welcome home frank...

so many of you have asked about the photos we have on display with our collection of red, white and blue fabric. they are all military families that happen to have a child with down syndrome. we pray for their safety often.


tonight, at this very moment, a large crowd has gathered at fort campbell waiting for an aircraft to arrive. soon frank will be getting off that plane. thank you frank for a job well done. i know there are going to be some very happy girls in tennessee.

a walk in central park...

oh how i love this collection...the colors, the laminates, the quilted animal prints...

each time a customer brings a bolt to the counter, i can just imagine what kate was looking at while she strolled through central park. kate tells it so well. to read more about her days in nyc click here.

i love the blues...with a few moda marbles too.

the oranges and yellows. the greens and taupes and of course the lavendar which sarah is kindly debuting on her blog today. central park designed by kate spain for moda. hurry though. it's walking out quickly, especially the animals.

a pillow for kate...

have you been following the moda pillow talk? we have. it has been so fun to read the answers to the questions asked of each designer. and to see their pillows. clever women for sure. all of them. it is no secret that kate spain has been very special to us. so sarah and i had an idea...

we decided to make a pillow. using kate's very first collection verna, sarah got right to work. first she stitched up her signature nine patch. then she did some criss cross quilting. next we talked about what we would put on the front of the pillow that would tell the story of kate.

...it was easy. a big, gigantic heart. because that is just how kate is. full of love with a heart of gold or in this case budding pink. luv u kate.

p.s. click on over to sarah's blog to see her in action. she really enjoyed this project.

a modalicious backdrop...

the pillowcase count had reached nearly 100, so sarah and i were just about ready to dismantle the display to begin the process of washing and prep work necessary to begin our deliveries. and then a phone call came in. sarah was being asked to do an interview with john campanelli, a reporter for the cleveland plain dealer. so we kept the pillowcases in place for one more week...

photo by Lynn Ischay, The Plain Dealer. please do not copy without permission

as lynn eyed the store for a perfect angle from which to shoot, the pillowcases seemed to be a good backdrop. the moment i clicked on the website for the first view today, i was struck by how perfect and beautiful it truly was. for so many reasons. the shared collection of hands that helped create them. the loveliness of so much moda fabric in one place. the light that shines so brightly in memory of kristen ann kirton. thank you to everyone who helped make this possible.

chasing charlotte...

our story in the april 2011 issue of american patchwork and quilting magazine, mentions that we are making quilts for babies adopted through reece's rainbow. this organization helps families navigate the difficult and expensive process of international adoption. specifically, adopting babies born with disabilites(most often Down syndrome) who are then placed in orphanages because of their disability.

today, a blog post came our way that is accepting donations for this beautiful hand stitched quilt...

all in an effort to help charlotte's family raise money to help bring her home. before it is too late. head on over to chasing charlotte to see pictures of this sweet, adorable child. and if you can, please make a donation.

a heart quilt for sarah

twenty one years ago today, my baby girl lay fighting for her life in the cardiothoracic intensive care unit following her open heart surgery. she wasn't supposed to still be here. if her recovery had gone as planned, we would be back on the regular peds floor and she would be wearing the little red dress i had made for her first valentine's day. instead, she was still connected to a ventilator, tubes coming from every tiny limb, she even had an iv line coming from the top of her almost bald head. each tube was connected to a pump, controlling the flow of various medications trying to bring her out of the crisis she was facing. we had been told the outcome looked grim.

as i sat in the corner chair in the parent lounge, waiting for the next hour when we could visit again, i felt a great need to do something. with my hands. the idle time was unbearable. my mind often wanted to veer off course. to imagine the worse. i needed an outlet. i needed to create. so i started a quilt. a teeny, tiny, little quilt. with hearts. not just for valentine's day...

but also as a reminder of the valiant fight sarah was demonstrating. i didn't have much time, or much fabric. but then my six month old daughter was a mere eighteen inches long and was loosing weight faster than she was gaining it.

i needle turn appliqued four small hearts onto a square of muslin. i embroidered four hearts with red floss. and then i chain stitched her name in the center. during my next visit to her bedside, i tenderly placed the quilt upon her bruised and limp body, being careful to not disturb any tubes or wires. soon after, the machine monitoring her heart rate beeped. the nurse told me that meant she was happy. and that meant for a moment, i was happy. that tiny little quilt meant something to my girl. and that gave me a new sense of hope. sarah's quilt continued to give her comfort for the many months of her recovery.

for a few years i carried it with me when i would talk to groups about having a medically fragile child. i took it to a few needle and quilt guilds in the early 90's, then i tucked it away for safe keeping. until last year december. the fat quarter shop was doing a giveaway for l'amour by sandy gervais. they asked for a letter to be written to santa to explain why you would like to win, so i did. unbeknown to me, one of sarah's nurses from so many years before had been reading her blog. she left a comment asking if we still had the quilt. so i went searching.

