Virtual shop tour of Sew and Sews Place at the February guild meeting

Turn up the personality volume! Molly Hayden creates the perfect mix of sewing experience, knowledge of fabric, creativity and inspiration at Sew and Sews Place Fine Fabrics in Dayton, Tennessee. At the February Choo Choo Quilters guild meeting, we’ve invited Molly to be our guest to talk about her background in sewing and textiles, her shop's activities and take us on a virtual shop tour via Zoom. 

Sew and Sews Place Fine Fabrics, 280 2nd Avenue, Dayton, TN

Meet Molly
With a deep love of all things fabric, Molly relocated her fabric shop from Fayetteville, NC and opened her storefront in downtown Dayton in the fall of 2020. The shop offers beautiful designer and dressmaker fabrics from Jones NY to Vera Wang, with lovely choices in between for every season and taste. On the Sew and Sews Place Facebook page, you’ll often see Molly unboxing quilting cottons from fabric companies like Art Gallery Fabrics, QT, Northcott, Diamond Textiles, Moda and other favorites before setting up displays, draping them on "Audrey," and stocking the shop's fabric shelves. 

Meet Molly Hayden of Sew and Sews Place Fine Fabrics.

Molly hand-picks all the fabrics and notions that come into her shop. As a huge supporter of home sewing and hand-made projects, she takes on the challenge to find the best materials at affordable prices to offer inspiration and project ideas to help her customers be successful in their sewing and quilting endeavors. 

Along with fabrics, notions and trims, shoppers will find garment patterns from independent designers such as Sew Chic Pattern Co., Serendipity Studio, Collette, Petites Plus, The Sewing Workshop and Indygo Junction. Classes are offered in quilting, garment construction, and private instruction. At other times, space is available as an open sewing lounge and for machine rental. 

If you haven’t been to the Sew and Sews Place yet, invite your friends to join the Choo Choo Quilters guild meeting for an armchair shop visit, Monday, February 15, at 6:30pm. There will also be a give-away… so don’t miss out.

January guild meeting on Zoom

Welcome to a new year with the Choo Choo Quilters. We will be having our first Zoom guild meeting of the new year this Monday, January 18, at 6:30 pm. Due to COVID, we suspect that we'll continue our virtual meetings into the late summer/early fall of this year... but don't despair! We are planning several things to keep us connected mentally, even though we must remain physically apart. 

Cheers to a new year with the Choo Choo Quilters.

At Monday's meeting, we will have a discussion of possible program ideas and we will need your input. Come join us and contribute your ideas to the guild. We have plans for a Choo Choo Bingo Challenge which will be introduced on Monday. We will also have Show and Tell, so gather up your recent projects to share with the group.  

Cuddle Quilt Update
We will be collecting our cuddle quilts to donate to the Chambliss Center, and we will have a special drop-off on Saturday, February 6 from 2-4 in the parking lot at Valleybrook Presbyterian (where in-person guild meetings were held). 

Sherry and Ginny have arranged to provide hot chocolate and treats for everyone who brings a quilt, and we can have a little socially distanced celebration of our continued work with this fine organization. If this collection time doesn't work for you, post a message on the Choo Choo Facebook page and someone will reach out to you. The quilts will be delivered to Chambliss on Monday February 15. 

In case of bad weather, the collection will be postponed until the following Saturday, February 13. 

So, come join us Monday night and enjoy the company of your fellow quilters!

Quilting during crazy times

Hey, quilters. How are you coping during these crazy times? 

At the Choo Choo Quilters July 20 guild meeting, we'll look back in history to the Crazy Quilt era for some perspective. While practicing social distancing, we'll be stitching together a little quilt history, humor and technology at a virtual guild meeting.

"Crazy Quilts and Mad Women" presentation at the July guild meeting

Live, via Zoom, join us for a video presentation about "Crazy Quilts and Mad Women" and a discussion about how women at the turn of the 19th century coped with domestic life and the social and economic trends of the time. How did our foremothers use the needle arts to cope and express their thoughts and ideas? Is it much like how we are coping in 2020 with the global pandemic? Let's compare and contrast.

These days, we have digital technology and the web to educate, entertain, inspire and perhaps use as coping mechanisms. For the July guild meeting, please bring and share your recommendations for favorite quilting videos and tutorials, Facebook Live presentations, on-line learning sources, podcasts, etc. that you like to watch or listen to... or have recently discovered during the quarantine.

Sherry and Ginny, Cuddle Quilt Coordinators extraordinaire, will also talk about plans for a virtual Cuddle Quilt workshop. 

Watch for the Zoom meeting invitation in your e-mailbox and bring something for virtual Show and Tell.

Be safe and quilt on!