Humble Beginnings Reminder

Our first involvement in a multi-quilt shop adventure is almost here ~ The Humble Beginnings Adventure will occur from  Friday, September 30th through Sunday October 2nd. Have you secured your pass yet?

You can still buy them at Quilters' Quarters for the inaugural price of $6.00, and let me refresh your memory as to what that small fees entitles you to:

• Six very unique quilt shops run by their owners ... shops that haven't been involved in many or, in my case, any other shop hops to date.
  
• Each shop will give to you a unique, free Humble Beginnings Adventure kit that contains enough quality fabric to make two autumn-colored 6.5" blocks. We all have chosen different patterns for our blocks, and when you bring the twelve free blocks together you will have a wonderful small quilt to share during New England's beautiful fall season.

  

  Quilters' Quarters 2016 block
  made with  Moda Marble Swirl fabric
• Each shop will have its own unique sample quilt made with these twelve blocks and some blender fabrics, and will share their pattern with you.
  
• For the first fifty customers buying an Adventure Pass in one of the six shops, a free Tote Bag for Humble Beginnings will be given as well.
  
• The shops will have their own special offerings available to Adventurers during the three days of Humble Beginnings. There will be door prizes provided by Moda Fabric at the Quilters' Quarters shop ... and others at each of our shops. There will also be a sewing machine given as one of the prizes!

  

  1915 Singer Model 66 hand crank sewing machine
  refubished with a white oak two storage compartment base
  made by Rick Palardy for Humble Beginnings Adventure 2016

• Light refreshments will be offered to our customers as well.

We are very excited to be offering you our first shop hop adventure for such a reasonable price; it is our humble offer to thank you for visiting our shops and helping us to spread awareness of what each of us has to offer.

At Quilters' Quarters, you will find not only quilt quality 100% cotton fabric, but also interfacings, elastic,zippers, buttons, rotary cutters, mats, templates, pins, needles, threads and more for those sewists who create custom clothing. We also feature antique and vintage sewing machines, as we are too small to have a contract with a sewing machine manufacturer ... and what we can do is help you learn to maintain your own vintage machines ~ you will be surprised at how simple restoring and sewing on these beautiful treasures can be. We have been accumulating so many antique Singers, their treadle tables, and reproduction hand cranks for those that have lost their treadles, that we now have enough to offer some to you ... again for reasonable, humble prices!

Merrimack Valley Quilters Raffle Quilt
2015-2016

While it is ironic that the Merrimack Valley Quilt Guild has chosen the same weekend as our Humble Beginnings Adventure (a change made too late for us to alter our printing orders) we're going to be optimistic that our MVQG friends will be able to attend the quilt show in Newburyport and still have time to visit our partner shops in the same weekend. We're sure you will enjoy both!

Merrimack Valley Quilters Show Poster 2016

We have invested a lot of time, energy and materials in preparing for Humble Beginnings Adventure, to provide what we want to be a wonderful, colorful, beautiful New England weekend quilt shop expedition ... please put us on your calendar for those three days. You can visit the special website that

we have set up for your convenience to learn more about our six shops. We've provided maps in the flyer that will help you locate us and plan your route. We've also posted the Humble Beginnings Adventure (and the MVQ show in Newburyport) at Quilters Bug website, and at each of our own sites.

Will you honor us with your company? We promise it will be well worth your while~

Summer's End Approaches

For years I taught science in elementary classrooms, and the four seasons were one of the early units. We would talk about weather and daylight, and in the upper elementary grades the dates and scientific reasons for the solstices and the equinoxes. The seasons changed around the 20th - 21st of March, June, September and December ...

But then the meteorologist made an arbitrary decision that it would be easier to use the first day of those months as the change of season. They call the true change dates "Astronomical"seasons, and their new chosen dates "Meteorological" seasons, telling viewers that June is summer because it's June ... December is winter because it's December, and the variance in our New England weather has no relevance to their altered calendars. Bah, humbug!

So, in my world, Autumn does not begin until September 21st. But the meterologists would have you believe that summer ends with the turn of the calendar page, which will happen in less than two weeks.
New: direct link to our webstore for this product:
http://www.terrycrawfordpalardy.com/apps/webstore/products/show/6267244

To that end, I will start my End of Summer fabric sale with a 50% discount on all nautical fabrics bought last year and marked with 2015 prices ... what had been ten dollars will now be sold at five dollars per yard. I do have three bolts of new 2016 nautical fabric bought this year with this year's prices ($11.00 per yard) and they will not be marked down (yet.)

