We had a wonderfully busy weekend at the shop as we hosted our Sparkling Holiday Open House on Thursday.   Santa visited and so did many of you.  Thank you for coming!

We also welcomed Handi Quilter educator, Diane Henry for Long Arm classes on Friday and Saturday.  Imagine our surprise when our friend, Marti Michell came to our Sweet Sixteen class on Saturday morning!  Marti now has a machine and got to benefit from Diane and Mary's expertise!      

To make it a perfect weekend, our Embroidery Club also had their holiday party and gift exchange!  Many thanks to all of them for sharing their special lunch with us.  We were excited to have so many of you join us on Saturday.

One of my favorite days at the shop is the first Sunday of the month when we have our Farmer's Wife Club.  After over a year of learning all about the 1920's and making many wonderful (but tiny) blocks, we're decided we'd like to try something new in January. 

One of our ladies recently got us all excited about Marie Bostwick's new books.  After finishing the first one, I've been recommending them to everyone.  Marie's books, now 5 in number,  revolve around main character, Evelyn Dixon.  Evelyn owns a quilt shop in the town of New Bern, Connecticut.  The trials in her life lead her to developing and becoming a part of a community of quilters.  Why, it's just like the relationships we've developed at Tiny Stitches!

The best part is that Marie has worked with Deb Tucker of Studio 180 designs to create some quilts that go along with the books.  We decided that these quilts would be our projects for next year.  So, grab a book and read the first one, called A Single Thread.  We'll have a couple of copies at the shop so that we can have a book study/quilting group.  Don't miss it!  Come and join us!

Due to popular demand, here's our Christmas in July recipe for Cheese Straws:

1 lb.- Extra Sharp Cheese (grated)
3 sticks of  butter (salted)
1 stick of Can't Believe it's not Butter
4 cups - All purpose flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp red pepper

Let cheese and butter reach room temperature. Blend in mixer until you reach consistency of shortening for cake. Gradually add flour and salt and pepper.  Use cookie press with star plate and press parallel strips of dough on to baking pan.  Bake for 13 min at 350 degrees.  Cut into 3-4 inch straws.  Allow to cool and .....Enjoy!

What a wonderful Sunday to be taking a class at the shop! Mary and I were excited to be providing instruction in pillow making to an eager group of ladies in our Sewing Machine Basics 101 class today.  They had a good time picking their fabrics and then piecing these great pillows.  For some attending the class it was the first time they had ever sewn!  These pictures are truly worth a thousand words!  Smiling faces say "I made it myself!"

We've just finished our first week of Flip Flop Camp and what a delight it was!  The hum of sewing machines and a room filled with young stitchers.  There's just nothing better than that!
I have to admit though, that more than once last week I thought about my friend and former teaching colleague, Janie Stokes.  It has been a few months since Janie passed away, but I will always think about her anytime children and quilting are connected.  Janie's organization, Storybook Quilts.org, along with the help of the Chattahoochee Evening Stars, sought to create quilts from children's books with a quilting theme. She wanted children everywhere to enjoy those books and quilts.  What a legacy!

That legacy will live on through Tiny Stitches as we seek to establish a Janie Stokes scholarship fund this summer for children who would like to be involved in quilting, camps, sewing, etc. Please watch for details on our website and in our emails.  Janie may be gone, but she will not be forgotten by anyone who knew her.

Janie taught me alot about living life to the fullest those last years she was with us.  Her sly smile, sense of humor and patience got me through many a challenging day.  Thank you, Janie for the inspiration you were to all of us; but especially to the children.

It's raining!  I couldn't possibly go outside and walk, so...I think I'll go downstairs and sew!  Now that the East Cobb Quilt Guild has changed the date for the show to June, I've got to get to work on that project so it will be finished.  I've been working on this one for a while, but no matter how many patterns I see or how many new ideas I'm shown, this project is still my favorite and I'm just determined to finish it before next June. I thought I would share it with you in this blog post.  Let me know what you think.  I'd love to do a class on this one!

My New Bathing Suit

O.K., So here's my story about the new suit.  Well, at least part of it.  I bought a new suit from Land's End this year because my black suit with the big pink bow across the chest finally gave it up.  I loved that suit!   All of the shirring apparently let go and I almost lost it in the pool when I dared to swim at Barnesley Gardens during our anniversary visit.  It was time to mourn and move on...

