Saturday, May 24, 2008
The Sun Hat's Off the Projects List!
Guess what? My sun hat is finished!!!! I made good use of a quiet day at the shop to make this beauty. I know you're going to want one for yourself! Blue Sky Hats, by Amy Butler, was amazingly simple to make. It took about 3 hours, total materials cost is about $20.
New Fabric and Books From Atkinson Designs
One of my favorite booths at Market was the Atkinson Designs booth. I am excited about the new fabric line, Paisley Party, designed by Terry Atkinson, to arrive sometime in late August/early September! Most of the quilts in both of Terry's new books are made from her new fabric line. It's full of bright colors, including orange and turquoise. I picked up some of her books at Market, where she was nice enough to autograph them for me. I have less than 5 autographed copies available, on a first come, first serve, basis! The books are called Time Out Quilts and Let's Do Lunch. Below are some pictures from the Atkinson booths, with projects from both books.
Sales Reps, The Good
I thought I should point out my outstanding sales rep, since I posted earlier about my not-so-outstanding service experiences.
Bonnie, with Moda, is my favorite sales rep. It helps that I love their fabric, but it wouldn't be so easy if the rep rarely or never visited me. (as is often the case) Forgive me if I have a complex about this, but living in a small town, you run into a lot of people who think 25 miles is soooooo far to drive out of the city. I get the feeling quite often that many sales reps have "bigger fish to fry," and so don't bother with me.
Bonnie, however, always visits me. She lets me know when she's in town, instead of skipping Deary for bigger places. She keeps her appointments, knows me by name, and is friendly and helpful. I appreciate this more and more because, as my store grows and I pull in more lines from more manufacturers, I see that I definitely don't get this sort of service from everyone.
Most of the other manufacturers and reps leave me out here to fend for myself. Some of them visit infrequently, and some don't even bother to try. It is difficult, if not sometimes impossible, to find what I'm looking for if I don't know it's out there, or can't see it in real. Many times, I don't even know what I'm looking for until I see it.
This week, I met Kathi, a rep from Blank Quilting. She was also friendly and helpful. With any luck I'll soon have 2 reps I can rely on!
Bonnie, with Moda, is my favorite sales rep. It helps that I love their fabric, but it wouldn't be so easy if the rep rarely or never visited me. (as is often the case) Forgive me if I have a complex about this, but living in a small town, you run into a lot of people who think 25 miles is soooooo far to drive out of the city. I get the feeling quite often that many sales reps have "bigger fish to fry," and so don't bother with me.
Bonnie, however, always visits me. She lets me know when she's in town, instead of skipping Deary for bigger places. She keeps her appointments, knows me by name, and is friendly and helpful. I appreciate this more and more because, as my store grows and I pull in more lines from more manufacturers, I see that I definitely don't get this sort of service from everyone.
Most of the other manufacturers and reps leave me out here to fend for myself. Some of them visit infrequently, and some don't even bother to try. It is difficult, if not sometimes impossible, to find what I'm looking for if I don't know it's out there, or can't see it in real. Many times, I don't even know what I'm looking for until I see it.
This week, I met Kathi, a rep from Blank Quilting. She was also friendly and helpful. With any luck I'll soon have 2 reps I can rely on!
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Project Overload
Coming back from Quilt Market always leaves me on overload. There are so many projects, and not nearly enough time to make them all. I'm not a patient person, and I just want them all done NOW! If I was rich enough to pay people to make them, I could keep a small quilting army busy full-time. Too bad I'm not!
This time of night, my eyes get too tired to quilt. Here is a peak at what I'm quilting right now, Makin' the Cut.
And now, I'm going to attempt to update my current projects and future projects list. This could take a while........
This time of night, my eyes get too tired to quilt. Here is a peak at what I'm quilting right now, Makin' the Cut.
And now, I'm going to attempt to update my current projects and future projects list. This could take a while........
Manners, According to Kylee
I should have known better! Remember Kylee's Take on God? Well, tonight at dinner I learned Kylee's take on manners.
