Penn Oaks Newsletter

 President's Message

Hello Quilters and welcome to 2022.  I was going to spend this communication looking forward to better times but instead I feel the need to look back.  We lost one of our beloved members in December.  Suzanne Stiverson passed away from a stroke after years of struggling with her health including surviving bladder cancer.  I would like to take this time to reflect on her many contributions to our guild because we have some new members who may not know her.  Suzanne was a consultant working for Hewlett Packard before she retired when I met her.  I first worked with her on our quilt show, she was the chair and leader.  She set Penn Oaks up for financial success when she re-invigorated the show back in the mid 2000s.  She organized a large committee, wrote all the communications, found the venue, signed up vendors and set up a template for running the show.  She was not one to take no for an answer and she had great follow through for executing on a plan.  The fact that we have resources to continue to have speakers during this difficult time is in many ways due to her efforts on the quilt show.  She also was a passionate applique quilter with a love of jewel tones and beading.  Suzanne is survived by her husband Jack, a son and two grand-daughters.  She was a resilient force of nature and I will miss her.  

 Robin

Programs

January will be all virtual and includes Mary the Tell Tale Quilter

Mary has been an avid quilter for over 25 years, creating countless quilts for her children, friends, weddings, and births. Building on this passion, she has been exploring the field of fiber art. In 2009, Mary began to make “quilted home portraits” of houses, using a technique she developed and perfected. By 2012 Mary was creating portraits of people. She has won many awards

February will also be all virtual and Meg Cox will be our presenter.

Any questions or thoughts about future programs, please reach out.

Thanks, Jen and Donna

Bits and Pieces From the Sewing World

1.  Whenever Alyson Chu ventured into a local yarn store, she wondered, where was the crochet equivalent of Amirusu, Pompom, or Laine magazines? Chu, who has undergraduate degrees in art, art history, and linguistics and an M.A. in publishing, decided to create the publication she wanted to see in the world—and make it all about crochet so she started Moorit, an indie crochet magazine.

2.  AccuQuilt Has been acquired by private equity firm WILsquare Capital.

3.  If you'd like, you can now disable embeds on your Instagram posts so that folks can't embed your images on websites. Here's how. https://mashable.com/article/how-to-disable-instagram-embeds?utm_source=pocket_mylist

4.  Rhianna from Ello Lovey is doing her annual Doodle-a-Day again in January. Follow along on Instagram to get the year off to a creative start.  https://blog.spoonflower.com/2021/12/third-annual-doodle-a-day-challenge-with-ello-lovey/?utm_source=pocket_mylist

5.  Meta has launched a new AI tool that can animate kids' drawings. 

https://about.fb.com/news/2021/12/using-ai-to-animate-childrens-drawings/

Attention All Quilt Market Consigners!

Our new date is being set for the Quilt Market. Hopefully you’ve held on to your items and your spouse/partner hasn’t tortured you TOO much about it. If you are interested in consigning your items at the quilt market, please let me and/or Ellen know by the end of January. We are trying to get a ball park number of quilters that will be consigning so we can plan the Acorn Shop. If you are interested in helping with consigning, Ellen and I would welcome the help!

Thanks, Jen and Ellen

2021 Quilt Guild Challenge - Angela Brant

The theme this year will be International Travels- Real or Virtual: Pick a country outside of the US and design a quilt that represents that country. Go wild!

Time Frame - October 2021 - May 2022

Size Minimum - 18 " square Maximum - none

Categories for Prizes Best Representation of Country Best Use of Color Most Original Best Applique- While no applique is required in the quilt, there will be a ribbon for best applique for those who are so good at it. So get your creative juices flowing through the long winter months. Members will vote on winners at the May meeting . 1st, 2nd and 3rd place prizes will be awarded and announced at the May meeting. If you have questions, please contact Angela Brant at 484-682-3871

Ways & Means

Pop-Up Sale-Fabric and Quilting Goodies

Ways & Means will be bringing a portion of the donated items to the in-person meetings. rember to bring cash or checks so you don't miss out!

