Come Stitch With Me

Ding! Text message from our local quilty home stating the shop lost its lease and is closing. Big sale now through Saturday. Wait-what? Sadie’s about to lose her quilt shop? She absolutely adores the owners and enjoys our biweekly visits. Hubs just reminded me I need to take Charlotte to redeem her gift certificate this Saturday. Now to text her mom.

Meanwhile, I sincerely hope this text was a mistake. (Updated to add: No mistake. The shop is indeed closing on SATURDAY, 11/12 and I think everything is going away, including the online biz. Not sure about the long arming services.) No mention of closing was made when I was in the shop two weeks ago. I know things have been tight for the shop, but didn’t realize closing down the brick & mortar side of the business was on the horizon. I will definitely miss visiting and sew days with the staff.

This leaves ONE quilt shop within a 30 minute drive of my home. The thing is this particular shop’s not necessarily the friendliest place to visit. It really depends on who’s minding the store. So thankful for my sizable fabric stash. Guess I’ll be joining my Friday sew day ladies in ramping up the online shopping for quilty stuff when necessary.

Sadie at “her” quilt shop.

Keeping one eye on the election returns while I continue cleaning and putting things back after the interior painting. My hope is for a clear winner in every race. In Georgia, this means someone receives 50% or better of the votes cast. I don’t think I can stomach another two months of campaign ads in the Warnock v. Walker race for the US Senate seat.

Right now, Governor Kemp and Senator Warnock are leading their respective races. That’s pretty much what the political pundits predicted. We’ll see if that continues to hold as the night goes on.

The local races – especially the school board and state house rep – are the ones I’m most interested in. Districts were redrawn very creatively this year. I have no idea how we wound up in the districts we’re now in, but we obviously don’t matter to the candidates as we received no visits, no mailers and no phone calls from any of them.

Let the sewing space makeover begin!

I absolutely love, love, love the new color in my sewing space. The color is Topsail from Sherwin Williams. The painters applied 2 coats of Duration paint in a satin finish. It really brightens up the room.

Now, the fun part begins – rearranging things to better suit my needs. What you see in the picture above is the space after teaching a private lesson yesterday. The stuff under the cutting table won’t remain there permanently.

Changes so far:

(1) Moved steam press to a different electrical circuit, so I can use my iron while using steam press.

(2) Moved quilt rack between chairs in sitting area.

(3) Removed hanging rack and relocated spinning wheel near antique desk.

(4) Set up dedicated die-cut station (moved white Horn chest where spinning wheel was).

(5) Set up a dedicated “staging” area for projects in process (still figuring this one out).

(6) Figure out “side table” solution for machine quilting area. It needs to be moveable (thinking about a 2nd rolling cart in a different color that can store under the cutting table when not in use).

The rest of my changes are purely decorative – get a sewing machine print framed, recover seat cushion for secondary sewing space, new slipcovers for chairs and a small side table/beverage holder for sitting area.

Also need to order a new sewing machine insert for my Horn cabinet as It snapped in half when I lowered the machine using the lift. Something caught where I couldn’t see it. Whoops!

Decided to keep my existing sewing machine/cabinet for now. Not sure if I want a Juki straight stitch or a fancier machine. The fancier machine will require a cabinet with a larger opening than I currently have. Decisions! Decisions!