New Year's Wish

I wish you all a great New Year. As we look forward to the new year, it makes us look back to the past year, too.

This past year has been a busy year for me. We moved the store across the street on the wettest day of the year in March. It got done, but it was very uncomfortable for those that helped.

The new store offered a lot more traffic and became a place of comfort for many. Discussions were held there often about many subjects but mostly about quilting.

As the summer went on, it became apparent that the economy was hurting all of us. I listened to many discuss that they or their husband, boy friend, brother/sister, kids had been layed off. Or often how people were struggling with having to be furloughed or take a loss in pay. It has been a hard year. I was glad to be there to listen and discuss what people were going through. Then the economy hit us directly and now the store does not exist. How I loved it and loved my customers. I miss you all.

Now we look forward. I know this next year will be a wonderful year. I have learned as I have gone through life to take what is given us and make the most of it. If it does not work out, look for new challenges. I am excited to find our new challenges--I just want them to be fun and exciting.

Enjoy welcoming in the new year.Love your family, however that is constituted. Quilt often (or do whatever it is that makes you happy).

Christmas is coming

Happy Holidays to all of you.

What a great time of year. We get to be with family and friends and drink egg nog. We get to shop. We get to travel. Even though we have our normal lives to live during this time, we take time to do all of the above, too, and to reflect on who we are and why we are here. I hope you all have a joyous holiday season.

Gift & Craft Fair in Woodland

Today and tomorrow, Friday and Saturday December 4th & 5th, go to Woodland Eagles Auxiliary annual Home for the Holidays Gift & Craft Fair. It runs from 9 a.m. 'til 3 p.m. at the Woodland Eagles Hall 37650 Highway 16 (1/4 mile west of Raley's). A lot of handcrafted items to see and purchase.

One of Beehive Quilts employees, Brenda, will be there with her items to sell. You will love what she does.

River City Quilt Guild Show

Elisa and I went to the River City Quilt Guild show last Saturday. One it was a great opportunity for me to go to a show on a Saturday. Two it was a great show to go to. If you did not make it, you missed one of the best quilt shows around. Beautiful quilts. Great vendors. Demos. It was fun.

Guild in Woodland

There is going to be a quilt guild in Woodland! How great is this going to be!

Come to a let's-get-together-and-discuss-the-guild meeting on Sunday, December 6th from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. It will be on the 3rd floor of the Cranston Building. If you enter in the pass-through of the building either from the front or the back, there is an elevator to take you there. Whew! No stairs to climb.

If you have questions, you can contact Diane Beard at Red Hen Quilts redhenquilts@earthlink.net or 530-661-6677 or go to their website at www.redhenquilts.com.

Come and be part of the genesis of this new endeavor. Let us lend our support.

Brownsville Quilt Show

Have you ever been to Brownsville CA? Charming community. They have a great quilt guild, too. This weekend they had their annual quilt show. It was fun and very intimate. Beautiful quilts. I loved attending it.

This next weekend is Roseville's guild's show at the Maidu Center in Roseville. I, for one, am looking forward to it.

Petaluma Quilt Store

Gil and I went to Bodega Bay yesterday and spent the night. We had a great dinner and a great drive along the coast this morning. Then on the way back we stopped in a little town called Occidental. Too cute. Totally out of the way of anything or anywhere you might be going, but it is worth the drive.

To get to Occidental you go in on a road named Bohemian Highway. When you get into town, you realize it could be named nothing else. Downtown is mostly made up of restaurants. If you go there during a Saturday or Sunday during the summer, you will see a lot of people. On a November Monday, it was pretty quiet, which made it better for us.

We wandered into a couple of stores there that were quite enjoyable. One was an antique store where I purchased a few old crocheted doilies. They will be a great embellishment on a quilt. The other store advertised handmade items. Many items were from the immediate area. The others were from outside the United States. I purchased a beautiful tote that was made in Nepal. The other item I purchased was a beaded necklace from Guatemala. Gorgeous. The pricing in the store was extremely reasonable. If you are over that way, take the time to go in and look around.

After leaving Occidental, we drove into Petaluma and looked for a quilt store. Talk about finding a treasure! A Quilted Angel is one of the nicest quilt stores I have ever gone into. It was beautiful. I will write more on it later. Watch for it.

Chico's Quilt Show

Yesterday Elisa and I went to the Chico to see their quilt guild show. Wonderful show. Beautiful quilts. They had some great vendors. I am like everyone else that loves to buy kits from different shows. I bought a great one from the Red Bluff shop vendor. She and I talked a little and discussed stores. She is closing hers down, too. She hopes to have it closed by December; mine should be done before Thanksgiving.

