Janet Versus Joanns

I’ve landed myself in the soup pot. I am so annoyed with Joann Fabrics that I sent them some feedback through their website yesterday morning. Within a couple of hours, I got a response, then a second response. My feedback has been kicked up to “upper management.”

I made it clear that my gripe is not with my local store. I am not interested in getting anyone reprimanded or fired. Besides, this looks like a wider issue. I noted two weeks ago when I was there that the Spokane stores also have cut their hours. I think our store is doing the best it can in this current labor environment, but it appears to me that some of these edicts are coming down from on high with no regard to how local stores operate. (Quelle surprise.) When I was there earlier this week, one of the staff commented that she spends a good portion of her shift hunting down items to fill online/pickup orders, which are being pushed—heavily—by Joanns.

I also complained about the selection of garment fabrics. I would like to see a wider selection of knits beyond double brushed polyester in muddy earth tones and sad pastels.

A few weeks ago, I received an e-mail alerting me to a “big announcement” in sewing technology that was set to debut at Joanns on February 8. I suspected it had to do with pattern projectors. I was not wrong.

Joanns is now offering Ditto, a pattern projector, for $800.

Help me out here, readers. Is this something sewists have been clamoring to have? Am I being a Luddite? I personally cannot fathom wanting to cut my patterns this way, but perhaps I am missing the boat. Yes? No?

We shall see where this goes. The husband just laughed when I told him what happened. He’s a veteran of 30+ years of his wife tilting at various windmills.

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I had a productive day yesterday. Robin stopped by in the morning to raid my stash. Our Ladies Club/sewing group made and donated a raffle quilt last year to raise money for the homestead foundation. They are donating another one this year. Robin is assembling the quilt and one of the other members will quilt it on her longarm machine. Robin can’t find suitable fabric here in town for the outer border. She has a very good sense of design and knows what she wants. We looked at my collection of Grunge, but I didn’t have the right shade. She and I are going to make a trip to Missoula tomorrow because we’re fairly sure we can find something there.

I cut all the pieces for the Ravenwood bag:

The pattern called for 1-1/2 yards of 60” wide waxed canvas. I seem to remember from the first iteration that that was a very generous estimate and I was not wrong. I received this pattern as a member of the Bag of the Month club. It was not released to the public until six months later, and I wonder if the BOM pattern was a beta version. The cut list was a combination of measurements and pattern templates, so I went ahead and made up pattern pieces for everything and laid them out to make sure I would be able to get them out of one yard of 60” wide waxed canvas. They are all cut and labelled. I haven’t chosen a lining fabric yet.

And the Sunbonnet Sue quilt is all basted and ready to go:

I have to move furniture in our bedroom to have enough space to lay quilts out on the floor for basting.

When my college roommate sent me the blocks, she gave me free rein on the design. I wanted the blocks to shine, so I kept it simple. She and her husband came to Spokane last June and I spent a few days with them. I mentioned that I had chosen a purple 30s print for the sashing and borders—without consulting her—and she was thrilled. Apparently, purple is one of her favorite colors. That was a lovely bit of serendipity. Purple is not a color I use often, but it seemed right for this quilt.

I’ll start quilting this next week. I’ve sketched out some ideas.