November 22, 2007

It is the night before Thanksgiving...and I had the greatest experience today! Did you know you can go grocery shopping on-line with Price Cutter and they will deliver it to your house? It was great. I shopped in my PJ's the night before and they brought all my groceries to the shop the next day. Everything I ordered. This probably will become habit forming for me. Just think...you can put in your order, tell them to deliver to the quilt shop, come to the shop to buy fabric, and go home with your groceries (plus fabric!). Of course, the family will know you went to the Grocery store because you have groceries. What a great country we live in!

Wait until you see the new McKenna Ryan backgrounds. They are simply gorgeous. Jo Morton's new line came in this week as well as a really cute cheater cloth from Moda that looks like stitchery.

We have a recipe card file box with quilt designs on the box and yo-yo's on the recipe cards. A terrific idea for a quilting buddy for Christmas.

And last, but not least, we have Quilter's Coffee. It smells sooooooooooo good. I brought home a bag to try tomorrow at the big feast at my house. I will let you know how it goes.

Hope tomorrow is a very satisfying day for you and your loved ones. I can't believe I get a day off in the middle of the week. Yeah!

Happy Thanksgiving,

Merrily

November 9, 2007

Next year's Saturday Sampler quilts are currently hanging in the shop. We are calling this years the "Star Sampler". Your choices are Country or Oriental. The center of the large quilts has a simple Mariner's Compass. We will be offering classes in the Fall of 2008 to teach you how to do this. Once you make this one, you can try your hand at more difficult compasses!

We have received the cutest flannel pannel for a little girl...a castle with a princesss and cute dragon on it.

The entire line of "Love Is" by Benartex is also in the shop. Can you believe I have to start thinking of Christmas now? Please don't tell me you are done with the Christmas shopping....I usually get done on the 24th of December!

My husband, Ron, left this morning to go deer hunting. I don't understand the hunting craze, but he does enjoy the time with his brother. Hope all your loved ones out in the woods are safe this season.

Merrily

October 27, 2007

Tomorrow is our last day in Houston. It has been sunny and about 80 degrees everyday. What an unusual trip! Usually it rains every day.

As usual, I have bought way too much fabric. I took a risk on one very muted line that I know some of you will LOVE. And of course there are new batiks from Hoffman, Orientals from Kona Bay, new fabrics from Australia, a wonderful border print from Maywood, Moda, Moda, and more Moda. And , yes Kay, I even went to Thimbleberries. (As a side.....Dwight the Rep was in fine attire!)

You will be able to tell in the shop that Charlie went with me. We will be getting some iron on embroidery stencils. Don't tell her I thought they were cute. I will deny it.

Of course, Dee's influence will be seen in the new 30's fabrics as well as many new reproductions.

There will be several new Blocks of the Month that I think you will like. And, yes, there will be snowmen in the mix.

All in all, it must have been a great market because I am tired and my feet are hurting.

See you in the shop on Tuesday.

Remember the new quilts will be shown this weekend for next year's Saturday Sampler.

Merrily from Houston

October 14, 2007

Hi All!

We have just had a great two day class with longarm quilt teacher, Irena Bluhm. Irena was born in Poland, lived in Germany, and now lives in Oklahoma. Those of you who were lucky enough to wander into the shop last Saturday got to see her amazing quilts. Some of our local longarmers, Bill Fullerton, Dorie Hruska, and Deborah Post, took the class. Watch in the coming months for some remarkable quilting from these three.

I can't believe we are in our 7th year of operation. I want to thank all of you have started out being customers but are now valued friends for your support through the years. Just think, when it all started, I didn't even have any grandkids and now I have 4!

We just got RJR's fruit and vegetables fabrics in the shop. These fabrics make a great Turning Twenty for a nice Summer quilt top for your table. We also got a new line from Moda of Thirties fabrics. Windham sent a new 1800's collection. And to top it all off, I will be off to Houston Fall Market in just a little over a week.

On a sad personal note, my best doggy friend for 17 1/2 years left my side last week. He survived broken legs, cancer surgery, and food poisoning. But finally I felt he was enduring too much pain. I will miss him terribly.

Till next time.
Merrily

September 25, 2007

It has been a great few days! The Garage Sale was a hoot. We had tables lined up all along the front of the strip mall. Great "finds" were in every booth. It was such a success, that I am sure we will do it again in 2008!

One person saw all the tables and thought we were going out of business! I am here to tell you that we are not going out of business! In fact, I am planning my trip to Quilt Market in Houston after I write this blog.

Linda McCuean has been in the shop for 3 days. What a great experience for all of us who took her classes. I can't wait to start quilting my next project incorporating some of her ideas!

Don't forget our best SALE of the YEAR will be this Friday and Saturday. It will signify the end of our 6th year and the beginning of our 7th. Join us...I promise the sale will be a good one.

Till next time....

Merrily

September 15, 2007

We had such a busy week in the shop. I taught 6 new quilters how to use a quilting machine. I love those classes because I get to quilt ALL day!

Some very pretty new Hoffman Batiks arrived this week. Also, new feed sack prints from P&B.

The next three weeks will be busy for us at the shop. It all starts next Saturday with our Stash for Cash. This is going to be wild...we will have over 25 tables with a wide variety of items being sold. If this Garage Sale is a big hit, we plan to make it an annual event.

Linda McCuen, the $100,000 quilt challenge winner, will be teaching in the shop starting on Sunday, the 23rd. All of her longarm classes are full but we still have some space left on her lecture on "THE BIG QUESTION" What do I quilt on this quilt? The lecture is interactive so you can bring a top and she will help you decide what to do on it. The lecture is only $20. Call the shop to sign up for this great opportunity.

