More Threads and a Collection of Thimbles

One of our consignees, Ann, has shared a collection of thimbles that her mother had saved through several decades. Ann thought there might be some quilters who could add some of hers to their treasures.  Come  into the shop to see them.  Here are a few pictures of the fifty thimbles she's placed in Quilters' Quarters:

Fifty sweet thimbles collected over many years.
From the top shelf of specials
to the lower shelf of plain metal thimbles
One of wood, one of fabric, and one of plastic
Each one unique.

Pewter, silver, fabric, ceramic and bone china ...
so many different thimbles!

The top right thimble is marked inside:
Spode Fine Bone China, England
and has gold cherubs painted around the rim. 

 I love the pewter pot thimble, though I haven't a clue how to use it to sew!

The top opens to reveal a dimpled thimble surface.

More enamel embellished, filigree design and hand painted flowers 

I've been able to add some more things to Quilters' Quarters inventory this week by monitoring auctions at eBay.  But I must offer a caution here: I lost a few auctions in the very last seconds because my fingers are not as nimble as others. I had made a higher bid, and for more than a day I had the lead on two lots of embroidery thread. On the first lot to come to its deadline, I was online and watching. Two seconds before the clock stopped, eBay released my hidden maximum bid, in time to let another bidder add one dollar to it. I was not  happy to see it happen that way.  On the second lot, the next morning, it happened again ... my maximum bid, thirty dollars higher than the standing bid, was suddenly released, and before I could hit the bid button, another did, and the bidding ended. I called eBay and asked why, as no other bids had come in, had they released my maximum in time to allow the other bidder to see it and beat it. They said simply 'that is how automatic bidding works.'

Lesson learned ... I was able to buy a few lots and did so, without bidding. Buyer, or bidder, beware; this is not our century!  Here are some photos of what I've added to the shop:

I have 166 bobbins of embroidery floss that come on numbered bobbins, all tightly packed together, and I will sell them separately for 25 to 50 cents each.  Some have had some of their floss removed from the bobbin; hence, the different price ranges. 

I also was able to buy 165 skeins of six-strand DNC embroidery floss, in a range of colors from whites, ecru, beige, pale pinks, reds, all the colors of the rainbow and so on through dark browns, and a single skein of black. And when I took a picture of the reds, yellows and green portion of the color spectrum, without the flash, they seemed, with my tremor, to blend into an image of salsa!  

If you know of someone who is looking for just that particular shade of color in embroidery threads, let them know of Quilters' Quarters and our reasonable prices.  I think these will go for fifty cents a skein. 

Be well, all.  Happy Sewing!

~Terry and Rick

email:

Terry:  needlesandpens@comcast.net          Rick: woodentoyandgift@comcast.net

websites:     www.woodentoyandgift.net             www.terrycrawfordpalardy.com

QuiltShopUpdates: http://atquiltersquarters.blogspot.com

Wooden Toy Updates: http://wtandgnews.blogspot.com 

Sharing a Local Press Article about Quilters' Quarters

Our favorite local reporter has interviewed Rick and me in the past about our retirement businesses.  When I let her know that we had diversified our shop and added Quilters' Quarters, she came over to visit and interviewed about this new endeavor.  She wrote a wonderful article, which I've reproduced for you here.

The editor chose a rather unusual headline for the article, but I'm pleased to say it appeared on page one, "above the fold."  Here is Sally's article: 

By Sally Applegate
georgetown@wickedlocal.com

Posted Mar. 2, 2014 @ 10:00 pm


GEORGETOWN


Since the 1940s, Georgetown quilters have always known they could get what they needed right downtown at Cressy’s, the unique little store that had everything. When owner Bob Dillon announced the store would close in 2007, Georgetown quilters rushed to the store to get things they knew would not be able to find anyplace nearby

Now there’s a new place for quilters right near Georgetown Square.

Two doors past Perley Elementary School sits Wooden Toy and Gift Shop, the popular home business of Theresa "Terry" and Rick Palardy, at 59 North St. The Palardys have recently added Quilters’ Quarters, an extensive collection of quilting and sewing supplies, to their collection of hand-carved wooden toys and one-of-a -kind gifts, including original quilts made by Terry. A valentine quilt is on display, and Easter quilts are on their way.

"We’re trying to fill the void left by the departure of Cressy’s and its sewing and crafts supplies - there was so much you used to be able to get at Cressy’s," Terry said. "When our local ‘everything’ shop closed its doors, the absence of a one-stop shop was felt by many families. While Rick and I can’t fill that void completely, we are happy to stock things that stitchers are looking for."

Customers will have input into what styles and brands of fabrics and notions will be carried in the shop, Terry promises. The Palardys are working with a wholesale quilt supplier in Massachusetts and can get most things within a few days.

