Quilts4Japan.org

“We want to collect thousands of quilts from all over the country to comfort and warm the grieving victims of the multiple disasters in Japan—and we’d like to make it personal.

Please make a quilt that we can send to Japan—or donate an existing one.

If you’d like, you can safety-pin an envelope to your quilt and enclose a picture of yourself and/or a message for the recipient—anything to let survivors know that you care and that, “This is from me. I made it for you.” We will translate your letter into Japanese!

With every quilt, Quilts4Japan is attaching a message of its own in an envelope with our logo. Our message explains what quilts represent. We send the letter in Japanese, but you can see both versions at this link.

Quilts4Japan is dedicated to meeting the needs of Japanese survivors for many months. We have no deadlines for receiving quilts. Your quilt will go with our next shipment. Even if you can’t send a quilt, please consider making a monetary donation to cover shipping costs.

We are sending all quilts to Patchwork Tsushin, a quilting magazine in Tokyo. The wonderful people there are committed to delivering quilts to survivors on an ongoing basis and have already begun to do so. With each hand delivery, they explain to recipients that a quilt is a gift of love, a symbol of caring that comes straight from the heart. Our correspondence with Patchwork Tsushin has convinced us that we have found the best possible people to deliver quilts to recipients, as the Patchwork Tsushin people share our mission. We’re proud to partner with them.

People have already made wonderful donations to Quilts4Japan! You can see photos on our Flickr page! You can also read Dorothy Brown’s wonderful photoessay about Quilts4Japan on Albany Patch. The story is in the captions under the eight photos.

Just a note: Please try to avoid black-and-white stripes (which the Japanese associate with funerals), as well as red-and-white stripes (which the Japanese associate with celebrations). You’ll see examples of funerary stripes at the link.”
-excerpt from Quilts4Japan.org homepage

Visit their Facebook page to follow all of the kind hearts and donators out there!

I LOVE all of our new fabric that we have received in.  We have more arriving daily, but all of the projects I would love to make with these new lines!  Pour some love into your projects with some new fabrics!

Remember, it is not just a holiday filled with chocolate candies and red roses.  It is also a day to appreciate those around us.  It is someone’s birthday or a couple’s anniversary.  It is a day filled with love for many reasons for many people.  Fill your day with some love…

Just as I typed that, our UPS driver, Tom, dropped of quite a stack of boxes!  Which means new fabric lines arriving!  Have we got lots coming in, which is really exciting!  New fabric lines, new fabric vendors, new new new!  And of course we will have lots to show off!  But before we tackle the newness in our shop, we must battle the big INVENTORY Sale.  So what better way than to offer great prices on our Classroom and Floor Model Sewing Machines??  Great prices….great machines….great way to start out the New Year!

And don’t think I have forgotten about the sacred Annual ”Superbowl Sale”….we have that coming up too.  I am not going to spill the beans just yet, but it will be big.  Huge even!  So stay tuned…

In process, as I type, is the KQ Country Charity Quilt!  It is sooooo fabulous and fun and so inspiring if I might add. 

Not only is creating this wonderful, one of a kind, fabulous quilt inspiring (to include country stars signatures…think Toby Keith, Charissa, Bucky Covington, Dierks Bentley…the list goes on and on!)…where was I?  Oh yes, inspiration.  This charity, NASA (North American Squirrel Association) helps people with handicaps and elderly individuals enjoy their outdoor hobbies.  Golfing, fishing, hunting…NASA provides the equipment necessary to achieve full enjoyment of their hobby.  It just feels good to give to a great cause.  Check out our home page for more info.

We also have been having some ladies working on another charity project for the past month.  Here is a sneak preview picture of what they have been creating!  The best part is this incorporates their love for fabrics into something other than quilts!  Check out these beautiful birds and bird houses!  The ladies have been creating these for the Festival of Trees.  Olive Juice Quilts provided the fabric and the ladies created these masterpieces.  Go to www.tinytimgala.org to see more information about this great charity and where you can view the Festival of Trees!

…’Tis the season to sew…create…and give

Super is the word of the day!  Or I should say week. 

This week we will be super busy getting ready for SUPER SATURDAY!!  BERNINA is offering some super financing on October 16th – 36 months no interest, equal payments on any sewing machine over $3000.  That is a super screaming financing offer that will help anyone get the machine of their dreams!  Don’t forget that you can do some super pre-shopping this week to find out which sewing machine is right for you!

We also have a super event this weekend – Sue Spargo is coming!  We have her super trunk show on Friday night….super classes both Saturday and Sunday….and a super Meet and Greet on Saturday night!  Sue Spargo is a super amazing designer who specializes in wool.  Have you ever wanted to try something in wool but afraid to go at it alone?  This would be a great opportunity for you to get pointers from a designer while making some really super awesome projects!  Want more info?  Click on the Events link to the left…

Olive Juice Quilts is going to be at the super Quilt Fest Show at the Onalaska Omni Center!  Come check out our booth!  It is going to be amazing (and super).

