The Wild & Wacky Beach Party was a Hit!

To those of you who came to the Beach Party, THANK YOU for joining us!  It was truly a lot of fun!  Everyone brought great Show & Tell items and we all learned something new.  It was great to welcome Eleanor Burns and Sue Bouchard back to Marion for the 2014 Quilters Hall of Fame Celebration. Eleanor was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2012.  Eleanor shared some of her newest quilts and patterns and we even got to place orders for her upcoming book!  Sue also shared new patterns and ideas that she is working on and we loved have some 'sneak peaks' of those quilts.  It's always fun when quilters get together, but this was over the top FUN!

Yup!  Eleanor loves a party and she joined us at the beach! 

And here is Sue!

We had great fun sharing during the Show & Tell.

And the show continues! 
This Cathedral Window Quilt had over 2000 'windows'.  It was shown by Linda Nicholson.  The quilt was made for her by her mother, Bernice Reel-Heiny, who also attended the party. 
(I hope that I have all of the facts correct.  If not, please let me know!)

And ... we had a Wild & Wacky Challenge.  Each attendee was asked to bring something from their sewing/craft room that they were saving but they didn't know why.  They were told that they would not bet the items back because they would be used in a project.  The group was divided up into teams of 6 and given the following:

• A sewing machine
• 4  -  1 yd. cuts of fabric
• 45 minutes of time
• access to a work table that had cutting mats, rulers, cutters, scissors, irons, general sewing supplies, glue guns, crepe paper, curling ribbon, newspapers and a bunch of other things!
• a bag of rather 'odd' items that had to also be used in the creation
• a large umbrella

They worked as a team to create some INTERESTING UMBRELLAS!  Here are some of the photos that were captured.

And the 2nd Place Award went to the team that made the umbrella 

decorated with a variety of Flip Flops!

And the WINNER!  The Cabana Umbrella!

A picture of all of the Party Girls!

 

Great People!  Great Party!  Great PFun!

Thanks for coming!

July 1st is almost here!

Tomorrow is July 1st and the beginning of Row By Row Experience!  This is going to be so much fun this summer.  For complete details, click here.  Also take time to read my previous Blog Post.  I promised you a picture of our row when we had it made into a finished sample.  Well here it is! 

I LOVE it!  Well after all it is Red and White and Hearts so what's not to love?  So even if you do not want to make it into the Row by Row Quilt, you can pick up the pattern and kit and have a beautiful table runner.  The kit includes the pre-cut fabrics for the center section.  The piano key borders are something that you can add if you choose.  Get your route planned out and be sure to stop at SEW BIZ as you go ROW BY ROW this summer!  Visit our website.

Summertime Fun!

We have sew many exciting things happening this summer at SEW BIZ, I don't know how I am going to be able to keep up with them all!  Seriously, I have people say to me "I bet things are really slow in your business right now, huh?"  REALLY?  Come hang out with us for a day.  No way!  We are having trouble getting time to even get our class schedule nailed down and June is almost gone!  Every.Single.Day the FedEx truck and the UPS truck drop off more beautiful fabric.  It is now overflowing and I don't have a clue where we are going to put the beautiful border print oriental fabric that arrived today.

We have ROW by ROW Experience that begins Tuesday, July 1 and runs through Sept. 2nd.  Read about it at our website.  This is going to be great fun.  It is a nation wide shop hop of sorts. Here is a picture or our Row.  It is a FREE Pattern that is available when you stop in the store and there is also a Kit available for the row.  As soon as we have our Row made into a table runner and quilted, I will share that with you!

Fun for everyone.  Most of the participating stores also have Fabric Plates with creative quilt related sayings.  Stop in to get your fabric plate from SEW BIZ and begin collecting them on your summer outings.  We love our plate!  What do you think? 

And ... just because we have the great opportunity of participating in the CELEBRATION of the Quilters Hall of FAME, we have a very special fabric plate that will be available July 14 - 19th during the Annual Celebration!  Here it is...complete with Fireworks in honor of the month of July Celebration.

Don't miss CELEBRATION!  We will have lots going on in our store July 14 -19th and did I mention a FABRIC SALE???

