Remembering Patches

Patches convinced us we needed a shop cat almost 16 years ago.  She was probably 1 or 2 years old when she arrived.  Two weeks ago we had to make the decision that her quality of life was really pretty awful.  As I sat in the veterinarian's treatment room with Patches in my lap, and tears spilling over, I was gently assured that we were making the right decision.

Patches invited herself into our space the fall of the year we opened...1997.  We spent the first month chasing her out, finding her hiding places and putting her gently out for the night.  We finally gave up, bought a litter box, food, had her de-clawed and spayed--the agreement we made with her if she was going to stay.  And she settled in to show us we had made a good decision.  I have often said that she instinctively knew what she had to do and who she had to be in order for her to stay in the shop.

I  think you either love cats, or avoid them.  I also know if you don't like cats, they will follow you, sit near  you and whine at you trying to convince you that you are wrong about them.  The fascinating thing about Patches is that she often was successful.  There were husbands that came under her spell...often declaring that if they could be guaranteed  a  cat like she was, they would have a cat at their house.  You and I know there are no guarantees when it comes to the feline population.  Each one of them has a personality.  We were lucky....and so was Patches.

Patches arrived at our door quite small--and stayed  small all of her life.  No one imagined she was as old as she was.  When she was tearing around the shop in her earlier years it was easy to understand.  In these later years, she seemed even smaller.  She never weighed more than 7 pounds.

She spent many of her early years playing in the rafters, sitting in the warmth of the spotlights, watching the activity below.  Then she would come down to meet and greet customers when she felt like it.  As she aged, she hobbled more---probably from jumping off the rafters one time too many.  She depended more on finding warm places to sleep at table height, or lower.

The Patches era is over.  We will not replace her.  That is not possible.  We will remember her fondly, and live with special memories shared by so many.  The animals in our lives are such great friends.

It is said that a dog has a master.  Cats have a staff.  Which ever you might have...you know what I mean.

I have a cat, Zoey at my house.  She snuggles a little closer, lately.  I miss Patches when I come to the shop, and she does not meet me at the door "complaining" that she has been alone all weekend.  I don't have to check on where she might be hiding.   I don't have to worry when she does not appear until mid afternoon. I know where she is.  I have a vivid memory of a scene from a Disney movie whose main character was  a cat named Thomasina. At the end of all of her lives, as a very old cat  she leaped effortlessly up the stairs to heaven.  And I understand wherever that is, it is a great place for cats.                                                                                 ...Rachel                         

Tour de Quilt, a week later

Recipe for a good time:
1. Grab a good friend, or two or three.
2. Fill the car with gas.
3. Pick up a passport at your favorite quilt shop on the tour.
4. Spend the next three of four days traveling the byways that connect the eight shops.
5. Be sure to stop to eat along the way; take in the beauty of the country side.
6. Shop, chat, tell stories, laugh.

Central Virginia's 12th shop hop is history.  I am happy and tired. I spent  last Tuesday afternoon with the owners of the seven other shops talking about this years tour, and drawing names for the wonderful prizes.  And there were so many of them---really good prizes.  I always enjoy tour weekend.  I see old friends come through our doors, and lots of new travelers as well.  The mix is so much fun, however exhausting it might be at the time. 

This year, the challenge for me was to get the quilt together.  Each shop had the same pattern, and the same fabric.  But we could use our fabric anywhere in the pattern that we wished.  I am used to taking fabric and doing what I want with it.  This year I had to follow the rules, and the pattern.  I still did it my way, but still by the rules.  And I am happy with the result.  Not the quilt I would have designed, but a very beautiful use of pattern and fabric.  The gift for me this year was that by the Monday before the tour began on Thursday, the quilt was finished.  Quilted, bound and ready to hang.  And I was not running around like a mad woman trying to finish my original pattern.  There are some things for which I am grateful. 

At the end of events, I find myself wondering what it would be like to travel this shop hop, be a mouse in someone's pocket, and hear what everyone is saying.  I have been in almost all of the shops, but the excitement and laughter I hear coming through my shop doors makes me think it would be fun to do the tour myself.  

...so here's to another great year of quilting.  I'll look forward to smiling faces coming through our door next October.  But don't forget us the rest of the year.  Refer to the list at the top of the page, and don't wait too long to:
1.  Grab a friend or two or three, fill the car with gas, and head out on a quilting journey.
                                                                                                                     peaceful stitching.....Rachel

They are never too young ....

Yesterday, as I was helping a student make a purse, Emma brought her little pink step stool,  set it as close to my feet as possible, and wiggled her little self under my arm and into the space in front of me so she could "help Nana".  Emma is growing up in the quilt shop, just like earlier generations grew up on the farm, in the workshop, in a family owned grocery or small business.  

