WHAT'S NEW
Dear Quilting Friends,
I hope each of you are enjoying the final days of summer before the kids go back to school and that vacations and time with family and friends have been abundant and tons of fun. I’ve been away in California and Minnesota for about 5 weeks and had a fabulous time visiting friends and family. We spent 3 glorious days on the California beaches and found we could still body surf! Who would have thought! Spent all day in the water, got sand in my bathing suit, drank lots of salt water, and got wicked sun-burnt – what a great time! Life is good! We also went to a family reunion, spent some time with my mom on the lake, and hung out with my son before he took the bar in July. Ended up spending 4 days at a shop owner’s retreat with Terry Atkinson. Now that was a great time too! And I couldn’t have left the shop in better hands. I’m so fortunate to have such a great staff where I can take that kind of time off and not worry about being gone.
As for the upcoming fall, we have lots of fun things coming up that hopefully will whet your creative appetite. We have several technique classes this fall as well as some “quilty/crafty” classes for the holidays. Some of our technique classes include fabric painting with Shiva paint sticks, Origami fabric folding, paper piecing, a landscape class, and learning multiple ways to make the flying geese block. We’ve just wrapped up our door banner series and will be filling in the second Saturday afternoon time slot with some quick projects for the holidays. These include a kitty wool pin cushion, a back sack, a Christmas cookie advent calendar, and a fabric lunch bag that is just too cute.
But the most important happening at Emma’s Quilt Cupboard this fall is sewing machines. We are delighted to announce that we have been selected as the authorized Viking sewing machine dealer for our area and will carry the full complement of Viking sewing machines, sergers, software, and parts – everything from entry-level machines to the high-end embroidery models. Since our opening, we have worked very hard to develop trust-based relationships with all of our customers. Because of that, we have had many, many customers over the past couple of years ask us to carry sewing machines as an extension of that trust. After much careful consideration, we have decided to step up to the challenge. There are many terrific brands of sewing machines available today on the market. But because I am a Viking owner many times over and I absolutely love the brand, we decided to partner with Viking.
Now, the obvious questions on everyone’s minds are when and where? The when is a bit easier. We are scheduled to attend training for all the machines in October. The goal is to have everything up and running by November so we can have stock available for the Christmas season. We may start off a little slow, but we are committed to the success of this service line and will do everything we can to educate and inspire you in your creative endeavors.
As to the where, we are currently negotiating with the landlord for additional space adjacent to our existing space. It will actually be behind where the long-arm is currently located. Our hope is to open up the space somewhat and incorporate the sewing machines/long-arm machine into this new area. If this doesn’t happen, then we will be creating space for the sewing machines within our existing store layout. Not ideal, but we’ll make that work if we have to. Our mission has always been to provide you with the highest quality products at a fair price while at the same time delivering outstanding customer service. I assure you we will be striving for the same level of excellence in the sewing machine area as we do in the quilt shop, and I hope you will give us the opportunity to fulfill your sewing machine needs (actually deepest desires!) as well. So come check us out over the next few months as we develop whichever space we ultimately use for the sewing machines.
Happy Quilting,
Cyndi, Barbara, Chuck, Emily, Janice, Jean, Joan, Kathy, Paula, and Pearl
QUILTERS RETREAT
Mark your calendars for our next quilters retreat. We will again
host this event at the Sea Crest Resort in Falmouth, but you will have a couple
of different options for dates. Last year, we had the retreat on a Sunday
through Tuesday schedule during school vacation week which worked out very well
for many people. This year we are expanding upon that concept to accommodate
those of you who would prefer the weekend while at the same time continuing to
accommodate those of you who want you keep with the weekday schedule. We have
booked the resort for Friday through Monday nights, February 13, through
February 16, 2009. You now have three options for joining us. You can attend
Friday through Sunday, Sunday through Tuesday (both 3 days, 2 nights, plus
meals), or for the die-hard quilter, you can attend Friday through Tuesday (5
days, 4 nights, plus meals). We will again have a mystery quilt class as well
as a 1-day workshop. These are both included in your package price. The
maximum number of attendees will be 60 people. I gave all the participants from
last year the first opportunity to sign up early as a way of saying thank you
for supporting our first retreat before opening it up to everyone else. So far
28 people have signed up. We are now taking $75 refundable deposits to hold
your spot. You can pay down your retreat balance over the coming months
similar to how you would pay for something that is on lay-away if that makes it
easier for you. The final balance will be due no later than January 10, 2009.
There will be no refunds given after January 10, 2009. The pricing is as
follows:
Friday-Sunday, February 13-15 (3 days): Single $445, double
$330
Sunday-Tuesday, February 15-17 (3 days): Single $410, double $310
Friday-Tuesday, February 13-17 (5 days): Single $850, double $630
ANNIVERSARY SALE
Can you believe it; it’s our 4th year anniversary this
November. Don’t miss our customer appreciation sale November 11-15. The sale
will be anywhere from 10-25 percent off all regularly priced, in-stock
merchandise where you get to “pick a discount.” You’ll have to come into the
shop during this week to find out more about how it works and to receive your
very own anniversary gift! Also, anyone who comes into the shop that week will
be entered into a drawing for a $50 gift certificate to the shop.
