Just in case you stopped by....

I noticed that we still get visitors on this site.  Thanks so much for coming by!  We still miss YBA terribly and all our wonderful customer/friends.  Amy has moved to Madison, WI and is working at UW Hospital in Human Resources as a software trainer for Epic.  It's one of the medical record keeping programs that's out there.  She is still making things - sewing and making jewelry -and wishing she was making her living through quilting. 

After what seemed an eternity, our country home sold, we moved to town ~ into the sweetest little 1896 house (which we were still rehabbing...) to live amid chaos and stacks of boxes for the past 4 months.  Now that the construction dust has cleared, literally, all the rest of the furniture came out of storage and we're almost living in the house like normal (well, as normal as we've ever been) - meaning that there is furniture to sit on and we can find clean underwear everyday now!

And so, the point of this is that I'm finally, finally able to turn my energy back to my studio and living as a creative person.  I've performed virtual CPR on my blog Summer Kitchen Quilts and I'd like to invite you to come on over and visit a bit.  I'm starting a monthly post (2nd Friday of every month) about women who have truly inspired me by the way they live.  It's so inspiring to get to know someone who has  faced daunting challenges and not only overcome them, but triumphed over them in a meaningful way that changes their life in an amazingly positive way.

This month I want to introduce you to Sue Spargo .  We met Sue when she came to Yellow Bird Art to teach workshops.  Over the course of four years we came to know Sue not only as a teacher, but as a friend.  Her life story is a real example of courage and creativity.  Come on over, girlfriends!


Blessings ~ 
Angela 

Last day of business

Hey there all you sweet birds!  Today was our last day of business. I want you all to know that I am going to miss you! You, my dear customers and friends, have absolutely, without a doubt, been the best part of having the shop. I have been richly blessed. Many of you have asked what mom and I are going to do after closing the shop...

What's Amy going to do?
The first thing I'm going to do is take some time off! I'm going to work in my garden, visit with friends and family, and just relax. I'm going to finish up some of my WIP's (Works In Process!) and get back to some hobbies I've been neglecting. I'm excited to get back to making jewelry- I'm working on a new line of jewelry that will be available in my etsy shop: www.etsy.com/shop/louieandbella. Yep, that's right, Louie & Bella is the name of my jewelry business, and the name of my new blog as well. I don't have anything posted yet, but hope to have a blog post, and some new jewelry up on etsy, next week. Come visit me and see what I'm up to at http://www.louieandbella.blogspot.com/.

What's Angela going to do?
Angela and George are currently trying to sell their gorgeous home in the country, outside of New Albin, IA. It's a wonderful farm (not a working farm though) in a valley with 2 spring fed ponds and it is so incredibly beautiful. I grew up there, so I may be a teensy biased, but if you look at the pictures on their website, you'll find that I'm right. :) Check it out at http://www.2861blairroad.com/. They've already found their new home- a little dream of a house in New Albin, IA, so they're waiting for for the right person to come along and fall in love with the farm in the valley.

And, as you read in the previous post, Angela is also very excited about her new little venture, Summer Kitchen Quilts. There is a lovely little summer kitchen at their new home in New Albin, which will be finished off once their country house sells, and will house her new little shop. However, she's going to begin teaching some classes out at the country house starting Saturday, June 5. Her first class is a small crazy quilt evening bag of her own design. The class fee is inclusive, so food, drinks and every thing needed to make the project is included. Check out Angela's blog at http://www.summerkitchenquilts.blogspot.com/.

I also want to put in a good word for our longarm quilter, former Yellow Bird, and dear friend... Sue Elsbernd would be happy to use her longarm quilting skills to add the perfect finishing touch to your quilts. Her quilting service is called The Nimble Needle and her phone number is 563-737-2360. Many of you had seen her gorgeous quilting on our shop samples. She is a talented and conscientious quilter and she comes highly recommended from us.

Please support your local shops- quilt shops and others. Stop in, say hello, and pick a little something up. That's how they stay around. Sure, sometimes you can find great deals on the internet, but don't forget about the positive contribution local businesses make to your community- they employ local people, pay local taxes, and allow you to go shopping just down the street from your home. It's hard to have a girl's day out shopping on the internet, right? :)

Thank you for all of your support and love. It's been an honor and a privilege to know you, sew with you, and share in your projects, creative plans, and dreams, over the last 4 years.
xoxo,
Amy

It's a New Day!

