CattyWampus Fabric Company

A look at our shop

2012-02-24T14:36:00.000-05:00

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.

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!

2012-02-05T16:10:00.000-05:00

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:)

Country Shoppes of Millington

2011-09-08T11:29:00.001-04:00

This is one of my favorite shops to get my country and prim goodies! The staff is so nice and I could just LIVE in this store!!!! Bev, the owner, is just so helpful and sweet; please visit soon; you will love it!!!

Country Shoppes of Millington: Located in Downtown Millington, The Country Shoppes features 3 floors of home décor and gift ideas. Housed in a beautiful turn of the century home you’ll find furniture, lighting, folk art and primitives, along with home accessories and garden decorations. Plus antiques can be found in the barn. Come into The Country Shoppes of Millington for beautiful home accents and great gift ideas, plus Free Gift Wrap on your purchases.

Our Goal

2011-08-27T22:04:00.000-04:00

Hi everybody! We have a special mission here at Catty Wampus! We had a visitor yesterday who asked with help on a special project. I knew that everyone would want to help this lady out. Her name is Gwen O'Leary. She was raised near Sandusky,MI. She and her sister Katie were placed in a terrible situation when both of their elderly parents became critically ill at the same time and needed on-going care. Their mother suffered from Alzheimer's disease. Gwen kept a journal through all the trials of caring for their parents and has now published it; "When Life hands you Alzheimer's. Make Aprons" She is selling the book and using the funds to help Alzheimer's respite care. We have copies available for sale and we are ordering the aprons from Vanilla House Monday. We are planning to have an apron party and I am hoping that we can help Gwen by selling AT LEAST 100 copies and then some....:) Gwen's blog is located at; http://alzheimerhumor.blogspot.com/

You can call the store at 989-672-0090 to get your copy; they are only $12.00!

My trip to Maumee

2011-08-23T23:39:00.000-04:00

What is in Maumee,Ohio??? Well just the best wholesale fabric warehouse! They held their open house (63rd!) this past weekend; Sun.-Mon. I wish I could have attended on Sunday as it was schoolhouse time. The best teachers teaching new skills! And yesterday, demos and shopping!

I got to meet one of my heroes ( list: Mary Kay Ash, Paula Deen, Eleanor Burns, and Sue Hausmann!) of the sewing world; Sue Hausmann of America Sews/Viking! She was so nice and helpful; her hubby Herb took a photo of us; she really looks so much younger in person:)

And Edyta Sitar; what a sweet person; she makes fabulous quilts and is just so down to earth; she autographed a copy of her book Friendship Scraps.. and she is coming to Millington,MI in October I believe:))

Judy Neimeier (sp?) making her BEAUTIFUL paper pieced creations; she uses jelly rolls (2 and a half inch strips precut for you) in mainly batiks from Hoffman Co.

Look at these gorgeous quilts!!!!

Our Checker Rep! Marci, who is prettier than this photo I took!

One of the Swirly Girls showing a story board on how to use the new Creative Grids rulers to cut their quilts!

Ellen Medlock's butterfly quilt:)

Well, that is just a little of the goodies I saw! And I won a door prize; an Ott lite with magnifier!!! I SOOOO need that!

We had our first sewing class today; they made a pillowcase and they came out very cute. So much to work on!!!!!

OH I FORGOT!!!

2011-08-20T23:29:00.001-04:00

OH BOY!!! I forgot to tell you that I won the motherload at American Quilt Retailer magazine's blog; I left a comment and won the HUGE prize of FOUR fat quarter collections of MODA fabrics!!!! These haven't even been released yet so how cool; I have to take a picture to share !!!! They are such nice people too!!!!

New Goodies

2011-08-20T22:56:00.000-04:00

This beautiful quilt has been loaned to us by its maker Mary Curtis. It is called "Wildflowers" by Smith Street Designs; it was made on an embroidery machine, and uses batik fabrics. I have contacted the company to carry this design in the store. We want to have an embroidery club to help everyone learn to use their machine fully.

This is my sweet Catty Wampus :)))

We have just gotten in some gorgeous fabrics from Jo Morton, RJR (Jinny Beyer); and Marcus Brothers. Lots more is ordered for the next few months as the collections are released from MODA.

Last month I attended the Holmes County fabric show in Berlin, Ohio;

What beautiful views in Berlin; I would love to go there again and spend a whole lot of time there!! I thought I would share these pretty views with you:)

All kinds of good things:)

2011-08-12T12:35:00.000-04:00

We are so happy and excited here at CW; our friend Caron over at Michigan Quilts has been sending lots of folks our way. She is just the kindest person to help us get our business moving forward. I can't thank her enough. And I won the contest over at American Quilt Retailers Magazine's blog; fat quarters from Moda!!! We are so excited!!!!!!! We have been getting in more goodies; like Jo Morton's Ravenswood and Jinny Beyer's palette. We have the Rowenta travel irons and Oliso as well.

