I got two quilts back from my quilter yesterday and I am so pleased with the results! Would you believe I cannot for the life of me recall what this pattern is? If any of you remember, help me out so I can promote it. I think it is so perfect for this time of year. Not too Halloweeny, but it will be great to display from September through November.
ADDED LATER: It is a free pattern called Autumn Nights by Fat Quarter Shop. Carol was right!
This one I remember well. It is the Primitive Gatherings pattern called Pumpkin Spice Gatherings, and I worked on it last fall during a sew-along Lisa Bongean hosted. The quilt is gigantic and will drape well over the sides of my queen-sized bed. I will show a full-view photo of it on my bed once I add the binding.
I particularly wanted you to see the quilting design. It is called Meandering Pumpkin Patch, and I absolutely love it for this quilt. It is actually on the table topper as well. I think the quilter picked the perfect scale for the quilting. There is a lot of “white space” in this quilt, and that design fills it up so nicely.
So pleased with both of these quilts.
Yesterday I had a little adventure. I had ordered some things from Talbots and they didn’t work out for me for a number of reasons: size, color, just didn’t like it, etc. I wanted to take a day and go to an actual brick-and-mortar Talbots store to return them, browse around, and see things in person now that the fall inventory is in full stock, plus they were having a sale.
I drove the hour and half to the town that had a Talbots and made my returns with no problem. I looked around the store and didn’t see anything I “had” to have. In the past, I had visited this particular shopping center a couple of times and enjoyed it because there were several shops I liked to visit, as well as Talbots. This time, the Chicos had closed, the JJill was gone and it seemed like all the places I liked to shop had just disappeared.
Have you noticed this trend? I think during COVID, our shopping habits really changed, and more and more of us got used to shopping online.
I’ve definitely gotten used to shopping online, mainly due to the fact that we live out in the boonies, but when I do venture out, I have certainly noticed a big change. Retail shopping has changed dramatically as consumers increasingly turn to online stores for convenience, selection, and competitive prices. As a result, many traditional brick-and-mortar retailers have closed locations, reduced their physical footprints, or shifted their strategies toward e-commerce. Online shopping allows customers to compare prices, read reviews, and make purchases without leaving home, often with fast delivery and easy returns. You can also enjoy shopping at all hours of the day, which makes browsing the internet after a couple of glasses of chardonnay a danger for your wallet!
How do you feel about the changing retail landscape? Do you shop online or do you miss seeing things in person before you commit to buying?
29 Responses
I’ve lived in my area 12 years. I was so excited that a mall was about ten minutes from the house – JoAnn’s, Penney’s, Boscov, Hallmark, yadda yadda. Now there are only four stores; entrances to some areas are blocked due to bricks fall off the building; parking lot is a mess. The owners live on the other side of the country. Yes, shopping habits have changed, and it’s very sad.
A really good shopping center was just off the freeway on the way to my father’s house back when I was taking care of him on the weekends. I would love to pull off and take a driving break and visit some of my favorite retail stores: Williams Sonoma, Talbots, Chico’s, and the flagship department store Nordstrom. Well, during COVID, Nordstrom closed, and then one after the other, the other nice stores did as well. Now it is more empty storefronts than actual stores.
Yes, it is very sad. And shopping in line is getting very difficult because there is a lot of scam out there! I told my husband it makes me just not want to shop anymore. You can imagine his response!
From felt patterns to clothing to computer programs, I have managed to get bogus stuff. Seems fabric is the only good thing anymore. Guess I will have to quilt.
I would like to purchase an air fryer or combo. But I would like to actually see it. None around here.
Thanks for letting me vent.
I just got scammed too! I bought some Halloween decorations I thought my sisters would like and they were delivered this week. Cheap crap from China, and not at all as described. I later saw that these things I paid a total of $80 for were discounted at Walmart for $5.96 apiece. Nothing I can do about it. THe return address on the package was not even the name of the company I made the purchase from. It was a Chinese man in Los Angeles!
I am petite and need to try on clothes before I buy them. I miss buying clothes in stores. The same with fabric. I want to touch it and match colors. I ordered some fabric the other day online and the color is nothing like in the picture. My sister has always hated to shop so she loves to order everything online and I mean everything! I don’t see brick and mortar stores coming back unfortunately.