My Grandmother Emma Weaver told of taking my mother as an infant to the Central Market in Lancaster, PA.  (circa 1922)  She would tuck the baby in her basket bed under the counter, where the baby would sleep until she needed to be fed.   My Grandmother would wait on customers selling meat and cheese for the family business, the baby sleeping or playing nearby.   When I visit the  farmer's market in downtown Lancaster I cannot imagine taking an infant there for the day while I worked.  But many women did.  Those children learned early how to talk to people, how to behave in crowds, how to help, how to work....and how to handle money and count back change.  That makes me smile because most teens who might read that last sentence would have no idea what "counting back change" is.  I was an early teen when I learned to wait on customers at the meat and cheese stand at market.  I added columns of numbers without a calculator, doubled and divided weights on the meat scale and counted change with ease.  I learned to treat people kindly, with appreciation for their business, no matter how tired I was...no matter what!!

Our customers tell us that a quilt shop is a wonderful place for a child to grow up in.  I am fortunate to have my daughter and granddaughter with me almost daily.  I am aware that most mothers do not take their little ones to work in a gentle business they share with their mother.  I am grateful.  I also am aware that at times, I take our closeness for granted.  Having Emma around as much as I do, I sometimes brush off her interest in what I am doing with the thought that she is too young.   Yesterday she pushed pins into a piece of fabric, one at a time.  I am amazed at her fine motor skills.  For those who might worry, she has never put pins in her mouth. She doesn't put anything in her mouth that isn't food or water, or her fingers when she is cutting teeth.  She holds a pencil like I do--except she is right handed-- and "writes" with me.  When I sit down to sew at the sewing machine, she comes with her stool to stand close to me, watching closely, putting the pins I pull out of the piece I am sewing back into a pin cushion. 

Our children and grandchildren, the neighbor's children or even kids down the street we may not know, watch us and learn from us.  Often what we do is much bigger than what we say.  Having a very young child around me every day has reminded me how much they pick up, just by watching, and listening as well.  What we say has to line up with what we do, who we are, and how we treat each other. 

They are never to young to learn...and as I think about it, we are never too old, either.  But that's for another time, another page.                                                                                               ....Rachel

Pillowcases... a gift of love

You know when you get an idea...
                and it comes out of your mouth...
                                    and then you're committed.
And then (usually sometime later) you realize your idea may have been 'too big'.
Well that is exactly what happened to me when I committed us, and our customers to making 110 kid themed pillowcases for Camp Dragonfly.

It all began when American Patchwork & Quilting put out a challenge for all the quilt shop and quilters across the country to make one million pillowcases in a last year.  We started with gusto as we solicited customers to make pillowcases for our local Hospice of the Shenandoah.  Without blinking, we had over 100 pillowcases for hospice patients... of all ages.

So while talking to Hospice's director, Lori, Camp Dragonfly came up in conversation.  I figured that if the first round of pillowcases came in so quickly, so would bug or kids pillowcases.  I didn't figure that there really wasn't as much bug fabric out there (on the market) as I thought or that customers would find making pillowcases for kids a challenge. But that's what happened and we were coming on the camp date faster than we were getting pillowcases.

So I sent out a desperation email, made kits, and gave a deadline that gave me enough time to make up the difference in pillowcases if needed.  And, as usual, our customers and some of Hospice's volunteers came through. We surpassed our goal and have enough to start a stash of pillowcases for next year.

All of this leads to a huge THANK YOU to you our generous customers for the gift of your time, talents and fabric to bring some love and sunshine to local kids who are grieving.

We continue to collect pillowcases all year for hospice patients (young and old) as well as continuing our Camp Dragonfly collection for next fall.  We love this 'rolled' pillowcase technique and make a lot of pillowcases for friends and family at the holidays.  Enjoy.  Kay

Rolled Pillowcase - American Patchwork & Quilting

Super easy, sewing only, tablerunner

About the time you think you've seen it all, a customer walks in with an idea I haven't seen yet. I assure you I know that I haven't seen it all, but new discoveries always make me smile none-the-less. This little story also shows how great ideas spread all over the country.

So Wendy comes in this morning, after visiting a shop in Arkansas.  The shop touted the runner as the '20 minute tablerunner' and Wendy showed me the general idea of it, but I had to Google it.  I found a 10 min, 15 min and 20 minute tablerunner.... all the same concept.  The best pattern I found is from a quilt shop in Iowa.  It is so funny when we all get excited about a concept.

This is an all sewing, no batting, coverlet style runner. I made two with some of the Jason Yenter fabric that I have been wanting to do something with, but needing something that would show off the print. I hope you find it as fun as I have.  
15 Minute Tablerunner - Pineneedles