Hello all. Today is the day! Time for all of the participants in the Positivity QAL to link up their finished quilts. This has been such an exciting time for Mercy Hospital. We are truly grateful to Preeti for creating the great pattern and hosting this QAL. So far I have received nine quilts and more are on the way!!
Everyone who submits a finished quilt is entered to win one of three prizes donated by Art Gallery Fabric. AGF is my favorite brand of fabric – both for their designs and the quality of the fabric they produce. Also, they are incredibly generous and have supported several events for me! Thank you Art Gallery Fabric!
Above is a picture of the West Palm collection designed by Katie Skoog. I have a 16 piece fat quarter bundle to give away!!
This bundle is from a few years back. Designed by Jeni Baker of In Color Order, it is called Geometric Bliss. I have an 11 piece bundle of 1/2 yard cuts!!
Finally, this bundle, Mystical Lands, was designed by Maureen Cracknell. It is a lovely bundle and I have a 20 piece fat quarter collection to give away! How great is that?!
Since I didn’t finish my Positivity Quilt (yet!), I will share a few of the quilts I received this week!
Pieced and quilted by Preeti Harris!Pieced by Judy B. She calls it Cappucino & a Blueberry Muffin!Pieced and quilted by Roseanne and Sue from Home Sewn By Us.Also piece & quilted by Roseanne and Sue – but such a different look with these soft colors.Pieced & quilted by Arlyn P. Love the black and white polka dots framing the center!Pieced and quilted by Nikki M. Thank you Nikki!!!
Even though the quilts are made from the same block, there are dozens of ways to lay them out. With the variety of colors everyone chose, no quilts looks like the next. It is so much fun!
I cannot thank you all enough for making these Mercyful Quilts. You are all the best and I am totally grateful to be part of this tribe.
OK – now please link up your finish below. If you can’t (or don’t want to) link up, please email me a picture of your finish and I will upload it to this post.
Prize winners will be announced on September 5, 2021. Good luck to each of you!
I write a post something along these lines annually. That is because out here in dry, dry California we have fire season every year now. This year it started terribly early, back in June. A few weeks ago, for the first time, we had a fire happen very close to our property and it was scary. Fortunately the River Fire was contained in time but my husband did have the car packed and ready to evacuate as we were in the group that would be called next, if the fire spread. That was far too close for comfort.
Smokey skies
Right now the Dixie fire burning in the north eastern part of the state. It is the worst fire in California history and is currently consuming well over 700,000 acres. For perspective, this is more than 1,000 square miles which is basically the size of Rhode Island or 1/2 the size of Delaware. This fire is only 33% contained and has been burning for over one month. Allocated to this fire are 5,696 personnel (divided into 88 crews), 183 water trucks, 205 bull dozers, 463 fire engines, and 19 helicopters. It is a huge process to fight something like this.
The loss is devastating. Greenville, a small town of 1,000 residents, was wiped out. The whole town is gone. Because there is a lot of mountain terrain involved in this fire, the loss of homes isn’t as bad as with some fires. So far, 652 homes and 130 commercial structures have burned. This count will increase after the fire is contained and it becomes safe for the fire fighters to actually assess the true damages.
All in all, this makes me sad. Think of the wildlife that has perished. These mountains are home to deer, bear, squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, bob cats and more. It will be years before the forests are re-established. We all watch the weather hoping for calm skies. The wind is the biggest factor other than the very dry land causing the fire to continue to spread. Smoke is all over California. This morning there was quite a bit of ash on my car and I am more than one hundred miles from the fire. I cannot even imagine the horrible air quality for the people living closer in.
OK – knowing all of you, those quilting minds are wondering how to help. If you are wanting to send quilt(s) for the victims, I have information for you. There is an organization called We Care which is headed up by Kathy Biggi, a quilter in my local guild (Pine Tree Quilt Guild). Kathy is devoted to providing quilts for those who have lost their homes to fire. There are numerous other fires burning where homes have been lost and Kathy is working with various groups to understand what the need is. If you would like to send a quilt to her, please let me know in the comments or by email, and I will send you her mailing information.
