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.

OOPS - Quick update! More new fabric arrived at Quilters' Quarters!

Just a quick update to showcase the new fabrics that arrived yesterday just after I'd posted to the blog: The Minions have arrived, along with the long-lost bolt of Mimosa Blossoms! Remember, you can click on each photo to enlarge for details.

Minion Panel measures a full 36" x 44",
though only the top is shown in this photo. Come
in to the shop to see the rest!

I waited several months for this beautiful
Mimosa Blossoms' bolt to arrive,
completing my order of the blending
10" squares and foliage bolt.

This line is from Quilting Treasures, and
it truly feels as wonderful as it looks!
And yes, we do still have
"HAPPY QUILTER" T-shirts,
in sizes S,M,L,XL. and XXL

Hearts Ahead! (click images to enlarge)

Congratulations, Darcie! You've won our FIRST drawing for the Valentine's Day Contest!  Thanks for using the Snoopy Valentine Fabric for your beautifully-embroidered and quilted pillow!

****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.

Our first, new quilting event for 2015 will be a Valentine's Day Contest: come in to see our new collection of fabrics and make something for a loved one using some of our Valentine quilt-quality cotton.  We have several bolts to select from, and you can design your own project. Maybe a lap quilt ... or a pair of comfy quilted slippers, or a Valentine's Day box, or bag, or hat ... or a yoga mat, or a set of placemats and napkins ... there are so many ideas on the internet today, and we have some of these as patterns in the shop! Be creative and come up with something someone you love will love!

Here's how the contest will work: there are three potential levels of your choice.

•   If you use at least one of our new Valentine's Day fabrics in your work, you'll qualify for a level one prize ... a ten dollar gift certificate for Wooden Toy and Gift or Quilters' Quarters.  
• If you use two of our fabrics, you'll qualify for a level two prize ... two $10 gift certificates, to spend or share with your Valentine.  
• And if you use three or more of our Valentine Fabrics in your Valentine Gift, you'll win a $25.00 gift certificate for either Rick's shop or Terry's ~ the winner chooses! Both shops are located together at 59 North Street, Georgetown, Massachusetts ~ just two doors north of Perley School.
• Bring your finished Valentine's Day Contest project in to our shop by Friday, February 13th to have a photo taken of it. Your name and the photo of your project will be put into an envelope and then into "the heart sack" and the winner will be drawn on Saturday, February 14th.

Wooden Toy and Gift puzzle

If you're not familiar with Rick's Wooden Toy and Gift shop, stop in to see it, or visit his website: www.WoodenToyandGift.net.

Here is our new collection of Valentine Fabrics; we also have a "make your own yoga mat and carry sack" pattern for only $2.00! And don't forget to mention that you are entering the Valentine's Day Contest - because that will get you a ten percent discount on the Valentine's Day Contest fabrics (prices range from $4.00 to $11.00 per yard.) You can also purchase these fabrics at our webstore: Valentine Fabrics

Fabric collection from Quilting Treasures,
an employee-owned company in the U.S.A.

Yoga Kitties in their Yoga positions...

with a matching paw-print fabric

Snoopy fabrics with kind, encouraging messages

This panel makes a fabric book of "Tips from the Gang" 

Lots of blending hearts and flowers fabrics

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 Georgetown Quilts of Valor 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

How We Stock the Quilters' Quarters

Every now and then I'll post a new resource here.  Quilters' Quarters is in its fifth month of existence this week, and our goal was to have a strong presence in town and on line by the time we have our first annual celebration. That gives us seven months to be sure that we are carrying things that you want us to carry.

Here's a look at some of our suppliers, or resources:

New England Quilt Supply

•  Located in Pembroke, Massachusetts, NEQS is a four-floor warehouse of fabrics, notions, batting, books, rotary mats, cutters, blades and threads of all sorts. Because Quilters' Quarters is a registered retail store with them, we can buy goods at wholesale prices. We then sell them in our shop or online at retail prices, but can discount to promote however we wish (and can afford to do.)
  
