Big Industry News!

It's official, the big box retailer Joann Fabrics will be closing!

Click on the image to access the video

Joann started out as a small local fabric store called "The Cleveland Fabric Shop" in 1943.  It was renamed Jo-ann Fabrics in 1963,  combining the names of the daughters from both families that had founded the original store.  The business bought up other fabric chains during the 1990's to expand its location holdings.  It became a privately held corporation in 2011 and a publicly traded one in 2021.  

It went private again after it filed for its first bankruptcy in March last year.   When restructuring after that one failed,  they announced a second bankruptcy earlier this month and had gotten approval last week from the court to start the process of closing 500 of its 850 stores in a further attempt at restructuring by putting the chain up for sale.  While I was away recently,  I saw that initial list of the closing stores and locations in this USA Today article and learned that both my own local store as well as the one in my MIL's town where I was visiting were on that initial chopping block.

At that point there was still a question of whether the chain would completely close or would find a buyer willing to keep the winnowed down group of remaining stores open as a viable business.  As Jen in the video above reports,  what has happened instead is that an LLC formed by a liquidation company and the suppliers still owed money by Joann's have purchased the rights to the company.  This means it's curtains for the chain!

I know many quilters did not support shopping at Joann's for quilt fabric but for many just starting out and wanting to try quilting it was an inexpensive way to enter this craft space.  For myself and many other quilters it was a great source for "project filler" to balance out higher priced quilt shop purchases as well as a great source for quilting notions and other supplies like batting and storage containers at discounted prices.  Always loved using a good Joann's coupon!  I also saw a lot of videos where crafters who knit and crochet discussed how they relied on the large variety of yarns that Joann carried.

What many people may not realize is that Joann's was also a product source for many small businesses that rely on it to get materials for their handmade products.  

Click on the image to access the video

My DH and I frequently watch the videos of a young couple who are Early American reenactors and in a recent video they had talked about how the husband had sourced fabric from Joann's to create a vest (seen in the image below) in a fabric print style that (surprisingly) reflected a style that was common to the period they portray.        

Click on the image to access the video

This is also a huge loss for employees of the chain who have only had a year to plan for the possibility of losing their jobs.  At a time when so many federal workers are being pushed out of their positions, this may open up another big hole in the national labor market.

It is definitely the end of an era and I can only hope that there may be some benefit in the form of a boost to local quilt shops and small business online fabric and notion retailers to fill the gap left by the demise of this big craft retailer.  It remains to be seen if retailers like Hobby Lobby (which stocks a limited amount of fabric) and Michael's (who do sell notions but I've only recently seen start to sell Fat Quarters) may attempt to try to expand what they offer to pick up a portion of the market abandoned by the loss of Joann.   

It also remains to be seen what the long-term effects of any of this will have on the craft industry as a whole.  Two additional sources who I believe may also do some reporting on this going forward will be the Craft Industry Alliance and Abby Glassenberg on her blog at While She Naps.  It's never a dull moment in this seemingly "quaint" craft world!

September Recap: A Lot of Life and Finally A Lot of Quilt Stitching!

Unlike the Summer months, September started off with a lot more "life stuff" than quilting stuff. 

Life:  Travel and Gardening 

For the Labor Day Weekend, my DH and I went camping with some of his co-workers to Watkins Glen State Park here in New York.  It is known for its gorge and waterfalls! 

Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

One of my husband's co-workers is a Nascar fan so we also checked out the race track in the area.

We got to watch cars run the track and then visitors got to bring their personal cars onto the track and drive a few of laps around it! 

On this trip, for the drive up and back and for sitting around the campfire, I brought my "Open Your Heart" cross stitch project with me.  When we got back home I continued working on it and got another page of it completed! 

The left side of this is what I worked on. 

In our community garden, the new beds are still under construction.  

My husband and I had demo'd our old bed back in May and I had to move whatever we had in the bed into Grow Bags and keep them on our terrace until we had a bed again.  Then in June we were assigned one of the beds that had been renovated last year since the members who had that bed are no longer using it (although they are still members of our garden).

I returned the pots of mint and the Swiss Chard plants I had salvaged from our old bed although the garlic starts I had planted last Fall didn't survive the move.  I planted a new Collard start that settled in well and we were able to harvest some which we cooked for one of the meals on our camping trip.  I had also seeded a bunch of tomato plants but admit it was a bit too late of a start for those.  I also didn't go over to the garden much due to the very hot Summer weather so only two plants grew enough to fruit and ultimately neither yielded much.    