At the moment, she is collecting quilts. They should be lap size at smallest (so about 45 x 55″). If you can, a matching pillowcase in a great idea. All sorts of quilts are needed, juvenile themes, gender neutral, or quilts a man or woman might enjoy.
Kathy won’t distribute right away as it takes some time for a person who has lost their home to get settled again. But your quilt will definitely be given to a family who is rebuilding and it will being comfort.
Thanks for reading all of this. Not exactly a fun, upbeat post but this is what is happening here. I appreciate all of you and if anyone has a way to send some rain our way, it would be hugely appreciated.
On Sunday we will have the final link up for The Positivity QAL. Please come on back and take a look at the gorgeous quilts made for Mercy Hospital!!
Oh my gosh, I have been going a million miles an hour lately. Sometimes life is like that. We have had a trip to San Diego (family wedding), tons and tons of gardening because my farmer husband planted so much this year, and fire season has begun in fall force. So, I am behind on blogging and blog post reading.
My immediate family!
This picture was taken at the recent wedding. My parents are standing on either side of the bride and groom. Just to explain; my parents had six kids, who then provided 21 grand children to the group. Following that, those grand children produced (so far) 16 great grands. This picture shows our family less about 15 people who weren’t able to get to the wedding. I love our huge, very noisy family.
When we got home from the wedding there were four quilts waiting for me! It was like Christmas morning!! Let me show them to you.
Positivity Quilt made by Cheree L.
Just gorgeous and if these colors don’t make you ache for autumn, than nothing will! Cheree blogs over at the Lively Latte and she actually made two quilts during the Positivity QAL one of which we were fortunate to receive!
Positivity Quilt made By Janine H.
Here is Janine’s version of the Positivity Quilt. Adding the triangles gives it such a different feel. She blogged the details for this quilt here. She also pieced the backing which I love!
The color sequence she used is so pretty. This is a double sided quilt, if you ask me!
Donation Number Two by Janine!
Janine included a second quilt in her box. I remember when she made this one and I just love it. Looking at the quilting design, I suspect it stayed hidden in my brain and was my inspiration when I quilted the Ninja baby quilt I just finished. 🙂 Janine based her design of this quilt on a pattern called Nines in the Middle by Doris Rice for Moda, The blog post with the back story is here. Also, she made sure to tell me that she received the fabric from Louise of My Quilt Odyssey . So actually, this pretty quilt comes from both Janine and Louise!
Another beautiful quilt back!
Looking at the back side, you will see that Janine made another pretty, pieced backing with her leftovers. This side also really shows the quilting pattern off.
Positivity Quilt, Pieced by Julie K and quilted by Rebecca Grace
This beauty was also made by a participant in the Positivity QAL. Julie K pieced this pretty quilt. The blues on a scrappy neutral background are so soothing. She sent it over to the talented Rebecca Grace to be quilted. Rebecca did a custom quilt motif on it using several different patterns. The effect is really fantastic. I offered to bind this quilt so that Rebecca could send it directly to me as opposed to sending it back to Julie for binding and then sending it to me. Might as well save on some postage!
Another pretty backing!!
Isn’t this a cool backing? I love the huge plus or cross, depending on what you want it to be, with the blue fabric. I have enough of the blue fabric to use as binding and hopefully this will be done soon.
Let’s move on to summer gardening! Like I said earlier, Ray put in a lot of plants this year. With just the three of us here, there is no way we can eat all of it. We share it with neighbors, friends and family but there is still too much! I have taken extra fruits and veggies over to our local food ministry twice now.
These peaches all went to the food ministry yesterday!
We have had grapes for at least five or six years now. Usually the raccoons and birds take most of them and the individual berries on the plant are quite small. Not so this year! We have beautiful clusters and, as you can imagine, more than we can possibly eat. So I have been taking those to the food ministry as well.
Poblano and Anaheim Peppers
The peppers are very happy this year as well. I will be roasting these in the next day or too. We love roasted peppers on sandwiches, in omelets and in salsa.
As far as the shop goes, the sale continues and the number of bolts on hand has been steadily decreasing. I appreciate all of your support. Whether by shopping or sharing the word about the close out sale, you are such a help!
The regular price fabric is now 30% off! Patterns and notions are 20% off and ship free. The clearance and remnants are 10% off. Come by and browse the sale; see what might strike your fancy!