I had not planned to ever go in swimming again so at first I figured I didn't need a suit at all.  After 18 years of living in South Florida I was over the swimming thing. But then that Land's End catalog came in the mail and low and behold, there it was!  It was blue and that blue, my favorite color and that blue  just cascaded down the suit in deepening colors.  I tried it on and not only was it beautiful, but the amount of spandex in the suit brought a whole new dimension to walking...I took one step and the suit took two more for me!  I just had to have it!

It was the last thing I packed in my suitcase as we headed to Kansas City for Market.  It was definite...I was going to swim again.  When we arrived at the Holiday Inn I was a bit disappointed that the pool was outside, but what the heck, it was 88 when we arrived and so it was perfect weather for swimming.  As I ran outside there appeared to be one more obstacle; no water in the pool and the opening was set for Memorial Day weekend.  We weren't going to be there that long.  The eternal optimist, I watched every day for water until finally, the day before we departed the pool was filled.   It was a miracle...I ran outside hoping for a quick dip the day before we left (the temperature had dropped to the 70's), and was met by the pool attendant who spoke a limited amount of English.  You didn't have to speak another language to know that he wasn't going to let me go in the pool.  Alas...the suit went back in the suitcase - mission not accomplished. 
Think I'll just wear it around the
house until the next opportunity for a trip...

Well, here it is...my 61st birthday and what a beautiful day it is! 
Many thanks to all of you who came to Saturday Sampler yesterday and helped me celebrate with the birthday song.  I feel so fortunate to have you all as friends and customers of Tiny Stitches.

Here's my one year old birthday photo.  I prefer it to the recent ones and I still find myself in awe of how quickly time has passed by since that picture was taken. As Henry always tells me, "Carpe diem", so I'm going to try to get out there and 'seize the day' a bit before heading to the store for Farmer's Wife!  Enjoy your day and come by to see us!  

Summer is definitely here - no school traffic!  This makes my drive into the store a bit shorter and that means I get to spend time in the store getting it ready for you to come and visit!  Lately that means making sure the customer quilts are perfectly displayed for you to see. We've begun our customer show, "Garden Party", and the shop is certainly blooming with your handiwork. I love spending time in the early morning finding just the right spot to show off your quilts and I especially love reading the stories that go along with them. 

I've pictured Elisabyth's bright and sunny Pink Lemonade quilt here for you to enjoy.  (You can find more pictures of the show quilts on our website.)  I loved the story behind this quilt.  Elisabyth selected the blocks from EQ5 and put them together using pink and yellow fabric from she found in shops all over the North Georgia area.  I could pick out our fabric in spots all over the quilt.The quilt was quilted by Keith and Karen Williams with little lemon slices - perfect!  Thanks for letting us share it with our customers!

Hope you'll all enter your projects of which Tiny Stitches has been a part,  It's not too late.  The show runs through July!

Kansas City finale

It's hard to believe that just a week ago we were in Kansas City at Market.  Market closed at 4:00 last Sunday and we were there to the end.  Though there was much more to see, I thought I would close our journey with a few last pictures.  Two groups from Moda that were of particular interest are mentioned here.  The first is "Mama Said Sew" from Sweetwater.  We bought the whole red, white, black and grey collection and I was interested to see what they had done with it. (Due out in August, 2012)   I didn't have to look far...there were already patterns and ideas from several companies.  The girls at the booth were very gracious but I elected to have my booth picture made alone.  (They were smaller than I am and you know that thing about the camera adding 10 pounds.)

The other group was Double Chocolate, due out in  October.  This line is from Three Sisters and is the follow up to the previous Chocolate.  Our Moda rep, Kathy Skomp, designed a pattern for a quilt from this line and we are excited to be able to have it in the shop soon.  There were no projects available on display for this line, but we'll send them as soon as some are out there.

My last picture here is from the Alexander Henry booth.  They always have the most interesting displays!  This one had upholstered chairs stacked on top of each other.  I couldn't figure this out exactly, but it really caught my eye.  I always check to see if they are still making that Christmas hunk (shirtless men) fabric.  I haven't had the courage to order it yet, but I keep looking!

  

More Market News

Kelli Wulfson from Don't Look Now quilts has always been a favorite of ours at Tiny Stitches.  Kelli is a machine applique artist who uses bright colors and themes linked with children in her designs.  I always visit her booth and chat for a bit each Market.  She's Austrailian and I just love the way she talks.  (I'm working on the accent for a future character to use at the shop.)  Her booth was so cute and I got to see her latest designs.  The very best part?  She quilted her creations on a Sweet Sixteen!  We've pictured some of the designs here.  Join Mindy O'Donnell for a class in Kelli's technique on June 14th.  Just call the shop to reserve your spot. 

