We've been busy!

I haven't blogged for a bit. We've been busy around here lately. We're in the midst of a store remodel, and extreme store make-over, if you will. We're changing our name.....Scottie Dog Quilts is not going away....we still own the name and will continue to use it for our retreats, cruises, classes (How could we get rid of Scottie Dog Quilts University????) and we'll retain it as the brand name for our line of patterns.

But we are changing our name to better reflect our business as a whole. We are now Pfaff Sewing Machine Dealers. Yes...authorized dealers! With an authorized Pfaff repair center too! Our new name is.....(drum roll please.............) Redwood Sewing Center at Scottie Dog Quilts or as our new sign will say...just Redwood Sewing Center. We'll try to answer the phone with that name too, but it may take us awhile to get it down pat. If you want to continue to call us Scottie Dog Quilts it's ok by me. Quilters "get" the name Scottie Dog Quilts. But to the average person, we are a place that sells quilts and probably quilts for dogs... or maybe we sell dogs and accessories....or maybe it's a place for dogs to shop for quilts. They are never quite sure. So we want the average person to know what we are about: We sell sewing machines, fabric and supplies....books, patterns, notions, gifts, books and oh, yes! We have an awesome classroom with lots of fabulous teachers teaching wonderful things....sewing of purses, bags, table runners, clothing and yes, QUILTS!

Do not worry....we continue to have the largest selection of quality quilting cottons on the North Coast of CA. In fact, we've added "THE VALUE WALL" of fabrics to the back room....first quality 100% cotton from all your favorite fabric companies for $6.99! What a deal!

We are having a Grand Opening next Saturday and you are all invited. September 18 from 10-4 pm. Sales (fabulous sales on all our Pfaff sewing machines including the Grand Quilter...a mid-arm for the home quilter with an 18.8" neck!!!!) on fabrics, books, notions and more. We'll have demonstrations all day too. Come see us, we'd love to show you around the store. You'll hardly believe you are in the same place. But our friendly and knowledgeable staff is the same.

Here are a few pics of the extreme store make-over:

Mr. Scottie Dog hanging the slatwall for the new notions center. One new counter in...another to go (and what a mess!).

Moving fixtures! Our friend Lewis helping out with the telephone/computer wiring. Where's Sydney? Hiding out in a cave of fabric.
Even the bathroom got a make-over. What color do you think we chose? Today I hung the wallpaper border.Where's Sydney? Hanging out in some of the fixtures! These are now holding our 1930's collection.Sewing machines are on their shelves...Maywood's Old World Style fabric display is up...I think it's coming together!

We couldn't have done it without our awesome crew....Mr. Scottie Dog, Liz & Sydney, Laura, Crystal, Lewis and myself. Well, actually I got to do some sewing during lag times.

Here's a teaser photo of our Saturday Sampler Quilt....You can make it for only $10....well, all the blocks for only $10. Come to the store and we'll tell you how.

Whew! Telling all of this has made me tired all over again! Grand Opening Saturday, September 18. I'll post the "after" pictures then.

Kid's Quilting Camp

Every Summer here at Scottie Dog Quilts Liz holds Kid's Quilting Camp. We had an enthusiastic group this past week. They did what adult quilters do: they sewed, they ate, they laughed and joked around and they praised each others' projects. Here's a picture of the girls: In Kid's Quilting Camp the projects vary. One time it might be a bag or a throw, pillowcases, purses, wall hangings and more. This time Liz designed a darling paper foundation pieced wall hanging with gnomes, mushroom houses, trees & bushes. The Michael Miller border fabric really makes it, doesn't it! I'm hoping we make this into a pattern for sale also.All the girls were careful sewers and I was amazed how quickly they got foundation paper piecing down. It's kind of a left brain, right brain thing and for adults can be hard to grasp. But these girls "got it" right away.
Here are their blocks on day two:One of the surprises at Kid's Quilt Camp was that my daughter & granddaughter, Beka & Shiloh got to come on Thursday. We had to keep Beka's very quick visit quiet as she was surprising a friend for a Birthday party.Sydney loved to push Shiloh around in her shopping cart! Can't wait for the next Kid's Quilting Camp.

