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!

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.

Therapy dog activities resumed this week after an extended holiday break. Sadie was ready to get back to work! Here she’s showing off her recommended reads display at a school we visit each week.

In addition to working with our regular students, we visited several classrooms and checked in on two special friends in the AU unit. One even proudly shared his Sadie countdown calendar, where he marks off the days until her next scheduled visit. 🙂 I am thoroughly enjoying this season of therapy dog work with Sadie. We made a total of 48 official visits in 2025.

My guild hosts a large quilt show every two years. Our 2026 show will be held in June at the Cobb Civic Center. On Wednesday, the entire quilt show committee met in person for the first time. It was nice to finally put some names with faces. In person meetings reveal so much more about people that a Zoom call ever could. There are definitely some strong personalities within the group! I have a lot of respect for those willing to chair an event of this magnitude. Not me! I’m perfectly happy in my role as the kid’s exhibit chairperson for this year.

Private lessons and CraftLAB continue. Since late September, I’ve been mentoring a high school senior with her admission portfolio to FIT. We’ll complete the final required garment on Monday (then take a bit of a break!). My ‘tween students have requested a summer quilt camp hosted at my house in lieu of schlepping an hour each way to the SQTM this year. I’m mulling over the logistics involved in making it happen. Below is a sample of the gingham quilt they’ve requested. It’s a wonderful size, but will require daily sewing homework to complete in a week.

What about the SQTM? Last year, I taught a number of classes at the SQTM. For 2026, the executive board decided to modify class formats, scheduling and fee structure in an attempt to boost attendance. Classes are filling, so it appears to be a good call on their part from that perspective. For me, I simply live too far away to be able to make things work under the new model. (And if I lived closer, I’d be a much more active volunteer!) I’ve been told that Sewing Machine Maintenance falls under a separate category, so I do anticipate teaching this class in the spring and fall.

Meanwhile, I spotted a new art studio in Smyrna. They offer painting, mixed media and embroidery classes. I’ll be reaching out soon about the possibility of sewing classes. Stay tuned.