Building Creative Community with Amanda of Hangin’ By a Thread

Originally recorded as Episode 5 of The Quilt Scouts Podcast

Some quilt shops feel like places to buy fabric.

And some quilt shops feel like places where you could accidentally stay for three hours, learn a new skill, join a monthly friend-date, and leave with fabric you definitely did not plan to buy.

Hangin’ By a Thread in Lafayette, New Jersey is very much the second kind.

In this episode of the podcast, I sat down with Amanda, owner of Hangin’ By a Thread, to talk about how her shop started, how she built a local Quilt Scouts Base Camp that felt like community, skill-building, snacks, and just the right amount of chaos, and why being “bad at something” is absolutely not a reason to stop doing it.

This episode was originally recorded as part of The Quilt Scouts Podcast, before Quilt Scouts became Quiltbound. You’ll hear the old name in the recording and transcript, along with references to Base Camps. In the current Quiltbound world, those local groups are now called Chapters, but the heart is the same: quilters gathering in real life to learn, connect, and try things together.

Let’s get into it.

Listen to the Episode

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Episode Overview

In this conversation, Amanda shares how Hangin’ By a Thread grew from a pandemic-era garage business into a full-on creative headquarters for fabric, yarn, classes, community, and monthly Quiltbound-style gatherings.

We talk about entrepreneurship, teaching, building a welcoming shop culture, making skill-building feel fun, and what happens when 23 people show up for a class you prepped for 15.

Spoiler: chaos.

Good chaos, but still.

Meet Amanda of Hangin’ By a Thread

Hangin’ By a Thread didn’t start as a perfectly polished master plan.

It started in Amanda’s garage during the pandemic, when her family needed a new way to bring in income after her husband became seriously ill and had to leave his career as a firefighter.

Amanda’s creative brain did what creative brains tend to do:

I can make things to sell.

If I’m making things to sell, I need supplies.

If I need supplies, maybe I need wholesale.

If I need wholesale, I need distributors.

If distributors require big opening orders, maybe I should sell the extra fabric.

Wait. Am I opening a quilt shop?

As I told her in the episode, this is very “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” energy.

Amanda agreed.

Honestly, same.

A Shop Built on Education

Hangin’ By a Thread is a fabric and yarn shop, but education is the backbone of the business.

Amanda shared that they host around 40 to 50 classes a month, which is wildly impressive and also makes me want to lie down for a second.

Their classes include quilting, garments, bags, knitting, crochet, and other creative projects. Some are one-day workshops, while others run as multi-week series.

Amanda described retail as the icing on the cake, but classes as the bread and butter.

That says a lot about the kind of shop she’s building. It’s not just about buying supplies. It’s about learning how to use them, gaining confidence, and having somewhere to go when you want to try something new with actual humans nearby.

How Amanda Found Quilt Scouts

Amanda discovered Quilt Scouts through the Young and Millennial Quilters Facebook group, where someone posted asking if anyone else was a Scout.

Her reaction was basically:

What is this?

I need to investigate immediately.

I guess I need to become a Base Camp now.

Amanda describes herself as a jump-in-headfirst-and-figure-it-out-later person, which is painfully relatable. If she gets excited about something, she starts asking how to make it work for her shop, her students, and her community.

That is exactly the kind of creative momentum this whole thing was built for.

From Base Camp to Quiltbound Chapter

At the time this episode was recorded, local Quilt Scouts groups were called Base Camps.

Now, as part of Quiltbound, they’re called Chapters.

The name has changed, but the purpose is still the same: a local place where members can gather, work on badges, try skills, meet other quilters, and build community outside the endless scroll of social media.

I’d keep the transcript as-is so it matches the audio, but in the blog copy, I’d use this framing:

Formerly called Base Camps, Quiltbound Chapters are local member groups that gather through shops, studios, and community spaces.

Clean. Honest. No weird rebrand gymnastics.

How the Badge Framework Supports a Quilt Shop

One of my favorite parts of this conversation was hearing how Amanda uses the badge framework to support both her shop and her students.

Because badge content is archived, members can join anytime and still go back to explore previous badges. That takes the pressure off of keeping up and makes the whole thing feel much more flexible.

Amanda also shared that badges spark class ideas.

She can look at her existing class schedule and say, “Oh, this class totally counts for Triangle Trekker,” then add a note to the description letting Quiltbound members know they can earn a badge by taking that class.

And then curious customers ask, “Wait, what’s Quilt Scouts?”

That opens the door.

It also reframes what a class can be. Not every class has to end with a big finished project. Sometimes the point is trying a technique, practicing a skill, or building confidence.

That’s the whole badge idea in a nutshell.

Process counts.

Trying counts.

Showing up counts.

What a Monthly Gathering Looks Like at Hangin’ By a Thread

Amanda’s group meets on the first Wednesday of every month at 6 PM.

The structure is basically community, snacks, learning, and a little chaos, affectionately.

Everyone brings a snack to share. Snacks are mandatory, obviously.

People settle in with friends, newcomers are welcomed, Amanda introduces the badge or skill for the evening, and then everyone works on the project or technique together.

And yes, there is an afterparty.

A real one.

At a BYOB spot.

Sometimes with champagne.

Sometimes with margaritas.

Amanda said it best:

“Don’t let anybody fool you. There’s drinking at our Base Camp meetings.”

That’s adult crafting culture, baby.

Community Without the Weird Vibes

Amanda shared something I hear often: some quilters avoid guilds because they feel intimidating, clicky, or like there’s an invisible hierarchy everyone else understands.

Some people have walked into creative spaces and felt judged before they even sat down.

That is exactly what Amanda does not want in her shop.

Her vibe is simple: wherever you are in your sewing, quilting, knitting, crocheting, or creative journey, you’re welcome. People are there to learn from each other, help each other, and have a good time.

No quilt police.

No weird superiority energy.

No “who is the treasurer and why are they mad?” drama.

Just people making things and cheering each other on.

Which, frankly, is the dream.

“You Can Suck at Something and Still Enjoy It”

Amanda dropped a line in this episode that deserves to be embroidered on a pillow:

“It’s okay to suck at something and still enjoy doing it.”

Yes. Correct. Put it on the wall.

She uses this mindset in her Sewing 101 tote bag class, where students learn how to thread a machine, wind a bobbin, and get comfortable with the basics.

People often come in saying, “This is going to be horrible.”

Amanda’s response is basically: cool, it can be horrible and still be fun.

She compares it to singing in your car. Are you becoming a professional singer? Probably not. Are you still allowed to belt it out because you enjoy it? Absolutely.

So why can’t sewing be the same?