• This company has an online catalog of all of the products they carry. Customers can go to the catalog, where they will, upon clicking open an item, find retail prices, order numbers, manufacturing details etc. A customer can then browse at leisure and let us know via email any products that you would like us to carry or stock personally for you. As we will have to buy a full bolt or at least a half-bolt, we will do order and if it is something that we think other customers will want as well, we will order it and sell at retail the limited amount that you want .  But, if it is truly unique and we don't think we'll find another buyer to buy the rest, or at least more, of the bolt, we will ask the customer ordering it to buy the full or half-bolt from us. Most bolts at NEQS are 15 yards, but they will split a bolt in half if asked, charging a small fee of $1.00 per bolt.
• You can find a link to our shop on New England Quilt Supply's Retail Store Locator by clicking Massachusetts on their map. A large number of local quilt shops work with new England Quilt Supply and their websites and locations are available at this link. We are happy to refer to other quilt shops to help our customers find what they are looking for as quickly as meets their needs. 

Quilting Treasures

Click Here to Link to the Linus Project Fabrics

• Located in Cranston, Rhode Island and owned by employees who live in many areas, this company has a long history of providing quality quilt-shop fabrics. Once made in a factor in western Massachusetts, the fabrics are now ordered and delivered from South Carolina and New Jersey. The designs, patterns and kits are all developed specifically for Quilting Treasures. Our Quilting Treasures Sales Representative lives nearby in Southern New Hampshire.
• Each season a new line will be released, and will be available for at least two years. Fabrics that sell well will be repeated for another two year cycle. Designers are creating new sets of pattern designs continually. 
• One of the panels I've ordered (which will arrive in mid-March, 2014) is of Linus holding his blanket; this is part of the Linus Project, which the Merrimack Valley Quilt Guild has supported. I'm happy to be a part of that guild, and will continue offering fabrics that are child-centered.
• As with New England Quilt Supply, we will order full bolts of 12 yards each. 
• Quilting Treasures also has a second line of fabrics called V.I.P., which have lower prices per yard and sometimes fewer yards on a bolt. These are fabrics that you may also find at large retail chains like JoAnn's and Walmart. We can order those also. 
• Customers can view fabrics of Quilting Treasures at their website. 

A Traveling Salesman named Joe

• Joe travels from shop to shop offering fabrics from many manufacturers (similar to the lines of fabrics offered at New England Quilt Supply, with whom he works directly.) Joe's bolts are  10 yard bolts, and prices are very similar to both NEQS and QT. 
  
• Joe does not (to my knowledge) have an online catalog of his own: however, he does deal in fabrics from Timeless Treasures, Henry Glass, RJR and many more. I bought several bolts of 'blender' fabrics from Joe on his first visit to our shop. Blenders are tone on tone small prints that provide complementary backgrounds for quilt blocks.  
• Joe deals only with quilt-shop quality fabrics. I will get a complete list of the companies he deals with in the near future, and customers will be able to browse those company's sites and I will be able to order through Joe to find those fabrics being sought. 

Online fabric and notion websites

Occasionally, I will go online to purchase something for the shop.  Some of the sites I favor for this shopping are easily accessible, and most offer "follow by email" links to give a heads-up now and then for special sale items. Shipping is always an expense, but occasionally free shipping is offered if buying in quantity. Here are my favorite on-line sites:

• Keepsake Quilting a shop in New Hampshire filled with fabric!
• JoAnn Fabrics lots of coupons for special sales
• Annie's many pages of fabrics, notions and classes
• Craftsy video classes for nominal fees, and easy to save and refer to when needed
• Fons and Porter more notions and books than you could shake a stick at - fabric quarters, too.

And, don't forget: You Tube has a lot of FREE videos on specific quilt skills and ideas! Once you try one, you'll see many more along the side margin.  Some of the advertisements can be skipped after a few seconds. Give it a try! This one is one of the companies that has many videos that are very clear. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHfIXnk_W4A. 

Enjoy some quiet computer time that will whet your appetite for visiting quilt shops! I love having company in the shop and talking with quilt makers - such nice people!

If you're reading this in your email - THANKS! for signing up to follow the blog:  http://AtQuiltersQuarters.Blogspot.com

Happy sewing! ~ Terry