Why Quilt on Off the Wall Friday

 The last 10 months my life has been consumed by a new job which while not earth shattering has been super fun.  And my studio has sat empty.  I work all day creatively problem solving my way through customer service.  And my studio sits empty.   I wake up in the morning, thinking of ways to be more productive at my desk.  And my studio still sits empty.

It's been very fulfilling, and a pleasure and the months have flown by.  The work week is filled with one challenge after another.  The weekends are time for sleep and recharging.  It actually gave me pause when I glanced in my empty studio (all clean btw), to think do I really want to keep quilting?  It's been a nice 30 year run - shrug -I could just give it up.  

Then, I stopped myself and had a real Moonstruck Cher Moment 

This year while amazing can't be sustained.  Soon...and it's already starting to happen...I'll get things so together at work that it will start being...ya know...work.

Quilting isn't like that.  Art isn't like that.  Every piece whether a masterpiece or dog is a new bit of you.  There is always something new to learn  - to touch - to express.  Quilting is a challenge, a lesson in perseverance as well as many moments of quiet.  It makes old things new and ties us to many generations of needles and thread.  Quilts will last.

I am always very thankful that I got to start when I was 26 and could weather these cycles of creativity.  I've learn to give myself grace when I spend months away from my sewing machine.  But this grace is starting to turn into season of inertia.  It needs to stop.

I'm writing this all, not only to journal it for the future Nina, but for anybody else going through it. I'm hoping this spring will renew my energy and revitalize my passion.  It's still there.  And so is my studio.

So enough about me....What Have You've Been Up to Creatively?

Off the Wall Friday

 

Niche Notions Quilt Shops on Off the Wall Friday

 So now that JoAnn's is no longer, where does one shop?  So glad you asked!!  I've always liked technology... although for the record...my favorite saying is "Technology is the new Alchemy" 

(because I really think its a mysterious magic). Anyways...  I've been shopping online since pretty much the beginning. I'm not one to buy from the big-name online quilt shops but more enjoy searching for the smaller niches of notions.  I remember back in 1997, when I found this thread distributor who sold mostly to commercial customers but would put up their odds and ends to anybody for cheapie. I was never quite sure what I was buying but I was happy to give it a try.  

Before I start this, I want to say as a disclaimer that lately I haven't bought much because I tend to buy things I love in bulk and then they last for a long time.  Looking at inflated prices, I'm thinking that was a wise move.  But these are my favorite places that are still in business....

Colonial Needle Company...I'm fussy, I mean really fussy about my needles.  I like what I like.  As the years have gone on it's gotten harder and harder to find my favorite hand sewing needles.  That's when I found Colonial needle and started buying them in bulk.  This turned out to be good idea since I believe they have since discontinued my beloved Size 10 Large Eye Sharp.  I've found a ton of good needles there for my foray into big stitch quilting.  

Red Rock Threads....I really have been buying from them for at least 20 years.  They have
always had the best prices and the service is great.  I tend to buy cones of aurfil 50 wt for piecing and in years past bought a ton of Mettler Poly sheen.  

TestFabrics - Pretty much all of my PFD fabric has come from here.  I just noticed they did a big upgrade to their web page and LORD I could do some damage there quick.  This is a company that is set up to provide fabric for research and testing to commercial customers but is versed in selling to fiber artists as well.  In the past, I've bought 50 meters of seconds fabric cheaper since I was going dye it anyways and it came on big rolls.  Plus being here in Pennsylvania the shipping was that much cheaper.  

The Fabric Shack ... If I have bought commercial cotton fabric in recent years, it's been from this site.  The prices have been super fair and the shipping cheapie.  They have a nice mix of traditional and artsy fabric.  It is one of the few places that I still get their regular emails.  

Hmmm those are just off the top of my head....

One place I want to try is WAWAK.... has anybody shopped there?  What did you think?

Where are Your favorite Places to Shop Online?

