For those of you who need a little inspiration, or a deadline, to finish your projects, let me introduce you to what has taken over my life the last few weeks. Swap-bot. This on-line swap robot thingie allows you to create project specific trades with people all over the world. Want to collect vintage postcards? Create a vintage postcard swap and have people send them to each other. Or just join one already created by someone else equally enamored with them. There are hundreds of swaps being organized that trade everything from miniature handcrafted fairy houses to boxes of junk from your junk drawer. Stickers, matchboxes, journals, ATCs, rubber stamps and zines! Seriously, if you want to make and trade, this is where to go. I have made and filled a match box, sent a bag full of goodies from my craft room, and am working on a journal filled with 40 random things. And the fun thing is for everything I send out, I get something back, made by someone equally passionate and crafty.

So check it out and let us know if you start trading!

Between the drop-in sewing nights and the enthusiasm of everyone involved, we managed to finish three amazing baby quilts for the raffle last Saturday night.

Thank you so much to everyone who participated – this never would have happened without the help of our members and customers contributing their fabric and time. One woman even mailed in her quilt blocks when she couldn’t make it in person! It was so great to see the community come together over the group project, and we managed to raise $485 to donate to the Partners in Health organization to help with the Haiti Relief effort. A special thank you goes out to Linde and Shannon, who were a huge part of getting the quilts finished on time.

We’ve just unpacked some boxes of the cutest things…Moda Bakeshop precut fabrics, sweet cupcake kits, and deliciously adorable patterns! There’s a Mei Tai baby sling, a Messenger Bag, a Schoolhouse Tunic, and a Swirly Skirt that would be so pretty on the little girl in your life. Come check it all out!

The tutorials section contains a wide range of advice; from tying the perfect bow, to drafting a simple skirt pattern, to sewing your first t-shirt. It’s empowering to exchange information and creations with people who share a similar passion and now there is a great online space to do it. I noticed there are over 200 Burda Style Sewing Clubs that exist for people to make clothes, meet up and motivate one another with a different pattern project each month….any interest in meeting here at The U.C.C, say, during our Sewing Club night?

images from Burdastyle

Get a free pattern when you buy yarn at the UCC! Whether an easy basic hat or a classy cabled scarf, we have patterns on hand to compliment and showcase any of the great yarns in our store.

A big THANK YOU to everyone who came out last night to make quilt blocks for our Quilt for a Cause! The UCC is in the process of making some community-sewn baby quilts to be raffled off during our next Knit and a Movie night, Feb. 27. All proceeds from the raffle tickets will go to Haiti relief charities. Raffle tickets are currently on sale in the store, $5 each or 5 for $20. You can purchase them in person or over the phone.

If you couldn’t make it last night, don’t worry…we’re having another drop-in sewing night next Wednesday, Feb. 17th from 6-8 during our Sewing Club night. So if you can, stop by and make a quilt block for a great cause.

One product we’re proud to have on our shelves is ICE Resin. It’s a non-toxic clear resin that is a breeze to mix up and use. It doesn’t have any fumes so it’s safe to use indoors, and you can mix a batch as small as 1/2 an ounce at a time, so it’s great for small projects or just doing a little bit at a time. If you’ve ever used traditional resin for a project, it was probably a stressful experience. Not only does traditional resin give off horribly noxious fumes, you usually have to buy it in large quantities and mix it all at once, forcing you to have a frenzied large-volume pouring session to get the most out of the batch.

With ICE Resin, just squirt equal parts of A and B into the little measuring cup, stir for 2 minutes, and pour! You can fill bottle caps, jewelry findings, belt buckle blanks and more with pictures, beads or little treasures to make one-of-a-kind pieces. You can mix glitter or paint into it to created interesting color effects, or write on tissue paper to creating magically floating text (the tissue paper disappears in the resin!).

ICE Resin comes in a kit with enough resin and hardener to make 8 oz of resin. It retails for $24.00. We also sell kits of 10 bottle caps and magnets for $3.00 each, and assorted jewelry findings at varying prices.