Time To Close The Shop

A couple of weeks ago the partners of Always In Stitches met to discuss the future of Always In Stitches. We all love the shop very much and enjoy being in the shop and working. We talked about how many new quilters have come into the shop and gotten hooked on quilting. We talked about the great relationships we have formed over the past six years and what we have accomplished, and how proud we are of those accomplishments. We talked about our industry and the cost of cotton and fabric and our customers' buying habits. We talked about the state of the economy and the volume of  fabric some of our customers have.

We then started talking about how tired we are, how some of us have some medical issues that need to be addressed, and how we have some traveling and family visits we would like to enjoy. We talked about how we want to spend time with our families on the weekends and in the evenings. We even reflected on our good friends that are our age with ill husbands and how short life is. This is when we decided that it is time to take a break. It is time to slow down a little bit and enjoy life while we have the opportunity. Unfortunately, in order to do these things we realized that the time has come to close the shop.

We are so thankful for the opportunity to meet so many great quilters and make so many new friends.  We are so proud of the number of quilters that have emerged from our shop. We appreciate the patience you've shown over the last few months while we tried to transition into a partnership. We apologize if we offended any of you for that was never our intention.

We know that we will continue to see some of you as we will now have some time to sit and quilt and we look forward to those times.

Beginning Saturday, September 10, 2011 everything in the store is 25% off. We need to sell all of the fixtures and furniture, including tables and chairs. Any samples that are not owned by our staff or customers will be sold. Over the next couple of weeks we will continue to mark down our merchandise while it lasts, but I have a feeling that it will go fast.

If you are participating in one of our block-of-the-month programs, don't worry -- we are cutting all of the blocks so that you can get the rest of them when you come in. We will be here until the end of October and will continue to host the various groups until then. Our last Block Swappers Club swap will be due October 10th, and distributed on the 15th along with suggested layouts for your use.

If you are a member of the book club, fat quarter guild, free motion quilting group, etc. don't worry for we have plenty of time to make arrangements for future meetings.

Over the next couple of weeks we will keep you posted as to what merchandise is still available.

Thanks so much for the last six years!

Mary Clark and the staff at Always In Stitches