Saddlebags So Chic and Fun...

October is just a few days away! How quickly a year passes. Halloween is almost on our doorstep. Are you ready? We have plenty of spooky fabric in stock, maryjos.com just right for outfitting your Princess, Gremlin or Witch. Imagination can take us so many places and the prices of our fabric will keep a little extra change in your pockets! In a few weeks we are doing an article featuring some of the truly inspired Costume's, made by you, our Mary Jo's Cloth community. So here is the deal. Make sure you used Mary Jo's fabric, snap some photos and write a brief description and if you have blogged about it, send us a link. We are looking forward to seeing your creative costume submissions. Email before October 10th to be included in the article and the slideshow. This is going to be fun. Thanks in advance for sending in these wonderful treats!

Are you a horse lover or know someone who is? Today we are featuring a very unique project sent to us by Lisa Bodenhorst. She owns a company called Ivy Run Designs which specializes in Jodpurs and the like, however she recently has been working on a line of Saddlebags. She has used really fun fabric in bright and cheery colors. These may prove to be a very popular part of her "Horse Lovers" line of products.
Lisa writes:
Hello! I have recently (within the past few months) purchased some great fabrics at Mary Jo's! I design and manufacture Saddleseat equestrian riding apparel and accessories. My most recent items are my saddle bags - I've even attached a few pictures. They are manufactured in Lebanon, Virginia and it is in the same industry where Rebekah Cloninger shows her horses! My company is Ivy Run Designs, and can be found online at www.IvyRunDesigns.com. I would love to know what you think.

Lisa, we think these Saddlebags are quite wonderful. Keep up the good work and know that as long as you keep shopping at Mary Jo's Cloth you will never run out of fabric that inspires your creative genius, at a price that just can't be beat.

Do you have a project to share? Please send us an email today, we love to see what you are up to.

Autumn and Cheddar Cheese Bowties...

Autumn is in the air. Are you ready for the upcoming festivities of Halloween and Thanksgiving? We have been busy stocking the shelves with all of your Autumn favorites. We have fabric in all of the beautiful rich deep colors available in many shades and patterns. This collection is waiting for your vision and imagination. We, as always have some screaming deals on our Sale page, just in time for your Halloween projects!


Today we are featuring a very inspired quilter, Bonnie Hunter. She is a longtime Mary Jo's customer and one of the reasons it is hard to keep our "Cheddar Cheese" quilting fabric in stock. She teaches workshops all over the country and is based right here in North Carolina.
One of her favorites, is anything with "Cheddar Cheese", she says she just loves quilts that have this fabric as part of the color palette. We lucked out because she offers a free pattern for "Cheddar Cheese Bowties" on her Quiltville blog.
Mmm hmmm it is all kinds of sweet. It looks hip, modern, old fashioned and artsy all at the same time. This is such a popular pattern we can hardly keep this color in stock!
Here is what she has to say about this pattern:
Every year there is at least ONE quilt that we ALL fall in love with. This year it was a bowtie using a cheddar solid as a background. Do I have to remind you of how much I love solid cheddar? When I look at antique quilts, those with solid cheddar in them are the ones that jump out at me and straight into my heart.

We decided that this year we would use this quilt as a Leader/Ender project --- not to be completed by this time next year necessarily, but to at least show how far we could get in a year if we used these pieces strictly as leaders and enders in between the seams of other lines of chain piecing on current projects.
Click here to read the step by step explanations fully photographed directions for making this beauty.
Her website is warm and wonderful, filled with her quilting stories, workshop schedules and her philosophies about quilting, life and the books she has written.
Bonnie’s favorite motto? “The Best Things in Life are Quilted!!” of course!
If you would like to learn more about Bonnie or peruse her workshop schedule, her website is filled to full with information and inspiration.
Bonnie has also written three books on quilting and she generously shares great tips and tricks and patterns for your next quilting projects.
1. Adventures in Leaders & Enders: Make More Quilts in Less Time,
2. Scraps & Shirttails: Reuse, Re-purpose, Recycle! The Art of "Quilting Green"
3. Scraps & Shirttails II
Bonnie, thanks for shopping at Mary Jo's and sharing your lovely story with us. Good luck with all of your Quilting endeavors. Although with all of your hard work and great planning, you do not need luck! Go girl!

Do you have a story or project to share, maybe a Halloween costume made with fabric from Mary Jo's? Please send us an email, we love to feature our very creative customers. You inspire us!