Last Free First Friday (a.k.a. Freaky Friday)

Hi Kids,

Katie is soaking up sun in Florida, so I am in charge. You know I let her think she is in charge when she is around. Anyway, I wanted to remind you that we have First Friday Sew-In this week - I know, great planning - the night before the Registration/Open House. Thankfully, Katie will be back to make sure everything flows smoothly.

By now you should have received your Spring Class Schedule in the mail. You may have noticed that we have implemented a new policy for certain gatherings - including First Friday. We will sell you a punch card for $20.00, which will allow you to attend four gatherings. Besides First Friday, you may use the card for Featherweight Drop-In Club, and a new UFO Drop-In Club that we are trying this session. You can read more about it in the newsletter.

The new policy should technically take effect this at this week's Friday Sew-In, but I would like, instead, to ask each person attending (or even if you aren't attending), to bring Non-perishable food items or personal care items worth about $5.oo for us to donate to the Cary-Grove Food Pantry. If you would prefer to donate cash, we will see that it gets to the Food Pantry, as well.

I know that times are tough for all of us, but there are always people that are worse-off than we are. A small donation can go a long way. We will set up some kind of donation center in the shop, and continue to collect donations through December 12th.

Jo Club

This is Carrie - So far, you have only heard from Katie, in case you didn't know. Yes, I am finally learning how to blog. Katie put the picture in, and handed me the laptop. I may never figure out how to do this again, but you never know!

I wanted to tell you about this week's Jo Club. Kathy wasn't feeling well, so I took over. We knew we weren't going to have the new Jo Club patterns on time, so I put together another little quilt for the club. I really wanted to use some of the new Providence fabrics, and luckily, we got them on time. We put together kits (at the last minute - as usual), which you can purchase on our website. Hey - how cool is that? I put a link in!

Anyway, I really want to make this into a big quilt:

Hey - Check that out - I learned how to put in a picture. This is amazingly easy! Katie did say that even a moron could do this, but I don't always rank that high on her list.

I hope everyone is having a great Thanksgiving. We are watching football - actually, Kate and I are giggling over this blog thing, Tony is sleeping, and the boys are making fun of us. A perfect family Thanksgiving.

Back to the subject - Jo assures us that we will have the new patterns shortly, so I am sure that Kathy will have a completed sample next month (she loves me). We do have some ideas for making Jo Club more interesting that I think you will like - that is, if you enjoy a little challenge.

Be sure to sign up for Jo Club next session when you attend our Open House on December 6th. (Nice segway, huh?)

I will stop babbling and go back to watching the football game (that means doze....)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Carrie

November Seasonal Demo

Everyone seemed to have a good time at our November seasonal demo. We had a fun Christmas Movie Trivia game with some cute holiday prizes. Then Deb showed a number of projects that you can still whip up before Christmas. Some of them are on our website on the Christmas Specials page. Here are some pictures of just a couple of things.

This is a wall hanging that Pieceful Teacher Deb Walker actually designed herself. If you can't make out the writing, it says "In the meadow...". Isn't it clever?

This Christmas Tree Placemat is from one of our favorite teachers Jean Mueller. She's so creative!

Wool Crazy!

I might have gone a little bit overboard last week ordering wool. I just couldn't help myself! Half of what I ordered arrived yesterday and it is gorgeous. I expect another shipment from a new supplier to come in sometime next week and I can't wait to see the new plaids and textures.

This is my latest wool projects. It's from the book Primitive Christmas and we have kits for it here at the shop. I like it because it's not too Christmasie. It could really be used year round if you have a real country home or a cabin up north. Let me know what you think.

Jo Morton Providence

This is the new Jo Morton line that just came in. It's actually three different colorways. Can you tell which ones go together? As usual, Jo has come up with some beautiful dark and rich colors. We'll be making star towers up in each of the three colorways. Maybe Santa will bring you one for Christmas (be sure to tell him which one you want!).

Spring Class/Club Schedule

The Spring Schedule has been mailed out and you should have gotten yours by now. If you haven't received yours, you can print a copy from the link below. I'm really excited about some of the new classes we have to offer this session. One of the things we did differently this session was to add some more of what we call "technique classes", such as the Pineapple Quilt Class and the Tumbling Blocks Quilt Class. These classes meet just once for a couple of hours so that you can learn the technique, then you can go home and finish the quilt on your own. This way you don't have to commit to two or three weeks in a row. This also allows us to keep the prices down, which I know everyone appreciates right now.

Registration for spring classes will begin on December 6th at our tri-annual Open House and Discount Registration. You will get 10% off any classes/clubs that you sign up for on this day. This is also your first chance to see all of our samples. Pictures won't be up on the website until after the 6th and we won't be taking phone registration until after the 6th either. You've got to come to the shop if you want to be the first to see the new stuff and the first to sign up. Hope to see you there!

Spring '09 Class and Club Offerings - Print this if you didn't get a copy in the mail. Pictures of the samples will be available on our website after December 6th.

Don't Miss This Month's Free Seasonal Demo!

This month we will be demoing quick and easy Christmas projects. We've got some great hostess gift ideas and other small projects that you can still get done before Christmas. Stop by and see what we've come up with this month.

Tuesday 11/25 at 6:30 or
Wednesday 11/26 at 10:30

We promise we'll take the tables out of this classroom this month so there will be more room (sorry if you had to squeeze in and stand last month!).

New Book - Time Out Quilts From Atikinson Designs

The last book we had from Atkinson Designs (Let's Do Lunch) was so popular, we thought we would give this new one a try. Plus we really like there patterns because they are so nice and easy to follow. This new book is all about making traditional quilts in less time. It has seven different quilts in multiple sizes. We hope to get some samples made from this book soon so be sure to stop by the shop and see what we've come up with.

Wool Christmas Ornies are Here!

Just in time for our Holiday Make & Take Party, the Wool Christmas Ornies Kits have arrived. Kits are limited so be sure to stop by and get yours soon or order one on our website.

Joanne will be here demoing these and other cute wool ornaments on for our Holiday Make & Take Party on Saturday November 15 from 1:00-5:00. In addition to the wool ornaments, we will have three other demo stations where you can learn how to make some great holiday gifts like this Victorian Christmas Stocking.

New Jo Kit - Circle of Friends

This is a mini quilt that our Jo club did as an extra project in October. We really liked the way these Jo Morton fabrics looked against the black background. You can read more about this kit on our website.

New in the Shop This Week

We got a great new 30's reproduction line in this week called Granny's Treasures. The colors are nice and vibrant and there are some really cute little prints (I really like the bows!).







We also have put together some new Civil War Fat Quarter and Snippet Bundles (great for those scrappy Civil War Reproduction quilts).