Good Morning Quilters! Things are starting to settle down again now that we are both back from vacation and have had a chance to get acclimated to our regular schedules. You always think that you can just slide back in to where you left off, but that just doesn't seem to be the case. At least for us!
This week we are finishing up some quilts needing to be quilted so once again our wait time is very short. If you are working ahead on Christmas presents and need some things quilted, now is the time to bring them in!
If you are looking to do something fun this Saturday, we will be having our Scraptastic Saturday Class (starts at 9). Char will be covering at least 6 different patterns that involve pulling from your stash. Cost of class is $50 and a soup/sandwich lunch is included. Space is limited and so if you would like to join us for this, let us know as soon as you can!
I know, I sound like a commercial don't I? I'm sure you'll forgive me this time. Currently I am working on trying to design a quilt with a modern flair. Stay tuned as I hope to get it figured out soon and we can offer a class for our newest creation.
Stay warm - it's been feeling chilly out there!
Happy Quilting!
Monday, October 15, 2012
Monday, October 8, 2012
Time to get back to work!
Well, our vacation season is now officially over. We tend to go in the fall rather than the summer for some reason. I headed south for the humid climes of Disney while Char headed East for the cooler climes of Vermont. Now we are both back in town and ready to get cracking! I'm not sure yet what exactly we are going to get cracking on, but I can assure you will probably have something to do with classes for the shop. Perhaps some easy things you can do for Christmas presents? Maybe we'll take a stab at designing a modern quilt pattern? You never can tell here! Stay tuned! Or, if you have requests please let us know as we are always looking for feedback!
Monday, October 1, 2012
Can you believe it's October?
I know, where did the summer go? And now that it has turned into fall its time to start thinking about Christmas. I know, you are all telling me to bite my tongue. I can't though. As a quilter I tend to make a lot of holiday gifts and I'm sure you do the same. If your list is as long as mine that means you really need to start the day after Christmas or at least the day after New Year's. Do you find yourself in the same boat?
I also say that as a long-armer that this is where it starts to get into busy season with folks wanting to get things done in time for the holiday to decorate their homes or give to friends and family. We always like to try to start the planning early, but it always seems like the nice weather comes and I want to go outside and play saving those projects for rainy or bad weather days. Isn't it always amazing the things that seem to pop up when we aren't looking?
Well, if you are like me you are starting to seriously re-evaluate the list you wanted to accomplish and have started to pare it down to a more reasonable size that won't cause you undue amounts of stress this holiday season. If you are like me a few years ago you are still thinking that mountain of a list is still manageable as long as you can reach some daily goals (which may or may not be reasonable goals). I like to think that I've learned somewhat of a lesson over the years. However, I'm sure my husband will disagree with me when we reach that dreaded 11th hour and I'm surrounded by not quite finished yet projects.
Feel free to share stories! I know my best one is the year I made the most adorable chenille snow dog wall hangings. I was hurrying through either the quilting or the buttonhole stitching and managed to sew through my finger. Yep, needle straight through the nail and the tip of my finger. Thankfully I didn't jerk or continue to press on the foot feed of my machine. I did yell for my husband who was upstairs and *ahem* indisposed as I was yelling for him to come down to hand me my scissors. I did manage to extricate the needle from my finger by tapping the foot feed once and since I now had thread through the hole it was doing me the favor of wicking away the blood so I didn't bleed on my white chenille snow dogs. However, I couldn't move to get my scissors which were across the table from me so I had to patiently wait for my crabby husband to come downstairs to see why I was making "all the fuss". He did feel bad when he saw my predicament and helped me remove the thread and bandage up so I could carry on. After all, Christmas waits for no one!
Happy Fall everyone! Enjoy the crisp sweatshirt and warm apple cider weather!
I also say that as a long-armer that this is where it starts to get into busy season with folks wanting to get things done in time for the holiday to decorate their homes or give to friends and family. We always like to try to start the planning early, but it always seems like the nice weather comes and I want to go outside and play saving those projects for rainy or bad weather days. Isn't it always amazing the things that seem to pop up when we aren't looking?
Well, if you are like me you are starting to seriously re-evaluate the list you wanted to accomplish and have started to pare it down to a more reasonable size that won't cause you undue amounts of stress this holiday season. If you are like me a few years ago you are still thinking that mountain of a list is still manageable as long as you can reach some daily goals (which may or may not be reasonable goals). I like to think that I've learned somewhat of a lesson over the years. However, I'm sure my husband will disagree with me when we reach that dreaded 11th hour and I'm surrounded by not quite finished yet projects.
