Sneak Peek at Four Seasons at Minglewood; The Quilted Moose Shop

Welcome back!  Hope you're having a happy Saturday!  As promised, here is a sneak peek at the book I bought while I was at The Quilted Moose shop in Gretna, NE.  It was such an awesome shop, and I highly recommend stopping there if you are ever near there.  (If you didn't see my post about it, click here for a shop tour!)  It's about 10 miles or so off Interstate 80 and definitely worth the trip!  Anyway, the owner of the shop had just published her first book, and many of the girls in the shop had designed the patterns in the book, so I had to have them sign it for me!

See the quilt on the cover of the book?  I would say at least half, maybe the majority, of the book is patterns for the individual blocks and the appliqué on that quilt.  It is remniscent of a Dear Jane quilt in some ways, in that it's almost a sampler of blocks.  There is a very clear diagram for each one of these blocks.  The book calls it a "block-of-the-month," so it could easily be used as that kind of activity.  And there are four different variations (in addition to the design ont he cover of the book) of how you can put the blocks in this together for different quilts (and for different seasons).  One is made with very spring/summer fabrics, and another is made with Christmas fabrics and holly leaves for the appliqué.  You could get a lot of use out of these patterns and blocks.  In all, there are 15 block patterns and, as I said, four additional variations of how you can put them together to make different quilts.  (There are even some different variations on the blocks, themselves.)  Indeed, the shop did this as a block-of-the-month activity and challenged everyone to make two blocks each month in different variations so that they could play around with how to assemble their quilts.  Great idea!

Here is Debbie, the shop owner and author of the book signing the inside of my book.

Here's the page she signed.  Do you notice the antiques pictured on this page?  Photos like this are smattered throughout the book, and there are little figure captions to tell you what they are.  There are some really neat antique sewing notions pictured in the book, and that's a really special treat.

This is Suzanne.  She's signing the page for one of the quilts she designed.  She has a few in here, so I asked her to sign her favorite one.

Here's a better look a the page she signed.  The design is simple, but very elegant and effective, isn't it?  She told me there are 350 flying geese units in this quilt!  Wow!

This is Sue.  She's signing another page in the book, for one of her designs.

Her'es a better look at her quilt.  It's an appliqué piece, and I really like it!

I really like this quilt.  It is also very simple, but highly effective.  It was designed by Debbie as well.  (See the little antique pincushion in the photo opposite the quilt?).  This one was one of the ones laying in the classroom that I showed you in my last post about the shop.  It is stunning.

So, in addition to the block patterns for the cover quilt, there are 6 other patterns for quilts.  Some are full-sized quilts (e.g., 76.5 x 76.5") and others are small quilts or table runners.  As I said before, they are meant to be seasonal and cover the different seasons of the year.  All in all, I would say the colors of the samples in the book are "dark and dirty" (which I like a lot), but of course, you could make these in any color you chose, and I think the patterns seem versitile enough to be effective in a lot of different color ways.  The appliqué patterns are included in the book and are full sized.  I haven't sewn anything out of this book...I just got it a few days ago, but from a quick scanning of the instructions, they look very clear and complete.

If you want your own book, visit the shop website or call them, and they'll get one out to you!

All of the photos in this book were shot at Debbie's new quilting retreat, called Minglewood.  It looks just beautiful, and I think it would be a fun place to have a quilting reatreat.  Michelle and Jill, it would be about a halfway point for us to meet!!!  Shall we start planning it?  If you'd like to know more about the retreat center and to see photos of it, visit the website.  Click here to get to Minglewood's website.

Here's one last shot of the gals who were working in the shop the day I was there.  They were so nice and took time out of their day to chat with me and have a little fun.  The gal in the orange shirt (I didn't catch her name, I'm sorry!) helped me pick out the Japanese fabrics (and some others) for that little quilt I showed you in my last post.  She was incredibly friendly and helpful.  This is one of those shops where, in addition to all the great fabrics and samples, the people just really make it for you.  I could have hung out all day with these gals, and I would like to thank them for their hospitality to me.  I hope I get to stop back in the next time I'm traveling across Nebraska (which isn't all that infrequet for us).  This is a highly recommended stop and well worth the few miles you have to travel off the interstate!

Hope you enjoyed this sneak peek!

Until next time,

Mama Pea

Comments

[Sue]

Wow. That looks like a great book. My quilt book library is already overflowing, but that just looks wonderful and how nice for you to get some autographs:)

I am never out that way, but would sure love to stop in if ever the chance comes up!

Thank you for sharing:)

[Allie]

I love that applique quilt - and the flying geese one too. Doubt if I'll ever get to NE, but I'll stop if I do!