sunnyside

One year ago this month, we received one of the most exciting calls a quilt shop owner can get..."You've been selected as a Top Ten Quilt Sampler Shop," I heard the Executive Editor of Better Homes and Garden's Quilt Division say. I immediately became teary eyed and speechless recognizing this is an honor not often bestowed on a shop less than three years old. I then heard Jennifer Keltner say "and we will be there in two weeks for the photo shoot." Yikes! We worked feverishly day and night to prepare for their arrival.

Behind the scenes we also strategized and worked closely with Moda Fabrics to plan and create "our quilt" with Sunnyside by designer Kate Spain. This fabric collection has a very special meaning to Kate and therefore it also means a lot to us. Our good friend Crystal Stanworth, presented her designs and then pieced together the quilt top just hours after giving birth to twins. Diane Wantz, stepped up to complete her longarm quilting magic in just a few days so Sarah would have enough time to complete the binding and we could get it shipped to meet the publication's deadline. 

When the magazine came out in September, we were beyond thrilled. Our shop looked cheery and bright. More importantly, the article talked about Sarah and Down syndrome in way never before written in a national quilting publication. To young families, it was a shinning example of what life might one day be like for their kiddos. It shared a future with hope which is often missing in the first few months after the diagnosis is confirmed. 

Then just weeks later we were notified that our landlord had filed for bankruptcy protection. It was shocking as well as heart breaking as we had put so much love into this shop. Our enthusiasm was altered to uncertainty. And for some reason it had us putting "our quilt" into hiding while we tried to figure out where we were heading. 

We spent much of October looking at many alternate sites and hitting a few blatant road blocks along the way. Then Sarah and I flew to New Orleans for a wedding. While there it became apparent she was struggling to breathe, so we quickly headed back home. But some thirty thousand feet high in the clouds the unthinkable happened, her airway collapsed.

I closed my eyes for a moment of prayer, first to thank Him for twenty four amazing years with our daughter, followed by asking for guidance and strength for whatever the outcome was to be. Then as one flight attendant was handing me a tank of oxygen, the other was asking for help. In unison, I heard several voices call out identifying as paramedics. My heart was comforted. 

Shortly thereafter, my husband and I decided we needed to put our future into God's hands. We felt we had done our due diligence and now we needed to sit back and wait for our plan to unfold. At first that was frustrating beyond words for me, then I thought about Kate and how she described in her designing process of Sunnyside that she wanted the collection to "reflect the transition from stormy, rainy skies to sunshine, silver linings, hope and new growth." 

I knew then our January 2014 window was meant to be Sunnyside all along. As I set to make that happen, designers around the country were stitching to create what you see in these photos. "Our Quilt" is finally front row and center.

It is possible this will be our last display at 5259 Mayfield. For now, as our region endures the coldest temperatures in decades, we have a window designed to warm your soul, for we know that life indeed goes on if you just "let the sun shine into your heart."

 

 

Sunnyside by Kate Spain for Moda.

 

Quilts hanging:

far left: Sunnyside Stars Quilt by Karin Vail.

pattern on the Moda Bakeshop

far right: Kyss Me Quick by Lorna McMahon of Sew Fresh Quilts. 

pattern on Craftsy

 

Table quilts:

left table: Juggle Sun by Kelsey Schilling

pattern by Camille Roskelley of Thimble Blossoms

center table: Tile Twist by Crystal Stanworth

pattern in Quilt Sampler Fall/Winter 2013

right table: Broken Herringbone by Lorna McMahon of Sew Fresh Quilts

pattern by Anne Sullivan of Play Crafts

 

A view on a sunny day!

 

Quilt on left wall and on top of fabric case by Frivolous Necessity. Patterns available for purchase in our shop.

