February 29th...

Happy Friday!

Sorry about the small print, we are a bit wordy this week, and it wouldn't fit with regular size print.

Have you seen a picture of the awesome Ladies of the Sea quilt? It is an applique quilt with historical ships and a floral border. We ordered this for Jan Golden, she will have this beautiful quilt done in no time and we will still be dreaming about starting it.

A new class that has been added to our schedule is the Twist and Shout Tote Bag. It will be taught by Brooke and her assistant will be Aunt Gee Gee (Janet). Class date is March 16th, from 12:30 to 3:30 pm, and the class fee is $20.00. Please sign up at least one day in advance.

Things coming up the week of March 2nd (wow, March already)…..
The James Stitching Sisters will be here Tuesday, March 4th 10 am to 4 pm. If you can spare some time, come and sew. They provide the fabrics, we have the machines.

Fat Quarters Guild will be here Tuesday Night 6 - 8. Come for a no commitment fun evening.

Marty, from Quilt Beginnings will be here Friday, March 7th beginning at 2:00 pm to show the Pfaff sewing machines. Please call the shop for an appointment (614 539-7845)

On the 8th, We are visiting Ireland for our Mystery evening. Call the store for details.

Also, on the 8th will be the James Stitching Sisters 4th Annual Quilt Day at the Haimerl Center on Morse Road from 9am to 5 pm. This will be a very emotional day for everyone because two of the founding members of the Stitching Sisters have recently passed away. A couple of weeks ago Joyce Kerzee, who was one of the sweetest people I know passed away. Today is the memorial service for Julie Aleshire. I went to Washington Court House to visit with the family last evening and it was quite apparent how loved Julie was. I had to wait in line for over an hour to pay my respects. As I waited in the halls I enjoyed looking at the wall hangings and plaques decorating the walls. I was not suprised to see Julie had been a Church Member of the year. In the back of the church there was a quilt made by various church family members. It was hard to miss the Aleshires family block for it was beautiful. I thought it was very touching that there were a number of Julie's quilts displayed among the flower arrangements. She was quite an accomplished quilter and will sadly be missed by her quilting friends.

It 3:30, and FEd Ex just brought a huge shipment of City Girls from Benartex. Very young, fresh, teal, brown & green, Amy Butlerish... Won't be around long. Brooke "called it" she is making a sample... lol

Have a great weekend! Stop in and say hi!

Mary... and Sharon (our new official marketing and pr VP)

Ugh!!! The Retreat Went Too Fast!

Boy did I have fun this past weekend at the Quintessential Quilters Retreat held at Deer Creek. Seventy eight of my quilter friends and I met on Friday afternoon to start a fun weekend of sewing, laughing, eating, sewing .... Here are some of the pictures I took of guild members having fun. I wish I would have taken pictures of everyone and their projects. You would be amazed of what most (not necessarily me, I talked too much..)can get done in a weekend. The weekend was really fun!

The view from the lodge looked like a post card. This picture doesn't do it justice.

Yakkity Yak! ... lol

Sunday breakfast line

Teri is going to kill me for this photo.... The quilt is very cute..

Carla, too! Service project is hanging in background...

Sally or Sandy's project (They both did the same project)

Bernie's quilting class sample for later this spring.....

More later this week! Need to go catch up on my sleep.


Mary

Snow, Snow and More Snow.... Time to Sew!

I am very excited because today I am going to the Quintessential Quilters Retreat at Deer Creek! I have a bunch of sample kits to make for the shop and a bunch of personal projects (Dear Jane, Embroidery club, applique club) to work on. I can't wait to get started!

We got a handful of new fabrics in this week. Last week we received, but didn't mention the Waters Edge charm squares by Moda. These are beautiful fabrics in creams and yellows. These would make a beautiful spring purse. Stop in and visit (if it's this weekend, make sure everyone is behaving for me!). Gotta run.... I am already late! - Mary

Hope everyone has had good week. Wasn't the snow pretty to look at, just not fun to drive in.


This week we received "Rosy" by Timeless Treasures. It is a beautiful fabric with pink flowers on a cream or green background. Another new fabric is 'Back In The Saddle" from Wilmington Prints. This fabric would be great for a western style quilt or for someone who just loves horses. We also received charm packs and jelly rolls of "At Water's Edge" by Blackbird Designs.


The March/April issue of "Quilter's Home" is here! As some of you may know we love Mark Lipinski (the editor) and his humor. If you haven't had a chance to look at this magazine check it out. I think you will like it.







A new book for all you cat lovers, "Copycat Quilts" by Dawn Navarro, this is is a piecing book of nothing but cats. Another new book is Better Homes and Gardens, "Quilt-Lovers Favorites" Vol. 4. And ....if you've had a bad week with the weather and all.. , check out "Quilter's Happy Hour". 1It has 11 quilts with cocktail recipes. We are thinking about a class for this book, sew, try the drink recipes.... but then we figured we would have to pick all the class members up and drop them back off at home after the class (and take all the rotaries)....


Have a great weekend! Stop in and say hey!

Hot, Cool, Wet, Cold

This week started out with a bang. The Super Bowl sale was our best ever. Thanks to everyone who came and shopped. I hope your visit was pleasant and you didn't have to stand in line too long. This week has flown by. On Tuesday (the first Tuesday of every month 10 am to 4 pm) we had our James Stitching Sisters in the shop making quilts for the James Cancer Hospital. We had a great turnout and they got alot of sewing done. Join them next month if you can spare some time. They provide the fabric, we have the machines. Also they will have their annual quilt retreat March 8th, 9 am to 5 pm at the Haimerl Center on Morse Road. We (the staff) will be there in shifts.



New this week: Joel Dewberry Fabric. The fabric is in orange, cream and brown and looks like Amy Butler fabric. I am thinking about using some of the orange for new pillows in my family room. We also got Swell by Urban Chiks. Cute prints in light green, yellow and some red tossed in. Holly and Brooke picked these fabrics out at market. Doodle-Stitching, Fresh & fun Embroidery for Beginners, is a new book just in.

Please stop in soon and show us what you are working on!

Crazy week at Always In Stitches

I thought the week would be quiet and we could catch up on a couple of things, but we have been busy all week and it has just flown by. I think we are ready for the Super Bowl Sale this weekend. We got about 50 new bolts of fabric in this week, and our shelves are filling up after trying to get our inventory down for the end of year taxes.

Our classes have been filling up and we are offering some of the more popular ones again. Last Saturday was our first Hand Applique Club meeting. There were about 23 applique enthusiasts there, and it was fun. I am excited about being involved in this club so I can improve at this skill. I just love hand applique but I don't take the time to work on my skills. Hopefully, knowing that I need to get something done each month will help.

During our Monday book club, we (Diana Forrester, Jan Biggs and I) passed out the book we wrote, "The Dutchmans Puzzle", for the members to edit. I hope they like it! We choose a non deplume.... Alma Lynne Thompson. I'll explain later how we arrived at the name. I am very excited about the book and getting it published!

More later! Have a great weekend! I don't know who to root for during the Super Bowl because I love Eli Manning (Giants) and I love Mike Vrable (Patriots). All season I have been a Pats fan.. but I do love those Manning boys..

See you at the Sale!