July is nearly here!

My 'summer self' is beginning to emerge.  In past years, as a special education teacher, June would approach laboriously, laden with a schedule of parent and department meetings, all worthwhile efforts to reconcile test results with individualized plans for students going on to the next grade level.  The back and forth school bag grew heavier as the day grew hotter, and my energy levels would drop perilously low at the worst possible time. The end of June would bring the last day of school, and the closing of classrooms, storage of materials, and covering for dust protection of the book cases and bulletin boards.

Those last few days of June (on years that the snow removal cancellations hadn't consumed them) brought rest and recovery at home to tired muscles and anxious memories of what was finished and what might not have been.

And then July would come, with its herald, the Fourth's celebrations.  Rick knew enough not to plan anything before the holiday, as I would need that 'decompression' time to be ready for summer activities.

This year is very different. Hot humid days of June now find me at home with the air conditioner or the fan cooling me. The quilt shop's preparation for the Row by Row Sew a Season Quilt Shop Hop was a pleasant replacement for former school tasks long completed and no longer filling my calendar. July is the month that, during school years, would sometimes find me sitting in the cool barn, listening to instrumental Christmas music playing softly in the background while I painted Christmas ornaments for Rick, or made quilts for friends and family. And now - now every month is July-like, with chosen chores in the shop, and friendly customers dropping by to see what's new or to share a quilt question they have.

I'm still making quilts for friends and family, but this summer I'll also be making more for show and for sale. Rick and I will be displaying our work at the Pine Grove  Elementary School's art gallery in Rowley during the the weeks of mid-October through November, courtesy of our friend Pam Damato who organizes such displays for the school's enjoyment. I'll be preparing some quilts as backdrops for Rick's woodworking pieces: perhaps a construction-truck fabric for his many wooden trucks, or a Quilt of Valor red white and blue for his military service scroll-work plaques ... a holiday quilt for his Christmas art, and more. It's exciting to think that our work will be on display there at the school leading up to the holiday season. The school has several alcoves and blank walls that will hold our work; the school children and parents will enjoy the colorful displays as they walk through the corridors between classes and bells.

Our opportunity to join the Lark Rising fine art gallery in Rockport evaporated when the building owner heard from his insurance company that the premiums for liability insurance for so many different artists would be prohibitive. But as often has been said, when a door closes, a window opens. This school's art gallery is a well-timed event for us. And we will make the very best of it.

I'll be posting pictures here as the week progresses and I create quilt by quilt the backdrops for  Rick's work. Stay tuned, and check back often.  I'll be adding the images to this post, so it will not trigger a "new post" email newsletter each time I add one. You're on your own to check in and keep up with us :)  Here's a beginning-- you can click on images to enlarge them for details:

Brightly-colored fabrics and a quilt in progress
to backdrop Rick's birds and flowers plaques.

Please don't forget: the Row by Row summer-long Sew a Season quilt shop hop begins July 1st; we're not usually open on Tuesdays, but will be open for this kick-off event. Come in for your FREE pattern of our "Beyond Winter Windows" pattern. You can buy a kit for $7.50 if you're among the first 15 or so to ask for it, and our collectible "Happy Quilter" fabric license plate is available for $3.50.  And if you are the first quilter to return to us and show your finished quilt containing at least eight shops' rows, you'll win 25 fat quarters!

We have about fifteen kits ready for sale with all the necessary fabrics
 to make our "Beyond Winter Windows row."

Here is our "Beyond Winter Windows" Row:
come in to get your FREE pattern.

 You'll find more details about this extraordinary international quilt shop hop at my Row by Row page where you'll also find a link to a map of Massachusetts shops participating, and other state pages as well. Plan your journey, collect your license plates along the way, pick up your FREE patterns and make a quilt & show it off to win a lot of fabric!

We'll update this blog in about ten days to let you know about our Christmas in July annual event ... 7/11-13 sidewalk sale, discounts, lots of fun and  COOL inside the barn! Stay tuned, please?

As always, if you are reading this update in your email, thank you for signing up for the newsletter. We publish it about twice a month, but in between editions, we also update the various pages that comprise this blog. Recent additions are the Machine Quilting Classes page,  and progress on current quilts at Terry's QuiltingJournal 2014 page.

Feel free to share this email or blog link with your friends and families, and encourage the quilters among you to check out the Row by Row page of the blog as well as the website itself. We're in for a great experience this summer ~ jump in and join us!

Terry, web page TerryCrawfordPalardy.com, email: needlesandpens@comcast.net
Rick, web page WoodenToyandGift.net, email: woodentoyandgift@comcast.net
Rick's blog: WTandGNews.blogspot.com

Happy Sewing!