Moving and Shaking

There certainly has been a lot going on lately, both in and out of the store. Never a dull moment! Not so long ago, we were sitting at our dining room table, and we were talking about the fact that we love our house in Gatineau, but we thought… wouldn’t it be nice to be closer to work, meaning the store? Instead of spending a couple of hours a day commuting, that time could be better spent doing something productive or better yet, just having fun (more time to quilt!)!

Next step: the all important house hunting adventure. Because of Barb, I’m happy to say, it was pretty short! While driving in Kanata, she saw what she considered to be the perfect house for us. She rushed into the store to tell me “Michèle, I found your house!” Sure enough! Barb was right on, and it was just the house we were looking for! So in less than two days, the deal was done and the house was ours. Hello!!! We had our Gatineau house to sell and lots of other arrangements to make. The whole moving process takes some doing. What were we thinking?

Our home in Gatineau is on the bigger side. It has been a busy place, hopping with activities and it was also the place for family and friends to come by, visit and sleepover. For a few years, our house was transformed into a Bed & Breakfast. It certainly is a big change to be moving away after 19 years there, but we are making a good deal: closer to the store and less to maintain is an excellent plan.

It certainly has been quite the journey cleaning up stuff to get ready to move. As I’m sure you can imagine, lots of stuff in nooks and crannies that we have not even touched in a while. Friends and charities are the lucky recipients (no garage sale for me!).

Moving Day is coming up quickly, and we are looking forward to settling into our new home and enjoy all that Kanata has to offer. That makes two big moves this year: the store and my house. When this move is all said and done, I think we’ll stay put for a while!

I am thrilled to tell you that this week was a pretty exciting week. We received so much fabric, it was Christmas every day. The store is bursting at the seams. There is so much to see that one visit to the store might not do it. We received a new line of Princess Mirah batiks (34 bolts of it)! That’s just the tip of the iceberg! There are tables full of new treasures which certainly won’t last long such as French General, Rouenneries Collection from Moda, Floral Melody, Stonehenge and Natures Palette from Northcott, Collection for a Cause (Alliance) by Moda, Bali Pops, Lovely as a Tree by Cyntia Coulter, etc… We still have a little bit of Christmas fabric to complete your projects...
Of course, there are books (loads of new books), patterns, notions and accessories and pre-cut fat quarters to add to your enjoyment. I’ve added some pictures but the best way of taking it all in is to come to the store.
If you need help choosing (or would just like an extra opinion), we are always happy to help you coordinate your new quilt or any other project that you have on the go or would like to dive into. There is no shortage of fresh new ideas and with all the new fabrics, it’s sure to get your creativity flowing and urge you to get your sewing machine running. If you’ve been waiting for a piece of “something special fabric” the time could be now. Possibly, there are no words to describe the new additions to the store.

Charity work

Working at The Running Stitch is a pleasure for me for several reasons. Among those reasons is the ability to be part of important causes. Recently, The Running Stitch had the opportunity to contribute to the Tour For Kids Quilt Day, which was an event held by the Coast to Coast Against Cancer Foundation. This Foundation supports camps in Ontario for children living with cancer. The photos are of the group who attended the event and some of the hard work they did. It was a pleasure to be able to contribute to this event, and I hope to be part of events like this in the future.

Batting

There is so much buzz about batting, environment and organics that you may wonder what is best for your quilt why what you have been buying does not seem good enough. There are many batting products available and include lightweight, heavyweight, puffy, thermal, green, bamboo, silk, wool, cotton, polyester blends and others. Each material has a specific purpose and it is important that you know what kind of quilt the batting will be used for.


Hand quilting is best served by wool batting because of the lanolin (basically a soap) in the wool helps the needle slide more easily. Silk batting is also an alternative for hand quilters. You may wish to use synthetic batting for large quilt and ones that will be washed fairly regularly since the batting will be more lightweight and will not bunch. A wall hanging may use cotton batting but be careful when using natural cotton because of cotton seed oil present in the cotton.


Bamboo does not seem better than cotton and is not more environmental friendly. Because bamboo is a hard wood it requires a considerable amount of chemicals to break the wood into fibers which are short so require bonding with another material usually cotton because of its long fiber. Bamboo is not as easily renewable as wool which is sheared from sheep’s or cotton which is grown yearly.


Organics are difficult to control outside of industrialized countries which have very strict regulations for the label. In many other countries the word may not mean the same and may have as organic only the ink used to print it.


When you are looking for batting make sure to tell the story of your quilt so we, the employees of The Running Stitch, can help you choose the most suitable batting for your project.


This article is a synopsis of a piece in FabShop News.