OK – this post is getting on the lengthy side. I will close now and hopefully get back into a better blogging schedule. I hope all of you are well and happy!
Finally! Today is my day on the blog hop celebrating the release of Cheryl Brickey’s second quilt book, Just One Charm Pack. I have been waiting to play with this book for quite some time. I loved her first book Modern Plus Sign Quilts and knew this book would be at least as creative. Cheryl’s patterns are not new to me. I have made three so far (Postage Plus, Pike’s Peak and Flock of Geese.) Additionally, I have carried her patterns in my shop for a long while and they are very popular. (Note – all quilt patterns, including Cheryl’s, are currently 25% off and have free shipping in the US. Take a peek!)
Just in case you are new to Needle and Foot via Cheryl’s book celebration, welcome! I have been quilting on and off since 1978. Well, I made several quilts in 1978 and 1979 and then didn’t begin again until 2011. But as with most quilters, once the bug bit, I started quilting with a passion! Please take a minute to poke around my blog and visit. I have also had an on-line fabric shop for the last (almost) five years. I am in the process of retiring so all fabric there is on sale. If you’d like to check it out, click here!
Some time ago, Cheryl invited a group of quilt bloggers to make a quilt from the new book and share it upon the release of the book. We were able to choose which quilt we wanted to make and I chose the Ninja pattern which is based on a variation of the Friendship Star block.
My version of the Ninja quilt was made with 1/2 of a Kaffe Fassett charm pack that I had left from an earlier project. I was thrilled to see I could complete a quilt with just that small stack! I had both the white and the lavender solid fabric in my stash so it was a breeze to pull fabrics for this quilt. The lavender background is actually a solid cotton voile. I hadn’t made a quilt with cotton voile and have to say, I love the extra soft feel it has.
Piecing the quilt was very simple and because of Cheryl’s clear, concise instructions, there were no issues when putting the top together. By off-setting the placement of the Friendship Star blocks, there is nice movement to the design. I played around with ideas for quilting it until I took a closer look at the sample quilt in the book. It was quilted with concentric circles. The curved lines looked so perfect with the angular design. Not willing to free motion quilt that many circles, I chose to use my walking foot and do a pattern similar to a Baptist Fan. It was so simple to just begin in a corner and work to the center. Once I hit the center (or close to it), I just started another corner. Filling in between all four sections was the last step.
The quilt is backed with a dark purple flannel and the quilting shows nicely from the back side.
This cute little quilt (about 36″ x 50″) will be sent to a friend of the family. They just had their first baby, a girl named Natalie. I hope they will enjoy it and use it to pieces!
By the way, the patterns in this book are all traditionally pieced which means no paper piecing. For me, that is a big win! Another win, in my opinion, is that the quilt designs appear to be quite easy to enlarge. It would be no issue to just make more of these blocks and add to the width of the top and bottom border to make this a larger, lap size quilt.
Now that I have shared the quilt I made, I wanted to also show you a peek at some of the other patterns. Honestly, Cheryl designed some really fun, easy patterns.
Pieced by Cheryl Brickey, quilted by Carol Alperin
This quilt is named Fishies, rightfully so, don’t you think? I love the look of the school of fish all traveling together. So sweet.
Pieced and quilted by Myra at Busy Hands Quilt
This pattern is called Ships Ahoy. It was made by Myra of Busy Hands Quilts. Her colors are perfect for a bright addition to a nursery and that quilting is gorgeous. You can read more about her process here
Pieced and quilted by Liz, Savor Every Stitch
Finally, I have to share this version of Cat’s Eye. It was pieced and quilted by Liz at Savor Every Stitch. Just spend a minute adoring the quilting. Liz has such talent. To see more photos and read about Liz’s process, click here.
No doubt there is a quilt for everyone in this book. I encourage you to take a further look by following along with the blog hop. It began on July 15th and goes through July 29th. Cheryl will be posting the newest quilts on her site daily so you can read along.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Each pattern in the book uses a single charm pack, an additional fabric (called fabric A in the pattern) and a background fabric). The book is the Hamburger Helper for charm packs, stretching one into a full quilt 🙂
You can grab a copy of Just One Charm Pack Quilts on Amazon or get a signed copy in Cheryl’s shop.
