featured: sewtropolis

Hopefully you have all escaped the food coma (and any Black Friday shopping) safely. I am enjoying playing in the snow with family and trying to avoid the leftovers.

I've always been more of a local and small-shop shopper than a Black Friday shopper (that's what growing up in the woods does to a girl), so I'm pretty excited that American Express declared tomorrow Small Business Saturday. I first heard about this project from a local Minneapolis quilt shop - Sewtropolis. Today I'm excited to feature the shop owner, Nikol, in my latest installment of crafty-others.

I met Nikol earlier this year, when we were both interested in forming a local modern quilting group. She generously offered her shop and her energy and the Minneapolis Modern Quilt Guild was born. Besides hosting our group once a month, she is busy with so many other things. Her shop is actually a sewing salon, where you can take classes or rent machines and space to work on your own projects. It is stuffed with beautiful fabric and tons of modern clothing/accessory patterns. (If I was a pattern user - I would know more about the selection, but I've heard it's great!). There is a lovable pup and she is always working on something creative.

favorite material/technique:
I love to quilt.  I've sewn since I was 9, but once I discovered quilting I became obsessed with it.  Long ago I took a painting class in art school and the instructor taught us put two colors of the same value together - he said we knew we had it right when the line between the two colors would 'vibrate'.  I love that effect and I think I love quilting so much because it allows me to strive to get the same effect with fabric.

biggest influence:
Believe it or not it's the impressionist artist and art.  I like the way everything is a blur when you are up close, but it all blends together beautifully when you take a step back.  Quilting has the same effect...up close it's beautiful, but take a step back and it becomes even more beautiful.

how do you stay inspired?  

Definitely other quilters.  It's part of the reason I started the Minneapolis Modern Quilt Guild.  I love seeing what everyone else is doing, learning new techniques, seeing how all the colors work together etc.

what do you daydream about - what are your BIG plans for your art/craft/shop?
My dream used to be opening up my own sewing studio and fabric store. Now that I've done that, I dream of the day when I own a home on one of the city lakes, where sewist can come and sew for a day or weekend, sort of a vacation without the travel.  I also dream of the day when I don't have to worry about running my business... but instead have the money to hire someone to do that for me while I sew with my guests.

favorite color:

A deep, luscious, sky blue - though you would never know it with all the pink I have in the store.  Blue has always been my favorite color.  One of these days I'll write a book about how wonderful blue is.

when you aren't crafting, you can be found...

In an ideal world you would find me reading, hiking, or spending time with my kids.  Unfortunately we don't live in an ideal world all the time so when I'm not sewing or quilting you can find me running my business - which isn't so bad either.

Nikol is always offering great deals and giveaways to her facebook followers. She also has an etsy shop, in case you aren't from the area. Finally - another quilt guild member, Karen, from Badlands Quilts, is hosting a fun pj project show-and-tell with prizes and deals from Sewtropolis during the next two weeks. 


Whew. Nikol - you are a busy lady. Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions - crafty others are always so inspiring to me! And I'm definitely inspired to focus more of my shopping on small businesses and local peeps this year!


Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm heading to the fridge...