Are you a fan of Beatrix Potter, the author of Peter Rabbit and other stories?  Her stories and illustrations have fascinated me for years.
Now you’ll find Ms. Potter in the quilting world.  No, she hasn’t developed quilt patterns.  However, you’ll find a great variety of fabrics with characters from Ms. Potter’s stories printed on them at the Fat Quarter Shop. 
                                Some of these are fat quarters, jelly rolls, and book panels.  Others include one or more of her characters like Peter Rabbit and Jemima Goose.

“Jelly rolls for quilters!” I wondered, when I first saw this term used at an online store.  “Are they selling foods for quilting bees online or sustenence for quilters when they’re working long into the night on a project?”
Further research revealed that these jelly rolls consist of fabric pieces.   They’ve been introduced by Moda Fabrics and consist of a roll of fabric, tied with a ribbon.  These jelly rolls are comprised of forty 2 1/2-inch strips from a particular collection, then rolled up. Some of the collections in Jelly Roll form mentioned at Quilters Buzz include Kansas Troubles, Gervais, Minick & …read more

When I began quilting during our country’s Bicentennial years (1975-76), there were only a few companies offering fabrics focused especially for quiltmakers and fabric artists.  I’m amazed now, when I visit quilt shops, web sites, online stores, and read magazine, to see such a variety of quilting fabrics.
Some of them center around a theme, era, event, region or country.  Others simply are fabrics that strike the manufacturer or designer’s fancy.  Also, quilt artists, once they become well-known, often design fabrics for a manufacturer. You’ll also find fabrics designed by quilter/authors, such as Jennifer Chiaverini (www.elmcreek.net ), who writes the Elm Creek Quilters novels. She designs …read more

I never imagined so many quiltmakers were making the rounds of yard sales looking for items for making and enhancing quilts.  I’ve mentioned the ladies purchasing fat quarters and searching for fancy fabrics to make crazy quilts.
Another quilter browsed through the packages of buttons my daughter had culled from her collection.  “I use buttons on my quilt projects,” she explained when her husband joked about all the many buttons she bought.  She said she decorated quilt hangings with unusual buttons, just as my daughter does.
The previous year, a quilter bought my daughter’s whole button offering at that yard sale.  She …read more

Fat quarters, cut and placed in a basket by my daughter, continued to be a hit at our yard sale today.  You know someone is a quilter when she comes to you with a handful of these quilting pieces and doesn’t ask what they are.
However, we also have novice quilters stop by…and others who know nothing about quilting.  One father and daughter wanted to buy a gift for his sister/her aunt who makes those tops for the bed. 
“What would she like?” they ask.  We try to find out what type of quilts she makes.  Then my daughter tells them about …read more

This weekend, as shoppers stopped by our yard sale and browsed through the fabric, notions, patterns, magazines, and books on quilting and patchwork that my daughter and I decided we could do without, I gathered many stories about quilting and quilters.
*”My hairdresser makes quilts.  When I travel I pick up pieces of fabric I think she can use.”  This lady bought several from us and said she’d found more at other yard sales.
*”Now that I’m semi-retired, I getting back into quilting again.”  She had an armful of fabric pieces, including fat quarters, along with magazines and a book.
*”I love to …read more

Some people, who browse at our yard sales, express puzzlement at the term “fat quarters” on the sign my daughter has printed on a box of fabric pieces.  One man wanted to purchase the whole box of “scraps” for two dollars for his wife and found it difficult to understand when I said they were sold singly for 50c each, a really good price for fat quarters.
Quilters who search through the fabric, notions, and patterns Beth has decided she can do without are thrilled to find fat quarters for this price.  They have become a popular item whenever we have …read more