SSQS Journal
Issue 62 October, 2022
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Hello Everyone and Welcome Fall, I have been waiting for you to arrive all Summer long!
I believe the cooler weather has brought more smiles to the shop these days and faces we have not seen in a while. This time of year is Quilting season and everyone is starting to plan their projects and gather their supplies for the chilly months ahead spent indoors. We see fewer of you in the summer months with lawns to be mowed, gardens to be tended and all those outdoor activities with family and friends that keep you so busy. In the summer we tend to have more vacationers as customers who are visiting Indiana or passing through on their way to another state. Indiana is the crossroads of America. We love meeting new quilters to the shop. It's always interesting to see their reaction when they come through the door. They are almost always pleasantly surprised. We hear about their vacation adventures and help them gather their quilt shop souvenirs. We usually send them off to local stores, sites, or restaurants before they head out of Indiana. We are always surprised when we receive the sweetest emails from them telling us how much they enjoyed their time at our shop, and we even get fun vacation photos from some of them too!
While we do enjoy connecting with our new traveling friends, I look forward to all of you coming home after your summer adventures, sharing where you have been or what you have been up too. I have had some of the best conversations and catch ups with so many of you this past week and it feels good to share it all with you.
Today in the shop we had a Sweet Retreat Day and the room was buzzing with conversations, ideas, stories, and opinions. There is always so much more gained in a day spent sewing together than simply getting things finished. Although that is always a bonus if you can finish a project on a retreat day because everyone is happy to celebrate with you. Having a shared passion like quilting brings us together. It is more than sewing pieces of fabric together, it is the sharing of what is going on in our lives, it is the conversations where we are heard, it's the ideas traded, it is relating to the stories told, and the respect of the opinions in the room.
Quilting is just as much about connections with each other as it is about connecting two pieces of fabric with a ¼ inch seam. We are so glad to be stitched together with all of you!
Welcome Back Quilter’s!
May all your Stitches be Sweet,
Joan
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One Year Ago TODAY
One year ago today we opened the doors to our new Shop. In some ways it is hard to believe an entire year has gone by and in other ways it feels like we have been in the building for a long time. It is nice that the construction is in the rear view mirror and we now have the opportunity to enjoy the space.
To celebrate our One Year Old Building we are having a One Day Sale!
Saturday October 1, 2022
20% OFF
All Fabric
All Notions
All Patterns
All Books
All Daylight Lamps
All Accuquilt Dies
(in stock items only)
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Joan's theme for First Friday Demonstration Day is October Offerings.
Our theme for First Friday Demonstration Day is October Offerings. We have a variety of projects like the Runaround bag, two cute christmas wall hangings, a christmas strip quilt, a quilted elements stocking, a beary warm & cozy flannel lap quilt and Joan will share a free easy quilt block pattern made with the Folded Corner Clipper Ruler so have your pencil and paper ready to take notes.
Check your inbox on Friday October 7 for a video link to our YouTube page. Or Subscribe to our YouTube channel and be notified as soon as the video is uploaded!
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Don't forget to "Like" and Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! |
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Mark your Calendars
November 12 at 1:00pm - Sweet Stitches along with members of the Quilts of Valor String-A-Long Stars and Stripes of NW Indiana group will present Quilts of Valor to several local veterans.
The Mission of Quilts of Valor is to cover Service Members and Veterans touched by war with comforting and healing Quilts of Valor.
We hope you can join us at Sweet Stitches to witness the award ceremony and honor our local veterans.
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Lakeside Block of the Month
Block #4 is Ready. You can stop in the shop at any time as of October 1 to pick up your clue bag.
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Joan has added a few new classes for September including Runaround Bag and Mod Flower Box in addition to our regular line up of popular classes.
Beginning Quilting 2.0 is now on the calendar. This class is for those new quilters that have taken Joan's Beginning Quilting Table runner class and are ready to make a lap sized quilt. Students will choose their own quilt design from a booklet and will work from their own quilt pattern. Class size will be limited to 3 students so they will have room to spread out to work on their separate quilt projects.
