Back in the saddle!!!

So now that our next book is edited, Quilt Market is over and I am through with the 'market hangover' (tired, cranky, too many projects running through the brain!) and I've put in my time babysitting my delightful grandchildren while their parents had a holiday, and now i'm back in the saddle!!

I have updated the website so amazingly today!!! I want you all to check it out and tell me what you think!! My favorite addition is the PRE ORDERS category!! Now you pre order and see some of the great items we have coming in! I'm very excited about that!

Also, check out the information on the APQS machine rental! And please don't hesitate to drop me an email if you have any questions at all about the machines or the rental service! We are so excited about it!!! You should seriously consider taking the certification course so you can rent the machine - it's amazing how many quilts you can get done in a short amount of time! And I have to say - it's kind of a ton of fun too!!

I also changed up the little slide show on our home page! Took a few pics out and slipped a few new ones in!

As well - we have a brand new Block of the Month program!! A Quilt Patch original design! Check it out - it's called Bumper Crop. Its starts in October, and will run for 9 months. It's $19.95/month plus shipping if required, or you can pre order a complete kit for $159.95.

So now that we aren't traveling to shows - keep watching for more additions, changes, and updates to the website!!

I'd love some input from our customers what they would like to see on our website! What do you look for when you check out other websites? Do you shop for yardage on line? What do you love about our website? Dislike? I'd love to know!!

A peek at our next book!!!

So I just want you to know that I have taken a lot of flack for my hiatus from the blogashere!
Yes and I do feel suitably guilty!
So I thought today I would put together something really exciting for my grand entrance back into the blog world!!! A SNEEK PEEK!!! Cause who doesn't love to be in the know!??

Orange Night!

So all you blog followers, we can safely establish that I am a crappy blogger!! I know this will come as a complete and utter shock to lots of you (especially those who know me well....) but I just had nothing to say. I know, I know.....shocking.

So Orange Night. First of all, as you know (or not so I'm going to tell you!) Jeanne and I have our fingers in a lot of pies! (I love pie......) We own and operate The Quilt Patch. We write books for Martingale and Co. We design and publish our own line of patterns under the Quilt Patch Pattern Co. label. We have a wholesale division for our pattern company. We create a new collection of quilts and patterns each spring and each fall. We do a TON of shows, both retail and wholesale. And we design fabric. Oh ya....and we try to maintain a normal life while doing all this.

Soooooo.....what's the real secret behind our juggling ability.....are you ready for this big secret??

OUR STAFF!!

Yep. That's it. That's our secret weapon. That's how we can accomplish as much as we do. And so while we pay like crap, (but we're a lot of fun!) we do try to make sure we throw in a few perks for them along the way! Cause well, we know that to keep them with us, they must be happy!!

Which brings me to Orange Night.

And I don't mean Orange, like the fruit. I mean......

Orange....like the fabric.....

Jeanne bought and scrounged and saved and stashed a HUGE amount of Orange fabrics during the spring show season! Enough to make 8 quilts!!! Thats 8 quilts x 15 fat quarters per quilt!!

AND.....she took the time to precut all this fabric for our staff!! (I want you to know that I ordered the pizza, and that was incredibly hard work!!!) 

So we picked a night and our staff brought their sewing machines in, we ordered pizza for dinner, drank orange drinks (the adult kind!) and had a sew in!

Jeanne, Edna (Jeanne's Mom!) Jo and Yvonne

Flo - teacher extrordinare!

Jo - our office manager and resident 'know what's going on' girl!

Yvonne - second in command to Jo!

Everyone was pretty darn thrilled! We opened our packages and got down to business! Most of us completed a quilt top that evening. Some of us... (me and Yvonne) just didn't make it all the way!

Young Jeri! We'll be sorry to see her head off the University!

Jeri's ironing

Colleen - she headed up the Outdoor Quilt Festival!!

Jeanne had saved up sooooo incredibly many oranges - everything from bright orange to cheddar to pale yellowy orange and everything in between! Everyone left with an orange but different and unique quilt top!

It was a great evening! A little thank you to our hard working staff! 

