Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

In South Boston, Saint Patrick's Day was the scene of the City of Boston's Evacuation Day parade, celebrating the day the new army under General George Washington succeeded in forcing the British Navy's evacuation of Boston Harbor ... The Coronavirus Pandemic caused the cancellation of the parade this  year ... respecting Governor Baker's State of Emergency guidelines. So if you're home, as many of us are, and looking for projects to keep you occupied ... 

As promised, Quilters' Quarters will remain closed, but our customers can access fabrics and notions via email (needlesandpens@comcast.net) If you are mobile you can come by for curb-side pickup and payment (cash or check) or, if you are self-quarantining, you can pay via paypal (I can invoice you at your email) and I will mail your purchases to you (or, if local, I can deliver it to your driveway.)

I will post some of the newer, and some of the most popular, items here every few days to tempt your creative side ... like these labrador retriever fabrics/blenders... $11/yard ... less your 20-40% discount...

This new Creative Grids curvy log cabin trim tool is now in stock, ... has a video that explains how to use this tool to make a few new patterns from your favorite log cabin block at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEJrvyaniJk

MSRP: $23.49, less QQ discount

And here is a bonus video ... different quilter, different voice, but beautiful blocks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WStMbQJvjdw
I am ordering these Cut Loose Patterns ... their manufacturer's suggested retail price is $3.50 ... but remember your discount~ 

By the way, these curvy log cabin blocks work very well with your jelly rolls you've been saving for something special ... or you can cut your own strips with the Stripology ruler ... also in stock at Quilters' Quarters... Three different sizes, three different prices, but always less with your QQ discount~ 

Stripology Rulers ... Three sizes ... XL, Regular, Mini
MSRPs: $64.49, $52.99, $39.99 minus QQ discount.

Stay safe, all.  Be well, and enjoy your time at home!

~Terry

Temporary Shop Closure

Our town of Georgetown is making every effort to minimize the transmission of potential virus contagions, and have closed all schools for the next two weeks.  All group activities scheduled in town buildings have been temporarily suspended. Our annual Book Sale at the public library has been indefinitely postponed...

Some say this is an over-reaction ... others realize that such actions will enforce the State of Emergency our Governor has asked us to observe. It is time to be responsible about protecting each others' health.

Out of respect for all involved, Quilters' Quarters will remain closed tomorrow, and for the next two weeks. Opening will be determined by the state of health in our area at the end of that period.

If there is something you need that I can provide, I will happily suggest you contact me by email. I will respond and if I have what you are looking for in the shop, I will get it ready for you to pick up at your convenience. I'll continue to post images here in lieu of your being able to browse the shop ... I'll include prices as well. Stay tuned, as I'll update the posts more often while the shop is closed. 

You can reach me at needlesandpens@comcast.net. I'm going to do my best to minimize my own group attendance, and encourage you to do the same.

Thank you for your patience.

Be well, all.

~ Terry

Opening a little bit late this weekend

Saturday, grandson Ian is having his second birthday party, so the shop will open a little later than usual ... I'll be open at 2 instead of noon.

I want to give a shout out to all the quilters who continue to "leave the change" at the shop ... it always goes into the envelope to support the school students whose lunch accounts are in arrears. This month there was over fifty dollars, which was appreciated by the superintendent when I walked it over to her office.

The other good news is that the community has assisted again in raising money for the Rick Palardy Scholarship account for graduating seniors who are pursuing a career in the trades to help maintain our community ... this year I was able to add a fifth $500 scholarship to the existing four ... so now two seniors at Georgetown High, two seniors at Whittier Tech, and one at Essex North Shore Tech will be recognized for their community dedication and hard work ethic.  Thank you, all, who have supported this effort.

I received one new bolt this week ... it was a delayed delivery from an order placed last year.  It's a rich black fabric with gold, gray and white stars and planets by Michael Miller ... someone just called me last week and asked if I had any Michael Miller prints ... sorry it hadn't arrived yet. But it's here now! 

This bolt's selvage reads "Michael Miller ... Galactic ... Making It Fun"

If you want to see what I've been up to recently, check the 2020 journal page (see the right margin list). Lots of spontaneous quilts this past week.

Enjoy the coming good weather (ignore tonight's snow ... it will melt rapidly.  Don't forget to set your clocks ahead Saturday night ... and remember to wash your hands and sing Happy Birthday while you do!

