

Class time: Every First Saturday of the month at 10:30am (sorry, no Friday class)

What does the quilt look like?

What I can tell you is that there will be nine 12.5" blocks.  Do as many or as few as you want!  You can use our setting at the end of the program, or create your own.  We will have an expansion pattern pack available at the end if you want to make the quilt bigger.  But that's up to you!  And sorry, no sneak peeks :-) 

How Much Fabric Do I Need?:  Well, that's a tough one to answer.  This is a mystery quilt and the idea is for you to use your stash! The background for the nine blocks is one yard.  If you want to make the quilt bigger, you'll want more background, but that's impossible for us to say exactly how much since we don't know how you might approach making it bigger.  That's up to you!  

How Hard are the Blocks?

Can you make a half square triangle?  Good!  There will be some skill builders in here, but nothing you can't handle!  We will go over each block in class and any tips and tricks to look out for.  

Program Perk!  Bring in your finished block for Show and Tell for the next month's class and get entered in a drawing to get your backing fabric of choice for free (First Prize), a layer cake and pattern (Second Prize), or a charm pack and a pattern (Third Prize).  The more blocks you complete, the more entries you will have (up to nine)!  We will also still do our door prizes for class too.  

If you're interested in joining us on this new Block of the Month, come to the shop for class at 10:30am on Saturday, March 5th!  If you're not comfortable attending class, stop by any time after class and let us know you'd like to get the March Freestyle Block of the Month pattern.  

Next week we'll show you what Diane and Lauren chose for their versions of the quilt...yes, out of their own stashes!

Freestyle Block of the Month - Shop Picks

Our Freestyle Block of the Month is just around the corner and as promised in a previous post, we're going to show you our picks for the project - yes from our very own stashes. 

Diane is first up.  If you read the newsletter, then this will sound familiar.  But she decided she wanted to do a blue and white quilt. She had some blues and whites in her stash, and initially picked out a blue and white French General print, but while looking through her stuff she rediscovered some wonderful Dutch Indigos she bought in the 90's.  They are 8" squares, and were pricey even by the standards of the time. She's adored these prints for years, but could never bear to cut them. She'd been saving them for the "right" quilt but questioned what that meant and whether or not she was only saving them to look at every few years but do nothing with. From there she tossed in some other prints from her stash that complemented the Indigos, and there it was - her palette was ready to go.

In case anyone is curious or concerned, when she cut into the first piece to make Block 1, the world did not end. Not even so much as a tremor.  She mused that as quilters we get kind of possessive of these special fabrics and then they sit and mature in our stashes but don't get made up into anything.  A great tip to pick up from her color selections is that maybe it is time to revisit and reimage some of your most precious pieces of fabric that, like her Indigos, were aging on the shelf waiting for the "right" quilt.  

Lauren had a different hurdle to get over than getting into the mindset to use prized pieces.  Whereas Diane had a pretty clear idea of what she wanted to do for the quilt...Lauren had no clue what she wanted to do.  She spent what is (probably) a silly amount of time thinking about it.  Should she use a fat quarter pack she'd been hoarding away?  Another scrap quilt?  Yet another "Falloween" themed thing?  Nope, nope, and nope.  She tried several times to find a color scheme, and kept coming up with bupkis. If you haven't read our previous post How to Get Over a Color Choice Rut, go give it a read because here's the proof in the pudding. She walked away from picking colors a few times as suggested.  But inspiration eventually hit in the form of finding inspiration in music.  

She was listening to a playlist while working on a different project, and the song "Green Man" came on. The song is about the Green Man and the changing of seasons, specifically the change from winter to spring.  How appropriate!   This made her think of foliage and the wide range of greens we see in the springtime as everything is leafing out. She went for everything in her stash that was leafy and green (much of which has punches of purple, go figure!). This time, a song playing in the background did the trick. 

Hopefully this helps give you some ideas with what to use in your own stash!  Let us know in the comments what you're thinking of using. 

News for 2022!

 Now that 2021 is in the rear view...

2021 in a nutshell, am I right

It's time to look ahead!

First off...starting January 1, 2022 our Saturday hours are changing from 10am-5pm to 10am-4pm.  These were our hours years ago, and we're going back to that schedule.  

Secondly, the It Takes a Village Block of the Month will start in February, not January.  Take your pick of our blue colorway ($155):

or you can choose your own adventure for $85 - get the background of your choice at the shop and then supplement with your stash, scraps, and precuts:

Come see the scrappy version live and in person on January 7th and 8th at 10:30.  Did I mention this pattern is a one of a kind exclusive for The Cotton Patch?  The ONLY way to get this pattern is to join the program! 

So what's next?

You will see more classes, and a lot of variety among them. Some will be small projects or make & takes, and others will be longer and more complex.  If you know our teacher, Cheryl, she is working on a new quilt to teach - and if you know her, you know it's going to be awesome and a lot of fun! Diane will be teaching curves in the near future too. Looks for more techniques and skill builders.  As always, we will try to keep the class costs down, but like everything costs are going up.  Speaking of which...

Fabric prices are rising  r a p i d l y  and unfortunately, the jumps are significant. 

Same, Luke. Hard same. 

