Summer Happenings at Artistic Artifacts

It’s midway through July and we have been going non-stop at Artistic Artifacts! Our Summer Solstice Sales event in June led right into our participation in the first All Mid-Atlantic Shop Hop, coordinated by Shop Hop, Inc. We’ve already welcomed close to 300 “hoppers” since the two-month event kicked off on July 1.

For those at the shop, preparation for the Shop Hop started months ahead of time. The organizers started early and we had a number of meetings, proof approvals and more as the event approached — they’ve been so organized and helpful to all of us shop owners and staff members in getting ready for the hop. And now that the event is going on, they are documenting it by administering the All Mid-Atlantic Shop Hop Facebook Group — what fun it is to see shop hoppers post their own photos while they're in our store, and to leave such wonderful comments. We’ve met so many new Creative Minds!

We also chose one of the free quilt patterns in the Official Shop Hop magazine to make a shop sample to include our free giveaway block and have made kits in two colorways for it.

We had already been making many exclusive quilt kits to stock, and with the advent of the Shop Hop we tasked ourselves with adding many more, picking patterns and coordinating fabrics. The staff was then busy cutting, folding, pricing, and packaging new kits. It was well worth the work, as our kits have been very popular with the shoppers — many of them are on a mission to hit as many stores as possible and have tight schedules, so they don’t all have the time to wander our aisles picking out just the right fabrics!

Other shops who had participated in similar events shared ideas on what folks are looking for, and we set our creative minds to work. Using our branding designs, vinyl stickers were created. A sturdy ceramic mug was designed. And vinyl project bags were ordered. You can see some of our merchandise here with Chris Purcell, who visited Artistic Artifacts on July 9. She had collected the most shop stamps (29) that we had seen from a hopper to that point She said that now that she's retired, she can do this full time... and we know she’s still busy visiting as many store as possible — we hope her Passport will be selected for a Shop Hop prize!

While preparations were coming along, we did a store refresh to feature not only our new products but also what makes Artistic Artifacts unique with creative finds. See our photo below of our beautiful sample quilts hanging above bins with our curated quilt kits ready for shoppers to grab!

Meanwhile, I was off to BERNINA University for the unveiling of the latest, top of the line BERNINA sewing machine, the B 990. I admit I was skeptical at first — but I quickly became a believer in the Magic packed into the sewing machine & embroidery module. Our floor model has arrived and the ‘unboxing’ will take place on Saturday, July 20 during our weekly Facebook Live presentation.

This will be followed by a BERNINA 990 Roadshow on Monday, August 5 with Mary Beck, a BERNINA educator, who will be with us to demonstrate the machine and answer questions. We hope those who live locally can join us so they can be as wowed by this state of the art model as I am! BERNINA has lots of great deals through August 31 — Summer 2024 is Blooming with Gifts!

Our doors opened for the Shop Hop on July 2 and in the event’s second week we welcomed two different busloads of quilters who were wowed by our offerings. They kept us all hopping for the short time they were allotted to shop. Amazing how much shopping 65 women can do in under an hour!

We are having a weekly drawing for a $50 Artistic Artifacts Gift Card for those visiting, and the large vase has been filled to overflowing. The week of the bus trip we actually drew three names due to the number of people entered!

Also note that although our shop is traditionally closed on Sunday and Monday, for the shop hop we will be open special hours, 11:00 am – 4:00 pm on both Sunday, July 21 and Sunday, August 18. Plan a visit!

Work doesn’t stop for the creative minds behind the scenes. We continue to work on new kits and products, introduce new products, and plan our Workshops & Events. In addition to the BERNINA 990 Roadshow we have a full calendar of sewing, embroidery, and mixed media classes. We are planning a Tilda Quilt Trunk show with samples made with her latest fabric collection, Creating Memories. And dates and events for a return visit by Seth Apter this September have been published and is are selling fast. As always, read our weekly newsletter and visit our social media pages for the most up to date news.

Not sure who thought that the summer was a slow month in the quilt shop business… but we certainly have proved that theory wrong!