 

Quilt by Sarah Ely of Down Right Charming

Dress by Judy of Judy's Pillowcase Place

 

 

"Our Quilt" with an enormous and sincere thank you to everyone involved in making it possible.

a happy hospital bed

if you follow us on facebook, you already know that our dear sarah is in the hospital. we arrived monday night through the emergency room. a few x-rays, some blood work and a cat scan revealed that her lungs are filled with fluid. even her good lung. recovery is going to be slow and warranted a few nights stay.

 

she was sleeping ok. but not great. and then a customer said to me that she needed one of her own pillowcases. of course she did. why didn't i think of that. and i knew just what one to bring. she slept all night and most of today. and that makes her doctor and me very happy. oh the love felt through a needle and thread.

p.s. our store hours have been impacted by this turn of events. please call and i have been updating the phone each day.  today we will be closing at 4:30.  friday and Saturday we should be open regular hours.

scraps to some...

we have such a wonderful story to share this week.

last saturday, my soon-to-be daughter asked me to go with her for her final wedding dress fitting.  shortly after carol arrived to help in the shop, i went to get sarah, as she too wanted to see julie in her dress. sarah forgot her water at home, so we stopped back at the shop.

katrina was so excited to show us that a huge box had just been delivered from kate spain.  i thought i might know what was in it, so i told katrina she could open it as we had to run or we would be late for the fitting appointment.

an hour or so later, my cell phone beeps to alert me of a text message. i was driving, so i asked julie's mom who was sitting next to me in the front seat, to please look at it for me in case they needed to reach me back at the store.  she looked at it and said it was a picture. "of what?" i asked. she told me it looked like a box of scraps...

 

i did not need to ask for a description. i just knew it was sunnyside, kate's next fabric collection due in stores sometime in september.  we have already been most fortunate to have spent some time sewing with it as our quilt for the better homes and garden's quilt sampler was created with sunnyside.  the minute we received the phone call that we had been selected as a sampler shop, we contacted kate to see if she had something in the works. that is when we first learned of sunnyside.  one day in the near future we will share that story, but for now...the rest of today's story. 

 

the box of scraps sat next to our cutting counter all weekend. truthfully, i wasn't exactly sure what to do with them.  they were still there when the store opened on tuesday. i knocked into the box a few times, but we were quite busy so i just let it be. 

 

about four o'clock that afternoon, a sweet gal inquired about pre-quilted fabric. i apologetically told her, we did not have much of a selection, then showed her the two we did have.  she liked one of them, and then asked me to help her find a fabric to bind it with. i could not find one single bolt in the store that matched the quilted fabric.  so i asked her what she was going to do with it.

 

she told me she was expecting a great grandchild, not her first or her second. not even her third. (i will withhold a few details, to protect the family) she told me she has made all of her many grandchildren and great grandchildren a quilt, but her eyes and fingers just can't do the kind of work anymore she once did. still she wanted to make the new baby something with her hands and a friend suggested pre-quilted fabric.  it was at that moment that i thought of the box of scraps. i opened it up and started pulling them out one bunch at a time until finding this one...                 

 

the color was an exact match, although i did mention that it has words on it. as i read "let the sun shine into your heart," her face beamed with a smile.  she said that would be just perfect, as she calls her granddaughter who is having the baby, sunshine.  i looked through the cuts and found ones large enough for binding. when she inquired how much they were, i replied, "no charge, they are a gift from kate."

 

the next morning when sarah came into the shop, she went to the table she often works at and looked at all the scraps. then proceeded to say..."mom, you're kidding right? i don't have to count these do i?" i laughed and said no, we were just going to divide them up and make gift bags for later in the summer. 

 

"good idea!" she exclaimed, "but not these." she then pulled out the rest of the yellow strips i had given to the customer the day before.  "and not these either mom," as she handed me the teal set that also had the writing on it.  we busily stuffed the rest into baskets and put them under the table.

 

fast forward to late this afternoon. i looked up from the cutting counter and the same sweet woman was back. i wondered to myself if she had a problem sewing the binding on that i had cut for her on tuesday.  i quickly walked from behind the counter and asked if i could help her. she asked if i had any more of that fabric.

