StitchCraft Open Today!

StitchCraft will open today at 10:00 am!  What is StitchCraft?  it is Three Crafty Quilters and then some!  We wanted to be more inclusive to EVERYONE who loves to create with a needle and thread, so we have expanded.  We will have the wonderful Baby Lock sewing machines (arriving later this week), displayed on gorgeous Koala sewing furniture (and the most comfortable chairs!).  Our Handi Quilter long arm machine was assembled yesterday and will be ready to run soon!

We couldn't wait to share a peek, so we used our camera phones.  See it in person to appreciate the colors and light.  We are open today at 10 - yay!!  Follow us on Facebook for regular updates and cool things we will be doing at the shop (like bolt-of-the-day!).

Road Trip in the Midwest

Having a fabulous time in Missouri at Baby Lock headquarters!  A full week of intensive training with the nicest people around!  Everyone at the company has been unbelievably friendly and accommodating and we have learned lots.  The group that is training together is a super group from all over the country and we have been sharing ideas and information and bouncing our plans off of each other.  Two of the gals in the group are from nearby Jackmanns, which has two shops in Missouri/Illinois.  We took a road trip there last night and it was such an inspirational field trip!

There were so many wonderful samples and merchandising ideas (which I photographed but will not post because of copyright issues.  I am proud to respect other shop owners and their designs!)   Nancy and Diane were our wonderful hostesses - they work in their Baby Lock department.

They have machines, quilting fabrics, every thread imaginable, tons of embroidery patterns (watch out, friends, I am loving the machine embroidery capabilities!), and home decor fabrics.  Wonderful.

We are finishing up today and heading back home to move the shop.  Will need to keep the caffeine flowing - although I think the adrenaline from the new shop excitement will be fuel enough!  cheers!

Crafty Quilter (and Animal Lover)

Lisa is a wonderful quilter and sewer and has created this spectacular quilt using a lot of Kaffe Fassett fabrics.   Isn't it gorgeous?  (She made her dress, too!)

I added the animal lover as, Lisa is the owner of Fins, Furs and Feather - a pet supply store that is an institution in Boca Raton.  Located at 1975 North Federal Highway (at 20th Street) in Boca Raton, the shop offers what the pet chains stores do not - and that is knowledge of pets and appropriate products and a selection of natural, healthy products for all animals.  Long before I quilted I bought my Red Barn dog food at Fins Furs and Feathers (the only local shop that carried this food that was recommended by some dog breeders).  Over the years we have added bird, fish, hamster and hedgehog food to our shopping list.  They always know what to recommend and are advocates of healthy, homeopathic alternatives to keeping our loved ones feeling and looking their best.  Lisa won't even know of this plug for her shop - she is not a computer girl!!  She is a beautiful person with lovely sewing and quilting skills!

September is National Sewing Month!

(every month should be National Sewing Month and National Quilting Month, but I digress)

We are excited to have representatives from the local American Sewing Guild groups at our shop on September 17 to celebrate and share information on the ASG.  We will have refreshments, door prizes, and more.  More details will follow here and in an email - but mark your calendars to stop by the shop!

Baby Lock Tech 2011

Thank you, St. Louis!

We had a great time at Baby Lock Tech 2011!

Johanna and Shirley have returned from the 2011 Baby Lock Tech, the annual convention for all things Baby Lock and affiliated businesses.  It was a blast!  Being the newest dealers there, we think, we just soaked up the excitement and knowledge from everyone participating.  Saturday night kicked off the weekend  - themed Go for the Gold!  Being our first time there, we enjoyed the speakers telling us the history of this family owned and operated (3rd generation) company.  From the people we met, we could feel the family atmosphere.

We took many classes and attended many seminars.  We both attended the Serger Line-up workshop, where we used all of the sergers.  Must say we are in LOVE!  Couldn't contain my excitement when I used the ruffle foot and thought how much easier it would have been than using a gathering stitch and gently pulling (and pulling) for our Maggie bag.  

While Johanna attended the seminar introducing the Ellisimo Gold and the amazing embroidery capabilities, Shirley did some heirloom sewing on a beautiful shirt.

We attended some Sashiko workshops, including this mini quilt workshop.  Did you know you can mimic hand embroidery with the Sashiko?  In addition to the tradition stitch that looks like hand sewing and quilting, you can get the look of a stem stitch, cross stitch, seed stitch and feather stitch.  

We met a lot of WONDERFUL people, and Barbara Randle was one of them.  She is a talented artist who teaches bobbin work.  Shirley switched into her class so she could learn some of her techniques.  The results, using a special bobbin case, are stunning!

Her bags are gorgeous (she also does super cool lampshades!!).  We can't wait to have her at our shop!!!