   Penn Oaks Sunshine

   If you know of a guild member who could use some well wishes or encouragement because of a       sickness or life event, please contact me at marianne@thecaporales.us.  I will make sure to send     our collective good thoughts to our fellow member.

   Marianne Caporale

December 2021 Newsletter

President's Message

Interim president’s letter

Wow, what a different year this year is. Holiday travel is up, people are starting to go places, and get together with family. For a year that initially seemed to put a wig on 2020 and waltz its crazy butt back in, this feels refreshing. As does meeting in person! I feel like we aren’t at our “new normal” yet, but are edging that much closer to it!

With 32 days to Christmas, I have started knitting an Afghan for a friend of mine. Knitting and crochet in the evenings were typically easier, a blanket in progress (much like binding) keeps me warmer, and Nate and I could watch TV without a sewing machine going.  Now the pugs like to eat my crochet. Poppy tries to eat the hook, literally chewing on the thing as I’m attempting to stick it in the next stitch and Zoe likes to chew and play with the yarn ball and the project. I had such Norman Rockwell expectations of them laying in my lap under the soft blankets that all I can do is laugh. They do much better with knitting, although now Poppy has taken to lay across my chest in protest of me doing anything (texting, drinking water, knitting, or even using the remote!). This may be a present for next Christmas.

Speaking of presents, my 7-year-old nephew ate directly out of the ice cream pint at our “Famsgiving” celebration. I see hints of them when they will become bottomless pits of calorie needs and wants. Alex’s new thing is Pokémon, so he’ll be getting a pint holder in Pokémon fabric. I’m going to try to make some microwave bowls as well. I’m sure after I start decking my halls and making some Hershey kiss cookies, I’ll be ready for the holiday season!

Any concerns, questions, or any other issues that come up during my brief tenure, please send me an email or text me and we’ll set up a time to talk. Happy quilting, looking at quilty things, talking to quilty people, being your best quilty self!

Jen

Programs

Wow, what a fantastic space we now have at Covenant! The barn quilts were amazing and what a story teller Suzi was.

In December we will celebrate 35 years of Penn Oaks Quilters! Please join us for cake and a holiday celebration! This is an in-person celebration only and will not have a zoom link.

January will be solely on zoom. With the winter weather wreaking havoc on our meetings in the past, we wanted to make sure that we could meet during the dark and dreary days of winter! In January we have Mary the “telltale artist” presenting quilted homes. She was the inspiration for Donna’s story quilt and we look forward to her quilting journey.

Jen and Donna

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In the spirit of "Christmas's Past" revisited, we offer a Presidents message from long ago. In 2000 Kathleen and I were co-presidents and we had a monthly "He sez, She sezs" column for the newsletter.

From the PennOak newsletter ca 2000.

He Sez: This is the first anniversary of the She Sez Folly, otherwise know as "The Blue Plate Special" or "The Hippo." It all started a year ago on what I expected to be a quiet, lazy Saturday. We had a great week in which we did our version of cleaning (which consisted of buying 12 more bins in which to stuff quilting stuff). She Sez woke, sat up and said those dreaded words, "I have a thought"!." Wouldn't it be nice if she made The Blue Rhapsody Quilt. She loved blue and white, it would look great on the bed; she could use it for the Challenge; and some of the money from the fabric purchase would go to Cancer Research. I pointed out to her that it was a large pieced quilt, with paper piecing and quilting as you go, none of which she ever did before. She replied that there was a very good picture in the magazine--more than enough direction for her and I could show her how to paper piece and quilt as you go. After all, what did I think she kept me around for??!!! The next thing I knew, she was sitting in the car and we were off on a 6 hour, 200mile jaunt to every quilt store within a radius of 50 miles to find the special Blue Rhapsody fabric.

All went well until we got side-tracked with the 56 Christmas projects. Then there was the catastrophe of not finishing before The Challenge. Fortunately, there were several snow days and it got finished but not without much weeping and wailing. She had to quilt the borders after the quilt was together. By the way, it weighed a ton, thus the "Hippo" designation. She was so tired (but elated) when it was over the she swore, "No more big quilts--ever!" (1-see below) 

The quilt, which is beautiful and cheery, sits on our bed: and we are installing air conditioning so we can keep it cold enough to leave the quilt on all summer. We had a quilt celebration and I wait patiently for "She Sez" to have another thought.