It's fun to sew with friends!

Are you a quilter, crafter, knitter and such? You enjoy creating your craft...the planning & choosing of a project, picking out your materials (be they fabric, paper, plastic, yarn, wood, etc.), beginning it, working on your creation whenever you have time. One thing that can enhance the whole process is to share it with like-minded friends. My hubby plays music. Tonight while I was working late, he and 20+ other musicians gathered at Somoa Cookhouse for a dinner with a musician from Ireland.

I like to gather with my quilting friends for Sew-Days. I went to my good friend, Loris' Sew-In a week ago Saturday. What fun we all had, laughing, eating, sewing and getting great inspiration from each other's work. Nancy made this from a Jelly Roll. I really like the squares and rectangles.

This past Saturday Laura invited us to a Sew-day.
She made the inside of this quilt from little tumblers cut on the AccuCut machine. Looks like it's being enjoyed already!

I've been working on a 1930's French Roses Quilt (Heather French is the designer). All the flowers are sewn with raw edges. After the quilt is washed they edges of each layer will fluff and ruffle. This quilt is for the small guest room bed where Sydney sleeps on a regular basis (and my Minn. grandchildren when they come too!). I'm still working on some applique (again, raw edge) for the borders.
Lastly I sewed up this, as yet, un-named Tree Skirt. It will be the 2010 Tree Skirt pattern that we kit up for Christmas. I imagine we'll do it in two Christmas lines. Watch for a matching Table Runner soon!

It's so much more fun when you can sew with others. At Scottie Dog Quilts we have Sit 'N Sews on Monday nights, Tuesday mornings and Thursday mornings. There's always a teacher there so no excuses if you can't understand what to do next! Get those UFO's (unfinished objects) finished.

A Broken Window

Just after midnight the telephone rang.....it was the Eureka Police Department asking if we owned Scottie Dog Quilts at 301 W. Harris. Affirmative. The officer proceeded to tell us that someone had broken a window and they had the culprit in custody. Mr. Scottie Dog got up, put his clothes on and drove down to the store.

Here's the story: Around midnight an intoxicated man was walking near our store. Another man was riding his bike to WinCo (a 24 hour grocery store down the street). As they passed they exchanged words. Then the cyclist heard glass breaking and turned around to see the intoxicated man groaning and moaning with a bloodied hand walking away from our store. The cyclist called the police and followed the miscreant and the police were able to apprehend the suspect and hauled him off to jail. Seems he has an anger problem and has been known to do damage before.

Bless Mr. Scottie Dog...he spent a very long hour in the middle of the night picking glass out of the window frame and off the ground and then putting up the plywood over the window.

This morning he came and took measurements for the new glass. Does anyone know how hard it rained all day long? So unusual for June, but it poured pretty much continuously most of the day. I went out about 4 pm into the damp to get this picture. The glass is in my dining room until the rain stops long enough to be installed. Thanks Mr. Dog!

What is the point of business?

People who don't quilt often ask me, "What is the point?" I think they are really asking why I own a quilt shop....after all, "Who REALLY needs to go to a store to buy fabric just to cut it up into little pieces and then sew back together when all you really need is to go to the store and buy a blanket for heaven's sake!"

They don't seem to understand what it's all about. Scottie Dog Quilts is a store like many across the world. It IS a place where you can find beautiful quality 100% cotton fabrics for quilting. Or for home dec curtains & pillows, or aprons or kids clothes or pillowcases or tote bags & purses or jackets or place mats and, of course: QUILTS!. We also sell needles and thread and rulers and cutters and scissors and such. You can find patterns and books and kits and more.

But is this really what the Quilt Shop is all about? In the past several weeks we've heard some stories from our friends and customers: Two women who live but a block apart have been the best of friends for many years. And yet, they met in a class at our quilt shop. Another sweet lady who just retired confided that she never had "girl friends" until she started coming to classes here. Now her social calendar if full of fun events and a shop full of women she feels a connection to. Another gal was telling me she always lived in awe of her artistic family members. She was the only one who wasn't talented. Then someone sent her into our store. Imagine that her mother who paints, her brother who is a sculptor and her sister who illustrates children's books are all clamoring for her to make them a quilt! She's thrilled to have found "her" niche.

