Kaffe Fassett

Kaffe Fassett is here in town and the first workshop is going on today, Friday, at the Sheraton Hotel. We can still accomodate a few more people at his "Kaleidoscope of Color" lecture tomorrow, October 20, Saturday evening at 7 p.m. The lecture will be held at the Grace Church, 200 Sage Road, Chapel Hill, 27514. The fee is $20 and you may pay at the door.
We will have copies of Kaffe's new book, Quilts in the Sun, available for purchase.
Doors will open at 6:30.

Directions:http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=200+Sage+Road,+Chapel+Hill,+NC&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=30.599615,57.919922&ie=UTF8&ll=35.955777,-79.01556&spn=0.030501,0.056562&z=14&iwloc=addr&om=1

Deer in the headlights?

No, a deer in the quilt shop! We arrived Saturday morning to find a buck had crashed through the front window of the Bernina room, landing right on an Artista 640. Fortunately it happened just minutes before we arrived to open the store, so no one was in the room at the time. He turned around and went right back out the way he came in, leaving a huge mess of broken glass and blood behind. The deer was badly injured and the police told us he died on someone's front porch in a nearby neighborhood. Customers started arriving and we had a class starting, so closed the door to that room and kept right on going. We found a very efficient company, Servpro, who sent two hard workers to take care of the clean-up and board up the broken window. They arrived within two hours and did a great job. We have said it before... that you just never know what will happen next, even in a little quilt shop!!

Stash Dash-it's almost time

OK, so if you have never done Stash Dash you are probably wondering what the fuss is all about! So here you go: The theme this year is "Think Outside the Blocks." The event goes on for 3 days-this coming Thursday, Friday and Saturday. You buy a little passport ($5) at one of the participating 8 stores, (and if you get it right now we still have a few collector's pins!) Starting on Thursday, you visit each store, be sure to get your passport stamped at the stamping station, and you will be given a free pattern. The pattern will be one of eight parts of a quilt, and you will see eight different versions of THE official Stash Dash quilt made up in each store. Feel free to take photos, as at your last store you get to vote on your favorite quilt. Each store will offer you a 20% off coupon for one item of your choice. Door prizes will abound, (see photo of our sea of goodie bags!!) and you are likely to run into every quilter in the Triangle at one store or another.

The stores this year: Us of course, in Raleigh: Bernina World of Sewing, Sew Unique, and Carolina Sew-n-Vac, in Cary: Etc, Crafts and Elegant Stitches, in Wake Forest: Quilts Like Crazy, and in Selma: Whistle Stop Quilt Shop.

Now, here is the big kicker: Turn in your passport at your last store and you will be entered in the Grand Prize drawing which is a fabulous selection of 16 big prizes, including 3 sewing machines, notions, fabric, tools, etc!

So quilters, do not miss this fabulous event, and if you show up in our store toward the end of the day, bring wine or margaritas, or mojitos (for the staff that is...!)

See you soon. And if you were thinking of just regular fabric shopping this weekend, better wait til Sunday!

Flower Sale

SALE!! We have 100's of bolts of gorgeous florals on sale. Celebrate the rain with us by getting a garden quilt started! They are 35% off and going fast! Sale continues through Saturday 10-5.
Hope to see you here...

Jelly Rolls

We just got in these new Moda Jelly Rolls-the bright ones are called "Alien Invasion" by Amy Bradley and the other ones are from a collection called "Shangri La". The Shangri La Jelly Rolls come in these cute little suitcase-style tins that is perfect for holding sewing notions. They come with a free pattern inside too. So what is a Jelly Roll you ask? Well it's pretty new if you are feeling out of the loop, but they are 2.5" strips perfectly pre-cut for you and tightly rolled into an irresistable little package. And what do you do with them? Well, make a quilt of course...and to help with that we have lots of patterns that use 2.5' strips. Endless fun!

Keep Cool and Sew

Wow, it's been a long time since we posted. Where did August go? School starts tomorrow and the weather forecast promises a little relief from the record breaking heat. Thank goodness. It's been a good month for staying inside and sewing, so I guess we shouldn't complain, since we have such a great indoor hobby. So what have we been up to at Thimble Pleasures? We reorganized the store a little bit, so don't panic when you walk in and there's Christmas fabric, where Kaffe used to be! Kaffe has a new and bigger location along the wall where all the florals used to be. We're not sure where the florals went... The loads of new fabric Julie bought after Spring Market are arriving. We just put out some new bright pastel batiks that are gorgeous. There's a new Fusions collection-a roses print in many colors. If you like sheep there is a group of sheep fabrics that are adorable. Hope you all have been sewing cause its almost time for Fall Market! My machine has been whirring away all weekend. Two small quilts are almost done. I'll post some photos when I can take them in the daylight!
Karen

Hot new notion

These beautiful new Olfa rotary cutters just arrived and we can hardly resist them. They are decorated with orange or plum Calanthas, and just make cutting your new fabric even more fun.

