S-Days and Other Happy Occurrences

****IMPORTANT: DEADLINE EXTENDED TO FEBRUARY 28TH ****

We have had so many days of restricted driving due to heavy snowfall, we are going to double your opportunities to win this Valentine's Day Contest! We will hold a drawing for a winner on February 14th as scheduled, but will hold a SECOND WINNER'S NAME on February 28th! It's not too late to begin a project using our sweet collection of Valentine Fabrics!  Remember, winter hours are 2 - 7 pm, Wednesdays through Saturdays.  CLICK HERE for more details on the Valentine's Day Contest. 

When our son Rob was a child, "S-Days" meant "Stay at Home Days!" Saturdays, Sundays and Snow Days were our favorite days of any week!

Happy Blizzard of 2015! We have two feet of snow, three foot drifts and five more hours of snowfall ahead of us. Needless to say, being open Wednesday January 28th is a question of conditions ...our local schools will be closed again...  Will the State of Emergency be lifted?  Will the ban on all but emergency and snow removal vehicles be ended? Will the driveway at Quilters' Quarters and Wooden Toy and Gift be clear enough for customers? Time will tell!

In the meantime, should you find you have time on your hands, I suggest you visit the newest page of this blog: Vintage and Antique Sewing Machines is a serial narrative I am building day by day. I'll continue until I reach present day, recounting my acquisition of several old sewing machines. I'm also sharing links to pages that are helpful in gaining knowledge and experience in maintaining these treasures. My goal is that I will be able to offer workshops here at Quilters' Quarters in restoring, reworking, cleaning, repairing and using the machines.

A quick update regarding the other pages of this blog:

• Our "Ann Lainhart" workshops are currently on hold but will be rescheduled as health and travel allow.
• The Valentine Contest has its first entry ... check out the contest details at that page of the blog.
• The quilt journal of 2015 has begun and one finished project is posted; a second and third are underway, so you'll want to check that page when you stop here at the blog. 
• If you are local, you will want to stop in to the Georgetown Peabody library to see the quilt exhibit that will remain through the months of February and March. A reception with the quilters will occur on Saturday, February 7th from 9am to 1pm. The most recent "potholder quilt" from the Georgetown Quilt of Valor group will be on display in this exhibition. The library will also be honoring our early sponsor, George Peabody, during that reception, as it is his birthday. Light refreshments will be served. 

Rick and I are all set here ... we have power, unlike 25,000 others in Massachusetts who have unfortunately lost theirs to the heavy snows. We have wood for the stove if the power does go off, and we have plenty of projects here to keep us busy.

Be safe, all. Be warm, be caring, check on your neighbors, and please get

together to keep your fire hydrants shoveled and your furnace vents clear. 

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. 

Feel free to share this email or blog link with your friends and families. Thank you for sharing our pages.

Terry, web page TerryCrawfordPalardy.com, email: needlesandpens@comcast.net
Rick, web page WoodenToyandGift.net, email: woodentoyandgift@comcast.net

Rick's blog: WTandGNews.blogspot.com 

Post Card Parties End ... New Row by Row 2015 Next!

We had a Post Card Party to end the season of making. The Featherweight was the machine of the day. Scraps of different fabrics covered the table.The postcards that were completed by Quilters' Quarters quilters and needle-workers are now on their way to Calico Gals in New York, to be shuffled in with cards from other states and redistributed/shared with quilt shops across the nation and Canada. Here are the six that went out in the mail this weekend: beautiful, varied styles on the front, and sweet messages on the back!

Barb's geometric block 

Betty's Crazy Quilt block

Judy's Cross Stitch block

Sandy's Modern Quilt block

Random Patchwork block

Terry's Divided Four Square block

All unique, and all beautiful!

Sandy's message

Four more blocks are being made by snowbirds from Massachusetts who are wintering in Florida but wanted to participate and represent our state in the swap, and another four were to be given to a quilters' family and friends and so won't be in the swap.

I  have many more kits available and will post them at the webstore soon. They make nice "WATER THEME" accompaniments to the 2015 Massachusetts license plates, and I will make a postcard kit available for a reduced price of $4.00 to any quilter who comes to our shop and buys a HAPPY QUILTER license plate during the Row by Row 2015 summer weeks

Postcard Party Event ending this coming week!

These will be highly collectible items in years to come!

All participants who want to be involved in the nation-wide Post Card Swap are returning their completed kits to Quilters' Quarters by Friday, January 15th so that they can be mailed in bulk to Janet at Calico Gals in New York for sorting and redistribution. Join us!

If you haven't come in for a kit, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are your last opportunities to complete a Massachusetts Kit.  Our shop space is booked for kit completion on Friday from 1 to 4pm for a private group, but customers are welcome to come and pick up a kit during those few hours to complete at home and return it by 7pm. Otherwise, on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday you are welcome to stay and complete your kit in the shop, using our sewing machines, including

•  a 1917 Singer Red Eye Treadle, 
• a 1950 Singer Featherweight, and 
• a 1964 WHITE Featherweight! 

We also have modern Brother machines that you might use for your kit.

Quilters' Quarters remains the ONLY shop in this state participating in this pilot event. Other states have several shops that have quilters and needle-crafters making their states' kits come alive with their talents. If you participate, you will, in March after all the sorting is done, receive one of those cards from other states.

Massachusetts' First Year Kits will become highly collectible in later years of this program, as our shop purchased only 100 kits. And no other shop in Massachusetts purchased any! Get one for yourself, and one to send to Janet for the swap with another state.

Quilters' Quarters is on winter hours (Wednesday through Saturday, 2pm - 7pm)
Friday night, January 15th, the kits will be sent to New York; please come in and complete yours so that you can be a part of the groundswell participation in this event!

You don't have to live in Massachusetts to participate - you just have to come to Quilters' Quarters for the kit, and return it so that it can be sent to Janet.

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. December additions are at the Surfing the Web page,  and progress on current quilts at Terry's Quilting Journal 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. Thank you for sharing our pages.

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