The end of our sixth year happens at the end of this month. Join us for our Anniversary Sale on Friday and Saturday, September 28 and 29. I personally can't believe we are rolling into the 7th year. It only seems like yesterday......

Love the cooler weather and hope to see you at the Sale.

Merrily

September 10, 2007

It is much more difficult than I thought writing a Blog each week. Please forgive me for not writing in so long. My foot has healed and I am going full speed ahead!

I hired a new employee this week. Nancy McDonald will be working with us on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. She has been renting our Classic for some time now and will be helping with the rentals as well. Please welcome her when you come to the shop next time.

I did something last week that I have never done before...I sent one of my quilts out to be quilted. Can you believe that? Quiltin' Bill is going to do my Saturday Sampler for 2008. I am nervous about sending it out, but I can tell you Bill is more nervous than I am! I know he will do a great job and I am looking forward to see the end result.

Have you seen the Halloween fabric yet for this year? We have some great collections for the fall.

We are planning some Internet only quilts for next year. Keep an eye on our web page for these.

Till next time ( with my record I better not say "next week" )

Merrily

August 24th, 2007

I bet you can't guess where I am right now? I am in a hospital bed waiting to have a colonoscopy. What fun! I haven't written lately because I dropped a table on my foot. No broken bones, but I have a beautiful purple bruise on the top of my foot. Besides those events, all is well.

The shop is full of new fabrics arriving daily. In fact, we have more bolts of fabric than ever before. Halloween and Christmas are gorgeous this year.

Unfortunately, our September Shoo Fly Sampler pickup will run on Labor Day weekend. We will be closed on Monday, September 3rd, for Labor Day. We will return at 10 am Tuesday-well rested!

Merrily

July 30, 2007

This promises to be a very busy week at the shop. We currently have the LARGE setting kits for the Shoofly sampler ready for pick-up, both the Batik and Reproduction.

I am off to Hill-n-Hollow Guild in Mt. Home, Ark. this Friday. They have a great guild there and it is fun to visit with the quilters from Arkansas.

Christmas and Halloween fabric continues to arrive in the shop. We will have some great new kits to shop at the Sampler pick-ups this weekend. One of our quilts for next year's Sampler is already at the quilters. We hope to get the others there this month. And, NO, mine is not finished yet.

We had the first of the two Mystery Weekends last weekend. There will be some really pretty quilts being finished from this class!!

Merrily

July 25th, 2007

Kay and I just spent four fun filled days at Moda in Dallas, Texas. We were excited about meeting some of the designers at Moda and learning how they design their fabrics. Did you know that Moda has a library with 3 yards of every fabric that they ever printed? It was interesting watching how they get the fabric from the 100 yard rolls, folded onto a 15 yard bolt of fabric, all done by machine. Moda fed us well and Mr. Dunn (or should I say Mr. Moda!) was very gracious and provided fun-filled evenings. Of course, I loaded the car with lots of fabrics before I left the warehouse!

We will be cutting setting kits for our large Shoo-Fly sampler this week and next. Hopefully, we will have several cut and ready for pick-up in August.

Next year's quilts for Saturday Sampler are presently being made. I have seen one finished....looks like another winner to me!

Stay cool.

Merrily

July 16, 2007

Kay and I are going on a road trip this week. It is off to Moda in Dallas, Texas! They are having a Moda U retreat. Sounds like a lot of good food, fun, and sneak peaks at the new year. And, yes, a walk through the enormous warehouse.

We received another great line of Halloween fabric from Clothworks last week. Very cute. A very sweet Peter Rabbit from Cranston arrived, as well as a nice flannel line featuring penguins and bears.

One autumn line from Maywood that we are kitting and one Antique Santa line from South Seas ended the shipments last week. It is a fun time of the year for new fabric arrivals!

Stay cool on these hot summer days.

Merrily

July 11, 2007

The days are starting to get hotter. I am glad that we got a new air conditioner for the shop last month.

It seems that everyone is liking the Statler Stitcher. We are booking further and further out to rent this machine. If you are doing Christmas presents now, you might think about getting on the list for the fall.

I did a little weed whacking over the weekend and somehow I must have whacked some poison ivy. My arms are a little bumpy today (not to say itchy, too). Perhaps I should stick to the sewing machine.

You will want to check out our new Mystery Quilt block of the month. It is promising to be very interesting. Even I don't know what the finished quilt will look like. Don't you just love a good mystery! You can even sign up on our website if you can't make it into our store.
Later,
Merrily

July 1, 2007

July is here. Can you believe it? With all the rain we had in June, my flowers are the prettiest I have ever had.

We had a GREAT time at the Stack-n-Whack weekend. Each quilt was very unique. I even had fun trying to resize the block. Makes you really appreciate the time and effort that goes into writing a book!

We will be showing some great new quilts at the Shoo-fly Sampler sessions. Don't forget to bring your show-n-tell (especially you Thursday night people!).

The first month of our mystery quilt by Miss Tre Rowe will be available this week. Even I don't know what the finished quilt will look like. But I am really excited about this project. I am even going to make one, too!

We are busily working on our quilts for the 2008 Sampler. I was only going to do one size, but I know how some of you like to do small quilts and others like to do large. So we are doing two different colors again in both a large and a small size. NO....I will not tell you the color choices until November. I will say that I think the color choice will be very hard for you to choose. And that is all I will say!

Merrily