 

it turns out it worked so well she wants to make a few more for future great grandbabies, but maybe with a different color binding, she stated.  so i walked over to the table where sarah had left the two on wednesday. as i did, i wondered how she knew? how did my sarah know this woman would be coming back for more and in a different color? 

 

i asked the customer if i could cut the binding again for her. she told me she would really like that. as i worked, we got to talking. i was thankful there were no other customers in the store at that moment. the smile on this dear woman's face the first time i met her could not have prepared me for what she shared today. i intently listened, realizing we surely never know the road other's have traveled. the pain they've experienced, the heartbreak. the sorrow. 

 

as she told me more of her family situation, i recalled reading the words that kate had spoken of how she wanted to design a collection "that reflects the transition from stormy, rainy skies to sunshine, silver linings, hope and new growth."  

...i can't think of a better way to do that then combine orchids from cuzco with words from sunnyside, by a great grandmother who so warmly embraces the notion that life indeed goes on if you just "let the sun shine into your heart."  she asked again after i finished cutting her binding today, how much it would cost. this time i responded, "it's a gift from kate. kate and her sister."

the news is out...

...drumroll please

we have been waiting for months to share this news...

finally the public announcement just happened at the American Patchwork & Quilting booth at Quilt Market in Portland, Oregon...

JEllen's house of fabric and Sarah's Sewcial Lounge has been selected...

as one of the...

 Fall 2013 Quilt Sampler Shops!!!

we had hoped to be there in person today, but the next best thing is to be standing in a window full of beautiful quilts made by loving creative souls in fabric designed by our dear friend Kate Spain.

THANK YOU to everyone for helping us make our fantasy come true. It is only because of our wonderful customers that our story continues to be shared.

copyright...copywrong...

i was not going to get into this discussion. the whole concept of copyright is dauntingly complex. so at first i just ignored the rumblings. then they got stronger. and i started to receive emails directly about the subject. i ignored those too. but i also started doing some research. and what i was seeing alarmed me.  i did not like what i was reading. not about our friend. still i was not going to mention it here. not on this blog. but then on wednesday, a customer asked about the situation in our store. in front of sarah. i was crushed when she then asked me why people were talking about her friend kate.

so i decided to do a post. in sarah style. to help her understand and maybe the pictures will help our readers have a better grasp too.

the kate spain i know showed up on our doorstep on august 14, 2010,(at her own expense i might add), to help us kick off a store that was opening with one mission...to hire young adults with developmental disabilities. she befriended my daughter, born with down syndrome, in a way few have.

kate knew there was not going to be much fanfare on this saturday.  we had only been open for four days. we had very little fabric. we did not even have a customer list.

yet, she was gracious and kind. to even the youngest of visitors. signing autographs and taking time to explain the design process.

after our guests left, she asked for her luggage. having come directly from the airport, i assumed she wanted to freshen up. change clothes perhaps.   

instead, she opened a suitcase full of goodies that she brought for us.  there were photo albums, pot holders, towels, scrapbook supplies, aprons, note cards, gift accessories, etc. she had flown an entire suitcase full of items she had designed to leave with us. free of charge. no strings attached.

i was touched beyond words.  she also calmed my fears of entering a new industry. one i had little knowledge of, yet one that felt so right for my daughter and me.

i was extremely impressed with kate's thoughtfulness. she was humble. no glitz. no need to impress. a genuinely sweet person.

so when i started to get emails asking me about my thoughts on her being named the designer involved in the copyright litigation, i was frankly stunned. i truthfully could not believe that kate would do such a thing. so i started pouring over the various blogs discussing the scenario. i was in shock. i just could not believe what i was reading.
 

could this be the same kate who sent us another package perfectly timed to arrive on our first anniversary?

this time a box filled with new delights. many printed with designs in fandango, the very fabric collection in question.

