Category: craft business

Who knew finding the right tile for your shower was like finding the right fabric for a quilting project?

October 3, 2025
Auditioning yet another potential tile for my shower pan redo project.

The past six weeks have been spent getting contractor estimates to repair what we know is a leaking shower pan. Two of the three contractors agree that a full shower tear-out and rebuild is unnecessary. Repair work will entail a complete removal and rebuild of the shower pan plus 2-3 rows of the surrounding wall tiles.

The good news:
(1) Our wall tile is still being made and current samples blend beautifully with the existing tile.
(2) We can reuse the existing frameless glass shower surrounds.

The not-so-good news:
(1) We won’t know the true extent of the damage until the shower is demoed.
(2) Color preferences have changed over the past decade, meaning it’s been a challenge to find a replacement tile I like that is suitable for shower floor installation.

I’ve been to five separate tile showrooms – bringing home samples of mosaic 2×2 tiles that might work, only to have to take them back a couple of days later. Yes, there is a 3×3 size tile available that matches the existing wall tile, but I want something a lot less matchy-matchy. Hey, that’s the way I choose fabric for my quilts, too!

I did find a partial sample I really liked that we later identified as Happy Floors Fitch Fawn 2×2. Of course, it’s been discontinued. No one in the greater ATL seems to still have it in stock, but I did find it online at tile dealers in AL, KY and VA. There’s a similar, newer version called Sierra that the tile shop ordered samples of for me in the Trail and Meadow colorways. They should arrive on Monday.

As for the tile sample pictured above, it was brought home on a whim during a stop at Home Depot today for something else. Honestly, it blends so much better than anything else I’ve found so far and the price is about half of what I’m finding in my local tile shops.

Now, to count up the number of 12×12 square and 3×12 bullnose tiles I’ll need. Late this afternoon, I found a tile shop in Suwanee that carries both the Daltile wall tiles I need and Happy Floor Fitch/Sierra mosaic tiles I’m considering. I see a road trip in my future – to look at tile and stop in Sew Sew Studio while I’m on that side of town.

CreateTV from PBS

September 27, 2025

Let’s talk about sources of sewing instruction available analog style. Some libraries offer DVDs for check-out. Instructional videos are offered for sale in a DVD format alongside the digital download. I’ve seen many sewing DVDs from Nancy Zieman, Martha Pullen and Fons & Porter for sale at recent estate sales. No standalone DVD player in your home? You can buy a USB DVD player to plug into your laptop for less than $50.00.

Let’s go real old school now – live TV. In the mid-1990’s, I used to get up early on Saturday mornings to watch Sewing with Nancy and Martha’s Sewing Room that aired on my local PBS affiliate at 7:00 a.m. I’d set my VCR to record shows when I couldn’t watch them live. Believe it or not, sewing, craft and quilting shows are still being broadcast over-the-air each week on PBS. You simply need a digital HD OTA antenna to pick up local channels.

Metro Atlanta is fortunate to be served by two PBS affiliates – WPBA (Channel 30) and WGTV (Channel 8). WPBA is supported by Atlanta Public Schools and WGTV is the state-wide PBS affiliate. WGTV is the PBS affiliate that broadcasts CreateTV – a channel devoted to cooking, crafting and making – separate from the regular PBS station. It airs on HD Channel 8.2 in metro Atlanta. Currently, you can watch shows such as The Best of Sewing With Nancy, Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting and Fit 2 Stitch. Reception is kind of spotty on the west side of metro Atlanta, so I’m glad that the programming is also streamed online. Some of the episodes are available to stream on-demand. I particularly like this feature when directing students to specific videos. We can avoid the YouTube distractions.

We have an indoor HD OTA antenna that picks up most of our local channels beautifully. We still have cable but will be transitioning to a combo of streaming/OTA in the near future. This way, we can still watch local programming even if the internet or cable goes out for some reason.

And sometimes, I just want to be completely disconnected from my laptop, tablet and smartphone.

Progress on my Aloha Mystery Five-0 quilt

September 24, 2025
Sewing blocks together to make rows.
My design floor in lieu of a design wall.

I guess you could say I’m channeling my inner Lara Langston – the heroine in the animated Aloha mystery video series – by sewing along on my Singer Featherweight, too. I finished the blocks on National Jelly Roll Day (Saturday) and laid them out this afternoon between a therapy dog visit with Sadie and a private sewing lesson with a middle school student.

Bit by bit, the quilt will get done. The directions call for a pieced border that resembles a checkerboard. Since there’s so much color going on in the quilt, I’m going to opt for a simple white 2-1/2″ border to frame the quilt and then bind it with a teal print.

Oh, and yes the post would not be complete without a picture of Sadie from today’s visit at the Georgia Primary Care Association annual conference at the Intercontinental Hotel in Buckhead.