You do not have to be excellent at something before you’re allowed to enjoy it.

Tiny hill. I will die on it.

A Favorite Gathering Moment: 23 People Showed Up

One of Amanda’s favorite memories was their first gathering, which lined up with the UFO badge month.

She decided to host a binding sampler night where people practiced different types of binding on small quilted squares. She prepped materials for 15 people.

Then 23 people showed up.

So they shared machines. They practiced binding. They seam-ripped binding off so they could reuse the same square for the next technique.

Was it mayhem?

Yes.

Did Amanda thrive?

Also yes.

Her takeaway was that people learned something, adapted together, and had fun in the middle of the chaos.

That feels very Quiltbound to me.

Why Quiltbound Is for Every Skill Level

This episode also touches on something I hear all the time: “Is this only for beginners?”

Nope.

Quiltbound is for beginners, experienced quilters, and everyone in the messy middle.

Because even if you’ve been quilting for 25 years, there is probably still something you haven’t tried. Maybe it’s ruffle binding. Maybe it’s quilt photography. Maybe it’s hand quilting. Maybe it’s taking a quilt outside for a picnic, which may or may not count as an athletic event depending on your relationship with the outdoors.

The point is not to prove how much you know.

The point is to stay curious.

What Amanda Is Excited About

Amanda shared some fun things happening at Hangin’ By a Thread, including their in-shop quilt retreat.

The retreat is hosted right in the shop, which keeps the cost lower because lodging is not included. They also partnered with a local bed and breakfast that offers discounted rates for retreat attendees.

At a past retreat, the New Jersey State Fair was happening nearby, so Amanda got tickets and took everyone to see the quilt entries.

And then came the very cool update: because so many of Amanda’s students entered projects, the state fair is giving the shop its own division, including categories like “My First Quilt.”

That is such a big deal.

It means her shop is not just serving the local quilting community. It is helping expand it.

How to Find Hangin’ By a Thread

If you’re in New Jersey or traveling through for farm stands, hiking, lake life, or general Garden State goodness, you can find Amanda and Hangin’ By a Thread here:

Website:
hanginbyathreadnj.com

Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok:
@HanginByAThreadNJ

In person:
11 Route 15
Lafayette, New Jersey

At the time this episode was recorded, Hangin’ By a Thread was the only Quilt Scouts Base Camp in New Jersey.

In current Quiltbound language, they’re part of the local Chapter story, and if you’re nearby, this feels like a sign.

What a Quilting Adventure Looks Like for Amanda

To close out the episode, I asked Amanda one of my favorite questions:

What does a quilting adventure look like for you right now?

Her answer wasn’t about one specific project.

It was about learning, evolving, and finding new ways to teach.

Amanda wants to keep spreading quilt knowledge and reminding people that quilting is not going anywhere. It is not just old fabric, old blocks, and one narrow idea of what quilting has to be.

The industry is changing.

Quilting is evolving.

And Amanda’s adventure is helping more people feel excited to learn.

Want to Find a Quiltbound Chapter?

Quiltbound Chapters are local groups where members gather to work on badges, build creative confidence, and connect with other quilters in real life.

You can learn more about Chapters and find one near you here:

https://quiltbound.com/pages/find-a-chapter

If you run a quilt shop or creative space and want to start a Chapter, that page is the place to begin.

Want More Episodes Like This?

If you enjoyed this campfire chat, follow or subscribe so you don’t miss future Quiltbound conversations.

And if you have a minute, leaving a review helps the podcast find more quilters who could use a little creativity, community, and encouragement at their sewing machine.

Episode Transcript

Below is the full transcript from this episode of The Quilt Scouts Podcast for accessibility and reference.

Note: This episode was recorded before Quilt Scouts became Quiltbound, so the transcript uses the original Quilt Scouts and Base Camp language to match the audio.

Read the Full Episode Transcript

Amanda (00:00)
my vibe for my shop is I don't care where you are in your sewing, quilting, knitting, crocheting, whatever thing you're into journey, we're all here for it and we're all here to help each other and to learn from each other.

Megan (00:08)
Mm-hmm.

Amanda (00:12)
So good vibes.

Megan (00:14)
Welcome to the Quilt Scouts podcast. I'm Megan, your quilt scout leader and fellow adventurous quilter. This is a cozy campfire chat for quilters who crave creativity, community, and a gentle nudge to try something new. Each week we'll talk about quilting, and the small adventures that help us grow more confident one stitch at a time. I'm so glad you're here. Let's get into it.

Megan (00:41)
hi, Amanda. Welcome to the Quilt Scouts podcast.

Amanda (00:45)
Hi, how are you?

Megan (00:47)
I'm doing great. Thank you so much for being here.

Amanda (00:50)
Absolutely.

Megan (00:51)
So to start off, for listeners who may not know you yet, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your shop Hangin' by a Thread

Amanda (00:59)
Yeah, absolutely. We are located in Lafayette, New Jersey. I am the only quilt shop in the area, so I get a good little foot in the door there. My business kind of started out in my garage during the pandemic. I have always loved sewing and just being creative in general. And then,

When I had my daughter, I had her during COVID, so that was fun. But my husband actually ended up getting very, very sick and we almost lost him. And he ended up having to no longer be a fireman, but she was a career fireman. And we lost a huge chunk of our income when that happened. And I had to kind of figure out a way to bring money into the home beyond what I was already bringing in.

So my love of sewing and quilting, I was actually teaching in another store at the time. I'm very ADHD brain. So I was kind of all over the place and in my head, all I could think of was, well, I can make things to sell. And if I make things to sell, I need to get my materials for as cheap as possible. So then if I started doing all this research and I'm like, okay, well,

If to get it as cheap as possible, I have to get wholesale in order to get the patterns that I want in the materials that I need. I need to get a wholesale through certain distributors. And then those distributors have their own rules and everything just kept kind of snowballing. And I was like, well, to make things affordable, I had to figure out, you know, like some of these distributors, have to have like a $2,500 or more opening order. And I'm like, I can only make so many quilts.

with that much material. So if I sell it, what I'm not using, then it becomes a little bit bigger of a business. And then it just got bigger and bigger and bigger. And then it went from just being in my garage.

Megan (02:51)
You know what this reminds me

You know what this reminds me of is if you give a mouse a cookie.

Amanda (02:58)
Yes, essentially that is

my life. My life is to give a mouse a cookie. ⁓ But then we ended up, I started teaching classes and renting space from other people like dance studios and candle making shops and everything else. And I was doing these collaborations with other small businesses where I mentioned candles because one of my good friends owns a candle shop and he does candle making classes.