As a bonus, if you purchase a signed copy from Cheryl’s shop, you can get one additional free stand alone pattern (digital or printed) by adding the book and a stand alone pattern ($12 value) and then using the coupon code HOPPATTERN (through the end of the hop 7/29) during checkout.
Hello Everyone! I am happy to be hosting the second link up for The Positivity Quilt Along, hosted by Preeti of Sew Preeti Quilts. As you probably know, many of the quilts made during the QAL are destined to be donated to Mercyful Quilts. We are so thankful to Preeti for hosting this event and to all of you who have made, or are making, quilts for Mercy. I realize some of you have chosen to donate your quilt to a different organization and that is also wonderful! Your creativity, time and effort are hugely appreciated!
If you haven’t yet started, don’t worry! The blocks are a breeze to make and quilts are ALWAYS needed at Mercy Hospital. You are welcome to join in and make one whenever the timing suits you. As for my quilt….. I have been making very little progress. Summer has been so busy with lots of family time. In all honesty, I have only made eighteen blocks at this point. But, like I said, the need for quilts is on-going and I will get mine done.
Obviously, I don’t have a finished flimsy (quilt top) to share with you today. However, I do have some finished quilts to show you!
This quilt was sent to me by Rachel who is from Orgeon. She was the first person to send me a finished Positivity Quilt. She was really quick!! I love the colors and the arrangement of her plus blocks!
Rachel made a pieced backing, using some extra blocks she had. I think she did a great job with balancing the pieced blocks with the large pieces of fabric.
OK – on to the second Positivity Quilt that has been received (also from Oregon)! This one was made and quilted by Cyndy of Quilting Is More Fun than Housework. We all know Cyndy is a master when it comes to scrappy quilts and this is certainly no exception. Her use of turquoise and orange with a scrappy gray background is wonderful.
The HST quilt shown above was also donated for Mercyful Quilts. This beauty was made by Jolie D. of Oregon and quilted by Cyndy. I really like the color selection Jolie chose here. These earthy tones are warm and comforting.
It has been wonderful to replenish the supply of quilts for Mercy Hospital. The staff and the recipients of the quilts are always very thankful for the donations we provide. Thank you so much to each of you who have sent, or are soon to send, quilts our way!
Let’s share the flimsies that are made. There are prizes for this link up too! On July 25th, names will be drawn to win one of five different gifts. Each of these prizes are PDF patterns donated by these very lovely quilt pattern designers.
Please link up below. If you don’t have a blog, you are welcome to email me a picture of your flimsy so I can add it to this post. Your picture will count as an entry to win!! Linky will be open through Saturday, July 24, 2021.
Here is a flimsy made by Rochelle S. Love the blues and greens. Does it remind you of seaglass?
This quilt top was made by Nikki M. Notice that the pluses are basically the same tones as Rochelle’s up above. But change that background color and it is a whole new. sunshiny look!! Love them both and can’t wait to see them all quilted up. 🙂
Life has been fairly busy around here – lots of garden time, some visiting with friends, reading books and, of course, some sewing. Let’s see what I can share with you today!
First up, I received two incredible quilts for Mercy Hospital! These were quite unexpected and I am thrilled to have them. My friend, Stephanie, is a local long arm quilter with a passion for purples and blues and a strong love of Kaffe Fassett. When she offered these two quilts to me for Mercyful Quilts, I was over the moon. Want to see them?
Isn’t this stunning?
This quilt is so, so pretty! Love the design, the fabric and the quilting. The backing is the same fabric as the outer border. I love it and I am sure someone will be so happy to have this as a remembrance of their loved one.
Stephanie doesn’t do custom quilting. She uses edge to edge designs. She does a lovely job quilting her pieces.
Another pretty quilt!
This quilt was made with a jelly roll. These fabrics have a bit of a metallic shimmer to them and the theme of the line is dragonflies. The backing is a soft purple flannel. Lush!
Pretty Dragonflies are quilted along with a looping design.
I looked for some information on dragonflies because I know some cultures feel there is a symbolic meaning to the dragonfly. I loved what I found.