Feel free to share stories! I know my best one is the year I made the most adorable chenille snow dog wall hangings. I was hurrying through either the quilting or the buttonhole stitching and managed to sew through my finger. Yep, needle straight through the nail and the tip of my finger. Thankfully I didn't jerk or continue to press on the foot feed of my machine. I did yell for my husband who was upstairs and *ahem* indisposed as I was yelling for him to come down to hand me my scissors. I did manage to extricate the needle from my finger by tapping the foot feed once and since I now had thread through the hole it was doing me the favor of wicking away the blood so I didn't bleed on my white chenille snow dogs. However, I couldn't move to get my scissors which were across the table from me so I had to patiently wait for my crabby husband to come downstairs to see why I was making "all the fuss". He did feel bad when he saw my predicament and helped me remove the thread and bandage up so I could carry on. After all, Christmas waits for no one!
Happy Fall everyone! Enjoy the crisp sweatshirt and warm apple cider weather!
Monday, September 24, 2012
And just where have you been???
I'm sure that is what you would really like to ask us. Well, Jen traipsed off on vacation to Walt Disney World and Char doesn't blog. I can hear you already, What? Char doesn't blog? Yes, it's true. She leaves that all up to me. I'm sure that will surprise none of you. :)
You are probably wondering if there is anything new going on at the shop and I am happy to say that, yes there is! We have recently taken a couple of plunges. The first is that we hosted a booth at the Quad City Marathon packet pick-up fair. I know, we don't exactly look like runners do we? We were there to talk to runners about turning their t-shirt collections into t-shirt quilts. It was a very busy day and we had the opportunity to meet lots of new people and hopefully we will be able to help them turn those shirt collections into usable memories in the form of a quilt.
The other exciting thing that we are preparing to debut is the use of Square to accept credit cards. Now, we haven't tried it out yet but will be offering this option to our customers very soon! Like I said, there are a couple of exciting things going on over here!
Be sure to check our vacation schedule for hours as the next couple weeks are a little crazy but as always you can drop us an email or give us a call if you aren't sure or need to schedule an appointment.
Happy Quilting!
You are probably wondering if there is anything new going on at the shop and I am happy to say that, yes there is! We have recently taken a couple of plunges. The first is that we hosted a booth at the Quad City Marathon packet pick-up fair. I know, we don't exactly look like runners do we? We were there to talk to runners about turning their t-shirt collections into t-shirt quilts. It was a very busy day and we had the opportunity to meet lots of new people and hopefully we will be able to help them turn those shirt collections into usable memories in the form of a quilt.
The other exciting thing that we are preparing to debut is the use of Square to accept credit cards. Now, we haven't tried it out yet but will be offering this option to our customers very soon! Like I said, there are a couple of exciting things going on over here!
Be sure to check our vacation schedule for hours as the next couple weeks are a little crazy but as always you can drop us an email or give us a call if you aren't sure or need to schedule an appointment.
Happy Quilting!
Monday, August 27, 2012
Boy we blew it!
So much for us posting every Monday! Hopefully you weren't too terribly disappointed when we didn't have a new post last week.
This week at the shop we are working on T-shirt quilts! Yep, you heard that right - T-shirt quilts. Only we like to be able to do them differently. Everyone has seen the usual shirt quilt setting of uniform squares sashed with and without cornerstones. What about using a regular quilt pattern for them? It can be done! We have a customer who pushed herself to do more creative settings and it has really inspired us to open the door for some non-traditional layouts for the t-shirt quilt.
So, this week I'll be working on creating a unique layout for some shirts of my husbands. Don't worry, I didn't take them without his knowledge or permission. Currently the shirts have been cut up the sides and across the shoulders to give me a nice piece to work with for choosing the sizes for each design and applying stabilizer before I begin cutting them into usable blocks.
Hmmm...maybe I should really get back to work on those so we can have some pictures of the work in progress!
Happy Monday to you and if you find that you (or your child) have an overabundance of t-shirts that you would like to have turned into a longer lasting quilt we can help you with that!
As always, Happy Quilting!
This week at the shop we are working on T-shirt quilts! Yep, you heard that right - T-shirt quilts. Only we like to be able to do them differently. Everyone has seen the usual shirt quilt setting of uniform squares sashed with and without cornerstones. What about using a regular quilt pattern for them? It can be done! We have a customer who pushed herself to do more creative settings and it has really inspired us to open the door for some non-traditional layouts for the t-shirt quilt.
So, this week I'll be working on creating a unique layout for some shirts of my husbands. Don't worry, I didn't take them without his knowledge or permission. Currently the shirts have been cut up the sides and across the shoulders to give me a nice piece to work with for choosing the sizes for each design and applying stabilizer before I begin cutting them into usable blocks.
