Saturday, September 7, 2013

It doesn't seem possible that it has been so long since I posted anything. I am apparently getting old since I have been struggling with arthritis all summer. All year actually, but worse than usual this summer. Enough kvetching...;)

I promised that I would be doing a post about some great bags. I am a bit late for what I had planned to do, but the bags are still great.  While reading blogs I followed a link to  Sew Sweetness.com  and was just amazed. (I can't remember how to link) There are free bag patterns that are just so cool you want to make them right away. Then Sara started designing more bags that are available by PDF. Lots of great pictures and the instructions are clear and easy to follow. She has lots of bag testers and she shows all of their bags when she introduces a new pattern.

Not long after that I had the chance to meet Sara at Quilt Market in Houston. (And yes she is totally sweet). During that same time period we were expanding the shop to 3 times its original size. And by we I mean that I was there. Not actually doing any 'expanding'. The boss developed a plan to have a year of events to celebrate the expansion.

We had Karen Coombs do a trunk show and she taught a class the following day. She was great! Everyone loved the workshop. Our regional rep from Northcott came and brought a bunch of their quilt samples from market. Another great event ( I missed that one). We had a Moda rep talking about all that wonderful Moda fabric. Victoria Findley Wolf did a trunk show and a workshop the following day. She was a huge hit with everyone. So creative, and funny, and friendly.

In the middle of all this planning I asked Sara if she would do her interfacing lecture from Sewing Summit and then teach a bag class the next day. She said yes. I got to see her again when she came to discuss the details and bring some bags to pick a pattern from. We selected this bag..The Petrillo Bag. It has a cool separate pocket inside for your E-reader or Ipad. Still  lots of room for 'purse stuff'.
I missed her lecture, but got to be around for the workshop. (I was working so I did not get to take it).
Really great news from Sara is that she has started to print some of her patterns and they were picked up almost immediately by United Notion Distributors. And she has book coming out in November with all new patterns in it.

The bag
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The Book:

 
 

In August I resigned from the shop. Since the expansion it is really busy and the pace is too much for me. My last day was August 31st. I will still be doing the Beginning Block of the Month that is in progress. I will also be finishing the McKenna Ryan pattern 'Heaven and Nature Sings' that is also being done as a block of the month.  I will catch you up on those next post.

There is still going to be an event at the shop in October that I will attend. I got the idea from a schoolhouse presentation and my friends at the shop made projects for the event. Now we wait until after some big vending the shop is doing in September and then we have a little fun.

More to come. ;)
Happy stitching

7 comments:

  1. my hand has been bothering me this summer too... putting a bit of a damper on my hand stitching :p

    The shop looks awesome! Sorry that you had to retire, but glad that you are able to finish the classes you started. Maybe instead of full time work, teaching occasional classes may be the way to go.

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  2. I certainly relate to the joint aches and pains; no fun at all! That' a really neat quilt store, and no doubt they will miss you, but I'm glad you retired. That's a gorgeous quilt opening your post! ---"Love"

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  3. Now that summer is disappearing on us, I hope it takes your aches and pains away with it, no fun :(
    I'm sure your last day at the shop was bittersweet, glad you're continuing with the BOM, hope to see more from you!

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  4. I'm sorry to hear about the arthritis. Maybe now that you have retired, you can relax more, but still have time to work on your personal quilts. Hope you will be feeling better soon.

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  5. Ill have check out Sara's bags. I hope you're arthritis will settle a bit now you aren't working as much!

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  6. I hope you find some relief from the arthritis. I'm sorry you had to leave the quilt shop, but perhaps this will give you more time for your own projects? I'll look forward to seeing them. Is the quilt in your blog header yours? It's gorgeous!

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  7. I hope the arthritis isn't slowing you down too much. I understand keeping your hands moving helps? (Someday I'll be able to learn if that's true, as it runs in the family.) I'm sorry to hear you left the quilt shop, but I can understand how having a store so much bigger with so much more going on could be difficult. And if you still get to teach classes here and there, you're still a part of things, just sounds like more at a pace you're comfortable with. The bag is really cute and I'm going to have to check out the patterns. (Because I really need another project...)

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