Quilting vs Watching Television

Have you ever thought about how much better it is to quilt than to watch television? Well it is.



Let me explain why.



When you quilt, you do not need to wait on anyone to do it. You simply go to the quilt shop and get some beautiful fabric, go home, cut it out and sew it up. Simple as pie.



If you want to watch television, or a movie, then you must endure the stress that I have had this past couple of weeks.



#1. My Dear Hubby wanted to get new televisions for your home. This was a perfectly legitimate thing to want to do; after all, the ones we had were purchased in 1989 for crying out loud. He also decided that we should get flat screens and high definition units so that we could really enjoy the movies and sports. Now bless his heart, he was thinking of me also, and made certain it was not just one television/dvd player for the den, but one for my sewing room also. His work keeps him traveling a lot so he figures that I would enjoy the 'company' while I am sewing. Good man.



#2. We must make a trip into Kansas City to purchase these items from a big company with two short names with a squad of people who will also come to our home to install same. This was a very necessary part of the equation since DH does not do electronic things and I quilt. This done, we come home to await the arrival of said equipment.



#3. The day finally arrives for the big company with the squad of folks to come and install the equipment. What this really means is that I have to stay home all one day to be there at THEIR convenience. Ok, not to be fussy, I did it. They came, they installed etc. Only one little bitty problem.....the dvd player in my sewing room does not work. We have to wait for the big company to call me to arrange for me to be at home one more day so they can come and install a piece of equipment that does work.



#4. A week passes, no call. I call the big company and am told, "oh you have to bring the falty equipment in and then wait for a call to install".........are we seeing a pattern here??? Nope, not happening I tell them, your mistake, you fix it. After several phone calls, each moving up one in the food chain of the big company with two names, I finally get an agreement that their 'squad' would return on yet another day that I will spend at home.



#5. Squad comes, BUT they have not brought another dvd player. They return to the store to get one and return yet again to install. It is installed and up and running, they leave. The darn thing stops running.



Now I am a patient person, but at this point I am not a happy person.



#6. Phone call to the big name company, the squad, and now the cable company and we find yet another problem. It is now apparently the cable box that is not compatible with the aforementioned equipment. Great. Now I get to take another day off to get the cable company to my house. No, they must come in the evening, not taking more time off.



Did I mention that the most wonderful husband in the world is out of town? Not his fault and I do not blame him for this. Really.



#7. Evening of the next day falls, sure enough the cable guy comes to the house. Oh no problem he says, the cable to the television in my sewing room is not 'pulling enough power', easy fix. Just add an amplifier to this and all is well. It is working. HOORAY! It is now 5:30 PM and all is well!



Until I go downstairs and turn on the television in the den. The cable box says "Weak or no signal"......................AARRGG



#8. Yet another call to the cable automated answering machine. Don't you just love those? After punching many numbers and waiting for a long time, I get a real live human being...joy of joys. I am told they will call the repairman and he will be right back to fix it. They even have a 'supervisor' call me back to reconfirm that he will be there no later than 6:30. Ok, no problem, at least I am not supposed to be working.



#9. 7:15! You guessed it. No cable guy. Yet another phone call to the cable automated system and another long wait for a human being (are they really?). He puts me on hold and calls the service man who tells him that he DID come back to my house and as he drove up he saw me leaving my house...............interesting that he could since I was on HOLD all that time with the cable company. Nope, never left. We are sooooo sorry for the mixup, can we make another appointment for tomorrow?????????????



#10. Now, some might by now be losing their patience, or their tempers. Not me, not the kind, loving, understanding quilt shop owner that I am. I would never think twice about having to be away from the shop for yet another day. Or even consider how much this type customer service excites me. He will be at my home tomorrow evening, yet again.



Now, I have made the conscious decision that I do not want to watch television, movies or anything else. I want to just sit quietly and quilt. I want to hear only the sweet hum of my sewing machine and watch the beautiful passage of small pieces of fabric into larger pieces of quilt blocks.



I want that so much, I will probably start a new project just to celebrate the simpler things in life.

And I will use this experience to examine the customer service in my store. If any quilt shop offered the extremely poor service that I have encountered, they simply would cease to exist. As quilters we want it simple, we want it nicely, and we want it with a smile. That is just not too much to ask for, is it?

Retreat from Old Man Winter

Have you had enough winter? I certainly have. I am ready for a great retreat. Someplace I can eat a lot of good food, go and sew all day, eat a lot of good food, shop for great things, eat a lot of good food; did I mention eat even more CHOCOLATE?

Have you signed up for such a thing? I have! The Legendary Quilting Retreat is a happening place on March 5-7 at The Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City. Join us for all the fun.

You will check in on Friday afternoon to a beautiful room that includes a microwave, refrigerator, tv and full sofa, plus a balcony, and then sew all evening. On Saturday you can sew all day on your own project or you may participate in the FREE Mystery Class taught by our own Dana Brue (Dana is from Atlanta and if she does not have you speaking Southern before the day is over, you are never going to learn!). She is a delightful person and a great teacher. You will be provided fabric requirements and cutting directions ahead of time so you may use your personal collection of fabrics or choose from one of three kits we will be offering.

In the evening you may sew if you choose or you may come to the shop for an all-out Death By Chocolate desert event. We will have lots of fun things for you at the shop including discounts and special items. Not to mention more chocolate than anyone needs. (humm, did someone say wine?????)

