Come Stitch With Me

Today was a much needed quiet day all to myself.

My morning started off with cutting out a new upcycling project inspired by a FB Post and class announcement from a distant quilt shop that I follow. It took a little while, but I actually drafted my own pattern template a couple of weeks ago. The jeans are an old worn-out pair of mine. Contrasting fabric will be a Liberty print thrifted from an estate sale. Embroidery hoop, floss and other embellishments are already pulled. We’ll see if my CRAFTLab kiddos are interested in a smaller version.

Some time was spent checking my credit reports with the Big 3 to make sure my credit freeze was still intact. I received a letter from Conduent about a massive healthcare data breach. Good grief. This would certainly explain the recent rise in spam emails and robocalls. I also made a note to carefully monitor credit card and banking activity over the next few months. What else can you do when everything is now digital? Yes, it’s more convenient, but sometimes I do miss the analog days.

Big Girl and I took a late morning nap and followed up with a leisurely walk at one of our favorite parks. Sadie’s library needs periodic refreshing of the books we offer for our youngest READers to read to Sadie. We visited a Goodwill store off the Marietta Square near the park to see what books were available. Seven nearly new books for the price of one brand new one. Score!

Classes for the June 2026 Road 2 Virginia and A Mountain Quiltfest dropped this week. New classes were also added to the April Quilt! Knit! Stitch! event in St. Louis. I took a few minutes to peruse the listings. Plenty of offerings, but nothing really caught my eye. That’s how it works sometimes. It’s probably for the best, however. Any travel later this year depends on some other things going on at the moment. The Great Wisconsin Quilt Show in early September is the other quilty travel destination on my 2026 list. Here’s hoping I’ll be able to make it and some tentative travel itineraries with hubby in the fall.

Today’s mental challenge came in the form of figuring out how to make the 2 extra blocks that are part of every shop’s Middle Georgia Shop Hop sample quilt, but not available separately for purchase. You are required to buy a finishing kit from one of the participating shops to get the instructions. Said finishing kits range in price from $65 to $110. No thanks. I worked out the cutting measurements and found fabric similar enough in my stash to make the extra two blocks. I may also have found enough fabric to make the specialty sashing and outer border as the one sample quilt I really liked. We’ll see!

Finally, a random FB retirement post from a former co-worker brought closure to something I’d wondered about since my own retirement. One of the pictures in the post provided the missing puzzle piece that allowed everything to finally click into place for me. Turns out I wasn’t crazy after all!

Lots of exciting changes are happening in the ATL sewing and quilting community! I quilt, so of course, my focus is on quilt shops, yet there’s much to share that’s sewing related. Grab your beverage of choice and read on!

Cottontail Quilts in Kennesaw has a new owner! Dawn, one of the long time employees, has taken the helm to lead the shop on its next journey. I visited the shop on Saturday as they were unpacking loads of new merchandise. P.S. There’s also a dog-friendly book store one block over called The Brown Dog. Sadie thoroughly enjoyed her visit there.

Cabin Fever Quilt Studio in Ellijay has been sold. Connie will stick around to teach classes and help the new owner for a while. Look for the transition to happen in early March and the shop will also get a new name.

Quilt ‘N Kaboodle in Cleveland is currently for sale. It’s a great shop – not exactly close to me, but does serve a large swath of Northeast Georgia. I hope they find a buyer, so the couple running it can retire and enjoy the grandkids.

Local news applicable to all greater ATL fabric and sewing enthusiasts:

Mood Fabrics is opening an Atlanta satellite location at Ponce City Market later this spring.

Alpha Plus Fabrics is now open in Stone Mountain. It’s along the lines of Fine Fabrics and Gail K. Fabrics – great for garment sewists.

Ashby Sewing in Kennesaw now offers apparel fabrics and is offering garment construction classes. This is much needed in the northwest ATL suburbs. They’ve also added Necchi brand sewing machines to their product offerings.

Kennesaw State University now offers a BFA in Textiles and Surface Design.

The Southeast Fiber Arts Alliance offers classes, events and resources for all textile enthusiasts.

The Southeastern Quilt & Textile Museum offers a variety of hands-on programs open to the general public. Many are kid-friendly and most are free.

QuiltCon returns to AmericasMart in February 2027.

The All Southeast Shop Hop covering Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina runs August 1 – September 30, 2026. Many north Georgia quilt shops are participating.

Nothing’s official yet, but I heard that the Stitching Atlanta Shop Hop will return this coming July.

Georgia Celebrates Quilts Show will be held at the Cobb Civic Center in Marietta June 4th-6th. You’ll also be able to catch the ECQG’s Matriotism exhibit, which is currently on display at the Atlanta History Center.

That’s all for now. Hope to see you at a stitchy business or event sometime soon!