Small Business Saturday, November 26th

As we all prepare for visiting relatives, huge turkey dinners, and of course the busiest shopping day of the year we hope that you will take a moment to support a local business.  In cooperation with American Express we, along with thousands of other small businesses, are participating in Small Business Saturday on November 26th.

Of course you've all heard of Black Friday and Cyber Monday but this is only the second year for Small Business Saturday.  As a small business it is impossible to compete with the big box names and well established online retailers.  We are excited to be a part of a special day dedicated to us...a small local business.

American Express is giving all of their card holders a bonus for participating too!  Just simply register your American Express card online, click here: https://sync.americanexpress.com/sbs2011 .  When you spend at least $25 at a participating small business, you will get a one-time $25 credit on your American Express.

Along with the American Express special, we are offering 25% off notions (under $25) and 10% off any cut of fabric (not including sale fabric).  Also, if your family is looking for the perfect gift for you, have them stop in and purchase a gift certificate.  For every $20 gift certificate they purchase they will get $5 free!!!  On top of all of that you will be registered to win a $50 gift certificate with any purchase made on Saturday.  All specials are available in store only.  Store hours are 9am - 5pm.

Whether you choose to shop with us on Saturday or another small local business, we really hope you participate in Small Business Saturday.  We will be waiting with hot coffee and cookies.  Have a safe and fun holiday weekend!

EChatter - November 2011

We were amazed by the attendance for this months Thrifty weekend, obviously everyone wants to know what is going on here at Common Threads.  If you weren't able to attend here's a review of some of the new things we introduced from Quilt Market.  We did talk a little about the changes we are making in the store, but all of the information we talked about you can find in the blog.

One of our favorite products from Quilt Market was the Handi Iron.  If you were at the retreat you saw them in use.  These stow-able irons get very hot for a tiny iron.  They do not have a steam feature, so if that's something you must have this iron might not be your best choice.  However, if you do a lot of little piecing this iron is perfect.  Retail $39.95.  Our special price $35.00.

My personal favorite find from Quilt Market are the Bloc Loc Rulers.  I saw them in a demo during the Minnesota Shop Hop and have been on a search for them ever since.  We purchased the ones that help square up half square triangles, but they have others like the flying geese and diamond rulers.  The ruler features a beveled edge that literally locks onto your seam for perfect trimming.  We have them in a three pack for $44.00 (6.5", 4.5", and 2.5")

My mom's favorite find was the Primitive Quilt magazine.  This magazine is $10, but has close to $50 worth of patterns in it every month.  Not only that, but it is wonderful and it's not overflowing with ads (as some other quilt magazines are).  This magazine is only available in quilt stores and we are proud to be a new carrier.

We have just a few new kits to share.  Just in time for Christmas is "Flight North" and matching pillowcase.  We used the Wing Clipper tool for this project (feature in a previous Thrifty).  The flying geese go around the entire project, the focus fabric is a fun winter-time fabric with black labs, sleds, and snowmen.

This super cute bag is created from a Wallet and Grommet pattern so that is what we call it.  Its the perfect size for keeping your most important things in one place.  It can also hold books, a nook, or iPad.

Bella Flora is a "finish in a weekend" project.  Great for first time sewers or maybe a project with the grandchildren.  The fabrics are from the Bella Flora line (featured in last months EChatter) and are pretty and giddy just to keep Spring in your mind.

A last, but not least...we did the Celtic Wave as a class last year and ended up with a couple extra kits.  If you're a Judy Niemeyer fan, this ones for you!

Happy Thanksgiving, have a safe and happy holiday weekend!

Web Store Update: Sulky Thread

As we continue to add more and more to our web store we will update here when things are available.  As of today all of our Sulky Thread is available for purchase online.  Next goal: rulers. :)

(click on the picture of the web store to go directly there)

The Cereal Tower

We had great turnout for our two retreat weekends and most of the ladies brought cereal to donate.  I am proud to announce that we donated 100 boxes of cereal to the Douglas County Food Bank.  Holly and I had some fun at the retreat and built the "Cereal Tower"...modeled after the building with a similar name, the Sears Tower.

We hope that all of our retreaters had as much fun as we did.  We can't wait for our next retreat in the spring.  Thanks to everyone that attended and The Lake Geneva Christian Center for another successful retreat.

A New Adventure Begins

"Do what you love, and love what you do".  This is the quote that everyone should live by and is a continuous motivation in everything we do at Common Threads.  The sign on our building says Common Threads Quilt Shop and Design Studio, in the spirit of doing what we love we are excited to be making the "design studio" part of our name a reality.  The economy and peoples immersion into the internet and technology has created a very different quilt shop for now and into the future.  It is our desire to not fall into a "have to change" but a "want to change" mentality.  Now don't think for a second that we are going out of business or leaving the quilt world - in fact, that is totally the opposite of what we are doing.  We are offering a new and exciting quilting experience!