On Sunday you may sew all morning or try to work off some of that chocolate by shopping around The Legends shopping area.

The Great Wolf Lodge is providing special pricing on all the Spa treatments for our retreat members and The Legends' shops will provide you with many discounts for their best shops and restaurants.

Each participant will receive a new tote from The Quilters Quarters that will be filled with fun quilting items as well as a FREE QUILT KIT (just in case you run out of anything to sew on).

Space is limited so don't wait too long to sign up.

Do you ever wonder what a group of quilt shop employees do in their spare time? For Christmas this year the staff and I adopted a family from a local charity organization and began to be Santa's for this young family. The father (21) had just lost his job and the mom (20) was a stay-at-home mom with two small girls (18 months and 2 1/2). We had a ball shopping for these people.

When we had our staff dinner at my house, we wrapped all the gifts and had them ready to deliver the next week. One of the staff even donated a beautiful wooden rocking horse that was her grandson's. She said it had no one to ride it and she knew it would be well loved in its new home.

These ladies were more than generous with their time and money and hopefully, helped make the holidays happier for a young family. I am posting photos of the wrapping party.

Happy New Year

Welcome to 2010! Did you see the ball drop in Times Square on New Year's Eve? It was beautiful. Well, I have decided that we cannot let the ball drop on a very good program this year. American Patchwork and Quilting is sponsoring a 1 million pillowcase challenge. The idea is to donate at least 1 million pillowcases to charity.

The Quilters Quarters is going to participate in the challenge and we invite you to join us. If you purchase one pillowcase kit from us at regular price, make a pillowcase and return it to us, we will give you a $5 gift certificate that can be used on anything in the store (excludes more pillowcase kits). You can return ANY pillowcase and as many pillowcases as you want.

The way it works is simple. Buy one, donate one, get $5. You may keep the ones you purchase for your personal use if you want to and use your stash to make the donation one. We don't care what fabric is donated so long as it is new cotton fabric. Use some of the stash that is sitting unloved on your shelves and get new for your use. The person who receives your pillowcase will love it as it will be new to them.

Want $100 in gift certificates? Order 20 kits, return 20 pillowcases and you will receive $100 to spend on anything in the shop (excluding pillowcase kits).

Let's see how much good we can do for those who need it. We will start with the local shelter for donations and if we fill their needs, we will move on the other charitable organizations. The sky is the limit on this one. Make a new one for each of your children and grandchildren, donate one each of their names.

We will be adding new kits each day or you can just tell us you want a "1 Million Pillowcase Kit" and we will choose a pretty one for you.

Join us to have some fun and make some people very happy. This is an on-going project for the entire year of 2010!

Black Friday? Not at The Quilters Quarters

The day after Thanksgiving is unfortunately called "Black Friday". This name really means that the retail stores can be "in the black" for the season with all the sales, but it sounds so negative. I think a lot of folks think it means because of the crowds shopping, it is a black day indeed.

At The Quilters Quarters, we think of the day after Thanksgiving as a technicolor day. The shop originally opened on the day after Thanksgiving in 1996, 13 years ago. A lot of people thought I was crazy to do that since so many people hit the malls to shop, they figured I would not have anyone show up for the opening of my little quilt shop. They were wrong.

I soon learned that there are a lot of people like me, who would rather take a beating with a rubber hose than go to a mall on the day after Thanksgiving. A visit to a pleasant, easy going quilt shop is far superior to that frenzy.

We have come a very long way in the past 13 years and it is all thanks to you. On official Thanksgiving day, we will enjoy time with our family in the normal way, but on Friday, we enjoy the gift of your friendship and loyalty for all these years (and all year round). That is truly Thanksgiving at The Quilters Quarters.

Join us if you can for a quiet day, come and sew if you want, visit, chat, enjoy some warm apple cider and cookies. Relax and just enjoy the company of other quilters.

Thanks to you, we continue to grow and quilt.

Have you seen the new Patriotic Gammill? This was created to honor the Quilts For Valor association. This is such a beautiful machine, more beautiful are the many, many volunteers who spend their time making quilts for soldiers wounded while defending our freedom.



As our country is in mourning for the soldiers who were killed or wounded at Ft. Hood, I pray we keep all service men and women in our hearts and prayers. We owe a debt we could never repay.


Thank you to those who serve and those who care for them.

Did you ever secretly think about having an affair? Come on now, be honest. Well, we just finished our first affair....Quilt Sampler Affair that is. Friday and Saturday we hosted the first Quilt Sampler Affair with the other 5 quilt shops in the greater Kansas City area who are also Quilt Sampler Magazine shops. What a fun time we had.

Friday the weather was the pits. It was cold, rainy and windy to beat the band but that did not stop ya'll from coming out in droves. Each shop served refreshments and we all offered a free pattern for one 12" and two 6" blocks and kits for only $8 for all three. Each shop did a great job of creating a beautiful quilt for you to enjoy with kits available.

Saturday turned out to be a much prettier day with sunshine and warmer temperatures.

Of course, I am prejudiced, but I think ours was the best. We call it Christmas In Times Square. It is hard for you to see in the photo but we put Swarvoski crystals and buttons on the quilt to add some Christmas glitz. It is so well received and we are taking orders for both the pattern and the kit.

The grand prize was one $100 gift certificate to each shop and each shop had one basket holding well over $200 in merchandise. Needless to say, we had some very happy people after that.

We have our next one planned for October of 2010, hope you can join us at that time.