Already August!

Update August 8th: Under the Roof Construction

This morning, the roofers are hard at work stripping old shingles from the front of the barn roof. By opening time at 11:00, they will be finished tossing debris down and will be re-shingling. The shop is, technically, open and customers can pull into the driveway despite the number of construction vehicles. If there is not a clear pathway to the door, I will meet customers seeking row by row kits and their free patterns out front.Thank you for your patience during this construction period. Yesterday, in a single day, they stripped the back side of the roof, installed two skylights for Rick's new workshop and shingled it completely. They intend to be finished with the roof job by the end of today.  Amazing to watch, their energy is impressive and their skills are also. The O'Keefe brothers of Salem, MA are a firefighter family who do excellent work for a reasonable price.

Update August 6th:   Hooray!
The fabric has arrived, and I will be busy tonight and tomorrow morning putting more kits together for our Beyond Winter Windows row.  We'll be taking orders, too, for the license plates and expect a TRIPLE order to arrive in another week or two.  Busy Busy Busy ... and loving it! We're open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 11 - 7 this week. Come visit!

Second Update August 5th:
Sorry - the last of the license plates left of the second batch of 48 are now gone ... but there are more shipments ahead, coming by August 20th, Sew a Season fabric? The second order of that WILL be here by the end of THIS week. Patience is a virtue <3

License plates and fabric can be pre-ordered at Quilters' Quarters, at the shop or on the quilt shop page of our web store. 

Update August 5th:

The Sew a Season Timeless Treasures fabric will be here in the shop, in limited quantity, this Friday. Pre-orders for winter season kits will be cut first. Thank you, all, for your patience! It is because of customer enthusiasm and high levels of ordering nation-wide that this fabric has been so scarce this summer. 

We just sold our ONE remaining HAPPY QUILTER license plate from this second order; there are more orders coming, and they are expected to arrive late next week.  To pre-order yours, use my email at PayPal: needlesandpens@comcast.net   :)  or visit my webstore at www.terrycrawfordpalardy.com/ 

This first summer of our quilt shop is flying by at high speed. The Row by Row 2014 Experience has given a tremendous boost of publicity and business for new shops across America and Ontario. People who might never have known of Quilters' Quarters have found our location through the Row by Row website, and we are very appreciative of all the new friends who have come through our shop.

What people most often comment on is that "It's so charming!"  It is an unusual shop, in an unusual building that we call our barn but was, in fact, a carriage house in its earliest days. From horse-drawn buggy to early automobiles, the two sliding doors remain as evidence of its purpose. But behind those doors today is a unique quilt shop. Those doors no longer open, having been sealed closed long ago when an earlier owner created a dress shop inside for his wife's home business. Then for a while it was just used as a storage and office space for an architect-owner, and then it housed Rick's tool room for his Wooden Toy and Gift shop.

It's a quilt shop now, with beautiful cabinets made  by Rick to hold bolts of fabric. One cabinet is holding Quilt of Valor bolts of red, white and blues; another has nautical fabrics, and yet another holds Christmas colors. Animal prints like dogs and butterflies, and even one of shimmering unicorns brighten the cabinets. And of course, Helen and Henry are there with Terry's books, watching over things.


We are going to offer Rotary Blade Sharpening services ... we've bought an electric rotary sharpener made specifically for that purpose, and will charge only a few dollars for each blade renewed.

She really is a Happy Quilter!

We are also offering after school sewing lessons for individuals who would like to learn some machine quilting skills; both adults and children can take a lesson with Terry. Check the machine quilting lessons page of this blog to see what might fit your schedule. Then  come in or email to reserve your spot. You can bring your own portable machine, or use one of our new Brother machines bought for these lessons.

Our lending library of quilt books is growing and is open to all who come visit us. You are welcome to borrow a book for as long as it's needed, and then pass it on to another quilter or return it to the shop and borrow another.

We are still waiting for the second order of Sew a Season Row by Row fabric to arrive, and are hearing that it may be here within a week's time.

This coming week, the roofers will be at the shop while it is still open for business. They will be adding skylights to the roof to give Rick good lighting for his scroll saw work. And as the quilt shop continues to expand with more and more cabinets of fabric, Wooden Toy and Gift's showroom will move into the east room of the shop, as Rick will move some of his smaller saws and tools upstairs into the renovated space. We'd thought about using that space for sewing lessons and group workshops, but without an elevator or escalator it would not be handicap accessible, and so we've decided to move things around in the shop to make room for accommodating small groups in the original show room.

If you see construction trucks in the driveway, it doesn't mean that the shop is closed; rather, it means that, while it might be a little noisy at times, it's growing and becoming "even better!"

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