Binding

Compulsory, obligatory, required, requisite, necessary.

Those are the words used to describe the word “binding” in my computers dictionary. I think they should add a few more. Having spent the better part of the last 3 days hand stitching binding in place I could make some suggestions. It isn’t that I hate the hand stitching, I like to hand stitch, just not for hours and hours and hours........ and hours.

I’m actually a bit of a binding snob. I know how to do the whole process by machine. I can even show you a few tricks that you may not have thought of that will make the process go faster. BUT, if something is going to be hanging in a show with my name on it, I prefer that the binding be hand stitched. It is one of those weird quirks that I am not willing to compromise on, even if it takes the entire weekend to accomplish the task.

Squeezed in between the classes, club meeting and binding marathon I also managed to “whip up” this chenille jacket. Before you start to groan, I used my Fun on the Run jacket pattern. I’ve made this pattern enough times that I could probably assemble it in my sleep. I wanted a sample to show that you can use the chenille flannel for more than just flannel throws.

I layered 4 pieces of the Lindsay paper-cut print, matching the pattern repeat on the fabric in each layer. The flannel was added to the bottom and I cut the pieces about an inch larger than necessary before I did the stitching (no unnecessary stitching!). I only cut the top 3 layers, leaving the bottom layer of print fabric intact. The goal was to still be able to see the pattern that is printed on the fabric after the chenille process. It worked pretty well. Regular cottons don’t fluff as well as flannel after one washing. This jacket will probably need to be tossed in with a few more loads to really “bloom”. I took before and after photos of both projects – look at the difference!

Now I have to catch-up on the instruction writing that I have been trying to avoid and get to work printing the new pattern fronts so that we can send everything to our distributors before Market. Today is also my husband’s birthday. They announce the Kelly Awards for High School musicals later today (so I am typing with my fingers crossed!) and Lindsay’s prom is this Friday, so I have to allot time in my schedule for a shoe, hair or jewelry crisis…… I almost forgot! I have to hem that dress too!

Sneak Peek

I skipped a day.

Yesterday was another "Mom" day. Lindsays concert was last night and it took all the time I had to make the post office run, do the bank deposit and pick-up 8000 patterns from the printer and get ready to go. It was a magical evening and I am so happy that we didn't miss a minute of it!

In an effort to accomplish something that I could check off the “list”, I’ve uploaded the Sew Easy Chenille video to YouTube. This link will be provided to shop owners so that they can see the details of the pre-printed flannel product. Originally I had intended that the videos be something to jog the shop owners memory after seeing my presentation at Quilt Market. It turns out that many of them are sharing the link with their customers. It’s an open forum, so you are welcome to take a look too. Keep in mind that these are truely "home grown" videos and you get what you pay for, which in this case is FREE! I will never be on the short list for Katie Coric's job and "not looking dorky on camera" isnt something that I list on my resume.

Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6hce8obXaA

We keep the work that I do for Timeless Treasures seperate from The Quilt Company. Mainly because my TT work uses only Timeless products. The things that I do for the shop can include any products I choose. This is a bit confusing for some of our customers that see it as all "me". They search for something and find me, but not what they wanted. You have to know which "me" you are looking for. For example: You won't find our Chenille Baby Quilt Kits mentioned on the Chenille video. You will find them in the kit section of our web site at http://www.thequiltcompany.com. If you are looking for the Crazy Patch videos that are intended for the participants of our Block of the Month program they are linked to the Crazy Patch page on our website or on YouTube under The Quilt Company headding. We sometimes get confused around here too!

Enjoy your weekend!

Karen

22 and counting

Yesterday I managed to check several things off the list. Click & Ship with UPS is almost too easy to count as an accomplishment and by the grace of the quilting gods the leftover sample fabric was just large enough to stitch up the backing for the Lindsay Light project and everything has gone off to the quilter.

The big accomplishment was finishing the stitching on the large chenille project. The stitching is done and binding applied. I just have to finish snipping all those channels.

I have to admit that it is absolutely THE most boring sewing that you can do. Beige thread stitch over beige lines on beige flannel – ugh. It ranks right up there with having to write on a blackboard “I will stitch straight and turn perfect corners” 1000 times! BUT – and this is a big one – the RESULTS are worth it! My husband was watching me edit the video for this project and he made a remark about how I never stopped fondling the finished sample as I was explaining the process – so much so that he joked that it might make him jealous! (I selected the clip with the least amount of fondling for the final edit).

