Pumpkins Tomorrow

We will be needle felting pumpkins tomorrow. We currently have 3 signed up, so there is room for 3  more! come on down at 1.

Window displays now showing...

 I am so impressed with the work of this knitter, Janet Duerst, 1920-2013. She knit these in the 1940's and I would wear any one of them this moment, 70 years later! What an artist!

 A closer look at the top to the suit below...

and a little pastel reminder about joining us for Tea at 3 sometime soon.
Slippers will greet you on the way in!

Classes and Group meeting times

I have had several requests to post the following, so here goes;

September/October Class and Meeting Schedules 
                              

Learn to Spin Yarn on a spindle. A ‘drop in’ class. 1 hour long. $5. Open 9-1 Saturdays.

Learn to Sew a pot holder. Basic skills, useful item. Sept. 25^th, 1-3 p.m. $15

Spinning –Sept 7  10 a.m.-3 p.m.

Quilt Club – Sept. 10^th   6-8 p.m.

Spinning Sept. 19^th   3-6 p.m.

Art Quilts – Sept 23    5:30 -7 p.m.

September Block of the Month = Log Cabin. Turn in finished block by noon Oct. 1

 

Quilting 101 – From the beginning, for beginners. 3 week course. $65   9-12 a.m., Oct. 12, 19, 26

Needle Felt a Pumpkin! $10  Oct. 10, 11-12 a.m. and 1-2 p.m.

Thread Flowers- Oct. 22, 1-2 p.m., $10

Mixed Media Art Quilt – Oct. 24 and 31     1-4 p.m.   $75/2 sessions

Free Motion Thread Leaves  Oct. 30, 11-12 a.m., $10

Spinning – Oct 17   3-6 p.m.

Art Quilts – Oct. 28   5:30-7 p.m.

Oct. Block of tlhe Month=Maple Leaf. Turn in finished block by noon, Nov. 1, to be included in the drawing.

Complimentary Tea @ 3 served Tuesday through Friday

The latest new stock...

 Today's delivery included sheep adorning an umbrella!

 At the Molson Quilt Show this past weekend I found these paper-pieced greeting cards!

 More of the hand created greeting cards and a crocheted 'tea service' gifted to me by a lovely weaver person!

Gift box floss and boutique collection floss.  

 Icy blue selection of embroidery floss and a couple Christmas reds and green.

 Notions and pattern board on the quilting side of BHnS.

 I went to an estate sale this weekend and found this lovely sample for the store. Doesn't everyone start their crochet career learning the Granny Square? I sure did!

            Found these vintage pillow cases at the estate sale, pre-stamped, ready to embroider.

 The humongous 8' sign that will be perched VERY securely on the roof of the shop.

 Rick and I wrangled the couch onto the truck and into the store this morning. The sitting area is now complete! Bring your wheels, hooks or needles and try the comfy furniture out!

 Tea cups all polished up, displayed and ready for action Saturday!

 The Vault is coming right along, just need to add a couple of lamps for much needed lighting, and a comfortable chair or two.
We are getting there!

End of August? Already?

August 2013 has come and gone? I had no idea setting up a 1200 sq. ft. shop would take a month-and more! Here are pix of the latest progress. And, ready or not, Bell, Hook and Spindle will officially, quietly, open its door this coming Saturday, September 7th! Please excuse the remaining clutter, and perhaps a slight gap or two in stock. I will receive two large orders in the shop tomorrow, and have yet to finalize one more 'biggie' order for the Quilting side of the store.
In honor of opening, The Charlotte Connection Spinners will come and christen the comfy seating area. They are bringing 'goodies' to snack on and I am providing my famous 5 gallons of ice tea. I may try my hand at the bloomin' tea as well, for my mentor/friend Joann (who used to own a bakery) is bringing a selection of 3 tea cookies, one of which, she told me, is lemon flavored. I might be too busy munching to actually spin?
So, if you have plans to come and see Bell, Hook and Spindle, this Saturday would be a taste of what we will soon be. If you want to wait until I know how to run the till, serve the tea, all the shelves are stocked, and the quilting machine is up and running, wait until mid-October when we will be Grand Opening celebrating with open house, catered snacks, sales and specials. If you would like to be notified by email, just send me your info and I will be sure and let you know a couple weeks beforehand, when we set the date.
Send email to: weber.lindy@gmail.com

 Cascade Yarn is loaded in the bins.