They have opened their inventory with the basics: hand and sewing machine needles, dual duty threads, embroidery floss, packaged and rolled batting, scissors, rotary cutters and blades, mats and rulers. The Palardys say they can help their customers maintain the sewing machines and assist them in finding a professional repair person in a nearby town.

In the large room where Terry’s pretty valentine quilt is hanging many fabrics are on display. There are cotton flannel backing fabrics in prints and solids, sewing notions like pins, needles, zippers and interfacing.

The shop carries blank note cards by Lynne Schulte, quilted bags in prints and solids by Darcie Nuttall, and small purse kits by Ann Lainhart. The shop has a lending library of quilting books, as well as books by Palardy, who is also the author of eight books. Several of these are for sale at Quilters Quarters, including her latest, a new mystery novel called "The Quilter’s Quarters."

"It’s part mystery novelette and part annotated quilt gallery," Terry says. "I'm working on the second in the series now. It will be called "Winter Wonder in the Quilter's Quarters."

Rick and Terry have lived in Georgetown since 1976, moving to their 59 North St. home in 1994. Because Terry is dealing with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) she found herself unable to continue teaching at the Doherty Middle School in Andover.

The nice thing about their current North Street location just two doors from a school is that they can hear the cheerful voices of the Perley Elementary School students when they go out for recess, and Terry enjoys that.

"It’s a happy sound," Terry says.

Rick and Terry married in 1970, and Rick has been a tremendous support in her journey through MS. Rick is a retired Georgetown firefighter and metalworker, and the shop is filled with his creative carved wooden plaques and ornaments.

Terry is offering individual lessons in sewing, and assistance in color/fabric selection and quilt design. If you are interested the lessons, you can call and leave her a message at 978-352-2676. Patterns and kits are also available on request. Quilts can be ordered and made onsite.

As a member of the Merrimack Valley Quilt Guild and the Essex County Needlework Guild, Terry can introduce quilters to professional finish-quilters as well.

Quilters’ Quarters is open Wednesday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

For a sneak peek at the new quilting shop, you can visit www.TerryCrawfordyPalardy.com.
To see the article on the Georgetown Record's "Wicked Local" website, you can open this link:

http://georgetown.wickedlocal.com/article/20140302/NEWS/140309908?utm_source=newsletter-20140303&utm_medium=email&utm_term=view_as_webpage&utm_campaign=newsletter

Official "Buyers"

Rick and I will be making another trip to the wholesale fabric shop in Pembroke this week. I've never really thought of myself as much of a shopper ... I go looking for a specific item, like a pair of shoes for back to school, or a pair of sneakers every other summer. Every few years, I'll buy a bag of multi-colored summer socks, or take a trip up to Freeport, Maine to find wool socks for the winter. I don't have the knack for looking at clothes on a rack and figuring out which of them would fit me well. I tend to buy the same clothes over and over ... dungarees in the men's department, turtleneck jerseys or mock turtle sleeveless for summer wear. Whichever is on sale is the one I decide is right for me. And now that I'm retired I don't need to think about school clothes and can simply wear what I already have on hand. What a relief!


But shopping for fabric - that is a different thing altogether.  It's a little overwhelming to walk into a building with four floors of fabrics, plus notions, and crates full of batting and remnants sold by the pound. It took a bit of getting used to, but I'm beginning to know where to look for certain items. And I'm learning to remember to bring a specific list with me, and cross things off when I either find them or see them and decide I don't need them. Most important is having Rick with me, for he remembers where we've already been and what we're looking for on a certain floor.

In any fabric shop I'm used to always buying a bit more than I think I need, because yes, I have been the quilter looking for just one more row of that certain fabric for a nearly-finished border. But in the warehouse, most of what I buy comes in bolts of 10 or 15 yards. So the dollars add up quickly! The workers will, for a very small fee of $1.00 per bolt, split a bolt in half. That's what I've been doing with some of our first bolts, to add some variety without overbuying anything. Until we see a steady customer base we're buying blind when building our stock.

I will shop for my customers at the warehouse if what they need is what I could also sell in my shop. If they want just a few yards of a certain fabric, and I have to buy at least 7 or 10 yards, it has to be something I believe others will want to buy as well. And it will have to be in combination with other fabric and notion shopping  for our own business, because there is a minimum purchase amount for each shopping trip. I'll talk with customers as they visit the shop and invite them to search the warehouse on-line catalog for notions, threads and such, and perhaps a bolt of fabric that we can split.

A salesman called a week or so ago and introduced himself to me and asked if he might come by to show me fabric samples. I told him we were working with the warehouse in Pembroke, and he said he is, too. So I invited him to come, and he brought in large portfolios of fabric samples. Truly, I think he had a Mary Poppins' bag, for he pulled sample after sample until my entire cutting table was covered about twelve inches deep! He had many of the fabrics we'd seen in Pembroke, and new fabrics due to be released this spring. I decided to order half a dozen bolts with him of what is called "blender" fabrics ... small prints that coordinate with the dominant blocks in a quilt. They will be delivered by UPS, and we'll know then how much the shipping weight is.

