Favorite Things

Nancy is a huge fan of the original Sound of Music with Julie Andrews.  What a great soundtrack it has!  In one of the songs, Maria helps the children cope with a frightening thunderstorm by sharing some of her favorite things.  She mentions doorbells and sleighbells but she also mentions warm woolen mittens and satin sashes.  These last items bring to mind some of our favorite things - quilts - new quilts, antique quilts, baby quilts, tshirt quilts.  You get the idea!  We have recently had the opportunity to do some antique quilt repairs and have truly enjoyed those projects.  Here are a few before and after pics.

 The next pictures are the finished project of one of our repairs.  The customer sent us all of the pieces from a quilt that had been worked on over a period of several years by her grandmother and mother.  She sent the deconstructed pieces hoping we could salvage them.  We had to add some of our vintage fabrics and do a lot of hand-stitching.  This was our interpretation of what we imagined her grandmother and mother originally made.

Full size pic

Closeup

Ready to ship the newly repaired quilt, we sent her these pics and she wasn't sure she really liked the smaller squares.  She felt like they were distracting.  However, we were using those smaller squares (originally made by her family members) to cover some holes created through the years. 




When she got the actual quilt, she sent us a note.   Here is what our customer had to say about the finished product:  "we wanted to say thank you for the quilt...! You totally made the right call with the flower patches to cover the cutout corners- the quilt is a great size and the pattern looks good. 


So, if you have some well-worn/well-loved family heirlooms, we would love the opportunity to revitalize them for you!  We have a nice stash of vintage fabrics that we can use to fill in as needed.  Or, you can send us pieces of what you have left and see if we can bring life back to your favorite things.

Staff Development

How many of you are required to attend Staff Development days with your employer?  While working for the school district, this was a common occurrence, but not often viewed positively by this staff member.  Now that we are self-employed, we see the need for -- and enjoy -- our staff development days.

Sometimes we get so busy soliciting and/or filling orders, we find ourselves short on creative time.  So, in 2017, we started scheduling one day each month for just that.  We didn't fill orders.  We didn't write blogs.  We didn't do mending for family.  We did kick around new ideas.  We did design new patterns.  We did learn new techniques.  We did make prototypes.  Then...2018 started off fast and furious and along the way, we forgot to be as focused on "staff development."

Although it's not a New Year's Resolution, we will be scheduling some Staff Development Days again for 2019.  So, if you contact us and it takes us a little longer to respond, just know that we are working to better our craft and vary our inventory for you.  We want to stay abreast of trends to offer products you will love and love to use.  If you have an idea you would like to share with us, please do!!

Warm Fuzzies

One thing we don't get to do very often, but love to do, is crochet afghans.  This is one that was done to fulfill a Christmas order.  The recipient was very happy with the finished product.  What a great example of a customer's creative imagination coming to life!  She had a picture of something she had in mind, but wanted some particular colors.  With a little creative license, this was the final product.

What does your imagination have cooking?  Let us help!

Quick start

We are hitting the ground running this new year!  When the clock struck midnight on New Year's Eve, we already had 10 orders for 2019.  Some of them are small orders, like a brag vest for a national boys' club.  But others are much larger: some memory bears, a couple of tshirt quilts and two antique quilts that need repair - to name a few.

Brag vest

Quilt repair

We do love being busy and we love seeing what new ideas our customers throw at us.  Often, our new products are a result of YOUR creative imaginations.  We are always open to new challenges and look forward to what you may be sending our way.

New Inventory Item - Kitchen Boas!

Wild Side

Granny took some time away from eStudio60 but stayed in the Busy Barn making some special Christmas gifts.  Eleven grandkids all expect Granny to make something for each of them for Christmas.  And, of course, they always hope that birthdays will deliver something handmade, as well.  Unfortunately, that doesn't always happen.

This year, Granny has been successfully achieving some weight loss goals.  So, cleaning out the closet to make room for smaller sizes has been an ongoing process.  Having so many Tshirts that she could no longer wear, she took some of her favorites and made stuffed animals for the grands.  (Last Christmas, she was sneaky and found out which animals each kiddo liked best.)  So, here's a picture of the bears, horses, donkey, unicorn, dogs, elephant and frog that the grands received.  What fun!

 She also had enough time to make one more special bear for her youngest son, a formerly active US Marine, using the shirt from his recruit company.