The kids were being obnoxious (no, really, my kids???) at the table, so I decided it was a good time to review our manners. I used to do this often, but haven't done it for a long time. I decided to see what Kylee remembered, so I asked her to tell us all what manners are. Here is what she said:
"Manners are burp with your mouth closed, say excuse me, and.......go to the bathroom to fart."
I had to ask, didn't I? Like I said, I should have known better!
The kids were being obnoxious (no, really, my kids???) at the table, so I decided it was a good time to review our manners. I used to do this often, but haven't done it for a long time. I decided to see what Kylee remembered, so I asked her to tell us all what manners are. Here is what she said:
"Manners are burp with your mouth closed, say excuse me, and.......go to the bathroom to fart."
I had to ask, didn't I? Like I said, I should have known better!
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly in Sales Reps
There are so many quilting fabric manufacturers these days, they are hard to keep track of. Usually, quilt shop owners purchase from these manufacturers through sales reps. Each company assigns the shop a sales rep that works in their geographical area. I have 4 or 5 sales reps that I can order through, depending on whether I'm looking for Moda, Troy, Maywood, Buggy Barn, etc. However, I've actually only met 3 of these reps, and only 1 stands out as outstanding.
At the recent Quilt Market, there was a line of flannels we decided we had to have. (My buying budget at Market is always "If I love it and have to have it, I buy it.") This required ordering through the manufacturer, Troy. My sales rep for Troy is a great guy, but wasn't available at the time, so he directed us to another desk to ask for help. What happened next stunned the three of us. This is how it went:
Two men are standing in the Troy booth, chit chatting with each other. We sit down at the open desk and start looking at the fabric swatches. They proceed to continue chit chatting and ignore us. My mom says "Excuse me." They continue to ignore us. Mom says "Excuse me!" louder and one finally turns around like we've just interrupted the most important conversation in the world. "Is there someone available to help us place an order?" After a long pause, one man says, "Let me go see," while the other man just stands there and watches.
Now I'm thinking "What the ---??" because, first of all, the last time I checked, these companies rely on quilt shop orders to stay in business. As a general rule, rudeness does not make me want to order from you. Second of all, since when is chit chatting more important than taking a large fabric order???
The man proceeded to walk across the booth, and talk to a woman at the other end. He returned and said "I thought she was available, but she has a scheduled appointment, so she can't take your order." Then he just pauses and stands there. At this point, I'm holding in some rude comment, Vicki's mouth is hanging on the floor, and my Mom starts to get up out of her chair to leave. "Well, I guess I'll take your order, since she's busy," the man finally decides, and sits down somewhat reluctantly.
If that damn Granola Girl fabric hadn't been so great, we would have high tailed it out of there, after giving him the tongue lashing he deserved. Instead, we ordered as quickly as possible and split. Trust me, we didn't get so much as a thank-you, and instead I'll never think of ordering from them again without remembering how rude they were.
At the recent Quilt Market, there was a line of flannels we decided we had to have. (My buying budget at Market is always "If I love it and have to have it, I buy it.") This required ordering through the manufacturer, Troy. My sales rep for Troy is a great guy, but wasn't available at the time, so he directed us to another desk to ask for help. What happened next stunned the three of us. This is how it went:
Two men are standing in the Troy booth, chit chatting with each other. We sit down at the open desk and start looking at the fabric swatches. They proceed to continue chit chatting and ignore us. My mom says "Excuse me." They continue to ignore us. Mom says "Excuse me!" louder and one finally turns around like we've just interrupted the most important conversation in the world. "Is there someone available to help us place an order?" After a long pause, one man says, "Let me go see," while the other man just stands there and watches.
Now I'm thinking "What the ---??" because, first of all, the last time I checked, these companies rely on quilt shop orders to stay in business. As a general rule, rudeness does not make me want to order from you. Second of all, since when is chit chatting more important than taking a large fabric order???