So yes, we have been super busy at the shop, getting ready for all of the events….but it is going to be sew much fun!

(yet we know the quote so well)

Happy October! 

*sniff, sniff* No, we aren’t sad that it’s fall, we are smelling the wonderful autumn air!  The crispness is wonderfully refreshing (especially after the hot hot summer we have had)!  The leaves are changing…kids are in school…don’t have to mow the lawn much longer.  It is a wonderful time of year! 

Around the shop here, things have been getting a little crazy!  We have an awesome event on October 15th, 16th, & 17th.  If you haven’t yet heard, Sue  Spargo is coming!  Trunk show, classes, meet and greet…gotta get ready for it!  (More info is located under the events tab on the left side of the screen)  And because we are sort of crazy, we are also going to be at the local Quilt Show!!  Oh, yes…on the same weekend.  We have been sewing projects, getting our to-do list all made up, checking stuff (slowly but surely) off of it.  No tidy idleness here, we are messy busy bees!

Mark your calendars, Ladies and Gentlemen!  Sue Spargo is making an appearance at Olive Juice Quilts on October 15th, 16th, & 17th!  This is such an exciting event and we can’t wait to share it with you!  Sue Spargo is such a wool legend!  Who wouldn’t love to meet a wool legend?!  Sign up now to ensure you get a seat!!! 

Trunk Show

Friday October 15th
6:00 pm
Cost: $20

Come and see for yourself all that Sue Spargo has to show off in her Trunk Show!  She will describe her projects and her inspirations during her lecture.

Thistledown Table Rug Class

Saturday October 16th
9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Cost: $69 class fee & Lunch
Kit & Pattern: $134.50

Create your own masterpiece …with a master!  This 18″ x 72″ table runner will wow any guest whilst it decorates your dining room table.  All the tips and tricks will be revealed during this session.  Lunch will be provided!

Meet & Greet

Saturday October 16th
6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Free!

We are having an open house meet and greet!  Come meet Sue Spargo, get her signature in your favorite book or pattern, have a little wine and hors de vours, and enjoy!  Books and patterns will be available for purchase!

Embellishment Extraordinaire Class

Sunday October 17th
9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Cost: $69 class fee & Lunch
Kit & Pattern: $79.50

Sue Spargo has some great techniques up her sleeve…and she is going to share them with you!  Create this beautiful sampler of embellishment techniques while learning from the master herself!  The size is perfect for framing or creating a wall hanging – 30″ x 20″.  Lunch will be provided! 

How to Sign Up!

Payment is due at the time of sign up to hold your spot in each event.  You must call or stop in to the shop to sign up.   Please, no emails or phone messages for signing up!  Kits will be available prior to class for pick up to do the necessary pre-sewing (more will be explained upon sign up!)  Hope you can attend this fabulous event!!!

Has anyone else noticed how fast summer has flown by??  We must have gotten lost in the flurry of moving fabric, rearranging and successorizing the shop to realize that it is now past mid August.  All of the market orders we had placed back in May are coming in now!  Which is why we have been moving our shop around like crazy lately!  We have been busy!  And when you are busy, time sure flies!  Which means time is flying and next to come is Fall!  Gotta start all of those holiday projects, Halloween costumes (Oh yes!  We got in some costume patterns from Kwik Sew!  Which means they are Kwik and Easy!!!) or just something warm to snuggle up with this winter!  It is time to plan for this fall…otherwise we end up like last year, scurrying at the last moment to finish up those great project ideas!  Even though sewing the night before Christmas isn’t so bad, is it?

The summer is a time for travelling.  Everyone takes advantage of the amazing (and hot) weather to head out of town to enjoy all that summer has to offer.  This includes coming to quilt shops!  No road trip is ever complete without a shop hop.  We had a travelling visitor today!  We love visitors!  He was thrilled to see some of his friends in our front entry.  So thrilled that he let us take his picture with his friends!  (He is the gnome with the wild hair…you know how the summer’s humidity affects the hair)

He is a World Travelling Gnome, handmade with love by a wonderful customer who brought him in to show off her handy work.  He is about to embark on a journey to visit friends and take photos along the way.  We were thrilled he made Olive Juice Quilts one of his pit stops!!

And that is not the only thing we have been busy with.  We have fabric galore and yes, we have been moving it around AGAIN!  But it is so great…it keeps it fresh and fun and of course you guessing!  And our staff guessing where we moved it.  We have been hanging quilts and decorating and moving and cutting and sorting and all that good stuff!  Oh, and we have beautiful new voiles in and yes!  You can make a quilt out of this lush fabric.  We are working on getting ours picked out.  The one we saw at market was just so scrumptious! 

As always, the shop and our projects are a work in progress.  They will turn out great but it just takes some planning our attack and attacking our plan.  Come check us out for yourself!