So come visit the shop, and see what else is on sale at Quilters' Quarters (hint: Halloween Fabrics are also marked at $5.00 per yard, as they are also part of the 2015 stock and were purchased at last year's cost.

And the same goes for the back to school fabrics, which are beautiful 100% quilt quality cotton!

Remember, too: when I get a sale, I pass that discount on to our customers. Quilters' Quarters is our happily ever after, and happiness shared is happiness to the max!

For Quilters' Quarters online 
shopping: http://www.terrycrawfordpalardy.com/apps/webstore/

For Wooden Toy and Gift online shopping:
http://www.woodentoyandgift.net/

Our shop hours for Quilters' Quarters and Wooden Toy and Gift are posted at the top of the right margin: please check there for any holiday change announcements.

August Has Arrived!

This summer is flying past, but not swiftly enough to generate a cool breeze. Still, the weather board suggests cooling ahead, beginning today.

August, though, means the summer is half-over here in New England, and the Row by Rowers have no doubt lost a few days to the oppressive heat we've been experiencing. North of Boston, we've just come off a nine day heat wave of 90+ degree temperatures, with humidity up there in the 60's ... but we're putting that behind us now. Time to think of easy quilt-as-you-go 6 inch x 36.5 inch Row by Row™ rows and their free patterns in quilt shops! Much cooler than working with a full quilt in your lap.

Our " Patch Puppy Paradise" row kit is  priced at $10.00, and comes with the free pattern of easy to follow machine applique using fusible interfacing (or basting spray, pins or a simple glue stick) to temporarily hold the four dogs and their houses on the row. Simple or decorative top stitching and echo or free motion quilting will make our row POP on your 2016 Home Sweet Home quilt. And, if you want extra Dalmatian pups, or a line of trees along the horizon as embellishments, we have those in the shop, too.

We still have new fabrics arriving almost daily ... batiks, holidays, patriotic colors ... cut from the bolt panels, pre-cut jelly rolls (2.5" strips), charm packs (5" squares) and layer cakes (10" squares) ~ sounds like a bakery, doesn't it? The variety of colors, prints and textures in any of these pre-cut packs is what makes them great additions to your growing stash.

Borders for your row by row quilt?

Williamsburg Fabrics!

more Williamsburg Fabrics
in different color settings

Wilmington Prints and Quilting Treasures
play nicely together!

Strips and Rolls of all sorts!

Westrade 108" backings

batiks, patriotic fabrics, and more!

batik charm square packs

digital nautical print - new technique!

horizontal panel with 
coordinating layer cake pack

new Ink and Arrow (I Spy) fabrics for the holidays

Quality companies like Quilting Treasures and Wilmington Prints now have smaller packs (numbering 24 rather than 42 cuts in a pack) bringing the cost of such variety in line with our own lower prices($23.00 rather than $42.00.)  And always, when we get a wholesale discount, you get the same percentage as a retail discount! That's why you'll find quilt quality name brand fabrics at Quilters' Quarters for as low as $4, $5, $6 and $7 per yard! We do also have the $11.50-12.00/yd bolts, but are always willing to cut those into fat quarters or chubby eighths for you ~ just ask us.

Quilters' Quarters "Feel Good Shopping" promotion continues to delight shoppers ... we've garnered quite a few Five Box Cards in our sewing cabinet drawer ... and several are approaching the Special Fifth Friday 20% Off All-You-Can-Fit Loyal Shopper bag! Re-read the details at this special page if you need a reminder of how this can help you save A LOT OF money on back to school and holidy projects.

We look forward to seeing you and helping you find just the right fabric for your next project.  We have threads,pins, needles and other tools, too!

If you're reading this in your email, thank you for following the blog. If you found us at our Facebook Page, go ahead and click the "follow by email" link at the top of the right margin, so you won't miss any special events or offerings.

Quilters' Quarters 2016 fabric plate is $5.00!

Don't be shy - visit the many pages listed in the table of contents of this blog (in the right margin.) And as always, please feel free to share this email with your friends and family so they, too, will benefit from our local quilt shop experience.

Remember, we have our own shop hop starting at the end of September ... pick up information at Quilters' Quarters, and buy your $6.00 Adventure pass that comes with this special bag and more details about Humble BeginningsAdventure!

Helen and Henry (and Rick and Terry) look forward to your next visit to Quilters' Quarters, and are happy to share all that we have to offer.

For Quilters' Quarters online shopping: http://www.terrycrawfordpalardy.com/apps/webstore/
For Wooden Toy and Gift online shopping:
http://www.woodentoyandgift.net/
Our shop hours for Quilters' Quarters and Wooden Toy and Gift are posted at the top of the right margin: please check there for any holiday change announcements.