Happy 10th Birthday To Us!

To all of our loyal customers,
Thank you for your support and business over the last 10 years! Come join us on June 2nd for our 10 year Birthday Celebration! We will have cupcakes (from local business "Simply Cupcakes") as well as a super duper coupon that allows you to choose your favorite item to get a discount on! Below is the coupon for that discount. You can bring in a print off of the coupon or show us the coupon via your phone when you check out. There is a limit of one coupon per customer and the coupon is only good for June 2nd!
Hope to see you in the store!

My Favs - Angelyn

Okay SLH Fans.. this week our featured Team Member is Angelyn! Here is what she has to say about her "Favs": 

1. What is your favorite sewing/quilting book?

OH GEEZ. My favorite? Well for all around fun quilts, my favorite book is probably "Dare to be Square" by Boo Davis. But right now i'm also sucked into the Colette Sewing Handbook and Carol Doaks Mariners Compass Stars paperpiecing book! But as my sister and Sara would tell you, I own just about every "Art to Heart" book that was ever made. I think i maybe have made one or two projects from the 15 or so books i have, but I LOVE THEM, and i just tend to collect them.  One day I will get to all the fun projects those books hold!  TOO MANY BOOKS TO LOVE!!

2.What is your favorite sewing notion?

Umm...beside my seam ripper. :) Well lets see, Honestly my one notion I couldn't live without is a 4" pair of Omnigrid needlecraft scissors. I  use them for everything from snipping threads to pulling off paperpiecing paper. And they are still sharp despite being dropped repeatedly into my floor ( which they stick straight up out of)

3. What is your favorite sewing foot?
OH man... well 90% of the time I use my (AMAZING) 1/4" patchwork foot for piecing, but I also love my #10 edgestitch foot(which is great for topstitching and closing seams when you turn things) But the one foot that I think is the all time coolest is the #18 button sew on foot (thank you Bernina) It makes it possible to sew buttons onto anything using your machine!!

4. What is your favorite hand/machine sewing thread?
So, I have to a agree with my sister and say Prececia and Aurifil are by far the best piecing threads. I may be bias but you will not find a better thread for piecing than either of those. BUT...my mom just decided to bring in King Tut by Superior Threads...and all I could say when it came in was...aww crap. :)

5.What is your favorite sewing blog?

Seriously? Favorite as in singular favorite...hahaha! ok. 1. "Oh, Fransson" by Elizabeth Hartman, 2."Make it and Love it", 3. "Artisania"- by Sonja Callaghan ( ok, if you like paper piecing, you will LOVE her blog, she is amazing. Her patterns are amazing) and there are many more but my list would go on and on and on and on...well you get the point.

And don't forget..leave a comment here before next Monday and you could win a $25 giftcard to the store! Have fun and we look forward to seeing what your "Favs" are!

MyFavorites - Enjoli

Welcome to our "MyFavorites" blog series. Here you will get a chance to know our staff members better. We will have a good time and assuming that our distributor can keep up with us we will have stock in store of all the products you hear about here! 

Enjoli is up first, so here it goes...

Q: What is your favorite sewing/quilting book?

A: My current favorite book is “Practical Guide to Patchwork” by Elizabeth Hartman. I want to make every quilt in this book, AND in June Elizabeth is releasing her second book that promises to be just as great as her first.  It’s called “Modern Patchwork”. I’ve also picked up a few new releases that are fantastic, called “Modern Minimal” by Alissa Haight-Carlton, and “Quilting Modern” by Jacquie Gering. 

(NOTE: "Modern Patchwork", "Modern Minimal" and "Quilting Modern" are all new release books and have not made it into our store yet. Keep an eye out for them soon!)

Q: What is your favorite sewing notion?

A: This is a hard question, I have so many favorites, its hard to choose just one. I love my “machine needle pack”, it holds all of my packaged and loose needles and has labels so I don’t have to guess which ones are which.

I also can’t go to any class or sit and sew without knowing where my “Bohin sewing gauge” is. It is awesome and has survived my 2 year old using it!

And last but certainly not least, my “Rainbow Easy Kut” snips are my favorite for clipping threads on chain piecing or paper piecing projects. They are easy to use and stay sharp forever!  

Q: What is your favorite sewing foot?

