It's almost December~ Ready, Set, Go!

Rick and I made one more trip to the warehouse in Pembroke, and came home with some nice quilt quality fabric, some at sale prices; you know that when we get a bargain, you get a bargain... take a look at some of what we brought home with us.

This is my favorite pair ... an unlikely pair ... the one of the left is priced $3.00/yard, and the one on the right (or the other left) is by Benartex, with a metallic design that sells for $11/yard. But look at those colors together - wow! Only in a warehouse can you find a match like that!

And then, there are the flannels.  Some I've purchased from the fabric company representatives who visit the shop ... some are from the warehouse (same fabric companies, usually last year's stock or discontinued lines downstairs) and their prices are the only difference! Our collection of juvenile fabrics range from $4 to $11 / yard; only the price tags tell the tale - they all feel wonderful to me, and are both beautiful and adorable. The only hint you'll get from me is that the longer I've had them, the slimmer the bolts, so they may have been warehouse purchases last year, or half-bolts sold there this year!

My wedding colors in 1970 -
these flannels are this year's product, but priced at 5.50/yard,
and have a print of small tone on tone stars.

wonderful bolt of pink background with
angel snow figures and peaceful wishes

the border fabric for the above print

What little girl wouldn't love these pink and purple
birds and butterflies on her bathrobe or jammies?
It's a wonderful, thick flannel!

I just love these penguins and fox, snowmen and birds.

This is a comfy flannel of snowflakes
on a gentle blue background.

And a "toss" design of those fox and penguins,
with a polar bear!

Some of our earlier flannels, at a very low price.
Get them while you can ... not much left on these bolts!And they won't last long at $3/yard.
They make wonderful pillow cases, too,
and we sell the kits with a pattern for $10.

I've also bought some grown-up prints at a very good price ... again, all quilt-quality 100% cotton fabrics with nostalgic floral prints in muted tone backgrounds:

Believe - each of these bolts holds fabrics
that sell for $3 to $4 / yard!

The first fabric I'd  bought from a visiting salesman when our shop was new in the fall of 2013 was a rainbow of Henry Glass cotton bolts ... and as I've begun to run out of them, I've found a salesperson today who can help me restock ... at close to the 2014 cost! 

The 2014 price was $10/yard, and though many
top quality fabrics like this are now pricing at $12/yard,
I'm going to stay with the original price - because I can!
The center of my business plan reads HAPPY!

As Hanukah and Christmas are less than a month away, I couldn't resist adding a few more bolts to the collection ~ at prices ranging from $3 to $11/yard, some with bling, and some without ... but it's not the bling that adds to the price ... it's honoring the artist!

Do you see white trees on black,
or black trees on white?

Beautiful floral border fabric for table runners
made with a 60 degree ruler - which we have in stock.

A typical glittered snowflake on white, next to an all cotton
Menorah print - the prices will surprise you!

I've never seen such delicate silver snowflakes as on this white bolt;
I've paired it with a new Hanukah/Star of David fabric.

Most of you know I try to stock sought-after juvenile fabric (not necessarily Disney or other movie brand fabrics ... just fabrics that delight kids and those who love sewing for them.) This line of jungle animals and their names is priced at $7.50/yard. I have only one bolt of each, so don't miss out~

The border is a favorite fabric ... sold a few yards
of that one already!

Text fabric seems to be in vogue this year ...
I'm all for helping kids recognize names.

Don't wait too long - I typically buy only one bolt of a specific fabric, and when it's gone, it's truly gone. Our prices are held as low as we can hold them ... and we regularly offer discounts to shoppers.

After all, if people didn't find what they're looking for at prices they can afford, they wouldn't visit our shop ... and then they wouldn't see the envelope that sits quietly on the table inviting donations that benefit our town's school children at lunch time ... and that make the givers happy, and the children happy ... it's all part of our Feel Good Shopping program at Quilters' Quarters. And by the way, the schools are receiving more than one hundred dollars again this month due to the generosity of quilters and the loyalty that keeps bringing them back for more Happy Quilting!

Many thanks, all!

For more information on Feel Good Shopping, click here.

For more information on online shopping at our webstore, click here. If you don't see what you want online but see it here at the blog, email me at needlesandpens@comcast.net and I'll invoice you via Paypal and mail it to you!

Please feel free to forward this email to your friends and suggest that they sign up to follow our blog with updates by adding their email to our list (top of the right margin.)