One thing I saw at the show that I had read about, but I had not seen it yet. Have you heard of the ribbon that you can iron on? It is beautiful and so easy to apply. I just do not know how permanent it is. I will be purchasing some and offering it on my website after the store closes. I will let you know if I like it.

Do not forget to come in to the shop. We still have a lot of beautiful fabric and now it is marked down to 40% off! Can't beat it. Quilt shop, high quality fabric; notions; patterns and books. 40% off!!!

Flying Geese, the easy way

Received a notice of Clothwork Textiles new blog site. Went to see what they had there and was quite impressed. Best of all there was a way to make flying geese easier than the old fashioned way. Go to http://www.clothworkstextiles.com/blog/ and look for the display on making flying geese. I have not tried it, but it looks really easy.

Closing

Wow! What a week we just had. I have been pleased to see so many people enter the store this past week. We have been blessed with all the well wishes we have had. Thank you, one and all. Just to answer the many questions that have been placed before us:
- I will be learning how to do long arm quilting and eventually taking on quilting other peoples quilts.
- I plan on staying involved in the quilt world and perhaps even have an activity or two to do as the next few months come forward. But nothing will happen through me until after December.
- Gil and I plan to travel soon--if no where else than to Eagle, Idaho to see my Mom (depending on the weather, Mom).
- We do not know our last day will be. It will be when we sell all our product down.
- We will maintain 35% off while sales are up. Then we will increase it to 40% off. Watch here.

Come in to see us this week. We have lowered all prices to 35% off (except pre-made quilts). You will be able to get those backings, patterns, books and great material at a great price. Bring in your UFOs to match up.

Know that we have loved what we are doing. The economy is doing small businesses in. Had we been open a few years, we might have weathered this downturn. It was fun while it lasted.

See you soon.

Spook-tacular Sale

Spook-tacular Sale

Halloween is on its way &
this is no trick.

All bolts of fabric on sale through this Saturday, October 10th

20% off

Watch for next week’s sales.

They will be even more terror-iffic!

Classes at Beehive Quilts

Today we had a great class on how to make a very large Christmas Tree Skirt. Check out our class schedule, as we have some wonderful classes coming up. The closer we get to the holidays, the more classes for small quilts, Christmas count down wall hanging, family picture quilts, table toppers and/or runners, plus a wonderful chance to do charity unto others. Charity with Project Linus quilts; turn in quilts for Quilts for Kids; and sewing on Debbie's Gowns that go to patients during difficult times. For these and all our classes, go to www.BeehiveQuilts.com/classes. We would love to have you join us.

Received the following via an e-mail. Sounds interesting.

I thought that you folks might be interested in this exhibit:

Amazing Wonders: Quilts by African Americans of the Northern California Region
http://www.40acresartgallery.org/Amazing_Wonders.htm
Amazing Wonders: Quilts by African American of the Northern California Region is a celebration of quilt-making in the various traditional and nontraditional ways that the art has survived into the twenty-first century, and serves as a testament that the craft is still very much alive and well. For Amazing Wonders, in addition to working closely with Oakland’s African American Quilter’s Guild as well as local guilds here in Sacramento, Folsom and Elk Grove, the 40 Acres Art Gallery is pleased to be collaborating with UC Davis’ Richard L. Nelson Gallery, which will be simultaneously presenting an exhibit of African American quilts from a private collection. Curated by Felicenne Ramey and gallery director Renny Pritikin, the exhibit will be on view in Davis from September 24 – December 13, 2009, and will feature quilts from the collections of Avis C. Robinson of Washington, D.C. and Sandra McPherson of Davis.
October 13 - December 23, 2009
3428 3rd AveSacramento, CA

New Fabric

New fabrics are here. We have three new panels. One is filled with colorful pheasants that are stunning. One has old steam engines on it. The third is Americana birdhouses. We purchased other fabric to help coordinate it all. They are gorgeous. We also have some new Christmas and fall fabric. Come in to see them all. And more is on the way.

Short-arm sewing machine.

We have purchased a short arm Juki sewing machine on a long bed! Elisa is quickly learning the ins and outs of it. She is currently working on a Halloween quilt top that I finished last year and never quilted it. It is looking great!

Someday we will do charity quilts to get more practice--that is after I go through the tops I have made. Then if we feel good about our work, we will take in quilting consignments.

This is an exciting addition to our shop.

Quilt run

My daughter and I had the opportunity to go on the Northern California Quilt Run this past Thursday. It was fun. There were 9 stores involved running from Marysville to Redding. Because we only had limited time (and spent too much time in each store), we did not make it to the three stores in Redding. I wish we could have, but we can make a trip up there another time. Then we will go to the shop in Shasta City. I have heard great things about that shop.

