Fun Facts

One more milestone was recently accomplished in the closing of Bear Patch -- we had our final employee Christmas party!  I know, it's bittersweet, but I think it was possibly the most fun party we have had!  It was a potluck at the store after business hours.  Normally, we go out to eat, but since we had just had a fabulous dinner at our retirement party for Debbie and Laurel, we opted to just stay at the store and share our own specialities.  Wow!  Good food, too much to even fit on our cutting table buffet line!  Desserts had to occupy a separate space!  We were all seated at our classroom tables, which is a place of familiarity and good memories for us.  We had much more lively dinner conversation than if we were out in public at a real restaurant.  People clearly wanted to enjoy this last full gathering.

From left to right:  Jeanne T., Linda P., Sharon L., Barb E., Carol F., Pam H., Diane H., Kristina T.,
Laurel R., Sarah A., Linda E., Debbie E., Tammy B., Sophie V. and Karen L.
Missing: Beth H., Marlene M., Sue S.   Others attending but not pictured: Jordan F., Laurie L. and Bob E.

We all brought toys, food, toiletries, socks and underwear to donate to charity.  We have a customer donation spot for charity, too, and have already contributed more than 100 pounds of items to the local food shelf, plus cash donations, too!  And literally hundreds of toys, which are going to make
Christmas day a whole lot happier for some lucky little ones!  Thank you to our very generous customers who have already donated, and we are continuing to collect until December 14 so there is still time for you to participate!
We played a numbers game that really kept us all guessing.  Barb, our wonderful bookkeeper, had combed through some of the store records and challenged us all to put our brains to the test in a guessing game.  She separated some of the most frequently purchased items in our database and we were pretty surprised at the quantity of some of them!  Plus, these numbers are just for the past 5 years!  It would not have been possible to capture all of these items for 21 years because the early years were non-computerized.  So to keep it simple, she just captured the totals for 2014 to the present.  Here are a few of the stats:

Fat Quarters - this was the highest quantity of all items.  For the uninitiated, a fat quarter is not a body part.  It is a piece of fabric measuring 18" x 22" and is the equivalent of 1/4 yard of fabric.  Our total number sold isn't even a true total, because we do give away a lot of fat quarters for retreat groups, bus groups, shop hops, etc.  Our total sold was 44,416 fat quarters over 5 years!  That equals 11,104 yards of fabric!  I wanted to put that number into a quantity I could relate to, so I figured that many bolts have about 12 yards of fabric when they come to us.  Maybe more, maybe less, but I'm going with 12.  That equals 925 bolts of fabric used for fat quarters over 5 years!  That means there are a whole lot of fat quarters leaving Bear Patch every year!  Are any of them in your stash?

Cosmo floss - this item is a Japanese made embroidery floss.  The parent company is actually Lecien, and they make a lot more than embroidery floss.  It is called a 6-strand floss and is sold on a little skein wrapped with paper loops, much like the DMC brand of floss.  We have a large group of hand embroidery enthusiasts shopping and meeting at Bear Patch.  They love this floss and feel it is superior to DMC in the quality and feel of the product.  Over the last 5 years, we have sold 17,668 little skeins of Cosmo!  Each skein holds 8 meters (8.7 yards).  That equals 153,711 yards of floss!  To clarify just how much thread that is, imagine if you tied all that thread together.  And then tie one end to the goal post arm of a football field.  Now run to the other end 1,537 times.  That's how much Cosmo floss we have sold since 2014!  Amazing!  And think how short of breath we would be from just running the length of the field once!

Aurifil thread - we all knew this would be one of the top-selling items in the store.  We love our Aurifil thread, and we preach the wisdom of using the best thread you can afford to buy for your precious sewing projects.  This is an Italian-based company with a mission to make the best thread ever!  They have an American headquarters in Chicago, in addition to their original establishment in Milan, Italy.  Anyway, here are the stats:  7,049 spools of Aurifil sold in 5 years.  These are the large spools of thread, and this is a combination of the 2 most-used weights of thread, the 40 and 50 weight spools.  The 50 wt spool outruns the other by a long run, so I am using that spool as the basis for my calculations.  Those spools each hold a lot of thread, 1,300 meters (1,422 yards) to be exact.  Multiplied out, we have 10,023,678 yards of thread!  There are 1,760 yards of thread in 1 mile.  This equals 5,695 miles of thread that we have sold in 5 years!  Now, let's tie all of that thread together on a giant spool and go on an exotic vacation to Istanbul.  Fasten the giant spool to the plane (I'm sure we could duct tape it on there somehow but getting it through security might make the people behind us a little testy!) and string that along from the plane for the entire flight from MSP airport to Istanbul.  That is 5,489 miles (12-14 hours fly time with 1 stop to pee), and we will arrive with still 200 yards of thread to spare.  How about that!?  That kind of blows my mind!  Yes, we all really really love our Aurifil thread!

