License Plate Re-order is Here!

Update 7/28/2014

Very happy to say that the new shipment of fabric Row by Row license plates are here! Price for the plate in the shop is $4.00. Price if ordered via our webstore is $4.50, including shipping: http://www.terrycrawfordpalardy.com/apps/webstore/

We mailed about thirty plates today to customers who had pre-paid orders, and have more set aside for those customers waiting for the Sew a Season fabric for the pre-paid Beyond Winter Windows kits to arrive.  This new set of 48 license plates will be gone quickly. I have requested additional sets of 48 each, which will arrive in about three more weeks. All shops are seeing higher than anticipated customer traffic and we are delighted to be a part of that phenomenon. 

We are all Happy Quilters!

We also anticipate the re-order of the Sew a Season fabric needed for our "Beyond Winter Windows" row will be arriving within the next few weeks. Again, the fabric company was no doubt as surprised as all the shops that this Row by Row Experience 2014 has taken off like wildfire, and they are behind on their fabric production for such a high demand. For the next Row by Row, I will be ordering three times the amount of fabric that I did this time. Lesson Learned! 

And again, on Saturday August 2 we will be closed for a family wedding; we will again be open on Sunday August 3rd to replace that shop-hopping day.

Because not all Row by Row shop-hoppers will see these reminders of our schedule changes, we will have a folder of free patterns available on our shop door on both Saturdays for those who may not be know about visiting our shop on Sunday rather than Saturday for these two weekends, You may also leave us a note in the folder if you want us to set aside a "Happy Quilter" license plate; they are expected to arrive early next week.

Thank you for your patience with these two weekend changes. It's always a good idea to call ahead if you are planning to travel a distance. We apologize for any schedule challenges this may pose for Row by Row shop-hoppers. Our shop number is 978 352 2676. 

And for those faithful customers who came out in the heat and humidity these past few weeks, thank you for making this shop hop a success for us. We invite you to come back and see us - we now have a working air conditioner in the shop! 

Enjoy the better weather!

Quilters' Quarters saw more than a hundred shoppers in the first three weeks of July, 2014!
Thank you, all. We look forward to seeing as many more in August,
 and will have more  Row by Row kits available, as well as the license plates. :)

Row by Row is a success!

Hello All,

We are having so many new visitors to Quilters' Quarters because of the national Row by Row 2014 Experience - more than fifty visitors in the first ten days, as compared to an average of three to five per week on our own.  And our blog statistics have jumped from an average of three hundred  per month (not bad) to more than 1,400 in the past four weeks!

Other participating shops in the area are doing as well or even better - Salem Massachusetts' Marketplace Quilts is on their third order of fabric for Row by Row kits! We are on our second order, which ought to arrive within a few weeks, as will our re-order for "Happy Quilter" fabric license plates. We are taking prepaid orders in the shop now for 'Row by Rowers' who want to  to reserve the original "Beyond Winter Windows" kit, or the alternative "Beyond Quilters' Quarters Windows" kit which includes one window for each season (shown above in our header) with a challenging winter trees strip that will be replaced with better strips when the fabrics are received.  Presently we have only a handful of Spring, Summer and Autumn Window kits on hand. Of course, these present shortages reflect the wonderful increase in quilting customers our shop and so many others have seen because of the Row by Row 2014 Experience :) We at Quilters' Quarters are very grateful for all of you! What a wonderful boon for a new shop.

Build your own Beyond Quilters' Quarters Windows by
choosing your season and preferred view! Spring, Summer and Autumn available;
 original Winter fabrics will be available soon.

 License plates' and kits' prices vary from shop to shop, because overhead costs vary depending on the size and location of the shops. Please be patient with that. Our kits are selling for $9.00.  If prices of our re-ordered fabrics are higher than our original purchases, our prices would change as well. Our main business goal is reflected in our license plate fabric: Happy Quilters will likely be, after all, repeat customers, and so we'll do our best to keep our overhead costs as low as we can.

Please accept my apologies for the schedule glitches these next two weekends. As I wrote above in the header (which is not seen by readers who are seeing this post on email pages):

Quilters' Quarters will be closed on Saturday, July 26th for a family event, unless it is a rainy day. We will be open to replace this day on Sunday, July 27th. Or vice - versa if weather prevails! :) On the following weekend: rain or shine, we will be closed for a family wedding on Saturday Aug. 2, and will be open on Sunday Aug. 3 to replace that day. My apologies to all who are building their quilt shop hop travel plans. Please call ahead before traveling a distance: 978-352-2676. And thanks for understanding that our small shop copes the best we can with schedule conflicts. Happy shop hopping!

What's new at Quilters' Quarters?

We have three full bolts of 110" cotton flannel backing for quilts. They are Westrade's tone on tone fabrics and offer a wonderfully-warm winter sleep. Our retail price for these high-quality quilt backings is normally $16.50 per yard, but to thank our customers for the increase in our numbers, we are selling them to "Row by Rowers" for a 20% discount, at $13.20.