Hmmm...maybe I should really get back to work on those so we can have some pictures of the work in progress!
Happy Monday to you and if you find that you (or your child) have an overabundance of t-shirts that you would like to have turned into a longer lasting quilt we can help you with that!
As always, Happy Quilting!
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Gooooooood Morning Quilters!
A happy Monday to you all! Boy, that makes us sound all chipper and happy doesn't it? This is the first week of our new hours so be sure to make note of them on our website/facebook page.
I know, I kind of blew it this time. You all probably came out here on Monday looking for a new post and found - Nothing. Well, at least nothing new.
This week we are really giving Gertie a work out! If you're not familiar with her, she is the older long arm in the shop that most folks are afraid to use because she doesn't have a stitch regulator. She seems to be pretty happy though and it's nice that she is still in good working order! Of course it does take a little time for her to warm up, but at least she is still up to the challenge.
Today I'll be embarking on t-shirt quilts. Why you ask? Well, it is one of the services we offer and it would be nice to have some samples of non-traditional t-shirt quilts. I happen to have cleared out my (and my husband's) t-shirt "collection" so I have plenty to work with! Today I'll be working on sorting those shirts into categories (we have some Greek and my husband has some concert) and snipping the sides open so I can easier press stabilizer onto the areas that will be used in the quilts.
Do you have lots of t-shirts from running marathons or left over from college? A quilt is a great way to save them and still get some use out of them. If you are not into making t-shirt quilts drop by and see how we can do that for you!
Well, considering I have a Rubbermaid tub of shirts awaiting me, I should get to work!
I know, I kind of blew it this time. You all probably came out here on Monday looking for a new post and found - Nothing. Well, at least nothing new.
This week we are really giving Gertie a work out! If you're not familiar with her, she is the older long arm in the shop that most folks are afraid to use because she doesn't have a stitch regulator. She seems to be pretty happy though and it's nice that she is still in good working order! Of course it does take a little time for her to warm up, but at least she is still up to the challenge.
Today I'll be embarking on t-shirt quilts. Why you ask? Well, it is one of the services we offer and it would be nice to have some samples of non-traditional t-shirt quilts. I happen to have cleared out my (and my husband's) t-shirt "collection" so I have plenty to work with! Today I'll be working on sorting those shirts into categories (we have some Greek and my husband has some concert) and snipping the sides open so I can easier press stabilizer onto the areas that will be used in the quilts.
Do you have lots of t-shirts from running marathons or left over from college? A quilt is a great way to save them and still get some use out of them. If you are not into making t-shirt quilts drop by and see how we can do that for you!
Well, considering I have a Rubbermaid tub of shirts awaiting me, I should get to work!
Monday, August 6, 2012
Happy Monday!
You may have already realized this, but it never hurts to say it. As we are getting into the hang of blogging we will be trying to keep a steady update of every Monday. I'm sure as we get going we will start updating more than once a week so stay tuned!
This week we sent out our newsletter for fall. If you need a copy, send us an email and let us know or you can check it out on our website and Facebook. We are getting ready for our fall classes now.
First on our agenda is our Scraptastic Saturday! We'll be looking to help you bust your stash with some easy and quick block construction layouts and methods.
We'll also start offering a monthly time to come in to get help with any UFO's that you've struggled with and have put away until there was a "better time" to work on it. I know i have enough of those myself!
I'll let you check out the newsletter and website for the rest of the details!
In the meantime we are still steadily working on our UFO's. Char has been working on the next round of our Border of the Month and next week we should have a photo for you to enjoy. In the mean time, it it still in the works! Hopefully I'll be getting caught up on mine very soon as I have some other UFO's that are currently begging for attention. However, they will have to wait just a little bit longer. Have you heard any of yours calling your name recently? Feel free to share! We always love show and tell!
Happy Quilting!
This week we sent out our newsletter for fall. If you need a copy, send us an email and let us know or you can check it out on our website and Facebook. We are getting ready for our fall classes now.
First on our agenda is our Scraptastic Saturday! We'll be looking to help you bust your stash with some easy and quick block construction layouts and methods.
We'll also start offering a monthly time to come in to get help with any UFO's that you've struggled with and have put away until there was a "better time" to work on it. I know i have enough of those myself!
I'll let you check out the newsletter and website for the rest of the details!
In the meantime we are still steadily working on our UFO's. Char has been working on the next round of our Border of the Month and next week we should have a photo for you to enjoy. In the mean time, it it still in the works! Hopefully I'll be getting caught up on mine very soon as I have some other UFO's that are currently begging for attention. However, they will have to wait just a little bit longer. Have you heard any of yours calling your name recently? Feel free to share! We always love show and tell!
Happy Quilting!
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