Determined to do better for the Fall, I watched videos of some of my favorite gardeners on "You Tube University" for tips on what to plant in August but then never got that done.  So I watched what to plant in September and finally got a late start on that during the second and third week of the month.   Luckily, at this point things are starting to sprout so I'll see how it goes as the Fall progresses into Winter.  

Finally A Finish!

As I had talked about in Part 1 of my July Recap, this was the month I finally quilted my "Apple Crisp" project that I started back in June. 

The full finish report is here.

 More Cross Stitch

Cross stitch is slowly but surely becoming the kind of obsession for me that quilting is, LOL!  Despite having "Open Your Heart",  two "Christmas In July" starts and the Summer Camp project going,  I started yet another new cross stitch project!   

If you've read my cross stitch posts, you know I love "snarky" cross stitch designs.  I also love that crafting (either cross stitch or quilting) helps with decorating.  I've had an area on one of my dining room walls that I've long wanted to fill.  I have plans for a mini quilt for it but had also thought about adding cross stitch to the space. Then I saw this kit and had to have it:

However, at almost $35 it was expensive for an impulse buy!  However, I realized that a lot of what was in the kit I already had in the house.  The only thing I needed to purchase was the pattern and frame.  Fortunately, the pattern was available on Etsy.  The frame looked like the ones I have purchased before: 

Sure enough it was and I ordered it, bringing the total cost of the supplies down to $13!  Score!  This turned out to be a relatively quick stitch for me and I got it done in about a week.  In order to prep it for framing,  I realized that a Gadget Fanatic opportunity also presented itself:

I'd long wanted this ruler because the pattern seen here and purchased back in 2021 needed it.  Well now I can justify the ruler purchase, LOL!  Once the cross stitch piece has been washed and cut with the ruler, it'll be ready for framing and hanging!

Pat Sloan Quilt Alongs

This month I started following two of Pat Sloan's quilt alongs.  The first is one I am actively participating in: her  "Ode To Our National Parks" Block Wednesday quilt along.  This is the first time I've been ready to participate in one of her quilt alongs while it is actively going on!  This was partially due to the fact that I knew right away what I wanted to use for it and already knew where to find them.  

I had become familiar with what was offered in Riley Blake's National Parks fabric line when I had shopped for a panel to make a quilt that will chronicle our own National Park journey.  So I mapped out which prints and colors I wanted to stash.  This is what I got:

I'll also be adding some "Grunge" and "Freckles" tone-on-tones to the mix.  One of the prints I wanted to get was the black one in the middle which was on sale at Missouri Star Quilt Co.  Ordering that gave me the opportunity to add something else to the order I had long wanted to buy:

I needed these for the other Pat Sloan project I am following!  Pat has been doing another quilt along for the "Piece and Quilt Sampler" from the book "Celebrate With Quilts" by Lissa Alexander and Susan Ache.  She is using fabrics designed by Joanna Figueroa of Fig Tree Quilts for that.  Rather than doing the sampler, I decided that when she worked on hers I'd work on catching up on my "Scrappy Figs" project.  

I was inspired to make that project when Pat made Joanna's "Christmas Figs" sampler back in 2018.  I started on this project as a self-directed BOM in 2020.  I had made a few more blocks for it back in January when the project came up on my APQ UFO Challenge list.  Now Pat can help me move it further along!  

However, one issue I've had as I have stashed Fig Tree fabrics for this project is storage.  Until now I had used this bag...

...but it was getting difficult to keep the fabric organized and to easily see what I had.  I had seen the MSQC bags earlier this year and figured they might help corral the stash.  Since I was ordering the National Park fabric (and admittedly a few other things during their Labor Day Weekend sale), I decided to also get the bags.  What's lovely is now my Fig Tree stash is neatly stored and visible!

Admittedly though while I did the cutting for one block and pulled stash for another, I didn't get to sew them up.  Sigh!  Oh well, when Pat works on this next month I'll be ahead!   

Quilt Stitching On National "Sew A Jelly Roll" Day 2024

When I saw announcements early in the third week that it was once again time for "Sew A Jelly Roll Day", I decided it was the perfect opportunity for me to continue what I'd been doing!