The trip was inspiring!  We came home with heads filled with ideas for classes, techniques, much more sewing and quilting knowledge, and lots of new friends.  And we will share them all with  you!!

New Floor for the New Store

Now if only we had the permit we could do the walls!

And the Winner Is....

Three Crafty Quilters is proud to announce the winners of the very first Crafty Challenge.

(The challenge was so popular we had to have a second fabric and so we have two winners - one for each fabric!)

Congratulations to Sue Wiggins, winner of the check fabric challenge.  The judge was impressed with Sue's design an hand applique skills.  

Congratulations to Charlotte Noll (not pictured - yet) and her beautiful mosaic wall hanging using the lavender fabric.  It was a beautiful, original, design.  

Special thanks to our special judge, Becky Sanders, who is the director of the Art School at the Boca Raton Museum of Art .  Not only has Becky quilted, but she is surrounded by all mediums of art and fine craft at all times.  We thought that made her a perfect choice to judge a craft challenge using fabric!  She was so impressed with the wide variety of projects and skills of our talented participants.    We all agree!  

There is still time to vote on Viewers Choice, so stop by the shop, see the projects, and vote for your favorite!

Construction Update!

Bye Bye walls!

More to come!!

Three Crafty Quilter's First Annual Crafty Challenge

Personalize a free digital slideshow

Vote for your Viewer's Choice!!

Let the Construction Begin!

So, my crafty quilting peeps, if you are interested in watching a boring old office become a happy little quilting and sewing shop, look no further.  I will be photographing the process  along the way.

The staff is out.  The used furniture dealer came today to haul away the old pieces.  This is what it looked like at 9:30 this morning.

My husband says this build in has to stay.  So his former office will be cut in half to make a little office and room for a long arm!

The future class room (will be wider when we move the wall!)

Say goodbye to some of these walls!  This bright corner will make a nice sitting space out side of the classroom, don't your think?

More photos tomorrow when the walls come tumbling down (singing John Cougar Mellencamp in my head :) )

Quilters Take Manhattan

That is what Johanna and Tammie did this past weekend.  It was also the title to the festivities held by the Alliance for American Quilts.  We flew up to NYC on Friday and first paid a visit to our favorite New York quilt shop, City Quilters.  they are a lovely group of ladies in that shop and a must see when in the big apple.  Don't miss their exclusive New York City fabrics.   Being in a fabric and design state of mind, we enjoyed the Broadway show Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and it's most amazing costumes.

Saturday was the day of AAQ events, the first being speakers and a 'Save our Stories' interview at the Fashion Institute of Technology.  Like minded quilty individuals gathered to hear Marianne Fons and her daughter Mary Fons talk about their stories, as well as AAQ board members talking about the programs and mission of the organization.  Mark Lipinski,  who wears many hats in the quilt world, did an interview with Jay McCarroll, winner of the first Project Runway and fabric designer for Free Spirit.  Jay had some of his fashion designs modeled by Alliance board members.

We had the opportunity to mix and mingle with Mark and Jay as well as New York Times best selling author Marie Bostwick and quilter extraordinaire Paula Nadelstern.

shown:  Meg Cox, Alliance for American Quilts director, Tammie, Victoria Findlay Wolfe, AAQ board member, Paula Nadelstern, Jay McCarroll, Johanna

Johanna and Tammie had a lot of laughs with Mark Lipinski and Marie Bostwick.

Talking thread with Alex Veronelli from Aurifil Threads.

Saturday evening found us back at City Quilter for a reception with all of the guests from the day event.  It gave us an opportunity to talk more with some of the very nice peeps from the world of quilting, like the lovely Fons ladies.  It was the final night for the Noriko Endo gallery show (the gallery is the first of it's kind to focus solely on showing quilts).  The highlight of the evening?....

Tammie won the door prize!  A quilt from City Quilter!!  Good weekend - good times!

For more information on the Alliance for American Quilts, visit their website.  We will also have a member from the AAQ visit us in Florida some time this year.  

Charming!! New Charm Packs from Kaffe Fassett!

Can we say "it's about time?"  For all of you Kaffe Fassett fans, we have just received charm packs from Kaffe Fassett!  They are in color ways of blue, red or green (for those of you who quilt with his fabric, wish you did, or just admire and collect it, you know it can be a task to collect a wide variety of patterns in the same tones!)   Still waiting for the jelly rolls! (should 'roll' in any time now.)  The log cabin quilt you have been admiring that was created with  Kaffe fabrics -you will be able to quilt your own!

Delicious!!

Crafty Quilter!

Rosalie decided she wanted to learn to quilt.  And boy, did she!

