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. 
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:
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!
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