Rick and I may, in time, be comfortable ordering by telephone or email from Pembroke and having fabrics shipped to us. Right now, when we go down and buy several bolts of fabric we think we are saving a lot on shipping cost. We estimated, using the federal mileage reimbursement figure, that each time we travel down to the warehouse we are using about sixty dollars in reimbursement or deductible terms. Until I'm able to purchase fabrics without touching them or holding them side by side, we'll continue to shop in person. A day on the highway with Rick is always a pleasant day, capped off with a brownie and lunch on the way home.

We plan on running the Quilters' Quarters and Wooden Toy and Gift for the next few decades; the characters in my new mystery series, Helen and Henry, are foreshadowing folks whom Rick and I might become in time. It's like writing a script of what we'd like our future to look like.  And when something is written down, it's not forgotten and can become a road map of where we want to be. That's a powerful feeling!



email:
 needlesandpens@comcast.net 

woodentoyandgift@comcast.net

websites: 

www.woodentoyandgift.net 

http://wtandgnews.blogspot.com 

www.terrycrawfordpalardy.com

http://atquiltersquarters.blogspot.com

Welcome to the new blog for Quilters' Quarters

I have a blog for book reviews, and a blog for health updates. Rick and I also have a blog for his Wooden Toy and Gift shop. And now this blog will feature our new quilt shop within Wooden Toy and Gift.

For several years, I and many others have missed the convenience of our small town general store named Cressy's. Begun more than fifty years ago, it was managed by the Christianson family until the Dillons bought it a few decades ago. But when major pharmacy chain opened right across the street, sales began to taper off and Georgetown lost this valuable resource.

I often would go into Cressy's to buy fabric, or ribbons, needles, pins, zippers and other notions needed for my sewing. The closest shop for these items is a few towns away, either up or down the highway. I don't drive on the highway any more.  And many others my age, younger and older don't like to drive highways either. Going to Cressy's on a whim was so easy, as they were opened evenings and Saturdays which fit my schedule as a public school teacher. I and many others soon realized what we had lost when Cressy's closed their doors.

And so Rick and I have recently opened the Quilters' Quarters. We purchase fabric and notions from a wholesale on the south shore of Massachusetts. Our inventory is only beginning to grow, and we welcome suggestions from our customers.

Presently, we are carrying bolts of quilt-shop-quality fabric, batting, needles, pins, rotary cutters and threads of Gutermann, Mettler and Coats and Clarks brands. We have a small selection of nylon zippers, interfacing and spools of ribbon.

We want to be your local, convenient quilt shop. We want to carry materials and notions that you want to find here in town. We will be open Wednesdays through Saturdays, from 11 am to 7 pm for the convenience of people who work either days or evenings. We will also open at other times if requested by phone or email, to meet your time schedule.

I will begin individual quilting lessons later this month, in the morning before the shop opens. Most lessons will begin at 10. And I'll be happy to help you decide what patterns you would like to make, or what colors you want to choose. We can calculate together how much of each fabric you'll need for the size quilt you want to make.

We also have a Singer Red-Eye Treadle Sewing Machine (dated 1922) that customers may want to learn to use, and I'll be happy to give short lessons on that. We had fun during Georgetown Days this past summer teaching young citizens of Georgetown how to use one of the machines that changed the way American families sewed for the home.

Come see us, and let us know what you would like us to carry in our new quilt shop.  We promise to keep our prices reasonable, as Cressy's always did. And we plan to take orders that we can fill within just a a few days for special fabrics that you would like to have.

And if you click the link that invites you to follow us by e-mail, we'll be able to keep you up to date on new acquisitions in the shop, as well as seasonal sales and discounts.

Looking forward to seeing you soon, and writing more here to entice you to visit us at the Quilters' Quarters blog. Remember, we are within Wooden Toy and Gift, at 59 North Street, Georgetown, MA, less than 1/4 of a mile from Georgetown Square, just two doors north of Perley School. We're open Wednesdays through Saturdays, 11 am - 7 pm, and can accommodate requests for special hours to meet your scheduling needs. It's our goal to meet your wishes for an enjoyable, local shopping experience.

Wednesday Through Saturday

11 am - 7 pm

Contact us:

Telephone: 978-352-2676

email:
 needlesandpens@comcast.net 

woodentoyandgift@comcast.net

websites: 

www.woodentoyandgift.net 

http://wtandgnews.blogspot.com 

www.terrycrawfordpalardy.com

http://atquiltersquarters.blogspot.com