February Variables

This month is quite unpredictable ... sometimes a blizzard, sometimes an early spring thaw ... a groundhog, some Valentines, president Washington's and Lincoln's birthdays ... 

Unpredictable weather is very unsettling, so to soothe my soul, I went back to a fabric line I had begun with when the shop opened ... Henry Glass's Folio print. Wonderful feeling, amazing color range, and suitable for so many different projects.  Cut into blocks, or strips, with our new Stripology rulers: I now also have in stock the replaceable arrows that are designed to help you manage different size blocks and strip cutting.  See this video to understand their power: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR3ri_r1xCE

Here are the gorgeous bolts of Folio by Henry Glass ... there are only ten yards on each bolt, so come early to select your favorite blender colors... I'm thinking of flowers ... see the comments in the image captions (and remember, you can make the images larger by clicking on them.)

a beautiful range of colors .. which flowers can we make?

Beautiful red roses with pretty green foliage...

Begonias? Marigolds?

Lilacs, Hydrangeas?

Bluebells? Hyacinths? Daffodils?

I've salted the remaining patches on the driveway, and the heat is on, and the fabrics are ready for your eyes and your hands ... I look forward to seeing you soon! Please share this invitation with your friends and fellow quilters ... let them know of the QQ discounts,  and tell them that they are welcome to come by and explore the nooks and crannies of Quilters' Quarters. 

Happy February ~ March and Spring are up next!

~Terry

Happy 2020

So many sweet, local birds!

This month begins the end of the second decade in this challenging century... let's celebrate having made it this far by making something with these pretty new fabrics that were supposed to arrive in September but finally made it this week.  "First Frost" is the name of the deer and bird fabrics ... the blender firs are meant to enhance those. How the Jungle Animals joined this group is a mystery, but they will delight the young ones in your gift list.

One quilter commented that these would be great in a Three Yard Quilt.
I have a book of patterns in the shop, titled
EASY PEASY 3 YARD QUILTS!
See the video for 3 yard quilts at this link.

We have been seeing more deer in our neighborhoods, as their natural habitats are being encroached upon by human development. This fabric is part of a new line that features wild animals decorated with multicolor embellishments ...

This is a bolt of small and large blocks

And this accompanying bolt  has a 15" repeat.

Here are the two bolts of wild animals in technicolor that came in a few months ago; they remind me of the new deer bolts:

Technicolor elephant shares a panel bolt with the zebra.

And both the Zebra block and the Elephant block are enhanced
by the shabby-chic, multi-color bolt.

And here is the sixth bolt ... the stowaway print of jungle animals! 

Asia and Africa, both!

All of these beautiful fabrics share nature's beauty, and all are from Quilting Treasures. The standard retail price is $11.60 per  yard, but everyone who shops at Quilters' Quarters gets at least a 20% discount, and sometimes more. 

Thank you for following Quilters' Quarters ... Please share this email or home page link with your quilting friends ... I look forward to seeing you again!

~ Terry, at Quilters' Quarters

Holiday Wishes

I want to take this entry as a chance to thank all of my customers and friends for helping me continue the dream Rick and I shared.  I'll start by sharing a Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa and a Joyous New Year to all.

Christmas was always Rick's favorite holiday, and he was one of Santa's best helpers. He loved making simple toys of wood, without batteries or plastic parts that would break off. I enjoyed painting the Christmas ornaments he cut, first with an old scroll saw and later with a new model, complete with dust collectors and a belt sander alongside it on his work table. When we finally were able to finish the second floor of the barn and he moved his work benches and small tools into that space, he felt he had achieved his dream ... a full woodworking shop ... and enough time to make the best use of it.

The fall of 2016 was exhausting ... we saw the roof of the barn finished, the skylights installed, all according to the careful plans Rick drew. Our son was married on a beautiful foliage-filled day. We joined five other small shops for a "Humble Beginnings" shop hop the weekend after the wedding, and worked that with the help of many of our friends.  And just a week after that,  the driveway for our shops was widened and paved, to make it easier clearing it in the winter with Rick's new snowblower. It was larger and more powerful than the one he had bought when we sold his pickup and plow five years earlier to save money when I retired ... we needed to cut back to one vehicle with my retirement  ... but the new snowblower was so large that I couldn't manage it's size and heft as Rick could... until he had shoulder surgery. 

