Hip Teens and Walkin' down Memory Lane

So here are the creations made at Teen Time Saturday night, by 3 extremely talented, creative, sweet, just all-around adorable 8th grade girls! They each made a tote bag, and added embellishments, pockets, even a zipper to one - to make these. I can't wait to do this again! (Speaking of which, the next Teen Time is on April 4th instead of March 21, due to Spring Break)

Next, some of my treasures: the trunk in my room (it belonged to my great-grandmother, who took it on her honeymoon to Niagra Falls, if my memory of the story serves me correctly!) I've put in it special outfits I've made for my girls when they were babies/toddlers/little girls. Dresses, skirts, a cape, a Raggedy Ann Halloween costume, matching sundresses, 1st day of school outfits. You know that theoretical question that if you had to leave your house immediately because of a fire and could only take what you can carry? Well, I'd have to make room in my arms for these...

And another part of the trunk holds scraps from many of the outfits I've sewn, with the plan that someday, I'll put them together to make a quilt, or two!

This is what Claire picked out for her 1st communion dress:

I'm so excited to make it! I made Jane's dress 2 years ago, and she picked out this one:

This is what I love most about sewing - making the memories. Speaking of memories, I was making enchiladas tonight, which I don't make often, and as I was frying the tortillas, my mind went back to the 3 years I spent living and going to school in Las Vegas, NM. My stand-in- mother (as mom was 2000 miles away) was Rose Martinez, who to this day calls me "mi hita" which warms my heart to no end. Rose makes the best enchiladas I've ever tasted - but my mind traveled on as I made dinner tonight. To sewing....when I lived in Las Vegas, I was flat broke, being a college student and doing it on my own. I did have my mom's old sewing machine with me, and I remember walking down to the five-and-dime style store on the end of the little strip where the Spic-n-Span restaurant still is (anyone remember the name of that store - it closed in the early 90s?). Anyway, they had fabric - remnants, not bolts, on tables, and I'd scrounge through it, looking for something with which to create. I finally found it - a denim-looking material, though lighter, more flow-y...don't know what it was - polyester blend, rayon?! And I found a pattern, and I made a dress - a summery, romantic, flirty, dress, that I loved to wear and felt so good when I did. (I even had a romantic walk in Carnegie Park with a special someone while wearing that dress) I still have the dress - in the attic, tucked away with other memories...I think I'm going to get it out soon and try it on again - see if this 40 yr. old body can still fit into something I wore 18 years ago!
I'm so thankful for memories, and for my love of sewing that has helped make them, well, immortal, in a way.

Oh, the wind.....I just despise you! You make my eyes water and itch, my nose run and sneeze, your howls embed in my brain. It's my only complaint about living in New Mexico. I moved here 20 years ago and fell in love immediately. (Oh sure, there are other minor annoyances, but not enough to write about). I love the food, raising my family here, the people, the culture, the history, the climate......all but the wind. I brace myself for it every year, and grit my teeth through it 'til it's over and I can walk outside and start gardening and soak up summer weather.

But for now? I take my Flonase (not working so well this year), carry my eye drops around with me, turn on music to distract me from the howling, and look forward to calmer days.

We're looking to order more fabrics - Alexander Henry, Freespirit. The last big batch ordered is going fast! Quilt Market this spring is in Pittsburgh in May. Maybe, just maybe, we can swing going....!

Don't forget to move your clocks up an hour tonight!

You go girl!

Check out the creativity and accomplishment of this gal: http://babydews.com/.

Chris is a customer, mom, sewer, knitter, and all around great person, who makes these adorable head scarves for babies and toddlers! Her creations were recently featured in Pregnancy and Newborn magazine - whoo hoo! I also selfishly like her because she shared her knit pattern for a top-down shrug cardigan she's made and I admired - and I'll be started soon, hopefully, after I finish the February Lady Sweater (http://www.flintknits.com/blog/?p=151), which my girls love to tease me that no, it will not be finished in February!!

Our UPS guy delivered yesterday OILCLOTH! We ordered a bolt of Anna Maria Horner's line, just to see what it's like, and what we can do with it - it's beautiful, and you've got to get down to the store and see it yourself! http://annamariahorner.blogspot.com/ Scroll down to her Feb. 04 post to see it on her blog.

Arghhhh!

I'm going to gripe, and complain, and air my grievance. I just got back home from a trip to another fabric store here in town - the name begins with a J, and rhymes with Schmoann's, just to keep things anonymous. I'm doing a job making cushions, and wanted to buy a zipper by the yard to get more exact measurements, rather than the pre-packaged zippers. I also needed to buy the zipper pulls and stops, and I've never assembled a zipper before, so I stopped the 1st employee to ask if she could help, and she said "I don't sew, I'm just a stock clerk" (hmmm, I remember her cutting my fabric and ringing me up on previous visits before.) I attempted a joke, saying she needs to wear a sign as an employee there, saying 'I don't sew'. She didn't find it humorous.
The next employee at the cutting counter I asked responded, "I've never sewn zippers." Fair enough.
The cashier, though, was the icing on the cake. She rang me up, asked if I had a coupon, and when I said no, I left it at home, looked at me with complete disinterest and said "Bummer". I asked if she might have an extra one somewhere behind the counter. Her answer, with even more disinterest: "Nope."
You all have my permission to blog about me, or Jen, or Heather, if any one of us ever says to you in a disinterested tone of voice, "Bummer", when you don't have a coupon at our store.