The term "Jelly Roll" when referring to a rolled up bundle of 2-1/2 inch precut strips was coined by the MODA Fabrics company so they take the lead on promoting this quilty holiday.   Each year they also offer fun free patterns to get your quilt along motors running!  However, all of the quilting fabric industry has enthusiastically embraced this pre-cut which can be also found under names like Rolie Polies, Maple Rolls, Roll Ups, Pixie-Strips or Bali Snaps.  So you can celebrate the day with strips no matter what they are called!

I did so last year with a kit bundled with strips from Windham Fabrics "Gala" line in order to make a quilt I'd wanted to make for years:  Bonnie Sullivan's "Over and Down Under" quilt.  

Last year I spent Jelly Roll Day cutting and piecing the parts and then finished putting the top together about a week later. I had started quilting it right after that but ran into some snags.  My then relatively new Juki 2010Q didn't seem to like the monofilament thread I was stitching with and broke constantly.  Also I had wanted to outline stitch along the "woven look" strips and my Juki walking foot didn't have a guide bar so I had to tape off the rows and columns adding considerable time to the process.  As a result I wound up setting the project aside partially quilted in order to move on to other projects.

Since that time, I've discovered some things that have helped address those problems.  I learned there actually is a guide bar contraption that can be attached to the Juki walking foot and got that.  

I also picked up some tips about working with monofilament during the virtual "Free Motion Quilting Summit" I viewed in August.  The other good news about this project is that since I am currently participating in Pat's "National Park" quilt along, I'd love to finish this quilt during that series for this reason:

I had purchased this Riley Blake Pillow Panels yardage to insert into the back of this quilt for two reasons:  the colors went so well with the strips from "Gala" and I had started the quilt right before my DH and I took a camping trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. 

I had actually hoped to finish the quilt to take with us on that trip but that didn't happen.  We were supposed to go back to the park again this year but we've been so busy with other trips that we did not start the planning for it until late.  By that time there was so much news of increased Bear activity and wildfires in the park that we decided to hold off and do the trip another time.  Good thing we did too since now there's the issue of the hurricane storm damage in that area.  Now that this quilt is a little closer to being finished, one day it may still get to the park!!

So for this year's Jelly Roll Day, I was able to move the quilting on it a little further along which encouraged me to continue stitching on it until it is complete.  It was also great to find another way to enjoy this quilty celebration whether you are able to work on an old or new project!   At this point I am about three-quarters of the way through on finishing the quilting up.  

Unfortunately, I will have to break off from it to work on a deadline project but will probably finish it up when we come back from North Carolina later this month.  

Last Stitching Project:  Heartland

In my August Recap post, I talked about finding inspiration for free-motioning a Fabric Cafe 3 Yard Quilt design that I had made the top for last year.  I had tried to longarm it at my MIL's earlier this year but couldn't get the machine to stitch out the pattern I wanted.  Armed with a design learned in the "Free Motion Quilting Summit",  I've got this one about half way done too!

As with the "Over/Under" quilt, this one will now have to wait until we return from our upcoming trip down South to be completed.  

Lastly, Another Big Quilting Industry Loss

This month I also learned of another loss to the quilting industry.  On Kimberly Jolly's Jelly Roll Day live stream, she mentioned that Daniela Stout of  Cozy Quilt Designs had passed.

I have many of Daniella patterns but admit I haven't made any yet.  Interestingly, Kimberly noted that while Moda gave the name to Jelly Rolls, it was Daniella who started the whole thing about cutting and using 2-1/2" strip cuts for workshops in her store!  Then eventually the quilting fabric industry picked up on the idea of adding strip pre-cuts to their fabric line offerings.  Once again another huge light in the industry has gone out and she will be missed!

Now that I'm all caught up, hopefully I can keep up to date on posting the progress of projects as we zoom towards the final quarter of the year! 

August Recap: RSC, Cross Stitch Summer Camp, A Favor for a Friend and More FMQ Inspiration

Re-Visiting the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

After a busy July, things did not slow down for August!  My plans for the month started off with pulling the number for my American Patchwork and Quilting UFO Challenge  list.  In the piecing category (this year I made a separate list for projects that need to be quilted), the number that came up was for my "Twisted Ribbons" project which is one of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects.

I checked in with Angela's So Scrappy RSC information page and the color for the month was Orange.  What was good is that I needed that color in my other ongoing RSC projects as well so I pulled together pieces from stash and scraps.