As Amy and the Birds have been wrapping up the closing of Yellow Bird Art, Amy and I have been asked about a gazillion times, "What are you doing to be doing?"  And believe me, that question has been going through our minds almost constantly.  I know Amy has several great options and some real nice job offers, but she's just focusing on closing YBA for the time being.  I'm sure Amy will let ya'll know what's next in her life once Yellow Bird is closed.

At times I've felt that just continuing to remain upright and mobile was a good goal for myself.  But I really, really love fabric and quilting, and sewing, and yarns and knitting, and crafting, and art and creating - and, oh yes, the customers.  So after much discussion and soul searching, I'm beginning a new - very small - (emphasis on small) business.  

Ta-Dah!!

Summer Kitchen Quilts 

Jennie and Tammy at Old Drawing Board are busy creating a new graphic package for me and a new web site with a shopping cart.  We probably won't be ready to open until mid summer, but I'll keep you updated

I'll be selling wonderful fabrics at prices you're going to just flip over!  I will be primarily a web based business, but once we move to our new "old" house in New Albin, Iowa, I'll probably be open one day a week for those of you who must touch fabric.  Now, I want to make sure you all understand, this isn't going to be a big fancy quilt shop.  There won't be samples, or thousands of patterns or books or notions.  I'm going to focus on small collections of high quality fabrics at low prices.  I'll carry some basic threads, some sewing machine needles, my own collection of patterns (I'm going to be designing!) and some books IF I can find some great bargains for you.  

But for right now, I'm going to offer some classes at my home out in the country.  Our home is two restored log cabins (1860 & 1880), and a huge addition we built in 2000. I'll be offering a variety of creative classes in the next couple of months.  To begin with, I'll be teaching a class for my Little Bag, pictured below.

 This design is one of a collection of boutique bags I designed and made several years ago.  The Little Bag retailed at $185.00 to $250.00 depending on the fabrics customers wanted and the amount and kinds of embellishments used.  People have begged me to make the patterns public, and I've decided that now is a great time to do just that!

Now, you need to hop on over to my new blog:  www.SummerKitchenQuilts.blogspot.com to get all the details on the classes I'll be offering and all the other information you need to sign up!

P.S.  I'm about 40 minutes from Decorah, 90 minutes from Rochester, 50 minutes from LaCrosse, 15 minutes from New Albin, and 30 minutes from Waukon or Lansing.

posted by Angela 

 

What a deal!

Hey there all you cute birds!  Everything in the shop is now 50% off.  Get on in here!

Going Out of Business Sale Update

Yes, we're still closing, but believe it or not, we still have lots of great things for you to pick up- gorgeous high quality fabric, wools, notions, patterns, and more, are all here at 40% off.  You might even discover the perfect piece of furniture (old and new, but all with great character) or ready made quilt you've been looking for. Come on in and snap up the great deals!

We Still Have Plenty of Fabrics!

Thanks to everyone who has come to the shop in the past week!  Keep on coming! We've loads of great things for sale at 20% off the regular price.

• Jacquard ribbons
• Rick Rack of all Sizes
• Velvet ribbons and ric rack
• Rattail cords
• Lace
• Buttons, vintage & new
• Beads & sequins
• Art Girlz Charms
• Needle Felting Tools
• Wool Roving for Needle Felting
• Hand dyed wool in pre-cut sizes
• Sue Spargo Patterns and Books
• Weeks Hand Dyed Embroidery Floss
• Presencia Embroidery Floss
• Punch Needle Patterns
• Punch Needles & Hoops
• Embroidery Patterns Books
• Quilt Kits - samples are on the walls
• Moda pre-cut fabrics
• Lots & lots of Batiks!
• A full color wall of fine quilting cottons
• Lots of Lecien fabrics for quilts, garments, & kid's prints
• Lots of quilting & general sewing notions
• Retired Sample Quilts for Sale!
• Retired Handbag Samples for Sale!

If you can't come to the shop, but would like to make a purchase, call Amy at 563-538-4350.  She has been fillings lots of orders by phone during this sale!  And we DO ship - just about anywhere.