Megan (03:04)
you

Amanda (03:26)
So when I had first found my first location, it was because of him, because we did a collaboration class where we did candle making and sewing. And for my part of it, we made like a little wine bag and then we made candles in a wine bag. And it was so cute and I loved everything about it. ⁓ And then we only, yeah, it was super fun. But long story short, my life is if you give a mouse a cookie.

Megan (03:45)
That's cute.

Same.

Amanda (03:54)
But that's a little bit about me. really here at the shop, we are very inclusive. I don't care what gender you are, what color you are, what your favorite activities are. It's all about being creative and creating community. And I feel like that's why I was really drawn so much to the Quilt Scouts, because it created that inclusivity. And like a lot of our members are such a wide

age range that we're talking early 20s to 70s and older. We have a very broad group of women. And it's a lot of fun. And even our regular classes that we have here, we have men that take our classes as well and children. So it's been a lot of fun to get to see how much creativity brings people together no matter what their background is. So

Megan (04:23)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

I do. Yeah.

Amanda (04:49)
It's been a lot of fun. It's a great journey.

Megan (04:50)
Yeah.

Yeah. I loved, I learned so much because I love getting to hear the origin story, if you will, of Hangin by a Thread. So that's so fascinating. Yeah. That's, isn't it funny? The curse of being an entrepreneur, like you just have, ⁓ I feel like we have more ideas than we have time for is usually the problem. So many things that we want to do.

Amanda (04:59)
Thanks

Oh my God.

Whenever I go to my employees and I'm like, Hey, so I had this idea. They're like, dear God.

I'm what now, Amanda?

Megan (05:19)
Yep.

I don't have employees, but I have a husband and a son who have to hear all my ideas. Like, guess what I just thought of up in the shower.

Amanda (05:28)
Yes.

Well, I try to tell my husband about things and he just does like the nod and goes, uh-huh, don't you have employees to tell this to? And I'm like, yeah, but I want to tell you to just pretend like you care.

Megan (05:40)
Yeah, just pretend and just tell me how great this idea is. That's what I need to hear right now. That's what I need.

Amanda (05:44)
right?

Megan (05:45)
me a little bit about your shop, because I've seen photos of it from like the base camp events and your shop is gorgeous. mean, tell me a little bit about more about your setup and what you have available in your shop.

Amanda (05:51)
Thank

Yeah,

are a fabric and yarn store. We do about 40 to 50 classes a month in our shop. Yeah. We do a lot. So we do everything from one day workshops to series classes that can last anywhere from three weeks to six weeks.

Megan (06:06)
my gosh. I didn't know that.

Amanda (06:20)
We're constantly kind of evolving. We do garments, bags, quilting, knitting, crocheting, all the things. Yeah, I'm a maximalist. I don't believe in minimalism. More is more, baby, more is more. ⁓ I can't do minimalism.

Megan (06:32)
You

I love it.

Do you teach all the classes or do you have like specialists like do you know how to

Amanda (06:41)
I have staff.

do teach at the very beginning when I first opened my physical location. And even a little before that, it was just me teaching. But I have amazing staff when it comes to my teachers and my retail employees. Shout out. But my backbone of my business is education, right?

Megan (07:02)
you

Amanda (07:07)
The retail portion of it is like a little bit of icing on the cake, but the classes are really our bread and butter. And without my staff, I would have no one. I would crumble and fall. They really are amazing people and amazing instructors. Yeah.

Megan (07:20)
Yeah,

yeah, it sounds like it. What's the vibe of your quilt shop? Is it more modern, more traditional, somewhere in between?

Amanda (07:29)
Definitely modern. We have a lot of modern fabric. I will say that even the more traditional quilters that come into the shop still find things that work with their projects. One of my favorite badges that we did was the color theory badge.

It was it was great. And we did like a big open lecture for it. That you know, if you came to the lecture, you got that badge, but it was open to anyone. Right. So a lot of my more traditional quilters ended up coming to that workshop because they got to really learn more about picking their materials. And a lot of them still come in only when I work because they want my help specifically.

Megan (07:49)
That was a hit.

They're like, we're bonded for life. I only want your help.

Amanda (08:17)
Which is great. We are, we are. I have a lot

of quilt sisters here.

that badge really did so many great things for my customers. So thanks for that one. But we are definitely a modern shop. We carry a lot of things from Free Spirit, Windham, Riley Blake. Wyndham has been like a really big focus for me lately. I really loved a lot of.

the fabrics that have been coming from them lately. Like we're doing the Ramble Block of the Month by Tara Faughnan And Windham it's an amazing quilt. I got to make the shop sample, but then I kept getting distracted. So it's not done. It's not done, but it's fine. It's 100 % fine because we're gonna be doing a class once a month where the people who signed up for the Block of the Month, they can come in and learn how to do that month's block as a group.

And then they can go do the rest of their box on their own for that month. Yeah.

Megan (09:16)
You're on your own after that.

No, I love that. It sounds like you're building such an amazing community. I had no idea that you had that many classes. That's amazing. And it sounds like your customers really love you too. Like you're really connecting with people. People love you and you love your people. That's what it sounds like.

Amanda (09:28)
thank you.

Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, there's no wrong combination here.

Megan (09:41)
So let's talk about Quilt Scouts for a minute. So how did you first hear about Quilt Scouts?

Amanda (09:43)
Yeah.

There is a wonderful Facebook group called Young and Millennial Quilters. And somebody had posted about it saying that they had just heard about quilt scouts and they don't have a base camp near them. And they were wondering if anybody else was a scout. And I'm like, what the hell is this? I need to know what this is.

Megan (09:49)
Yes!

Amanda (10:09)
Right? So then I immediately went onto the website and I'm looking at it and I'm like, my brain doesn't want to actually read it like glance over everything like completely glossed over all of the information. And I go, well, I guess I need to be a base camp now. I'm like, okay, you know, and then out of like the business side of it, my brain immediately went to

badges, class ideas, ideas that I don't have to come up with. This is fantastic. my God, this is gonna help my business. How can I bring more people in the door? Absolutely the nostalgia of being a Girl Scout or just any kind of scout in general. So I found out about it through Facebook.

Megan (10:55)
Okay, yes, that Young and Millennial Quilters group has been a lot of fun. And yeah, I feel like every once in a while someone brings up Quilt Scouts and then I get all these inquiries. like, someone's chatting about Quilt Scouts over on the Facebook group. It's a great group. I love that one.

Amanda (11:06)
⁓ And I love

Megan (11:08)
Okay, so before you officially got started, was there anything that felt like intimidating or uncertain or just like felt like a big question mark about what a base camp is?

