Sewing Heros: Wanda Sews Us Under the Table

Wanda's cute tee shirt baby dress.

I don't think we ever know most of the sewing heros in our lives. You know. The people who can sew anything!
If you're not in their sewing room, you don't know what's going on. Which is one of the delights of sewing with people. There are people who sew like mad spinning tops.
And then, there's Wanda. 

Another tee shirt dress

Wanda Everly Doyle sews like a force of nature. Relentlessly. Pretty much flawlessly. And five times faster than the rest of us. She is our amazing Wanda, and we love her.

Wanda's cute pillowcase dress

She also teaches us how, with great skill and  patience. This spring she's been doing a small mountain of the cutest kid dresses. So she's going to be doing a class on pillow case dresses  on Tuesday, April 29th at 11:00 am. Do you have a little girl who would shine in a sundress?





We also welcome anyone who wants to sew with us any day of the week. Bring in your machine, sit down and doodly do. We'll help you sew, laugh, cry, giggle, or drink coffee as needed. And you can watch our Wanda be amazing.

Open Sesame: Why Quilters Need Open Storage

Whenever I see someone's beautifully ordered sewing room, I have to ask myself. It's very pretty, but where does she really sew? She does have a small pile of fabric by the serger, but it's all folded. There's nothing on the floor. I actually wonder if she really does spend days cleaning her sewing room rather than sewing.

There are, I'm told, people who do this. There are people who run marathons too. I am amazed by them, but I don't think I'll be joining them soon.

But for many of us, if it's out of sight it's out of mind. If I can't see it, I can't find it. That's when it's wonderful to have some open storage options.

Open storage is all about pretty. If you're going to leave it out for people to see they might as well see something delightful. There's nothing as pretty as a fabric bowl for a place to put things.

Show me a sewing room with put away scissors, folded up fabric and a clean floor, and I'm looking at a room that no one is sewing in. Because you need to see things to find things. 

And in all fairness, some of our sewing things are just pretty. Those buttons are just button cute. Why not have them where you can see them, find them, and enjoy them?

So to help with that we're doing a fabric bowl class on Monday, February 17th at 11:AM. Come in, make some really pretty bowls and store your pretties where you can find them and enjoy them.

The Gifts We Give Ourselves

Happy New Year!
Another year has come! Welcome 2014. We survived the Christmas Crunch and now that the last party dishes are washed and put away we get to contemplate the new year.With snow everywhere and a soft grey sky.

Did you get what you wanted for Christmas?  Maybe yes, and maybe no. But the best gifts we give to ourselves are the gift of something new tried, some new experiment or expression of who we are.

So what will you give yourself?

• Will you try a new quilt block?
• Learn a new skill?
• Use a color you've never used before?
• Try out a new machine?
• Pull out an old machine?
• Use up all your scraps?
• Make a quilt that is totally planned as new?

All those possibilities await you. They'll blow away your winter blues in the hint of new things happening, new goals reached, new ideas brewing.

As always, we're here at Threadbenders to help you start. Our Friday Morning Block Party does a new block every week. 

We have a color blog series to help you think about colors in new ways.

We have mountains of fabric for you to pick something yummy from, and books full of inspiration, waiting to open new doors.

And most of all, we are quilters like you, who love to share our quilting with everyone who comes through the door.

We hope the year has a million new possibilities for you. We hope for happiness, joy and more fabric. We hope you'll make us part of your new year gift to yourself. Together we'll help blow the blues away.

Come to the Friday Morning Block Party

Want to build your quilting skills and party too?

Join us for the Friday Morning Block Party!
Every Friday Morning from 11AM to 1 PM we're going to have a block party.

We're going to work on a new block  out of the Quilter's Block-a-Day Calendar and share a pot luck. Come to learn. Come to sew. Come to eat!


Bring your favorite dish to share and your sewing machine. You can borrow one of ours if you need. Just let us know.

Henrys excited  because it's a party. And he's hoping to see you there.
We're hoping to do this every Friday starting in December. See you there!

Classes for Christmas Quilts

I know, I know. It's not quite Halloween.
But  imagine this. It's Christmas and you have a special really lovely quilt up, just to celebrate the season. And a class now means you'll be ready then!

More Fall Classes!

Easy Christmas quilt

Quick quilt made out of layer cakes or 10 inch squares

Wednesday Nov 6  11am - 3pm

Teacher:  Joan

Christmas Stocking class

Learn prairie points with this cute stocking!

Friday Nov 8  11am - 2pm

Teacher: Jackie

Christmas Tree quilt

Another layer cake quilt, just adorable

Monday Nov 11 11am - 3pm

Teacher: Jackie

Need another reason?

Our Christmas fabric is on Sale!

Come to class and start a quilt that will make Christmas memories for your family forever. Or a great project to work  on together on Thanksgiving day.