Country Traditions Visits United Notions/ Moda Headquarters in Dallas, Texas

Arriving early in Dallas for the Pfaff Convention, Leslie and Kevin took the opportunity to tour the United Notions/Moda headquarters to see how all those wonderful fabrics arrive to our shop's door.

Article contributed by Leslie Main.

The property consists of three large warehouses, with two more currently being built. Our tour started with the offices of Moda where we met some of the designers and Moda executives. Moda's fabric designers often gather at the head office for designing and planning meetings. In the Archives Room one can find a 3 yard sample of every fabric Moda has ever produced! Wow! Rows and rows of filed fabrics. What a great stash! (Sorry, they will not part with any of this fabric, even if you really, really need just a little more to finish that masterpiece quilt. I tried!) The designers and artists use the archives to compare colors for existing lines and as a spring board for new ones.

Next we were taken to one of the warehouses where the fabric arrives in shipping containers on large tubes. It is organized by lines, then each tube is folded and rolled onto the bolt boards in 15 yard cuts. The bolts are wrapped and tagged, then stored until the whole collection line arrives.
When the collection is ready, it is moved to a third warehouse where it is organized by line and style number, waiting for the order fillers. Rows and rows of beautiful color, as far as the eye can see. Just about any quilter's idea of heaven! The order fillers, with orders in hand, roll carts up and down the aisles, picking just the right pieces to fill each order. The order is then boxed and labeled at the box machine and picked up by the UPS truck at the end of the day. Finally, it's on it's way to Country Traditions' back door!

As everyone does, we brought back a few momentos of our Moda tour! Be one of the first 10 individuals to come in the shop and mention that you read about our Moda Trip on the Blog and receive one of our special Moda momentos!!

Pfaff Convention Prompts Country Traditions "German Fest"

Article contributed by Leslie Main.


Pfaff Convention opened in Dallas with a German Country Fair theme. In honor of Pfaff's German heritage the company hosted the Fair, reminiscent of the Oktoberfest Fairs hosted in Germany. There was German polka music playing in the background, German food and drink to be tasted and midway games to be played.

The Country Traditions Creative Center specialists got their first look at the "new" machines as the main attractions of the night.
Kevin and Scott played all the midway games, winning Pfaff treats and useful machine accessories throughout the night as they learned about the new machines. Some of the funniest midway games were Ring Toss, Spin The Wheel (and answer a question) and, of course, the Machine Races, where each won their race! There was a Dart Shoot that proved harder than it looked. Hitting the targets in the different embroidery hoops was a real challenge for Kevin and Scott. The Penny Toss, using bobbins, and, of course, the cotton candy were Leslie's favorite things of the night.

Your Creative Center specialists had so much fun during this event that we decided to bring a version of the evening to you at Country Traditions!

Join us on Saturday, October 11 from 11:00am until 4:00pm for the Country Traditions German Fest Pfaff Fair. Meet the new machines, play a few fun Fair games and win a prize or two. It should be a "Great" Afternoon of Fun!