Friday, September 26, 2008

Found the camera!


Excuse the stretched-out wonky tee shirt that I'm wearing, but instead, focus your eyes on the cute shrug I made in a very short amount of time yesterday! It's from the book Sew What Fleece that we carry, and I'm thinking that this would be a fun class - don't you?! It's comfy and warm (well, not yet as we're still having hot weather..), and was a breeze to make! Look for this class offered in October!







....and this was craft night! Yes, that's Heather getting a foot massage from Ann, and no, Ann will not be available at every craft night to give foot massages! (Remember that Heather's "paid" job is at Trader Joe's, so she's on her feet all day)

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Craft night fun

Last Friday's 1st craft night for Hip Stitch was a blast! If you weren't there, I hope you've been crafting something at home, at a friend's home, somewhere! I took pictures which I hoped to post, but now can't find my dang camera, so they'll have to wait 'till the next post....

So what did we do? Made eye-pods, experiemented with The Softies Kit felties (is that a word?!), knitted, crocheted, made a pillow cover, cut out pants from a pattern, ate a ton and laughed a ton, made new friends, and I don't know how, but the topic of politics actually didn't come up!!

Our next craft night is in the planning stages....we'll be offering supplies to make a corn sack, which if you don't know about this, it'll be your best friend this winter at home!

Hey, check out this link to Fancy Tiger, a sewing lounge like ours, in Denver: http://fancytiger.blogspot.com/2008_06_01_archive.html Scroll down a bit to where you see the 3 ladies in skirts they made....does some of the fabric look familiar? Some ideas as to what you can make!

We're finalizing the October calendar....hope to get it out in the next few days!

Friday, September 12, 2008

New fabrics and an apology, I think?




Here are some of the new ones just in....I wanted to get the images out to you if you haven't been into the store yet! The bottom pic. is flannel - look at the designs on them! I could go on and on about how they're just perfectly beautiful fabrics, but you just have to come see for yourself....and don't forget to check out the email newsletter I sent this week - if you're not yet on our email mailing list, get yourself on, by golly!

And now for an awkward subject.....I had a call yesterday from a very angry customer, "personally offended" (her words, not mine) that we were charging $10 for our upcoming craft night, even if one brings his/her own craft. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a word in; she just needed to vent her anger and then proceed to hang up, leaving me utterly flabbergasted. So I'd like to try to publicly make some amends for this horrible wrong we've seem to have committed.

In our minds, charging $10 goes towards: buying food and drinks to provide; purchasing materials for a craft to provide for those who don't bring their own; and towards the cost of staying open 3 hours later - lights on, sewing machines running, music playing (that would be on our PNM bill!) Granted, we don't get paid for the work we do - a sacrifice we're happy to make while we start up this new venture. But we also know that if we don't have income coming in, Hip Stitch will not succeed as a business.

So, I apologize for any offensive action we may have taken, and as we've always stated that we are customer-driven, we'd like to right our wrong by offering the following: if you would like to attend craft night and choose to bring your own craft, we ask that you pay $5.00 to go towards the above-mentioned bills (minus the cost for the craft). If you attend and choose to do a craft provided by us, we ask that you pay $10 for the above-mentioned bills. I'm also wondering that if this doesn't suit you, you may want to think about starting your own "craft night" in your own home, invite your friends, and make it free?! Our hope is that you all are happily crafting, whether it be at our place or another. Happily crafting, I repeat!

On to other news:
I made an ironing-board cover from our Anna Maria Horner's home dec. fabric - it's out in the store to give you some ideas about what to sew! It was a little tricky - I followed the "template" from the old store-bought cover, and sewing the elastic back on was a challenge, but it gives a great fresh new look!

Emily Hedrick, a customer and seller on etsy (http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5060851), has some of her bags for sale in the store. She has a great eye for putting fabrics together - and also makes beautiful "blossoms" that she attaches to the bags....come check them out!

Soon to arrive - some funky Alexander Henry bolts!