Days Off?

In the world of the quilt shop owner, a day off isn't really a day off totally. Yesterday was my "day off" and I prepared the weekly email, loaded fabric up onto the web page, took stuff off the web page, cleaned up some things on the POS system and worked on an event. Jim paid bills, did paychecks, ran to the bank and the PO and then spent who knows how long on the phone trying to straighten out the Comcast bill for the third month in a row.

Hmmm, what's wrong with this picture?

I had great plans of getting to the bookstore & poking around for a few hours, or actually going out to LL Bean and spending my Christmas gift certificate - NOT.

Days off aren't totally days off when you own your own business. Some pesky little paperwork has to be done that can't/doesn't get done at the store. When working on the web page, I need to be home where I won't be interrupted and send the whole website into the black hole of the internet like I did about 6 months ago. YIKES! I still don't know how that happened.

Seeing as where I was home and it was a "day off", I did manage to lay across the bed and read a new book during frequent breaks. I also sat on the couch and watched a couple of episodes of "Designed to Sell" on HGTV while eating lunch. I can't do either of those things at the store - somehow laying across the lobby bed and reading wouldn't go over well!

My days off consist of doing work stuff, but at least I get to do it at home while in my sweats! Next week I'm going to the bookstore though.

Tote Addict

It's official - I'm a tote addict. I have tote bags EVERYWHERE, the trunk of my car, in my laundry room, hanging off the kitchen chairs, in my sewing room - everywhere. I have all kinds of totes too - freebies from conventions, ones I've made, ones people have given me - you all know the drill. There are more tote addicts out there than people are admitting to - you know who you are! I started to count them and then got lost in finding totes I'd forgotten I had. Plus the number was almost embarrassingly high, so we won't discuss that!

I designed this tote pattern (as if I didn't have enough already) and put it in my store email last week. Judging by the number of patterns we sold this week, there are plenty of tote addicts to keep me company.

It's a great tote, big enough to carry what you need to, small enough to be folded up & put inside another tote - just in case you need it. I made a couple of them for samples - one out of Moda's machine quilted fabric and another out of the Save the Planet canvas.

Then I got to thinking . . . what else could I made this tote out of? I love the pattern - of course, I designed it with everything I wanted in a tote bag - an outside and an inside pocket, a key clasp so you don't have to dig for your keys, comfortable handles just the right length to carry by hand or over your shoulder and strength - I want to be able to put milk in it and not worry the milk is going to hit the ground.

So Monday I bought some fabric from a wholesaler - 120 yards worth, yikes! - and whipped up three samples. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I bought all that fabric, but I knew it would make great tote bags. It's technically outdoor fabric for cushions, etc. but why not tote bags too? You have to look at things differently sometimes or everything always looks the same!

I forced myself to stop sewing these and make the kits.

My name is Debbie and I'm a Tote Addict. Come on, count how many totes you have - I dare you!

PS - you can find the tote kits, fabrics and patterns on our website in the "Sew What's New" section at the bottom of the left hand menu. www.quiltingpossibilities.net

Flower Show Part 2

Also in the fashion display at the Philadelphia Flower Show were purses and dresses. These didn't have the people crowded around them like the shoes, but the were still amazing.

This was my favorite purse. I LOVE sunflowers. (who thinks these things up?)

Get a load of the hats!

And the dresses too!

This woman was having a very bad hair day.

This gown was made from hydrangeas and had silver butterflies fluttering in the hygrandea bunches. Very cool.

This display reminded me of fish nets and I'm sure that wasn't the designers intentions . . . .

Till next time.

Flowers in Fashion

Jim & I went to the Philadelphia Flower Show on Thurs. The oldest flower show in the nation, it's held the first week of March every year, perfect timing for those of us who need a perk in the middle of the winter blahs.

This year the show's theme was Italy and sections of the country were represented with different exhibits. As usual, all of the show was crowded by the most popular exhibit was by far the Milan display. Fashion was the theme and it was amazing! The shoes were amazing!




Moss insoles anyone? Or maybe petal cushions?

I immediately tried to picture my friend Sandy Brawner in these boots! She's from TX. But the later in a different display, I saw this pair - lime green, DEFINITELY Sandy boots!

Funky flip flops with faces!

And perfect for a hot summer night out - hot ORANGE flip flops!

Ok, I like high heels but I don't think I could walk in either of these even without the flowers!

These remind me of the phrase - "killer heels"! They look like they'd be worn by somone dangerous . . .

How long did it take someone to glue all that inside?

And these black heels? Definitely Madi Gras footwear!

I'll post more pics next time.