i went back to the store and read the notecard that kate had written us. it has been prominently displayed in the store since the day we received it.  as i reread the words of this card, i knew in my heart that whatever lead up to this series of events, it was breaking kate's heart. i simply knew from our initial meeting, from the correspondence over the past year and a half, from the phone calls. the voice messages she has left us, that kate did whatever she did because trust had been broken.

as i continued to read unkind words left in comment feeds on her blog and other blogs, my heart was racing. these people did not even know kate. why the hatred. and then i panicked. what would we do if there is no more kate spain fabric? our customers have grown to love kate. i continued to read the comments until i finally got to one that gave a link to the tote bag in question.  i clicked the link...

  

my gasp was loud. so loud my son heard me on the second floor.  i was dumbfounded to see before my eyes, fandango. large swatches of fandango printed on a mass produced plastic bag. the image had been blown up so significantly, i could not even see a quilt. i knew instantly with that one photo that kate had been taken advantage of. and she had every right and needed to protect her image. her designs. her livelihood.

in all fairness to emily cier, i have not met her, so i have no photos or stories to share like i do with kate. i do have a bit of experience to draw from in receiving legal notices in the mail. it makes your heart pound and your stomach turn in flips. i understand she was nervous. i would have been shaking in my shoes. i do not blame her for her reaction or for blogging about it here and here.

and that is why before i could take this post to print, i wanted to see the book. when it arrived, i fell in love with scrap republic. it belongs in our shop. one copy sold the day they arrived. as i turned each page though, i became a bit more perplexed as to why c&t did not pick one of emily's beautiful and colorful quilts to put on a bag marketing emily's book.

when i finally turned the page and saw the quilt in question, nearly two thirds of the way in...

it's that tiny little quilt on the top left, i was even more stumped. why is this the one they chose to magnify a tiny segment of? i truly do not understand. emily's colorful scrappy quilts are awesome. in my opinion, emily got short changed. and it is a shame.

 

kate has been very clear. it is not and never was about the book. it was about that tote bag. the mass production of a tote bag without her permission. the kate i know and love encourages creativity. she applauds the efforts of all the creative hands that go into making a display, like this one in our store, possible. she does not want that creative flow to stop.

has the quilting community learned from this? absolutely. i hope with time, the haters will be able to see the kate we know and love dearly.

for the emails asking if we will continue to carry fabric designed by kate spain. you bet we will. for as long as she agrees to design it. i sincerely hope the quilting world has not been so unkind that she will run from making fabric. for that would be a sad day for all of us.

kate has extended an offer to work with emily on a future project. i personally would love to see that happen. their works go together like peanut butter and jelly. and we would love the opportunity to create another front window display featuring them both again.

two is better than one...

have you driven by the shop lately?  if not, we have a little surprise...

our sweet southern belle has brought in a second dress for us to display. for this one she chose the deep red poinsettia print from basicgreys' jovial collection. then around the bottom she took a panel from kate spain's twelve days of christmas and created a border. very clever this bonnie gal is. then around the middle she has used a square print from ready, set, snow by me and my sister. i just love them both.

this red dress is also available on bonnie's etsy site.  remember though, it is an ooak (one of a kind) so when it is sold there are no more.      

sunday sweetness...

this weeks sweetness comes courtesy of a sweet southern belle.  bonnie recently moved from georgia to be closer to her grandkids. she found our shop the very week we opened and we are so delighted she did, for she brings us adorable treasures such as this...

to display in our front window.  she has taken bits of twelve days of christmas and flurry by kate spain along with ready, set, snow by me and my sister all for moda to create this ooak (one of a kind) fashion.  it is available for sale on bonnie's etsy shop, bonbonoriginals. 

oh and speaking of snow...let's give bonnie a round of applause for braving our first official snowfall of the year this weekend. i guess rain, sleet, snow or hail will not keep a good stitcher away from the fabric shop:)  

finding terrain....

