New Fabrics!

Oodles of Doodles from Ricky Tims!! Check it out here....plus blenders from the Rhapsodie Coloree II line!

Holiday Inspiration!

Thinking about gifts for the holiday season? So are we!

With the economy still pretty shaky, the idea of making our own unique gifts for family and friends is extra appealing this year.  But of course ~ they must be gorgeous to get the SassyPacks stamp of approval! So, we are busy brainstorming a whole host of holiday quilt projects.  Here are a couple of our early favorites:


Wine Totes

Ah ... vino! The perfect solution to office holiday parties, Secret Santas, and every "I'm not sure we are exchanging gifts yet" situation. We're making up lots and lots of these beautiful wine totes, featured in the popular "Let's Do Lunch" pattern book.  So simple ~ just a couple of half-yard cuts makes up 3 totes. The picture here uses the stunning Wintergraphix fabrics for a holiday theme. We are embellishing ours with a simple ornament and a little ribbon to cinch it up.


Super Simple Quilts

It is natural to want to give quilts as a gift, especially when you are new to quilting and eager to share your talents with those you love the most. But, with the holiday season rapidly approaching, time is short.  A simple trick? Whip up easy quilts using bold, contemporary fabrics ~ the kind you see at SassyPacks.com all the time!  Let the quilt feature the bold patterns, rather than detailed piecework.  That allows you to give a beautiful gift from the heart, without spending a lot of time.

Check out this simple block quilt, using eight half-yard cuts of Splendor fabrics. You don't even need a pattern! Cut your half-yards into 8-1/2" squares, lay them out in a random fashion that you love, and piece them together. Add a piece of backing fabric, quilt together, and bind the edges.  So easy! A full-size quilt (56" x 64") with hardly any effort!  By using bold pattern fabrics, the quilt is eye-catching without a lot of intricate piecing.  With time in short supply this holiday season, you can give a one-of-a-kind gift, without all the hassle!  Looking for fabric inspiration? Check out our half-yard bundles for beautiful patterns sure to please.

These are just a few of the ideas we are dreaming up for this holiday season.  Share your creative inspirations in the comments, and check back for more gift ideas!

Go go gadgets!

I am a gadget fanatic. Sometimes when I’m quilting I’ll use an old gadget or ruler and it makes me feel like a little kid in the middle of summer who just found a toy not played with since Christmas. This happened earlier this week when I made the Wild Goose Run wall-hanging from our Start Quilting line of SassyPacks. The pattern is super easy – it has a large square in the center and a couple of borders around the outside. The outer border, as you can see below, is made up of 36 flying geese blocks. The flying geese block is one of my all-time favorites. They can look whimsical or traditional; they can run in a row or make up into stars; they can blend into the design or pop with color to liven up a quilt; I’ve even used them in a border to create a chevron effect that seems to “move” around the outside of the quilt. Suffice to say, I “heart” flying geese!

So, anyway I had to make 36 of the same block – all out of the same two fabrics. I got out my trusty flying geese rulers and thought about the great minds that come up with things like this. The Flying Geese ruler is actually a combination ruler/technique used to make 4 FG blocks at one time. For instance to make 36 the “regular” way, I would have to cut 36 little rectangles and 72 little squares and piece and cut each one separately. With this technique, to make 36 blocks, I simply cut 9 bigger squares and 9 medium squares. Then, following the clearly-written instructions, I’m able to put one larger square with a medium square and stitch and cut to make 4 blocks! And they’re sooooo accurate – I love those rulers!

BTW – I just ordered some more for www.sassypacks.com/! They’ll be in stock on Tuesday.

This just in!

We've got batiks!!





These beautiful new fabrics are hand-dyed cottons ~ perfect for blending with bold prints or just building your stash. Check out all our batiks at Sassypacks.com

So, what is a SassyPack?

Great question!

A SassyPack is a quilt kit ~ with a kick! All of our SassyPacks feature bold, contemporary fabrics. The patterns we select are generally appropriate for beginner and novice quilters, but experienced quilters may also enjoy the simple elegance of our projects.

Many of our SassyPacks are designed to make quilting a breeze ~ so we may add in backing fabric, hard-to-find batting or notions, or a little note from us full of tips for completing the kit!

For, example, consider our Alpine Wonder SassyPack:

This beautiful holiday wall hanging requires glue baste-it and invisible thread ~ two products that can be a little tricky to find. So, we include them in your SassyPack, along with backing fabric and batting. Everything you need to complete the project, as soon as it arrives in the mail!

Plus, if you want to add a little sparkle to the stars and snow, we sell the crystals on Sassypacks.com.

As SassyPacks.com grows, we will add more and more customization options ~ allowing you to opt to add backing fabric or other key kit components, multiple fabric options for each SassyPack and more. Our goal is to make quilting fun and simple!

A final word about SassyPacks ~ as you will come to learn, there is a raging debate in SassyPacks about hand quilting vs. machine quilting. :) Many of our SassyPacks are suitable for either method. As a beginner quilter myself, I find hand quilting to be easy and forgiving. For that reason, we make an effort to select patterns for our SassyPacks that are appropriate for hand quilting.

Hope that helps answer your questions!