 Rick, since this pic, has the top on the check out counter. We will finish by tomorrow!

Class offerings will be on the wall with date and cost. There will Block of the Month activity as well.
Hope you visit soon!

Shop Update

Bell, Hook & Spindle has shelving! Almost all of it, now. And I have even begun the fun part of displaying and stuffing shelves and book racks. Here is a quick peek.

Shelves waiting for commercial yarns.

Wall of hand spun skeins.

The Quilting Side of things.

Best laid plans...

Progress on the shop refurbishing is coming right along-but not at nearly the pace I had in mind. Still, today I will finish up the vault re-paint and move on to the back room and the painting of those walls. The back room will be Rick's wood working shop. We will wait to do the floors, to match the main shop floors, until the very end of the setup program so it will be in good shape for open house.
Meanwhile, everything that was crammed back there has come out into the main shop. The sheer mass of stuff that was crammed in back there!

Some people have seen the shop space empty and asked how in the world we would fill it all up...

 I can tell them, "No problem!"

 

 And there is still a mid-arm quilting machine to place near the back wall...on its 8 foot table! And don't forget the check out counter, desk, couch, two chairs, two rockers, tea vanity...

And this is my resting/pricing station. Isn't the floor great! Meanwhile, 'back at the home place'.

 Rick has been producing the pieces and parts that make up the shelving units we will use.
My job is to stain it all!

 This is the ellipse Rick has cut and painted for the huge Bell, Hook and Spindle sign that will hang up high above the building. We want people to be able to find us!

Next in line to be fabricated are my 'ladders'. Yardage will hang from them. I will take pix when they are complete and loaded. It will make more sense once you see it.
So, the saga continues and I hope we live to tell about it!

REAL Brick & Mortar!

 

This lovely old building is the perfect architectural fit for the flavor of Bell, Hook and Spindle, with its copper clad windows and literal brick and mortar! The huge 'brown thing' across the front of the building is all uncleaned copper. The scores of small squares at the top of the picture are 4", all original, all copper-clad panes of glass. This building must have been quite a beauty in its day.

This shows the progress of painting away the powder blue walls into the 'egg wash' white Rick chose. There are several stories floating about town about why there is a vault in the store, but all seem to agree there never has been a bank in this building. My aunt and uncle owned this building for a while and told me the vault had been used as a bedroom, an office, storage, and possibly as a vault when there was a jewelry store here. I think Hidden Talents had the best and most innovative use for the vault as an art gallery. Bell, Hook and Spindle will house some art, the spinning wheels, looms and antique wood working tools for sale.

As you can tell, the ceiling was in dire need of freshening!

 And we neutralized everything else.

Until we got to the floor...

What fun I had with the paint and sprinkles!

So, things are progressing! By this weekend we hope to begin putting together all the shelving units Rick has been building. Then all things from the back room version of Bell, Hook and Spindle, and everything crammed into the vault will be brought into the clean, new space. Then the ceiling/walls/flooring refurbishing will be repeated in the back room and a little in the vault. So far we've come. So far to go! But I am still working hard to make a September Grand Re-opening! Wish us luck!

Is it Christmas?

 Stock is flooding in! We love the sound of the UPS, FedEx and USPS vehicles pulling into our driveway...

 I made Meg Hawkey's Winter Wonderland in blues several years back. It is an incredibly beautiful quilt pattern!

 I might have to make a sample of Snow Flurries as well, don't you think? :?}

I am in awe of shop owners that carry a broad selection of totally varied fabric styles. I want to shop for what I like/love! I know I will have to get beyond that... so, what style of fabric do you buy most often?

Things, they are a'changin...

Next week husband Rick and I will sign the lease for Bell, Hook & Spindle's new home. Meanwhile I am finishing up an ending inventory, which becomes our starting inventory. I have begun our wholesale purchasing. Rick has found a couple more antique spinning wheels for us, but is all about store fixture building at this time. There are business accounts to set up or shift, fixtures to buy, books on retailing to read, moments of terror, days of excitement...
Meanwhile, life as we know it continues. Last Saturday was our spinning group meeting up in Tonasket. One of the spinners took this picture of me and Slippers. I had to place a finger behind her ears to get them 'up', as they were firmly planted 'down' in disgust for being held on her backside. Have I told you she is a princess? But such a pretty princess!