A: Right now my favorite sewing foot is my Jeans foot! Despite the name you can actually use it for sewing knit as well. And since I have been altering jeans into maternity jeans and sewing up knit maternity tshirts it has come in super handy. And even though its not a sewing foot, it helps to use a straight stitch plate when using the jeans foot because the opening in the stitch plate is a single hole instead of an oval opening. The jeans foot (for my Bernina it is foot #8) has a single keyhole opening as well and the sole of the foot is hinged so that you can go over the thickness of denim. Check out the video on Bernina’s website to see how cool this foot it!  (http://www.berninausa.com/product_detail-n25-i51-sUS.html)

Q: What is your favorite hand/machine sewing thread?

A: I am partial to sewing with Prescenia or Auriful thread for piecing and quilting. The Prescenia thread is so thin that you keep a true ¼” seam when piecing. You still get super strong thread but you don’t have the bulk of some other types of thread. As for Aurifil, well…I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! It is just a great all around thread, also very thin. I use it for everything, piecing, quilting and even embroidery. It is not a shiny thread like you’d find with Isacord (which I also love for embroidery) but embroiders out beautifully and runs through my machine like butter without leaving a lot of fuzz!

Q: What is your favorite sewing blog(s)?

A: Oh my..I currently have 60 websites/blogs bookmarked on my web browser! :P I have to say that my top 5 are:

1)    “OhFransson” by Elizabeth Hartman

2)    “Handmade by Alissa” by Alissa Haight-Carlton

3)    “Tallgrass Prairie Studio” by Jacquie Gering

4)    “Fresh Lemons Quilts” by Faith

5)    “Stitched in Color” by Rachel Hauser

I visit these sites constantly and find myself adding projects from each of them to my “To-Do’ list! Each are so inspiring and have fun tutorials and projects, as well as beautiful pictures to just lift your spirits!

Leave a comment here telling us what your favorite sewing books or notions are and next Monday (the 21st) you could just be the winner of a $25 gift card to SLH! 

New Blog Series - My Favorites

Okay here it goes... Today is the official (actually un-official because I'm behind) launch of our new blog series called "My Favorites". You will get to hear from each staff member on their favorite crafty blogs, book and tools! We are going to have a great time and all of the items (books, notions, etc.) will be in our store for you to come check out in person and/or purchase for your own!

And, of course since I manage the blog I get to go first! So in the interest of making sure you all can collect some of my favorite items for your own, my list of "My Favorites" will post next week on May 14th. So be sure to check back here on that day so find out what books, notions and other crafty items I hoard in my studio!

Looking forward to sharing and chatting with you all!

Gene's Sewing Studio

Welcome to Gene’s Studio

Hello everyone and welcome to my little corner of the creative universe! Come on it grab a beverage and sit and sew awhile!

My media of choice is fabric and fiber. I enjoy garment construction, quilting, home dec sewing, machine embroidery, knitting, and surface design.

My studio is over our 2.5 car garage. My room is 19 x 22.5 feet. It is my place to create and relax. I have 6 sewing machines and 2 sergers that I use. I usually have 1 serger and 4 sewing machines set up at any one time. Please follow me as we continue on our tour.

After climbing the stairs to get up to my studio this is the first view that greets you. It is standing on the landing looking down my wall of bookcases towards the south wall. On the left side of the photo are bookcases that contain books, supplies, buttons and yarn. In front of the window on the left is my ironing station. To the right of that is my design wall followed by another window (the shade is down hard to tell it from the design wall. The back of the chair is my guest sewing station. The sewing machine on right side of the picture with the back showing is my 200/730 set up for embroidery. Behind that facing the camera is my primary sewing station. The Dr Seuss fabric sitting in the foreground is on the end of my cutting table. Most of the cutting table is out of the picture. Directly to the right out of camera range is the railing to the stairs where I have a metal closet organizer surrounding my thread cabinet.

Here is my thread cabinet it was origionally used to store punch cards that were used to program computers. It has 33 drawers that are 2.25” high by 8” wide and 16” deep! It is awesome!! To bad all of my thread does not fit in it. The thread cabinet backs up to the stair railing and has a metal closet organizer surrounding it that provides lots of shelf space.

This photo shows most of my unboxed fabric wall (the fabric shelves go approx 6 feet to the right out of the range of the camera). To the right of the open shelves starts all my boxed fabric. Most of the fabric in the boxes is cataloged in a 3 ring binder. I use banker’s boxes and they are 3 deep against the wall. I use the flat surface the boxes create as a shelf to hold an extra roll of batting and a bunch of polar fleece. The end of the cutting table can be seen in the foreground of the photograph.