REMINDER:  NEW HOURS  Closed Sunday & Monday!  Open Tues, Weds, Fri & Sat 10-5.  Open Thurs 10-7.  

See you soon!

posted by Angela

Going Out of Business!

It has been a very difficult year at Yellow Bird Art.  Between the economy and the fierce competition for a limited customer base with other quilt shops in the area (there are 18 quilt shops in a 60 mile radius!), we finally decided that we just couldn't keep on.  We've heard from many customers who've owned a small business in the past, and they all said the same thing.  You just become weary after a while of trying to wait out the economy, or thinking up some new promotion or event that will bring customers in the front door - and then have them buy enough of what you're selling to keep the vendors, utilities and rent paid, the shelves stocked with inspirational goods, and the employees employed.  Please understand that we are not bitter or angry, just sad.  During challenging economic times, this is something that happens to some businesses, and we're certainly not the only quilt shop to go out of business right now.  Of course, hindsight always provides alternative endings if only you'd done this or that differently, but honestly Amy and I think we did the best we could.  There are so many people suffering in the world that we are always conscious of the multitude of blessings we've received during our four years of Yellow Bird Art.  Naturally a winning lottery ticket, or finding that danged missing trust fund might have made a huge difference!  

The thing that has been most difficult in making the decision to close is that we truly love running a quilt shop.  Being able to spend your day in such a lively collection of colors and patterns is absolutely a dream come true.  However the very best part of owning a quilt shop has been the opportunity to encourage, assist, and/or teach our patrons and then viewing the most amazing works of creativity that resulted.  Getting to know our customers personally has been the greatest gift of all.  It has been an honor to be your friends and cheering squad.  Amy and I both deeply believe that everyone of us has a beautiful gift of creativity and our mission in owning Yellow Bird Art has been to support you in your quest of finding your own gift and developing it!  When any of you came through the front door while we were occupied with normal shopkeeping tasks, you often apologized for "interrupting" our work.  I think we always told you that you were never interrupting - YOU were and still ARE the only reason we opened the store!  We know over the course of the 4 years that Yellow Bird Art has been open that we've occasionally made some incredibly dopey mistakes, but we've always aspired to make sure they were corrected to your satisfaction - at least that was our sincere intention.

SO...... as of today all our fabrics, patterns, notions, books, kits, needle felting and embroidery supplies are 20% off regular price.  Fabrics require a 1/2 yard minimum cut.  (Consignment items like the fused glass jewelry and hand dyed silk scarves are not on sale.)  All our shop samples are for sale at prices much less than what it would cost to purchase the fabrics, batting and quilting - we did not include the cost of sewing labor - so these are a huge bargain.  Our BabyLock sewing machines are 30% off MSRP.  If you purchase one of our demonstration sewing machines, we'll add an additional discount which depends on the machine you purchase.  All of our shelving, display items, and antique or vintage furniture is on sale as well.  The marked  prices on those items are firm, and the items will be available when the shop closes or when we no longer need them.  Our Accucut Studio fabric die cutter and an extensive collection of dies are for sale.  The Accucut has been lightly used over the past year, and the majority of the dies have never been used.  This would be an awesome purchase for a guild.  Did you know that you can precision cut the fabric for three quilts in less than an hour using the Accucut?  You can call Amy at 563-538-4350 if you have questions about any of the items for sale.

Now, I know this may be an unusual request, but we hope many of you think of us as friends. If we've earned a place in your heart, and your budget allows, I'd like to ask you to visit Yellow Bird Art soon and bless us with your patronage.  Our goal is simply to get out of the business being able to honorably pay off all our financial obligations.  As a mom, I'd love to know that Amy could conclude her life at Yellow Bird with a modest fund that will enable her to make this difficult transition in her life. We know there are LOTS of quilt shop options available for you - many with great collections of all the newest fabrics available.  But we still have beautiful fabrics for quilts, bags and garments in stock at great prices and we really need your help - we just can't do this without YOU!  I know we all love finding the super shopping bargain.  Who doesn't love  buying something at 70% off the retail price?  But Yellow Bird Art is just a locally owned teensy business, not a natiional corporate entity with deep pockets, and every dollar that comes into the shop goes to other small businesses owned by real people who are depending on our ability to pay their bill so they can pay their bills and so on and on it goes.  This type of honesty is surely not a normal business practice, but then we've always been more interested in making real heartfelt contact with our customers, not just being interested in how much each sale brought in!

