Friday, June 27, 2008

Tuesday it is....

Well, we had really hoped to be able to give a sneak peek to customers before the opening day, but we're just not ready. Yesterday I got slammed with something that sent me to bed with aches and exhaustion (hmmm, maybe it was exhaustion?!) Jen, her husband Michael and her sister Jess worked all day at the store. Heather had a Trader Joe's shift. I went over this morning to grab coffee cream from the store's mini-fridge (I know I'm feeling better when I want my morning coffee when I get up - yesterday, it repulsed me!) The place looks soooo good! Yay!

We're hoping and praying our notions get mailed out today. It's a 3 day shipping - we have to get past our frustration that it's taken this long to get to this point - so we may or may not have notions on the wall July 1. If not, they'll be there the 2nd or 3rd.

Yesterday I was thumbing through a magazine in the waiting room at the pediatrician's office - yes, I dragged myself out to take my daughter to see the dr. for her cough - and I came across a page with an apron made with one of the fabrics we carry! I very discretely tore the page out to post at the store. I never, ever tear out magazine pages that don't belong to me, but I couldn't resist this time....

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Hip Stitchin'

The sign is up!! Which is equally thrilling and terrifying - now ANYONE can drive by and see who we are...which we learned yesterday. Jen & I were working at the store when we had a young man stop in who was more the "hip hop" type than the "hip stitcher". He was very nice, and wondered about what we were all about, and asked a sewing question. Jen's husband, Michael and I had the same thought at the same time - we had never considered that a passerby might interpret the our name as hip hop, which would draw in quite a different customer than we imagined. I say this not as a negative; just, well, different!

Today Jen & I have a Room Rehab job. (did I mention our former & current occupation?) Check us out at www.room-rehab.com. We're faux painting a dining room. Heather is off work from Trader Joe's, so she's picking up where we left off on the to do list.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Eleven days...

Yep, it's really eleven 'till opening. Let me take a moment and breathe....o.k., that's better.

Last night I was finally able to place our 1st order for notions for the store. What's that, you say? Why did we wait until 11 days before opening to place our notions order?! Well, I won't go into the long saga, but the company that we're working with (will remain unnamed), has awesome products, great wholesale prices, but has been lacking in the "getting our account going" aspect - we started in April trying to contact them and establish an account. It finally happened this week. Very frustrating, but hopefully we'll have some notions on opening day; ift if not, soon thereafter!

The tables are in the lounge - they're fabulous! We can't wait this week to do some sewing!! Get some demo items made, aprons for us "employees" to wear.

We still plan to have a sneak peek open-the-doors-before-July 1, so check back for when that will be.....next Friday night? next Sunday night? Let's see how the week goes....I can't wait to have 2 gals in particular see the fabric - you know who you are - fellow Amy Butler groupies!

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Wow it's hot!

Nothing like stating the obvious - I think it was supposed to hit 97 today. Jen & I found (yesterday) an adorable little bistro/cafe table and chairs for the store, thanks to her stylin' sister, Jessica, who gave us a heads up as to where to find it!

The massive tables for the lounge are just about done - we put a coat of stain on today...we're itchin' to get them in and start sewing on them!

Heather found a similar place to ours in Denver, CO - check out www.fancytiger.com. I looked at their pics. of fabrics in the store and guess what - they're gorgeous and we have many of the same!! It's great to see other women with the same passion and vision!

Tomorrow is Day 3 of Vacation Bible School for Jen and I - it's a whirlwind week!

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Sleepy Sunday morning

Happy Father's Day! Countdown - 17 days until Hip Stich opens! This week: Jen and I (Suzanne) each have Vacation Bible School at our respective churches - serving food to the masses! Heather will be working on our 'To Do' list in the mornings, and we'll all be in and out of the store afternoons/evenings!

Heather picked up a Janome machine for the lounge - yay! The tables are almost finished. The sign for our storefront should be arriving any day now in the next week.

Have I mentioned it's crunch time?!

Friday, June 13, 2008

I'm up early

Suzanne here...my husband keeps telling me to get up at the crack of dawn and get over to the store to get it ready....so 6:50 isn't exactly the crack of dawn, but I'm up and looking at what's to do today. I've been building tables for the lounge - thanks to my carpentry mentor, brother-in-law Jim, so this morning I head over to his workshop to finish. They're massive beasts - two 4'x8' tables for all the machines, so they're incredibly heavy. Today I attach the legs and stain!

Heather and I are going to purchase a sewing machine for the lounge. Jen's husband has been out of town for the week, so she's had the challenge of working in the store w/3 children present, but all our kids know that Hip Stitch is just going to be their second home until opening day!

We frequently hear comments like "finally, Albuquerque's getting a real fabric store!" We hope that our customers will be happy with the selections we've made, but we also realize that we need customer input in order to know what to order next!! We've had suggestions for carrying silk charmeuse (did I spell that right?!), linen, raw silk, and more - we have cotton to start - awesome cottons, mind you, but it's our starting fabric. Our customers are our driving force - we want their opinions, their ideas, their creativity!

Enough rambling - my day begins!

Thursday, June 12, 2008

We're almost there!

Welcome to the Hip Stitch blog....where we (Jen, Heather, Suzanne) share this journey from dreaming of our store to opening the doors to our customers!

And when will our door open? July 1 - which is in 19 days, if our math is correct.....and what do we have to do to be ready for our customers? Well, let's just say our "To Do" list is being reduced each day.