And the Winner of the “It’s Not A Square” Prize Pack is…

AmerSwatchBlogPrizeCongratulations to Jenny Brooks of Bartow, FL for winning our random drawing!  Her prize includes a copy of the big and beautiful book, The 4″ x 5″ Quilt-Block Anthology by Carol Hopkins & Linda Koenig, along with an equally big and beautiful bundle of AMERICAN SWATCH BOOK fat quarters!

Thanks to everyone for your fun comments – we know you can’t wait to create your 4″ x 5″ blocks, and it looks like for many of you, the rectangular blocks featured in Carol’s “It’s Not A Square” Club will be a new creative adventure  ; )  You’ve already confirmed for us that these unique blocks and Judie Rothermel’s fabric designs are a winning combination. Ask for the Club in your favorite local quilt shop beginning this summer.  And as always, thanks to our friends at Martingale for another great partnering opportunity!

If you’re a shop owner attending Quilt Market in St. Louis next month, be sure to attend Carol’s schoolhouse session on Thursday May 18 (11:00 to 11:30am, Room 267), and her book signing in the Marcus Fabrics booth #717 on Saturday, May 20 at 10am (arrive early – book quantities are limited!)

Lar’s Civil War Tribute Quilt

We received this note through Judie Rothermel, from quilter Lars Rune in Norway.  He recreated his own very unique version of Marcus Fabrics’ Civil War TRIBUTE quilt.  He wrote to Judie and submitted this photo, explaining:

“I think a quilter has the right to personalise the pattern to make it his own, so I took the Tribute BOM quilt and adapted it to tell a story from my own life. With truly great fabrics from many of your Civil War era prints collected, and information from your Civil War Quilts book, I had enough inspiration to tackle my first quilt project. Judie-AltTributeQuiltIt’s machine pieced and hand quilted — I really love hand quilting. I used YLI hand quilting threads and auditioned the thread to match the prints as best as possible. 
I quilted all pieces either 1/4 inch or 3/16 inch from the ditch. I didn’t want the quilt design itself to take away from the prints or blocks. Your ruler was a great help in both cutting the pieces and marking the quilt lines.  All 43 Chronicle prints and 48 Tribute prints are used in this; altogether, approximately 225 of your prints are included.”
We at Marcus congratulate Lars on his beautiful rendition of the Civil War TRUBITE quilt!

Quilt Market – Sharing Tips at Schoolhouse

Schoolhouse is a Quilt Market highlight! We enlisted the help of Sarah Maxwell (shown) and Dolores Smith of Homestead Hearth, to share their experience with BOMs, or Block of the Month programs – from how to evaluate a program to pricing, shipping and more!  If you’re a show owner and you missed the session, download the handout online beginning June 1.  Meanwhile, while in Portland, be sure to stop by BOOTH 2203!