What’s On The Horizon With The Quilt Rambler?

After being AWOL from July to October, I’m back in the studio again and eager to share. I know I “blasted” y’all with multiple posts concerning the online shop hop for #missingfestival without much rambling news of what’s going on over here (sigh) I promise to do better…thanks to everyone that participated in that event…more on that in a moment, but right now get comfy cozy, maybe get a snack, settle in with your favorite quilt and lend me your ear – I’ve got some catching up to do! 

Family First

I’d be negligent if I didn’t take time to update you on our “growing” family. Yep. We are on baby watch for our 2nd granddaughter, Stevie – literally, any time in the next few days/weeks.  (photo below was taken at Reagan’s 3rd birthday party, late October).

Needless to say we are eager to welcome this precious new addition, as well looking forward to being “on call” to care for Reagan while mommy & daddy are busy at the hospital. We’ve had two practice runs of spending the night with Oma & Big Daddy, so I think we can handle this! Exciting times are ahead for our family that’s for sure!

Knights of Columbus Charity Quilt Show

Wow, was that just last weekend? Yep. My traveling friend Dianne and I enjoyed a road trip to Hempstead TX for this exciting adventure! As the featured quilter I had the opportunity to both teach a workshop on Friday as well as have a vendor booth for the one-day event on Saturday.

The workshop was my pattern Geese Over Galveston Bay using the Wing Clipper I from Studio 180 Design. There were 17 quilters in the class and by the end of the day they all received an A+ for learning to use this tool! So proud of these ladies!

Oh! I almost forgot! I finally was able to dig out the sewing machine (after the flash flood reconstruction) to make a new class sample – a smaller sized Geese Over Galveston Bay using fabrics from my second Signature Collection by Kathy Engle of Island Batik for The Quilt Rambler, Sea Glass….more on that in future blogs as the fabric collection will be hitting your local shops soon. Oh, I’ve got sew much to tell you and so little time!

While I was teaching the workshop my friend Wanda was busy putting the finishing touches to prepare my booth for the next day. Between Wanda, Dianne and my friend Sarah I was well taken care of! By the way, Dianne actually won two of the raffle drawings – aren’t these fat quarter flowers darling!

Speaking of winners – it was a wonderful surprise to win 1st place in the Professional Quilter category for my quilt This is The Way Walk In It… the story behind the quilt goes back to a blog post back before we experienced Hurricane Harvey…never dreamed of entering in a quilt show, but as the featured quilter I figured I ought to have a quilt in the show (grin). Looks like I got lucky.

Big News

I mentioned earlier the online Facebook Live Shop Hop Event. My friend Sarah of Sew Much Charm was the instigator of that – and it’s all her fault! Yep, I think I found a new adventure. 

I’m taking the plunge. The past few days I’ve been glued to the computer setting up a new shopping experience called Comment Sold. Many of you are familiar with this platform as a lot of quilt shops have gone to this format since Covid….

A little behind the scenes info if you aren’t familiar. When viewing a Facebook Live shopping event (I’m calling mine an Online Shopping Excursion or Ramble & Shop) if you want to purchase a product being offered you simply reply “SOLD” with the product reference in the comment section, then this program automatically generates a shopping cart with an invoice that can be paid directly using PayPal or Stripe….Trust me, it’s a lot better than the way I stumbled through a few weeks ago when doing the shop hop live event!

I’m still learning the ins and outs. One thing that is important to me is to offer people who do not use social media a way to be able to participate – which if this is you – you can indeed join in the fun! Yes, you can watch the live events directly on the website! And you will be able to watch the replays if unable to watch live. As an added bonus you can visit the new website store anytime and shop online just like you do now from my current website store…. details coming soon!

That said, the current shopping (directly on my website) will be replaced with this new format with a simple seamless link even though the URL is different (work in progress). 

I will have more details the first of the week on how to register if you are unfamiliar with Comment Sold…right now I’m busy adding products to the new storefront – oh my goodness! I’ve been receiving lots of Island Batik fabrics since making the decision to be your go-to source for these beautiful fabrics! As my store grows so will the fabric selections! Here’s a sneak peek of a few of the product photos…. Patterns, Tools & Notions, and Fabric!!

Did you notice something new? Yep! My newest pattern Anfractuous is now available in print – again, there will be an upcoming blog post with the story behind that one “coming soon” …. oh, there are never enough hours in my day! I know you too can relate as we enter the busy holiday season!

Oh, one thought just popped in my head. I still will not be shipping internationally; however, I will continue to offer PDF digital downloads of my patterns at my Payhip.com/TheQuiltRambler store. With shipping costs on the rise coupled with all the new tax/tariffs… well, you know. I’m sorry. I do hope you will still join in the fun and comment on the live events as I plan on having demos and teaching tips to go along with the products I will be sharing.

Bottom line, “window shopping” is encouraged. I see this venue as a way to connect, have a good laugh or two, and to share our love of quilting. Yep – my motto “Let’s Talk Quilts!” is still in effect.

Save The Date

I’m planning my premier Facebook Live for Small Business Saturday, Nov 27th at 10 AM Texas Time (CST) – unless preempted by Oma duty (grin). There will be an event posted on my Facebook page. For those not on FB please visit the website as I will have the information on the opening page to get you connected. I’m not sure what specials I will be offering, but you can be sure there will be something! 

And if I don’t sign off now, I won’t get all my work done! Watch for my website to be updated, signup for the newsletter if you haven’t already, register at my Comment Sold if this is something you already know how to do…and be patient with me for instructions the first of the week if you don’t, as I WILL walk you through it.

Thanks so much for your continued support! Sew many good things are planned for the future I can hardly wait to tell you!

Until next time…. may your day be joyful and don’t forget to smile!

This is Karen Overton, The Quilt Rambler

3 thoughts on “What’s On The Horizon With The Quilt Rambler?

  1. Margaret Lewis says:

    Fantastic new venture for you Karen. It will be great to be able to get the more complete Island Batiks lines as sometimes the quilt stores don’t carry all of them.

  2. Brenda @ Songbird Designs says:

    Sounds like fun times, Karen! Glad to know you will be a source for our favorite fabrics!! Oma duties are the best, aren’t they?!

Comments are closed.

This site uses cookies to offer you a better browsing experience. By browsing this website, you agree to our use of cookies.