Enjoy the rest of the Fall Season! We look forward to seeing you again soon 

Calendar Pages Are Turning So Quickly!

Well, it's true. This Friday, there will only be thirty more days 'til Christmas. And as shocking as that sounds, I just want to remind you that Hanukkah begins on the night before Christmas this year! All across this beautiful land, people are going to start scrambling to find the right gift for each person on their lists...


And so, Quilters' Quarters will be hosting Friday night workshops for elves and other creative spirits from all over ... this week, participants will be asked to bring an old or used but beloved teapot to the shop, and will be led in discovering ways to use it as a gift for someone special in their lives. It's a small shop, so we'll be limited in the number of participants each week -  half a dozen or less - call ahead to reserve a seat. Workshops will begin at 6 pm and will end when all have finished.  $15 per participant and, for this week if you don't have a teapot you can buy one at the shop for another $10 or less.

We have a lot of winter and holiday fabrics, and are going to the warehouse tomorrow to search for more. Our goal is always to find the best buys for all of our local quilters, sewists and creative makers. If we don't have something you want, and we can find it at a reasonable quantity and cost, we'll get it for you!

Stop in and see our beautiful collections of quilt quality 100% cotton. I can't tell you how many customers have commented on the diversity of our fabrics and the comfortable atmosphere of our small shop. Bring a friend with you.

In fact, if you bring a new customer to our shop on Small Business Saturday (or even a former customer who is a sewing buddy of yours) we'll add their purchase amount to  your Five Box Card. Don't remember what that means? Visit the page at this blog that explains our "Feel Good Shopping" program ... You'll find it in the table of contents over there in the right margin. >>>>>>>

<<<< This is a QQ Status Bag.
Many customers are "maxing" their Five Box Cards and receiving their first store-credit cards, and their purple "HAPPY QUILTER/LOYAL SHOPPER bags, which will be very valuable during the last week of this calendar year, because December 30th is a Fifth Friday, and as we know that is the last Fifth Friday of this calendar year but the first Fifth Friday opportunity for our loyal customers to use their "status bags" in the shop, we're extending the Fifth Friday 20% off to the entire week for our bag owners!

Last year, we closed for the months of January and February, and while we missed our drop-in customers, we knew that the temperatures in the shop would require more heating expenditures than the revenue could cover.  We didn't have as much snow as typical winters during those months, but the temperatures were as predicted ... and the barn is, in fact, a barn, without any insulation on the first floor forward ... and the quilt shop was below freezing point on many of those days.

BUT - sometimes a customer just needs needles, or thread, or a bit more batting or fabric and does not want to drive down the highway to purchase such. We NEVER refuse to open for a customer in need. If we're home, we'll open the shop for you. We recommend that you bundle up, for there is nothing colder than an unheated barn in New England during winter! Just give us a call at 978-352-2676 to let us know when you'd like to come by.

Oh - and I don't want to forget to mention Small Business Saturday, which is coming up soon. Saturday, November 26th is an open house day for Quilters' Quarters ... we'll have light refreshments, door prizes, discounts and more - see our post at Facebook, and go to our website for a special door prize ticket:  http://www.terrycrawfordpalardy.com/

So mark your calendars:

• Friday November 26th: 6 pm Teapot workshop at Quilters' Quarters
• Saturday November 27th:  11am - 7pm ~ Small Business Saturday! Open House at QQ
• Friday December 2, 9, 16, 23: 6 pm Last Minute Gift Workshops at QQ
• Wed. December 22 - Saturday December 31, "Fifth Friday All Week" (See Feel Good Shopping Page for what Fifth Friday means at our shop.)

As always,

If you've received this in your email, thank you for following our blog. Please invite your friends to sign up at the top of the page so they will receive updates from Quilters'  Quarters!

Terry's email and online webstore for our distance customers: 

• needlesandpens@comcast.net
• http://www.terrycrawfordpalardy.com/apps/webstore/

Rick's email, online webstore and blog: 

• woodentoyandgift@comcast.net
• www.woodentoyandgift.net
• http://WTandGNews.blogspot.com

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Hey, Do You Live in a Barn?

For those who may not yet have visited us at Quilters' Quarters (just two doors north of Perley School in Georgetown, Massachusetts) you may wonder at the title of this post ...

