Happy New Year! This new year brings some fun changes to my quilting that I’m excited about. As you can see, we’ve made some changes around here. Let me show you around and share what’s new.
More Time for Quilting
I made a career change to focus more on quilting. For the past two years, I served as the Executive Director of the Quilts of Valor® Foundation in addition to running my quilting business. Managing the foundation was a great opportunity where I got to meet quilters across the county, immerse myself in the quilting industry, and support volunteers who create and award beautiful Quilts of Valor®. It was an honor to serve in this role! However, both the foundation and my quilting business grew side by side, and I had to make a choice. I opted to support my growing business full-time and think creatively about how I could expand what I could offer.
The result was a new pivot and new brand. I worked closely with my husband, John, to do some business planning. John and I are both trained facilitators from past work lives, meaning we have a big bag of tools when it comes to business analysis and we’re a bit nerdy about using them! We had a lot of fun working together to get the heart of what we wanted for this business. Here’s the results:
New Name, New Brand – Colorado Threadworks
We felt this name embodied the values of our business – creativity, exploration, inspiration. Living in Colorado, we are inspired by our beautiful state to explore and be adventurous. That’s how I’ve approached my work with fiber arts. I love learning and exploring new things! Long before I was a quilter, I sewed and designed garments, taught knitting and crochet classes, and designed crochet and knitting patterns. I’ve had to learn to kick perfectionism to the curb with my work and have come to love to find the joy in creating and learning. We joke about how the Quilt Police don’t stop here. It really applies to all that we make – less perfectionism and more creativity!
Crafty Girl Quilts was also more of a solo adventure with John supporting me in an informal way. It will be great to have him join me and to leverage his tech and media skills. John now has a formal title – Tech Guy!
Same Quality Longarming Services
Longarming is still the core of what we offer. I still love working with quilters to finishing their beautiful quilts. I’m looking forward to continuing to offer longarming services in the Denver area and to quilters across the US.
New Patterns, More Fiber Arts
If you are like me, I bet you enjoy many different types of fiber arts (sewing, quilting, crochet, knitting, embroidery). One reason we chose the name Colorado Threadworks was to include other types of fiber arts in addition to quilting. I’ve enjoyed sewing, crochet, and knitting since I was a 4-H kid. Quilting and embroidery are additions I’ve loved learning as an adult. I’m excited to explore and create in all of these fiber arts and design more patterns. I’m excited to add more quilting and sewing patterns to my shop!
YouTube Channel
We are launching a YouTube Channel. You can find us here at Colorado Threadworks. It’s been fun to collaborate with John on the videos and create together. Join us as we share our creative adventures exploring projects, techniques, and fiber arts as well as creating online videos. You can join the fun here.
Future Classes
One of my goals this year is to get back into teaching. I’ve taught sewing, crochet, and knitting classes in the Denver area for years and am a former Extension Home Economist with Kansas State University. It’s been a while since I’ve taught, but there’s nothing like connecting with other creators online and in a classroom. It’s really rewarding for me, and I typically learn a lot while teaching!
As you can see 2024 has lots of new directions and adventures for us. I hope you have new projects and creative adventures ahead, too, and will join us on ours. I’ll look forward to working on your beautiful quilts this year and creating together!