1. Update: In the intervening years I heard "No more big quilts--ever!" many times. We have any number of large Applique quilts. The last time it was uttered was in 2019 when she was almost finished with a giant Tula Pink quilt. It survived through the Pandemic but was ignored in early Spring 2021 when she started yet another large, complicated Applique quilt. I expect the "no more forever" will be uttered in the next week or so.

She Sez: I'm so glad that I serve as a constant source of amusement for He Sez. While He Sez is dazzling you with his clever stories I must be practical and ask you to help with our raffle quilt sales opportunity at the Farmer's Marked in Strafford on March 24 and 25. If you are able to sell tickets on Friday see Marie: if you can help on Saturday see Bob or me.

We were able, thanks to Bev Pierce, to watch a home recorded video of Alex Anderson's quilt show.  It was great! But, alas we subscribe to Suburban Cable which does not broadcast the Home and Garden Network. I then called Suburban Cable at 610-383-4383. They informed me that if enough subscribers call and that they will join the HGTV Network. Sooo..If you are so inclined and are a subcriber call and let your feeling be heard and maybe you can make a change.

"She Sez" Update: To this day whenever I say, "I have a thought", the color drains from his face.

2021 Quilt Guild Challenge - Angela Brant

The theme this year will be International Travels- Real or Virtual: Pick a country outside of the US and design a quilt that represents that country. Go wild!

Time Frame - October 2021 - May 2022

Size Minimum - 18 " square Maximum - none

Categories for Prizes Best Representation of Country Best Use of Color Most Original Best Applique- While no applique is required in the quilt, there will be a ribbon for best applique for those who are so good at it. So get your creative juices flowing through the long winter months. Members will vote on winners at the May meeting . 1st, 2nd and 3rd place prizes will be awarded and announced at the May meeting. If you have questions, please contact Angela Brant at 484-682-3871

Ways & Means

Pop-Up Sale – Fabric and Quilting Goodies Ways & Means will be bringing a portion of the donated items to the in-person meetings. Remember to bring cash or checks so you don’t miss out!

Penn Oaks Sunshine

If you know of a guild member who could use some well wishes or encouragement because of a sickness or life event, please contact me at marianne@thecaporales.us.  I will make sure to send our collective good thoughts to our fellow member.

Marianne Caporale

 November 2021 Newsletter

 President's Message

Interim president’s letter

When we were little, my father always waited until the (literal) bitter end to put on the heat. One day he came home to us all sitting on the couch with our coats, hats, and gloves on, huddling under a blanket. Hyperbole for sure, but effective. “Fine, I’ll put the heat on” as he stormed down the basement steps. That burning smell of the first time the heat goes on always makes me laugh a bit.



This weather always makes me want to snuggle under a quilt or a blanket. I must confess that I haven’t quilted a thing since this pandemic started. At first, I was just working all the time and now I have puppies who need tons of attention (and get in a LOT of trouble in mom’s sewing room). I’ve done masks and I’ve made blocks, but I haven’t had the thrill of finishing anything. And really, I’m at my best when I’m quilting a few times a week.

So, I’m going to challenge myself to be kinder about the should haves. Instead of “I should have spent 20 minutes a day quilting” (after the 30 minutes on the bike, prepping 3 nutritious meals a day, working 10+ hours a day, and laundry—does yours reproduce like mine does????), I’m going to just strive to do something quilt related a day. Maybe I’ll look at some quilting websites. Maybe I’ll sew something crazy with a pug on my lap so I can unpick it the next night, but I’ll do something each day that’s pretty….