She chose the batiks (which as usual don't show up well on my iphone photos), did a beautiful job on the quilting, and the result was a lovely table runner.  Of course, she has already started on her next project and has joined up with our wonderful Friday girls.  Way to go, Rosalie!

Crafty Quilters!

Last week we had a wonderful array of super quilters in our shop!  And you know how much we love show and tell!  We grabbed the iphone several times to share some of the wonderful works with you.

Katherine created this wonderful contemporary quilt with Tula Pinks' Prince Charming jelly roll and a solid.  You would never believe that she is a new quilter!  Wonderful job!  I think we will be seeing some special quilting from this girl!

 Carol never ceases to amaze us with the gorgeous quilts she shows us. (Carol has generously created and donated nature inspired quilts to raise funds for Gumbo Limbo Nature Center)  Last weeks' show and tell featured some spectacular batiks (some that were purchased at our sister store, Three Crafty Ladies, in Sanibel).

Suzanne created this quilt of her own design using the Twister template tool, combined with piecing and applique flowers.  We loved her creativity with this tool, as well as the colors!

We hope you enjoyed viewing the wonderful array of quilts from our Crafty customers as much as we did.  We will be putting more up on the blog regularly.  So, crafty quilting friends, if you have a quilt that you would like us to feature, please stop by the shop or send us an email.  Happy Quilting!!

Fresh Fabric Bag

Is this not the cutest little bag you have seen in a while?

From the new book Fresh Fabric Treats and sewn with our Riley Blake fabric and vintage buttons.  I loved putting this bag together.  I see some gifts in my friends' future!  Couldn't you see this in all kinds of different fabrics for perfect gifts?

Glorious Apple Pie

Friday is our Sit and Sew - or Sew-cial, and it has become a nice gathering of wonderful and creative women.   Everyone shares their ideas, stories and  tips,  (as well as laments, recipes, other craft instructions and on and on).  We were treated to some AMAZING birthday apple pie courtesy of talented quilter, sewer and beader (and baker) Carol K.

Thank you Carol - it was delicious!  While we were enjoying pie, she was finishing up a skirt she created out of some beautiful Benartex border fabric.  Carol promises to have it photographed when it is finished and she is fashionably coordinated.

Second Week Sale!

In case you did not get our email blast, we are having a new special sale each week during the month of July.  This week you can receive 20% off of quilt kits and select precuts.

Above is just a small selection of what is available.  We also have Halloween hat kits, Quilts of Valor kits,  lots of jelly rolls and more!   Sale items are while supplies last and this weeks' sale ends this Saturday, July 16.  And while you are in, come see what is new (Danish fabric for the holidays!)

Crafty Quilter!

You all know that we LOVE when our customers bring in quilts for show and tell.  Today we had the pleasure of seeing Mary's wonderful quilt that she made for her son.

You can't see the quilting in the photo - it each white center block has stars that connect with the swirly pattern in between.  It was quilted up north and is simply stunning.  Beautiful work, Mary!  Keep quilting and bring them in for show and tell!!

Happy Independence Day

From all of our at Three Crafty Quilters, we wish you a

 safe and happy Fourth of July!

Santa Has Arrived

We call our fabulous UPS guy 'Santa' because he brings us 'gifts' every day.  I can't imagine that he has a delivery location as welcoming we are!!  So what did Santa bring us lately?

Kate Spain, wonderful Moda Fabrics designer, has done it again with a colorful, happy line of holiday fabrics.  A great panel will inspire you, and the fabrics and precuts will have your creative holiday juices flowing.  Beat the heat and think holidays!!

I couldn't resist, can you?

The coordinating owl fabric and blenders will make a great quilt (and bag, pillow....)

Stop by Three Crafty Quilters and see what else is new!!!

Challenge!

Thank you to everyone who has signed up to play in our 1st annual Crafty Challenge!  We gave out the challenge fabric so quickly that we chose a second fabric (and that is gone, too!)  So exciting!  Not sure what we are talking about or need a refresher of the 'rules'?

A challenge fabric (our choice, all the same, and a mystery until pick up) will be used to create something - anything really.  Fabric can be used to quilt or sew, can be altered and embellished - but not hidden (no lining bags or backing quilts)  Participants will have until August 15th when they will bring in the challenge project (or have photos in to us if they are out of town.)  Prizes will be given and the creations will be on photographed and displayed for all to see!

Missed out?  Don't worry, we will do it again!  It is so wonderful to see the support and enthusiasm for our shop - we are so thankful for our customers and enjoy each and every day working with you!

Three Crafty Ladies, our sister shop in Sanibel, is doing a challenge, too. It is our second year.  To see photos from last years' challenge, check out last years' blog post here.

Happy creating everyone!!