“The dragonfly, in almost every part of the world symbolizes change and change in the perspective of self realization; and the kind of change that has its source in mental and emotional maturity and the understanding of the deeper meaning of life.
The traditional association of Dragonflies with water also gives rise to this meaning to this amazing insect. The Dragonfly’s scurrying flight across water represents an act of going beyond what’s on the surface and looking into the deeper implications and aspects of life. “
Reading this, I couldn’t help but think this quilt was meant for Mercyful Quilts. The recipient of our quilts may very well be struggling to understand a deeper meaning of life as they grieve the loss of their loved one. It is always our hope that Mercyful Quilts bring comfort during this process.
As for my own sewing, I finished a baby quilt that will be shared in a week or so as a part of the celebration of Cheryl Brickey’s newest book; Just One Charm Pack. The quilt is adorable and you’ll just have to wait a bit to see it!
I am also working on matching outfits for my grand daughters. I have one outfit done, for the younger one.
I also have a pair of shorts finished for the big sister. \
There is even a little label on the back to help her know which way to put them on. I have yet to cut out or sew a shirt. I am hoping I can figure out how to do this with the remaining fabric. (The leftovers are in odd shapes and sizes). Cross your fingers for me! If it all works out and the outfits actually fit the girls, I will share a picture later on.
Last fall we bought some new furniture, including the chair you see above. I wanted something to rest your feet on but the ottoman that matched the chair was too big for the space and too pricey for my wallet. Some years ago, I bought this little footstool thinking I would one day re-upholster it. Of course it sat in a closet ever since. But it was the perfect thing for this chair so I ordered matching fabric to cover it with.
It was a fairly simple project and it didn’t hurt any that Ray did most of the work. A staple gun and a fair amount of hot glue was all it took – and the muscle to be able to staple gun into this very hard wood. I don’t think I could have done it, truth be told. But I was a very helpful assistant. Honest! He actually covered it during the Christmas holiday but again, it sat. Waiting and waiting for us to make and attach a band around the perimeter to hide those staples. That finally happened last week and it is finished. This project took much longer than it should have!
It is that time of year when the garden is producing in full force! Ray dug up potatoes twice already; there is an abundance! Tomatoes are starting to really ripen as are the green beans and cucumbers. For some reason the crook neck squash are weirdly small. He yanked that plant out as it really isn’t worth picking those miniature bits.
Check out the size of this boysenberry!! We have the hugest berries this year. Yum – sooo good! Both the boysenberries and the blueberries are about finished for this year. We were able to freeze about twenty pounds of blueberries which is far more than usual. It is so nice to have them all year though.
Let’s take a look at some silly girls, shall we?
Dad decided it was time to play with water balloons for the first time! This picture couldn’t be better – he caught the splash as the perfect moment!
I love this (slightly blurred) picture showing the girls playing together. Little sis will do anything big sister says. Here they had a little game going on that reminds me of a Conga line! They are so funny.
The clearance sale continues! Prices are now discounted by 25%!
I am getting closer and closer to retirement! The sale is now set at 25% off so be sure to come take a peek!!
Linking to my favorites. Check them out at the top of the page, under Link Ups.
Hi Everyone! As I mentioned the other day, I am hosting the first link up for the Positivity QAL. The event is hosted by Sew Preeti Quilts and the quilts made will be donated to Mercyful Quilts or the charitable organization of your choice. At this point, most of us have selected our fabrics, cut pieces and made (hopefully) twelve or more blocks. If you have’t gotten very many blocks done yet, no problem, I haven’t either! Just share what you have done so far. We are excited to see where you are on this project! (For more info on Mercyful Quilts, please click here.)
Looking nice! Note, these have not been squared up yet.
Here are the eight blocks I have made so far. I am really pleased with the colors I am using and am anxious to add some yellow and gray blocks to the mix.
I haven’t yet decided on the layout I will use but until I have more blocks to play with, I won’t really think about that part.
Bloggers, please link your post at the bottom. For those participants who do not have a blog, you may send me a picture of what you have made so far (if you would like to) with your name and email. I will post it here as they come in. Use [email protected] to send me a picture. OK – all of you please check back to see new pictures this week as I update the post and to check out the link ups. I will leave the linky open until July 1st.