JoAnn Fabrics The End on Off the Wall Friday

 

Thank you all for joining in on a very interesting conversation about the demise of JoAnn Fabrics.  I felt a bit vindicated once I was reading your thoughtful comments.  Also, I almost did bring up the decoration part of JoAnn's but ours in this area did less and less of that over the last 10 years.  Ours truly became more of a Michael's with a bit more fabric.  

That all said, I'm sure you heard by now but they decided to close 800 stores.  How did that happen?  So here is the nitty gritty I didn't get into last week.  Here's how a bankruptcy goes (or at least the simplified version)

1.  Bankruptcy is declared and a judge decides if the company has a good enough plan to become solvent.

2.  If they don't, the court will put all the company's assets up for auction.

3.  A stalking horse bidder is chosen to be the first bidder, getting incentives to buy the company at a set price.

4.  If nobody bids against them.  They get the company's assets.

5.  But in JoAnn's case two companies came together to form a new liquidation company and placed a higher bid than the stalking horse bidder.

6.  The new company specifically was formed to buy the assets cheaply and sell them at a profit.  

It's a shame really.  Sometimes a stalking horse bidder will get the company, reorganize it and make a profit.  But not this time. The liquidation company was out to make a fast buck.  A famous fictional character who did this was Richard Lewis of Pretty Women who was a corporate raider, buying companies only to break them up and sell their assets.

Anyways that's the scoop.  I held out hope that it would survive but really it's just for sentimental value.  

All stores are to be closed by May.

This just makes me sad.

Joann Fabrics - What You need to know on Off the Wall Friday

 

So last May I started a new job in a nearby city (Meadville, PA) that I had never really ventured into often.  We live 30 minutes from 3 midsize cities and 1-2 hrs from 3 big cities so you can see how you might get into the habit of doing your shopping mostly in one or two of them.  One of the big draws though of Meadville was they had this really nice Joann's less than a half a mile from work.  I mean what more could I ask for right?  Until I walked in and saw that the store had gone into liquidation.

I did know that Joann's had filed for bankruptcy in 2024, taking a loan and closing some stores, but that was not enough to save it from the auction block.  Come 2025, they filed bankruptcy again and the store has been put up for sale.  I won't get into the nitty gritty of the process but I'm very familiar with it since I worked for a company that it happened too twice.  The biggest thing to know is that it's the company's intention is to make itself the most profitable as possible to attract the biggest buyer (or bidder).  With that in mind it's closing over 500 of its 800 stores nationwide.  The complete list is here.  

So the liquidation process has begun here in Meadville.  They started out very slow with the whole store being on sale but only for 20-30% off.  No coupons or gift card will be accepted.  New sales and discounts will happen weekly.  No rhyme or reason was given and the store already looked pretty drab.

Remember how I said I live near 3 cities?  All three had Joann's and by the grace of God, one of them was chosen to stay open.  Also, there is an excellent one in Mentor, Ohio that is staying open.  But if I was being honest, I don't shop at JoAnn's all that often anymore.  My more expensive fabric purchases will go to independent quilt shops while my notions will be bought on sale en masse at JoAnn's online store or through Amazon.  At this stage in my quilting journey, I know what I like, and I tend to just stockpile it up from the vendors online to get a free shipping discount.

And really, maybe that's the issue.  The retail world is every changing and it takes a smart hand to keep up with it.  I really don't think JoAnn's did a good job with that especially through the early 2000's.  

!OPINION ALERT!

In the late 90's, it felt to me like JoAnn's went through an identity crisis and never quite came out of it.  Was it a fabric store?  An Art Store?  A Craft Store?  Honestly, by trying to be all three, it's kinda failed miserably.  Instead of reading the room and realizing that online shopping was the wave of the future, they muddled their base.    In fact, if I was going to be honest, I have a habit of doing my shopping at specialty stores online - I have a needle site - a thread site - my favorite online quilt shops - a notion site.  That way there is a lot of choice in that niche.  Shrug - but like I said - I like what I like.