We don't like it either. But here's the thing. When we think of fabric, generally we think about just the yardage. But there's more going into it than just the greige goods. Transportation costs are HUGE at the moment, and everything is going up - even things like packaging.  With all that considered, we will continue to strive to keep our prices as close to double wholesale plus shipping. It really kills us to see wholesale at $6+ per yard for regular cottons, but despite our whining, groaning, and gnashing of teeth, there's nothing we can do about it.  We tried.  On top of that, various fabric companies have established MSRP rules that shalt not be broken, we are bound to sell at that price. Don't worry, we'll address that ol' chestnut another day.

Despite the fabric cost increases, fabrics are still arriving at velocity, and we have some super cute stuff coming! More wide backs are on the way. Tula Pink and Kaffe Fassett lines will be showing up too, so that's new for 2022! We have some fabulous new batiks on the way.  As everyone knows, this year has been tough supply chain-wise (please refer to the picture at the top of this post), but hopefully we will be getting resupplied on basics - solids, thread, etc.

The pandemic has sure changed a lot - where we gather, how we work, and how we shop.  That being said, internet traffic is up for just about all businesses and we're no different.  We are looking forward to revamping our website to make it easier to navigate and more user friendly overall. Look for more on the blog and on Facebook - we'll be doing more videos and live feeds in 2022!  So if you don't follow us on Facebook today, now's a great time - click here: to get to our Facebook page.  If you don't have your own Facebook account don't worry, because our page is a public business page and visible even without an account (you just won't be able to Like/Comment/Share).  

You have already seen (and loved!) our Sew Simple 3-Yard bundles, but you'll be seeing more cut goods and kits coming in.  So if you've been missing pre-cuts and grab and go projects, you don't have to wait much longer!  You'll see more monthly programs as well. We also have a few great Block of the Week programs lined up through the end of 2022 - stay tuned for more. 

We hope everyone has a happy and safe New Year. We're excited for what's to come, and we hope you are too. 

Do you have something special you'd like to see us offer or carry in 2022?  Leave us a comment below.  

Star Cycle BOM Starts April 2021!

It's that time again!  That's right - Block of the Month is back at The Cotton Patch with our latest design, Star Cycle:

(Please be cool and do not copy this design.  This is an exclusive pattern from The Cotton Patch (c) 2021 and sign ups are open!)

But before we dive into the program, a little housekeeping, shall we?
Yes...it's still life in the time of COVID, and yes, we still aim to be compliant with the State mandates.  So what does that mean for this program?  In-person attendance is A) optional, and B) limited.  We will have our back room sanitized and set up for social distancing, and once space fills up in there, that's all we can allow.  Does that mean you are down and out, and can't participate in the program?  Absolutely not!  It just means that in-person class space is limited.  If you want to grab your blocks and go, that's perfectly fine.

Also, starting in April, our Block of the Month classes will be on the FIRST weekend of the month instead of the second.  For those of you who have been with us for years, you know we have held our Block of the Month classes on the second weekend of the month.  Over time, other shops have decided to do their programs on the second weekend as well.  We're not being salty here - we don't want you to have to choose between shops and programs when there is plenty of room for everyone.  So we're moving to the First Saturday, instead of the Second.   

Good?  Good.   Now...on to the program!

Star Cycle Block of the Month

OPTION 1: Planned Colorway (just like our sample!)
Choose Option 1 and get all of the fabric for the top and binding of the lovely red and taupe version of the quilt you see pictured.  Every month you'll get the fabric for that month's blocks and full color patterns.  Choose our color way, and get a coupon for 25% off your backing of choice at the end of the program.  Love our sample but want to swap a color or two out?  You are welcome to do so, but you'll need to swap out your own colors; due to volume and limited staffing making a bunch of exceptions to the kit is challenging to keep track of.  We'll be happy to tell you how much you need if you choose to swap out, but you'll still get the complete sample kit monthly.  
OPTION 1 Cost: $171.25 (total)

OPTION 2: Stashbusters Style
Choose Option 2 and use your stash and scraps to build this quilt in whatever colors you choose!  Let's face it...we all have more fabric than time and this is a great way to make a totally exclusive design and use up that stash.  At sign up you'll get the yardage requirements for your background, and every month you'll receive full color patterns and a color key that you can use to create your own, unique colorway.  Sorry, no backing coupon with this Option.  
OPTION 2 Cost: $60 (total)

Diane did the gorgeous red colorway you see pictured.  Lauren will play along with the group and do a sample Stashbusters Style that you'll see the blocks for monthly.  The red sample is in-store now! 

The deadline for sign ups is March 27th.  Give us a call at (503) 463-1880 to sign up by phone or stop by to sign up in person - payment is required at time of sign up.  

We are just thrilled to be back at it with Block of the Month - 2020 was a LONG, weird experience for everyone and a fresh new project is just what the doctor ordered.  

Turtle Bay Block of the Month

Work has begun on constructing our Turtle Bay Block of the Month! You may have seen the mock ups on our Facebook page:

(c) 2019 The Cotton Patch 

 (c) 2019 The Cotton Patch 

This is a skill builder Block of the Month, but it's not as scary as it sounds!  You will learn how to use templates, and how to put in a pieced border, but the rest is stuff you've done before in other projects.  The line is Turtle Bay by Maywood, and it makes us yearn for summer already!

We worked on the green, triangle filler blocks today and they're coming along great!

Join us on this project and watch your skills grow!