The first change will be our shop hours.  We will be open every Wednesday from 9am to 7pm and every 2 and 4th Thursday (9am - 7pm), Friday (9am - 5pm), and Saturday (9am - 5pm).  See sample calendar:  (actual January calendar will be posted online with clubs, classes, and other events in the next few weeks)

We will also be open on days that we hold classes, these days will be marked on our calendar online and in our quarterly newsletter.  We will offer the opportunity to have a private shopping adventures for retreaters, quilting groups, or a group of friends that want a special shopping experience.  These will be based on availability and through reservations.

In addition to your shopping experience will be the expansion of our online shop to include every piece of fabric, sample, kit, book, pattern, and notion that our retail shop carries.  We know that many people love to "touch and fill" but remember our shop will be open.  The online shop will allow you to shop at your leisure 24/7 if desired....even in your PJs.

You may be a bit confused about this seemingly radical change, however we feel in our hearts that we are on the right track.  As we stated in the beginning, the quilting world has changed and we want to continue to be on the cutting edge and stay relevant.  We LOVE to share our passion of quilting with you and want to share it with the world not only through the internet, but by traveling.  We will be taking our shop on the road to shows and guilds as a "quilt shop on wheels"....look for us in your town!

Our passion of quilting will extend into creating fun events to celebrate quilting and fabric crafts, encourage our dreams of pattern and fabric designing, and compliment our clubs and classes with innovative and exciting new ideas for you to become a part of.

These are the things we promise to you:
*  Top quality quilting fabrics and supplies.
*  Computer guided machine quilting with literally thousands of patterns to choose from.
*  Existing clubs - Civil War, Buggy Barn, Stitchery
*  NEW clubs - English Paper Piecing, Traditional Paper Piecing, Wool Adventures, Quilt Circle, and Blossom Club (we will be releasing more information about each of these in the months to come)
*  Best for last....What's New - our new version of Thrifty.  By attending What's New you will be in the fore front of the latest and greatest that is on the market to excite you in quilt land.  We will share techniques in demo form before and after each What's New presentation.  You will have a hands-on idea of how the new products can work for you.  We will be having drawings for those who attend and giving gift certificates to those who bring show-n-tell.

In order to make these most wonderful things happen we need to clean up shop.  There are going to be items we will no longer carry and they need new homes.  These items will be on close-out at a 75% discount the weekend of January 12th -14th.  This will enable us to set up for our new shop.  We will continue to carry our favorite items including, but not limited to batiks, Civil War, cuddle, fresh new fabrics and MUCH MUCH MORE.

It is important that all of our customers know what is going on so please keep up to date with our blog and website.  We will email you the newsletter every quarter and let you know when the monthly chatter is posted, any other updates or blog posts are viewable at your own leisure.  We are thrilled for our new adventure and thank all of you, our customers for your support.

Cutest Tiny Buttons EVER

I love getting mail from other countries, the post marks are always so interesting.  Yesterday I received a package from Incomparable Buttons.

Incomparable Buttons provides jobs to woman in South Africa by creating clay buttons.  They are so adorable, I just had to share them with you!  Now I just have to figure out what we're going to do with them.  Any ideas?  Want some of your own?  Let me know!

Fun with the Twister Tool and Betz White's New Fabric Line

I was able to hang out at the retreat for a little bit and get some things done last Saturday....ok, one thing done...and it was only for fun.  Don't judge. :)  I got a pack of 21/2 inch squares of a Betz White's fabric from Quilt Market and they were so cute I knew that I had to do SOMETHING with them.  Mom even got a picture with Betz.
(Her blog: http://blog.betzwhite.com/ ...... Her fabric: http://www.robertkaufman.com/fabrics/stitch/)

As most of you know, I'm a new sewer/quilter so I polled the ladies for an idea.  The best one was using the Twister Tool to create a frame-able work of art.  First, I sewed each square together in even rows and columns and then sewed a 21/2 inch boarder around the entire thing.

Then I used the Twister Tool to cute out tiny 11/2 inch squares.  As I cut a row I sewed them together so that the pieces didn't get mixed up.

Here is the finished work of art.  I think I'm going to do a thin dark brown board and then boarder it again with the orange to fit inside a glass-less picture frame.  It will look so cute in my apartment!

P.S.  If you LOVE this fabric and want to see more of it, let us know....we haven't placed an order yet.