Amanda (11:19)
⁓ not really, honestly, I am more of a jump in head first and figured out later type of person. So I mean, it's like when I'm having a conversation with somebody like we were talking about before, that I will interrupt somebody because an idea comes to my head or I feel like I can relate to you in that moment. And I need to just get it out because

Megan (11:28)
Same.

Amanda (11:45)
you know, otherwise my brain will explode. So for me, like when I'm jumping into something and there's unknowns, it's like a I just I'm a very in the moment person. So I was I, I just, it was the idea, like I didn't even need to know all the details. It was the idea behind it. And once I get excited about something, that's it, I hyper focus. And I'm like, okay, how can I make this? Let me take this base model.

Megan (11:49)
Hahaha!

I'm the same way.

Amanda (12:14)
and how can I make it work to the best of its ability for me and my situation, which it really didn't take a lot because you set it up so well that it didn't need, I didn't feel like I needed to interject as much. Do you know what I mean, if that makes sense?

Megan (12:29)
Yeah, yeah, I know. I know exactly what you mean. And I feel like, well, I think the goal of the base camps was to make it customizable. Maybe is the right word for like your your community, your shop, like what's like take Quilt Scouts and then make it work for what you need for your shop. Am I just saying that? I don't know if I'm describing that right, but do feel like that was kind of you can make it work for what you need?

Amanda (12:47)
Yeah, no, absolutely. Because

I really enjoy that you have the past badges. that if, for me, our base camp, we meet the first Wednesday of every month. So Wednesdays in my shop are work in progress night. So it was just kind of natural to just take one of those Wednesdays and make it Quilt Scouts. And I feel like

it was very

Amanda (13:15)
I really love that you have like the list of past badges. So like, if anybody joined at any time and they wanted to go back and earn that badge, they definitely have the capability to do that. But as a business owner, it gave me the option that when I'm listing classes that I'm hosting, that if one of those classes fits one of those badges, I kind of add at the bottom of my class descriptions, like, Hey, Quilt Scout,

If you haven't earned your Triangle Trekker badge, you can earn it by taking this class. So it really also sparked new class ideas for me to host and it made it feel like I kind of, when it came to classes, it didn't necessarily have to be a finished product. It could just be a class about building a skill.

So it helped me as a business owner to come up with different ideas for other classes that we can host that my Quilt Scouts can then earn a badge by taking, or even by having that in my class description, I have more customers and students asking what is a Quilt Scout, which is incentivizing them to do their own research and then join.

which has been really awesome.

Megan (14:38)
It sounds like you haven't really ⁓ dialed in with like your process.

Amanda (14:42)
Yeah, I am very meticulous with how things are done. I like things done a certain way.

Megan (14:49)
And you found, yeah, you found like a good system that works for you with bringing in new members and having the recurring, it's once a month, you said for your base camp, you do the first Wednesday of every month.

Amanda (14:58)
Yeah, the first Wednesday of every month. And having it be in the middle of the week kind of gets people excited. Like, this is like that hump in the middle of the week, but I get to look forward to it because it tells me I'm halfway through my work week. I get to go be around like-minded people. I get to earn my badge and just be crazy.

Megan (15:08)
Yes.

So you, what is the most recent, what did you guys do this last month? What was your most recent meeting about? What did you guys tackle?

Amanda (15:26)
⁓

my gosh, what was the badge? It was self care quilter. So yeah, the self care quilter badge was the most recent one. And we made hot packs like rice hot packs. So yeah, that was a lot of fun. Everybody had fun with that. Will we ever do that as a class here again? Absolutely not. I'm still vacuuming rice out of my carpet.

Megan (15:31)
okay, you guys did the self-care quilter badge. Okay, I wasn't sure if you guys were doing the badge of the mountain.

⁓ yes, cute!

Amanda (15:53)
Never again. Like, I know people can't do this, but I still have containers of rice because we went to Costco and bought like a hundred pound bag of rice. And then I got these like Chinese food pint containers and send people home with rice. I was like, I couldn't eat this amount of rice even if I tried. So take it home and make another one.

Megan (15:54)
I can't even imagine.

I was gonna say.

It's like the glitter of craft supplies, right? It just never goes away. I'll just be with you forever.

Amanda (16:15)
Oh my God, it is. like, yeah. And I'm like, I wonder how

many of my machines have rice in them. Cause we provide the machines for people to use. So.

Megan (16:23)
No! Yeah.

can you walk us through what a typical base camp gathering looks like at your shop?

Amanda (16:31)
Yeah, absolutely. So the first Wednesday of every month, we all meet at 6pm. And everybody kind of brings a snack or something to share with everybody so that we can all eat while we sew ⁓ Snacks are definitely mandatory. Then everybody kind of sits, they pick where they're sitting, like everybody kind of has their groups like their little group of friends that they sit with and then

Megan (16:44)
Snacks are mandatory.

Amanda (16:54)
I have a bunch of like work tables that people will come stand around while we talk about what the badges for that month, what the project is we're doing for that night, whether that's a finished project or just a skill. like for next month for the triangle Trekker is going to be more focused on a skill. then it is going to be maybe doing a finished project. and then everybody kind of breaks apart and works on.

whatever that project is. And then there's a couple of us that like to go out after. We'll go to a BYOB spot. my God, there's drinking at our base camp meetings. Don't let anybody fool you.

Megan (17:29)
Is there an after party for your base camp meetings?

I love that there's an after party for the base camps. That's great. ⁓

Amanda (17:38)
⁓ yeah, 100 % after party. I mean, the

party kind of starts out like halfway through the meeting because we moved to a new location. I was gifted a lot of bottles of champagne. So we've been working our way through the champagne and then we find a BYOB spot to go grab more food and drink more after.

Megan (17:58)
Oh my gosh, this is a vibe. I'm here for this. I kind of want to like come check out your base camp. I'm like, I mean, I'm two time zones away, but I feel like I need to make it happen.

Amanda (18:01)
yeah, absolutely.

I mean, you could come in

and do like a celebrity spot. You get to teach the badge that month.

Megan (18:11)
Right? I'm

like, I'm just here for the drinks, girl. No, I love that.

Amanda (18:15)
Yeah, absolutely. I got tequila in the freezer and a blender

behind the desk, so we do margaritas too.

Megan (18:21)
⁓ my gosh,

my gosh, this is a party, I love it.

Amanda (18:25)
It is.

Megan (18:26)
So have you noticed like friendships or connections really forming in your base camp? I think you kind of mentioned that like there's people have their certain groups that they show up with.