We would be remiss if we didn't mention all the wonderful women who have worked at Yellow Bird Art.  Each woman brought her unique talents, creativity, strengths and insights that enriched our working environment and made it a joy to come to work each day.  We've had so much fun at work with our "birds"!  We've missed each one who has moved on to other life interests, and will miss those we currently work with.  Our deepest thanks to Sue, Deb M., Deb B., Marsha, Kathy, Sandy, Barb, Eileen, Kristina, Carolyn, Peggy and Joan for sharing your lives with us and being a part of Yellow Bird Art.

We have NEW HOURS!  We are now closed Sunday and Monday (although you'll find us at the shop for the next 2 Mondays).  We are open 10 - 5 on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, and 10 - 7pm on Thursday.  We are always glad to be open earlier or later if you have a group that would like to come at a time outside normal operating hours. 

We will be mailing only one postcard about our "Going out of Business" Sale.  To learn about sale updates, or new shop news, check our website, blog, or sign up for our E-newsletter at our website: http://www.yellowbirdart.com/,
We will be putting together some super fabric bundles and other specials for those of you who can't come into the shop, so please check our blog out soon again! 

P.S.  We don't know when we will be closing the shop yet - we're just working our way through this day by day!

Posted by Angela
   

Merry Christmas, dear friends!

We wish a wonderful holiday season to you all!

We will be closed December 24 & 25, and December 31 & January 1.

Well, of course, it makes all the sense in the world!

Yes, that's right - in the cherry linen closet in my bathroom.  Doesn't everyone stash their portable electronic devices in with their ace bandages, back braces, neck braces, wrist braces (I'm telling you, those old bumper stickers that said that getting old wasn't for the sissy in us, wasn't kidding!) and all the stuff to take long soaking whirlpool baths to ease all the body pains (the getting old part again)?  The tip for me was thinking about the last time I charged the camera - in the bathroom.  With water.  Brilliant, eh?

So lanadunk, e-mail me with your snail address and I'll get your little collection of Amy Butler fabrics out to you before Christmas!  And, because I'm a total softie, and there were only 4 of you who left comments, I'm going to send a little something special to you three from my private stash.  Ask Amy - she loves going through my fabrics at home - there's some really good stuff there!  Please e-mail me with your addresses at: angela@yellowbirdart.com

Hugs to all the birds out there!
Angela and Amy

The Dog Ate my Camera!

Well, the dogs (that's Oliver to the left and Tillie to the right) didn't eat the camera, but it has been AWOL for months.  I mean months!  As age, and I know this is very sad, has impared my ability to immediately recall where I put anthing at home, I've attempted to keep items in the same place, and to always, always put things away where they belong when I'm done with them.  Well, this plan ungloriously crashed and burned when it came to the camera.  After wandering through the house looking and looking until I thought I was going a bit bonkers, I came up with a plan. 

I cleaned my desktop off  - the camera could have been buried under a pile of papers.  I moved into the dining room and looked through the drawers of the small commode where we keep table runners and flower vases.  I searched the small cabinet where I normally store decorative seasonal items, the large cabinet where we display our teapot collection...... 

We've had a number of open houses - our house is for sale - so I was racking my poor brain trying to figure out where I might have tucked the camera away in a last minute fly through the house!

I checked out the oak cabinet in the living room, my little drop front secretary in the corner of the living room....

Keep in mind that I had already done surface searches throughout the  house.  I pulled up all the cushions on chairs and couches, looked under beds and all the furniture.  I think I crawled throughout the entire house before I conducted the cabinet searches.  When I opened up any of the cabinets, I had to pull all the contents out, go through them and reorganize everything.  Just to make sure I hadn't accidently covered up the camera with a stack of other junk.

My last two stops were the red bedside cabinet in our bedroom, and the cherry linen closet in my bathroom.

Good news .... I found the camera!  But which cabinet? 

Be the first reader of our sad little neglected blog to correctly guess which cabinet the camera was hiding in (only one guess per reader) and win a little four pack of Amy Butler fat quarters!  I'll be posting the winner on Sunday (the 20th of Dec) morning.

And the Winners Are!