Oh Donna, you bring up such a good point about fabric stores. Where have they all gone? I buy pretty exclusively Moda fabric designers whose collections I have purchased for years, so I am never surprised about. my online fabric purchases. However, when you need to match something, it is really hit or miss not being able to see the colors in person.
The pattern is last year’s Fat Quarter Shop free fall stitch a long I believe? Retail has totally changed over the years— first, we had “homogenization” when the chain stores put mom and pop out of business. Hard to see where it goes next— people still tend to shop for food, and yes, you do need to try clothes on!
Carol, you are absolutely right. I actually went to Fat Quarter Shop and searched for “free Halloween sew-alongs” because that was my first guess. I couldn’t find it so I thought I must have gotten the pattern from some other source. I went back in my archives to last June and there it was. Autumn Nights. Last year’s free FQS sew along. Thank you!
Shopping is a lost art, but I think that being a retail seller is truly a lost art. People just don’t want to put effort into selling, when I hear the monotonous hello and welcome from store employees, or the canned question, “did you find everything you were looking for?” it makes me want to leave. How do you get retail employees to provide a better level of service, just a little effort? All the giant box stores, self checkout, online ordering and delivery have ended the art of the sale. All thats left is the acquisition of the item and for me, the thrill is in the hunt, and the interaction between seller and buyer. I’m not looking for full on conversations, but it’s nice when the produce person comments on how nice the asparagus are today. Yesterday my husband went to Safeway to pick up a few things, and looked all over the store to find sauerkraut. He asked an employee where they kept it and was told “we don’t carry specialty items like that”. The person had no idea what it was, my husband tried to tell them it was a basic condiment, and that you put it on hot dogs, but he ended up leaving without it.
Oh, the good old days, when interactions with sales people was actually fun. That really raised the shopping in person experience to a new level. I will say, even though so many shops have closed, the customer service and sales interaction I received at Talbots yesterday was very good. I made a large return (over $350) and they were so nice to me. I know that money coming back into the store will reflect negatively on their day’s totals, so I really appreciated how gracious they were to me.
I get so put out when staff don’t know their merchandiise (as you described in your sauerkraut story), or are so bored with their job they can’t be bothered to even make eye contact, much less greet you as though they are glad of your business.
I can relate to everyone’s comments! I miss entering a brick and mortar store, browsing and touching items to get a feel of fabric weight/softness/etc before I make you my mind. Online shopping is ok if you know exactly what you want but descriptions can be deceiving as well as color/wieght/size. If I already own an item (ex. Jeans) ans I know what fits, no problem! Something new not so much. I loved Eddie Bauer but they closed all brick and mortar and lately their tshirts – which were a staple for me – became so thin they were see-through and scratchy 🙄 but what’s a girl to do? I don’t have many store options in my area! Thanks for letting me vent! Love to read the comments each day 🥰
Hi Kelli. I am so with you on how important it is to be familiar with a brand’s fit before you commit to buying online. There are several stores I have been loyal to for years, and I find that now I can make online purchases pretty successfully. I kind of blew it with my recent Talbots order though. I’ve lost some weight and can’t seem to accept that my size has gone down! So those things went back. I do hate more than anything having to pay return shipping! It has gone up to $10 or more in some cases. Hate paying for shipping!
I agree, online shopping has certainly led to the demise of brick and mortar businesses of all types. I’m definitely a hands-on shopper so shopping online is not my go to shopping experience. Shopping as we once knew it is a thing of the past I’m afraid. The upside to all this is that I’m saving $$$. 😂
Your quilts are beautiful!
Thanks Sandra!
Yes, I echo all these comments. I especially mourn the loss of 3 fabric stores in my area where I used to love to go and “fondle” all the new fabrics. My daughter worked at my local quilt shop, so she lost her job as well. That is where I had taken my beginning quilt classes and I miss that store and the shop owner who became my friend SO OFTEN! I also miss a Hancock’s Fabrics that had been in my area, but understand the closure might have been due to gross mismanagement at the corporate level, plus it was gone at least 2 or 3 years before COVID. And, I even miss the local JoAnn’s for everyday sewing items and inexpensive fabric that I could use when making donation quilts and crafts. I used to buy bolts of the fusible fleece with their 30 or 40% off coupons! 🙂
On the brighter side, your returned quilts for fall look absolutely beautiful. The quilting with the pumpkins and leaves is just perfect.
