Friday, March 19, 2010

Mark your calenders!












The new fabrics of spring seem to have helped usher in awesome spring weather. We have been enjoying highs in the upper 50's and after a long, long winter this seems like a heat-wave. Today tho is a reminder that we aren't quite out of it yet but we will be soon.

The photos show some of the new lines just in here at Seams Like Home. We are featuring "Cherish Nature" by Deb Strain for Moda,

"Modern Meadow" by Joel Dewberry for Free Spirit and "Flutter" by Allison Jane Smith for Windham Fabrics. Beautiful contemporary prints that just make you want to throw open the doors to the porch or crack the window in your sewing room and whip up a new tote for the upcoming "Shop-hop".

The 6th annual "Loon Country Shop-Hop" kicks off Thursday April 8 at 9am. The hours are th. 9-5, fri. 9-7 and sat. 9-5. This years hop promises to be something special. We have started the "shop hop quilt" and it is going to be beautiful. All 4 shops will show the quilt in fabrics of their choice. When the shops get together for our wrap-up meeting it is always fun to see the difference the fabrics choices make. New this year we welcome "Pine Needle Quilting Company" as a stop on the hop. Pine Needle is a retreat house located in Pine City on the beautiful shores of Cross Lake. Visit all 5 stops, get your card stamped, collect your pattern pieces and be entered in the drawing for the Grand Prize Pfaff Sewing Machine($1,499.00) or a Weekend Retreat Package for 5 at Pine Needle Quilt Company($700.00). In adition each individual shop will be giving one Quilter's Goodie Basket(valued at $100.00). So, grab your road trip partner and hit the road. A good way to spend an early spring weekend and a chance for the shops to visit with old friends and new.

Looking ahead: The 1st of April we return to our summer hours. The shop will be open Mon.12-6, Tuesday 10-5, Wednesday 10-6, Thursday 10-6, Friday 10-5 and Saturday 9-4.

Upcoming classes include the "Sweet Harmony Bag" on the 25th of March, the "Curve Appeal Tote on the 29th of March, "Day-n-night Quilt" on April 1st(no fooling) and the "Binder/Notebook cover on the 5th of April.

As always, we continue with open sewing on tuesdays. Book Club the 2nd thursday of the month, BOM on the 1st Saturday of the month and special events every Friday.

Saturday,March 20 is National Quilting Day. Stop in and take a short quilting quiz and be entered in the drawing for a draw prize.

And then there's this: Over the winter my brothers and sisters and our children have been doing some cosmetic work on my parents home. They have been in Texas enjoying the wind and unbeknownest to them we have been going "hog-wild" on their house. We thought we had a couple of weeks left to finish up but they called and are breaking camp early. Yikes! The truth is the house is ready but we are all feeling alittle uneasy that they might not be prepared for the liberties we have taken.
My sister said we should put a sign at the end of the driveway that says "Move that Bus!", my parents don't watch that show though so I am afraid the message might be lost on them.


This is what I know: My parents are conservative hard working people. They are generous and kind to a fault. They have modeled a life of "if you don't have something good to say about someone, say nothing." They have reached an age where as life long "do-it-yourselfers" they aren't able to go it alone. In a world of fast change, they manage very well but decisions about some things come hard. What we did this winter, they could have done but we hope in our doing it we saved them some money, some energy and some work. My brothers and sisters and our children came together and made the decisions as a group. We laughed, we shopped, we worked hard, we made the neighbors talk. At the end of the day, we stood in the kitchen and felt humbled and united. As I always do when family gathers and memories are made, I think of Mike. He would have been the first to say "Way to roll". My Mom and Dad are the Captains of a very large ship. They are so loved.

Till next time!