The winners of our e-mail sign up contest are:
Diane K (butler-bremer.com)
and
Sara (whimwinkle)
You both have a $25.00 gift certificate coming!
Please e-mail angela@yellowbirdart.com with your snail mail address and we'll get those gift certificates in the mail to you!
Thanks for helping enlarge our e-mail address base!

Angela, Amy and the Birds

Laura Wasilowski Visits Yellow Bird Art

Just look at those happy faces! We took two photos outside after our workshop with Laura - one so you can see everyone who attended, and the other so you could see the art quilts. They were all marvelous..

We had such a fabulous time when Laura Wasilowski of ArtFabrik came to visit in June. Laura hand dyes the most amazing cotton fabrics and threads, as well as designing imaginative and whimsical patterns. We had a class of 13 students, one of whom was a lovely young lady who accompanied her mother. The photos below show the gals making the parts of their wallhanging quilts.

Although everyone used the same pattern, the individual art quilts ended up being very different because each person had her own vision for what her quilt should look like. Isn't that exactly what's supposed to happen in a great workshop??

Laura was a wonderful teacher, and we all had such a great time. Be sure to take classes where ever your local quilt shop is located. You'll learn new skills, meet lovely new friends, and help support your local shop! One of our goals as a shop is to bring in great national teachers. You'll find the information at our blog or check our website - www.yellowbirdart.com

You can also sign up for our e-mail newsletter at the website. We don't hammer you with constant e-mails (we've heard complaints about some e-retailers), but only when there's important news to share! That's a birdy promise.

Birdy hearts to you all!

Angela

The Birds are Back!

Where have we been? Well, since our sale, we had a terrific workshop with Laura Wasilowski (more on this tomorrow), then we closed for a week of frantic painting, redecorating, rearranging, opened for business the following Monday, then got ready for an auction of fabrics and things that needed to find new homes, held the auction last Wednesday evening, and then I think we passed out! Reactions to the new shop layout have been very positive - there's so much room now. And we have incredible lighting in the shop now! I'll post photos later this week.

What this post is really about is Virginia Robertson. She's coming for three days this week, and on Friday, July 10, she is giving a FREE lecture and trunk show at Lansing Community Center at 10 am. The lecture is "If Monet Were A Quilter", and Virginia will discuss how color can be used mostly effectively in quilts, and how color can influence the "feeling" of a quilt. Don't miss this opportunity to meet an amazing quilter who's been influential in the world of American quilting for 29 years. Virginia's quilts for the lecture and trunk show arrived last Friday, and all I can tell you is that it will be worth the drive to come on over to Lansing for this event!

Friday afternoon (12 - 5pm) Virginia is teaching the class "Grandma's Button Jars". We still have room in this class! The cost is $25.00 for the class and a kit fee of $22.50 to Virginia for the fabrics, ribbons, trims and buttons for the jar lids. The kit will make about 6 jars - find some cute ones and give us a call to sign up!

Saturday, Virginia will be teaching "New Twist on an Old Favorite - Wedding Ring". Don't think about the old way of making a Wedding Ring quilt - many customers have told us either they only made one, and never again - or that it was just too difficult of a quilt pattern to even consider making. Don't worry, Virginia has taken the technical part of this quilt and simplified it for us all. Just look at these beautiful samples she sent us. She will teach several different quilt techniques and you'll be on your way to a fabulous new quilt. We have a couple of places open in the class, and we'd love to fill it up! The class is Saturday, July 11 from 10 - 5 and costs $48.00.On Sunday, Virginia teaches "Strip Club", although there won't be any partially clad men running around the shop! We'll be using 2 1/2" strips to make one of five different quilts. The quilts are all absolutely charming, and again Virginia will be demonstrating shortcuts for the techniques needed. She says that most folks leave the class with their small quilt top completed or well on its way. Please don't feel that these classes are too difficult for you as Virginia teaches to all levels of quilters. One of the great thing about taking classes is having the opportunity to learn from a great teacher, and also learning and sharing from the new quilting friends you'll meet in class. There are a few spots left in the "Strip Club" that we'd like to see filled. It isn't everyday that you get the opportunity to take classes from a really great teacher!

Last, but not least..... if you won a gift from us, but it hasn't come, please, please let us know! Sometimes things don't get where they are supposed to go, and if your gift didn't make it to your house, we want to fix that!

