Posted By Pam on Nov 15, 2016 | 11 comments

We had a grand time in Chicago in September at the Sew Pro Convention; Lynn and I went with our friend and production guru Rae to soak up the collective knowledge of attendees and instructors, and figure out where we can improve what we’re doing here at The Stitch.

There were a couple key takeaways for us:

1. Find our voice and be ourselves. We’re the only “us” out there, so we need to focus on our strengths
2. Be consistent and diligent in content creation (and quilt and pattern creation)
3. START A NEWSLETTER (see shiny new sign-up bar up there ^^^)
4. Have fun!

In between learning about newsletters, intellectual property, accounting, and pattern production, we managed to squeeze in a little fun, too. A lot of that fun happened in a parking deck, because apparently being weird in parking decks in On Brand for us. We were staying in Rosemont, and they were undergoing a renovation of sorts to recreate famous works of art with a Rosemont twist on them. So we played along, posing in front of these paintings and posting on Instagram. Here are all the pictures compiled into one 30 second video for easy viewing:

Given the fine art theme, after some live brainstorming on the October Virtual Stitch-In, we decided to take a stab at interpreting Whistler’s Mother. Upon reflection, though, we thought perhaps Whister’s style was… not quite ours. So we give you “Yeah, But His Grama Was a Quilter”:

You can totally imagine Whistler’s mother rebelling against this crazy cacophony of color and turning to grays and blacks for her palette, as reflected in the famous painting. His grama, on the other hand, is neither afraid of color nor texture. She takes risks and simply goes about being her authentic awesome self, to the very tips of her Kaffe Fassett shoes.

And on her lap, while she watches our show, is a tiny version of our Belinda quilt pattern, of course. This quilt is hand stitched onto her to give it some dimension. The effect is such that my husband, upon seeing it, said, “Why is it lumpy in the middle?”, which brings us to #5 on the Lessons Learned list:

5. Know your target market

As part of the Sew Pro Stars Blog Hop, we’re hosting entries for the grand prize fabric bundle and patterns! To enter the giveaway, use the Rafflecopter widget below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Check out the rest of the participants in the Sew Pro Stars Blog Hop to see what other prizes they are offering, and what lessons they learned!

Monday Nov 14

Lisa Peterson – lisaandlorelai.com/

Sherri Noel – Rebeccamaedesigns.com

Andi Stanfield- truebluequilts.com/

Tuesday Nov 15

Vanessa Behymer – vintagebarngirl.wordpress.com/

Pam Cobb & Lynn Rinehart – www.thestitchtvshow.com (hey, that’s us!)

Sherry Shish – www.poweredbyquilting.com

Joanne Kerton – www.canuckquilter.com

Lisa Nielsen – thequiltjam.blogspot.com/

Wednesday Nov 16

Carmen Ross – seecarmensew.com

Anne Beier – www.hudsonvalleyquilts.com/

Jessica Caldwell – www.desertbloomquilting.com

Pamela Morgan – mysweetlittlestitches.com

Thursday Nov 17

Maryanna Powell – www.marvelousauntiem.com

Cathy Smith – Www.aquiltingchick.com

Lissa LaGreca – lovinglylissa.com

Paula Mamuscia – creationsbypaulamamuscia.wordpress.com/

Friday Nov 18

Becca Fenstermaker – prettypiney.com

Holly Stockley – www.lighthouselanedesigns.com

Teri Seal – daymoonquilts.blogspot.com

Trinia Braughton – www.penguinfeats.com

Deanna Wall – www.stitchesquilting.com/