february 2011. in the front window of our new quilt store, i slowly and delicately laid that teeny tiny quilt on the table. not that i needed to be careful of the tubes and wires this time, rather i wanted to savor in the beauty of where we are. today. alive. thankful. and so very blessed by a grand master plan so full of details. and tiny stitches. in both sarah's heart and in her quilt.

charming charlevoix...

i love peach and yellow. something so springy about it. minick and simpson have made this collection so easy on the eyes. soothing. tranquil. beautiful. like their days in charlevoix. michigan that is.

did you catch their pillow...the airplane is so cute...the apple is oh so clever...the doggie just adorable. laurie and polly also included a flag. why? they call themselves the americana designers of moda...

we would agree with that. lots of new red, whites and blues arrived too. stripes, swirls, plaids and cherries:)

oh my darling...

if you have had the chance to read sarah's story in the april 2011 issue of american patchwork & quilting, you might recall that it mentions a charm pack that caught sarah's eye. it was really the beginning of it all. it actually wasn't a charm pack, rather turnovers, of clementine...

a bright and cheery design by me and my sister. you can read all about how clementine caught sarah, "hook, line and sinker" here. and speaking of me and my sister, no not my sister, i am an only child, i'm talking about barb and mary, the fun loving sisters who design for moda. their pillow is showcased today in the moda pillow talk and it is sooooooo cute. click on over to their blog for a view and a chance to win a quilt. oh and don't forget to come into the store to see pieces parts of their newest collection...dilly dally.

p.s. we are not responsible for that tune being stuck in your head all day...you know the one...oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling clementine...

in the news...

it is such a great feeling to be able to share my love of fabric, while at the same time furthering our mission and letting others know how important it is to think outside the box when it comes to hiring.

the sun newspaper ran a story today telling of a job fair i participated in. sitting next to me is audrey, a great customer and friend who has also worked tirelessly throughout her career to support the efforts of hiring young adults with developmental disabilities. we are interviewing brittany, a young woman who i have had the pleasure of knowing almost as long as i have known sarah, as their birthdays are just nine days apart. we interviewed several students that day and would have hired nearly all of them, especially the young man who asked us what the benefit would be to working in our store. audrey quickly replied, "you get to play with this wonderful fabric all day" to which he enthusiastically replied, "awesome!!!" and that's exactly how we feel every day. click here to read the entire article.

bliss...

...supreme happiness, utter joy, contentment...

words found in the dictionary to describe bliss and they seem like such a perfect description of bonnie and camille's collection appropriately named...bliss. it seems everywhere i turn lately, there is a new magazine featuring something beautiful made with bliss. it's been a great seller for valentine's day too. which means we are starting to sell out of several bolts. so please hurry if you need a bit more to finish a project before it is gone. we have a few flannels left too and just for our blog readers...this week only...bliss flannels will be 50% off. just mention you read our blog.

oh speaking of bonnie...have you been following the moda designers pillow talk? i love bonnie's pillow...click here to see it. oh wait there's more...thursday update...the darling adorable camille has posted her pillow...click here to see it and a sneak peak of ruby.

the lady in red...

...is our very own miss sarah. in just a few short days we will be celebrating her 21st happy heart day. for those who don't know, sarah had open heart surgery when she was just six months old. she was born with a complete ventricular septual defect. which basically means she was missing the wall between her ventricles. sarah's post op recovery was quite complicated and she spent several months in and out of intensive care, but that one operation saved her life. without it, she would not have reached her first birthday.

so we really do take the month of february to heart. and this year we ask you to please join us. come to the store. not only are all red fabrics and notions 50% off on 2.4.11...

we have information from the american heart association for you to take home. we have red dress pins and silly bandz for you to take. and please be sure to sign a red heart to hang on our door before you leave. we have made this year's donation in honor of not only sarah but all of our new friends. be sure to stay tuned...we have a fun announcement coming soon...

we will be wearing red...

will you? please join us as we celebrate heart month. the american heart association reports that heart disease is the #1 killer of women.

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be heart healthy

logon to www.goredforwomen.org

join the cause

wear red for women

on friday, february 4th...

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and receive 50% off everything red in the store. this one day only 2.4.11 we have many fabrics and notions to choose from. do it for your daughter, your sister, your mother, your grandmother. do it for you.

coming out to the world...

i knew this day was coming, for some time actually. the original interview occurred in late october. i'd been thinking about it on and off since then. not sure exactly how it would play out. just knowing that our story and our shop would be introduced to the quilting community via a feature in this magazine...