The man proceeded to walk across the booth, and talk to a woman at the other end. He returned and said "I thought she was available, but she has a scheduled appointment, so she can't take your order." Then he just pauses and stands there. At this point, I'm holding in some rude comment, Vicki's mouth is hanging on the floor, and my Mom starts to get up out of her chair to leave. "Well, I guess I'll take your order, since she's busy," the man finally decides, and sits down somewhat reluctantly.
If that damn Granola Girl fabric hadn't been so great, we would have high tailed it out of there, after giving him the tongue lashing he deserved. Instead, we ordered as quickly as possible and split. Trust me, we didn't get so much as a thank-you, and instead I'll never think of ordering from them again without remembering how rude they were.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
How Do You Spell Your Name?
This morning, Kylee was in a sassy mood, so when I asked her what she wanted for breakfast she replied, "K - Y - L - E - E wants an English muffin."
When I asked Will next, he thought for a few seconds, and then said, "W, little one with a dot, big one, big one, little one with a dot, whoop, whoop, whoop, wants oatmeal."
When I asked Will next, he thought for a few seconds, and then said, "W, little one with a dot, big one, big one, little one with a dot, whoop, whoop, whoop, wants oatmeal."
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Educational Television
I discovered a new kind of educational T.V. today. We have XM Radio channels on our satellite. When the television is on one of these channels, the music plays just like a radio, and the screen is black except for a box with the name of the song, the artist, etc. The song info scrolls up the screen as the music plays. Since I don't have a stereo system, I use these channels a lot when I'm quilting and working around the house.
Today I saw Will standing right in front of the television, following the words with his fingers, like he was studying it. "Whatcha doin?" I asked.
"Lookin' for W's" he answered.
Today I saw Will standing right in front of the television, following the words with his fingers, like he was studying it. "Whatcha doin?" I asked.
"Lookin' for W's" he answered.
The Low Down on Quilt Market
International Quilt Market happens twice a year, in October and May. This May was my second market, and it was just as good as the first! Here are some pics of what Market looks like. It is huge, with almost 30 isles of 10-20 vendors each!
We spent all of Saturday and Sunday browsing and shopping the booths full of quilter's eye candy. This Spring, there was a definate trend toward both aprons and bags. They were everywhere! Alice will be wearing a new apron soon! I've also started making some new samples of various bags for the shop. This includes the new Eco Market Tote and the The Lunch Bag.
Saturday evening, we made the short drive to E.E. Schenck's Portland warehouse for an open shopping night. It was insanely busy, with wall to wall people! Here is a picture of the chaos:
I already posted earlier about G.E. Designs' new stuff. Here is a picture of their booth:
There's lots more to tell, this is just a starter entry of the happenings at Market!
We spent all of Saturday and Sunday browsing and shopping the booths full of quilter's eye candy. This Spring, there was a definate trend toward both aprons and bags. They were everywhere! Alice will be wearing a new apron soon! I've also started making some new samples of various bags for the shop. This includes the new Eco Market Tote and the The Lunch Bag.
Saturday evening, we made the short drive to E.E. Schenck's Portland warehouse for an open shopping night. It was insanely busy, with wall to wall people! Here is a picture of the chaos:
I already posted earlier about G.E. Designs' new stuff. Here is a picture of their booth:
There's lots more to tell, this is just a starter entry of the happenings at Market!
Help! I need thread!
I've spent the last couple of weeks, and some time at Quilt Market, trying to decide which brand of thread to carry in the store. I have been a die-hard Star Cotton fan for over 7 years now, but it's just not cutting the cake any more! They've changed their weight and quality, and now it won't run through my Nolting without breaking constantly. Frustrating, to say the least. It also seems to leave a lot of lint during piecing and quilting. So...I am on the hunt for a new thread.
The problem is I have no idea which one to go with. My top picks so far are:
Signature, because it is less expensive but works well for quilting in the Nolting and for piecing. It's available in various sized spools, including giant cones. It costs about $4.95/500 yards.
