Shar Schmutz Posted May 5, 2013 Report Share Posted May 5, 2013 Life gives us opportunities and sometimes we just need to take them! Last fall my hubby and I went to Arizona to visit friends, while there we found ourselves suddenly searching to buy a house of our own!!! We left a week and half later owners of a cute small two bedroom house! We are now official snowbirds! We returned there mid December and spent the winter furnishing the place and finding our way around and getting the feel of the place. The only down side was I was without my Millie and truly missed quilting! About the time we started thinking about coming back to Idaho I was fairly insecure about not having any work; did my customers find another quilter they could trust not to take off suddenly, would they still want me to quilt for them..... Just before coming home I sent out invitations to all my customers for a Drop-in and Drop-off party. I offered door prizes, refreshments, and a good time. I offered free return shipping for all my out of town customers who sent me quilts before May 14th, and will be holding a special drawing for them on the 15th of May. I asked them to sent pictures of themselves as there are some I have never met! It helped me feel like they were a part of the festivities. The party just ended and I have a very large stack of quilts to be quilted! My customers are the BEST!!!! We had a great time, shared ideas and tips, ate too many goodies and laughed a lot. They were happy to meet other quilters and make new friends. This will be an annual event for Cotton Candy Quilting! Now back to relearning the forum! I have joined Facebook, I suppose you would look for Shar Schmutz. I have posted a few pictures there if you are interested. Doing the happy dance to be quilting again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shirleyl Posted May 5, 2013 Report Share Posted May 5, 2013 Welcome back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delld Posted May 5, 2013 Report Share Posted May 5, 2013 Welcome back! You are so creative! I can see more parties by others in the future!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corey Posted May 5, 2013 Report Share Posted May 5, 2013 Ola Shar, I missed you my friend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shar Schmutz Posted May 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2013 Thanks for the welcome home! I'll try to carch up with my friends on the forum now that I will be quilting again! While we were in AZ. We drove over to Ontario CA and I was able to attend Road to California for one day only but was thrilled to see the fabulous quilt show. I plan to attend next year and hope to take a class or two. All in all our Arizona experience was wonderful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shar Schmutz Posted May 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2013 Dell, the party was just one of those ahha moments! The ladies who attended were already making plans for next year for a design swap! They decided next year I should ask attendees to being one project to share with everyone, today I shared my very first quilt from 1969! LOL- poly blend shirt pockets scavenged from a factory dumpster and sewn together and tied with yarn and all!!! It is literally falling apart!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witha'K'quilting Posted May 5, 2013 Report Share Posted May 5, 2013 Good to see you shar! The party sounds like a huge success. That was a great idea! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fineseams Posted May 5, 2013 Report Share Posted May 5, 2013 Hey Shar! I'm so glad to hear that your life has taken an interesting turn, and that it didn't cost you your quilting business. But I hope we can still get together somewhere, now that you are south of me, rather than north.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shar Schmutz Posted May 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2013 Bonnie, It would be great to get together next winter while I am south! It was a very interesting winter, snow on the mountains near Phoenix, The cacti froze and dropped parts right and left, it was funny to get up in the morning and see cactus appendages laying on the ground like they were molting, shedding, or something! The bonus of the extreme cold winter in the desert was the amazing display of cactus flowers that came later! We were told both events were extremely rare, we should have taken pictures! Who knew! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda G. Craig Posted May 5, 2013 Report Share Posted May 5, 2013 Welcome Home! So good to see you here. Congrats on your open house party, what a huge success. Sounds like your customers missed you too! Super ideas too! :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shar Schmutz Posted May 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2013 Kristina, the party did end up being a great idea, I think it would work for just about any occasion a quilter may decide upon to try to increase business at any given time. Everyone knows the success story of Tupperware parties early on, I just changed it up slightly. I also realized most of my customers toil with their piecing alone, they seem to not be inclined to join a guild, this party gave them a chance to be with other quilters in a totally non threatening, non intimidating, or competitive environment. You should have heard the ideas and tips they were sharing with eachother! I am hoping this event will grow and be even more fun for them and me in the future. It was great to see my customers in a more social setting, they knew me but did not know each other. I had set aside an area in another room for detailed intake, but it ended up I did not need it as everyone of them told me to just do my magic, whatever I wanted to quilt was fine with them. The majority of my customers like edge to edge, if I run I to a quilt needing more than that I call and get permission for the upgrade. I started going nuts with the idea once I decided to do this; like Halloween in September, or pink quilts in July, just whatever one can come up with to make things fun. I did tell everyone to come even of they did not have a quilt ready for drop off and everyone was invited to bring along a friend. That was a shamless ploy on my part hoping to increase quilting customers. Lol. We quilters need to break out of the sometimes lonely work we do and make what we love doing more fun for us too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witha'K'quilting Posted May 5, 2013 Report Share Posted May 5, 2013 My head is spinning with ideas. Thanks shar for the inspiration. I am limited locally for customers, but could offer specials on my website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustSewSimple Posted May 5, 2013 Report Share Posted May 5, 2013 What a great idea! Thanks for sharing and welcome back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anniemueller Posted May 5, 2013 Report Share Posted May 5, 2013 Shar, where are you in Idaho? I'm always looking for other quilters to refer my friends to. I'm not quilting for customers very much now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shar Schmutz Posted May 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2013 I am In Post Falls, near Coeur d'Alene, I do have a lot of customers in other states. I even have one in Wyoming! Please pass my name along if you wish, feel free to pass along my email address: Shar_schmutz@hotmail.com. Thanks!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LibbyG Posted May 5, 2013 Report Share Posted May 5, 2013 I wondered what happened to you. Glad to hear you're back. You'll have to buy a used machine for AZ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CindyT Posted May 6, 2013 Report Share Posted May 6, 2013 Welcome back, Shar! You've been missed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting Heidi Posted May 6, 2013 Report Share Posted May 6, 2013 Welcome back Shar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted May 6, 2013 Report Share Posted May 6, 2013 Hi Shar! I love your ideas--thanks for sharing! I bet you can hear the wheels spinning in our heads as the forum community absorbs your party plan! Next time you're visiting west, please call and we'll get a local Moxies group together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shar Schmutz Posted May 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2013 Thank you Linda! I would love a get together, I'm just not sure when it will happen, hopefully within the month or so. Right now, I have a lot of quilting to get going on. I've spent the morning doing the quilt stare down! LOL I guess I am a little rusty with the design ideas and need to retrain my brain! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beachside Quilter Posted May 6, 2013 Report Share Posted May 6, 2013 Glad to hear your update, Shar! I was just thinking of you the other day and realized I hadn't seen you posting! My sister lived in Phoenix area for 25 years; it's a wonderful area! Enjoy your we lifestyle!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.