We need your help!
Calling all quilters, embroiderery owners, knitters
felters, crafters & seamstresses!
PinkWhimsies Workshop Unveiled
Knecht's is going national with our new program, Embroidered ARt from the HeARt and we are thinking pink...Introducing PinkWhimsies: our kick-off project & event! But, as every successful undertaking would have it, we can't do it without a large group of you by our side!
What is it? We are making MiniWhimsey ARtAngels who's surfaces are filled with words of inspiration and hope. These small pink creations will then be stuffed, assembled, pin backs attached and placed on pretty tags ...and their mission: they will be passed on to local breast cancer treatment centers and women's oncology offices. These small collaged works of stitched art are meant to be a reminder to all women to never give up, fill their day with hope and share a few words of encouragement. Time doesn't alway permit us to make a quilt for every woman we know who could use a lift in this challenging time of her life...so we created ARtAngels. And we think these mini whimseys will be the perfect little blessing!
It's a day of learning, sharing, and creating. . .our MiniWhimsies were just introduced nationally last week through a live Webex presentation and demonstration NotionsNow, sponsored by two of the largest sewing machine companies in the world, PFAFF and Husqvarna Viking...with your help, these pink minis will touch hundreds of local women in our community!
Who & How you can help...
Everyone!!!! We are looking for anyone to donate PINK scraps or a fat quarter of PINK cotton fabric, yarns...any print , any shade, any size! ...Even tiny scraps will work for our KreativeKollage technique!
Quilters!!! Come and help us stich and assemble...share your pink scraps! We need your help 'piecing' her together.
Knitters & Felters!!! Bring your pink yarns and make felted surfaces for our whimsies! If you have a felting machine, bring it!
Embroidery Machine Owners!!!! Bring your machine and your largest hoop...we will fill your hoop with scraps and tulle and introduce you to the miniwhimsey ARtAngel design and newest hoop technique!
Crafters & Seamstresses!!!! We would love to have your help with the ARtTags, pinbacks and adding beads!
Join us either day!!
Friday, March 27 10am - 5pm
Saturday, March 28 10am-4pm
Please, call (437-0962) or e-mail us to let us know you are coming so if necessary, we can better arrange our space! Can't make it one of these times, we hope you will consider dropping of any pink scraps prior to the event and we will put it to good use!!
What to bring:
Quilters, Seamstresses & Crafters...any pink pieces of fabric scraps - any size (can be prints or solids) or ribbons, your favorite sized hand needle. It may be necessary that we put you behind an embroidery machine to get fabric kollages done...but don't worry we will show you what buttons to push!
Embroidery Machine Owners...You will be learning our new KreativeKollage technique just introduced nationally on NotionsNow live Webex last week. We will supply the design use for the day and our 'special ingredient'. Please bring your embroidery machine, your largest hoop, favorite stabilizer, pink emrbroidery threads ( or we will have plenty to share).
Felters, Knitters and Felting Machine Owners...We would love any of your leftover pink yarns...and if you own a felting machine, please bring it to create felted ARtAngel surfaces that will then be hooped and stitched!
OUR 2-DAY GOAL:
200 Pink MiniWhimsies ARtAngels
...can you help us meet or beat our goal?
Thank you...thank you...thank you...thank you...thank you...
KreativeKindness...No geographical boundaries
I currently have hundreds and hundreds of sew-ers, quilters and stitchers on my email list...so I try to stay in touch by doing weekly (approx) emails. Some of latest emails have told of our free classes, the projects coming up and weekly specials...and we have asked you to help us out...and boy, have you! We have been flooded with generosity when we asked for you to do some early spring cleaning and give us any sewing and fabric extras you have for a group of young girls in El Salvador who will be sewing for their families and to make money to help support their families.
And others have answered our plea for donations of time and personal products for our local Sarah House, a facility that gives family members of local hospital patients a place to stay at little or not cost. You have stepped up and I say thank you...all these small 'kreative' steps help to make a big difference and I thank you for making my heart smile!
Those of you wishing to still make a donation for El Salvador can do so by dropping items off by Saturday, January 31st! Hugs!