Amanda (18:31)
how f-

Absolutely. It's been great to see the amount of people that came with like a group of friends and then the amount of people that just signed up on their own and like their reasoning for signing up, right? So I have some people that signed up with a group of friends because they wanted to have something that guaranteed that group of friends getting together every month and they had an excuse, right?

Megan (18:50)
Mm-hmm.

Amanda (19:02)
And then there's the, my God, this is nostalgic. I really want to do something that sounds like fun. I can learn something new group. And then there's the people that it's like, I am getting close to retirement or I am just retiring. And my family told me I need to find a hobby that have joined. And it's so funny. And I have heard comments.

And it kind of makes me feel really good that they've joined guilds or they belong to a guild or they don't join guilds because it feels too clicky or it feels like the moment they walk in the door, they get like those looks or like I'm better than you kind of vibes. ⁓ And Quilt Scouts kind of makes it

Megan (19:48)
Hmm, yuck.

Amanda (19:53)
not that. If that makes sense. It's very...

Megan (19:54)
Yeah, you know, I know

exactly what you're saying.

Amanda (19:59)
It's anti-click. ⁓

Megan (20:01)
Yeah, yeah. I will say,

I mean, we're, we're like a year and a half into Quilt Scouts. And I will say just Quilt Scouts in general has been very drama free. Like I wasn't really sure what to expect like with launching a membership, like if it was going to be, you know, but it's been like there's no quilt police. It's like very low drama.

Amanda (20:18)
Yeah, absolutely. And I love that. And I love that people are coming into it so open-minded and willing to learn. And I think that there's a lot of bureaucracy when it comes to a guild and having Quilt Scouts be a membership plus a monthly badge that you have to earn. It makes it less about who's doing this and who's doing what and taking away

the president, the treasurer, all these positions that typically go to a guild that make it more clicky and who's doing what. It takes that aspect out of it. And I love that

Megan (20:56)
Mm-hmm.

I can see that, yeah.

Amanda (21:00)
my vibe for my shop is I don't care where you are in your sewing, quilting, knitting, crocheting, whatever thing you're into journey, we're all here for it and we're all here to help each other and to learn from each other.

Megan (21:09)
Mm-hmm.

Amanda (21:12)
So good vibes, good vibes.

Megan (21:13)
Yes, 100%.

Yes, I love that. Yeah, no drama. We don't have time for the

Megan (21:21)
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all right, let's get back to the good kind of chaos.

Megan (22:13)
I will say I'm actually kind of more of a beginner quilter. Like I haven't been quilting that long. How long have you been quilting? A while?

Amanda (22:20)
Quilting? Not that long actually. I would say maybe like eight, nine years, but I've been sewing for a good portion of my life. It's actually a really funny story. So when I was younger, I was like 11 or 12 and I kept getting in trouble at school and my mom wanted to punish me. So she made me do community service at the American Red Cross.

Megan (22:40)
you

Amanda (22:49)
my community service that they had me doing was they taught me how to sew because I was supposed to make bibs for old people in nursing homes. Well, haha, jokes on you, mom, because now it's my life.

Megan (23:00)
Okay.

Turns out I loved it. So much for a punishment.

Amanda (23:05)
I'm the problem,

but now I do it while sewing.

Megan (23:12)
Yes, and now we made it into a business. Congrats. Yeah, I mean, I've only been quilting for like, let's see, it was like late 2019. It was like right before COVID hit. was when I made my first quilt. So I feel like I feel relatively new to quilting. So yeah, when it comes to like, I don't know, like teaching or like leading quilt scouts, it's like, girl, I'm learning right along with you. Like I'm learning how to do a lot of these skills right along with the rest of you. So like.

Amanda (23:38)
You

Megan (23:39)
I am not an expert, you know, like we're all.

Amanda (23:39)
know, do you almost feel like you have imposter syndrome?

Megan (23:45)
100 % yeah you're like I don't know what I'm doing but like we're gonna figure it out together like we have this running joke with some of my quilt friends my favorite emoji is the emoji with the cowboy hat just like yeehaw like let's just get in there and figure it out like that's yeah that's my vibe is the emoji with the cowboy hat I that's the one I always like throw out there when I'm like I don't know what I'm doing but I'm gonna figure it out

Amanda (23:46)
Yeah. I feel like that too.

That's a wrap.

love them.

Okay, well, let's see. Now I need to figure out which one is mine. Maybe that the smiley face, that it's like that forced smile, like the, It wasn't me smile, but it really was. You know which one I'm talking about? Definitely me.

Megan (24:24)
Like the

guilty smile, like... Yes. Okay, I like it. like Do you have a favorite Basecamp moment so far? Like something that made you just think like, yes, like we're doing this.

Amanda (24:36)
Oh, maybe our first meeting. So our first meeting as a base camp was in August. I'm sorry, it was October because it was the UFO badge.

Megan (24:38)
Mm. Mm-hmm.

Amanda (24:47)
Simultaneously with that was also the first time I decided I was going to host a quilt retreat, which I have never been to a quilt retreat. So cowboy hat on, saddle up, here we go. We're gonna make it happen. ⁓ But for the UFO badge, you actually turn it into this year's December badge.

Megan (25:04)
Yes! Yes!

Amanda (25:12)
⁓ we, UFO was like about finishing your projects and we, we, the Royal we, my beautiful idea was to do all these different ways of binding your quilt. So we, so we did, we did double-sided binding, flange binding, continuous bias binding, and then a ruffle binding.

Megan (25:13)
Okay.

Yes, I remember that. Yeah.

Amanda (25:35)
which I had never done ruffle binding. So I was like, how hard could it be? I'm just gonna teach myself. It's fine, everything's fine. Well, everything that I saw online was horrible. It was the worst construction of a binding ever. So then I came up with my own way to do it, which I do, I probably should like make a video and I'll share it with you. Cause I think the Quilt Scouts would love it.

Megan (25:39)
Me either.

Yes.

100%. Yeah! ⁓

Amanda (26:01)
and the amount of people that showed up, right? So was kind of chaos. So we prepped all of these like 10 by 10 squares. Everybody got four 10 by 10 squares and we just like quilted an X through it so that people could like practice one side and then turning their binding and then going down the other side and then the other two sides could be a different binding. Because it wasn't about a finished project. It was just about learning a skill.

And we pre-cut everybody's strips, like everything was done for them. Oh my gosh, it was so much work. So we had 15 people that signed up through our website. So I prepped for 15 people. 23 women showed up.

Megan (26:28)
Yes. Yeah, smart.

Love it.

Okay. what happened?

