Black Friday at Hip Stitch!!!

Black Friday Sale at Hip Stitch Measure Up Your Savings this Friday! Dear Crystal, We are so excited to be offering our VERY FIRST BLACK FRIDAY SALE!!!  No waiting out in the cold at 2 am.  Go do your morning bargain hunting, eat a good lunch, then stop by the Hip Stitch for treats and DEALS! We will be open SPECIAL hours 1pm-5pm.

Win a 2 Night Stay at Villas De Santa Fe Come in and be entered for a 2 night stay in a lovely resort in Santa Fe.  ONE entry just for coming in the door!!  The more you buy, the more entries you get!  ONE additional entry for EVERY $20 you spend.  Drawing will be held at 5pm. (need not be present to win) This 2 Bedroom accommodation has one king in the master bedroom and two doubles in the guest bedroom. Gas fireplace, 2 bathrooms, living room, kitchen and more!  Just a few minutes walk from center city! Dates for the 2 Night Stay: 7Dec-9Dec 2BR sleeps 8 Our Price: FREE Valued at over $300.00!! Also On Sale.... You asked for them...WE GOT THEM!  25mm and 40mm Acrylic Snap Grommets!!! In a RAINBOW of colors to choose from.  You are going to go loopy for our NEW GROMMETS!  Will be available starting BLACK FRIDAY! Our Price:  25mm $3.00  40mm $4.00  pack of 2

Fray Stoppa Our Price: $1.50 List Price: $3.45 101 Quilt Basting Spray Our Price: $3.00 List Price: $10.60 Magnetic Snap Closures 18mm Our Price: $1.00 List Price: $2.00 3/4" Metal Grommets Pack of 10 Our Price: $2.00 List Price: $4.00 1/2 off Dritz Notions Our Price: $.90-$5.00 List Price: $1.80-$10.00 Free Button Cards One Free Button card with every $20 Spent! LOTS to choose from! Our Price: $FREE List Price:  $2.00

So Bring your Mom, Sister, Friend or Official Purse Holder and come spend Black Friday Afternoon with Hip Stitch! We are located at : 505-821-2739 E-mail us: hipstitchabq@yahoo.com 7001 San Antonio NE, Suite P Albuquerque, New Mexico  87109

Classes.....and a sad note

What's being created:

An adorable Gum Drop Pillow by a sweet teen, Alex....such a joy to teach! (girl and pillow!)

Beaded Crochet class from a few Saturdays back......another class scheduled in January - don't miss it!


There was a message on the store phone about a week ago......Elizabeth, Tom's daughter, called to tell me he had passed away.  Remember Tom?  He was my regular - we'd sit together weekly, and sew, and drink coffee or tea, talk about many of life's great mysteries (things like understanding people, managing stress, how we were going to make a million on our various sewing ideas).  I hadn't seen his obituary until now.....(that hat he's wearing in the picture? He made it!)

DAVIES -- Thomas "Tom" Davies, 59, a 10 year resident of Albuquerque, and native of Seattle, WA, passed away on Monday, November 8, 2010. Loved husband, father, brother, grandfather, uncle and friend. He will be remembered as an Army veteran, small business owner, office equipment repairman, teacher, abstract painter, avid gardener, mad scientist, leather-clad motorcyclist, coffee enthusiast, fashion icon, Hip Stitch member, life coach, cartoon aficionado, race-car driver, creative chef, animal lover, nontraditional problem solver, amateur pyrotechnician, irrepressible optimist, car collector, rockin' roller, king of Spring Beach, captain of 4th of July, Tompy and Daddy-o. A private memorial will be held for family and friends on Sunday, November 14 at 1:00 pm. Services will be held at Santa Fe National Cemetery on Monday, November 15 at 1:30pm.

You're greatly missed, my friend!

A new store!

I feel like I've finally recovered from our big store re-model......I'm in awe when I walk in each day that this is Hip Stitch.  Thanks to wonderfully creative, hard-working gals (and a few guys): Crystal, Ali (and husband Josh), Julie, Bralia, Kathie, Diana, Kim, my husband Dan and our kids, the store has been transformed.  I took a few 'during' pictures, but look here at Crystal Humble's blog to see before and after shots. (yes, all those bolts of fabric are now at Hip Stitch!)
Here are some shots of the transformation:

Five of these arrived at the store yesterday:

 ....the perfect holiday gift for the little sewer in your life!

And finally, here's Ellen and her friend Kat, wearing their aprons they made last night.......