Stand with my back to the fabric wall here is  a look at the book end of my wall of bookcases. The bookcases to the right off the edge of the photo contain supplies, buttons and yarn.

Here is a close up of the dividers I made so I can keep my books organized and be able to find the one I want with out having to search the whole bookcase.

Here is a photo of my main sewing station. It currently has my 440 set up on it. To the right on the edge of the photo is my Bernina 180e set up for embroidery. The blank spot on the cabinet behind the desk lamp is where my Bernina tackle box goes. When the picture was taken it was at the shop for club weekend.

In front of my main sewing station is my design wall it is about 6 to 7 feet wide. To the left is my ironing station and behind me is my Bernina 200/730 set up for embroidery.

This photo is showing my 200/730 set up for embroidery and the back of my 1630 that is setting on the guest sewing station. It also shows my cutting table. The far back corner is where I was standing when I took the first photo. That is the top of the stairs.

Here is a close up of my iron station. I like to stand and look out the window when I have to iron/press! On the bookcases there is my yarn collection, button collection and some bolted fabric. My serger station can be seen in the foreground. To the left of the serger is my guest sewing station.

Here is a close up of the cutting implement pegboard at the top of my stairs. I am not even sure how many scissors and rotary cutters it contains.

And last but not least is Ms. Violet Royale. She is the governess of my studio she sees and knows all! She is about 24 inches tall and purple!!!!! She sits on top of a tall narrow bookcase. I love her!

I hope you have enjoyed the tour of my studio! I have enjoyed showing to you. I feel very blessed for having it and I love when friends come over and sew with me!

Happy sewing to all!!!

Lisa's Sewing Studio

My sewing space is located in our small bedroom that is frequently occupied by guests.

I do not get to sew as often as I would like but enjoy sewing tote bags, purses and baby items. We are expecting our 6^th grandchild so I need to get moving!

I started out sewing on a Brother NX400 which has since been moved to the back of the line. I love using my old 830 and have since acquired a Bernina 1130. I love the “older” machines but am saving my pennies for a “new” 830!  I also have a Deco 340 and have so much fun using it.

Working as a tech, I have been bitten by the Bernina bug (caution: it is an incurable disease ~ worsening with frequent trips to Seams Like Home!) My co-workers are so talented and inspire me with their creativity. This in turn, causes me to start more projects. 2012 is the year of completing those unfinished projects! The quilt in the picture was started in 2005 and is now complete! Wish me luck on the rest…..

Lisa

Meg's Sewing Studio

Hi!  I’m Meg and I’m a sewing machine repair technician here at Seams Like Home.

I moved into my childhood home 3 ½ years ago, and now have a great space for sewing/crafting.  Having to show my area in this blog prompted me to clean up the room, and really get organized.  Look now, because it will never be this clean again.

I am using my formal dining room as a sewing room.  What a lot of space!  I have the TV to watch while sewing, and my Aussie to keep me company.  One end of the room has my sewing machine, and the other end my cutting table.

My favorite tool is the design board.  Using the top of a bed for laying out a quilt got to be a hassle if someone needed to sleep, and having the quilt horizontal I just didn’t get the whole picture.

The dining room table was too low to use as a support for a cutting surface.  The top of the dog kennel is higher, so I put a board across the kennel and now have a great cutting area.  My newest tool for cutting is the rotating cutting mat.  Now the dining table is free for me to have a space for beading and paper crafts.  I especially like Tim Holtz tags.

I have been sewing since I was 12, doing mostly clothing and home dec.  I made my dress for my senior prom.  Well, I made the dress, and on the day of the prom my Mom was sewing on the pearl accents. 

I started quilting in 1986, but never felt that there was enough time to devote to it.   I retired June 2011, and now I have time.  I especially enjoy Breakfast Club here at Seams Like Home.  Marcia picks a new quilt to do every month, and she introduces new techniques with each quilt.  I get to use those beautiful Bali Pops in many of the quilts.

The quilter’s saying is “the one who dies with the most fabric wins.”  I’m doing my part in this contest.  I have so much fabric that I use an empty bedroom to store it.  One wall is nothing but shelves where I have boxes of fabric by color and by theme.  I love the Asian-themed fabrics and the blenders that go with them, batiks, and I have several boxes of my hand-dyed fabrics.   I also store my needlepoint projects and yarn here, along with patterns, batting, and pillow forms.  In a different bedroom there is wall storage for all my quilt and craft-related books.

Thanks for visiting.  Now I’ll get back to sewing, and mess up my room.