I managed to finish the hours and hours of stitching by applying the fundamental techniques of my M&M motivational program. It is a simple program to follow and you can feel free to apply it to your own tedious stitching projects. It is so effective that I should probably produce a series of books and tapes and sell them on an infomercial for three easy payments of $49.95, but I just don’t have the time. Here is the info for free:

1. Reach into the largest bag of M&M’s available. I personally prefer the 2lb bag if a deadline is involved.
2. Grab the largest handful of M&M’s possible. No cheating here, just the ones that fit into your hand. I will share one tip: Inserting your hand palm down and removing your hand, palm up, yields the largest quantity.
3. Sort the candies by color, noting which piles are the largest. In the past – before blue was added, M&M’s were packed in a specific color ratio; you always had more dark brown and less red. With the addition of blue, they screwed everything up and now you will probably have almost equal amounts of everything (which limits your options in step five).
4. Arrange the piles in color order with blue being first, then green, yellow, orange, red and then brown. Color order is of the utmost importance. Call me a purist, but I like to get rid of those blue ones as soon as possible.
5. Evaluate the sewing that you need to accomplish and broker a deal (yes, you are dealing with yourself so it is hard not to take advantage of the situation – but be firm!). For the chenille project I agreed that I would not eat another color group of M&M until I had stitched at least 5 complete rows of zigzag stitching. Depending on how tedious the sewing, I have also been known to agree to eat the color with the smallest number of pieces, progressing to the largest so that the “reward” becomes larger the longer I stick with the monotonous task.
6. Sew and reward yourself for your accomplishments by sticking firmly to the rules of your agreement. There were 50+ rows of stitching in the chenille project. Luckily I was able to broker a new deal each time I ran out of M&M’s – hence the need for the 2lb bag!

Now I have to unearth the Becky Kelly project that I didn’t touch yesterday and get to work. The chenille project as well as the one for Quilts & More are ready to have the binding hand stitched so I will be packing my needle and thread to take with me this afternoon while I take my daughter to her rehearsal. – There is something to be said for the phrase "There is no rest for the wicked"!

Karen

If you live in Pennsylvania – don’t forget to get out and vote today!

Week?

Where did this week go? It’s been 7 days since I arrived home from our weekend retreat and I haven’t even found the time to unpack my sewing supplies. I had paperwork to deal with, classes to teach, instructions to write, newsletter to organize and corporate taxes that need to be filed by the 15th; I guess that’s why they call it “work”.

This weekend my store staff was on retreat. It is their annual gift from me (yep, I’m a pretty nice boss, but then again I couldn’t do what I do if I didn’t have them). They leave around noon on Friday and I stay home and cover the store. The threat of snow kept business to a minimum, but it certainly didn’t stop UPS and FedEx from their appointed rounds!

30 bolts of bright contemporary fabrics from Rowan (the home of Kaffe, Martha Negley, etc) arrived along with 20 bolts of baby flannels! I had Georgette, my customer-turned-employee for the weekend work the Rowan bolts into a new display before she became a fat quarter cutting expert. Georgette says working with me is fun. She doesn’t understand why the girls are always whining about cutting kits…… me neither.

Most of the baby flannels are going to be cut into chenille kits for baby quilts. I convinced Timeless to print zig-zag lines on flannel to make the chenille process even easier! One look at the printed flannel and your first thought will be “big deal”. But once you see the finished project and the light bulb goes off!!! Chenille quilts are nothing but layers of fabric that are stitched together on the bias. Once they are washed, they “bloom”. The most difficult part is marking all the stitching lines…… not anymore!

That's the bolt of flannel in the bottom corner of the photo. The lines are printed in blue, but they are only the width of a thread, so you can stitch over them in any color you like. As you can see, our sample is pink.

This week we will be preparing to vend at the North Pittsburgh Quilt Guild show. We don’t take the store on the road very often. It takes a lot of work to prep for a show if you want your booth to feature unique projects, not to mention the 4 days of extra work setting up and covering the show. My plan for the week also includes getting those kaleidoscope blocks for Timeless out of the project box, assembled and off to the quilter by the end of the week….

Ill keep you posted.

Karen