Unfortunately, in order to work on "Twisted Ribbons",  I would have needed my design wall and as noted in my last post, it was still filled with the layout for the Christmas Scrap Squares project so that was not possible.  

However, I took the time to review all the RSC projects and I saw that my Log Cabin Hearts is probably the closest to getting to a finished top.  So I did cut the strips needed for an Orange block for that.  I had already cut sets for colors called earlier this year.  Since the RSC page now also had the color call for September, I added added more color block sets for that too.  

Now I will be taking this project with me on our upcoming trip to visit my MIL as one of the projects for our mini quilt retreat. 

Cross Stitch Summer Camp

Every August, Sheri the Colorado Cross Stitcher hosts Cross Stitch Summer Camp.  For the months of June and July she will give prompts which guide stitchers in choosing a project to work on for it.  For August the prompt is always the same:  "Try Something New".   For me that was the perfect excuse to start a project I had come across after viewing Flosstubes discussing the new patterns that debuted at the Nashville Needlemarket in early March.  

I saw a kit for a pattern that was said would be stitched in wool.  Having made wool quilt projects, I was curious about how that translated into cross stitch.  

The wool floss is on the left.

I admit I started on this late so by the end of August had not gotten far with it.  I've continued to work on it after August and here is where it is now. 

Commissions, Commissions.....

That month I also got a quilt commission request.  A long time friend of mine called to ask if I had an "African themed" quilt I might part with.  She had a co-worker who would be traveling to that country and wanted to give a unique gift for an upcoming birthday party for her.  I admitted I didn't have one but that I did have a fabric stash as this is something on my quilty wish list!

We put our heads together and came up with the idea of me making a jewelry roll like the ones I'd made her and another friend of mine.  She picked out the fabrics she liked and I made it up.

Unfortunately, this gift was not as well received as my friend expected.  So I had to have the "Quilt Gift Reality Check" conversation with her that we quilters have come to understand:  just because you like quilts and handmade items doesn't mean that others do or appreciate them.  I even passed along a number of links to her to articles that would let her know that this is a situation that is not as uncommon as she would think:

https://www.reddit.com/r/quilting/comments/ew94tv/how_do_i_recover_from_gifting_quilts_and/

https://www.epidastudio.com/7-things-to-consider-before-giving-a-quilt-as-a-gift/

https://www.badassquilterssociety.com/stop-giving-quilts-as-gifts/

https://scissortailquilting.com/finished-projects/giving-quilts/

Although I was able to calm her down a bit,  she was still a bit miffed and at least I got something out of it too:  she has vowed to never ask me to make a gift like that to give to someone again!  That has not however, freed me of the obligation to finally get to work on the memory lap quilt she has commissioned from me for herself, LOL!!   

The other thing I was able to do was to remake a tote bag I had made for her a while back.  She was carrying that one when she went for a mammogram.  Leaving the facility, she was on the elevator with a woman who was visibly upset, having received a rather grim diagnosis.  The woman asked my friend if she could take a picture of the encouraging saying on the front of the bag.  My friend felt so bad for the woman that she gave her the bag and then wondered if I might be able make another to replace it.  

Fortunately, the panel it came from -- Ruby Society's "Pep Talk" is still readily available so I got another panel.  I still had more of the original backing fabric that I had used for her first bag and shopped for a new lining fabric.  I was also able to upgrade the bag straps to cotton webbing which I think is sturdier than the nylon webbing I used the first time.  The best thing was that I was able to deliver both to her in person, making for a nice opportunity for us to meet up as well!  

Free Motion Summit

As I had in July,  I got the opportunity to attend another virtual workshop series: "The Free Motion Quilting Summit".  Hosted by Mary Davis of Mary Go Round Quilts, this was a free three day event (although you could pay for extended access to the videos) that introduced me to many quilting teachers I was not familiar with and re-introduced me to a few I did know.  

What was a big help to me was a workshop by Adria Goode on her "Big Flower" FMQ motif.   

This is an interesting stitch pattern in that it can be used either in blocks or in borders.  If you like it too, she has the free workshop available on her website as well!  

This was just the inspiration I needed to attempt to try to finish another quilt!  I had pieced "Heartland",  a 3 yard quilt back in Fall 2023 and had tried to longarm it when I visited my MIL back in May.  