Birdy hearts to you all -

posted by Angela

Phew!

We had a HUGE sale last week. We're not sure at this point just how many bolts of fabric went out of the shop, but we can tell you that it was a lot! There are stacks and stacks and stacks of empty bolts outside the back door. Getting inside the shop is sort of like going through an obstacle course. Thank you to all our wonderful customers who came and shopped, then shopped some more, and then came back yet another day to shop more.
That's Deb with our customer who won the "most repeat visits during the sale" prize, and perhaps "spent the most $$$ during the sale" prize. Speaking of prizes..... Today, yes today, we're getting the prizes in the mail to everyone who won at our last drawing. We didn't forget! We've been overwhelmed the past weeks, and today was truly the first day we have had to address getting your goodies out to you. If there are no interruptions, our big plan is to get them to the post office today. Thanks for hanging in there!

This is us on Saturday after the last customer had left the shop. We were exhausted, fried, crispy, toast, whipped, our dogs were screaming and our backs out after 3 + weeks of non-stop work getting ready for our shop re-do.

Please note, we are closed throughout this week to have time to change over the shop. We know we told many of you that, "yes, of course, we'll remain open after the sale". We seemed to have the idea that we could do a gazillion things at once and still deliver the customer service you deserve. Then we realized that birds do not preen their feathers while in flight, and they most certainly don't moult during flight! So we're taking a week to re-feather the nest and we'll re-open next Monday, June 22 at 10 am.

Birdy hearts to you all,
Angela

Our Web Site!

We're Sorry! Silly to not have a link to the web site.
Here it is:
www.YellowBirdArt.com
Come on over and do a little shopping!

Birdy Hearts to you all -
Angela

On-Line SALE!

As part of our big sale, we're offering on-line specials as well! We don't want you to miss out on the fun just because you can't get here! We’re excited to offer a different daily special each day now through Thursday! Each daily special runs from 12am through 11:59pm on the specified day, and on that day only. Sale fabrics have a 1 yard minimum cut.

Sunday, June 7: 20% off fabrics listed under the Oriental Fabrics - Alexander Henry Fabrics shopping category
Monday, June 8: 25% off fabrics listed under the Black and White shopping category
Tuesday, June 9: 25% off fabrics listed under the Oriental Fabrics - In The Beginning Fabrics shopping category
Wednesday, June 10: 10% off fabrics listed under the Children's Novelty Fabrics shopping category plus free shipping
Thursday, June 11: 15% off any kit (excludes Block of the Month)

Go ahead and place your online order and we will process the discount when we process your order manually here in the shop.

Happy shopping!

It's a HUGE SALE!

It's huge. It's big. It's awesome. It's the most extensive sale we've ever held!

Amy and I came home from Quilt Market with new ideas for Yellow Bird Art - great ideas - we hope you'll agree when it's all unveiled. We scoured all the crooks and nannys of the shop for all those wonderful little things we had been storing "for later". I bet each one of you know exactly what I'm talking about. You're all storing things "for later" too! So we decided to clean house to make room for all the wonderful new things that will be arriving in the next couple of months.

Believe it or not, this entire wall of fabrics is on sale. Gotta tell you that getting up the courage to put an "X" on the ends of those bolts was hard to do. We love so many of them! But reality in retail is that you have to move the old out before you can have any new things.In the past we rarely have put any oriental fabrics on sale, but this time we narrowed our eyes down to squinty little eyes and decided that some of these fabrics have just been "bad dates" for us. You know the "how to tell if he's into you" sort of dating advice that's part of the singles' thinking these days? Well, we decided to think of our fabrics as "dates", and asked the question, "So, what have you done for me lately?". Gotta tell 'ya, some of our beloved fabrics have been very bad, bad dates and have stood us up for all practical purposes! So, they're outta here!!
This is our lovely Marsha in her little birdy apron, just waiting for customers! Some of you live a driveable distance away from Yellow Bird Art, so I'm going to encourage you, urge you to fill up that car and get your little bodies over here right now!

The sale runs from 10-5 Saturday through Thursday (including Sunday).

Today everything on sale is -20%

Sunday -30%

Monday -40%

Tuesday -50%

Wednesday -60%

Thursday -70%

Items on sale are: fabrics, kits, ribbons, trims, threads, books, patterns, notions, and heavens - I just can't name it all. When you come in, you need to look for the X on items. If it is marked with a X, then it's on sale!

