Weeks fly

With the holidays upon us, weeks seem to slip by . When I feel overwhelmed by projects, I try to look back at what the week allowed me to accomplish – with the help of friends, of course.

I spent Monday at a curves workshop with Dianne Hire.  My Singer 301 crept along early in the day, trying to get a true 1/8″ seam.  Then I let go as I realized that the curve just falls into to place it you just coax it gently and I picked up momentum.  Before the workshop ended I had more than the 24 prescribed, Letter A blocks.    My pile of scraps, a bit scrapier, but all for good.  I loved my muddy color scheme – of japanese bits. As I square up the blocks, it will become a miniature, which is perfect for my right now, big project load.

I’m so glad to have a new camera.  I would forget so much without it.   This week, Nancy and Patty came for all-day girl sewing and we manage to make a baby quilt, a doll quilt and a doll pillow.  They’re  now in the line up for quilting.

 

Patty

Nancy on the 301

Carolyn finished her first blouse.  I love how her young hands meet the old machine.  I should mention, how she rose to the challenge of controlling the speed for the sake of craftsmanship.

Back and Forward

This has been an exciting week back, well five days.  It’s always good to get home from a trip, nest with my stuff, rearrange and revisit projects and possibilities.
We did the usual re-hanging of quilts, in new spots, and  sorting of fabrics,  promotional discounting, cutting, stitching, teaching, greeting of customers – lots of newbies this week ( we love that our network continues to expand .)

(Breath)

Our plans for helping the Chinese Orphanages grows exponentially.   A quiet mention of the idea  has  more individuals and an entire class of young volunteers committing to the project. Here is an excerpt of an email I received from PL upon returning with her new baby.

“…the SWI director decided to hang (the quilt I sent with P) on the wall, so all the

children could see and touch it. It is currently the only source of

visual and tactile stimulation for these kids, which is so needed…The

orphanage walls are bare, but this quilt brightens up the area. You

know, Roxanne, you handed me the quilt, which was one of the many

beautiful ones you have, as a gesture of generosity. I don’t think

either one of us could have ever imagined the magnitude of its worth to

these people. Just amazing. You made a lot of people happy!”

This is a hard act to follow, but we also received a generous donation of fabric and a sewing machine which will go to Community Service Club of New Fairfield, Healing Hands Quilters. I think the end of summer is a call to organize our lives for the coming season.  These gifts were from two separate sources, both this week.

Finally, as the Quilter’s Alley  was closing for one of our few remaining 2-day weekends ( we reopen on Sunday from 11-3 after Labor Day), we were graced with a visit from Sheila Hicks, weaver (and her friend, Joyce).  I recognized her as someone who had been to our shop a few months earlier by her enormous smile.  Her smile is like a hug that laps you into her energy.  Never has anyone complimented my needle selection with such joy.  It is so precious to be around people who revel in such simple beauty.  From a case in her purse, like treasures, she pulled out the scissor I sold her last time and a graceful latch-hook  tool that she uses to pull threads through the weaving ends.  As the interaction unfolded, we were on the metallic threads, ribbons and anything I might have for her minature weavings, Paris studio  (?) website?  Before long, we circled Stu’s computer screen to see the amazing work she has produced over the last 40 years, all over the world.  Wow!  I feel so lucky!

The Quilter’s Alley is moving

Starting the day after Christmas, we will be packing up fat quarter packs and bolts to move our shop a mile north to a better location. We have been enduring more than a year of watching the site of our current shop, decline into a landscape of rubble.  No one feels more sympathetic than we do for the folks who lost their businesses to an arson in October 2008.  We reported on it back then, thankful to this day that we did not experience the same loss – having at one time occupied the burned out building.

But enough time and patience have  been spent waiting for unfulfilled promises of construction timelines. The site has been shut down by the state as I write this.

They can't get to our shop

Foreboding signage about danger and hard hats blends into an attempt to direct people to our store with matching red ink and arrows.  Ironically, this is the most signage we’ve had since we opened, not that it can be deciphered as a welcome to the colorfully space we have lovingly carved out for the last three years. We have seen a steady decline in traffic since the demolition began a month ago, in perfect synch with the holiday season.   No consideration for small business is evident in the actions of our landlords.

So without regret, we are moving ahead in an effort to recapture some of the business we’ve inevitably lost because it looks like we’re closed.

We’re looking forward to the new shape of our business within a vibrant retail community.  We have lots simmering to ease the chill of Winter 2010.  We’re inviting even non-sewists to experience a project with fabric.  Our Tuesday drop-in sewing studio is expanding to Wednesdays as folks who do sew, continue to enjoy the company of others being creative.

See you at the Grand Re-Opening at 103 Danbury Rd. Ridgefield on January 2.  Yes, we will make it happen that fast!

Camp Weekend

and other topics I’ve missed telling about… Lots of pictures

It’s been busy around the shop.. I take the pictures, celebrate the finishes, but have little time  to crop, resize and post.  Lately, it seems, there are so many last minute gifts, graduation, wedding, even weddings in my family that require pause for designing and executing that special quilt to make the bride and groom know how much I love them.  So here in not any specific order I have loaded some interesting images from the past few weeks that need recording.

I gave this amazing embroidery artist a lesson on how to bind this work of extreme motherly love.  Libby executed this hand-embroidered masterpiece over the last year to honor little steps in her daughter’s life, bits of clothing embellished with perfect embroidery to represent a lifetime of memories.

A yearlong ( at least) project. Holly reprised a family heirloom for contemporary appreciation, ie. her couch.  She mended and quilted  the old suit strips so it will  last another 100 years. What’s next Holly?

Cathryn put so much thought and planning into her sampler.  And then it was on our Gammill frame – now officially a quilt.

I quilted this patchwork with a retro geometric pattern.  I have another quilt top from Janine  to finish this week and, to think, she’s a knitter.

Quilt camp was a huge success.  Not just the food, but the number of projects finished and started in three short days.

Big piles of cut  fabric turned into quilts.

What MP finished and what she will be starting after camp…

Kiwi, Camp Mascot

Next episode: New fabrics have arrived

Slightly Out of Context

I have finally gathered and loaded images for some of the busy week’s activities.  They may blur together in your viewing, but the common “thread” is the joy and healing that is derived from the actions.

 

 

These are my Tuesday afternoon students and their bag projects.

 

These are two of the Saturday Sewing students and their second project.

Susan and friends made a healing quilt. First quilt for two of the gals with great tutoring.

  

Julie

The bird and anchor punches Shara gave me before she left