Amanda (26:52)
We were sharing machines

and people were doing their binding and then seam ripping the binding they just did so that they had a square to do their next binding because it was mayhem. It was absolute mayhem. And I'm like, I thrive in chaos and this is the best moment ever. And this is great. So super memorable.

Megan (27:11)
Yeah.

Amanda (27:16)
And it

was just a lot of fun and people felt like they learned something, which was great.

Megan (27:22)
absolutely. So it's I mean, one kudos on like adapting like challenge accepted, we're going to adapt and pivot and figure this out. And then my other thought too, was we just added the binding badge just recently like this at beginning of the year. So sounds like you guys were just early to the party, you've already earned boss badge and you didn't even know it.

Amanda (27:43)
Yep, which is totally fine

because when I mentioned it to them that that was gonna be one of the badges for this year, they're like, good, I could use a refresher. And I'm like, awesome. And we've had new members join since then that didn't get to be there for that initial meeting. So even if it is something that we might've already touched on, it might've only touched on some people in our group and not all. So it'll be...

Megan (27:55)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Amanda (28:11)
It'll be good to do it again.

Megan (28:12)
Yeah.

Yeah, for sure. that's like, like you had mentioned before, like part of the benefit of having all of the content archived in the group is like being able to go back and either get a refresher if you forgot how to do something or if you're new to the group, you can go back and say like, I missed these badges and go back and like learn and earn other badges too. So it's all archived in there waiting for people.

Amanda (28:33)
Yeah, absolutely.

Megan (28:35)
what would you say to a quilter who's thinking about coming to a base camp for the first time?

Amanda (28:39)
Definitely come in with an open mind. You don't necessarily have to be the most outgoing person, right? So you don't need to immediately walk through the door and become best friends with the person sitting next to you, although it is highly encouraged. But just come in with an open mind. Even if it is something you're like, I already know how to do this. Maybe the person teaching it can teach you a new way.

Right? Because quilting is always evolving and there's always new techniques coming out. So as long as you're going with an open mind, even if you've already learned how to do that technique, maybe it's a good chance for you to perfect that technique. Or maybe that's the chance for you to help the person sitting next to you that maybe isn't as affluent in it that you can help them. Right? Cause it's about creating community.

whether you already know how to do it or you don't.

become buddies with your fellow quilt scouts. I one of the other things that we do at our base camp is like, I will waive their $5 fee if they come in to help with prep for the next meeting, or if I know what the badges are ahead of time, which I do now. If I know somebody else can teach it better than me, I'll be like, hey, do you want to be in charge of this month? And maybe we can collaborate, we'll come up with what

the plan is gonna be for that badge, what skill we're working on and how we're gonna achieve that. And you teach it, you know, I have no problem letting go of the reins. Well, maybe a little, maybe a little. I need a little control, but like I can let somebody else teach it.

Megan (30:12)
love that.

yeah, no, I get that. It is hard, but it's also, it's nice to be able to collaborate like that. And like you said, let go of that hierarchy, you know, and like, hey, we're gonna learn this together. And realizing maybe your limitations, like, hey, like I'm not the best at this, but I know someone that can teach it even better than I can or whatever. Like I love that collaborative spirit.

Amanda (30:37)
Yeah, I mean, the hand quilting badge. I hate hand quilting. I'll throw it out there. I hate it. I don't hand sew anything. I don't even hand sew buttons. A machine has a button foot. I'm not even doing that by hand. So I had one of my really good friends, Jen Strauser, she goes by the Dizzy Quilter. She teaches Kawandi classes, which is a type of hand quilting.

Megan (30:49)
Right.

Amanda (31:00)
And it's absolutely stunning. And if anybody is going to QuiltCon, her work will be in a couple of different booths. Her stuff's great. And you can look for my post from when we had that meeting. And she is holding up one of her beautiful quilts. But I have no problem bringing people in.

to teach stuff. I'm like, girl, I need you. I need you to come teach this because I'm not hand sewing anything. I don't even think I participated in that badge. I just kind of sat in the room for the vibes and drank some wine. I'm like, hand sewing's not for me. It's fine. I've already come to terms with that.

Megan (31:36)
We've

Amanda (31:37)
that be somebody else's jam.

Everybody loved it. I think, what was that November? Yeah, that was November. That was a good one. ⁓

Megan (31:42)
Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Yeah, I think it was. Yeah,

I that wasn't that was one where I hadn't hand quilted before that badge. And I was learning to hand quilt like as we were like building the content for it. And I found I kind of low key loved it. my problem is it takes way too long to like do a whole quilt. So I wouldn't like, logistically be able to hand quilt an entire quilt but I really loved like that it

I don't know, was something slow and meditative about it, so I enjoyed it, but like not realistic for my phase of life to be able to do like a whole project of that.

Amanda (32:12)
Yeah,

I have a Sashiko machine, so I just use that.

Megan (32:15)
yeah, no, if I, yeah, that would, I would probably do that if I had one.

Amanda (32:19)
Yeah, I mean, like,

get the look without the effort. I love it.

Megan (32:23)
Yeah, yeah. So you had touched on something too about ⁓ just like the, I would say the skill level, like the range of skill levels that you have walking into your shop. feel like that's a question I get a lot too is, is quilt scouts for me? Like I've been quilting for 25 years, like is this just for beginners? And I'm going to say no because, well I would say yes, quilt scouts is for you because there is

such a wide range of skills that we're covering. And I don't think everyone has learned every skill, right, as a quilter. So even if you've been quilting for 25 years, like have you ever done ruffle binding? You know, like probably not. Like that's a new skill we could learn. And then some of the badges are kind of, we have badges that are like quilting skills, and then there's like quilting adjacent skills. And then I'm gonna even say there's like out of the box adventures, like have you ever hiked to go take quilt photos?

Amanda (33:13)
⁓ you're killing me with that.

Megan (33:13)
maybe not, you know? Have you ever made a

quilt just for a picnic? I know, I know. That was like...

Amanda (33:18)
Listen, I'm a quilter.

I use a swivel chair for a reason. I'm not athletic, okay? But hold on. My one instructor, my one quilt instructor, she does rock climbing as a hobby. I'm like, ew, you sweat? Gross. But then there's also other people in our base camp that are athletic, and they're like, I would totally do that. And I'm like, cool.

Megan (33:23)
You

Amanda (33:42)
You guys like pick a hiking trail that has like a parking lot at the end and I'll just meet you guys at the end.

Megan (33:49)
Yes. Okay, how about like leisurely walk in the local park for quilt photos? On a cool spring day.

Amanda (33:55)
I I'll go stand outside in the field

that's next to my building to take photos. Like, I walk five feet. That's good enough for

Megan (34:01)
There we go.

