We are just about recovered from our very first week of business. We couldn’t have had more fun or been more pleased with the grand opening. Thanks and kisses to everyone who came, especially those who trekked a distance.

The day before our public grand opening we had a private preview party for our family and friends. It was a good way to break the retail ice and celebrate.  Check out those grins on our faces.  That’s my sister-in-law Randi at the register, me chatting, and our associate Jennifer cutting some awesome birches fabric.

My Grandma and Grandpa Smith, my mom’s parents, were the guests of honor.  Without their support Suppose would not have been possible.  Aren’t they adorable?  They are my idols.

This is a pretty good view of the shop.  Right in the middle there is Ashley Mackay, my friend and the graphic designer who did our grand opening invitations and posters.  You can check out her talents at her new design blog.

There are a few more photos of our first night at the Suppose Flickr page.  Also, don’t forget to join the Suppose Flickr group to show off the things you make. We so want to see!

This weekend we had my brother take some promo shots in the shop. I might like the outtakes best.

Prepping for photos

As the countdown to opening day continues, preparations inside have suddenly become quite… colorful.  For months we’ve been digging through boxes to find bolts, whining and saying, “I just can’t wait till we can get all this fabric out of the boxes and see it on the shelves!”  I thought the day would never come, but today we emptied the last box of bolts and the shop is finally starting to look like a shop.  We want the finished product of the transformation to be a big surprise so we had to cover the windows.  Mom dug into her antique quilt collection to get the job done. Isn’t it enticing?  It’s still hard work keeping it all under wraps–people have been busting through the door instead of just peeking in the windows.  Soon enough, my pretties.

I can’t believe this is the blog of a fabric shop and I haven’t yet blogged about any of our fabric creations.  I will have to add links to these fabrics in our web shop later, but I wanted to show a little bit of what we’ve been working on.  Our entire staff has been sewing for months to have samples for the shop ready when we open next weekend. I’d been a little too busy to sew but I just couldn’t stand it any longer and last week I finished this quilt top using Anna Griffin’s Darcey Collection from Windham Fabrics. I am so in love with the collection and just had to make something with it.

I’m also in love with all of our fabrics from Alexander Henry.  I needed a project out of these owlies, so I made a potholder.

Mom won’t let me post any more of our creations so they’ll be a surprise for the grand opening.  9 days and counting!

Mom and I are both pretty obsessed with color. (We will be teaching color theory in the shop one of these days.) And I’m not gaga over astrology, but I find it pretty fun, so I’ve been having fun playing with Pantone’s Colorstrology doodad. Pantone basically provides the universal reference for color used in any format (print, fashion, fabric, etc.) and they have developed this little tool just for fun.  You can look up your birth month and birthday, find your color, and what it says about you. My color is Smoke Blue, which I have to admit I love and the description of me is quite accurate.  I always say I can’t stand inefficiency, and there it is, the first word to describe me is efficient!  My mom’s color is dry rose which pretty much looks like almost every one of the hundred lipsticks she owns. Oh and it was her wedding color 31 years ago. It’s right on about her personality too. Compassionate, supportive, and creative basically define her.  So I’m curious, what color are you and is your Colostrology accurate?

Things have been moving faaast down at the shop. Now that all the structural work is done, all the pretty things can go in.  We put new hardwood floor in the front, and in some places it went right on top this vintage 70s carpet.

And in other places it went right on top of sand on top of vintage carpet.  There is a section of the floor that is sloped concrete and it’s a little uneven, so there is sand under it. At one point the flooring guys were building sand castles with it while they waited for the official word on how to deal with the uneven floor. Here my mom Kathy and my uncle Sheldon, the contractor, are making some sort of super important decisions about the floor.

And one of the best things about this remodel: the turquoise trim!

When we gave Sheldon our paint colors this one was called “hint of turquoise,” which he thought would be a whitish color with a tiny tint of turquoise. He was a bit nervous when the paint came, but we reassured him. And voila! The trim, slatboard, book display, and the door to the classroom are bright turquoise and Sheldon actually loves it.  I think it will make the shop quite a happy place to be.