SSQS Journal
Issue 47 July, 2021
July 2021
Hello Everyone and Welcome July!

I'm sure you all are busy planning your 4th of July celebrations with family and friends. Isn't it great being able to get together again? Even the smallest of celebrations are met with joy and a real sense of freedom. It's been so great seeing everyone’s smile again. Some of you, who we came to know during 2020, it's like being introduced to you for the first time without your mask on. We never knew what your faces and smiles looked like, it's great to know the whole you now! It is also good to see familiar faces as well, even if some hair colors have changed you still have the same great smiles. It is evident that moods have lightened, we hear more laughter and we have longer visits just enjoying each other's company and appreciating time spent with each other. Some of the classes we have had lately are just a riot, filled with happy people ready to learn and have a good time doing it. Even perfect strangers and those traveling through, stopping at quilt shops along their way, seem to enjoy being out and about seeing new things, getting to know us and our regulars while leaving as new friends. I suppose this is what it looked and felt like before Covid but we probably took it all for granted. There seems to be so much more appreciation for the little things like a smile and the shared moments together both friends and strangers alike.

Enjoy the holiday weekend everyone, be sure to celebrate the little freedoms that were not possible a year ago and enjoy your time with family and friends.
 
May All Your Stitches Be Sweet,
Joan

New Building Construction Update
Work on our new building continues at a nice pace. The project is running on schedule and we have received and passed our first inspection, all good news. This month the interior demo was completed, the dock doors were removed and framed in, new windows were installed on the back wall and a LOT of drywall was hung. We hope to have the drywall mudded in the next week so we can prime and paint the walls. Below are a few pictures from this past month. We have a good bit of work yet to do but our goal is the same - to move into the new space in late September. And because we are asked everyday, the new building is right next door to our current shop, the new building is only 90 feet away!
Dock Doors no more - windows framed in
Removing old siding and new windows installed
First of the new Back windows to bring natural light into the shop
Wall board going up! and two windows
The bathroom has walls!
A lot of wall board
More wall board
wall board and
more wall board
The future Sweet Stitches
Simple Summer Sampling
Our theme for the July First Friday Demonstration day will be "Simple Summer Sampling". Summer is a busy time of year. Vacations, Gardening, Parties & Celebrations with Family & Friends leave little time for quilting projects so we have a few quick, small and easy patterns to show you. 

The First Friday Demo Day Video will be provided by email tomorrow morning, Friday July 2. Stay tuned!
For now we are holding the course to provide First Friday Demo Day by Video. Once we have had the chance to move to our new location (Right Next Door!), we will decide if, how and when we might bring Demo Day back into the shop.
This month for Go! Play Day! ...

The "Long and Short of It", is a project that is cute as can be and Darla makes it fun and easy with AccuQuilt!

This project will soon be an accuquilt class -
Stay tuned.

AccuQuilt Go Play Day Videos are sent exclusively to those in our AccuQuilt Owners Club.
Sweet Stitches offers a variety of classroom instruction for beginners through advanced students. We continue to add new project classes to the calendar along with many of our favorites:

If you are interested to explore our classes, click the link below that will take you to our calendar or you can find the calendar and a list of classes on our website by clicking Classes in the top banner.


Progressive 5 Month Block of the Month Coffee House

The Fifth and final block sets are now available for those that have signed up for the Coffee House Block of the Month. This month we have we put is all together with the finishing instructions and the binding! If you have any questions please do not hesitate to call or stop by the shop for assistance.
COVID - 19 UPDATE

Here at Sweet Stitches we have worked hard to provide a safe shop experience for our customers and our team throughout the past year. We would like to thank all of our customers that helped us accomplish this goal.

Following CDC guidelines, we are very pleased to welcome vaccinated customers to our shop without the requirement to wear a mask. We will continue to encourage anyone not yet vaccinated to wear a mask, we will maintain smaller class sizes and we will continue our enhanced cleaning between classes and in commonly used areas of the shop.

Thanks to all of our customers for your help, understanding and support through this most unusual time.
Sweet Stitches Back on the Road
Sweet Stitches is planning a few trips out of the shop to attend quilting events as a vendor.
Kokomo One Stop Quilt Shop Hop
This Month!
Friday July 23, 2021 ~ 9am - 5pm
Saturday July 24, 2021 ~ 9am - 4pm

Kokomo Event & Conference Center
1500 N Reed Road ~ Indiana St Rd 931
Kokomo, IN 46901
String-A-Long Guild Retreat
Friday September 10, 2021
Saturday September 11, 2021

Geneva Conference Center
5282 N Old US Hwy 31,
Rochester, IN 46975
Niles Piecemakers Quilted Treasures Quilt Show
Friday October 15, 2021 ~ 10am - 5pm
Saturday October 16, 2021 ~ 10am - 4pm

​Hope Community Church
2390 Lake Street, Niles, MI 49120
Machine Minute
General Maintenance and proper technique are critical for optimum performance of your sewing machine and project outcome.



It's on Backorder...
I assume that you have heard "It's on backorder" from Sweet Stitches and most any retail store. The shutdowns caused by the pandemic have created a significant product ripple effect where it has been difficult to impossible to receive regular inventory deliveries. Some products are waiting on specialty parts, some products are stuck on container ships, some products are waiting domestically for transportation and the combination has resulted in greatly delayed product delivery.

While this situation has impacted every sector of the products we offer, the two most acute are fabrics and sewing machines. While you may see when Joan posts on facebook the arrival of new fabrics in the shop, most of these now arriving are Three, Four and even many more months late to arrive. As far as sewing machines, other than a few select smaller machines that we have in stock, we continue to wait for delivery of orders from as far back as November 2020.

We do appreciate your understanding of this circumstance. If you are interested in a new sewing machine, please stop in to see the display models we have in the shop. We would be happy to demonstrate the machines for you and we continue to take pre-orders on the most popular machines. If it is the case that the model you are interested in "is on backorder", be sure to bring your current machine in to have it tuned up so you can keep sewing and creating!
Quilters of all skill levels can find encouragement, inspiration and creativity at Sweet Stitches Quilt Shop. Located in Chesterton, Indiana just a few miles from the natural beauty of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Sweet Stitches Quilt Shop is your destination for fabrics, notions and all things quilting. We carry a wide variety of brights and batik fabrics as well as notions, patterns, books and Elna/Janome sewing machines. Our large classroom offers students everything they need to learn and grow their quilting talents. From fabric selection to project advice to training on your new machine, our friendly, knowledgeable staff is ready to assist. Stop by the store or click the "Shop Online" link to view our wide variety of products ready to ship direct to your door.

Sweet Stitches Quilt Shop
Chesterton, Indiana 46304
219.250.5942
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