Mettler, because it is superior quality and works great for quilting, although it doesn't come in larger cones for the Nolting. It's also $6.70/500 yards.
Aurifil, a brand recommended to me by a friend, but comes in 1400yard spools with seem more expensive (around $10) because you're buying more at once.
So, what to do???? Please leave me a comment with your favorite threads. Give me a reason why you think one is better than another, please! Would the price of the Aurifil scare you, or do you value the higher quantity and quality? Would you be more likely to spend less and go with Signature? Help me decide. I'm having one of those obsessive compulsive urges to buy a thread display for the shop!
The problem is I have no idea which one to go with. My top picks so far are:
Signature, because it is less expensive but works well for quilting in the Nolting and for piecing. It's available in various sized spools, including giant cones. It costs about $4.95/500 yards.
Mettler, because it is superior quality and works great for quilting, although it doesn't come in larger cones for the Nolting. It's also $6.70/500 yards.
Aurifil, a brand recommended to me by a friend, but comes in 1400yard spools with seem more expensive (around $10) because you're buying more at once.
So, what to do???? Please leave me a comment with your favorite threads. Give me a reason why you think one is better than another, please! Would the price of the Aurifil scare you, or do you value the higher quantity and quality? Would you be more likely to spend less and go with Signature? Help me decide. I'm having one of those obsessive compulsive urges to buy a thread display for the shop!
G.E. Designs Does it Again!
Here is a peak at a new quilt and fabric line coming early this Fall! The brand new fabric is called "Amma's Garden," and is scheduled to arrive some time in September. The quilt pictured, "Poppy Garden," will be available from The Crazy Quilter as a kit. If you like it, you'd better snatch it up fast! If it's like the last quilt, Indian Peaks, it'll be gone so fast you won't even know it was here! Indian Peaks is still in my "someday" list because the fabric left before I even got to make a sample. This time, I've ordered a kit to come a few weeks early. Maybe I'll have a sample in the shop before the kits are gone - we can hope, anyways.
I borrowed this picture from G.E. Designs' website, until I have the chance to upload my pics of their booth from Market. Not only is this a beautiful quilt, but the pattern includes 2 other, smaller, bonus projects. I also picked up some of their new strip patterns at market. See them soon, under Jelly Roll Patterns My sister is working as fast as possible to enter everything into the website. Not an easy task, with my nephew sticking pens in the printer and causing general mayhem!
Monday, May 19, 2008
Introducing Alice
Let me introduce you to Alice! Alice, a friend of Martha, and former resident of the Portland Quilt Market, now resides at The Crazy Quilter. We rescued Alice from a life of loneliness and nudity, and we will soon be creating a whole new wardrobe for her. Watch for pictures of Alice's new look, coming soon!
The Return
I'm back from Quilt Market! And boy oh boy, it wasn't disappointing! My mom, Vicki, and I came back with a car load. I'll be posting all week on what we found. Watch the website for new merchandise in patterns and notions all week. Then, watch each month for new fabrics from The Buggy Barn, Atkinson Designs, Moda, Timeless Treasures, G.E. Designs, and Granola Girls!
We even managed not to terrorize the Starbucks baristas in Portland (OK, maybe just a little), and we even met some new friends. I'll be introducing you to Rosie and Alice soon.
For now, I have to run. I'm closing my eyes to the house my husband and kids didn't clean while I was gone, and I'm spending the day frolicking among the new patterns and notions. I might even manage to get some new projects started. I also received the new Moda University information while I was gone, so I have meetings to plan and fun things to think of. I'll be back to write more soon, with pictures!
We even managed not to terrorize the Starbucks baristas in Portland (OK, maybe just a little), and we even met some new friends. I'll be introducing you to Rosie and Alice soon.
For now, I have to run. I'm closing my eyes to the house my husband and kids didn't clean while I was gone, and I'm spending the day frolicking among the new patterns and notions. I might even manage to get some new projects started. I also received the new Moda University information while I was gone, so I have meetings to plan and fun things to think of. I'll be back to write more soon, with pictures!
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