I could go on with more, but I won't because, although fascinating, this is enough numbers for today!  The next 2 most frequently sold items are our 14" zippers from Atkinson Designs (6,747) and Isacord thread (6,313 spools).  How many of all these items are at home in your stash?!

Got Zippers? Yes!

 We have recently expanded our supply of zippers, so we have many colors and lengths to choose from now.  Why so many zips in the quilt shop, you might ask?  Well, we have a whole lot of bag making goin' on these days, in case you haven't noticed!  So many styles and sizes and designs and uses for all sorts of bags!  We are constantly amazed at the skill and creativity of the sewists who walk in our doors with the most wonderful handmade creations.  Sewing a 3-dimensional item is a bit different than our usual quilts, but the fabric is what bridges the gap!  Fabulous prints and a rainbow of colors to personalize your bags, whether for everyday, little gadgets, toys, diapers, lunch or a night out.  Give it a try if you haven't already caught the bag bug!

Below is the new rack for our 24" zippers from ByAnnie.  These and the 30" zips in the next picture are really crafted with bagmaking in mind, because they have a little wider cloth tape and larger pull tab.  They work great with Soft & Stable for bag support.  The longer size comes with 2 pulls in place, in case you need that feature.

Also, we have the standard 14" and new 22" zippers from Atkinson Designs, perfect for anything that needs a little zip!  The beauty of all of our zippers is that they have polyester teeth, making it easy to tailor them to the length you need, and easier to insert without danger of breaking a needle on those metal teeth.  I hate when that happens!  These are the zippers that we have been using for the newest Lazy Girl bag patterns (Fobio, Sweet Pea and Becca), samples are on display and on her website.  On Lazy Girl and ByAnnie websites there are tips and instructions on making better bags, too.

And just in time for the fun, we have just received 3 new patterns from ByAnnie.  These are Open Wide, Just in Case, and All Aboard.  I can't wait to see these sewn up in some of our gorgeous new fabric that has been busting out of the storeroom!

The Man Cave Quilt

Just in case you have been living in a remote cave, we are here to remind you that we are in the midst of mega-important-sports-time.  Baseball is reaching the height of the season as playoffs and championships are popping up all over.  And now the almighty football season is in full swing, in a contest between action on the field and drama off the field to see which gets more interest!  All of this demands a great deal of screen time and even if you don't have an official man cave at your house, this would be a great quilt to toss around the TV room.  Guys don't always appreciate the subtle nuances of the detail we often like to put into our quilts, so we have used a straightforward and favorite pattern, the Texas Two Step by Atkinson Designs.  

Texas Two Step by Atkinson Designs

The fabrics are simple tonals that create a look of texture while being regular quilting cotton.  The construction is easy, the only hard part is deciding how to arrange the blocks!  Our gal, Eileen, sewed this at retreat and already has it quilted and bound and on display.  Thanks, Eileen!  Call us to claim your kit now!  (651-429-1039)

And no, we are not done with Tula Pink blocks yet!  Kristina continues in her scrappy ways and we have 8 more blocks to share.

63, 64, 65, 66

67, 68, 69, 70

Remember, these are all in the City Sampler book of 100 Modern Quilt blocks.  Do you need your own book?  We can help you with that!

Almost Ready!

A new quilt sample is off my frame and going back to Debbie.  We will give her a minute to get the binding on and then hang it up in the store.  It is from Terry Atkinson's book Graphic Mixx and is called Corn Rows.  We have some kits of this great pink/brown/green fabric combo all ready for you!

We are Groovy Girls!!

Groovy Girls Shannon, Gloria and Diane

Samples of the club's project

Today is the kick-off for our Groovy Girls Club--and these ladies are definitely in the groove with their special edition Cash & Carry bags! These are just some of the grooviest gals at Bear Patch today! They had a lot of fun in our morning class, learning how to neatly and easily insert a zipper into these tidy little totes. I use one for my camera and its download cord, it is just the right size.

Groovy Girl Suzanne

Groovy Girl Sherry

Don't worry, you, too, can be a Groovy Girl! We have Friday evening and Sunday afternoon openings in this once-a-month club. The first 6 months is covered in the $36 registration fee, and there are treats involved! The projects are all designed by Terry Atkinson, so you know they will be good! Call 651-429-1039 to reserve your spot!