Another favorite is Emily Herrick from Crazy Old Ladies.  I was sorry to find Emily in one of those little scooters as she had a stress fracture and needed to give her foot a rest.  We've been carrying Emily's patterns for some time.  She has fabric now too!  Emily may be joining us to teach in September.  We're working on the details now.

Kansas City Highlights part 2

Nancy Halvorsen's Art to Heart booth is always on my list of stops.  We had already received her holiday fabric called "Nancy's Holiday Favorites" and were thrilled to find that the accompanying book, Christmas Favorites, is now out (and ready for purchase at the store).  Her bright and cheerful quilt for the holidays is on the front of the book and can be completed as a block of the month.  You'll surely want to join us for this one.  So cute!  You'll also be able to see all of the book projects during our Christmas in July event on Friday, July 27th.

We're putting a picture of the book cover in this post.  When I saw my picture with Edyta I decided we'd stick to pictures of the products.  Although Nancy is a grandmother with her 8th grandchild on the way, she still has that little tiny figure and I didn't want there to be any comparisons.  (I wonder how old she really is???)  Oh well, on to the next designer!

Kansas City Market Highlights

We flew in from Kansas City yesterday afternoon and headed straight for the shop for our monthly staff meeting.  We unloaded three suitcases full of products and brochures that I was able to share with everyone.  Though it had been a long day, I was bursting with excitement and information and was glad to be able to share it with our wonderful folks.  Spring Market is always my favorite show.  There just seems to be more time and space to visit with the designers and companies.

One of my favorite stops was at Laundry Basket Quilts with Edyta Sitar.  What a wonderful, gracious lady she is!  We visited with her a while and purchased some copies of her new book, Scrappy Fireworks.  Though she was preparing for a webinar she took the time to sign each copy for us.  (Hurry in or call us to get your copy.)  We loved her new patterns featuring precious, colorful umbrellas and talked to her about how much we are anticipating her new block of the month, Over the Rainbow.  Meeting with this great lady was a fantastic way to open our Market 2012 experience.

Happy Mother's Day! 
Hope all of you are enjoying this rainy day doing something you love.  I couldn't help but remember one of my favorite Mother's Day memories this past week as I sewed with our two daughters. 
Our first two children, Christopher and Melissa, were born the same year -  one in January and the other in December.  The year had been a hectic one - a blur of bottles and diapers.  Henry was gracious enough to let me spend my entire Mother's Day that year on the porch cross stitching.  I'll never forget how wonderful it was to have all that precious time to do something I loved so much! Go do something you love - you deserve it! 

How thrilled we were this afternoon when our doors opened to three Girl Scouts and their parents with several bags containing 139 pillow cases for ConKerr Cancer!  Wow, girls!  That is just amazing!  We are so proud of you and your contributions toward helping this great group. 

Longarm Club Meets at Tiny Stitches

We hosted our first meeting of "The Ties That Bind" on Saturday, April 28th.  We presented information about the club and what is new in the world of Longarm quilting.  We hope you'll join us on the last Saturday of each month as we review new products and develop friendships through this club.  All are welcome!  Call the shop to reserve your spot! 

We had a restful get away this past weekend at one of our favorite spots...Amicalola Falls.  Just being there reminds me of the great retreats we've had over the past four  years.  We hope you're planning to join us as Debbie Caffrey runs our mystery in January 2013.  Blog us your favorite memory of Amicalola and receive a free treat from Tiny Stitches.

McCall's Editor, Beth Hayes visits Tiny Stitches!

for ouWe were treated to a celebrity visit from McCall's Editor, Beth Hayes last Friday.  Our Quilt 'Till You Wilt group got to visit with her and we all enjoyed having her tour the shop - including our new Handi Quilter Studio space. Thanks, Beth, for making our day so special! 

Rockin' Back to the 50s Retreat to Amicalola Falls

What a wonderful time we had at our retreat!  We rocked and we rolled from Friday until Sunday making new quilting friends along the way!  Here's a picture of our group with blocks from their mystery quilts.  Call the shop to sign up for next year's retreat, January 11-13, 2013!

Holiday 3-D Camp

We were so excited to host 3-D Camp for our young people this past week.  They chose from Hoffman's space, sea, or jungle fabric to create these beautiful quilts!  What fun!  We're proud to be a part of guiding our next generation of quilters!