I was cleaning up some photo files today and came across these photos of my shop.  It was a fun trip down memory lane!

I’ve been on a mission, cleaning closets in my studio.  I’m pretty proud of how the kit and bundle area turned out.  Hopefully, it will save me time when I’m shipping.

After that was done, I tackled the closet where I store batting, quilts to be quilted and quilts and quilt tops that are for sale.  The batting is now neat and organized.

While I was folding up “projects waiting to be quilted” to put them back in the closet, I decided I had to add one more to the web store.  It’s this pretty queen-sized Stack N Whack.

I love this quilt and I loved teaching the technique when I had my quilt shop.  Every block comes out a little different.

I fully intended to quilt this, but it’s been three years!

So, it’s now listed on the web catalog.  Maybe it can find a new home with one of you!  Maybe you need a Christmas gift, but time is not on your side!  I’ll never tell that you didn’t make it yourself.

I even have the backing pieced for it.

You can see it on the web catalog by CLICKING HERE.

I have other new and vintage quilt tops for sale there, too.  CLICK HERE to see them all.

My closet thanks you.

When we were in Deer Lodge, Montana recently, I stumbled upon the most adorable quilt shop.  It’s in an old bank building.  The building is great looking even from the outside.

But when you go in, it gets even better!  Check out that marble counter.

It was a long narrow space with very high ceilings and a loft.  There was even marble on the stairs going up!

There was a great view of the shop from up there!

Isn’t the millwork around the door beautiful?

The displays were so well done, with kits and patterns hanging near all the samples so I didn’t have to ask.

It was a great shop!

Our Last Chance Blow Out Sale

    I was overwhelmed by the numbers of people who came to our sale.  And such patient people they were!  Just the week before I was teaching a class for the Ladies of the Lake Quilt Guild at their retreat.  Celinda was telling me that she’d been to a sale in Portland and how inefficient they had been at cutting and ringing, and how people had waited hours.  I assured her that I was well prepared for our sale, and that “efficiency” was my middle name.  Celinda, I owe you a public apology!  I know some people waited an hour, even though we had three cutting stations set up, and my dear cousins and Gail worked at top speed, non-stop.  There were no potty breaks, don’t even think about lunch!  We did each get a bottle of water.  I ran the cash register.  Dang that credit card machine is slow!  We opened at 11:00 and the first time I lifted my head to ask what time it was (we sold the clock first thing!) my mom said, “It’s ten minutes until 4:00!”

 Here’s a pic of the ever patient Celinda!

    Everyone does loves a bargain!  This little cutie is saying, “Look at all this fabric my mom is buying.  I just want this one little bolt!  Please……”

So, the store is closed for good.  Things didn’t work out like I’d planned, and I’m sorry no one is opening a shop in our old building.  But I’m glad we moved so much inventory during our final weekend!  Now, on to other things!

Our final customer drives away………..

Sunday was the last day of business at Anna Lena’s, the quilt shop I’ve had for the last eleven years. As many of you know, I’d been planning my retirement for the last five years. I wanted it to coincide with my 55th birthday. Well, that was a couple of months ago, but close enough! We’d been doing the countdown on our reader board for the last ten days.

It’s been bittersweet, closing the shop. Of course I’m looking forward to retirement (such as it may be, since I’ve got my finger in lots more pies!), and it’s always a milestone when you reach a goal, but it’s also the end of an era. I didn’t want the vibe to be a sad one, so we greeted customers all day with sparkling cider and asked them to help “celebrate” our last day.

Even so, there were a few who weren’t ready to let go!

My sister and nephew were still in town, and they stopped by, too. I pressed Cole into service carrying empty bolt boards. I remember when he was just a toddler and how he loved to go through the swinging doors by the quilting machine! 

But, about those doors closing……….
When I think about doors, I think about the wonderful doors in Sweden. I fell in love with the doors there, and when we built our log cabin in the woods, I wanted a Swedish door on it. What’s a Swedish door, you might ask? Well, here are some examples from my trip last summer. Most of them have this cool herring-bone design. 

Even some of the garages have them!

Some are even fancier and have fancy paint jobs!

And one of the castles we visited had a herringbone door-in-a-door!

Here’s one that’s opening for me now!

But what is that old saying? ”When one door closes a window opens.” Here are some beautiful Swedish windows.

This one is taken from inside a building that used to be on Anna Lena’s farm in Dalarna. Now the whole building is at the outdoor museum, Skansen, in Stockholm. It was pretty cool that they let us go inside, ’cause it’s not usually open to the public. 

Perhaps I’ve gotten off subject here, but I’m expecting lots of new doors and windows in my life. Thanks for taking the journey with me! 

I’m Karen Snyder and I approve this message!