Quilting is an art form that transcends so many genres. Quilts are a feast for the eye, a tactile comfort. Quilts are an art form that can exude love and caring, sympathies and delight. There is fabric for every sport, hobby, nostalgia. There's fabric for pizza lovers and chocoholics, for I Love Lucy collectors and Wizard of Oz enthusiasts, for doll collectors, stamp collectors, dog & cat lovers. Are you a guy who likes Pin-Up Girls? How about Pin-Up Guys for the ladies? Do you like polka dots? Last night I sold a gal several 1/2 yard cuts of polka dots...her queen-sized quilt is going to be made entirely of polka dots!

Quilts can be soothing, they can be celebratory, commemorate a birth, wedding, graduation or a life well-lived. Sometimes they are made simply for warmth. But they are all made with love and the process of making them allows us to create, to work through a tough time, to help us grieve, and so many other things.

What's the point of the business of Scottie Dog Quilts? The point is all of the wonderful people we meet and have an opportunity to share our lives with. And they share theirs with us. It is an incredible chance to witness the birth of artistic awakening in so very many people. Liz and I are so very blessed that we come into contact with so many of you. Thanks for the opportunity.

Christmas Parties

One of the fun things of the season is the Christmas gatherings with friends & family. We've been to one party at our Church and one at Liz's house for the Trucker's Parade. Friday I get to go to one of the local Assisted Living Centers with Sydney's Pre-School for a Christmas Party and performance by those little angels!

At Scottie Dog Quilts Creative Sewing Center I teach two drop-in classes every week. The Tuesday morning class is cohesive group of women many of whom have been in the class for 13 years or more. They often have pot luck lunches, brunches, birthday parties and more. They've had a Christmas Party for at least 10 of those years. This year it was held at the store. First off, I want to tell you these ladies can cook...boy, can they cook! None of us went hungry at this party. We had three stations....appetizers, main dishes & salads and a big table just for desserts.

We were celebrating three birthdays. Here are the three Birthday Queens: Margie, Del & Barb.
Everyone brings a gift for the exchange....we play that "stealing" game. Sydney was really excited to get to play the game this year. Here she is helping Sheila open her gift.

Here's Jan showing us that the bag the gift comes in can be a gift too...Great hat, Jan! Although I had my hands on 3 or 4 gifts, I think I went home with the best! Two jars of Jan's home canned Albacore Tuna. What a treat!

Sydney steals a gift from Del! Doesn't she look proud of herself!
Three hours flew by and we had to pose for a picture. Don't we look like we had fun!
Thanks ladies....I'm so very thankful for each and every one of you! You are a blessing to me.

The Poky Little Puppy

I'm sure every Baby Boomer has read at least one Little Golden Book in their life. I loved these little books with their cardboard covers, cute stories and artwork. The Poky Little Puppy was one of the twelve original stories published as Little Golden Books by Simon & Shuster in 1942. They originally sold for 25 cents. It is still a good seller. Since I love books, I made sure I read this one to my girls when they were little and now my grandchildren are enthralled.

And so now Quilting Treasures has produced fabric with our friend, Poky on it. Nostalgia has it's appeal for all of us.

At Scottie Dog Quilts we have several prints for sale.....








Of course there's Poky and friends playing on a grassy field.





We have this wonderful gold print....look familiar? Of course it's the same as the inside covers of every Little Golden Book.











There is even a soft book you can put together for a little one in your life.....title? Of course it's The Poky Little Puppy! I've got to make one of these. The last time I made a soft book instead of using batting between the pages I used fusible interfacing and it worked well....easy to turn pages but not so bulky.

Last, but not least we have this lovely yellow print with lots of the Little Golden Book stars....Saggy Baggy Elephant, Tootle, The Little Red Hen, Sky Kitten and more.
I'm off to sew!

Eight Years

Today is September 22 and that means that Scottie Dog Quilts has entered it's 9th year of business.

Eight years....on September 17, 2001 we opened our doors. That's just a week after 9/11. You know, THE 9/11.