I had picked out a computerized design and sized it on the quilt but wasn't able to figure out how to get my MIL's machine to stitch it out.  Since that time I think I've figured out what I did wrong and had planned to take it back to my MIL's when we go down to visit her.  However,  I felt the "Big Flower" motif would work well on it so I decided to instead quilt this one on my DSM.  I started that quilting in September and it is currently in progress:

The longarm instruction at the Summit made me also think about my plans for the next time I get a chance to use my MIL's longarm.  To that end, I pulled out another project long over due for finishing.  Looking at it for the first time in years, I could see a new plan for quilting it on her machine.  Armed with that and a new understanding of how her machine works and how to approach longarm projects in general,  I think I'm ready to take a stab at trying to get it done.   It is now packed up to go with us when we leave at the end of the week.

A Big Loss In the Quilting World

Towards the end of August,  I read that another light went out in the quilting firmament:  I learned about the passing of Freddie Moran on Jennifer Sampou's blog.  

For most of my quilty years, Freddy Moran was always talked about for her vibrant use of color and pattern, particularly polka dots.  I gained a new appreciation of her belief that "Red is a Neutral" when I worked on Red and White quilts these past few years.   

There is another tribute to her on the C& T Publishing blog.  Two more tributes to Freddy's work (done while she was still alive) can be seen in two videos by The Quilt Show here and here.   

In honor of her passing, I picked up a copy of her book "Freddy's House".  What's cool is that the used copy I got is autographed! 

She was also well known for her collaborations with the also dearly departed Gwen Marston.  I still want to try to get at least one of the books they wrote together.  

So that's it for August!  Last up will be a summary of September!

OMG! Another HUGE Industry Announcement!!

 

Is this another nail in the quilt industry coffin or the reality of the difficulties of the publishing industry  in the digital age?   You can read Martingale Publishing's good-bye letter here.  

1/23/23 Edited to Add:  For another perspective on why this may have happened, check out Shelly Cavanna's post at her Cora's Quilts blog here.

4/8/23 Edited to Add:    For Pat Sloan's experience with the closing, check out one of her You Tube videos here (starts at about 4:44)

Well, if there are books you always wanted, now is the time to get them!  I will post the link to it here but when I went to the site, I got a "Service Unavailable" notice so their servers may have crashed or are very busy with orders right now.

As of April 2023:  there is a notice on their website that it will close down by the end of the month.  They have also shut down payment processing so purchases can no longer be made through the website. 

Wow! Didn't See This Coming.....

 

This is a shock to me since I just posted back in September about the great deal I got on some Liberty of London fabric from them in the Summer.  To hear and read more about it, you can check out  these links:

https://craftindustryalliance.org/fabric-com-is-shutting-down/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amazon-shuts-fabric-com/

https://www.theverge.com/2022/10/20/23414295/amazon-fabric-online-store-shut-down-crafting-supplier

https://bestlifeonline.com/fabric-amazon-shut-down-news/

Guess it's good I got that fabric when I did!

The End of An Era.....

 Just saw this a little while ago on Bill Volckening's "Wonky World" blog:

(Click the photo or the link to his blog to read it clearly)

 

I can't believe it!  Quilter's Newsletter has been a part of my quilting life since the very beginning.  I remember Alex Anderson (back when she was host of Simply Quilts on HGTV) saying it was the best quilting magazine to read and I immediately subscribed to it.  It's the only magazine that I've kept a continuous subscription to and have a complete collection of issues going back to 1984 (eBay has been very good to me over the years for that). 

I've always liked that QNM chronicled the quilt world in general in addition to providing quilt patterns.  While all the magazines do that now, back when I started reading QNM it offered the most comprehensive survey of quilt events and competitions (both announcements of them and
showcasing the winning quilts), profiles of famous and locally proficient quilters, historical moments in quilting history (posted on the "Bulletin Board" and "Design Wall" pages), lessons on techniques and new products and a place in their "Quilting Bee" section for quilters to share their projects or in the "Quilt Lovers Forum" and "300 Words About Quilting" to share their feelings about quilts and the quilt making process. 

Over the years they've offered insights into the business side of quilting with columns by Jeff Gutcheon in the early 1980's ("Not For Shopkeepers Only") and regular columns by quilt legends Jean Ray Laury and Helen Kelly that sparked your creativity and productivity.

It will be sad to say good-bye to this iconic publication and interesting to see what, if anything will fill the void it will leave.