While we don't live in the barn, Rick and I enjoy working in and sharing our nineteenth century carriage barn which sits beside our home, at the rear of the driveway. We love with its wide pine floors, very old beams (we suspect they predate this 1815 structure, and have probably seen longer service in a previous barn) and sweet little cubby-rooms that were once dressing rooms for its previous use as a seamstress's dress shop, then called The Cricket Shop more than fifty years ago. Having bought the 'going away' dress for our wedding at this very shop, we knew when we saw the for sale sign a few decades ago that it was meant to be our forever home. We enjoy our retirement commute of seven steps from back door to our shops, and for ten months a year we welcome visitors who most often share our happiness with beautiful fabrics and sweet-smelling freshly-cut wood.

Rick began right away with his Wooden Toy and Gift shop, using the front of the first floor to make and showcase his beautiful old fashioned toys. In time, we replaced the shed at the back of the carriage barn (an addition that wasn't as well constructed as the original post and beam barn itself) and he moved his workspace out there. And when I retired from my teaching career, I opened a fabric shop and began my happily ever after career as a shop owner, quilter and author.  We live frugally on our pensions, and our only luxury is the freedom we have to buy and sell fabrics and notions, and make and share quilts and wooden creations and more at reasonable prices for our neighbors and friends.

I'm going to use this blog entry to share some of the character of our shop, to entice those who haven't become our customers yet to stop by and see us when we're open (Wednesdays through Saturday 11-7, March through December.)
We do close for the months of January and February, as the temperatures drop and the amount of heat we would have to provide in those months far outweights any income our shops might provide during the nine week period. But we maintain online shops as well (Quilters' Quarters webstore is located at this link: http://www.terrycrawfordpalardy.com/apps/webstore/ and Rick's Wooden Toy and Gift products are located online at this site: http://woodentoyandgift.net/

When you enter the shop, the antique door bell clangs as it swings with the motion of the door. That lets us know that you're here, in case we've gone into the house for a bit.

You'll immediately see beautiful shelves filled with fabrics: batiks, prints, solids, tone on tone, full bolts, precuts ... and you'll also see a collection of antique Singer sewing machines, as Rick and I collect and repair them for customers' use.

Old Singers on the shelf overhead

Some of our fabric is in the next room, where Rick has built not only open shelving but also closed cabinets to keep his sawdust away from fabrics ... he made these with plexiglas and plywood, so that quilters could still see the fabrics and open the magnetic doors to feel the 'hand' of each one.

Closed cabinets protect some fabrics

We have what used to be a 'book nook' (former dressing room) that is now our holiday closet, filled with bolts of Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween and Back to School fabrics. You can see it to the left of Linus's panel, still filled with free children's books that are now rotated out via our "Little Free Libary" at the end of our driveway.

in the former
book nook

Rick checking the level

The old oak file cabinet of strips

In addition to the new shelving, Rick and I have also made an effort to use the pieces that we found in the carriage barn when we first bought it.  We have a wonderful old beadboard cabinet that we painted white on the inside and barn red on the outside, and that is where we house all of our 44" fabrics. And we have an old oak four drawer file cabinet, minus its drawers, and we find that very ample to showcase our 2.5" strips that we purchase from Wilmington Prints and Quilting Treasures.

Red Beadboard Cupboard filled with flannels

The wide pine floorboards catch a lot of attention as people walk through the front rooms of Quilters' Quarters.  And the very old beams that support Rick's upstairs' workshop seem to pre-date this building, as they have mortise and tendon cuts here and there that appear to have no function in their present position. Rick hangs his scroll-saw cut scissors and quilters' plaques from the beams, which I believe enhances both his work and the sturdy structure of the building!

New scissors on the old beams

As we move through the fall season, new arrivals seem to appear each week; new batiks, new blenders, new prints ... they come by UPS, by FedEx, by USPS ... and it's been quite a while since Rick and I have taken a ride down to our favorite warehouse in Pembroke ... we're due, I think, and will be heading that way soon! But meanwhile, here's a peek at some of the new fabrics that have come our way:

Westrade 108" flannel and cotton quilt backs

Timeless Treasures' linen-look quilt quality cotton

new blue batiks 

new red and green Shimmer

Wilmington Prints "Winter's Eve" precuts

We look forward to sharing the history and happiness that this building offers to Rick and to me every day. Come see us! We're not hard to find - just two doors north of Perley School in Georgetown, Massachusetts. And if our hours don't suit you, give us a call and we'll try to be open when you can be here! 978-352-2676.