And others have answered our plea for donations of time and personal products for our local Sarah House, a facility that gives family members of local hospital patients a place to stay at little or not cost. You have stepped up and I say thank you...all these small 'kreative' steps help to make a big difference and I thank you for making my heart smile!
Those of you wishing to still make a donation for El Salvador can do so by dropping items off by Saturday, January 31st! Hugs!
An ARtAngel in Tucson
An incredible brainstorming and shopping invitation from Sue Hausmann has turned into a creative journey to Tucson! I'm loading up the girls, goods and gear and heading west in February to Cathey's Sewing Center to teach embriodery machine owners KreativeKollageTM techniques and making ARtAngels in their hoops...I hope she was kidding when she said her goal was 100 participants! Hey, bring it on Tucson, the more the merrier!
We're always learning and this post holiday season is no exception...it was a tech-ie Christmas for me so I am working on learning new equipment, lighting and the benefits of a photo tent for projects...with the help of' "Fred", my engineer husband who's 'git 'er done' approach to photography has my head spinning. I'm having a flashback to the time when he tried to teach me to golf when we were first married, or skiing just recently or scuba diving a couple years ago...I probably don't need to say much more! I have lots of new pics from my new camera to post here and if you email me, I am happy to share project details and instructions for anything you see on this blog. If you don't own an embroidery machine but would like to make an ARtAngel (all you quilters out there...this would be right up your alley!) I am publishing a pattern of raw edge applique and KreativeKollageTM techniques so you can create along side us! I am also working on kits of my hand-dyed fabrics for you to use for your angel...as you can see, it's a perfect project for your cotton and specialty fabric scraps...making this a very 'green' project. Hopefully you will make several and share them. It's a perfect girls weekend-in project...especially if you live in upstate New York!
Off I go, packing up If Wishes Wore Wings projects to ship to Florida!
Stay tuned if you're local...I'll be doing a lecture/demo presentation for the Candlelight Quilt Guild focusing on ART QUILTS for the traditional quilter ...stay tuned for the date!
We're always learning and this post holiday season is no exception...it was a tech-ie Christmas for me so I am working on learning new equipment, lighting and the benefits of a photo tent for projects...with the help of' "Fred", my engineer husband who's 'git 'er done' approach to photography has my head spinning. I'm having a flashback to the time when he tried to teach me to golf when we were first married, or skiing just recently or scuba diving a couple years ago...I probably don't need to say much more! I have lots of new pics from my new camera to post here and if you email me, I am happy to share project details and instructions for anything you see on this blog. If you don't own an embroidery machine but would like to make an ARtAngel (all you quilters out there...this would be right up your alley!) I am publishing a pattern of raw edge applique and KreativeKollageTM techniques so you can create along side us! I am also working on kits of my hand-dyed fabrics for you to use for your angel...as you can see, it's a perfect project for your cotton and specialty fabric scraps...making this a very 'green' project. Hopefully you will make several and share them. It's a perfect girls weekend-in project...especially if you live in upstate New York!
Off I go, packing up If Wishes Wore Wings projects to ship to Florida!
Stay tuned if you're local...I'll be doing a lecture/demo presentation for the Candlelight Quilt Guild focusing on ART QUILTS for the traditional quilter ...stay tuned for the date!
F.Y.I.: My 2009 Business Plan
I just love this time of the year...especially this year! Those of you who know me, know I will never buy into any doom or gloom...I quite simply refuse. And it's not a 'head in the sand' approach...it's a creative approach really.
As talk show host Rick Gary from NewsChannel 9 put it to me a few years back, he referred to me on the air as the MacGyver of creativity...those of you who remember this tv series, this man could make a winter coat out of rubberbands, a found tube of caulk and tissue paper rolls. Those of you who know Rick, know he is very creative in his own right. If this came from a fellow sew-er I might have been a bit offended about the implication but coming from a man, I took this as quite a rather large compliment. Those of you who know me, know I run my creative business the same way. Often in classes and clubs we take a pile of paint buckets, some leftover fabric strips and an iron and make a wallhanging that would make any guild member turn their heads!