Stitch in the where?!

It's stitch in the ditch I'm referring to. A technique that I love because it completely hides your stitching on the right/top side, but I hate because it's so hard to catch the other side of the waistband in on the wrong side. I have no photos to further describe this process, but I'm working on the apron for the Barcelona Skirt for a dear friend, Shirley, and I'll post a a picture of her modeling the skirt and apron when I'm done.

Karen, a customer, shared pics. of her latest projects: the Barcelona Skirt - layered version: (beautiful!)
and a dress she made with McCall's pattern 5785 - which I just love the cute-ness of this! Karen's review - working with the sizing was challenging - which is a common problem with commercial patterns. Thanks so much for sharing with us!

If you come into the store and salsa music is blaring, it's me listening and possibly practicing my dance steps - my husband and I are taking lessons, thanks to my New Year's resolution of trying to balance the "mom and dad" roles that take over our lives with the "husband and wife" which gets put on the back burner. The lessons are quite fun, even though it's hard to fit yet one more commitment into our lives. My only complaint is that I get easily dizzy....lot's of turns and spins and my head can't keep up!

My 5th grade daughter is mortified that one of the other couples in our class is her teacher and fiance....my husband teases her when we come home that he danced with her teacher!

Creativity flowing in our customers!

Look at this awesome Amy Butler tunic! The beautiful model is Logan, who lives in Hawaii - her mom Jo made it for her....they came to visit at Christmas and stopped by the store to meet us. Ann, one of our very favorite customers (and friend), is Jo's mom/Logan's grandmother. So it was so neat to meet some of Ann's family.
Aren't the buttons gorgeous?

And this stunning quilt was made by Kathy Albright, using all of Hip Stitch fabric! Kathy has graciously offered to loan it to our store for a bit so we can display it for customers.

Note that the quilt is pinned to another quilt in the pictures - so the blue border you see is the 2nd quilt in the background. (have I confused you enough?)

Who gives a rat's #ss?

I'll get to the title in a bit....but here are some pictures from Heather's 40th birthday soiree at Dion's Pizza a few weeks ago. She requested the place because it's a great family gathering spot - the kids could run around a bit and watch the pizza making.
Her brother and dad came into town to surprise her. I just love this photo of the her seeing them - it was a great moment!

I'm putting this one up of my daughter and her friend playing Twister at a sleepover at our house last weekend. My husband and older daughter went to a basketball game, and I had so much fun playing with these little girls! I got in on the Twister game, (great exercise!), made chocolate chip cookies which we ate warm with cold milk, and it was just a delightful evening.

Her friend got her pillow out at bedtime, and I had to take a picture of the pillowcase her mom made - look at the Hip Stitch fabric!! It looks beautiful!

And I want to share my feelings of thankfulness for the many good people in our lives at Hip Stitch. Here's one of them:

Don, with his daughter Moxie peeking up behind the counter. (and me making a goofy face) His wife Gay took the picture. They are amazing, supportive friends who have been with us every step of the way as we launched this business - with advice, guidance, and are our biggest cheerleaders!

So speaking of being thankful, I want to share a few names of those who mean so much to us:

Our landlords at Christ Ray of Hope - a true blessing and truly good people.

Our lounge regulars who share their lives with us and make our day so much brighter: Gail, Amy, Peggy, Ann.

Our fabric shopping regulars, of which there are so many, which makes us so happy, and for those, like Kathy, who make something and then share pictures with us!

Tabby and Kara, whose love of sewing just shines in them. They're so talented, and kind, and fun women!

Jess, who maintains our website and does an amazing job at that!

Emily and Portia, who are our "fabric barometers" - they're awesome women who are one step ahead of what's hot in fabric, and we love to pick their brains and absorb their creativity!

Heike, who sadly (for us), has moved back to Norway, but who found Hip Stitch on the internet when she was preparing to move to Albuquerque for a few months, and blessed us with her warm personality and beautiful little girls!

and so many more....Leanne, Bonnie, Betty, Ophelia, Cyndi, Dolores, to name a few - thank you for helping us along the way with your love of fabric and of sewing!

And now onto the title of this post....I'm writing this from my home, as my husband and girls are at a family gathering to watch the Superbowl. I haven't even turned on the t.v. today - nope, not once. I've been content to sew and enjoy a quiet afternoon/evening. So, at this annual gathering, much time goes into preparing bets, in which everyone puts in his/her guess and a bit of money. Fun bets, like "What's the 1st commercial for after the game begins?", "What's the sum of the digits of the score at the end of the 1st quarter?".

So for a number of years now, a regular bet starts off with the title "Suzanne and Jim's 'who gives a rat's ass about the game'?" (Jim is my brother-in-law, who also does not follow sports) Then an obscure question - this year's is "What is the mean of the temperatures of Phoenix, Pittsburgh and Tampa at half time?"

A long story to explain the title, I realize, but I hope it's been entertaining!