Silver Linings in a Pandemic

 Fabulous customer:

John and his wife Natalie came into the store this week - it was his first time in, and he was looking for a place that would feel, well, right for him.  Being a new sewist - easy.  Being a male sewist and walking in to a quilt shop?  Not as easy.  We joked about the common assumptions of a husband and wife coming to a quilt shop - he's just there for his wife as she shops, he's not shopping/interested in fabric, etc.

John not only taught himself to sew during the pandemic, he taught himself how to FIX machines during the pandemic.  Yep, he bought some old machines and fixed them up.  Oh, and in the process of learning to sew, made some clothes for his 3 daughters!

All I could think of was, "WHAT A GUY!"  He was, to boot, personable, funny, engaging, and just enthusiastic about sewing.

Now, he's working on selling all those machines he's fixed up - Natalie sure would like to see those moved out of the house!  

Making:

I'm plugging away at the Cotton Couture Cacti sample:

This is a tough one, because I know the end result will be completely different, but seeing it day after day in this partial state forces me to be patient, and visualize what it's becoming, not what it is!

Learned this week:

This summer I re-read East of Eden by John Steinbeck.  I came across on my phone an exerpt that stood out to me: 

"Aron was content to be a part of this world, but Cal must change it."  Whether you're content in the world or restless to change it,  we are all valuable, yes?

Silver Linings in a Pandemic

 Fabulous customer:

2 this week: (both on the same day, to boot!)

*A private lesson with Sarah, who was absolutely riveting:  she shared her love of history, combined with her years of service in the U.S. Army.  and it made for a lovely interaction with her.  She taught me so much, and as I told her "it's so nice to get out of my bubble of running this store/fabric/quilting" and just open up to listening and learning something new.

*Phyllis came to me to to learn about our Eversewn Sparrow 20 machine.  She's 88 and has macular degeneration, so she needs a machine that she'll be able to easily use despite her vision challenges.  She is funny, optimistic and a pleasant human being to be around.  We jokingly shared of the perils of aging:  weakened eyes, stiff back, achy bones, but knowing the importance of seeing the glass as 1/2 full!

Thank you, ladies, for choosing to cross paths with me this week - you are silver linings.

Making:

Continuing:

This pattern:  (remember from last week?)

As I began some of the 'collaging' today:

I felt like I was a bit in the mind of Laura Heine, the pattern designer, as she created this.  I LOVE this process!  It's a shit-ton of work with the prep, but as I said in my previous post, that's part of the meditative process of creating, at least for me.  There are plenty of projects that I do that I just want to quickly get them done:  a mask, a pillow cover, a new set of curtains, an easy garment, for example.  But there's something about creating projects that force you to take your time and every step requires creativity:

I especially love that Laura Heine specifically says in the directions: "try to be a little messy when placing your strips...." - after all, perfection shouldn't really be the goal in the creative process.  Make something that your eyes see as lovely.

So, in about 2 hours, I finished this one:

Learned this week:

If you haven't read the latest Hip Stich newsletter, we told customers of the continuing fabric shipment delays and the stress on every level of the production and distribution of fabric.

I have tremendous respect and appreciation for those working on this.  I had conversations with sales reps and a company vice president.  They were apologetic and sincere.  It was important for me to tell them,  "I'm frustrated with the situation, not with you."  

What a world of difference that makes in our interactions with each other, no?

Silver Linings in a Pandemic

 Fabulous customers:

Tomato Soup:

Add milk or water?  This was the conversation I found myself engaged in with 2 customers.  How we got to this?  I have no idea.  One minute we’re standing side by side in the store, looking at fabric and patterns, the next, debating over which is better - milk or water added to a can of tomato soup.  Then, of course, it must be combined with grilled cheese.  And so on, and so on.  These gals were in town for a National Guard conference, and, well, added to my growing list of “best things about my day”

Making:

This pattern:

Lots and lots of lots of ironing to Steam a Seam Lite & cutting with a wavy rotary blade, but I've grown to enjoy it - part of the meditative prep work for what's to come:

Learned this week:

Appreciation for customer's communication:

Jeremy cannot fix ALL sewing machines, whether it's due to access to parts (if we're not a dealer, sometimes parts cannot be acquired), warranty issues (again, dealership thing), or the time it would take him to fix it would exceed the value of the machine.  We've been working very hard to communicate clearly with customers about this, but sometimes, one avenue of communication is overlooked.  Suzanne came in last week with her Viking machine - we thought we had covered all the bases in letting folks know he does not service Viking machines, but she graciously pointed out that indeed, it did say he serviced them on a page on our website that has Jeremy's bio.  So, thank you Suzanne, for letting us know so we could edit that!

(Did you know......there's a Viking dealership in town!  Gathering Stitches, a great shop in Los Lunas, is the one!)

Silver Linings in a Pandemic

Fabulous customers:

Carrie

One of the cool things about having a shop that primarily has a female customer base is that it’s generally acceptable to have a girl crush on a customer. 

Like Carrie, who is not only a really nice human being, but also makes lovely quilts,  AND has gorgeous hair.  When I ooohed and aahed over it one day,  she told me about the Curly Girl Method, which I’m now reading up more on and trying out!  (I’m tired of straightening my hair but frustrated when I let it go natural, as it becomes a wavy fizzy mess)   So thanks, Carrie, for your gorgeous hair inspiration and your everyday sweet nature!

(wellll, not really going for this look!)

Making:

I started on a garment using fabric Reut hand-stamped:

She acquires her leaves from a variety of sources - ask her sometime about it!

Also, made this from the pallet that delivered the 24 Eversewn machines that were purchased by our customers to donate to Mexico:

Learned this week:

Did you know? 

Women’s buttons are sewn onto the left side of the garment. The reason for this is that buttons were very expensive and only wealthy women with domestic help could afford them. So to make it easier for the help to button up they were on the ‘wrong’ side.

Huh.  I'll remember that next time my ladies' maid buttons up my dress, and the convenience of it for her.