Debbie

Baking

One of my favorite things to do besides sewing & quilting is baking. I love to bake and I love to eat what I bake! I like to bake a heck of alot more than I like to cook. Cooking and baking are two totally different things I believe. When I cook, it's usually because I have to, but when I bake, it's usually because I want to. I like to bake most anything - having to do with bread or desserts that is! And if it involves chocolate - all the better.

I bake alot of yeast breads - white, oatmeal, whole wheat, I love it all. I have a recipe from my Nana's Hood's Cookbook dated 1949 that I use to make rolls and I've adjusted most of my older recipes for my bread maker. I can hear those GASPS coming from all over. Yup, I use my trusty, old Hitachi Bread Maker to knead the dough and go through the first rising. Then I take out the dough, shape it however I want it, let it rise again and then bake it in the oven.

I am sure the baker purists out there are horrified (much like the hand quilters are horrified at the machine quilters!) Let me just say that I used to knead by hand, just like I USED to hand quilt but tendonitis in the elbow puts a damper on the kneading & my hands just go numb - I'm sure that's the Carpal Tunnel . . . The spirit is willing but the body is having some problems!

Let me also say, that this is not actually my Hitachi, it's the same model but mine is about 20 years old and it hasn't looked this good in at least 18 of those years . . . It's a hardworker and it shows! Just like I won't show you my sewing room - I won't show you my breadmaker!

So my machine does the hard part and I do the easy part, knead a little before the second rising, shape the dough, bake it and then EAT IT. The eating part I have down pat!

One of our holiday traditions is homemade cinnamon rolls. The kids are now old enough that the rolls come BEFORE the presents and then if there's any left, they come after too! My cinnamon roll recipe is out of Nana's cookbook. Somehow I have to scheme how I am going to get that out of my Mom's kitchen and into mine . . . .

Until next time.

Fabric, Fabric - everywhere!

One of the best jobs in owning a quilt shop is buying the fabric - that's also the easiest. The hardest job is not buying everything you see! Well, there are some fabrics that I look at and think "WHY?" Why did the designer think that this would make a great quilt? Or a wallhanging or anything? Those I pass on!

This is Jim sitting with Larry in the Timeless Treasures booth at market one year. Each company shows you their current line & if you're not careful, you could spend most of your time over market's three days, just looking at fabric while missing out on all the pattern designers, notions, books, etc., etc, etc.

When fabric representatives come to the store, they don't represent just one company - they could rep four or five. So you look through each company's selection - all the while wondering if the next company will have something better and you sould have waited. Or will you wait only to discover the best was in the first bag?

It helps to have some kind of a plan. When I first started out, if I liked it, I bought it. No idea of what I would do with it when it arrived. That buying strategy (or lack thereof) drove one of my reps absolutely crazy. I'd told him that I bought fabric this way - if it didn't sell, I wouldn't mind taking the remaining fabric home with me. He shook his head and I am absolutely positive thought to himself "There is no way she is going to make it. She'll be out of business in two years." The strategy worked well for years - until this past year and it seemed I liked WAY too much fabric.

Now buying fabric has become the most challenging one of my jobs - ok, it's still the best but it's a little more organized. When I buy a line of fabric now, I decide what's to be done with it when it arrives - lap quilt, big quilt for the lobby bed, table runner, baby quilt, purse, wall hanging, jacket? Or just mix it into the color wall? And it all goes into a looseleaf notebook - the Fabric/Sample book - each line of ordered fabric is in there by month it's due and then what the plan is for it. We started doing this last fall, I organized it a little better in January and now have "THE BOOK". It should make life much easier & keep our samples under control. (I live in constant hope that until my butler arrives, I will find little ways to organize the craziness which owning a quilt shop has become the "norm")

This organization does however, come with a cost. It adds more to the worst part of owning a quilt shop - paperwork. Ugh.

Till next time!

Spring!

Well ok, it was only for one evening but it was sure nice to SMELL spring! Jim and I spent Valentine's evening at the NJ Flower Show in Edison. Much smaller than the Philadelphia Flower show, it nevertheless gets us in the mood for spring.

I love the smell of hyacinths! The ones in my garden don't look anything like the ones in the pots in the garden centers or like these did but they smell wonderful. Mine always look like something ate half the flowers or they're diseased.

This was an exhibit for water conservation with the rain barrel and the soaker hose. We have the rain barrel that leaks since we lost the plug (gum does NOT work).

I just liked the daffodils. Nothing says spring to me more than the daffodils poking up through the soil. They're up about 3" on the south side of the shop but not peeking through at home at all.

This is Jim checking out the huge Koi in the pond.

Garden shows let you dream of spring and of what your garden could be - if you had a team of professional gardeners!

Till next time.