Sep 14, 2009
Coming your way soon!
The new issue of American Quilt Retailer is at press and will mail at the end of this week. This is our Fall Quilt Market issue and it’s full of all kinds of ideas, new thoughts and fabulous ads. Many of the ads have special promotions and coupons so be sure to read them carefully!This has been a fun issue to plan. The general theme is “the joy of quilting and cooking.” With cupcakes, jelly rolls, layer cakes, turnovers and quilt books that include recipes, the quilting industry has had food on its mind for a long time. And why not? Quilting and cooking and other domestic arts have been part of women’s lives, well — forever!
I loved the movie “Julie & Julia!” I came home and wanted to cook! I wanted to grocery shop and take classes. I wanted to buy a dress — a “day” dress with a cute little “brooch.” I wanted to go to Williams-Sonoma and get new cookware — an omelette pan! (I have been making omelettes!) I wanted to write a book! I wanted to read Julia Child’s cookbooks and Julie Powell’s book about her blogging experience. And, I really wanted to go to Paris — the next day! I so related to both women who wanted to do something. They wanted to find themselves. And, they both had these sweet, patient, loving husbands supporting their efforts. (For this, I don’t need to search very far — I already have one of them.)
Kitchen aprons have been “in fashion” for a while. I began pondering aprons and wondering why the sudden popularity with today’s young women. My mother wore them and my grandmothers wore them. But, as I reached womanhood, even though I wanted to be a stay-at-home wife and mother, aprons seemed to have too many strings attached. Maybe a little too domestic? It was sort of “out-of-fashion” to be content being a homemaker in the 1980s. I could stay home with my children, but if I didn’t wear an apron I wasn’t confirmed and confined, right?
Today women have so many choices. It’s interesting watching the rebirth of the joys of “homemaking” after roughly a generation of woman cutting their apron strings.
Look at the popularity of all the cooking shows across all segments of the population. My husband follows them passionately. He’s learned to do a lot of the cooking around here. He likes to eat, therefore he cooks. I think he longs for his wife to cook like Ina, the Barefoot Contessa, cooks for her husband. He even encourages me to find pretty china, you know, for the presentation. (If anyone knows where I can get any more of Spode’s discontinued “Blue Geranium,” let me know!) The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. It’s not necessarily the food, it’s the love that come through the act of cooking. Everyone enjoys the giving and the receiving of such
an offering.
The two Jules inspired me, and I have cooked one meal lately with everything from scratch (this is one meal beside “cheater” salads from a bag and grilled chicken). We were entertaining and it took two half-days, but it was fun.
Cooking is fun, just like decorating is fun, just like sewing is fun, just like quilting is fun. And, young women with good educations, good jobs and sweet, patient husbands are discovering the joys of all of this. Look to the current culture, and you’ll see things you can offer your customers that are being promoted for you at every turn.
In this new issue, read Roseann Kermes’ column on page 48 and Joanna Figueroa’s column on page 30. There are ways you can offer products and hobbies as young women get tuned into the domestic arts. I smiled to learn financial business writer Ann Logue, who also happens to write shop profiles for American Quilt Retailer, has learned to quilt — on the dining room table (read Beth Ferrier’s column on page 56)!
This is not exactly proof positive, but on occasion my son and his girlfriend have called asking for this recipe or that recipe. They’re cooking!
My daughter, a recent college graduate waiting for her first job (which will come!) said to me the other night “I want to learn to quilt.” I smiled and said she’s come to the right place. She is excited about getting and decorating her first real (non-student) apartment (after getting the job). We had fun shopping for vintage aprons last week, and she is currently re-covering my traincase (see American Quilt Retailer, Issue 87, page 52), with fabric of her own choosing. Ah, the sweet joys of homemaking!