HURRY ON OVER!

In the Studio II

I have a small collection of items pinned to the wall by my sewing machine - its sort of an inspirational place. There's a photo of Amy and my oldest daughter, Penny, taken on a bloody hot day at Times Square, a small art quilt I began in a class with Susan Shie, photos of two of my favorite pets taken by a friend just before I had back surgery (so they could come to the hospital with me - little did we know that our hospital encourages you to bring the pet in to visit the patient!), a little oriental hanky folded into a kimono shape and other little things that bring joy to my day, and also inspire me to continue working on this dream of running a quilt shop that inspires others as well. Boy that's probably one good run-on sentence! The adjacent photo is of the top drawer of my sewing desk. It is often left open, and its where my most often used items are stashed. I've found that consciously making a place for the things I use in my studio and then always, yes always, returning the thing to its assigned place makes my sewing life so much easier. By nature I'm a stacker, and that just doesn't work well when you're working on a project with some sort of deadline, and you can't find the thingamajiggy no matter which pile you search in. It takes a lot of self-monitoring for me to do this, but the agony of the search, and then the periodic - let's just throw a grenade in there! - cleaning out takes too much time. Besides I end up in the living room wild eyed, hair on end, and completely irrational, just sure that DH has appropriated my seam ripper for some unholy oily wrench and hammer man-job out in his studio. Which he never, ever does....... It keeps the holy bonds of matrimony much less of tempest if I keep my studio organized.

Most of the time, not always, I'm the person who sews the garments and handbags for samples for the quilt shop. I'm making the adorable Lily Top by Pink Fig out of Sandy Henderson's collection by Michael Miller. Its going to be an amazing little outfit!

Then I thought I'd include a photo of the progress on the Bitty Dog pincushions by Bunny Hill.

I wasn't too sure if I should include it - it looks sort of like some sort of doggy dismemberment park. Speaking of which - I have the little grey herringbone Bitty Dog all ready for the permanent attachment of his teeny hind legs, and mystery of mysteries, one of the little hind legs has gone AWOL!Now, I searched the basket I had all the Bitty Dog parts in several times (I usually do hand work in the living room in the evening with my husband watching TV - only educational things of course, or movies of significant value....... are you laughing yet?). I took the cushion out of my recliner and dug around in the places you don't actually want to put your hand after owning a piece of furniture for 6 years, and only turned up lots of crumbs of mystery food, loose change, and the lovely surprise of a missing earring! Still no grey herringbone rear leg for the grey bitty dog. A bitty mystery. If you find it when you're cleaning under your couch cushions, send it on home, ok?

Birdy hearts to you all!

Angela

In the Studio I

I don't know about you, but I love seeing other folk's sewing spaces. I was fortunate that we had the space available after adding an addition to our house for me to have a nicely sized space just for sewing. I think I've used every bit of space that I can.

My ironing and cutting area are directly across from my sewing machine. My iron is a Rowenta steam generator, and let me tell you that this iron is amazing! It gets hot, something you may have noticed is sadly lacking in many irons, and the amount of steam you can generate takes wrinkles out immediately. Friends who hate ironing have fallen in love with this iron just because its so efficient.

I've been working on wool pincushions from the Bunny Hill pattern collection. Here's the first of three Bitty Dog pincushions. I'm also working on the Bitty Kitty and the Bitty Bird pincushions. We absolutely love pincushions!

Look for more photos of samples I'm making for Yellow Bird Art in tomorrow's post.

Birdy hearts to you all!

Angela

www.YellowBirdArt.com

New Things are Happening!

Yup, it going to be a big deal! Amy and I came back from Quilt Market with a new and better vision for Yellow Bird Art! So, we're going to say "goodbye" to loads of selected fabrics, books, patterns, trims, kits, threads...... You're going to love this sale! We are making room for marvelous new lines of fabrics, notions, books and patterns. We can't reveal all the details now because we want it to be a fantastic surprise for our customers.

And to clarify, we are not going out of business, and we are not moving! So mark your calendars, and gather the girlfriends, and get ready to fly on in to Yellow Bird Art on June 6!

Birdy Hearts to you all!
Angela