Monday, October 3, 2011

October Class Schedule

Thursday, October 6, 5-8 pm..................................................Stash Pot Pie II
Saturday, October 8, 10-11am................................................Patriots Block of the Month
Tuesday, October 11...............................................................Pick up Monthly Minis
Tuesday, October 11, 5:30-8:30pm..........................................Paper Piecing Basics
Thursday, October 13, 5-8pm..................................................Original Stash Pot Pie
Saturday, October 15, 10-11am...............................................Tonga Rhapsody Block of the Month
Tuesday, October 18, 5:30-8:30pm..........................................Quilting Basics
Wednesday, October 19, 2-6pm..............................................Farmer's Wife
Thursday, October 20, 6-8pm..................................................Wool Applique Block of the Month
Saturday, October 29, 12-4pm.................................................Paper Piecing Basics

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Quilting Basics:  Taught by Karen Skraba, who is a wonderful teacher who will take you through the basics while you make a 12" block that can be made into a little hanging quilt or pillow while you learn the techniques that will make your quilting future bright.  Class fee (includes pattern and material) $25.00.  Class supply list:  Thread, scissors, pins and your sewing machine.  If you want to reserve a shop machine, call me at 218-254-1700.

Paper Piecing:  This was so popular that we are having two more classes this month.  We provide the fabrics, pattern and paper.  Class fee $25.00.  Karen will be showing you how to use an Add-A-Quarter ruler, so if you have one, bring it.  Otherwise I have them for sale.  Supply list:  Thread, scissors, a small ruler and SMALL cutting mat if you have one with a rotary cutter, and your machine. 

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SHOP HOP This week Thursday-Saturday, October 6-8.  Pick up your passport from me and visit all the shops!  Our Shop Hop Quilt is beautiful and each shop has a $100.00 value basket of goodies that you can qualify to win by completing your passport.  Quilt shops participating are Quilt Shop of Chisholm, Quilts Around the Corner, Sew Much and More, Terri's Treasures, The Quilted Dog and Timeless Treasures.  Each shop will have a Feature Fall Pattern at 15% off. 

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  Last Month, Murder in the Quilt Shop of Chisholm debuted here in the blog, and many of you called me to tell me that you suspected FLANNEL TAMMI.  You were right!  Let's see if you can guess this one!

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MURDER IN THE QUILT SHOP OF CHISHOLM!!!!!!!!!!

It was a bright and sunny morning at QSOC and I decided I better roll out the awning in front to keep the quilts in the window from fading.  A car of quilters from "the cities" pulled up and began to unload like clowns from a tiny car.  (OK, it was a van and there were only 5 of them.)  I welcomed them to QSOC and held open the door for them, following them inside.  Dawn, Julie and Marlene were busy working on their Tuesday Morning projects and solving the world's problems with Bev.  Suddenly, a shot rang out!  But it was only Dawn's cell phone ring tone.  She answered her phone, and we all relaxed.

  The shop was beginning to get busy when my favorite customer, Belva, blew in the door.  Belva is a very experienced quilter and spares no expense to indulge herself in her latest project.  Her latest project just happened to be a flannel quilt kit that is very QUICK AND EASY.  Belva made a bee line to me and threw her completed quilt top down on the cutting table in front of me.  She fixed her beady little piercing eyes on me and I could tell I was in for it.  "I want you to cut this quilt top by the pattern for me RIGHT NOW," she bellowed.  She leaned in close to me and said in a whisper, "I'm scared to do it myself."  I calmed her down and finally her heavily ringed fingers stopped flashing around and blinding everyone with the reflections of her diamonds in the sunlight.  "See, Belva", I explained to her - "when we cut the quilt top on the diagonal like this....." I cut with my rotary cutter...."and turn it around and sew it like this......" I pinned it....." then you can cut it again and all the squares will be on point like a diamond", I explained.  To myself I thought that the 5 inch squares we were cutting were ALMOST as big as one of her diamonds.

Belva was just leaving, when.....suddenly, a shot rang out again!  Dawn answered her phone again.  "Hello.  Hello.  HELLO?" she said.  One of the women from the cities screamed and pointed to the floor.  Belva was face up on the carpet with blood pooling under her head.  One of the women from the cities raced to Belva's side and felt for a pulse.  "I'm a nurse", she said.  "She's dead."  