Halloween fabrics are arriving and some are not even out of the box yet, but if you get started soon, you could have a wallhanging ready by Halloween. Come by, its cool in here!

Cool new stuff

We have a whole new assortment of fun embellishing products, like Bead Soup, Bead Gravy, Oliver Twist, Boucle, Radiance and Eyelash yarns, lots of new colors of Paintstiks and Angelina fibers. Oooh, ooh, just so enticing. Plump bolts of spectacular Alexander Henry's keep showing up, and if you haven't seen Jason Yenter's new collection from In the Beginning Fabrics, come quick as some are just about gone. The collection is called Floragraphix and is a luscious mixture or florals and graphix in 22 (whoops, 21 now) different prints. I took a photo but it didnt do them justice so just come see!

Quilting for Teens

We are back from Bernina University and our heads are spinning with new ideas. We are all working on integrating some of what we learned , with new quilts, classes and techniques to keep bringing you fresh inspiration. Meanwhile, while we were gone, our wonderful staff filled up the store with new goodies. (fabric!) So come see! We keep finding new bolts that we had not yet seen.

Coming up soon, with space still available, is our first-ever quilting class especially for teens, 13 and up. If they are just a little familiar with the use of the sewing machine they can take this class. They will make a simple and gorgeous, large, throw-size quilt using the fabric of their choice. We carefully scheduled this class during the late summer so that most teens would be back from camp or vacation, but had not started school. Stop by to see the beautiful sample made by our teacher, Kristie Taylor, using Amy Butler's fabrics. (pictured above) The class starts Monday August 6 and will be held from 2-4pm,then will continue on Tues, Thursday and Friday of that week.

Greetings from Orlando

We are writing from 18 floor of the Hyatt Regency overlooking Disney and Epcot. There is the most outrageous pool you have ever seen, however we have only had time to get in it once! Our butts are sore from sitting in classes all day and learning all we can about what's coming up from Bernina. We will remember as much as we can and share it with you when we get back. Some new machines have been unveiled along with new books and embroidery software from Ricky Tims that you will love.
See you soon!!
Julie, Gail, Celeste and Karen

I'M BACK

I"M BACK!!!!!!! I can't tell you how good it is to be back amongst my friends- the fabric bolts... and it has been great seeing all of you, too!
I hope the group is enjoying themselves in Florida, at Bernina Universtiy. I can not believe they left Kathleen and myself in charge. Of course Jean, Kathryn, Lisa and Lea are keeping a close eye on the two of us. We have been warned about completely re-arranging everything and confusing everybody.
Kathleen did get into several of the new arrival boxes. That's her favorite thing to do. She pulled the Floragraphix (from "In the Beginning" fabrics) out. They are fabulous. Lisa, Kathleen and I have naturally already cut ourselves some. There was an arrival of new boxes yesterday and I just might get into them (even before Kathleen!).
It really is great being back. I've missed the interaction with all of you. We really do have the best customers in the world. See you all soon- Diane

Bernina University

Julie, Celeste, Gail and Karen are heading off to Bernina Unversity in Orlando on Saturday. Bernina has all sorts of cool things planned for us, so we hope to come back with lots of new ideas to share with you. Diane will be back working in the store on Saturday, and she and Kathleen, Lea, Kathryn, Lisa and Jean will be holding the fort down for us while we're gone. So be sure to come by and give them a hard time! (and buy lots of fabric, cause the store is busting at the seams!)

Quilting at the Beach

I spent last week at Corolla Light on the Outer Banks, and in between the delightful weather and plenty of beach time, I taught my neices how to quilt. Pictured on top is Rachel, 17, working on an Itty Bitty Bag and below are Christina and LeeAnn, both 10, with their finished quilts! They did all the piecing, machine quilting, the binding, and even the hand-stitching themselves. It was a great experience for me, and they were just tickled and so proud of their quilts and Rachel of her new purse. We had a sewing room all to ourselves, (the boys had a pool room!) two Berninas, and lots of great fabric as you can see! What fun, I highly recommend getting kids sewing at age 10 or so. They can reach the foot pedal, are great at following directions and have the attention span to keep working until the project is done. I am so proud of them!

Karen

Well, we no sooner get one entry made and another two big boxes of fabric show up at our door. Here are pictures of Free Spirit prints from a collection called Inspiration, by Terri Mangat.

Kathleen returned from her trip to New York with great things to say about this quilt shop in Victor, New York. It's called The Ivy Thimble and their store is an old train depot. Check them out on the web at http://www.ivythimble.com/.