Three bolts of `110" Westrade cotton flannel backings in stock

We had an email just the other day from Debra Gabel, the artist responsible for the fabric license plates and the Timeless Treasures' Sew a Season fabric line - she and partner Janet Lutz of Calico Gals in New York are planning a second Row by Row for 2014, to begin in the fall when the current contest closes. I'm looking forward to hearing the details of this new event - and will surely sign on to participate again

If you haven't begun collecting your free patterns by visiting participating quilt shops and feel like you're missing out, don't worry. Every shop is surely re-ordering plates and re-stocking fabric for kits and looking forward to the August shoppers for Row by Row 2014. The free patterns are available through September 2nd, and the contests awarding 25 free fat quarters don't end until the end of October. A few quilters have already collected their prizes, but there are 2050 participating shops, and you can be the first quilter in ANY participating shop! If you happened to use that shop's row in your quilt, all the better, and you might even win a bonus prize for doing so, but you can return to any shop and try to win the fat quarters there. 

Join in - free patterns, discounts, your choice of using your own fabric stash or buying reasonably-priced kits ... what do you have to lose? It's a quilters dream come true. And it's a serendipitous blessing for new shops like ours 

As always, if you are reading this update in your email, thank you for signing up for the newsletter. We usually 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.  Come visit us at the blog and see what else is happening at Quilters' Quarters.

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

Christmas in July~

Well, no, it's not terribly cool inside our shop this week ... the ancient air conditioner is playing possum. But Rick will be setting up the canopies out front for the weekend as we celebrate his annual Christmas in July sale at Wooden Toy and Gift. 

Click on any picture to enlarge it for details. You'll be glad you did. :)

He has new products to show, and some old favorites. There are still a few pieces of his own 18" doll furniture that are marked down. The wooden ornaments and Christmas Tree centerpieces with wooden packages that can be labeled with your family names will also be available. Carousels with snowmen and reindeer, and trucks of many sizes will be there. He will also put out his winter toy, the "push me pull me" sled, and the favorite rolling rattle for our youngest customers.

  Of course, some of my holiday quilts will be out front on the tables for the weekend.

And we will fill the Little Free Library with holiday books as well.

While Rick will be sharing customers' nostalgic memories of wooden toys, I'll be in the Quilt Shop making more kits for the Row by Row shoppers. We've had more than fifty visitors in the first ten days of July, which is amazing for both of us. I spoke with the fabric warehouse staff today and was told that the Sew a Season fabric may arrive in a few weeks, but beyond current orders, Timeless Treasures will not be filling any more. Glad my order went in early this week, so that at least one bolt of the winter spring summer fall trees will be back in the shop for August kits. I've also re-ordered fabric license plates with our shop motto, Happy Quilter. Those, too, will be back in stock by August 1st, and maybe sooner. Meanwhile, customers who come in can reserve one of the new shipment of plates.

Row by Row has also sent out PDF templates for Journals that will encourage quilters to keep track of their visits to shops.  I'll be printing them out week by week, depending on interest in them. Customers who purchase fabric will receive the journal for free; others will be asked to donate (maybe $2.50?)  to help with the paper and ink costs. I've included pages to record your experience with eight shops; the pages can be copied if you are lucky enough to be visiting more than eight shops this summer. They are meant to be reproduced, without copyright restriction.

Come and see Rick and me this weekend if you can ... you won't be disappointed! Click on any picture to enlarge it for details.


What else is new at Quilters' Quarters?


We're doing "Build a Kit" now, until the new fabric arrives.  I'm able to make Spring, Summer and Autumn kits, but have decided to give customers a choice: make a row of one season, with a seasonal view in the window, or with the dark sky featured in the original Beyond Winter Windows pattern. Or, make a four season row, using one of each season blocks, with a reserved winter tree strip or replacing the winter tree with a spring or summer tree strip.


Here are two options:

The kits include fabrics for four blocks' frames, walls and windowsills; the quilter can choose which window view fabric they want to use in their row. We're calling this "Choose your View" kits. The fabric kits for a four block row  are priced at $9.00. Extra squares of fabric for possible embellishments are included in the spring, summer and autumn sky kits.

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.  Come visit us at the blog and see what else is happening at Quilters' Quarters.

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!

Back on Schedule!

Quilters' Quarters is ordering more fabric license plates, as we have only three left in stock (I think I misplaced a dozen!) The new supply will arrive by the third week of July, and I'll set them aside for people who come into the shop and ask for one after they're all gone. I'll mail them out to quilters. The winter fabric will be in soon, and those kits will be ready as soon as I have the trees. Meanwhile, though, we have spring, summer and autumn season row kits  Despite the heat, we had a lot of quilters visiting us today - Thank you, everyone, who came out for the Row by Row shop hop! And we have a new product to offer beginning tomorrow!  Come and get yours free with a fabric purchase, or for a donation of $2.50 to cover the cost of ink and paper. 

