Sunday, December 29, 2013

A Project for Us

For a long time I was busy making shop samples for the shop and quilting a few customer quilts when I had time.  Not a lot of sewing for us going on.  I did make this quilt top and finished it up several months ago and just got around to quilting it.  

This is made from a pattern from a Scrap Basket  book by I believe  Kim Bracket.  I used a Moda jelly roll with some additional yardage and ended up with a 62 by 75 quilt.  I nice size to snuggle under and still be able to cover your feet.  

This will find a home in our family room once I get the binding on it.   I love the fall colors.


Friday, December 27, 2013

A New Stage

Well our shop is closed, everything moved out and the place all cleaned up.  Just waiting for a call from the landlord so we can meet her there one of these days for a walk through and to turn over the keys.

We have a fairly large house but trying to find room for fabric, notions and thread in addition to office supplies and many other items has been a challenge.  Right now things are basically put away but it is at the stage where every time I go to find something, something else falls out of a cabinet.  

Now I will slowly go through things a little at a time and see what I can get rid of.   Lots of paperwork has already hit the dump and the shredder.  

Here is what our living room looks like currently.



I guess every quilters dream is to have a house full of fabric right?  

One nice thing is that I have finally actually had a little time to sew.  I started work awhile back on a batik quilt for the master bedroom but have not got very far yet.  I love to make baby and lap quilts and working on a queen sized one feels like it is going to take forever.  

Kathie

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Life

Life has definitely got in the way of blogging the last year and a half.

Hubby and I purchased a small local quilt shop in April 2012.  It was a dream for both of us.  Something for Ed to do in his retirement as he also likes to sew, repairs vintage sewing machines etc.   Every quilters has a dream of owning a quilt shop where you can order and play with all the newest fabrics all day long and it also gave me something interesting to do when our daughter went off to college.

Reality of course is never like your dream.  I have enjoyed sewing with and ordering all the latest fabrics.  I love to help customers pick out just the right fabric for a border or to make their colors pop and I have loved visiting with quilters on a daily basis.

The reality was that running a small business is WAY more expensive than we thought.  Everything you need to do is another tax or another fee and it sure adds up.  Add that to 3 other quilt shops within an hours drive, a JoAnn fabrics nearby and many people shopping on-line in their PJs and we decided a few months ago that we just couldn't continue with the shop.  When you are working 5 or 6 days a week at the shop and doing additional at home and not even breaking even it is time to call it quits.

Some days I am really sad that it didn't work out, that there was not enough business in our part of the county and other days I am ready for it to be over and get on with other things.

I am definitely looking forward to having time to have lunch with a friend, go to my sewing groups and just sit and relax on occasion.   Also looking forward to getting back to blogging and the design wall monday and stash report days I used to do.   I will definitely have lots of stash to start using again and shouldn't have to buy any fabric for a long while.

Kathie

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Practically August

Here it is practically August and I again see that I have not blogged in months.   No excuses other than busy and just don't think of it at the end or start of the day.

Shop is full of fall and Christmas and other fabrics and with the furloughs in place at our local base sales have really been slow.   I try not to worry about it to much but easier said than done.

I have been busy making baby quilts for the shop and craft shows and currently working on getting a bunch of table runners done.

I was lucky enough to go to the Hershey quilt show this past saturday so will share a couple of my favorite quilt pictures from that.



the first one would stop people in their tracks when they walked into the room.  Click on the picture to enlarge it to see some of the wonderful quilting on this.

Kathie

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Blogging

I find that I miss blogging and reading all the blogs that I used to.  I never seem to have time to blog at home and that is where all my pictures seem to be of projects I am working on for the shop and craft shows so have nothing really to share. 

Most things I think of to blog about have to do with the shop, then I stop and think maybe not.  If I have a bad, depressing or frustrating day in the shop I really don't think I should share it. 

This town has a few interesting characters the wander in from time to time.  There is one lady that comes in every 3 or 4 months, looks at everything in the store and says how nice everything is but that I won't be able to say in business because of the bad location and then leaves, never even buying a spool of thread.  Wonder why she keeps coming back?

There are a couple of others that come in and tell me everything wrong with the shop and everything I should do differently.  A lot of it isn't even in my control as it is landlord issues and others are nice ideas if you have unlimited funding. 

Luckily 99% of my customers are nice, friendly and easy to deal with. 

Have now been in business going on close to a year.  There are so many issues, expenses, etc. that we had no clue of going in.  If we had to do it over again would we?  I really can't say for sure.  One day the answer would be yes and the next would be no depending on how the business is doing that week.

Kathie

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Snow Day

Well all the schools in this area are closed down and all we are having is rain!!!  Ok, we were suppose to get snow but so far just lots of rain and high wind.  

I wouldn't care as Mandy is off at college so the local schools don't concern me but... today was my day time guild meeting and they cancel if the schools are closed for weather.  Bummer....  I take the first wednesday off every month from the shop to go to that.  Still have the day off as I scheduled others to work but had to redo my plans.  

I did get a couple of errands run getting soaked in the process and quilted a small customer quilt on the frame.  

With two hand surgeries in two years, plus just not having the time with  now owning a quilt shop I only do very small customer quilts that are no rush.   I find that doing a couple of those a month, shop samples and a couple things of my own is all my time and hands can handle.  

It is nice to not have anything else that I HAVE to do today.  Maybe I will take a nap!!

Kathie

Monday, March 4, 2013

Quilts of kindness

Can't believe I have not posted on here for so many months!!  Between the shop we purchased practically a year ago, home, a daughter in college and trying to keep up with a shop blog I just have not had the time and just kind of forgot about this blog.

Mandy is doing well at college making the Dean's list for her first semester.  She has harder classes this semester but I am sure she is still doing well as she has really learned time management this year.  

My hubby retired the end of the year and enjoyed that for about a month and then went back to work part time.  With 20 hours a week part time work, working some at the shop and cleaning/oiling sewing machines he is definitely busy.

After the shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school I started an effort through the shop to collect 26 what I have termed Quilts of Kindness in memory and honor of the 26 killed that day at the school.  So far through staff, customers and friends we have collected 19 quilts.  Once we hit 26 they will be split up and donated to our local Hospice House, Veteran's home and kids quilts to both Project Linus and our local hospital.

Here are a few of the quilts.  Most recent is a string quilt started many months ago but just finished.

and here is a cute little quilt that will go to Project Linus.

Here is a really nice hidden 9-patch quilt.  

All the quilts we have received have had great workmanship on them and I am sure will be a pleasure and comfort to the people receiving them.