This print is based on the Chinese calendar and has great characters on it. See if you can find yourself in there. They are really fun to read. What kinds of crazy ideas do they put in your head?








For the embroidery enthusiasts, we have new designs in the Embroidery Take-Out. Don't forget, I can create files in any format you need for your machine (Bernina, Janome, Brother, Deco, Babylock and Viking). Laurel Burch, "Jungle Songs" is in the New Arrivals, as well as Catberry Tails (Debra Mason) and Watercolor Florals (Jan Woodman). Great Notions has a beautiful "Pretty Peacocks 1. Some of these would make wonderful quilts.

Come in and get out of the heat! Our summer classes are on the schedule now. It is a great way to spend the hot days of North Carolina.

Celeste and Julie

New Fabric and Patterns

Julie and I are updating our blog so Karen doesn't yell at us when she returns from her vacation. We know you are checking this Karen.

I don't know how we keep up with all the boxes of fabric and patterns that arrive daily. We are so fortunate to have such a wonderful selection to choose from.

Some of the highlights have been the new Amy Butler patterns. Our favorite is the Gum Drop Pillow. It is a large pillow to be used as a footrest. We may have to special order that much polyfil for all of us.

Julie's favorite fabric has been the great Asian collection and I just love the turquoise and brown Joel Dewberry collection.

Also, Julie told me there will be a trunk show arriving next week for Turkey Track Designs. They are sending some of their bags for us to see. I can't wait! I love making bags during the summer months.
Here are some pictures of some of the new fabrics we've recently unpacked. Enjoy!!

~Celeste and Julie

Progress Report on Diane

Diane's hip surgery went well and she is recovering nicely. She is walking two hours outside each day. She is now free of two pains - her hip and her job. She also retired from Duke and will be spending more time teaching classes here. Yeah!
Julie

Viewer's Choice Winner

All the visitors to the CHHS show had a chance to vote on their favorite quilt, and the winner of "Viewer's Choice" was Anna Will, for her creatively sewn quilt. Her quilt is pictured here. Anna received a $100 Gift card to Thimble Pleasures. Congratulations to Anna!

Chapel Hill High Student wins a Bernina!

The students from Mary Zimmerman's CHHS sewing class presented their quilts for a special 2nd Friday Artwalk show last Friday and we had a great time going through their finished quilts and deciding on the winner of a brand new Bernina activa 210 sewing machine. The winner was Julia Taylor and her quilt was chosen based on her fabric and color choices, use of color value in her design, her sewing workmanship, attention to detail, and finishing technique. Her winning quilt is pictured here with her new machine. Congratulations to Julia! We hope this is just the beginning of a lifetime of sewing!

Problem Solving

I used to be a nurse (well, I guess once you're a nurse, you're always a nurse, but anyway...) so I spent my days helping people solve their health problems. It was always satisfying to see them get better, but of course that took time, and maybe I would eventually see them again to find out if my suggestions worked. So, when I starting working in a quilt shop it never even occurred to me that a big part of the job would be problem solving. I have noticed over the years, however, that it's a huge part of the job. Helping sewers find the perfect color of thread to match the skirt with a rip in the seam, or sashing to help pull together blocks that don't seem to go together. Borders, borders, we are always looking for the perfect border combination to spice up the quilt. Today the tough issue was a straight pin that had been quilted inside a quilt--how to get it out. And the sewing machine making the strange noise (bobbin winder on), the hook that keeps falling out, (not latched in), the feed dogs that won't feed (packed with fuzz), I could go on and on...the little issues that "are critical in a non-emergency way" (a customer said that to me and I thought it was a great way to put it). There is always something to figure out, and most of the time someone on our staff can. I love seeing the relief on the customer's face, the confusion lifted, the new plan-of-action in place. They come in frustrated and leave happy. What could be more satisfying? I figure it's a kind of mental health care, (when I am feeling guilty about not nursing anymore). We find ways to help people even if it is all about fabric...!

Karen

The Cat's Away

Julie is in London for a week! So guess what we are doing?? Unpacking carton after carton of new and amazing batiks. We put out 67 on Saturday and another 40 or so bolts today. They are new ones you have never seen before, so get in here fast because the staff has already been into them.

We hope you survived our little break in the action last week. Some of us were quilting non-stop at Lake Gaston for a few days. If you ever need a perfect lakefront home for your quilting group to take a retreat, ask us about the one we use. It sleeps 8 comfortably and has a great sundeck, kitchen and sewing room (well, we turn it into a sewing room!) Lots of quilts were made, some new designs experimented with, and of course plenty of food and beverage were consumed.

We are working on the schedule for the next quarter (July, August, and September), so hopefully we will have the newsletter ready to send out and the schedule posted on the website in early June. Dont forget END-OF-BOLT Sale is this Saturday!