To kick off the Celebration week, we are hosting Eleanor Burns (2012 QHF Inductee) and Sue Bouchard for a Wild and Wacky Beach Party.  Here are the details.  You must join us for this Fun Event!  I would say "No Swim Suit Required" but that could get us into some real trouble.  It is going to be sew much fun, laughs galore and I would love to tell you more but we have a MYSTERY ACTIVITY planned that you are sure to love and I can't spoil it!

Have a great week-end and we look forward to seeing you soon!

Donelle

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To Market, To Market! Quilt Market ... that is!

Linda and I will soon be headed to 2014 Spring Quilt Market in Pittsburgh, PA!.  We are always excited to see the new lines of fabrics, patterns, trends and 'stuff' that are introduced to quilt store owners.  The displays are beautiful, the samples of the new patterns are made up in every flavor imaginable and the choices are many!  This makes it very difficult to determine which ones are "just right" for you - our customers!  We try to get rested up and be in our best frame of mind but oh my ... it is still difficult.  We will do our very best to bring back great patterns, fabrics, and ideas to keep you inspired and excited to turn fabric into beautiful projects.

I (Donelle) will be teaching a Business Class to other store owners, managers and quilt teachers about what else --- Teaching Classes!  Here's where you come in.  I have a section of my class totally devoted to sewing hints and tips.  Many of you have been taking classes from us for 30 years and have learned many little tricks from us, as well as other sources.  SEW (pun intended) if you would please share 1 or more of those with me, I would love to have a list of 100 or more hints & tips that I can pass on to my class attendees.  Send them to my email address here and don't forget to add your name and town.  I will be sharing these with all of you in future blog posts so that everyone benefits!  Thanks for taking a few minutes today to share those with me.  I will need them by Saturday, May 10th so that I can put them in the handout.  Thanks, girls!

I will be back here again soon with more fun information!  Don't forget to stay tuned to your email and be sure to LIKE us on FACEBOOK.  We will be posting information there while we are at Quilt Market.

Oh, I almost forgot!  We have a HUGE Indoor SIDEWALK Sale beginning on Thursday, May 8th!  We have tons of things a greatly reduced prices.  Some up to 75% OFF.  Many are items are in very limited supply and we are trying to make room for the new merchandise that will be arriving shortly after we return from Market!  See our FACEBOOK Post for May 6th for a list of some of the items.  I am in a SPRING CLEANING MODE and will be adding items all week-end long!

See you at the SIDEWALK SALE!  Whew...we need to clear out many nooks and crannies before we leave next Wednesday!  Pittsburgh here we come!

Donelle

Blogin, Blogin, Blogin!

Here we go again!  I know that I need to keep up with this but somehow, I seem to get behind.  I had something happen this morning while working on a project, so I thought I would share my experience with you.  And maybe, just maybe, I will get back into the habit on meeting you here on my blog more frequently.

As I was working on this quilt...

I experienced all kinds of problems with fusing down the pieces of the giraffe.  So I learned some lessons and here is my helpful tip for today...

Just a word of caution!  When using Heat ‘n Bond, Wonder Under or any type of fusible web – FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS!  We have experienced problems ourselves by failing to read the directions.  They all work perfectly for their intended purposes WHEN YOU FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS.  Ask me how I know!  I found out the hard way this morning and I am passing this information on to you so that you do not have to experience that same frustration.  If you have any questions, please contact us.  I know that many times you do not save the directions and you have fusible that you have no clue how to use.  Here are some organizing hints.

1.      When purchasing the fusible, keep the label/wrapper so that you know which type it is.

2.      Label a zip-lock type bag for each type and weight of fusible.  Use a Sharpie Marker to label the bag.  Keep a set of instructions for each type in the bag that is specific for that weight and brand.  (I would put the instructions in a page protector cut down to convenient size and keep that in the bag.)

3.      Return scraps that you have left over to the proper bag.  You never know when a small piece of fusible will be just the right size.

4.      Use a hole punch to punch a hole in the corner of the bag.

5.      Arrange the bags on a key ring to keep them organized and handy.

This same type of organization will work well for interfacings.

A little work now will keep you organized and make your life in the sewing room so much easier!

Until next time...and I hope that is soon, remember to make time for the things that you enjoy!

Donelle