Have you noticed fabric designs and collections seem to come and go more quickly these days? More of our suppliers are producing collections that are “One-and-Done” – i.e. we have to order up front what we think will sell because we can’t always reorder. If something sells out over the weekend, we are on the phone Monday morning trying to get more….but often they have nothing else in their warehouse, and a reprint is 3 months out, or never gonna happen.
The moral of the story is…if you love it you better grab it while you can. We try to predict how much something will sell up front but that is a roll of the dice. I joke with our office manager….who needs Vegas when you are ordering fabric? Haha. Actually we are pretty good at predicting but sometimes we are surprised, and the manufacturer is surprised too. This tends to be mostly true for those ‘collector items’ that are really unique. I still remember panels from 10 or 15 years ago that we could not reorder, despite begging the manufacturers.
When I score one of those ‘collector items’ for my stash, I feel so lucky. We’ve tried to include these types of unique items in our exclusive Rubin Studio line, and if it sells out, we DO reprint! If we run out of something you had your heart set on, and you were not fast enough, please do contact customer service so we can make the effort to restock, and we will contact you if and when it is back in the warehouse. Many of you take advantage of this service on a regular basis, but it is no secret! Our Customer Service department rocks!
I am a creative dreamer. I have been having dreams that solve problems and inspire new projects, since I was a kid. I dream in color, with long detailed storylines. I can wake up, write down an idea, then go right back to sleep and go back into the same dream. Is that normal? I don’t know, but I woke up at 6 am this morning with the solution to a question I’ve been chewing on the last few weeks, about the quilt I am working on now. In my dream, Vincent Van Gogh and I were having coffee, and he told me how to solve my sky problem. Having visited his museum in Amsterdam in April, I suppose I have internalized more of his essence, that now helps me to solve problems. Kind of like an artist guardian angel. Have you ever dreamt about one of your artist heroes?
Did you catch my article on Maximalism in McCall’s Quilting Magazine?
sharing your love for fabric,
Luana and Paul
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Travel/Quilt Calendar:
Aug 3-7 – Festival of Quilts, Birmingham UK
August 18-24 – Bear Camp – Homer Alaska
Sept 28-30 – AQSG Seminar – Louisville, KY
