Shades of the Past Quilt Shop & Pastthyme Patterns

Shades of the Past Quilt Shop & Pastthyme Patterns We are the mother/daughter pattern designing duo of Pastthyme Patterns Lacey enjoys working with pre-cut mini charm packs. Please email or message for more info

Shades of the Past began as a dream turning an old motel into a quilt shop in small town Minnesota. Located along Highway 23, we spent 16 years in our brick and morter location before moving to a design studio on the farm. While there, the Darci began designing under the name Pastthyme Patterns creating mostly wool work, followed by cotton projects. Lacey would eventually follow, adding in a love

of English paper piecing along with some cotton works. Darci enjoys working with pre-cut mini charm packs and avoids cutting until she absolutely has to. Evenings are spent with needle and thread creating various wool and crazy quilting projects. Her evenings are spent with needle and English paper pieces to create hexagon projects that deviate from the traditional look and are faster to dabble in. Together you can find some of their work in Primitive Quilts magazine, Fons & Porter and American Patchwork & Quilting. Look for us out on the road at various quilt shows! While we no longer have the quilt shop, our desire to stay connected and share our work continues. We love seeing everyone out at quilt shows and events.

Today is flag day - growing up it was a reminder to me that my childhood best friends birthday was the next day. I lost...
06/14/2026

Today is flag day - growing up it was a reminder to me that my childhood best friends birthday was the next day. I lost her last year unexpectedly and even tho we didn't see one another often, she was always there!! It is amazing how many times I think of her so again today on flag day it is a reminder that tomorrow is her birthday!!

Last summer I created a little patriotic sampler with no idea that 2026 was celebrating America. It has been a little gem and because of its popularity and I decided to take the flag applique section and make a wool applique project as well as a punchneedle project. So today, on flag day, it is making its debut!! Listings for the project can be found at www.shadesofpast.com

Mark your calendars for our annual "A Day of Threads & Friendship: scheduled for Thursday, October 1st from 10 am - 4 pm...
06/10/2026

Mark your calendars for our annual "A Day of Threads & Friendship: scheduled for Thursday, October 1st from 10 am - 4 pm. Our 2025 gathering was SO enjoyable and we had requests for another one of those events for 2026. This is a day for you to bring a project and spend the day with friends. We will have a small shopping area set up. We may have some new convenience cloth projects as well. We will let you know if we have added anything else to our day as it approaches. We look forward to sharing the day with you all!!

One more non-quilt post… I am curious if any of you have made or tried making any of these? I recall butter making as a ...
05/20/2026

One more non-quilt post… I am curious if any of you have made or tried making any of these? I recall butter making as a kid always being fun.

Keeping on with trying new things I had someone ask if I wanted to save some raw milk from getting dumped. I couldn’t say no.

I was gifted a gallon on Monday when Kyle got home from work and the kids and I enjoyed an afternoon of kitchen learning together. They shook us some butter(of course it’s more fun to make it a shape other than sticks) so tractor butter it was.

We then tried grandma Baldwin’s mozzarella cheese recipe. The kids thought it was fun fishing out the curds and then squeezing the curds to remove any remaining whey. We ended up with a tasty ball of fresh mozzarella.

As they squeezed curds I saw you could further heat the remaining whey and strain out ricotta cheese. Sounded like we weren’t out much than some time…. So we heated the whey and strained out the ricotta for a lasagna night this week. I don’t expect much from this and was amazed I ended up with smidge over a cup (which yes isn’t a lot but it’s still more than what I expected)

And what was left in the pot got dumped on the garden. As I cleaned the kitchen I felt a new appreciation for how much milk it takes to make the quantity of cheese found in a grocery store. I also was amazed at just how much stuff we were able to make off of our gallon 🐄

We’ll try anything once—this time it was Lilac Jelly. The sweet smell of fresh lilacs filled the kitchen both in vase an...
05/18/2026

We’ll try anything once—this time it was Lilac Jelly. The sweet smell of fresh lilacs filled the kitchen both in vase and stockpot.

I was a smidge bummed my lilacs hadn’t turned my water the pretty aqua color my recipe said it would, I worried it wouldn’t look pretty once the lemon juice got added. The minute the littlest kitchen helper dumped in the juice the water magically went from clear to purple! She was one excited little girl (it’s her favorite color) and so was I. And yes, the jelly was deemed tasty by everyone who tried 😊

Wishing you all a wonderful Mother’s Day weekend filled with love and gratitude for the special women in your life
05/10/2026

Wishing you all a wonderful Mother’s Day weekend filled with love and gratitude for the special women in your life

Does anyone else dig out fabric you don’t think you’ve owned long only to find the salvage edge dates it?! 10 years old…...
04/22/2026

Does anyone else dig out fabric you don’t think you’ve owned long only to find the salvage edge dates it?! 10 years old…man how time flies

Edit: While I am no expert in window treatments, I have to admit my kids were right. After 10 years of not knowing what to do with this fabric their idea of using it in the kitchen really was fun.

It’s dandelion jam season
04/22/2026

It’s dandelion jam season

Just had to share a sneak peek 👀 of some hexies. I have found myself in the midst of 3 projects that all center around m...
04/13/2026

Just had to share a sneak peek 👀 of some hexies. I have found myself in the midst of 3 projects that all center around my kids. It’s been an absolute blast combining two loves into one keepsake project for me to enjoy around the house

This one was fabric fitting (there are chicks on the fabric) for 2 animal lovers —embroidering their hand print chicks. I am in the midst of embroidering a drawing Mason did to frame with hexies and also putting the hexie frame together to go around some Makayla foot print art.

It’s been so fun changing gears from table runners with hexagons to this. I’ll share the last two as a I get them finished (between savoring these teaser spring days outside)

A constant chorus of snow geese in the sky and a very lovely last snowmen on the ground There have been 3 days of fun in...
03/18/2026

A constant chorus of snow geese in the sky and a very lovely last snowmen on the ground

There have been 3 days of fun in what we hope is the last snow hoorah of the year!

I realized when I went to post about our magazine project we had went a long time between posts. It’s so easy to forget ...
03/12/2026

I realized when I went to post about our magazine project we had went a long time between posts.

It’s so easy to forget that it’s still nice to stay connected even when the sewing machines are quiet. It was thought about last night as my mom and I had the good fortune to attend an acoustic Sidewalk Profit concert in Clara City. I have to admit I don’t make it to the old “shop” side of town when I’m back so it was crazy to see how much that stretch of town had changed.

Thelma is anxiously counting down the days to more sewing and designing freedom, though I must say her needle and thread have been busy this winter!

I haven’t done much sewing but none the less have kept creative. So…until the cloth work is completed and ready to show, here’s a little creative share from my house to yours.

Address

Clara City, MN
56222

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Shades of the Past Quilt Shop & Pastthyme Patterns posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Shades of the Past Quilt Shop & Pastthyme Patterns:

Shortcuts

Share

Category