The Village Fabric Shoppe

09/04/2026

Set up for Success

It's now early September and it is am excellent time for getting new habits and projects going. There are so many online retreats, 100 day challenges, and video series of tutorials starting this month it could be overwhelming. This is the online version of back to school for grownups. Many of them are free which is wonderful, but after attending and subscribing to lots of these over the years I have learned a couple things....

It’s now early September and it is am excellent time for getting new habits and projects going. There are so many online retreats, 100 day challenges, and video series of tutorials starting t…

09/01/2026

I’m not the only person who thinks beetles are awesome

09/01/2026

How many of us still use the floor for laying out or basting? We have big tables that you can use and save your back and knees. Call to reserve them. 845 7588541

The quilt spread across the floor of this room was mid-project when the photograph was taken in March of 1941. Its maker, the original government caption notes, had simply stepped out before the camera came through.

Nothing here was arranged for the photo. A treadle sewing machine sits still threaded with fabric mid-seam. A china cupboard along the wall holds dishware collected piece by piece over years, not displayed for show but simply kept where it was useful and visible. A grandfather clock keeps time in the corner exactly the way it likely had for decades already by that point.

This is what makes the image genuinely valuable rather than merely old: it captures an ordinary room in the exact middle of an ordinary day, not a formal portrait of a home dressed up for visitors. The quilt pieces scattered mid-assembly on the floor tell you more about daily life in an Amish household in 1941 than any posed photograph ever could, because nobody had time to hide the evidence of the work actually being done.

More than eighty years later, the room is gone and its maker almost certainly is too. The quilt she was piecing together that afternoon, whatever became of it, was probably finished not long after this photograph, folded onto a bed somewhere, doing exactly the job it was made for.

08/29/2026

Alison holt does amazing things with her machine

Where Shadows Grow, Freehand machine embroidery by Alison Holt

"This work shows my exploration of the play of light and texture within natural forms. My attention has repeatedly returned to ancient woodlands throughout my 40 year career as a textile artist. The twisted forms enveloped by moss and lichen give scope to my combination of stitch and paint." - Alison

08/28/2026

Back to School

Even though I don't go back to school anymore there is still an anticipation in the air, and sales on paper and pencils and binder clips and page protectors all get me excited. I have to say that I agree with the TV ad that celebrates this season as the real new year. But, there is still enough summer left to finish at least one of those projects you swore you would do "this summer when I have time"....

Even though I don’t go back to school anymore there is still an anticipation in the air, and sales on paper and pencils and binder clips and page protectors all get me excited. I have to say …

08/26/2026

Working on tying a vintage cross stitch quilt for a customer today.

08/22/2026

If our workshop on September 12 gets you obsessed with hexagons you could copy this spectacular example. But starting small with mug rugs is fine too!

Hexagon, c. 1830-40, International Quilt Museum, #2018.073.0001

08/21/2026

You know I support this but we will not be participating this year due to some other obligations.

Thank you to all of you who have been working so hard to spread the word about Play Music on the Porch Day! It is absolutely working. I’ve seen posts on community chats, in letters to editors, in online forums and mentions on artists pages. Your work is paying off! We are getting many new participants! Thank you! This is a labor of love and it wouldn’t work without the amazing community that supports it!

08/21/2026

Fair and Show season

The Dutchess County fair starts this week and that means it is time for the annual etiquitte post. I sincerely hope that you get out and view as much art and quilt and needlework as you can so that you are all charged up for some projects for when the kids go back to school and winter takes hold once more....

The Dutchess County fair starts this week and that means it is time for the annual etiquitte post. I sincerely hope that you get out and view as much art and quilt and needlework as you can so that…