...subscribers started to receive their copies early last week and they came to the store for sarah's autograph. fun. then we started to receive congratulatory comments on sarah's blog. nice. then came a comment from a reader whose unborn baby was recently diagnosed with down syndrome. we gave her hope, she said. amazing. i wasn't prepared for a quilting magazine to act as a catalyst for connections to that part of our story. thankful. today, the story brought joy to a grieving mother. priceless.
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ps...i guess i should mention...sarah's pillowcases for kristen story is featured on page one of this april 2011 issue. under the heading quilting changes everything. yes indeed it has. for so many of us. an interesting tidbit...our first empty bolt...the one on display in the store...was from edyta sitar's let it snow collection. do you see who's studio is featured in this magazine?
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i would like to thank maria charbonneaux for taking the time to interview sarah and for writing this story. she captured it just perfectly. for sarah. for kristen. and for me. we are so very grateful.

perfect pathways...

never have my paths crossed more perfectly than in this new quilt shop of ours. i never set out to own a fabric store. but then who ever really knows the exact path their life will take. i'm often asked about my background by new customers. i've been sewing since i was seven. i started quilting as a teenager. mostly self taught. by degree, i am a social worker. i earned my bssw from bowling green and my masters from ohio state. i have worked with abused children, battered women and victims of rape. for years i raised money for united way to help support social service programs. i have been the executive director of the american heart association in cleveland. in each one of these jobs i found a way to incorporate fabric and thread into the lives of the ones we served.

today tom gregoire, the dean of the college of social work at the ohio state university came to visit our new shop. i have been sharing some of what we have been doing...employing young adults with developmental disabilities, stitching pillowcases for young cancer patients being treated at local hospitals, making quilts for families who have adopted a baby living in an orphanage, and appliqueing sunbursts onto onesies for new parent visits by a local support group. we are not alone in this endeavor. quilt shops for years have been a place of social support and friendship building. women have been hosting quilting bees for centuries for the same purposes. i know that intellectually, it's just i've never before witnessed the interaction so closely. with my own eyes. on a daily basis. how enriched and blessed i am. and how aware i have become of the human importance of local quilt shops.

kristen's bloom

late last evening, i discovered something at the store. a gift. a treasure. a ray of sunshine.

a thank you. nothing short of a small miracle. kristens' light is truly shining bright.

on the floor...

at approximately 10:58 this evening, the last bolt from the last box of this pile...

was unloaded and placed on the store floor for your viewing pleasure. and with that, i too was on the floor, in a horizontal position, pretending it was my bed. stay tuned for all that was hidden under those soft brown coverings...

somewhere over the...

rainbow...from the beautiful island of bali...

creamsicle, taffy, key lime, bubble gum, coconut, grape juice, shave ice, spearmint and tutti frutti. hoffman hand-dyed watercolors are in. 100% imported cotton handmade on the island of bali. buy the bundle or as individual fat quarters.

many hands...

...make many pillowcases. thank you for your time and kind hearts.

beautiful smiling faces...

all helping to make others happy...in memory of kristen...one pillowcase at a time. thank you.

a million thank yous...

simply overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from our stitching friends in cleveland. it will take me a day or so to sort through all the photos, yet i don't want to miss another minute without thanking everyone for participating in our one million pillowcase challenge kickoff in loving memory of kristen ann kirton. your collective talents produced this...

in just one day!!! 52 completed cases with many more to come in over the weekend. thank you, Thank You, THANK YOU!!!

california here i come...

oh wait...wrong direction. looky what came to us today...

free coffee...

during the entire month of january...

free pouch of coffee with your purchase of anything java. we have the entire collection of deb strain's java in the house, including pre-cuts. all yardage is $8.00 per yard. charm packs are also $8.00. jelly rolls and layer cakes are $30.00. hurry though, the pre-cuts are going fast.

meet erika and livia...

it was a great afternoon in the house of fabric. we had two young helpers willing to give their saturday afternoon to make pillowcases in memory of kristen.


erika came directly from her basketball game. she has never been on a sewing machine before, so this was a new experience for her.

i loved seeing the girls interact as they worked. this is what sarah's sewcial lounge is all about.

livia learned that an iron can be as important as a sewing machine.

erika caught on quickly. notice her excellent hand placement as she is quiding the fabric along.

livia readies the facing by pinning it under for the final stitching. she likes how this will create a clean smooth finish to the pillowcase.

two beautiful cases completed with kate spain's verna. the machines are set up and ready for your use. if you can't make it on thursday feel free to drop in anytime this week. thank you marci and joellen for bringing your beautiful girls in today. see you again soon.

frivolous fandango...

there is a fabulous new quilt in the store...

so awesome we moved it to the front corner. it has been stitched by the talented hands of crystal over at frivolous necessity. we also have a few items displayed that will soon be offered as classes. the table runner will be taught by becky utilizing a whistlepig creek pattern. it cleverly features prairie points as the edging, so if you are wanting to learn that technique this will be the class for you. the cute bag by me and my sister will be taught by joyce, no not me, another joyce who just happens to also have a daughter named sarah. watch the website for the class schedule very soon.

beauty from the inside out...

oh how i love when the snow waits to fall...

until i'm inside the store. it's so pretty looking out. i think the snowflake swirls falling in the front window were a good selection for january. although i must confess that wasn't such a hard decision here in cleveland, ohio. i just heard there was snow in 49 states today. we're thinking of our fellow shop owners out there in warmer climates not used to struggling with the snow. just try to remember, this too shall melt...it's just a matter of time:)