I wish I had a picture of the finished quilts - but the ones that did complete theirs, whipped them away to be long arm quilted! I guess they were scared we'd change our minds......

But this is the quilt we all made:

Oversized Hopscotch

But Orange!

So the next time you are in the store, or call the store, or pick up a beautifully packaged kit....take a moment to thank our staff for doing an amazing job...they would really appreciate that. And so would we, cause we know we couldn't keep doing what we do without them!!

Big Weekend!!

Our Crescent Park Quilt Festival has been growing with every year that passes, and this year is no exception!! We have been planning and getting ready for weeks! Our staff have been cutting kits and packing the goody bags for the surprise party class!

Jo getting Goody Bag stuff ready!

Goody Bags for the Surprise Party class!

Not sure what Yvonne is doing but it looks important!!

Jeri cutting kits

Jeanne's packing area!

Jeanne has been packing lots of great stuff for display over at the park on Sunday! We have new quilts and kits, which is always exciting!

Our newest!!

Little Hoot

Close up! So cute!

We have stacks and stacks of quilts just waiting to be hung in the park on Sunday! Thank you to everyone who brought quilts!! It wouldn't be a quilts show in the park without your quilts to display!!

Stacks of quilts ready to be hung!!

Thank you Nikki!

And lots of red and white quilts!!

Our Red and White section should look pretty darn impressive! Be sure to look for the Where's Waldo quilt that will be on display!! It's pretty fun!
So remember - Sunday, July 22, 2012 - 10am - 4pm - in beautiful downtown Moose Jaw, SK. come and see the quilts hung in Crescent Park, among the trees, shop the merchant mall. A wonderful day!
And for those of you who can't make it....no worries! I will take spectacular pics and post them here!

A little facelift!!

There used to be a time when Jeanne and I would come into work and decide the shop needed a facelift! We'd spend a day or 2 moving things around, re hanging quilts, changing displays, making new ones.....well, that was 10 years ago! Before we were doing all the shows we do, writing books, attending quilt market twice a year, designing fabric and wholesaling our patterns!!
Today, if we want something like that to happen - it has to be done when the shop is closed.
Hence a Sunday! Jeanne spent all day yesterday ripping apart, moving around and rearranging the back of our shop!

We have so much stock at this point, and more on it's way....and we can't knock out walls! Good thing Jeanne is a master of using our space to it's full potential! However.....while it's happening, it does look like a bomb has gone off!

But when she completed.....it look's so fresh and new back there! It was a huge surprise for our staff to wander into work and have their world turned upside down!

So now where was I when this huge transformation was taking place?? Well, I'm a pretty smart cookie....I wisely stayed in my office - did a little book work.....then I sewed on some book projects....then I went home! So the next time you are in the shop, and you think our shop looks amazing....stop and tell Jeanne that the Sunday she worked her butt off.....really paid off!

I'm finally blogging!

So here it is, my very first post!! 

So when I asked the girls here, 'what should I write about?' the response was.....'really?! Shelley, YOU are stumped for something to say??' Oh hahahaha girls!

But I wanted to tell you about something you DON'T know! If you comes into the store, you know we are fully decorated for Christmas. If you follow our website, you know what's new. If you follow us on Facebook, you may have even seen the pics from Fall Quilt Market in Houston.

But most of you don't know where the magic happens!! Thats right, the special place where I answer your emails, write our patterns and books, send out the e-newsletters, print the patterns, and most important....where I spend most every day!

My most glamourous office!

Now, don't cringe, I happen to like my space!! I have pics of my kids and grandchildren randomly
pinned to the walls! I'm fully willing to admit I'm not the tidiest worker bee, and this keeps me far from the public eye (until now!)

Yvonne, one of our full time staff members made me this cute sign to 'pretty up' my office! My youngest son, wrote notes to me on the wall! And I'm able to pin very important items....cause goodness knows, if it hits my desk, I might never find it again!

This beast is our printer! We print all of our patterns in house, as well as all of our labels, newsletters, signage and anything else you happen to see in our store!

See those calendars behind it, that's our year at a glance! 

So that's your very first peek into some behind the scenes workings of The Quilt Patch!

Stay tuned for more! Maybe I'll show you our wholesale pattern area!!