So many goodies are on their way including new fabrics and notions. I'll have to post some photos for you all.

JULY 2011

2011-07-27T20:41:00.001-04:00

Well we have been at it now for over one month. We opened the store on June 3,2011 for the Cars and Crafts weekend here in Caro. Our inventory was limited. Now we have a better inventory, but we still need more! It has been difficult to just get the fabrics in as ordering is done so far in advance, but I think we are getting better at understanding the system.

Mr Catty Wampus himself (Murphy) at his store!

We have had a lot of community support and we are selling things more regularly. Its a process! These are photos of our store; inside and out. We have added more fabric since these were taken and the long awaited Mettler thread has finally arrived;(yesterday) and we got some of the Moda jelly rolls and layer cakes.We just got in the JANOME sewing,quilting and embroidery machines as well.

Murphy has LOTS of friends; there are people who just come in to SEE HIM! LOL!!!!
We really have very nice customers; many are becoming family! Jim's mom Lila; she is 83!!! She made the quilt above from Bali Pops jelly roll strips and quilted it herself on a normal sewing machine!

Progress

2011-04-07T14:49:00.001-04:00

We have been working hard on our store this week! New flooring in the office area/ rear entry; and bathroom. Painting; wallpapering and cleaning;destruction too. Jimmy loved cutting up some old ginormous displays for the previous paint co. with the chainsaw!

The eeeewwww part was taking out the toilet to put subflooring under the toilet! Note to self, wear gloves all the time when involved in this kind of job!!!!

The roof was leaking once again on Sunday; but there is a lifetime warranty on it so I gotta call the landlord and let him know about that and no hot water either! Try wallpapering with no warm water; COLDDDD! We have a wee sink that is hard to use to fill buckets and the like so paint cleanup is a nightmare:P But we are troupers and worked it through anyways!

The hard part is a lot of this is extremely physical work; I admit it, I am SOFT!!! But I am getting better. Jimmy is a driven man; he works really hard and gets the job done. I am slower, but I AM a finisher. I 'm just SLOWERRRR! LOL!

I have taken pictures of the space in transition but I will have to load them in from my new computer as this desktop doesn't have a card reader!

Other things; we are looking at sewing machine lines as we hope to offer sewing machines as well as fabrics. I am learning how much things really cost at wholesale; and why things are so high sometimes. I have been buying retail forever and now I can see both sides of the equation.

One of the neat things is talking to other shop owners in our area; they have been very supportive of our store and I am really happy that they welcome us! This is my and Jimmy's first big deal like this. We are learning as we go; we have attended things offered by the State of Michigan to help small business owners get started. We are writing a business plan as we go along to secure future financing; that is a big process.

I am working on the branding of our store. I want it to be a warm, welcoming country atmosphere where people feel good in our space. I want our customers to be comfortable and I am emphasizing superior customer service. It is a place of learning and encouragement; a stress-less place for sewers and quilters to come together and make their dream come true. From the smallest project to the largest, they are all welcomed and supported in this creative environment. No creativity police here! You dream it, we'll help you achieve it!

Now for another question I get asked a LOT; What is CattyWampus???
Well,,, CattyWampus is the nickname of one of our beloved bulldogs; His real name is Murphy; but forever I have called him CW (CattyWampus) It refers to the fact the he thinks he is a cat; and often will just wamp himself right up on top of you; He thinks he is a lap cat as well! In quilting there is a term "cattywampus" which seems to mean out of sorts or out of line; my store is out of line with the ordinary; we want to be the best; we want to make sure that all who enter leave all the better for having stopped in; whether they make a huge purchase or none at all. We want to be thought of as not your ordinary fabric store. I wanted also to honor my sweet Murphy by naming the store after him. He has brought so much love into my heart and our home. He also has, despite deep health issues from birth, triumphed over those issues and has lived a really great life; remaining happy and positive throughout pain and sadness. He has given us love and hope, and modeled a wonderful attitude that we all should adopt. Our store will have those qualities and heart. His brother Niles, who is in Heaven is also represented through this store as I intend to have a charity aspect of the store; helping other doggies in need through the Niles and Murphy, Zoey and Sydney fund.

So there you have the beginnings of our store. We are excited about all the possibilities the future holds.

New Beginnings!

2011-03-31T15:17:00.000-04:00

Welcome to our new blog! We are in the beginning stages of opening a new quilt and fabric store in Caro,Michigan. It is my hope to post here all the excitement and fun as we go along! In addition to our fabric and notions , we are planning to offer quality sewing/embroidery/quilting machines for sale as well as repairs.

I am interested in teaching many classes and we have two experienced staff members; Lila and Sue who will also be teaching for us. Their experience in the sewing and quilting world is tremendous! We plan to offer sewing classes,quilting classes
(including artsy quilting, quilted garments/purses, as well as bed quilts ) In addition we will be offering lessons on the care and feeding of your sewing machine.

I look forward to sharing the excitement with all of you! More to come:)