If you are interested to explore our classes and schedule, click the link below that will take you to our calendar or you can find the calendar and a list of classes on our website by clicking 'Classes' in the top banner.
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Are you Interested in Accuquilt?
If you haven’t tried AccuQuilt, our Project of the Month Series is your opportunity to try AccuQuilt for yourself. Our dies and cutters are available to every class attendee to use in class. AccuQuilt owners are welcome, too, and you don’t even have to bring your cutter to class.
This months class will be held October 13. Darla has planned to make Applique Tea Towels with AccuQuilt. The class that is full of tips for using fusible applique with AccuQuilt.
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Accuquilt Go! Play Days!
This Month Go! Play Day! is on October 20
Our Go! Play Days! explore a new quilt border each month. Darla will present a new idea for a pieced border to add zip to your quilts. This is a great way to become more comfortable with using an AccuQuilt cutter, improving your piecing skills, and be more creative (or daring!) with color and fabric choices. With every class we will learn a new trick, tip, or way to fool the eye. At the end of the year, all 12 monthly borders can be combined to complete a twin size quilt top!
An 8” Qube set is recommended for this series of classes, but any size Qube can perform with minor adjustments; Darla is here to help with that. No Qube? No problem! Many of the borders can be completed with basic shapes you may already have in your collection.
If you happen not to start with us in January, you may still join at any time during the year. Come to class expecting to try something new. Only $5 reserves your seat. Can't make every Go Play Day? Don't worry you can come into the shop and pick up a written pattern for the month you missed for $5.00.
Go! Play Days! are for those that own an accuquilt cutting system. You will bring your cutter and dies to class and learn tips and tricks to get the most out of your system from Darla.
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Sweet Stitches Road Trips
In October we are heading to Indianapolis to be a vendor at the Quilters Guild of Indianapolis Quilt Show "Quilting at the Crossroads".
October 7-8, 2022
Indiana State Fairgrounds
You can learn more about the show by clicking here:
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General Maintenance and proper technique are critical for optimum performance of your sewing machine and project outcome.
Out of Sight, Out of Mind and Causing Trouble
We had a machine arrive to the shop that was not sewing well. The owner reported that the tension was off and her computerized machine was giving a thread break error but the machine was threaded. Once the machine was disassembled the issue was immediately clear. For those of you with Janome, Elna or a variety of other manufacturers, there is a pre-tensioning spring that lies under a plastic guard right near your spool of thread. It is the very first part that you pull the thread over or around prior to bringing your thread down through the tension bars.
Anything that may be stuck to, affixed or any way adhered to your thread will ride over this spring as the thread passes through. Build up enough "stuff" and it can cause issues. Issues like poor stitch quality, bad tension, and fooling thread sensors.
For most machines, you can remove this cover by pulling it off as part of your routine cleaning. The cover snaps off and on. On other machines there is a screw that holds the cover on that is easy to remove but there are a few models that require the entire top cover be removed in order to access the cover screw. In that case, this part will be inspected when your machine is in for service.
The image below was taken of a machine with the plastic guard removed. Can you spot the issue(s) ?
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Have a question about Machine Maintenance? Feel free to stop in and ask, we are happy to assist with helpful advice to keep you sewing. |
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Quilters of all skill levels can find encouragement, inspiration and creativity at Sweet Stitches Quilt Shop. Located in Chesterton, Indiana just a few miles from the natural beauty of the Indiana Dunes National Park, Sweet Stitches Quilt Shop is your destination for fabrics, notions and all things quilting. We carry a wide variety of brights and batik fabrics as well as notions, patterns, books and Elna/Janome sewing machines. Our large classroom offers students everything they need to learn and grow their quilting talents. From fabric selection to project advice to training on your new machine, our friendly, knowledgeable staff is ready to assist. Stop by the store or click the "Shop Online" link to view our wide variety of products ready to ship direct to your door.
Sweet Stitches Quilt Shop
1575 S Calumet Rd.
Chesterton, Indiana 46304
219.250.5942
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