The demise of fabric stores is so sad. I have a couple of Etsy sellers I know will offer good prices on Moda collections I am confident purchasing, and there are some online fabric retailers I trust. But when you need a new seam ripper, or thread to match something, or new blades for your rotary cutter, it is annoying to have order online, pay for shipping and wait for the items to arrive. I miss Joanns so much too, just for that sort of thing. And I bought tons of their fusible interfacting/fleece too!
Nicole,
I have a wedding to attend in October and I am traveling to 30 to 40 degree weather in December. My shopping list includes a dress for the wedding and a weather proof long coat, boots and gloves. I have done all my shopping online as I have been frustrated many times traveling to the mall which has had little to offer. So far I have had success with the boots and the gloves. I should be receiving the dress and the coat in the next couple of days and just hoping that they fit or its back to square one for me!
Your quilts are beautiful! Happy Fall!
Good luck with the dress. That kind of thing is definitely best purchased in person. Coats aren’t so tricky, so with luck, your new coat will be perfect. I have tried purchasing shoes online and have to say more than half the time they go back. At least Zappos offers free return shipping.
I LOVE the quilting pattern she chose! meandering pumpkins for the win!
Nice, isn’t it? I trust her so much to pick just the right thing.
HI,
Love your quilts, as always, you have the best taste! One thing I want to add to the shopping discussion is how tired I am of being bombarded with ads to constantly buy things. I understand marketing and know that they must work but I get so annoyed feeling like someone is always trying to sell me something. Just my two cents, I do love the convenience of on-line shopping as I am also over an hour away from a decent mall/plaza. I remember my mother and I spending an entire day shopping from the time the stores opened until they practically kicked us out but I do not have that stamina anymore! What fun days those were spent with her.
If you browse online (Instagram and YouTube in particular) it is pervasive. You are bombarded left and right by “influencers” to purchase things they are often not recommending because they love the product, but because they have a paid sponsorship. You can’t trust anyone anymore. Except me. lol
It is the same over here. It’s been going downhill for many, many years now with high street shops closing down. A lot of quick pop up shops took their place or charity shops and since the lockdowns even more closures. I do a lot of online shopping but we are fairly remote although we do venture out only if we need to visit a certain shop or two. I try and visit quilt shops but it’s mainly thread I need now, so it is more ordering online otherwise I’m tempted when I see fabric as if I need more!!!
I am especially saddened when I see an independent bookseller go out of business. I buy so many books that I can’t always afford to pay the indie prices, but I do try to support my local bookshop as often as possible.
Try abebooks.com. This stands for American Book Exchange. It is a godsend for little bookshops in off the mainstream places. They are independent booksellers all over. They know their books. Just list a title, author and you will get a range of books.
I use it when looking for a specific title of a used book of an older book generally of a quilt subject. I like to compare it to the EBay listing. eBay and Abe both have listings from smaller shops.
I may be wrong but I think they are better venues than Amazon as a book source if you can’t get it local.
Just adding we are in the middle of a farming community so food is pretty much on our doorsteps!
You are so lucky you don’t have to travel far for good produce!
Love the quilts and quilting patterns! What fun to use them from now on.
I’m planning to make autumn placemats when I’m caught up on what I need to finish before Christmas.
Oh, I wish for Service Merchandise to come back – you could look at several makes of the appliance or whatever you needed, touch them, open them and compare features in person.
Hugs!
I am an in person shop for clothes. I am short and really have to try things on so online is really not an option.
So I am just going on old clothes. My life has changed so don’t have a need for a new outfits because I don’t have the places to wear them. Mostly, I am an outdoor person wearing grubby clothes for gardening or animal care. Comfort is more of an issue than style.
However, I would like the perk of a new outfit for a trip or occasion but stubborn and not an online shopper for clothes. I really, really miss the brick and mortar shop but know there are not coming back.