Southern Hospitality (and yummy fried food)

Karen - THE SCARLET THREAD - McDONOUGH, GA

I just returned from a great trip to Georgia and South Carolina.  What a beautiful part of the country and what a perfect time of year to visit!  Steve made sure we included a Braves game in Atlanta and then we hit the road and visited some lovely quilt shops.  The first one was The Scarlet Thread - a bright and friendly store (very large store!).  I think they had something for everyone!  What nice folks! They recommended a great place to stop for lunch - Buckner's.  The fried chicken was sooooo good.

 Little Quilts in Marietta feels like walking into a quilter's home - very warm and way too much to see in one trip through! After seeing Mary Ellen at Quilt Market for so many years it was great to see her beautiful quilt shop in person. I felt right at home there, all I needed was a comfortable chair and a good quilt book!

Mary Ellen - LITTLE QUILTS - MARIETTA GA

The next stop was Tiny Stitches - oh my!  So bright and cheerful!  It felt like a breath of fresh air walking into her light filled shop.  Love, love, love her customers!  I had a lovely visit with customers and staff and was treated to some delicious homemade snickerdoodle cookies.  I was a happy camper.

The lovely customers at TINY STITHCES

Maetha - TINY STITCHES

I loved seeing what Cindy Lee (Tiny Stitches staff) had done with some of my patterns.  She has a great eye for color and piecing and it was really fun to see patterns stitched up with her creative twist.  She took my pattern Love and Laughter and completely made it unique and fresh!
A customer, Vicki Nielson, showed me what she had done with the patterns from my book Gather the Passing Seasons.  She had made each one using wool applique and they turned out so cute.  I'm kicking myself that I didn't take a photo.  I love how creative people are and how they feel comfortable making changing and bringing their own creativity to projects.  This was a wonderful way to end out trip.

Cindy Lee's creative adaptation to Love and Laughter pattern

I also need to mention that my website, www.KathySchmitz.com,  is now up and running!  There have been a few little glitches - sorry to those of you that received multiple newsletters!  My new book SIMPLY RED is now available for pre-orders (all pre-orders will be signed). I'm crossing my fingers that they will be here by mid May.  They retail for $14 and have 16 full color pages and four projects.