Seems like many in business today are gearing up for a bit of an 'unknown' in 2009...I am gearing up for a fabulous upcoming year! For years (15 to be exact) you have all supported me and my business, encouraged me when I came up with new ideas, visited us during promotions, store events and have followed us from Fayetteville to Fairmount and back to the east...and as many tighten their belt notches, I intend to extend mine. It is important to me personally to continue to create, share and inspire no matter what is going on in the stock market or repeatedly run by news media. This industry has proven one major thing for sure in the last 60 years... in good times, people sew and in bad times, people sew. Make no mistake, in the last 3 months we have all been thinking, but somehow sitting behind a machine creating, quilting or embroidering takes us to a different dimension of sorts. Imagine what one piece of cloth cut up in pieces and a single stitched seam can do for our mind, body and soul?!
So here it is: my 2009 Business Plan...it's about US giving back to YOU.
The tailend of 2008 has been quite successful for us and I appreciate your business more than this blog could express...As we approach the upcoming year, there is only one thing I'm buying into and one thing only...the importance of time together, giving of ourselves and sharing. Sounds a bit story book but here's my big 2009 business plan: KreativeKindness...I intend on offering you a regular schedule of FREE creative classes and a place for you to come by for regular jolts of inspiration, positive thinking and kreativity! It wont matter what machine you own or what your skill level is...Our small shop will be positively busting at the seams with new projects and an awareness to create with your stash, try new things and think outside the box a bit...BUT...here's the only cost to you ladies: you have to pass on an act of "KreativeKindness" to someone else. Your fee for these free workshops is quite simply returning the gesture in some way to someone else. Pass on an act of random kindness: teach someone a new project, share an idea, give a project you've made to someone you haven't met yet, sign up to teach a free class with us or come by and visit with the group. Sew-ers have been given such an incredible talent and opportunity to overcome through creative venues, share with others and be part of such an inspiring network...so I'm pulling out the duct tape, cheese cloth and the rusty window screen and getting busy for 2009...if you're in upstate NY, we hope you will pencil in these classes in your 2009 calender! Our schedule will be out right after the Christmas Holiday!
As talk show host Rick Gary from NewsChannel 9 put it to me a few years back, he referred to me on the air as the MacGyver of creativity...those of you who remember this tv series, this man could make a winter coat out of rubberbands, a found tube of caulk and tissue paper rolls. Those of you who know Rick, know he is very creative in his own right. If this came from a fellow sew-er I might have been a bit offended about the implication but coming from a man, I took this as quite a rather large compliment. Those of you who know me, know I run my creative business the same way. Often in classes and clubs we take a pile of paint buckets, some leftover fabric strips and an iron and make a wallhanging that would make any guild member turn their heads!
Seems like many in business today are gearing up for a bit of an 'unknown' in 2009...I am gearing up for a fabulous upcoming year! For years (15 to be exact) you have all supported me and my business, encouraged me when I came up with new ideas, visited us during promotions, store events and have followed us from Fayetteville to Fairmount and back to the east...and as many tighten their belt notches, I intend to extend mine. It is important to me personally to continue to create, share and inspire no matter what is going on in the stock market or repeatedly run by news media. This industry has proven one major thing for sure in the last 60 years... in good times, people sew and in bad times, people sew. Make no mistake, in the last 3 months we have all been thinking, but somehow sitting behind a machine creating, quilting or embroidering takes us to a different dimension of sorts. Imagine what one piece of cloth cut up in pieces and a single stitched seam can do for our mind, body and soul?!
So here it is: my 2009 Business Plan...it's about US giving back to YOU.
The tailend of 2008 has been quite successful for us and I appreciate your business more than this blog could express...As we approach the upcoming year, there is only one thing I'm buying into and one thing only...the importance of time together, giving of ourselves and sharing. Sounds a bit story book but here's my big 2009 business plan: KreativeKindness...I intend on offering you a regular schedule of FREE creative classes and a place for you to come by for regular jolts of inspiration, positive thinking and kreativity! It wont matter what machine you own or what your skill level is...Our small shop will be positively busting at the seams with new projects and an awareness to create with your stash, try new things and think outside the box a bit...BUT...here's the only cost to you ladies: you have to pass on an act of "KreativeKindness" to someone else. Your fee for these free workshops is quite simply returning the gesture in some way to someone else. Pass on an act of random kindness: teach someone a new project, share an idea, give a project you've made to someone you haven't met yet, sign up to teach a free class with us or come by and visit with the group. Sew-ers have been given such an incredible talent and opportunity to overcome through creative venues, share with others and be part of such an inspiring network...so I'm pulling out the duct tape, cheese cloth and the rusty window screen and getting busy for 2009...if you're in upstate NY, we hope you will pencil in these classes in your 2009 calender! Our schedule will be out right after the Christmas Holiday!
