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.

Winter in July?

While the cool temperatures of last week mirrored the oddly-warm December we had this past year, they will be spiking more typical highs this week ahead.

To help you feel cooler, we'll be showcasing winter fabrics this month at Quilters' Quarters ... Christmas delights, snowy landscapes, polar bears, deer, bears and more are beautifully illustrated on fabrics from Wilmington Prints, Quilting Treasures, Ink and Arrow and more ... Here are a few to entice shoppers to think of cooler setttings and the warmth quilts will bring to them: Fabric books, panels, blenders and more! The price of each fabric book and winter fabric is  reduced by 10% for the rest of the month of July, 2016!

This new shipment of fabrics is from Wilmington Prints, and Quilting Treasures.

Fabric book

Two beautiful blenders for the fabric book

Advent Calendar with a "Home Sweet Home" view

With a subtle plug for Wooden Toys, of course!

Another fabric book

Full vertical panel of 35" x 44" 

Another fabric book!

Book pages with wonderful messages

Quilting Treasures winter fabric

5" squares and 10" squares from Wilmington Prints

Two more bolts of Ink and Arrow designs ...
some arrows are easy to spot, and some arrows are not!

Can you find the arrow in the trees?

Happy Independence Day!  

This brief update is to let you know our holiday hours: Surprise!

We are still open from Wednesday through Saturday, 11 am - 7pm.

As always, if we are home on other days and can accomodate your own schedule needs, we will do so - just give us a call to make sure we can. 

In other news:

Quilters' Quarters is happy to announce that our recipient for July's first week of FEEL GOOD SHOPPING will be

"Stitching Your Wishes"

Helping our community one stitch at a time

This is a group of non-profit volunteers who meet at the Stevens Memorial Library in North Andover on the second Saturday of every month. 10:00AM – 3:00PM. (Except for July & Aug.) They knit and crochet preemie hats, baby blankets, baby sweaters, shawls, scarves, hats, mittens, chemo caps, lap robes, etc., and donate these items to local organizations, such as veteran's homes, nursing homes, pregnancy centers, homeless shelters, Hospice House, cancer units and neo-natal units at hospitals, etc.

Mark your calendar and plan your fabric, notion, thread and book shopping for July 6th through 9th and know that 10% of your purchase amount will be donated to "Stitching Your Wishes!"

Quilters' Quarters is featured in our local newspaper this week; you can read the article online at this link: Georgetown Record

We've had a strong beginning for Row by Row™  2016 Adventure, with quilters finding us through the national Row by Row website, and several paperback travel books that now list our shop in Massachusetts. 

Rick and I have begun visiting local libraries to present information on the vintage and antique sewing machines that we've learned about -  we give a talk about the history and creators of these machines, and then speak to the relative ease in maintaining the hundred-plus year old work horses. We bring a treadle maqchines, a few hand cranks and Featherweights and invite the audience to visit the machines hands-on and ask questions or tell stories of their own families' machines. We've spoken to the Hammersmith Quilt Guild in Saugus, and the Georgetown Peabody Library here in town. We're scheduled for an early August presentation sponsored by the Langley-Adams Public Library in Groveland, MA.

If you would like us to visit your quilt guild or library, please contact us via email: needlesandpens@comcast.net, and we'll be happy to schedule with you.

Wishing you each a Happy Independence Day and a happy, healthy holiday weekend!

Welcome to Row by Row 2016™

Home Sweet Home is the theme this year for the now-global Row by Row summer long shop hop. Quilters' Quarters has chosen a fun row for this year's theme, and titles it "Patch Puppy Paradise."

Click on any photo to make it larger

When Rick was a young child, he had a Dalmatian, and of course named him Spot. So many Dalmatians were named Spot in the fifties, as children learned to read with Dick and Jane, and their dog's name was Spot.

When we decided to buy a puppy for our son, Rob, we found a Dalmatian that seemed to have gone through the spot machine too quickly to be called that. This one was nearly all white, with small black dots here and there, and larger spots on his ears. Rob decided to call him Patch.

Patch, 1993 - 2004

As a firefighters' daughter, wife, and mother, I was very fond of the Dalmatian dogs, though my family had mixed breed puppies when we were growing up. But this year's RxR theme gave me an opportunity to honor those wonderful animals that brightened the childhoods of the men in my life. So I created a comfortable setting with some beautiful fabrics, and built small dog houses for four Dalmatians. I machine-appliqued the houses and dogs to the strip setting, then added some embellishments (visiting puppy pals and birds in trees) before free motion quilting the row.

The kits are package in three color-ways; one has a mix of different colors using 5" squares from Quilting Treasures' charm packs. The other two are of 5" squares cut from Moda's marble swirl fabrics; one of rainbow colors, and one of similar colors but including pink and purple. There is fabric containing four Dalmatians to be fussy-cut included in each kit, as well as the background stips of sky, grass and rock wall.

The kits are being sold in this first week of Row by Row 2016 for the introductory/celebratory price of $10.00. They will be $11.00 for the rest of the summer.