Well, we also have the Quilt Photography badge and like the Picnic on a Quilt badge, the Stargaze on a Quilt badge. So there's like all these more, you know, it's like kind of throwing down that challenge like, yeah, you may be a master quilter, but have you ever done these adventures with your quilts? So I feel like there's always a there's a challenge there for everyone and for like every skill level, you know what I mean?

So if someone is wondering how do I actually join a base camp, what does that look like in your shop?

Amanda (34:30)
⁓ for me, we have the affiliate link, which I think is great. on my website, on the main page, like under like my navigation bar, have Quilt Scouts and then our base camp and then like a little synopsis of, Hey, if you're interested, call for more information or shoot us an email. And then has our affiliate link to sign up.

So you can do it that way.

Amanda (34:55)
lot of it's been by word of mouth from members that are maybe here for a workshop and there's a new person in that workshop. So they are talking about it. Like, did you see what blah, blah, blah made on the Quilt Scouts app? Like, did you see this? Did you see that? And then somebody is like, Quilt Scouts, what is that? You know, and it just sparks like natural conversation.

Or I will talk to customers that come in that I know are already part of the quilting community. They belong to like three or four guilds or they have their own little group of friends that were in a guild together but didn't love the guild. So they started their own little sewing group that meet. And I'm like, well, if you guys are interested, you should check out the Quilt Scouts. And I have my logo sticker thing in the window by the door.

⁓ And then I have my, we made pennants to put our badges on. So like, have like my pennant just Hangin out for people to see. And I'm like, yeah, you earn badges. They're like badges. I'm like, yeah, like legit badges. And I hold it up like a fricking trophy.

Megan (35:54)
yes!

You

Amanda (36:07)
It's great. A lot of it is word of mouth. You know, because I think the first reaction when someone hears the word quilt scout is they think of a kid, right? Like, ⁓ you're teaching kids to sew. Great. You know, and I'm like, no, no, no, no, ma'am. This is for grown women

Megan (36:25)
Hey, badges are not just for kids.

Amanda (36:27)
Women or men.

Megan (36:27)
Hey, we deserve badges too.

Amanda (36:29)
Absolutely.

I think we should do a new badge called drinking and quilting at the same time.

The ability to keep a quarter inch while being a scant quarter drunk

Megan (36:39)
Yes.

I'm thinking of like the field days, like when we were a kid and you had like the challenges, like that's what we'll do. Like the different stations, right?

Amanda (36:47)
yes.

I can't take anything serious.

Megan (36:49)
Um,

I know. Well, I mean, why? It's just quilting. You know, it's not that serious. We should have fun. I think people forget it's supposed to be fun. Like it's supposed to be a joy. It's supposed to be adventurous. I think it should still feel, you know, sometimes I think we all go through those phases where we lose our sew-jo you know, and we kind of like lose that creative spirit. And it's just like, it's nice to just be reminded that it doesn't have to be that serious. It can be fun. It can be silly. We can mess up, you know, the end project. doesn't have to be show worthy.

It can just be silly and fun.

Amanda (37:20)
Absolutely. Not everything has to

be perfect. You can... I think one of my biggest things like... Our Sewing 101 class that we do here is a tote bag, right? It only takes like an hour and a half to make it, but a majority of the class is teaching them the machine. How to Thread a machine, how to wind a bob and all that kind of stuff. And I get so many people in those classes or even people who don't sew.

Megan (37:24)
Exactly.

Mm-hmm.

Amanda (37:48)
or sewed when they were in school and haven't done it in forever. And they say to me like, this is gonna be horrible. It's gonna look so bad, blah, blah, right? And I'm like, here's something that you need to learn to be okay with. It's okay, to suck at something and still enjoy doing it. We don't have to be good to enjoy something. And I feel like that's so important.

Megan (38:05)
Mm-hmm.

Yes.

Amanda (38:14)
for people to kind of just take a deep breath. You can suck at something and love it. How many times have you sung in the car at the top of your lungs? Are you gonna become a singer? No, not necessarily. You may make people's ears bleed, but you still do it because you enjoy it, right? Why can't sewing, or knitting or whatever your thing is be the same? You don't have to be good at it. Just have fun doing it.

Megan (38:19)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Yes, 100%. I think,

yes, yeah, like, I think people get caught up in the, it's like the analysis paralysis, you know, it's like they overthink like the end product and rather than be like, but did you have fun doing it? You know, I feel like that's the end goal. Like, did you enjoy yourself? That's such a good reminder. Yeah.

Amanda (38:47)
Yeah.

Yeah. And I always love like, when you see people talking about like, just know that this was made with love for the first half and then with curse words for the second half. You can still do that and still enjoy the process. Like I enjoy the angry part just as much as I enjoy the loving part.

Megan (39:20)
Yes,

yeah, it makes the finish that much sweeter, right? Like you earned it. I want to know that I earned this badge with blood, sweat, and tears.

Amanda (39:23)
Done. Absolutely.

Mostly

tears, but yeah.

Megan (39:33)
Yeah, exactly. Okay, so I want to know what are you most excited about right now at Hanging By a Thread?

Amanda (39:39)
is

Megan (39:39)
any

upcoming classes, events, or like plans that you just want to share.

Amanda (39:44)
⁓ We have our quilt retreat coming up in March, which is a lot of fun. It's ⁓ right here in the shop. So you'll be in the hustle and bustle of everything. We do not provide lodging though. That's the only thing. That's why our quilt retreat is so cheap because we don't provide the lodging, but we did partner with another small business. It's a local bed and breakfast. And she's giving discounted rates

Megan (39:48)
Nope. Number two.

Amanda (40:09)
when you call to book and say, I'm going to be at the Hanging By A Thread Quilt Retreat and she'll give you a good discount, which the last one that we did, one of my best friends who is also the long armer for our shop, she lives in Illinois, she flew in for it and it was such a blast. And her and I both stayed at the bed and breakfast also, even though I lived like 10 minutes from my shop.

Megan (40:33)
a little stay

kitchen.

Amanda (40:34)
husband,

take these heathen children and you are in charge of them for a whole weekend. Don't call me unless somebody is in the hospital. And we stayed at this bed and breakfast and the food was amazing. And it was just it was a really fun experience. Other than that, like we always just we have constant classes going on and of course, quilt scouts. So if you live in New Jersey, I think I'm the only shop in New Jersey that is a base camp right now. I'm pretty sure.

Megan (41:00)
I think you are, yeah.

I think you're the only one.