I must tell you, as a shop owner, I looked more at pricing, kitting, customer service and just general marketing in each of the shops. I truly enjoyed Marysville shop. They did a good job on all of the aspects I look at AND they had "stuff" I could not live without, too. Good job, ladies.

I loved the shops in Paradise. Chico also has two great shops. The Rabbit Hole had panels everywhere. I love panels, as they make quick and easy quilts. I spent way more money than I had anticipated spending there. It was a fun shop to go through--tight at times, but fun.

After Chico we made our way to Willows. It was a cute shop. Small but easy to get to off the freeway. They carried a lot of cowboy-type fabric. That is not they type of fabric I normally look for but if I ever want to make my brother in Texas a quilt, I would definitely go back there.

The best part of the shop hop was if you purchased one of the hop's bags, you got 10% off of everything you purchased that day in any of the shops, which really helped. Plus with this bag, I will get 10% off all purchases through until the next quilt run in one year. Wow. I just have to remember to take the bag with me if I travel back up that way. Worst part of that, though, no one told me that in any of the stores. We had been to three stores before someone outside the store asked me where my bag was. This should be broadcast to all their customers with at least a sign where the bags are sitting.

We did have a good time, and I learned many new ways of displaying product and how important it is to greet each and every customer.

Yolo County Fair quilts

Today is the last day of the Yolo County Fair. If you have not had a chance to get over to see all the beautiful quilts, try to this afternoon. While there be sure to vote for your favorite charity block. The voting area is at the far back of the Home Arts Building.

Yolo County Fair Home Arts Building

Thursday and Friday several people showed up to set up the displays of the quilts, needlepoint, crocheted, knitted, sewn and other items that were entered in to the 2009 Yolo County Fair home arts section. I was lucky enough to be part of that group.

What a big job it all is to put the items up. A big thank you goes out to those that showed up to do this task. It was hot. It was tiring. But it was an enjoyable time of getting see all the beautiful items and knowing a needed task was being accomplished. It was also enjoyable getting to work with these wonderful people that volunteered their time and talents.

Thanks!

Blogging is fun.

Not only am I learning this "blog" stuff, I am also learning of others blocks. Check out one of Beehive Quilts best teacher's blog at http://www.dianesteelequilts.blogspot.com/.

New fabric

Zebras are at the store!

Beautiful zebra fabric is here. Black and white is in, but this goes beyond black and white. These bolts actually have zebras in all their glory on them. Come see what I am talking about.

The top one is zebra heads; the middle one is the same only all in black; the bottom are the zebras bodies. I told you zebras, zebras, zebras!

Antique Quilts

I had a couple of customers come in and drop off some beautiful antique quilts yesterday. Jeanne Powell is going to try to date the quilts--at the least the fabric. They are hand pieced and hand quilted and are stunning. After that we will be taking pictures of them and posting them to www.BeehiveQuilts.com for sale. They should be in the shop for about a week while we take pictures of them all. Drop by to take a look at them.

Welcome to the month of June

Merry, merry month of June.

Does not really rhyme, does it?

As was stated in my newsletter, I went to an After Market Quilt show to see all the new fabrics the fabric reps have in the cases. Beautiful. I wish I could have purchased a bolt of them all! I did a good job, though. They will start being delivered in July and a few each month through November. Fun.

We do have new patterns in. Most of them are for small wall quilts for quick decorating or for your cube at work. See the great Uncle Sam one below.

Sale Rack

Friday! It is here and everyone is ready to celebrate a long weekend, I am sure.

So come to the shop to see what we have on sale. The bolt rack that is just inside the front door has four different lines of fabric that is on 20% sale now until June 30th. Beautiful fabric.

New fabric

We received in new fabric. One set are the varigated fabrics for Diane Steele's Woven Silhouette class coming in June. Great colors. We also received in a solid black bolt that we have had several requests for, along with a solid white that is not muslin. We also have a new Asian print, footballs, and fairies. We received in our batting order that we were getting so low on. And a few new patterns. Come see what we have.

New block site

I am slowly catching up with what everyone else is into electronically. This should be fun and will give you a chance to respond to what is going on, too.
Beehive Quilts is a passion for me. I have loved it since we opened, which by the way was almost one year ago. On May 27, 2008, we opened to a wonderful reception. We had been working in the store getting it ready to open for a little over a month. Several of you wandered in to see what we were doing and to thank us for FINALLY opening a quilt store in Woodland. Thank you all for the wonderful reception we have received being here.