From Rochelle S. She has 24 blocks completed already! Hurray. Love these colors. 🙂Sunshine in the form of a quilt! In process by Nikki M. Thanks so much Nikki!!!Check this beauty out. Made by Rachel and headed to Mercyful quilts soon!!
Thank you so much for participating! Hope you are all had a nice weekend. Be happy, healthy and creative!
Hello there! Life is still quite busy here. The fabric sale continues and customers are keeping me busy. I am happy to say the stack of empty bolts is still growing and the shelves of bolted fabric are shrinking. Thank you all for supporting me as I clear out the shop in anticipation of closing it.
In between shipping orders, we have had a lot going on. I haven’t been able to get a ton of quilting done but I do get to the machine now and then.
I am working on my blocks for the Positivity QAL. The other day I suppose I wasn’t paying attention because the block wasn’t assembled correctly. Ooops! Luckily it took little time to unpick the stitches and fix it (the upper left block). The blocks are super easy to make and I am enjoying it. People are starting to post their progress on Instagram under #thepositivityqal. Check them out to see! If you want to join in, there is time. The QAL is just getting started!! Sure some people (Preeti and Cheree, I am looking at you!) are finishing flimsies but others (ME) have all of five blocks sewn. Also, for those of you who are already into this, remember the first link up for showing progress shots is this Sunday. Preeti and I have decided I will hold the link up here though. So come back here to link up on Sunday, ok?? (Note to self: go figure out how to host a link up since you haven’t hosted one in several years. Haha)
I have also had some time to work on the gray and blue monster I am making for my bed. We have a king size bed so this is certainly the largest quilt I have made yet. (I have made four queen size quilts though and this isn’t too much bigger than those). I am very happy with this project though. My husband chose the fabrics and helped me select the pattern. Mainly I need to work on the sashing strips and then assemble the rows and add borders and baste it and quilt it and bind it and wash it. See – I think I am almost done!
The garden is going nuts now. Zucchini, cucumbers, green beans, bunching onions, boysenberries, and blueberries are coming in fast and furious. Tomatoes are just starting to turn color, the shallots look great and the pumpkins are happily growing.
Before I close (which I really need to do so I can get downstairs and ship orders), here are some smiles for you. The girls are growing like crazy and I am feeling the urge to see them again! It has been just over a month and they seem different already, especially the one year old. At that age, there is something new almost daily.
Hmmm, I am sure there is some way to make this thing go.Daydreaming. Remember doing this as a kid in the summer?Silly girl, wearing Dad’s hat.
OK – I will be back on Sunday with a link up for you! Come and check out the quilts people are making or link up your progress shots.
First of all, thank you for all the well wishes you left on my last post. What a nice bunch of friends! So…after posting about my plan to retire, the orders for my shop went nuts! Truly, it was an incredible response. In the first four or five days, I cut over 400 yards of fabric. This was a lot. Honestly, a lot! Many customers like to order a stack of 1/2 yard cuts so who knows how many cuts that 400 yards really was. Just believe me, so many! Check out all of the empty bolts. Shelves are thinning out quickly.
As the shelves empty out, I keep moving bolts and condensing them. This is freeing up space for me to move my personal stash downstairs. I am moving all of my sewing supplies and machine downstairs so we can have a ‘real’ guest room. I continue to organize and purge through my fabrics which has been really helpful. As I was working on this last week, I found a free motion quilting project I had made a few years ago. It was a quilt along hosted by Lori Kenedy back in 2016. I had a lot of fun stitching along with her but when I finished it, I put it in the closet and forgot about it. Upon finding it, I decided to bind it and hang it. It is so summery with the boats, fish and sunshine.
The quilting is far from perfect but the overall look is cute and worth enjoying during these summer months. I love the bias stripe binding. It is from the shop, just in case you are wondering. (Haha.)
Just a tiny peek!
Moving on, I have also been working on a quilt to be shared during a blog hop in July. The flimsy is done and I am trying to decide on a backing. This will be shared soon!!
I have also been cutting a stack of strips in gray and blue. I am making my largest quilt yet. It is a king size for our bed. This is going to be a great project. Assembling the top shouldn’t take terribly long as it is a simple design. Now basting this monster and quilting it is a whole other story!!
