Tag: crafts

Atlanta Area Quilt Shop Ownership Changes

February 16, 2026

Lots of exciting changes are happening in the ATL sewing and quilting community! I quilt, so of course, my focus is on quilt shops, yet there’s much to share that’s sewing related. Grab your beverage of choice and read on!

Cottontail Quilts in Kennesaw has a new owner! Dawn, one of the long time employees, has taken the helm to lead the shop on its next journey. I visited the shop on Saturday as they were unpacking loads of new merchandise. P.S. There’s also a dog-friendly book store one block over called The Brown Dog. Sadie thoroughly enjoyed her visit there.

Cabin Fever Quilt Studio in Ellijay has been sold. Connie will stick around to teach classes and help the new owner for a while. Look for the transition to happen in early March and the shop will also get a new name.

Quilt ‘N Kaboodle in Cleveland is currently for sale. It’s a great shop – not exactly close to me, but does serve a large swath of Northeast Georgia. I hope they find a buyer, so the couple running it can retire and enjoy the grandkids.

Local news applicable to all greater ATL fabric and sewing enthusiasts:

Mood Fabrics is opening an Atlanta satellite location at Ponce City Market later this spring.

Alpha Plus Fabrics is now open in Stone Mountain. It’s along the lines of Fine Fabrics and Gail K. Fabrics – great for garment sewists.

Ashby Sewing in Kennesaw now offers apparel fabrics and is offering garment construction classes. This is much needed in the northwest ATL suburbs. They’ve also added Necchi brand sewing machines to their product offerings.

Kennesaw State University now offers a BFA in Textiles and Surface Design.

The Southeast Fiber Arts Alliance offers classes, events and resources for all textile enthusiasts.

The Southeastern Quilt & Textile Museum offers a variety of hands-on programs open to the general public. Many are kid-friendly and most are free.

QuiltCon returns to AmericasMart in February 2027.

The All Southeast Shop Hop covering Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina runs August 1 – September 30, 2026. Many north Georgia quilt shops are participating.

Nothing’s official yet, but I heard that the Stitching Atlanta Shop Hop will return this coming July.

Georgia Celebrates Quilts Show will be held at the Cobb Civic Center in Marietta June 4th-6th. You’ll also be able to catch the ECQG’s Matriotism exhibit, which is currently on display at the Atlanta History Center.

That’s all for now. Hope to see you at a stitchy business or event sometime soon!

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels.com

One way to source quilting supplies

February 4, 2026

Recently, a book club member shared a post from her neighbor requesting help with divesting of his mom’s quilting/sewing/crafting supplies as she moved to an assisted living facility. The son sent photos of her stuff. Mom had obviously been a serious quilter. I shared a list of local organizations/groups I know of that could use the donations and also advised that our guild’s community service would appreciate any fabric she’d like to donate.

Nora and I went yesterday to see what was still available after family and friends had made their selections from the voluminous stash. Our small SUVs were packed with batting, bins of fabric, craft supplies, books, quilting rulers and stencils. We brought everything back to my house and spent 2-1/2 hours sorting through it all. About 10% of what we brought back was thrown away or taken to the recycling center.

We set aside items for the guild library, quilt show raffle basket goodies, young sewists needing supplies, and requests we’d received for items for specific community service projects (like muslin yardage and flannel pieces). We also picked out some items we wanted – batting, white-on-white yardage and yellow FQs for me, plus batik yardage/precuts for her. Nora took all the fabric she felt was suitable to cut pillowcase kits for community service (about half of what was left). The remainder stayed with me and will go to the infamous guild free table – where many quilters shop for fabric to use in community service projects.

All in all, over 80% of what we brought back will go to community service and the guild free table alone.

The takeaway: Keep an eye out for estate sales or downsizing sales mentioning quilters with large stashes. You never know what you might find.

Good things come to those who wait

January 31, 2026

My new sewing machine WITH a stitch regulator is due to arrive mid-week. Cue the happy dance music!

This time last year, my sewing machine dealer strongly advised that I move on picking up a new machine before price increases due to tariffs went into effect. Unfortunately, that wasn’t a possibility as I’d needed to buy a replacement vehicle at the time. Over the next several months, I watched prices keep increasing with lackluster sales promotions. Dealers became even more selective on which machines they’d accept on a trade-in – if they even accepted trade-ins. I kept saving money and waited to see if a used machine came on the market or if prices return to reality. Neither happened.

I practiced FMQ on my Janome 8900. (I’ve gotten pretty good at variations of a loopy meander plus a boxy meander). I took a longarm quilting fundamentals class at a local quilt shop. This helped me realize 3 things: (1) I prefer to FMQ sitting down, (2) a stitch regulator is a game changer for me and (3) I’d still continue to send larger items out to a longarm quilter. Scheduling time to use the longarm has been a hassle due to limited availability of time slots. We’re limited to hand guided only – no computerized E2E for folks who rent time on the machines.

So when a substack article writer mentioned how his dad had negotiated a great deal on the sister version of my machine of choice, I reached out. An Elna 782 with the ASR for the same price my local Janome dealer was selling the 9480 without the ASR in December 2024. DEAL! They are the exact same machine – just a different color scheme and badging on the outside.

I’m supporting a family-owned business and got what I wanted at a really fair price.

I‘m good.

I’ll post pics once Ellie arrives, gets unboxed and set-up.