Where Have I Been?

Several people have asked.

More than a few have insinuated that I am way behind in my blog posting.

True, but I have been busy.

We will be vending at the Quilt Festival in Cincinnati Ohio in April.
Working a show of that size requires hours of planning and cutting and folding and printing and planning and packing and planning and wondering if you are planning correctly.

Then you have to pack what you have in bins and pile it all up and wonder if you have enough.... or too much. Don't forget the samples that have to be made and quilted and bound and packed. Then you have to have drapes and carpet and tables and chairs and table drapes and fixtures and a plan to make it all fit.

Click here for more information on the show:
http://www.quilts.com/newHome/shows/viewer.php?page=SpringFestival

While you are at it, you have to make samples of everything you are taking and I like to remake samples so that the fabrics in our kits match the samples we have on display. We publish our own patterns so I can "easily" change the photo on the front of the pattern. That only requires that I make a new sample, set up the lighting, take the photo, do the editing and insert it on the page before we print. Our wonderful Xerox printers have been behaving like spoiled kids recently. Turn your back on them and something rotten happens.

Naturally this NEVER happens when the Xerox Tech is standing here and I am trying to explain that the paper jams ALL THE TIME.

Then there have to be new patterns and samples made so that we have something "new" for the show. It doesn't matter that this is the first year for this show and almost everyone attending would never have seen our usual booth set-up, we still have to have something NEW. I added a few pillows to our button pillow line, including this Happy Birthday project.

In addition to prepping for the show, I was the featured speaker at the Quilt Guild in New Wilmington PA earlier this month. The meeting is in a great college town located about an hours drive from my store, but I have always found it better to leave extra early - like around noon - to get there in time for the evening meeting. If you happen to get there early, there is a great outlet mall located nearby and you can spend some time looking around until the meeting is ready to begin. I have twin grandchildren due later this spring and the Carters store and I became great friends. The best part about shopping for grandchildren is that you don't have to try their stuff on in front of a three way mirror!

We also have a new BlockWatchers Club that started this month. As part of the fun, I have decided to digitize the applique blocks for those club members that have embroidery machines. Fun, fascinating, but not foolproof. It takes a ton of test stitching to get everything the way you would like it. There is no better way to learn to digitize than to jump right in and give it a try. I have managed to digitize and test sew the first 8 of 24 blocks for this project. Not being one to sit around watching a machine sew, I powered up not one but two BERNINA 830's and had both embroidering at the same time. Those grandchildren I mentioned, are both getting embroidered quilts too.

Lauren, our oldest daughter and her husband are expecting the twins and they requested monkeys and giraffes for the babies room. I have finished two quilts, one green/brown/gold with monkey faces embroidered on it for baby boy and one in all shades of yellow with giraffes embroidered on it for baby girl. Both are backed with Oh So Soft from Moda and I have just a little bit of binding to hand stitch to be completely finished. Then I am going to start on the quilts that Grandma wants them to have!

Meanwhile I also completed samples for our newest pattern Five Easy Pieces. It is the perfect showplace for those large bright funky prints - but being in Grandma mode, I couldn't resist making a baby version too. Instructions for both are in the same pattern. We backed the baby version with cherry red Oh So Soft and added a layer of batting too. If feels absolutely luscious!

Did I mention that "we" are doing a complete redesign on the website? Actually I have hired a pro for this job, but it is my responsibility to tell her exactly what I want. Not an easy task, but it is going to be amazing when it goes live. I can't wait! It also requires a complete re-write of almost everything, changing the format I use for the newsletter. Yep, the spring newsletter that I just finished, printed and mailed has to be changed and re-done to fit the new format. Maybe we will start that process with the summer newsletter.....

We had a great weekend this past weekend! The shop was busy both Friday and Saturday with customers that were happy that the holidays were over and things were getting back to normal, including time to sew. Although we are not normally open on Sunday, every 3 months we open for a few hours on Sunday afternoon for our “meet the teacher” event to kick off the new class schedule. This time we offered 20% off the class fee if you brought us a container of liquid laundry detergent. As you can see, this was a win-win situation for both our customers and the local food bank! We thank you – and the food bank will too!

I was happy to finally ease back into my normal routine today and turn my sewing machine on for the first time this year. Too much paperwork makes me a grumpy person. I stitched these pillow tops that are the new additions to our button pillow series just before the holiday. Today I finished them off by adding the zippers and backing. The Valentine pillow comes complete with pre-cut, pre-fused hearts and buttons for embellishing. The St. Pat pillow includes the decorative buttons and the pot-of-gold is really a pocket that is the perfect size for tucking a treat inside – like a lottery ticket! The Valentine pillow pattern and kits are packed and ready to go. I plan to have the St. Pat's pillow ready sometime next week - but first I want to do a little more sewing!

There are Valentine table runners to stitch, new batiks quilts on the drawing board, and a St. Pat's table runner that features skippy the Christmas elf's Irish cousin! ... I better get busy!

Karen