remember the missing bolts. the ones that disappeared in like forty minutes...

guess what?  we have the same lovely print in a 45" coated/laminated roll and a bolt of pre-quilted fabric. 

the spain effect...

i heard there was product from a new designer recently at target, that sold out in a few hours. well...missoni has nothing on our kate spain. do you like this fabric...

well...unfortunately you won't be seeing it in our house of fabric. it. sold. out. in forty minutes. two bolts in fact. i ordered an extra just in case. the first one was basically gone before i even had the plastic off. the second within minutes of it going on the floor.  not the display. the floor. as in leaning up against the wall behind the cutting counter floor.  kate has surely outdone herself with terrain. it is a must hurry kind of situation.

sunday sweetness...

from the creatively loving hands of our very own sarah...

...to eva noel hook...now with her graciously loving forever family. to read more...click here.

it's time...

for our first annual christmas in july sale!!!

for one week only beginning today 7/26 thru 7/30, all christmas fabric will be just $5.00 per yard. see website for further details. hurry in for best selections as this sale will go public in the newspapers on thursday. featured...flurry by kate spain. 

terrain in kate's korner...

rumors spread so quickly amongst the quilters in northeast ohio...

yes indeedy, there are were twelve charm packs and one fat eighth bundle of terrain in the attic of the house within the house.  i believe as of today we are down to six. not to worry though, there will be more coming along with the fabric sometime in september.  so glad kate got this amazing autumn collection completed before franny and lou came along. i don't think she is spending much time designing these days. her inbox is full of other things. i bet they would like to meet zipper one day.

surprise...

i ran upstairs for just a minute or two. when i returned i found this...

sitting on the counter with no one in sight.  i was beside myself with glee. is this not the cutest galaxy pouch you have ever seen. sarah and i owe a certain someone a very big THANK YOU!!!

miss you kate...

our next stop would be with kate...

...except kate spain is sadly not here. she is in new york city at surtex. but there is a quilt hanging made with her newest collection called...terrain. sarah gave a sneaky peak on her blog a few weeks ago. the quilt pattern is called taffy and is designed by julie herman of jaybird quilts. we will have it in the shop once terrain arrives in september.  we miss you kate.

priceless rewards...

if you were anywhere near the shop this afternoon, you probably heard our screams and shouts. you would have thought we hit the mega lottery.  actually, we did.  now i've never actually won the lottery before, so i have nothing to compare it to...yet the feeling of supreme happiness that sarah and i experienced when we saw this...

truly cannot be defined.  i can't imagine there is a greater happiness. meet jax and arina. you can read more about the two here. some of you reading this have watched our quilts go together. they start with nine blocks that sarah and sari work out on the design board and then they sew the blocks together. i help pin the sashing and then sarah sews it together. once that part is complete, off they go to diane at longarm legacies for quilting.

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our goal is to have a quilt ready for each reece's rainbow kiddo that comes home to their forever family this year.  arina is the first to receive hers. as soon as we knew she was coming home we started sewing her squares together using pink, pink and more pink from kate spain's first collection called verna...

she is the first girl in a family of four boys so her mommy was so looking forward to girly things. can you imagine this sweet angel living her life in an institution, never having her own quilt or her own family?

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and we certainly could not forget about her big brother jaxson. so he received his own version of our four square in make life by sweetwater...

mr. jaxson is a cutie of a fellow. he has been through more medical ordeals in his short life than most in a long lifetime, yet he keeps on smiling...which is why we thought this collection would be just perfect for him...he makes life sunny, makes life colorful and makes life beautiful.

