Celebrating Gratitude
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the United States, and I did want to take a bit of time to let you know how grateful I am for everyone who reads this e-zine, subscribes to The Professional Quilter, has joined the International Association of Professional Quilters or has taken our classes. I’m honored that you’ve allowed me to contribute in some small way to your business growth. It’s truly rewarding for me. Does your family have any gratitude traditions with Thanksgiving? In my family, we all go around the table and share something we are grateful for about those at the table. I remember years ago, one of my sisters shared that she was grateful that I sewed. I p

Book Review: Fuse It and Be Done!
Fuse It and Be Done! Barbara Campbell and Yolanda Fundora Krause; $24.99 Who knew you could find so many fusible products? Barbara Campbell and Yolanda Fundora tested an exhaustive list of 20 fusibles from fusible web to Angelina® fibers. This project-oriented book features more than two dozen “no-sew” projects and ideas. A plus is the disk with 47 design templates for 16 of the proje

To Go Forward, Look Back
I got back on Sunday evening from Las Vegas where I attended Ali Brown’s SHINE conference. I went with specific goals in mind and certainly made headway on them. One of my goals was to start to create a plan for 2010. Before I can do that, though, I need to take a look at where I am now and how I got there. One of my favorite resources for this is Your Best Year Yet by Ji

Meet Shelley Stokes, the “Paintstik Place” CEO
The Fall issue of The Professional Quilter includes a profile of Shelly Stokes, owner of Cedar Canyon Textiles, distributor of Shiva Paintstiks and related products. Here’s an excerpt from the profile in Shelly’s own words: The Shiva paint company attempted to bring the paintstiks into the quilting world in the 1980s. However, the rotary cutter hit the market at the same time, and

Systems Can Help You Grow Your Business
Do you have systems in your business? Maybe you haven’t given much thought to what systems can do for you. Here are just three benefits: They can give you more time to be creative. You’ll have time to work on your business rather than just in your business. And, they will let you grow your business. If you are like most of our readers, you’re a small business owner or solopreneur. At some point you’ll discover you can’t do it all. That’s the time to get started with systems, if you haven’t already. How do you go about creating systems? I’m actually in the process of creating systems for some of the processes I do. My goal is t