Tag: sewing

Life after Joann’s

March 10, 2025

Like many of you, I’m disappointed that Joann’s is closing. I’ve gone into the Alpharetta and Kennesaw locations to see what’s on sale. Not really anything. Liquidation “sale” prices are actually higher than Joann’s normal sale prices. Puh-leez. The new Joann’s owners aren’t serious about selling through the merchandise just yet. Even if huge markdowns begin, I doubt I’ll buy anything else from them. However, I’ll continue to take Sadie to walk the Kennesaw store as long as it stays open. Then, we’ll head up the hill to Home Depot to do the same thing. It helps with her therapy dog conditioning.

Tonight, I challenged myself to see if I could find what I needed at the Woodstock Wal-Mart on Hwy 92 to make my version of the infamous Beth Dutton quilt from the Yellowstone TV series (red/gray/black 9 patch quilt set on point). I spent $31.00 on fabric – (1) 3 yard cut of dark gray, (2) 1 yard cuts of patterned black fabric, (1) red & white dot, plus assorted FQs of red/black/gray prints. The rest of the fabrics will come from my stash. I have thread, backing and batting at home. Lest the quilt po-po decide to chime in, the quality of the 100% cotton Waverly branded fabric at Wal-Mart is much better than most of the cheap stuff sold at Joann’s.

In an earlier post, I listed alternatives in the Atlanta area to shop at instead of Joann’s. I’d also like to add estate sales and de-stash sales of sewists and quilters in your area. Many long-time quilters are card-carrying members of the fabric acquisition team and have the stashes to prove it. News of an estate sale with a lot of fabric travels fast. Check with your quilt guilds, ASG chapter or search on estate-sales.net for sales near you. FB Marketplace is another source for garage and estate sale listings.

Other updates: Shirt Off Your Back quilt shop in Roswell will be closing down in early summer. Even their Innova long-arm machines are for sale. Stash Fabrics in Alpharetta (more like Cumming actually) is now offering classes and offers local pick-up at no extra charge. Scraplanta is an organization I discovered while attending the OSQE this past week. They offer donated fabric and notions for sale, plus offer classes in repurposing said scraps and materials.

Change is the only constant in life. Joann’s closing is sad, but I imagine most of us living in larger towns and cities will still have local access to craft and sewing supplies. Keep an eye out on newcomers, too – a new indie bookstore opened in Smyrna and a stitch lounge opened in East Cobb this past week. New places to explore!

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Go with your gut

March 8, 2025

When you work on a quilting project, it’s normal to second guess your choices with regard to color, thread and block placement sometimes. But have you ever had your inner voice get a hold of you and say, “Girl, fix that before you go any further!”? I have.

Summer camp @ the SQTM is coming soon. I won’t be volunteering in June. I listened to my gut – I’m headed to Pigeon Forge to take classes with 3 teachers on my list. I probably won’t have this opportunity so close to home ever again. Volunteering at July’s camp is TBD. If they’re not holding an a.m. spot for C, then we’ll do CraftLAB-summer school edition that week instead. It’s 100 mile round trip every day and commuting to the p.m. session only is not an option. Traffic is too brutal. I did that my first year volunteering. Most days, I spent more time commuting than I did mentoring my camper. Never again.

By listening to said gut, I fast tracked the new SUV purchase after realizing it simply wasn’t worth it to sink any more money into my previous vehicle. I’d already narrowed down the list of potential new SUV candidates a few months earlier. Now, I don’t worry when I travel to quilting events or therapy dog visits with Sadie. Nor do I have to worry about the effect of tariffs on repair parts and vehicle prices.

Sadie and I are in our own therapy dog bubble with school and library visits. We do affiliate with a local group, but I also do some visits independently. My local group usually has an influx of visit opportunities every spring. When checking the visit sign-ups today, I noticed there weren’t that many for my side of town. I also noticed I wasn’t seeing Sadie’s usual friends signed up for visits. My spidey senses started tingling.

My gut was correct. Made a phone call to another handler who confirmed something was amiss. The very active contingent on my side of town decided to focus on visit opportunities in the far northwest suburbs. They have now officially formed their own group separate from the original group. Well, that certainly explains a lot. I told the handler to include me on the group’s email list. We miss seeing them and might be able to join them for some future visits.

Years ago, there was a nasty split in local therapy dog circles. One leader wanted to stick with READ programs only while the other wanted to branch out to include other forms of therapy dog activities. Teams were forced to choose sides and it got ugly for a while. Hope there’s no repeat of that this time around. We’re all into therapy dog volunteering for the same reasons.

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Joann’s future is doubtful

February 23, 2025

The winning bidder of the bankruptcy auction was a partnership of Great American Group and some of the lenders. They bought the assets of Joann with the intent of liquidation rather keeping it as a going concern. The bankruptcy court will approve/disapprove of the sale on February 26th. This means all 800+ stores will most likely close on or before May 31, 2025. FYI, Great American is the same group that liquidated Hancock Fabrics almost 10 years ago.

The Hancock’s closures didn’t bother me as much as the closure of Joann does. I have a personal history with Joann. Cloth World, the fabric store I grew up with, was bought by Joann in 1994. Shortly after, I helped reset one of the Gwinnett Cloth World stores to the new Joann format. As we moved around the country with hubby’s job, finding the local Joann store in our new town was the same priority as finding the nearest library. I am a librarian, after all.

With the closing of Joann, crafters have lost a major option in where to buy supplies. In some areas, Joann is the only fabric/craft store for miles around. Even in markets served by Amazon, Hobby Lobby, Michael’s and Wal-Mart, some crafters refuse to shop any and all of these stores for various reasons. Besides, Joann is open on Sundays and allows Sadie to shop with me. The teacher discount and sales meant this teacher could afford to do craft projects with her students without breaking the bank.

Practical me has been surveying my fabric and notion stash to see if there’s anything I need to stock up on should I find a great price during the closing sales. Honestly, I don’t need a thing at the moment. Should I need more Pellon SF-101 interfacing for a t-shirt quilt currently in the queue, I have other ways to get it. Hobby Lobby usually runs a 40% off fabric promotion every 2-3 weeks. Today, I learned that interfacing by the yard is included in that promotion. Bonus? Hobby Lobby is much closer to home, too!

Fortunately, we still have options to source materials our creative endeavors. It’ll be an adjustment to figure out where’s the best place to get certain things from now on, but I’ll survive. Something will eventually come to the marketplace to fill the void left by the closure of Joann stores.

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