OT: I"m in the land of cheap fabric and opportunity!!!

Hi everyone, I moved August 1 to Houston and have been without internet until now. I have alot of posts to catch up on. Hope everyone has been busy making stuff. I have already bought some fabric (my friends talked me into storing my stash in Norway and just buying fabric here) and my sewing machine will be out of the shop tomorrow. In a few weeks I can write on-topic posts too.

Kirsten

Reply to
Kirsten Sollie
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Kirsten, I've been thinking of you, wondering if you had arrived in our fair city last month as planned. If you haven't heard about it yet, IT'S A STITCH is going online today, offering fabric for sale online.

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I am very happy because I have always enjoyed visiting their Humble store to buy fabric, patterns, and supplies whenever I have a chance, which has been seldom because of DS's work. Emily

Reply to
CypSew

I tried looking at that site, but:

"Directory Listing Denied This Virtual Directory does not allow contents to be listed."

????

Beverly

Reply to
BEI Design

Hi Kirsten! I can't remember how long your family is planning on being in the states. My younger DD (not the mother of the two DGC) and I are hoping to make a trip to see the Grand Canyon sometime in the next couple of years (probably spring/summer

2008), and I'd love to plan a side trip to see you and your family. I hope that works out. :-)

Beverly

Reply to
BEI Design

The site was suppose to go online today, 09-12-06 according to my newsletter I received last week. I am sorry to say I didn't check before I posted my note about it, as I should have done. I will call them in the morning to see what's happening with it? Emily

Reply to
CypSew

No problem, I probably have enough sewing-related sites bookmarked already. :-}

Beverly

Reply to
BEI Design

Where in Houston are you? And have you discovered the Harwin wholesale district yet?

And Lupe's Mexican restaurant...mmmm....

--Karen D. I gotta go see my brother!

Reply to
Veloise

Thanks for posting about the shop. Their web site looks good and they're a Bernina dealer too. Always nice to know about another quilt shop. :)

Reply to
Phaedrine

It's working now. :)

Sharon

Reply to
Sharon Hays

Yay!!!!!!! Glad you made it Ok. Glad you have friends who encourage you to buy more fabric. lol (like all of us here aren't enough!!!) Wonderful to see posts from you again. And remember if you get in the mood for a serious road trip, you're very welcome up here in Arkansas! ;)

Sharon (hey I have a DVD player in the back of my van....makes road trips with kids WAY easy lol)

Reply to
Sharon Hays

Hi Beverly That sounds great. We are also hoping to see the Grand Canyon while we are here. I heard somewhere that you have to book tours into the canyon several years in advance. Is this true? We are actually only here for 1 year, 2 at the most. We may also get out that way while we are here. While the schools are much better here, thay are almost too much of a good thing. Our children have no free time and are already getting weary. They jr. high kids have no recess and barely time to use the john.

Kirsten

Reply to
Kirsten Sollie

Hi Karen, No I haven't discovered those places yet. I have found JoAnns, Hancocks and seen several small fabric stores on Westheimer. We live in Katy. We have found 2 good Mexican restaurants, however.

Kirsten

Reply to
Kirsten Sollie

Thanks Sharon, I'll remember that. I am looking forward to the famous quilt show next month. At the moment my sewing machine is in the shop. When I was moving, a girlfriend in Norway gave me her American machine to borrow so I don't have to deal with transformers here. I just needed to replace a small part on the wheel. They called today and said for $69, they could replace the part and service it but it will take 1 1/2 weeks. I don't know if I'm being had but I said yes. My overlock is coming surface (on a boat) so it won't be here for another month or so. The same applies to all my notions and trims. Guess I'll just have to wait...

Kirsten

Reply to
Kirsten Sollie

At the moment my sewing machine is in the shop. When I was

The price sounds very reasonable to me, depending, of course, what the part was and how difficult it is to get to. The length of time - well, that depends on how busy the OSMG is. Also sounds fairly reasonable to me. (And I am just in the next state over, six hours driving time).

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.

Reply to
Olwyn Mary

I don't know, but it sounds very likely, However, no way on earth am I planning to go *into* the canyon, I will admire it muchly from the rim.

I'm very surprised at that. I have the impression American schools are not as stringent as many other places in the world. My grandchildren have many activities (music and sports) in addition to school, so they have a pretty full load, though.

Beverly

Reply to
BEI Design

Oh, I am happy I wasn't too far ahead in telling about the site being up and running. They said today and I thought perhaps it would be early in the morning. It's A Stitch is owned by the man, John, mentioned in Carol Ahles book. He was a former Pfaff dealer and I got acquainted with the store when they changed to Bernina and had the Pfaffs on sale at terrific prices. I'd bought one Pfaff machine in El Paso in 1994, and liked it so much. Then I bought this 7560 embroidery machine from John and have been very happy with it.. The three stores all have a good selection of machines and supplies, but only the Humble store carries fabric and patterns. Where I live, it is quite a distance to Humble, and DS doesn't always have time to take me there to shop. I can now shop online from a local merchant. Emily

Reply to
CypSew

Kirsten, the price quoted you is about the same price almost any dealer charges for a good tune-up here in Houston. That's the same I paid It's A Stitch when I last took one of the Pfaffs in and the Singer dealer from whom I bought my Koala cabinets and my great niece's sewing machine last month is charging me for the 1961 Singer's tune-up. Emily

Reply to
CypSew

Well its good to know I'm not being had. It is a simple peice I guess but the machine is old so he probably had to go on ebay to get it (haha). By the way, I thought I saw an Its a Stitch store on Westheimer around Dairy Ashford that had fabric and machines. Could it be true? I am dreaming of getting an embroidery machine while I am here. They are, after all, much cheaper on this side of the pond, without the 26% VAT tax and the import dueties added.

Kirsten

Reply to
Kirsten Sollie

Kirsten, be aware that machines for the US market are made for 110 volts rather than the 220-240 used in Europe and the UK. Also, you may not get the guarantee honoured here as they tend to be different... And it may be affected by using the machine on a transformer.

Reply to
Kate Dicey

We're in Katy, too -- it's a nice area. The JoAnn's on Fry used to be much better, but the Japanese restaurant next to it caught on fire twice within a couple of months and they've never really rebuilt or restocked the JoAnn's store back to where it used to be.

If you're willing to take a drive downtown, try High Fashion Fabrics. I think they're on Main Street. They're just a block or so east of the tall HCC building. They're not cheap, but there's gazzillions and gazillions of yards of fabrics there. They have an upholstery store nearby, so make sure you're in the apparel fabric store. They do have sales, but very infrequently. We were there once by accident when they were having a 50% off sale (still didn't help much for the $300/yard camel hair!).

Reply to
Joey

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