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and finally the package would not be complete without a matching pillowcase in memory of our shining light...kristen ann kirton.  

each pillowcase has been lovingly stitched by either sarah or sari or one of our volunteer sewers.  this project has been such a blessing in so many ways and we are just getting started. we already have the next quilt boxed up and ready to ship.
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please, please, please...if you know a family who has opened their hearts to bringing home a child with down syndrome through reece's rainbow, let us know by sending us an email to jhillely@gmail.com.

late breaking news...

central park has made it into the march madness final round... that's right. there are just two left standing in this last final international round. please click this link that takes you to fat quarterly's site and vote for central park. there is no one more deserving of this title than the ever gracious kate spain. hurry, this round only last for a few more hours.

kate and crate

how lucky can a girl get. i have kate delivered to my door step and i have crate just around the corner. if you're just joining us, i am speaking of our favorite designer kate spain and the oh so trendy home dec store...crate & barrel. last evening i set out to purchase this adorable plate. i had a few colors to choose from, yet with purple being my favorite color i just had to select this one. i also found this perfectly matched potted fushia gerber daisy and i just love that it never needs watering. have i ever mentioned i was born without a green thumb? i decided the pot needed just a little sprucing up though.

a quick change of blades on the rotary cutter...

and this plain ordinary pot...

now looks like this!!

such a great spring time addition to our central park display. oh speaking of central park. did you catch martha stewart the day she used kate's animal print. how awesome!!! you can watch it here and read all about kate's take on the fame. i left kate a comment that i think martha is to her as she is to us!!! and most of our animal prints are gone so hurry to get the last of it.

oh and just one more thing...

kate's christmas collection 2011...flurry...the precuts are due in tomorrow. i already have six on reserve, so you might want to hurry for that too.

the significance of 3-21

today is world down syndrome day. the date is chosen because down syndrome is caused by a third chromosome on the 21st pairing. it is a day set aside for families to celebrate, as well as, let the world know how wonderful our children are. if you have been following our blog or have been able to come to the store in person, you know just how amazing i think sarah is. yet, it is my belief that society will be so much richer and wiser if everyone takes the time to get to know a child or young adult with down syndrome.

like designer extraordinaire...kate spain...

kate has become such a dear friend. we first met kate through the blogosphere. then something magical happened. actually a series of connections and developments. next thing we know, kate and her wonderful husband pete were heading to cleveland. not only did she come to meet sarah, she blogged about it. and that opened another segment of the population to read about down syndrome.

following that came an article on the etsy website. 159 comments, mostly from readers that do not have a family member with down syndrome followed. then came the front page story in american patchwork and quilting.

the new group of people were getting to see down syndrome. then kate came back into the scene. she was asked to do a live radio broadcast with pat sloan. kate could easily have filled the entire segment talking about her designs. instead. she chose to use the opportunity to talk about sarah. and the difference she is making. thank you kate. this is how we change perceptions. this is how we spread the word that down syndrome is not something to be feared. it is not a terrible disease. it is not a reason to further testing to eliminate trisomy 21.

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beautiful fabric. a quilt shop. employment opportunities. all of a sudden it is no longer just about that extra third chromosome. on the 21st pairing. it is about acceptance. it is about change. it is about love. it is about a better world.

i heart etsy...

do you etsy? a while back i received an email from a writer at etsy. they wanted to do a story about sarah and kristen and the pillowcases. until that time, i was familiar with the site, but not a strong supporter. then the more i got to thinking about it, i fell in love with the concept. so last week i went surfing...

i wanted a few samples using kate spain's central park. so i simply typed in "central park" and found several fun items:

jingle balls from littleladybugz

a large patchwork ball from gingerfreckle

a chenille bib and burbcloth from woodlandrabbit

a bib and ball rattle from thelittlethingsboutique

and a vintage inspired retro apron from terracehill

they all arrived within days of placing my order, even in the midst of our one day blizzard, and each one was made with skilled hands and creative hearts. many of the creators have a story to tell as well. i especially like to know the background of the person(s). it makes each purchase all the more personal.

i also ordered this awesome quilt from frivolousnecessity. i knew it would be a delight as i have purchased items before from crystal. her work is perfection. this has been such a pleasant experience and a wonderful addition to our shop. i wonder what i will find next...