Classes have begun!

~What I make with my hands, I give of my heart~

We've started yet another part of our grand quilty plan-- to teach other this fine art! At Treasured Times, we really do stand behind our word that we think ANYONE can be a quilter, no matter your age, personality, the time and money you can put into this, anything. We don't want any of the things that maybe stopped people before to stop them now. We have found that some of the big stores often want you to fit a certain mold and if you don't, they are resistant to help you. That's not how we want to operate; give us anyone willing and we can help them become the quilter they want to be!

Obviously, we want to reach this goal by offering classes. In the beginning, we are starting out with two beginner classes and a beginner beginner class(one that goes over how to use a sewing machine and such!). Officially last Sunday we started our classes!

So I started out a bit sooner than the rest of the group with teaching and such :) My friend Mandy from work hadn't used a sewing machine since childhood and needed a refresher course before our lessons began! And since that went

well, we went forward with the rest ;)

We started out by making two different kits-- a black, white, and red one that will turn out to be a lap quilt, and a pink one that will turn out to be lap quilt. Then we got our class together! We have figured out that a group of four is perfect for our little area, so we had Mandy, her boss Stacy, my Aunt Liz, and a friend from college, Ashley.

Aren't they cute all gathered around watching Peggy? :)

She is a pretty darn good teacher. I once made a scrapbook page about that... huh... another blog idea! So after Peggy taught them ironing and cutting, we set them to work!

Ironing first of course!

Then we moved onto cutting, also demonstrated by wonderful Peggy.

They got to practice on some random fat quarters first

And then we let them lose on the real deal!

I think overall they only got through a couple fat quarters from their kit, but that's okay. Our classes are only two hours long, so that's not bad for beginners! In fact, they are all doing wonderfully well!

So now that you have got to see all these wonderful women at work, I'm sure you want to know how to get into one of these fun little classes as well, right? :) Well you are in luck! There are still spots open!

Our Sunday beginner class is all filled up, but we still have other options! Let's take a look:

• Saturdays: 10 AM- 12PM
• Tuesdays: 6 PM- 8 PM (this is our beginner beginner class, but if you do know how to use a machine, don't worry, you can still join in!)

We have two quilt kits as I explained, the lap blanket for $35 and the twin blanket for $49. The kits make a full top, but they don't include backing or batting. Lessons are free with the purchase of the kit, and you can use our machines, our tools, everything for free. If you would like to sign up or have any questions, call us or shoot us an email! We would LOVE to teach you!! :)

Well friends thanks for looking. I hope you have a wonderful afternoon! I am off to continue working on a birthday present for someone special :) :) See you all later!

A weekend in review

~My soul is fed with needle and thread~

Okay friends, I know I am a weekend behind in blogging! But better late than never, right? :) So, let's take a look at how that grand opening went! We can even give you a virtual tour!

Our little store is broken into two rooms-- the store and the classroom. Of course there are goodies to buy in the classroom, but most of it is in the "store" room. And here it is! All 300 or so bolts of fabric I keep chatting about :) This is the view from the back of it.

We have our little thread center, all filled with lovely notions, right in the back corner!

Here is the front of our store, with our fat quarter stash, our tool center, and our baby area.

We have some wonderful "mini bolts" in all sorts of baby patterns over here! Aren't they sweet?
We had our long arm, Tin Lizzy, all set up with kits and Nichole's lovely Trip Around the World Quilt for display. Notice the kitty,

All curled up on the quilt! He had a great day and loves playing around in the store.

He even helped organize patterns!

So this is what the store section looks like, and you will see plenty more of our classroom when I post the pictures of our quilting class later this week! So never fear, the virtual tour will continue another day! Until then, want to see what that lovely store looked like full of friendly customers?

They looked through our products,

Bought a couple things,

Looked some more,

Found some more things they liked,

And made us girls happy!!!

Okay, so now the truth must come out! Those were my buddies shopping around who showed up simply to support me-- believe or not that guy up there, Jacob Dillon, is not into quilting! Go figure :P We did see some customers, but in the midst of helping them, I forgot to take any pictures of them! Oh well, you still got to see SOMEONE looking through out fabric :D And we were happy no matter what!

Well friends, thanks for looking and to all those who came-- THANK YOU! The grand opening started well, and now we have no where to go but up! Have a wonderful afternoon all and look forward to some class pictures coming up!

Website: up and running!

~Buttons and patches and the cold wind blowing...the days pass quickly when I am sewing!~

Look my friends, look! It lives! It's wonderful! Although I guess I am biased so... you know :) Of course I think it is wonderful :)

So, if you want to go and look, check out Treasured Times Quilting and Gifts! It isn't completely full yet, but that just means that every time you look there you can find something new! I am happy to say that there isn't any "blank" spots left on the website, but some parts are looking rather slim right now. No worries though, because our actual store is PACKED-- and soon, so will our website! My trusty camera and I are just going to have to get going :)

I know that this has been a long time coming, so I am super excited now that it is up and running and hope everyone else is too! I think I need to stop rambling about my happy little website now and get back to work :) Have a great night!

Grand opening!!!!!!

~Finished is way better than perfect!~

The time has come my friends!

Yes indeedy friends, we are finally opening up the store!!!!

I am pretty sure I have mentioned it before, but our store is out of our home. We are located at 3558 Kingswood Drive out in the residential area of Lockwood(a suburb area of Billings, MT). We have been working hard, we have built up our inventory, and we are finally ready to make the plunge-- grand opening here we come!!

We will be open as of next weekend, on the 15th and 16th from 9AM to 8PM. We will be giving away a $100.00 gift certificate over the weekend, giving away free gifts with purchase of any sort, and signing up for our beginner classes!(more to come on that later friends!)

I dearly hope to see you guys there because it is going to be a blast! Have a great night guys see you this weekend!

I'm just quoting...

~A yard a day keeps the blues away~

I really enjoy starting my posts off with quotes. So I thought I should just fill this post with quotes!!

Such as this one
Oh and this one!

I think you get the picture! These adorable little signs are just awesome for sewing room decorations! Even if you don't have a sewing room in your home, but a tiny little nook(I of course have the store, but at home, I have a corner!)one of these signs will mark your sewing teritory and give you the impression that you have a sewing room :)
But no matter what, these lovely little signs will make you smile! I know that Christmas just passed us by, but if you are already planning for next year, just remember that these are perfectly stocking-sized.Ah! Just cute! Thought I would share some of our products with you to start off the new year!

Speaking of that, my next couple of posts will reveal some of the big steps we are making around here; how we are becoming a fully operational business! But for now, I will leave you drooling over these cute quotes and I will talk with you all later! Have a nice night!