Quilty Pleasures Wednesday-Thread Bear, My Local Quilt Shop and Soon To Be Television Personality

I love to visit Las Vegas, New Mexico because many parts of town remind me of movies. It's like I'm in a movie set! Wait! Las Vegas IS a movie set, and has been for a long time, since the early silent films starring cowboy star Tom Mix.

No Country For Old Men was filmed here more recently and the freeway overpass stood in for a Mexico border crossing in the movie Due Date. The Plaza Hotel has seen its share of filming, as well.

Last year the cast of True Grit stayed at the Plaza Hotel. While having a drink in the hotel bar a few weeks later, I found myself sitting exactly where Matt Damon had parked himself after a hard day of filming.  Jeff Bridges browsed the books at Tome on the Range, the local independent book store.

Plaza Hotel

Here's another shot of the hotel and a glimpse of the shady park square across the street.

Just kitty corner and to your right as you step out of the Plaza Hotel is Thread Bear, my local quilt shop. The store recently moved to its new digs on the Plaza and it's bigger than the previous location, with lots of room to display quilts and a classroom at the back for group sewing.

The assortment of fabric runs from traditional to modern, including an extensive selection of southwest style fabric which makes me a happy camper. In the next few months Thread Bear will have its website up and running, ready to make internet sales in addition to its (actual) brick and mortar business.

Ann Siewert, the proprietor of Thread Bear, is both a quilter and a knitter with an excellent sense of color and design.

Ann Siewert, Proprietor

The store displays many quilts, not just samples, but ones made by local groups. The Tea Time Quilters had a show recently and the store's high ceilings and air ducts accommodated an amazing array of quilts. Click on the photos below for a closer look.

This is a One block Wonder Quilt machine pieced and quilted by Laura Cole.

This very traditional patchwork style quilt uses untraditional focus fabric.It was pieced by Sarah Aragon and machine quilted by her mom, Cathy Aragon.

In addition to fabric, Ann has skeins and skeins of yummy yarn and offers knitting classes from beginner to advanced. She taught me how to make a hat and I only had to rip it out four times! It wasn't Ann's fault, just my ADD kicking in at odd moments.

 

On Thursdays a group of knitters hangs out in the comfortable seating area.

 

Thread Bear also offers sewing and quilting classes, including an upcoming Christmas Tree Skirt class.  Special showings and events make this a destination for many quilters in the area who need their local quilting fix.

This fall you might catch a glimpse of Thread Bear and the rest of the plaza in a pilot on A and E channel, in a show called Longmire. Just above Thread Bear was the set for the sheriff's office. Outside, cameras shot exterior scenes.

It was a little bit of Hollywood in Las Vegas. New Mexico, that is.