It was a busy weekend for me... as well as for the local quilters in Chattanooga. And, I must say that
quilting is alive and well in Chattanooga, Tennessee!
On Saturday, I taught my
Intro to Free-motion Quilting class to a group of exuberant quilters at the new quilt shop,
Pins and Needles Quilt Shop.
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Dawn P. and Dawn J., friends from the Choo Choo Quilters,
attended my free-motion quilting class. |
Stacy, the owner, has gotten the shop in ship-shape "quilter-ly" condition since
my initial visit a few short weeks ago. We had a packed classroom and these quilters were fearless in tackling free-motion!
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| Kim and Allison. |
I also had the pleasure of having three members on my quilt guild, the
Choo Choo Quilters, in my class. (Thank you Kim, Dawn and Dawn for attending my class!) What a treat to have friends and fellow guild members in the classroom with me!
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| Kitty and Stacy. |
You can tell by the intense concentration on their faces that these students were focussed on mastering this new skill. The day flew by.
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| Stacy and Rachel. |
With a little investment of time and practice, I know there will be many free-motion quilted quilts in their future.
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| "Intro to Free-motion Quilting" at Pins and Needles Quilt Shop in Hixson, TN. |
During our class, Brad, Stacy's husband, managed the store and helped shoppers. Here he is assembling a 3D fabric pumpkin for the shop. He is quite adept with a needle and thread... and the rotary cutter!
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| Brad working on a project for the shop. |
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| Photo courtesy of a Spool photographer. |
On Friday evening, I was invited to the preview party for the Grand Opening of another new quilt shop in Chattanooga,
Spool.
This new shop has a more "edgy with attitude" flavor, as owner, Maddie Kertay, puts it. The shop's web site is still a work in progress, but if you stop by the shop in person, you'll find several pre-cut
Fabrications strip collections from Blank Quilting—including the new collections,
"Pretty in Pink" and
"Spring Bouquet"—a large selection of solids,
Cherrywood hand-dyed cottons, cute little hand embroidery kits (so glad that hand stitching is becoming so popular again!) by
Penguin and Fish, and other quilty delights.
The shop has a shotgun house layout, high ceilings with dropped lighting fixtures, and the exposed brick walls are graced by an eclectic mix of quilts made by Maddie and many Chattanooga area quilters. Go in and be inspired!