I was too stunned to move.  Bev called 911.  When she hung up, she informed us that the 911 operator told us to all remain calm and for no one to leave or enter the "scene of the crime" until the police arrived.  

Since Belva, or "the body", was right by the front door, we were all standing around staring at it, except for Dawn, who was still trying to answer her phone, when a customer approached the door.  It was Diana.  "WAIT!", I said as she opened the door.  "You can't come in.  Someone has been murdered, and the police said not to come in."  

"Well, too bad," said Diana, with a toss of her blonde hair.  "I need to pick up my block of the month.  And besides........it was only Belva."  A sharp intake of breath could be heard in the shop, and then silence until...."HELLO? Is anybody there?" from Dawn.  "DAWN!" shouted Julie.  "Nobody is on your phone.  That was a real gun shot.  Not your ringtone!  Put your phone down and come here.  We have a dead woman here and she is starting to bleed on the fabric."  Diana reached down and picked up poor Belva's quilt top.  "OOOH!" she exclaimed.  "Well, she won't be needing this anymore.  Finder's Keepers."

Officer Al looked through the glass door from outside and just shook his head.  Another murder at Quilt Shop of Chisholm.  He knew that the 911 dispatcher always told witnesses not to touch anything, and he could see one of the women picking up a bag by the body and another two moving bolts of fabric away from the body.  He pulled open the door and yelled, "Freeze!"  The ladies all jumped and stared at him.  Suddenly, a shot rang out.  "Now I know that's my phone, said Dawn and began to trot toward the back of the store."  Officer Al was stunned that someone would run toward a gun shot.  He picked himself up from behind a sewing machine display stand and peeked around the corner.  "It's her ring tone."  I said.  "That's why we didn't realize right away that someone had been shot.  We thought it was Dawn's phone ringing."  Officer Al looked a little sheepish, but quickly recovered.  "Hey, you," he yelled toward Dawn.  "Get off the phone, and bring it up here right now.  That phone is evidence and you are getting a ticket."  

"For WHAT??" asked Dawn.  Officer Al scratched his head and then tilted his chin at her.  "Interfering with a police investigation and having a gun shot ring tone."  Dawn just stared at him.  "You have got to be kidding me."  

"All of you just go sit down at the back table and we'll go over what happened, one at a time," officer Al said.  "I don't have time for this," said Diana, with another toss of her head.  "I just came in to pick up my block of the month.  I have places to go and people to see."  Officer Al shook his head and pulled out his notebook.

Later that night, Officer All looked at his list of suspects:

Mary, quilt shop owner - Belva bossed her around, but Belva also spent a lot of money every month in the quilt shop.  

Bev, quilt shop employee - Belva did NOT boss her around.  Nobody bosses Bev around.

Ladies from the cities - all alibi each other, did not know Belva, had no motive.

Dawn - troublemaker, has a ring tone like a gun shot, but apparently kept trying to answer the gun shot after the murder.  No motive.  

Julie and Marlene - each other's alibis.  No motive

Diana - Arrived at the scene shortly after crime committed and proceeded to compromise evidence.  When told by police to give back the bag with Belva's quilt top in it, stated:  "I want it, and what Diana Wants, Diana Gets."  Victim appears to have been shot in the back of the head, but was she facing the door or was she turned around to look at something?  

Officer Al decided he better call this Diana to get some further information.  He dialed her number.  Diana was fondling the Quick and Easy Squares quilt top she had taken from Belva's side and tossing back a martini (and her hair) when her phone began to ring.  Suddenly, a shot rang out.

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I guess that if you are still with me, you know that this month's mystery showcases the Quick and Easy Squares Quilt kit shown below.  As pictured without borders, it is 44" x 64".  The pattern calls for a border that makes the throw 56" x 76".  The soft flannel "Woolie" fabrics are precut in strips and ready for you to get started.  The kit is $39.00, and you will need two yards of fabric for border and binding in addition to the kit.  And of course if you can guess who killed Belva, then you get a 10% discount off the kit!