I had never worked in retail, didn't know much about owning a store, but I knew the quilting world pretty well having been a full-time quilting instructor for about 10 years. I had taught quilting to children in schools. I had taught in other people's shops and at guilds and had held 3 pretty successful quilting retreats. With the encouragement of my family (especially Mr. Scottie Dog) and not nearly enough capital we opened our doors and were welcomed by the Quilters of Humboldt County.

The first year or so was pretty tough. I was the main one working in the store and when I got home I still had paperwork and computer work to do. More than once I told Mr. Dog that I felt as if I was trying to run through jello. My family helped out as much as possible and then Liz came on board full-time. Ah, ha! A college trained gal with a head for business! Together we make a good team. She helped get us on track and more professional, I knew the quilting world. I taught her how to order fabric, she taught me how to write an Employee Handbook. Together, with daughter Sarah helping out at retreats and Beka working on the website and Mr. Scottie Dog doing the financial paperwork we have grown from a small shop to a world-wide presence in the Quilting World. We have a wonderful staff that helps us out. Without them we couldn't do it at all! Many, many thanks to Judy, Margie, Geri, Katie,Lori, Laura and Stephanie! Life has it's ups and downs and the Scottie Dog Family has lost a couple members and gained some new ones as the grandbabies continue to come

All of you have become our family too! With your support and friendship you have supported us in good times and in painful ones. Liz and I agree that the best part of this business are the wonderful people who have become our customers...no, friends & family!

We've met many of the famous people in the quilting world....but none of them compares to you!

Thanks again for eight wonderful years.

Block Swap

Don't you just love this quilt. The name of the block is Cracker Barrel (or Cracker in some books). Liz made up this little quilt with 48 six inch blocks.


Years ago I participated in several block swaps through the Internet. A group would decide to do a swap, choose a block, choose a color palate and each person would make as many "sets" of blocks as they wanted in return.


Set of Blocks: a set of blocks is 8 identical blocks, made of the same fabrics. (it is easier with strip piecing to make 8 identical blocks than it is to make 8 different ones).


The sets of blocks (I would usually do as many sets as allowed so I could get the maximum number of different fabrics in my quilt) are then sent to one person who "swaps" all the blocks out. This person is known as the Hostess. I always thought it was nice to send an extra block for the hostess or a Fat Quarter or a little gift for her trouble swapping the blocks.


When sending your blocks to the Hostess you would package each set in one zip lock bag with your name on it and "Set 1 of 8" or whatever. You would also include an envelope (the Priority Tyvek ones from the post office work the best) with RETURN POSTAGE on it. I would take in everything to the Post Office, ask the clerk to weigh it and I'd put the postage on the 2nd envelope right then. Also, you always put YOUR OWN ADDRESS in the return address space so if there were any snafus it made it's way back to you.

I thoroughly enjoyed the blocks I received in return. Some were made into one quilt, some blocks were incorporated into several quilts and a few are still waiting UFO's. It is fun to know that I have blocks made by quilters in Australia, South Africa, Jamaica, and every state of the Union. They have fabrics I've never seen in any of the quilt shops I shop in. And the variety of fabrics is amazing.


Would you like to participate in Scottie Dog Quilts 1930's Cracker Barrel Block Swap? Liz is hosting one and the blocks are due October 22. She'll swap them out and put them back in the mail Oct. 26. If you are local you can just bring them to the store by Oct. 22 and pick them up Oct. 26. You can make up to 10 sets of 8 blocks. If you want to participate you can email her for all the directions, patterns, etc. Or just come by the store, sign up and ask for your Swap Packet.

Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What kind of fabrics can I use?
A: Quilt Shop Quality 1930's reproduction fabrics with white-on-white background

Q: What if I don't like 1930's fabrics?
A: Then you can choose not to participate, you can join the swap and give the quilt away, you can wait until our next swap.

Q: How perfect do my blocks need to be?
A: The swap block pattern is for a 6" block. Unfinished this measures 6 1/2" square. Your block should be no more than 1/8th off. Any blocks not following the rules (1930's reproductions, white-on-white, size, etc) will be returned to sender.

Q: Where do I send the blocks?
A: When you sign up you'll get all the info on where, when, rules, etc.

Any more questions? Just email Liz.

Sounds like fun...I'm in!