A look at our shop

We have a few items on sale; charm squares; jelly rolls; layer cakes as well as books! This is a picture intense post; so hang on!!!

This is Jim's mom Lila's log cabin quilt; made from an Eleanor Burns book. She made it for her daughter Leeila; this quilt is special because it is made from her deceased daughter's fabric stash. On Thanksgiving of 2006, her daughter Delores was beaten to death by a mentally ill man she had befriended at work; this man had a history of abuse toward women and had been incarcerated in the past for this. She felt sorry for him and tried to help him out as she could; it was not a romantic relationship, just one human trying to help another. He misinterpreted her intentions despite her continual explanations to him that she had a male friend and when he got frustrated that night by her refusals; he beat her to death. Out of that tragedy, Jim rescued her fabric stash and her sewing machine for his mom. There were only two girls in the family; the rest are boys numbering 3. His remaining sister asked Jim's mom to make her a quilt and so she chose to use some of the fabrics left in the stash as well as some she purchased at our shop. So all in all it is a special quilt. By the way, Jim;s mom is 83! She is still making these big quilts and now we have her making purses, which she loves.

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All of these precut collections are on sale; 21.00 for the layer cakes (10 in squares) 18.00 for the jelly rolls, charm square are 6.00; you can email me at cattywampusfabrics@rocketmail.com or call the store 989-672-0090 during business hours; we will ship anywhere. We accept all credit cards and checks. The checks must clear before shipping. We try to secure the cheapest shipping possible and orders over $100.00 will ship free. All books are on sale right now at 35 % off retail price. We do charge MI sales tax of 6% .

Lets get this blogging started!

Its been a while! The store is growing; we have more fabric than ever and we plan to add even more. The classes have been doing well. I am hoping to expand what we do over the next year. We finally have stable,good teachers that don't appear to be involved in the initial craziness we went through in the beginning.

We had some very trying times with individuals who for whatever reason wanted to put us out of business! We have learned from this and now we are very selective. Most of our customers are great and want us to succeed; but those few negative individuals really were hard to deal with; such an energy drain. Now I concentrate on the positives and if these folks try that stuff again they will be politely asked to leave and never return.

On the great side; we are having a serger class next Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.; the teacher is a fantastic lady and very creative! She is truly a kind heart! We have been doing a good deal of mail order as well; so if you need something, drop us an email or call us at the shop and we will send your package right out.


I think that as part of this blog, I would like to further educate people about quilting and sewing in general, so I will try to find some new and wonderful things to share here.

One topic I would like to share now is about supporting your local quilt /fabric shop. Small businesses do not have millions of dollars at their disposal, like the giants; i.e: Wallie World and JA's; we purchase in smaller amounts, we often pay larger shipping bills and we are at the whim of suppliers who do and charge whatever they wish. We often have no voice in this.

I say this because almost daily, we have customers who want fabric at a dollar or two per yard; "Wallie World HAS it for that!" As a quilt/fabric store we try to educate the customer as to the difference between quilt shop only fabric and that sold by the big box stores. They complain about the costs and have no problem being nasty about it.
Well you can certainly buy that fabric and the notions ,IF they still carry them, and you can make something out of it, but in the long run, your project will not ever come close to the quality of the fabrics purchased in your local quilt shop. Neither will you receive any assistance from someone knowledgeable in the sewing and quilting arena. And eventually, your purchases will ensure the demise of your local quilt shop. When that happens, you will be at the mercy of the big box stores and the internet.

We have more than just fabric and notions in our little shops; we have expertise in helping you select colors and combine them; we have knowledge of techniques to save you time and frustration, we are willing to welcome you in our store and open to helping you achieve your goals. We often order things for you that you can't find, saving you time and gas money; not to mention shipping, which we often eat. We offer a place to take a class that allows you to develop more skills without having to travel so far to do so.

If you want to continue to have access to these kind of shops, then the next time you are tempted to shop with the giants, ask yourself, "what is this REALLY costing me?" Look around you at other businesses that were lost due to the big box store moving in; we have actually had customers tell us; "Well, we don't shop here in our town" And then complain that stores wont open/stay here in town!
When you shop local, the profits are often spent local, thereby helping other small businesses thrive. That is what we do.

And as an aside, when the big box store here decided to get rid of the cheap junk fabric they were selling, and people complained, they were told that its too bad, but we do what we want. To me, that is a very sad attitude. We try to accommodate our customers wishes into our business. We truly want people to feel welcomed and at home while they are in our shop. Your ideas and input are welcomed.
Listen if I could I would change the costs of fabrics; but right now, we deal with what we have. I will not buy substandard fabrics because I, as well as many of my customers, work hard and put a lot of time into my projects and I want them to last! That is my name on them! And my shop wants to be known for quality as do most local quilt shops that I am aware of.
So that is just a little soapbox time for me today! Hope this helps people understand the fabric business better:)