I guess I am lucky that one of my 3 children has developed an avid interest in quilting and fabrics. They say that quilting and sewing tends to skip a generation in families. Although I learned about sewing from my grandmothers, the love of making things with fabric is being passed on directly to our youngest child.

In my grandmothers' time, it was a necessity to learn how to sew. At that time many people sewed their own clothes and then later made quilts from the scraps, because fabric was scarce and buying these ready-made items was expensive. During the Depression and the war, there was even more reason to sew for one's self and children.

Being able to express one's own creativity through sewing was somewhat of a luxury during those times, but today we have such an incredible variety of colors and designs to choose from, and we are encouraged to make choices that fit our personalities.

When I first started this business in the basement of our home, I bought bright colors that I knew would show well over the internet. However I will never forget the day my friend Barb came over to look through our 300 bolts in the basement, and then she asked where I kept the neutrals. Duh! That's when I knew that we needed to grow and accommodate all kinds of tastes and needs – and as time went on we just kept adding more and more categories of products until we got to 22,000 products online and in stock. As most of you know, if you see it on our website, that means it is on the shelf in our warehouse and ready to ship to you.

Today we anticipate your fabric needs by researching trends and ordering cutting edge design so we have it in stock before you even know that you wanted those fabrics! Two weeks from now I'll be in Houston at Quilt Market and then at Quilt Festival, and the weekend afterwards I'll be in Portland, OR at the Color Marketing Group conference, working on color forecasting for the design industries with the CMG members.

In the meantime, every once in awhile I have Sophie come in when the fabric sales reps visit, and I have her watch while I preview lines and decide what to order. She has a definite eye for color and design, so perhaps some day you'll see her designing fabrics and quilts, or even writing this weekly newsletter…? She loves digging through my stash, just like I bet your kids or grandkids love looking at your fabric collection.

The best part is when she pulls out an especially beautiful piece of fabric and says – "Mom! We should make a quilt out of this!"

If you are planning to come to Festival in Houston, I'll be at the award ceremony Tuesday Nov 2 to present the World of Beauty cash award. Hope to see you there!