This Fabulous Fourth-Quarter Frenzy
Blog Post #6
It’s December and it’s what I like to call the ‘Fourth-Quarter Frenzy’! I think it should actually be declared it’s own season…it’s that time of the year when we’re cramming it all in before the holidays are here, the year comes to a close and we continue to make daily and unrealistic lists of things to accomplish before your head hits the pillow…The nicest thing about Fourth-Quarter Frenzy is if you’re like me, the winter weather of upstate New York and shorter daylight seems to give permission to the creative-at- heart to lock themselves up in their favorite room and get down to creating…since the garden and outdoor repairs just have to wait ‘til nicer days!
It’s also a good time to take an afternoon and take a deep breath, hang out with some fellow machine embroiderers and give back a small bit this season. I know sometimes giving back at the holiday can seem overwhelming, when so many are asking so much from you already. But look at it this way, aren’t we just begging for an excuse to stop the hustle and sit behind our embroidery machines? Don’t we just long for an excuse to play with our machines especially when our lives seem the busiest. You know the therapy and feeling of accomplishment a project gives us.
A QUICK PROJECT FOR MY FRIENDS...I spent the day on Saturday with some embroidering friends in a class at the shop...we stitched some great holiday tags using "KreativeKollage" and a shape that was built right on to their machines...we had a great time snipping up small holiday colored fabrics, adding sequins and metallic fibers was a bonus 'bling'! We made 10 tags in the hoop...all ready to attach to gifts, glue onto blank cards, make into fun holiday pins or stitch two together and make a gift card holder...they were all fabulous!
How about a holiday ARtAngel this season? What better way to create and send holiday thoughts and blessings…and get that slow-paced creative fix that can really help us maintain our balance and save our state of mind?! They stitch up quickly while your machine combines embroidery, applique and KreativeKollage! You'll love the mixed media!
It’s December and it’s what I like to call the ‘Fourth-Quarter Frenzy’! I think it should actually be declared it’s own season…it’s that time of the year when we’re cramming it all in before the holidays are here, the year comes to a close and we continue to make daily and unrealistic lists of things to accomplish before your head hits the pillow…The nicest thing about Fourth-Quarter Frenzy is if you’re like me, the winter weather of upstate New York and shorter daylight seems to give permission to the creative-at- heart to lock themselves up in their favorite room and get down to creating…since the garden and outdoor repairs just have to wait ‘til nicer days!
It’s also a good time to take an afternoon and take a deep breath, hang out with some fellow machine embroiderers and give back a small bit this season. I know sometimes giving back at the holiday can seem overwhelming, when so many are asking so much from you already. But look at it this way, aren’t we just begging for an excuse to stop the hustle and sit behind our embroidery machines? Don’t we just long for an excuse to play with our machines especially when our lives seem the busiest. You know the therapy and feeling of accomplishment a project gives us.
A QUICK PROJECT FOR MY FRIENDS...I spent the day on Saturday with some embroidering friends in a class at the shop...we stitched some great holiday tags using "KreativeKollage" and a shape that was built right on to their machines...we had a great time snipping up small holiday colored fabrics, adding sequins and metallic fibers was a bonus 'bling'! We made 10 tags in the hoop...all ready to attach to gifts, glue onto blank cards, make into fun holiday pins or stitch two together and make a gift card holder...they were all fabulous!
How about a holiday ARtAngel this season? What better way to create and send holiday thoughts and blessings…and get that slow-paced creative fix that can really help us maintain our balance and save our state of mind?! They stitch up quickly while your machine combines embroidery, applique and KreativeKollage! You'll love the mixed media!
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