April 2009 Poor Mom was miserable. {and grumpy and needy and miserable} Hehe

Well, we were trucking along trying to figure this adventure out with Mom still in a  lot of pain.  We decided to go ahead with our plans for classes and just see where we went.    ***If I don’t sound very sympathetic please forgive me.  It was just the way I was raised.  Mom herself will tell you that sympathy was never her strong point.  And really, I am just teasing.  I figure since I’m writing it I can say whatever I want to, right?!  Hahah!***

One of the classes we offered was called ‘Stitchin’ Chicks’ and it was for the 10-15yr old crowd.  Boy did we have a blast with those girls!  We made pillow cases, pajama shorts, notebook covers, aprons and so much more.  They were the sweetest group ever and I am so glad we did that!  We also held a class for the local 4H group and that was a blast as well.

I want you to really take notice of the pictures:  We only have ONE room open.  We only have a few shelves of fabric, and we have room for our sewing tables in the middle of our one room shop!  We were still moving everything to the edges of the room when we’d have our Friday night sews and classes and it was working fine!  We knew though, that we would have to expand…we just thought we had a bit more time!  LOL.

By June we had volunteered to do a Booth and a Quilt Show at our County (Caldwell County, MO)  Civil War Reenactment.  {the first one, ever}

We were really excited to be a part of it, and be able to help showcase some of the Counties best quilts!!  What a blast we had!  We have the BEST customers/friends ever and we couldn’t have done the Quilt Show without all of them!  It was a very exciting time for us and for our County!  {I hope we do something like that again, it was such a great event!}

Things were still very touch and go with Mom.  She would think she was feeling better, then she would be up to much on her leg and boom, she’d be back in bed.  Finally the doctor decided she needed surgery.  At least now we had a plan and hoped that plan included her being able to heal. {fingers were crossed}

In spite of everything, business was still good.  Our Machine Quilting {thank you Natalie} was picking up a lot of steam, and quite frankly, paid the bills.  {I said bills, not wages.}  But we had a plan, and it was working….and we were happy!

That was our first thought…

Seriously.  She really broke her leg.  Right there, at the quilt shop!  * A little background to the story:  We had this bright idea that we wanted to do videos (who knew anyone would watch them) and my brother was in town for the week to film a few.  So, to get Mom more comfortable in front of the camera my brother had her give a tour of the shop and our progress so we could send it to Dave (our other partner).  Well, she made one pass through and Al realized the camera wasn’t on.

Now, you guys are a bit familiar with my Mom right?  Well, the second time through she was REALLY hamming it up for the camera.  Jokes were flowing, and she was just being as silly as ever.

She made the pass by the quilt machine, pointing it out (totally ‘Vanna White’ style) and walked backwards…turned around on one foot and tripped.  {to this day, she swears she tripped on the machines cord, but she totally did not}

Now-now, if you know anything about our family, we like to have a good time.  We are crazy, we have fun, and when tragedy strikes you can almost guarantee we will laugh our heads off.  This was no exception.  We laughed, (really until we were crying.  Cracking jokes, all while the camera rolls.)  Then Mom says, ‘No really.  I think I broke my leg.’  We (both my brother and I) didn’t believe her.  We thought she was just being dramatic.  :)  {how rude, right?}  We joked about the ambulance coming to pick her up…It didn’t take long though, to realize she needed to go to the Doctor, and quick.

Anyway, to make a long story short-ish, it was BROKEN.  And it took forever to heal.  {actually, it didn’t heal at first. then they had to actually pin it together}

For us this couldn’t have happened at a worse time.  Really.  We had only been open 3 months.  I knew basically NOTHING about quilting.  Heck, I loved fabric.  The colors, the styles, and putting them together.  But actually quilting and sewing?  Not really my thing {back then} ha-ha, but Mom’s first videos are in a wheel chair and on pain medicine.  Not great, but it worked….

Our family pulled together and we made it happen.  Natalie learned the quilt machine and basically kept us going for the first 6-7 months.  Amy {our awesome friend and longest non-family employee} helped with classes and got us through this tough time also.    Keep in mind we were all working for free.  {we are a start up, with no money. remember?}  That is the beauty of family.  We all worked like dogs just to stay open.

Mom, she was miserable.  She hated being away, but she kept herself busy sewing in her bed.  LOL, really.  She hand sewed everything, and  that is where she fell in love with dresden plates.  Hahah!  Don’t get me wrong she was in the shop some too, but wasn’t as often as she had planned.

The silver lining in this situation for me, was that we all really HAD to learn everything.  Mom was on speed dial, and answered questions, but we really had to figure a lot of stuff out on our own. {umm, and she was on pain medicine.  so a lot of what she said didn’t make sense anyway.} Haha.  She’s gonna kill me for saying that!  :)

We still had LOTS of growing and learning.  Oh, and obviously we decided to stay open.  Good thing, right.

So much more to come…

Where we started…

Where we opened.  Crazy, huh.

Our main goal was to provide a place for Mom to work {since all her babies had grown up, she was lonely (ha) and bored} and to give her and Dad something to help with retirement.  We didn’t want to get into debt and stress about all the bills, because well, that totally defeats the purpose of having a fun-family business, right.    So that left us with $2,500 to buy fabric.  Baaahahahahahahahah!  Okay, that is just crazy to me.  We were completely clueless. Mom and I went to Quilt Market in October and met a woman who was talking about her tiny shop she just opened.  {she reluctantly told us about her having to open with only 75K}  Gulp, we were in over our heads!!

Well, we just decided we would just do what we had planned and make the best of it. If we were gonna fail, heck, at least we tried.

My brother and his friend {our business partner} built  a website from scratch, and we thought we’d start  trying to do a little internet business on the  side.  {actually, we planned on dominating and taking over the world} insert evil laughter….

Who knew we would grow and grow.  I remember our first internet order.  We all cheered with joy and awe.  WE couldn’t believe it was actually working. LOL

We had classes and offered quilting, and were so blessed by the support from our local quilting ladies.

Our first ever Class at MSQC

This was just the beginning.  Who knew how much more we would grow!?

Then…Mom broke her leg.

When we first started talking about opening a quilt shop I knew that I did NOT want the walls boring beige.  I had been into WAY too many quilt shops that were  bland or dark. I knew for sure that I wanted our shop to be bright and happy. Not to be confused by Neon and disco-ish. [i know, that is not a word, but you know what I mean, right?]

Anyway, I picked out this green and we LOVED it.  {actually, Mom started painting it a very boring color and I had to stop her and insist on this one. LOL}

Once the flooring started going down we all knew we were in for something good.

We couldn’t have been more excited!  {oh, and isn’t my husband cute??}  Really, he is.