He knew it would take all of the winter and most of the spring to regain the use of that shoulder, and that thought concerned him ... he wondered if he ought to have waited until spring for the surgery. But he was reminded every day that pain-filled fall that the weakness in his dislocated rotator cuff would prevent him from using the new snowblower, and even limit what he could do with his beloved woodworking tools. So he went ahead with the surgery in December, determined that we would be able to clear enough snow with shovels and the help from friends, now and then. 

Neither he nor I had any idea that he would pass away so unexpectedly, long before recovery, just two weeks after that surgery. Minutes after midnight on Christmas morning of 2016, he took his last breath quietly, with his head on my shoulder and a first responder trying to measure his vitals after my hurried call for help. Rick was concerned because he had a dull pain high in his leg ... he asked me to "call the guys" and I did. He was suddenly gone shortly after they arrived. 

Many thought I would sell the house and the shop and move into an easier place to maintain on my own ... a place to begin over on my own ... as I had never been on my own before Rick's death.  But leaving our dream ... no, I couldn't think of that.  Leaving our home ... no, I didn't want to do that.  And so I stayed here.

The first year was harder than anything I'd ever experienced, and I nearly didn't make it. I can't say it has become easier as time went on, as challenges continue to arise with each passing season, but I continue to find ways to deal with those issues. It is hard to believe it has been three years since his death ... it still feels like just yesterday ... fresh, raw, and endlessly unbelievable.  His shop sign that reads "Buy them all, we can make more," remains above the quilt shop window, and I take heart each time I look up and read it. I believe he is here in spirit with me ... children believe in Santa, and Rick was my Santa ... and I believe that one day those tools will again be lovingly used to make beautiful things for beautiful little people.  Someone like Rick will find a way to use them. Maybe someone in the family, or among our friends ... or maybe a stranger that will be sent to find them.

In the meantime, I'll keep the fabric and notions in stock at Quilters' Quarters to help quilters buy quality goods at reasonable prices.  I'll continue to make the emergency comfort quilts for the police and firefighters to carry in their vehicles, in Rick's spirit of kindness. With friends, I'll keep making military service appreciation quilts for our town veterans. I'll happily help young and old learn to use today's special  tools for quilting. And I'll try hard to continue believing that one day, when my work here is finally finished, it will be my chance to rejoin Rick in the hereafter so we can resume our happily ever after.

The shop is now closed for inventory, but will optimistically reopen on the Thursday January 9th.  Happy New Year, all. I'll work to make the best of it, again.

~Terry

Holiday on Main Street, Georgetown MA

This Saturday, December 7th, local small businesses in Georgetown are pooling our resources to participate in a shopping event. Lisa Scala, of Scala Art Center on West Main Street, is the proprietor of this event, and Quilters' Quarters, though not on East or West Main Streets, is offering door prizes, free fat quarters and friendly company to all those who venture 1/4 mile from the square where East and West meet North Street.

Come in and see what you'll find ... a bin full of FREE donated fleece fabrics (dark, solid colors.) Zippers at VERY low prices, Skeins of embroidery floss at half price, tins-full of old buttons at a penny apiece, fabric cut from the bolt with a 20 to 40% discount .... notions, rulers, cutting mats, rotary cutters and blades ... all at the same discounted rate... and no single use plastic bags!

I look forward to seeing you this weekend ... If you begin at my shop and then work your way to the library around the corner and then on toEast Main, and then West Main, I will give you the event card to have punched by shops you stop into along the way, and then you can drop your card off at Scala's to be entered for the raffle basket ... And to make that easier, you can pick up your punch card and a MAP showing the shops in this event at the start of the day. Quilters' Quarters, just two doors north of the red brick Perley School building, will be opening two hours earlier at 10 am for this December 7th event. Park in the driveway or in the street. (You can ignore the no parking signs ... they only apply Monday through Friday!) Or, as it is a weekend, you can park right at Perley and walk in the clean fresh air from Quilters' Quarters to the library and then on to the Main Street shops!

Please plan on spending a few hours right here in town, visiting your local small businesses and supporting our efforts in keeping Georgetown's downtown a vibrant commercial area where your shopping needs can be comfortably met.

See you soon!

Terry

ps: bring a new, unwrapped toy for Toys for Tots to Quilters' Quarters, and receive an additional free fat quarter!