This sums up my week! I think the weekend will be focused on the king size quilt. I am so anxious to see it come together. Hopefully I will have some progress photos for you soon. I also need to pull purple scraps for my RSC diamond blocks. So many projects and never enough time!
Don’t forget – all fabric, quilt patterns and notions are on sale, 20% off! I hope you will come by and check it out!
Linking to my favorites – including Brag About Your Beauties. The rest are located at the top of the page, under Link Ups.
I have some news for all of you so we will just cut to the chase! I have decided I do not want to have a fabric shop any longer! There, I said it – to all of you – in public – it is no longer just a plan in my head! Ah, that feels better!
Let’s talk about how all of this evolved. Last year, in 2020, I sold a LOT of fabric. Truly – tons and tons of fabric. I should have added up the yardage for you but I am feeling too lazy, so you will just have to take me at my word. When COVID hit and the quarantine was in place, online shopping went through the roof. My small shop went absolutely nuts. (I can’t even imagine how it was for bigger shops!) It took me by surprise, there was no way to plan for this. I scrambled to keep up with demand, bringing in fabric however I could. Of course the fabric manufacturers felt the same spike in demand and within a month or two, so many fabrics were out of stock. I rarely saw this, pre-COVID. There was always availability.
Keeping up with this was hectic but manageable. Basically my little online shop became a full-time gig. For the first time I got a taste of what this would be like if I were to keep it going on a full-time level. It was exciting and tiring at the same time.
Then fall rolled around and I had a momentous birthday – I turned 60! Yeah, I can’t believe it either. It is hard to wrap my head around that number! But when I turned 60, I soon realized I didn’t want to work anymore. It was almost an over-night decision. Actually my decision to open the fabric shop (at the end of 2016) was also a very quick decision. When something feels right, it just feels right.
By closing the shop, I will have more time for other things (obviously!) One thing I noticed after opening the shop was how little time I had for sewing! Kind of ironic, yes? I had thousands of yards downstairs and not a whole lot of time to use them! Once I decided to close the shop, I stopped the flow of new inventory coming in. I have not brought in new inventory since January. Let me say, cancelling all of the outstanding orders was quite freeing. Selecting fabrics, placing orders, keeping track of money spent, unboxing inventory and listing it online is time consuming. Reading about what companies are bringing in new fabric, which designers are coming out with new lines takes time. I had to be on the computer a lot! Like, a lot, a lot, a lot! So this has been the first change I have noticed. Less time on the computer leaves me more time for other things. I have been out in the garden more with Ray which is a total win!
As you know, I love traveling to see my grand children. Each time I do this, I have a wonderful friend, Sophia, who ships my orders. She says she likes doing it but I don’t feel like I can impose on her forever. I want to be able to go up to WA and stay without feeling a twinge of guilt for taking up Sophia’s time.
I suspect some of you have wondered what was going on. I have some very loyal reader/shoppers and my inventory has decreased with no new pieces being added. Well, now you know why! The existing inventory will be sold off (at great prices) and I will be moving on to new adventures.
I want to spend more time participating in QAL’s (like the upcoming Positivity QAL), more time making Mercyful Quilts, and more time making garments. Blogging is still in the mix and I hope to be more focused on it – both writing posts and reading your posts.
Having the shop was really a great experience. All of you were so supportive and I am so grateful for that. It has been fun to put together bundles, think about which lines you would enjoy, and learn about new kinds of fabric. (For example, I knew next to nothing about repros and nothing at all about the stunning William Morris fabrics.)
OK – this has become a long post and if you are still with me, thank you! To begin clearing out the inventory, I have opened a sale with everything in the shopmarked down by 20%. This will be an open ended sale. If you are interested in yardage (eg a partial bolt of solids or a lot of a particular wide back) send me an email. I will work out a special price for you. Also, there are a couple of you who have a gift certificate that has not yet been used. Please take advantage and use it! I don’t want you to miss out on the opportunity!
As I said earlier, without all of you, this whole adventure would not have been nearly as successful. So thank you, thank you, thank you for all of your support over the last 4 1/2 years!