Thank you to all of our customers who help
make us “your favorite quilt shop.”
ROUND IT UP FOR HABITAT FOR
HUMANITY
As our annual charity event, we have decided to support Habitat for
Humanity this winter. We thought we would piggy-back on a very successful
campaign that Bank of America has been doing with rounding up your sales to the
next whole dollar and depositing the difference into your savings account. Our
take is a little bit different (no, we aren’t adding money to you savings
account!) and allows our customers to make a contribution to an inspiring
non-profit organization that builds homes for deserving, low-income families.
For anyone who wants to participate, during the months of November and December,
you can round up your sale to the next dollar and deposit the difference into
our collection for Habitat for Humanity. At the end of December, all
contributions will be donated to the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity,
which is headquartered in Attleboro and services the surrounding communities.
In addition, Emma’s will donate a queen size quilt for one of the houses they
are building in the area. If you are interested in finding out more about this
important agency, check out their website at
www.habitat.org.
EMMA’S CLASS PASSPORT
During my visits to many quilt shops throughout the United States, I
have come across several shops that have implemented the class pass for their
classes, so I thought we might give this a try as well. Taking classes is a
fantastic way to improve your quilting skills, learn new techniques, socialize
with a group of women (mostly) who share a similar passion, or to just have
protected sewing time where you won’t be interrupted. To encourage you to take
advantage of our class schedule and the many interesting and creative workshops
we hold every trimester, we will be offering a class passport for this next
class session for $99. Purchasing a class passport will allow you to sign up
for as many technique or project classes as you would like at no charge during
this term. Each class description will tell you if it is a “passport class.”
REPRODUCTION FABRICS
As many of you know, The Quilt Center in Bellingham closed the end of
last year. Terri Vadenais, the owner, had a wide assortment of beautiful
fabrics, but she was specially known for her many Civil War reproduction
fabrics. Since her closing, many customers have asked us to carry these
fabrics. So, our first collection will be arriving in November and is modeled
off an antique civil war quilt. I bought the collection while I was at spring
quilt market, and the sample quilt is just gorgeous. Early next year, we will
be bringing in more reproduction fabrics from Windham Fabrics, Baum Textiles,
and Marcus Brothers – all of whom are industry leaders in authentic reproduction
fabrics.
MEET PEARL
I’m sure you are all wondering why we have a picture of a doll on the
front page of the newsletter. Well, we wanted to introduce you to Pearl. She
is the official shop mascot and loves to travel around with quilters whenever
they go someplace special. We took her to quilt market with us, and she enjoyed
all of the sites. Yes, we looked pretty silly carrying around this doll and
taking her picture, but it was loads of fun. Pearl even dipped her toes into
the Pacific Ocean. Of course, we have a photo album of all Pearl’s travels.
Since then, she has gone several places with customers. She has attended the
Vermont Quilt Festival, the Lowel Quilt Festival, and visited the New Jersey
shore. So if you want to “reserve Pearl” for your next trip, let’s us know.
The only requirement is that you have to take pictures of her doing fun things
and put them in our shop photo album. It’s a hoot to look through the
pictures. You should see the one of her riding a cow!
2009 FIRST SATURDAY SAMPLER SNEAK
PEEK
As many of you know, we run a very successful First Saturday Sampler
program every year with as many as almost 100 people participating. For those
of you who are not familiar with this format, this is a monthly program where
you come into the shop the First Saturday of the month for about an hour and
attend a club meeting where we discuss the block construction, share great
recipes, talk about upcoming events/classes in the shop, see our fabulous new
fabric collections, demo new products, have show and tell, and end with a door
prize. If you come to the meeting and your block is completed, you get the next
block free. We really do have a great time. Each year I try to alternate
between a pieced block and appliqué. We may end up doing both this coming
year. In any case I wanted to show you the quilt we have chosen for next year.
It’s called Jamestown, comprises 12 blocks in a log cabin variation setting, and
is made using the Marti Michell Perfect Patchwork Templates. It’s a stunning
quilt, and we will be providing it in two color ways. The first is a
blue/green/cream floral combination and the second will be civil war
reproduction fabrics. I think the fabric we have selected for the floral is
perfect, but it’s available now. So I’m asking people to pre-register for the
floral choice so I can purchase the fabric now to ensure we have it for the
program when it starts in February. We have fabric samples available at the
shop for you to preview to help you make your decision. The joining fee for
this program will be $10. You will need Template Sets A & C to make the 12
blocks, and we will be selling these templates at a special discounted price for
all participants. These are rotary cutting
templates for strip piecing, not the old-fashioned trace and cut out
individually templates.
20As