Amanda (41:03)
If you are a quilt shop owner in New Jersey and you are listening to this, definitely do it. Just do it. It's brought in a lot of new customers. It's encouraged new sewists to dive into the deep end and really embody quilting and learning new skills, which has made them regular customers. also, not every base camp does this. I do it.

Megan (41:25)
Yeah.

Amanda (41:29)
so that it incentivizes my quilt scouts to come shop with me more often. Not that they don't, they do it all the time, but my members get a 10 % discount whenever they shop with us. So like, if you're a member, yay! Whether you are a Basecamp member for our shop, it doesn't matter. If you are a quilt scout member, you can get a discount in shop. I'm figuring out how to make a code.

Megan (41:41)
Another perk?

Amanda (41:55)
For those of you who don't live in New Jersey, you can still get a discount with us.

Megan (42:00)
That's right, because people can shop online with Hanging By a Thread, right?

Amanda (42:04)
Yeah, absolutely. It's hanginbyathreadnj.com But hang in a spelled H-A-N-G-I-N.

awesome. And we always have a bunch of different sales going on and stuff like that. So always keep an eye out, sign up for the newsletter. Even if you're going to be in the area just for a weekend.

Megan (42:11)
will make sure to link that in the show notes too, so people can find your shop really easily. Yes.

Amanda (42:27)
So the shop is located in a very popular area for people who do outdoorsy things. ⁓ Not me, but we're in the area of New Jersey that it's the reason why it's called the Garden State. We're surrounded by farms. People come out here to hike. People come out here to fish and hunt and do all of those things.

Megan (42:33)
The irony.

Amanda (42:52)
All the seasonal picking of fruit and vegetables, people come out here for that. So, yeah, it's really nice. ⁓ We love it out here. My husband and I, live in a lake community. So it's very calming, even though I am all over the place. I need the peace.

Megan (42:57)
Aw, that sounds idyllic.

Aww.

can see why,

I can see why. Okay, so the scenery and then you have a sweet little B &B, a little bed and breakfast for your quilt retreat. Like that just sounds like the perfect little idyllic weekend. Like sign me up.

Amanda (43:21)
It is. It's so much fun. The

last Quilt Retreat we did was in August and the State Fair was going on. So I got tickets for everybody to go to the State Fair and we did like a class trip. ⁓ And we all went to the State Fair and we got to see like all the Quilt entries and stuff like that. It was a lot of fun

Megan (43:44)
that's so fun. ⁓ I love it, Amanda. That's so cool.

Amanda (43:46)
Yeah, this one I'm sorry,

there's no fair to go to. So you'll just be stuck hanging out with me in the quilt shop.

Megan (43:50)
Are you gonna have another,

are you gonna have another quilt retreat this coming August? Do the same thing?

Amanda (43:58)
Probably.

I fingers crossed I'm hoping that we are. I think it's going to be a lot of fun. And then we also we will pay for anybody's entry into the state fair if they want to enter something into the state fair. And we actually get our own. Hold on. Big news. We had so many of our students last year enter in.

Megan (44:13)
⁓ that's super cool.

What?

Amanda (44:26)
quilts and projects that they did like sewing, knitting, crocheting, all the things that they're giving us our own division

the shop in the state fair. So we'll get to have, we'll get to have categories. We're going to have our own categories, like my first quilt category. So all of our brand new quilters who taking like the quilting 101, they're all making the same quilt.

Megan (44:40)
You heard it here folks on the Cool Scouts podcast.

Amanda (44:53)
but they'll get to enter it and get really awesome feedback from the judges. like just to have our own categories is really fun.

Megan (45:01)
Amanda, that's so cool, that's so fun.

Amanda (45:04)
It is, I can't wait. We have, listen, I have so many ideas, right? In the works, I'm gonna be hosting a quilt show and possibly partner up with someone that is local, say it will be a quilt and fiber festival. But that is not happening this year. Maybe next year. Down the road. Down the road. Big ideas, lots of movement.

Megan (45:06)
You're-

Okay, yeah.

Okay. Down the road, down the road. Is this an idea? Future? Yeah. Okay.

Amanda (45:30)
I don't know. There's too many things in my brain to pivot really on really one thing. We have so much stuff going on all the time. And we are just everywhere.

Megan (45:34)
I know.

It sounds so fun. It sounds so exciting. You're doing big things for your community. Like you're just supporting all of the quilters and the crafters out there in your area. And not only that, you're

you're changing the landscape of your state fair by having new categories now. Come on, you're moving and shaking. You're doing big

Amanda (46:00)
Yeah.

Megan (46:05)
Before we wrap up, I definitely want to make sure people know how to find you and how to come visit. Where is the best place for listeners to find Hang In By A Thread?

Amanda (46:02)
Yeah, I try.

So we are on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. We try and be on all the things. It'd be Hangin by a Thread. NJ is the handle for everything. Somebody apparently already has my business name and owns the domain to it. So we added the NJ because we're in New Jersey. So whatever, it's fine.

Megan (46:20)
Okay.

Amanda (46:35)
And then if you want to visit us in person,

We are located at, 11 Route 15, Lafayette, New Jersey.

Megan (46:45)
I will make sure to link all that in the show notes so people can find you.

Amanda (46:49)
Absolutely.

Megan (46:50)
so to close out, have one final question that I like to ask all of our guests What does a quilting adventure look like for you right now?

Amanda (46:58)
that's a good question. I think it is just constantly educating myself and learning new techniques and new ways of doing things. And that doesn't even necessarily mean for my own skillset, but a good portion of it is learning how to teach things in a new way so that I can help

spread as much quilt knowledge or sewing knowledge in general as I can because as many times as I hear people say, ⁓ you quilt. I thought nobody did that anymore. We all know as a quilter, that's a lie. That's a bold-faced lie. It's not going anywhere. It never has. the

stigma of it is still there. So just getting the knowledge out there and getting people excited for quilting and teaching people that it's not always old dingy fabric or you know the same quilt block over and over again or

the same old technique. We are all constantly evolving. The industry is evolving and changing constantly and just navigating change because it's just part of it.

Megan (48:16)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah,

Okay. So, Amanda, thank you so much for being here and for coming on the Quilt Scout podcast to chat with me. This has been such a fun conversation. I feel like I've learned a ton about you and about your shop and your base camp.

⁓ So thank you so much. really appreciate it.

Amanda (48:38)
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for having me.

Megan (48:42)
If you enjoyed this episode, I would love for you to follow or subscribe to the Quilt Scouts podcast so you don't miss future episodes. And if you have a minute, leaving a review is one of the best ways to help this podcast find other quilters who could use a little creativity and community too. You can find show notes and more from Quilt Scouts at quiltscouts.com. Until next time, happy trails scout.