Mar 30, 2009

Missing a few pieces?
You’ve come to the right place!

My daughter, Anne, doesn’t fit pieces of fabric together like we do, but she loves to piece jigsaw puzzles. She just finished her masterpiece — a four-panel puzzle with 5,000 pieces. Anne is a nursing student living in Indianapolis with kitty Olivia. Olivia helps Anne with everything — classwork, papers, leftovers, naps — and her puzzles. Anne managed to find a place for 4,999 pieces. Olivia found a place for one — and as, you probably guessed — it is not in the puzzle.

However, did you know if you complete a jigsaw puzzle and you’re missing one of the pieces, you can contact the puzzle maker and order a replacement? Of course, the challenge is describing which piece is missing!

This is sort of like owning a business, isn’t it? First, you have to have a few pieces missing to take on any entrepreneurial endeavor, right? Then, you have to fit all the puzzle pieces together in just the right place, and you are always on the lookout for those “missing pieces.” This is made all the more challenging because you may not know what pieces you’re missing, and even if you find them, you may not know how they fit into the big picture.

Here’s where American Quilt Retailer’s Missing Pieces blog comes in. Every week I’ll post tips, tidbits and small miscellaneous “pieces” to help you as you puzzle through quilt shop ownership. This is going to be fun and I look forward to visiting with you frequently!