May 2023 Volume 4, Issue 05

Dear Quilting Friends,

Have you ever had one of those days where you felt like you lost a whole week of time? That very thing happened this morning! Just last week I had a brief thought that I needed to get the May newsletter written, but still had a couple of days to get it done. Then this morning my daughter Kami reminded me that I hadn’t yet turned anything over to her to publish! Egad!!! Where did the time go???

During April the last of over 750” of winter snow finally fell here in Utah. it was a welcome relief to an otherwise dry region. Now we’re dealing with a lot of spring runoff. I have to admit that it’s kind of weird to see sandbags being stacked in local neighborhoods but, I know lots of people are concerned about potential damage to their homes and property. In my humble opinion, it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

Speaking of planning and preparation, we are gearing up for new fabric lines to come in over the next few months. That means we’re a shakin’ and movin’ stuff around to make room for the new inventory. In addition to our staples from Riley Blake, Wilmington, Studio E, Blank and Benartex, we will soon have products from Robert Kaufman, Henry Glass, In the Beginning and Windham Fabrics. I’ve never been one to follow a certain designer or company. With both my personal projects and in the shop, I choose fabric based on coordinating colors, the scale of the design and how the fabric feels to the touch (referred to as ‘hand’).

Based on the above details, we are going to gradually reduce the number of overall collections we order each season but expand the number of pieces we get from each collection. We still don’t have room to stock 25 or 30 bolts from a single design line, but we can bring in 7 or 8 of one colorway within that collection. We are also going to increase the volume of blenders and batiks that we offer. Hopefully, that will give you more mix-n-match color options than you’ve had both in the store and via our website. After all, variety is the spice of life.

Finally, I would like to showcase a couple of projects that I recently finished. The first is a picture of a baby quilt and the baby I made it for. Its simple design was easy to put together and both mom and baby are delighted with the results.

The second is a quilt that took a lot of time and effort, but I think the results are pretty spectacular. The owner of this quilt inherited the top from an accomplished quilter and I was privileged to do a combination of both computer and free motion quilting on it. As I told another friend my arm hurts a little from patting myself on the back. I’m usually not prone to brag about my achievements, but sometimes I think we all deserve to show off once in a while.

Here’s to all of us and the grand work we do!!!

As always, we hope you’re healthy, happy, and finding joy in each 1/4” seam.

Happy Quilting!
~ Beth and Kami

P.S. Don't forget to shop our Friends & Family Sale! Going on now thru May 13th. Use code PPQ2023 at checkout! And share with your Friends & Family!