Welcome to the forum, Musicteacher.

I think you will find that quilting shops usually have fabrics of higher quality (and higher price) than Jo-Ann's, but some of the forum members live in areas that are more rural and are far from a quilting shop. There are lots of on-line sellers of lovely fabric that I'm sure they will tell you about. I am lucky enough to have many shops in my area, so I haven't bought any fabric on-line, but one of my local shops is an on-line seller too, and I reccommend them highly - mybluebamboo.com is their website. For a more polished feel, you might try using batiks. They are very tightly woven.

I've never used wool batting, but I hear that it is very good for hand quilting, which I don't do. I'm sure a good quality wool will hold up for many years.

Your mice pattern sounds adorable. Please post some pictures if you can. You just need to have them on your computer, and this forum can upload them for you.

It's very nice to have you with us. Lois

I find wool batting to be very nice to work with especially for hand quilting and if I didn't find it as expensive I would use it exclusively, so I don't believe you have a problem using it.
I also like Quilters Dream and Hobbs 80/20 cotton/poly.batts. They are easy to work with and hold up well with washing etc.
I am very not familular with what Jo-Anne carries so find it difficult to comment on what they have to offer. If you are near a Local Quilt store I would check them out as you will probably like the fabric that they have to offer.
Hand quilting is very addictive and it sounds like you are enjoying making your quilts. We would love to see samples you what you are doing.
Jayne

Welcome to quilting, sounds like you are getting hooked. Did you get photos? I made my first few quilts with JoAnns fabrics and they are usually sale or reasonable prices that are good to practice cutting, etc. But now I pretty much use quilt shop quality and I'm a big shopper in the discount sections where you can get 40% off for backings and such, and online there are discount fabrics and if you get enough free shipping, so you can get some decent prices.

There are some really cute cat blocks such as this pieced one, would be fun with mice quilting!

Here is a link that might be useful: pieced cat block

Welcome! You'll find that JoAnn's sells varying qualities of fabric, too. Their more expensive fabrics are pretty nice quality, if you can find what you want!

What do you teach? I'm a musician, too. I've been in the church handbell choir for at least 20 years. I sang in the choir for a long time, too, but have been on "sabbatical" for several years. But my main instrument is clarinet (with some alto sax thrown in when the music director needs me).

Donna

Welcome to our group, glad to have you. I don't have a JoAnns near me, but I do understand they have a variety of fabric qualities. I have also seen poor quality fabrics at quilt shops, so my best advice is just look around and purchase the best you can afford.

I have never worked with wool batting, but understand it is great.

Your border pattern sounds nice (I do like mice) and you can design a quilt around anything. There are a lot of cat and mouse patterns on the web.

beverly

Quilters must be the nicest people anywhere! I have to say that cat quilt block really made me smile - imagining those mice circling around the cat! lol I used to teach piano - while raising my children, but now I teach in public school - K-5th grade music. I feel so fortunate to teach music to young children - and also to have summers off for things like this! : ) Thanks for all your advice. I'll keep checking in!

I have a couple cat quilts for you to consider!
The first one is called Let Sleeping Cats Lie by Helene Knott.
Each block is 4 cats with their tails curled together. Then you applique a little mouse between the blocks. It's adorable and would be great with your mouse quilting pattern.

Kate

And here's one more --- well really I shouldn't say "one" more becasuse there are about a dozen of these I think! I see them at shows and think they are so cute. Helene Knott (again) has done a series of cats resembling fruits and veggies.

You can find several of the patterns at the link below.

Kate

Here is a link that might be useful: StoryQuilts.com - cats

Welcome to our group.
Everyone here is friendly and helpful.
And here's a link to another cute mouse pattern.
Lots of other cute animal patterns available at that site.

~Geraldine

Here is a link that might be useful: Marty Mouse

If quilting is your favorite part of the whole process you might want to think about doing a whole cloth quilt. The design is in the quilting.

Here is the quilt I made for my daughter's baby. You can't see all of it because she was sending me a picture of his name! Not perfect, but it was so much fun to make!!!! This was the design she asked for. Not real practical for a baby but....

And the curtains. I mailed them to her and she hung them with the stripe on the outside instead of down the middle. : ) Guess it doesn't really matter if she likes them better that way! Sorry, you have to turn your head to look at them.

Sorry, curtains pic didn't post.

Welcome!! I don't seem to get here to post very much, but drop in every once in a while. Love your sailboat quilt!! Awesome job and lucky daughter/grandson to have such a talented mom/grandmother :-)

I've thought of doing my mother a cat type quilt, but don't seem to have enough hours in the day to get much done any more. She is also a fellow clarinet player :-) So, I'll be watching to see how you use that cute mouse fabric for ideas.

Robbi

musicteacher ~ beautiful sailboat quilt & curtains. The quilting is a perfect choice for that quilt! Your daughter has designed a really nice room for Eli. Hanging the curtains with the stripe on the outside mimics the border on the quilt-I like it!
I hope you stick around on the forum and make more quilts. That little guy is going to grow faster then you can sew....so you better have a few ideas for more! I must warn you~~ We are all a bad influence :)

Thanks for posting the pictures!

Like the quilt and your quilting. Looks like a lot of work but nicely done. The curtians are perfect and I like the way your DD used them. I agree they match the quilt. Congratulations. Nice to have you with the group.TFS