Not to mention, the staff.  Honestly, so many times the service has been terrible - just truly terrible.  What cracks me up is that at one point, they were hiring and I thought I would apply for a second job.  They didn't even give me an interview.  So, I'm bias.  But more than once, the service was so bad, I put everything down on the counter and walked out.  And this isn't in one store - this is over multiple stores. 

I think that JoAnn's really missed the boat by not specializing in quilting and sewing.  They should have fostered a new generation of sewers through classes, clubs and sew-in's.  That way you build a following, you get to know your customer and create a unique brand.  

But what do I know - I've only been a quilter for 33 years and been in retail for 12.  

To me the whole thing is sad.  There are so few fabrics stores now in the country that this will create fabric deserts.  I remember when I first started quilting, JoAnn's was the first place I could explore that wasn't too intimidating.  In the last few years, I've found all these crazy specialty fabrics that I can explore with not break the bank.  Like I said sad.

Honestly, it will take a lot, but it could survive this latest round of Bankruptcy.  My old employer did but is actually a shell of itself (not to mention laying us all off!).  Or it could be a Barnes & Nobels success story where it gets its act together and does what it needs to do to stay relevant to today's consumer.

What do you think?   Will you miss it? 

Off the Wall Friday

Feeling a bit under the weather today...

So I'll Just Host and ask....

What Have You Been Up to Creatively?

Composition of 2025 on Off the Wall Friday

YOU TELL 'EM, SALLY!

 The doldrums have finally diminished, and all God's people said Amen.   Unless you live off a Great Lake you really can't get a sense of what it's like to go weeks - yes weeks  - without sun.  We'll get a sunny afternoon, and I always go for a long drive, it feels so good.  Today was not such a day though.  The last sun we saw was hmmmmmm Saturday and this morning we awoke to inches of ice.  Lovely.

But...my pile of last year's Art Page-A-Day calendar paintings were sitting there just waiting to do another composition post.  For you that are new, I have had this calendar on my desk for about 12 years now.  At the end of the year, I'm loathed to throw out so many inspirational paintings, so I use them to study the composition and other elements of design.  I personally start every piece - no matter art or traditional - with composition and value.  To me those are the basics.  

New to Composition?  Here is a quick guide - it's basically how you set up the main elements of your piece.

Not rocket science right?  There are plenty more out there too.  You can search this blog for PLENTY of composition posts.    So here are the three I literally chose at random (it's more fun that way!)

American School, Ferris Wheel at Columbian Exhibition in Chicago 1893

I like how this is clearly circular - twice - plus with a cool element of radial going on.  This is one of the few compositions that work well dead center of the piece.  Also, notice how the seats create this strong the rhythm.  Honestly this would be a great one to use for inspiration to abstract out and see where it takes you!

Francois Pascal Simon Gerard, Joachim Murat, 1815

Inevitably when I do a random pick, I end up with a triangular composition because portraits are clearly that.  For the record, I totally would kill for his hair! 

Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, Apples 1917

When this one popped up I thought...oh that's interesting.  It has two compositions going... a square... plus an implied triangle.  Compositions are always better with odd number of groupings - which I see three.  

Now I know what you're saying...what does this to do with quilting?  Glad you asked!  Picked rather quickly and radomly from my pinterest files...

By Helen Giglio

Now there is a true radial - once again set in the center where it's so strong.  At first glad you might think square but nope - it's the radial lines that are the strongest. 

Think it's only for art quilts?  Think again....

Cosmic, by Mary River Quilt Guild (their raffle quilt - great huh?!)

This one is a golden spiral.  The interesting thing about this is that they use value to imply the spiral along with the radial lines of the main star.  (I didn't have the heart to draw over it)

Anyways ... you get my drift.  I mean you can do what I do.  Go to art museums and try to work out the compositions of your favorite paintings.  Or you can try to pick a composition and then design a quilt using the one you pick.  Even if you pick one at random and do little mock ups.  You never know where an exercise will lead.

So What Have You Been Up to Creatively?