Though we were closed Tuesday, a quilters' mother came to the door looking for a free pattern and the kit for Quilters' Quarters Row for her daughter, TRACEY. I was happy to oblige, but gave her only the kit and license plate with the adapted pattern ... I forgot to give her the original pattern. I hope that quilter or her mother will contact me with an email so that I can get in touch with her to get the pattern to her  . I was just off my game this morning, and am so sorry ! Email me at needlesandpens@comcast.net, please? I need to confirm the post mail address so that I can mail the forgotten pattern to Tracey. Many thanks for your patience. .

Wasn't that quite the holiday week! July 4th, Independence Day, was on a Friday, but weather predictions moved the Boston Pops and Fireworks display to Thursday the 3rd. The rains came early (from a western front) and so the Thursday ceremony had to end quickly and thousands of visitors in Boston were whisked off the Esplanade because of heavy rains and possible lightning. (Two years ago that also happened, and hundreds were huddled under the Storrow Drive bridges!)  Then Friday came along with Hurricane Arthur and some rain in Boston and high winds on the cape... but Saturday and Sunday were beautiful New England summer days.

As Tuesday was July 1st and the opening day of the Row by Row summer shop hop, and we had no doctor appointments on our calendar, we opened our shop for that day. We closed for Independence Day but then stayed open through Sunday to make up for the holiday closure. We had  customers each day that we were open, and made a good number of sales with the kits and license plates.  We're already about half-way to breaking even with the cost of the Row by Row event, and we still have about nine or ten weeks to go! This is looking very positive for our shop.

We've had visitors from New Jersey, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Massachusetts (near and far) and an online customer from Minnesota who is going to patiently wait until the event rules allow me to send a free pattern and kit out to her after October 31st.  One customer from Massachusetts told me of her June trip to Pennsylvania, where she was told by shops that they could not give her the pattern until July, even though she was there and could not come back after that date. I don't know if I could have said no to a customer from out of state who was standing in my shop like that.

In addition, we have had hundreds of online visitors - you can see where they are located by looking on the right side of the blog page to the "FEEDjit" tracker. Row by Row 2014 is really helping with our visibility!

After our busy, successful first week of the row by row event, we are sold out of the "Beyond Winter Window" kits, and I've been working up some other season kits ... I finally realized that I could maintain the Attic Window 'perspective' that everyone admires in the winter blocks by using the same dark sky view for the other seasons.  Here's what they look like all together with the same center block:

I'll offer the single season row for Spring, Summer and Autumn with either the dark sky view or the season-specific view shown in the following picture.Customers can choose which they prefer, and make a row of whichever season is their favorite. The winter fabric  has been re-ordered and will be here in a few weeks, and I'll resume putting the winter row kits together again. 

 If you were in today or yesterday and purchased one of the four season kits and would prefer the dark sky fabric for your Spring, Summer and Autumn blocks, email me at needlesandpens@comcast.net with your mail address and I will send you the four replacement squares of fabric, no charge. 

Keep visiting those shops, and collecting those patterns, and making rows for your new quilt. I'd love to see pictures of what you come up with! Remember, the first person who comes into our Quilters' Quarters with a finished quilt will win 25 fat quarters (and you KNOW we have the best fat quarters, courtesy of our own quilt artist Ann Lainhart's collection!)


Oh, and you may have noticed mugs in the picture above of the four-season row ... I heard myself saying this to someone earlier this week, and decided to put it on a mug for our shop: you can get one in the shop next time you visit ... under $10. 

Have fun! 

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.  Come visit us at the blog and see what else is happening at Quilters' Quarters.

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!

Happy Independence Day!

In honor of the Fourth of July holiday, Quilters' Quarters will be closed on Friday the Fourth, but will be open from 11 to 7 on BOTH Saturday the 5th and Sunday the 6th. 

Our Row by Row experience is going well. We've nearly sold out of the Beyond Winter Windows kits, although we have plenty of free patterns left. While I wait for a new shipment of the Sew a Season fabric for new Winter kits, I'll have some new Spring, Summer and Autumn kits available in the shop, with prepared models for each. 

Here's a picture of the Beyond Summer Windows, with a summer-green window frame, a view of various summer scenes, fruit trees from the Sew a Season fabric, and blending leaves, fruit and small blue birds along the left side of the window.

Summer block featuring a vacation scene beyond the window

Spring block featuring a butterly

Fall block featuring a larger butterfly

The three new kits will be available for sale at the shop this weekend.  They are priced at $9.00 each. License plates through this weekend remain at $3.50 and will then be priced at $4.00 for the rest of the summer, beginning Wednesday, July 9th. The two remaining, original Beyond Winter Window kits remain priced at the special opening days' cost of $7.50. Enjoy!

Summer and Winter Block

Quilters' Quarters "Happy Quilter" license plate collectible