We're also featuring a retro-license plate for this Home Sweet Home theme: Massachusetts had a burgundy colored plate 'back in the day.' Plates have an introductory price of $5.00 this week, which will rise to the regular $6.00 for the rest of the summer. We also have some 2014 (Seasons) and 2015 (Water) license plates left, and will sell those for $5.00 all summer long.

The Pin Peddlars who make and sell high quality metal pins for the Row by Row™ group have sold their business to Missouri Star Quilt Company; Quilters' Quarters has ordered the rectangular shaped pins for 2016, These will be sold, like the license plates, for $5.00 this week, and then for $6.00 through the summer, for as long as they last. We do still have some 2015 pins left (for $5.00 all summer) in case you missed those last year.

       

We're looking forward to seeing all of our traveling quilters this summer! And we have a bonus to offer you - a $6.00 Humble Beginnings Adventure Pass that will get you double-block fabric kits from six small quilt shops in Massachusetts for the special inaugural shop hop we're holding from September 30 - October 2! That's fabric and patterns for twelve 6" blocks and three days to gather them for one single payment of $6.00! Don't forget to ask for yours at Quilters' Quarters - the first fifty will receive this re-usable, un-losable, un-missable orange tote for the hop!

          

And don't forget - each time you shop with us, your purchase amount is entered on your "Five Box Card" and earns you a store credit of 10% of your totals after your fifth visit. And new bags have been ordered and will be here next week for those who have filled their Five Box Card and are eligible for the special refillable Loyalty Bag ... to be filled on any and every Fifth Friday with as much as will fit, at a 20% discount! And... this July happens to have a Fifth Friday! In fact, this month of July has a fifth Friday, a fifth Saturday, and a fifth Sunday! I think we'll need to do something special with the number Five on that weekend! Stay Tuned for more 'Feel Good Shopping" promotions!

                     

Thank you for your loyalty!

Terry's email: needlesandpens@comcast.net

Terry's webstore: TerryCrawfordPalardy.com 

(Remember, if you see something here at the blog and you don't see it at our webstore, just email me and I'll put it up for on-line sale.)

Rick's website: www.woodentoyandgift.net

Rick's blog: WTandGNews.blogspot.com

And, one more thing: 

Quilters' Quarters is happy to announce that our recipient for July's first week of FEEL GOOD SHOPPING will be
"Stitching Your Wishes"
Helping our community one stitch at a time

This is a group of non-profit volunteers who meet at the Stevens Memorial Library in North Andover on the second Saturday of every month. 10:00AM – 3:00PM. (Except for July & Aug.) They knit and crochet preemie hats, baby blankets, baby sweaters, shawls, scarves, hats, mittens, chemo caps, lap robes, etc., and donate these items to local organizations, such as veteran's homes, nursing homes, pregnancy centers, homeless shelters, Hospice House, cancer units and neo-natal units at hospitals, etc.

Mark your calendar and plan your fabric, notion, thread and book shopping for July 6th through 9th and know that 10% of your purchase amount will be donated to "Stitching Your Wishes!"

Beautiful Panels Make Your Quilts Grow Quickly!

Quilters' Quarters has received beautiful fabrics over the past few weeks. From Wilmington Prints and Quilting Treasures we have panels that are perfect season by season. More batiks have arrived from Mirah. Varied prints and patterns in precuts of 5" charm packs half the size and half the price of others, and packages of 2 1/2" strips also in few numbers and lower prices. Ten inch blender blocks will also speed your projects along and give your stash a boost in color and pattern.

Dolphin Island panel from
Quilting Treasures

Dolphin Island
Blender Fabric

Sand and Sea Panel
from Wilmington Prints

Sand and Sea
Blender Fabrics
and 2 1/2" Strips

Winter Whispers Deer Panel from
Wilmington Prints

10" Blocks of Winter Whispers'
Blender Fabrics

Quilting Treasures' Northern Lights
Polar Bear Panel

Northern Lights Blender Fabric

Patriotic Santa Panel

from Quilting Treasurers'

Peace on Earth

Long May She Wave Panel
from Quilting Treasures

Long May She Wave
Blender Fabric

All of these, and more, are in stock at Quilters' Quarters. We have many more panels, and fabric books, and fat quarter packs, packages of jelly roll strips, and 5" charm packs of 24 rather than 42, saving you money while still offering the variety of colors and patterns. Come visit us soon!

The summer long Row by Row™ international shop hop begins in just a few weeks! And when you're in our shop, I'll invite you to join our Humble Beginnings Adventure 2016, being held at the end of September. 

And don't forget - each time you shop with us, your purchase amount is entered on your "Five Box Card" and earns you a store credit of 10% of your totals after your fifth visit. 

Thank you for your loyalty!

Terry's email: needlesandpens@comcast.net

Terry's webstore: TerryCrawfordPalardy.com (remember, if you see something here at the blog and you don't see it at our webstore, just email me and I'll put it up for on-line sale.)

Rick's website: www.woodentoyandgift.net

Rick's blog: WTandGNews.blogspot.com