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Greetings from cold and snowy Minnesota!It's definitely winter here in the midwest. For the first time in several years, we have at least a foot of snow on the ground and colder than average temperatures. Brrrr!!! It just makes me want to tuck the car in the garage, take the phone off the hook, and dive into a project. Alas, I have this interesting paintstik business to keep me away from my sewing machine! Ah well, there is always the weekend...
Shifting retail sales to local stores and online merchantsAnd speaking of the paint business, it has been an incredible year here at Cedar Canyon. Your enthusiasm for paintstiks, rubbing plates, books and patterns has been incredible — and we are having a dickens of a time trying to keep up with you! Our sales have grown dramatically as we expanded our advertising for the paintstik products and introduced our rubbing plates, patterns and other accessories. We can't thank you enough for your support as we made the transition from a small business to a very busy company. It is deeply gratifying to watch our business grow! The downside to rapid growth is the fact that there are only so many hours in a day. We are picky (to the point of craziness at times) about providing excellent service and quick shipments, but we have found it difficult to keep up with both the online store and our wholesale customers. After many long discussions, we made the decision to concentrate our efforts on the wholesale side of our business. We are closing our online store at the end of December. You will still have access to our complete line of paintstik and accessory products. Our friends at Quilting Arts and Cloth Paper Scissors magazines have added our entire product line to their online store. Visit the Quilting Arts online store at http://quiltingarts.com/shop/QAshoppe.html. (Link opens in new window.) In future newsletters, we will feature various shops and online stores that carry paintstik products. In the meantime, visit our Locate A Retailer page for links to Online Retailers, Show Vendors and retail stores in your area that carry our products.
New Rubbing Plates, Pattern and Book
Nancy also released an updated version of her Thread Calligraphy book, which describes a wonderful method for adding messages to your quilts, garments and home decor projects using the zig-zag stitch on your sewing machine -- no special embroidery machines needed! 
Paintstiks on TVWe are proud to announce that Cedar Canyon Textiles will be sponsoring the new Quilting Arts TV program on PBS. Tune in as Pokey Bolton, editor of Quilting Arts and Cloth Paper Scissors magazines, interviews an incredible line of guests from the quilting, mixed media and paper arts worlds. I was really excited to receive an invitation to film 2 segments for the series. Shooting footage for TV was a totally new and different experience for me. It's one thing to do a class or a live demonstration at a show — and quite different to look into a bunch of cameras. I felt like a kid in a candy shop while I was there — I had the chance to chat with Beryl Taylor, Ellen Waterston, Robbi Eklow and the ArtGirlz. It was really amazing to hang out in the green room with these incredible ladies and the wonderful staff behind the scenes that keep everything running smoothly. Wow! Just two weeks later, I flew back to Cleveland to film a segment for the Scrapbook Memories show, which also airs on PBS. I taped a segment for a quick and easy card project featuring an image stenciled with paintstik color. I haven't done too much exploring in the scrapbooking world, but it was fun and exciting to meet Julie McGuffee and Beth Madland along with other guests who were filming segments on the same day. There are some very cool toys out there in the scrap booking world, but I keep repeating "I don't need another hobby!" (Will it work???) Two trips to Cleveland in two weeks were not exactly a part of my plans for the year, but we have to be flexible, right? I never know what is going to happen next with this business!
Featured Artist(s)
I asked my friends in the DIVAS quilt group to make some samples using fabric embellished with paintstik rubbings. Fortunately, they were up for the challenge of finishing projects on a pretty short timeline. The results were amazing. Armed with painted silk, Oliver Twist thread assortments and patterns from Lazy Girl Designs, they made a batch of lovely projects for display at the fall quilt market in Houston. The Lazy Girl patterns are incredibly quick to put together — and they are great projects when you want to try out something new! Visit the Lazy Girl Challenge page in our Learning Center to see photos from the challenge. You'll also see some of these incredible creations featured in future Cedar Canyon ads. If you want to take the Lazy Girl Challenge, visit your local quilt shop or order a pattern from our friends at Sew Thankful (opens in new window). Sew Thankful is an online merchant that carries the complete line of Cedar Canyon products along with a huge assortment of sewing goodies.
That's a good question...Q: "I'm making rubbings, but it's difficult to get a clean image. How can I keep my fabric from moving slipping while I am making rubbings?" A: It's hard to believe that it took us so long to find the answer to this very common question, but we finally found a good way to get nice clear images when making rubbings with paintstik colors on fabric. Here's the secret... Spray the top of your rubbing plate with a repositionable adhesive. Let the adhesive dry for a minute or two and then proceed to make the rubbings. The adhesive keeps your fabric from sliding around on the rubbing plate. It works! I have tested the 404 product from Spray and Fix with excellent results. Also try KK2000 from Sulky. Some of the basting spray products are too gummy, so make sure you test any adhesive before applying it to a bunch of rubbing plates. Use a mild solvent (such as CitraSolv) if you want to clean the adhesive from your rubbing plates. The people at Spray and Fix also have a cleaning product called DK5 that is specifically designed to remove the spray adhesives from various surfaces. If you have a question, send it in. To see the answers to other questions, go to our (brand new) That's a Good Question page in the Learning Center.
Until next time, have fun with your paint! Shelly Stokes |
We released two new sets of rubbing plates at the end of October. 
The DIVAS, a small group of quilters in Alexandria, Minnesota, are the featured artists for December.
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