......and Ali, in her wedding dress, who stopped by the store on her way to a photo shoot to "Trash the Gown"....

.....after all, when a girl needs some Jelly Rolls, she's gotta come by Hip Stitch!

Customer Nan came into the store last week & showed me this bag she had made from the Far Far Away & Kokka fabric collections:

A simple drawstring sac, to wear over your shoulder....wonderful!

Halloween is past, and our living room floor looks like an airplane dropped a bomb of candy....but at least they've neatly organized everything......so I can weave my way around the piles to get to the sofa.  Such sweet memories of my childhood....getting home Halloween night and counting, organizing, relishing the large piles of the good stuff, tossing aside the Bit O' Honeys and other such rejects.

Costumes were completed (thank you, Crystal, for helping finish Claire's!)  I had Violet Baudelaire (Lemony Snicket) and Moaning Myrtle (Harry Potter) out trick-or-treating:

And finally, Saturday's Beaded Crochet class produced some beautiful work:

It's been a busy, yet fun, time here at Hip Stitch.....

Customer Jennifer came in to share this adorable- reversible - jumper she sewed.....using our Moda fabric and brown corduroy.  That is one special little girl who gets to wear it!

We have 2 new teachers!  I'm so excited to welcome Melisa Hart and Shirley Kay Wolfersperger.  Both of these women are enormously talented, and I feel very fortunate to have them at Hip Stitch.  Look for a schedule very soon of classes they'll be teaching, as well as more about them......

Coming soon......flannel, in Funky Monkey.  Some really adorable prints!  Alexander Henry fabrics - a few we've had in the past, but went too quickly - back again.....I'll post some pictures soon.....

I occasionally get to join in on a class......I'm taking Pants with Sharon Hatcher.  I'm going to make....JEANS!  Last week, in class #1, I made pattern pieces from my favorite pair of jeans.  This week, I'm going to make a mock-up w/muslin.  And next week, the real deal - sewing with denim!  Stay tuned......

Coming in early November, a remodel of the store - I'm so excited!  Look for more info. in the near future!

And lastly, some photos of.....fall in New Mexico!

Whether they know it or not, Ellen and Alexandra (Ali) are inspirations to me every day as I try to branch out in photography......it's out of my comfort zone to look for shots that are, well, more artistic...thank you, gals, for your beautiful photography!

Saturday at Hip Stitch was the Notepad Cover class, taught by Lois Warwick.  I didn't have my camera, but whipped out my cell phone to get a picture of this one, made by Julie.  She chose Anna Maria Horner's Innocent Crush for the outside:

 

It was stunning!  Alas, I didn't get shots of the other ones made - but they were just as adorable.

It's that time of year......Halloween costumes!  This may be my last year of making costumes for my girls.  Actually, only one - my 7th grader, Jane, will probably just throw something together, because  I don't think it's all that cool to wear a costume sewn by mom anymore!

(no, my feelings aren't hurt)

So for Claire, I'm making this:

Now, before you start thinking I'm making a trampy costume for my 10 yr. old, I'm going to alter things a bit to make her into this LITERARY character:

Violet Baudelaire, from Lemony Snicket.  So I'm making the LONGER version on the pattern, and we're going to add some sleeves and maybe some fishnet hose on her arms? (I think that's be the easiest thing rather than trying to make long sleeves out of fishnet fabric)  And then I'll cry because my Halloween-costume making days are coming to an end......or maybe I'll feel a sense of relief, too!

Kids & zippers & lots of fun

Saturday wrapped up Part 2 of the zippered bag class for kids.  The girls left with finished bags, all different fabrics, all with different experiences to remember.  Hannah learned how to change a machine needle, as hers broke on a zipper.  Natalie, who'd never sewn before this project, finished Saturday and went on to make an apron for herself - no pattern, just an idea in her head.  Aline, a very experienced sewer, patiently waited at times as I helped the newbies, and took the time at the end to hand-stitch a spot where the zipper end showed through her bag (this greatly impressed me....her attention to detail)  Cambree learned that sometimes, the backstitch function on a machine just DOESN'T work!!  Emma finished her bag and was so excited to keep sewing that she whipped up a mini pillow, stuffed and all.

So here they all are, with finished bags:

All in all, a good afternoon.....and I hope to work with them again, because they were just so darn fun to spend time with!

In the meantime, fabric that's on it's way to the store:

I ordered 7 bolts of my very favorite colors and patterns from this collection.....I didn't love ALL of it, but it was hard to narrow down what to select.  I hope it will be here by end of week!

Hope to see you at the shop soon!