As far as guild updates, we have made the decision to move all our hybrid meetings to Covenant Church. They have amazing technology and our hybrid meeting went extremely smoothly due to that Owl that they have there. Although the fee is a bit more than Frazer Mennonite, speakers and guild members will not have to compete with the church service going on upstairs. We are also only paying each time we use the church, so we will not be charged for use during our planned zoom meetings in January and February. This plan was in motion after our September meeting, but having a really good experience at the new (old?) church helped us cement the deal.

Any concerns, questions, or any other issues that come up during my brief tenure, please send me an email or text me and we’ll set up a time to talk. Happy quilting, looking at quilty things, talking to quilty people, being your best quilty self!

Jen

The in person meetings will be held at New Location    Covenant Presbyterian Church at 7pm on October 11th in the Church Basement.  The church is on Rt. 30:400 Lancaster Ave, Malvern. It is between Rt. 352 and the Fraser Mennonite Church.

Members that attend are required to wear a mask.  This way we can meet the needs of all our members respecting comfort levels and keeping us from passing around the virus.  

Programs

Wow, what a fantastic space we now have at Covenant! The helper for our October meeting was VERY impressed with the set up and the program we had. Come out if you want to or are comfortable doing so or stay home and watch from home!

November’s program is Suzi Parron speaking about Barn quilts

Per Suzi’s Website: I travel full time by RV, speaking to quilt guilds, libraries, civic organizations--whoever would like to hear more about barn quilts! My talk will take you on a journey along the quilt trail, beginning with the very first barn quilt, which stemmed from Donna Sue Groves and her wish to honor her mother's quilting art. The presentation features over one hundred stunning photographs of barn quilts, some of which rival cloth quilts in their intricacy. You will hear stories of some of the individuals who have painted quilt blocks to honor loved ones or their local culture, along with a few humorous anecdotes. The presentation is both informative and entertaining, as we explore the way in which our quilting heritage takes on new meaning as this movement continues to expand.  Please email suziparron@gmail.com or phone 678-478-6906 for further information.

In December we will celebrate 35 years of Penn Oaks Quilters! Please join us for cake and a holiday celebration!

We are doing the block swap. If you want to play, bring a holiday themed 12.5 x 12.5 inch block to swap at the party. 

Jen and Donna

Scraps and Pieces from the Sewing World

Janome means the eye of the snake in Japanese, a phrase used to  describe the bobbin used in an early model. The company is celebrating its 100th birthday this year.

                                                                                        

Starting this week, the USPS is slowing down mail delivery. First class mail delivery is going from 3 to 5 days. A holida shipping surcharge also went into effect.

                                                                                       

Our member, fashion designer Whitney Manney, created five beautiful looks and accompanying tutorials for JOANN. Check them out!e means the eye of the snake in Japanese, a phrase used to  describe the bobbin used in an early model. The company is celebrating its 100th birthday this year.

                                                                                         

Starting this week, the USPS is slowing down mail delivery. First class mail delivery is going from 3 to 5 days. A holiday shipping surcharge also went into effect.
                                                                                       

Our member, fashion designer Whitney Manney, created five beautiful looks and accompanying tutorials for JOANN.  whitneymanney.com/new-blog

                                                                                     

For P&B Textiles, an Acquisition Leads to a Hopeful Future

The Odessas have been in the fabric business for a very long time. David Odessa, 55, and his brother, Ed, 63, run P&B Textiles, a division of General Fabrics, in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Their father ran it before them and his father sold fabric, too. Over the course of three generations, the nature of the business has shifted dramatically, and responding to those changes hasn’t always been easy. Last year David and Ed nearly lost their business entirely.

In February, the Odessas sold General Fabrics to Brand & Oppenheimer, another Rhode Island-based textile company. The sale has given their family business a fresh start right when they needed it and now the company is poised for growth for the first time in years.

The founding of General Fabrics

In the late 1800’s, David and Ed’s grandfather, David Odessa, a Russian Jewish immigrant, settled in Providence, Rhode Island, and became a jobber. “He jobbed everything he could find to job and then he got into fabrics and started jobbing those,” David Odessa tells me on a sunny June morning at the company’s headquarters, a converted schoolhouse attached to a former Johnson & Johnson factory.

In the 1940’s, David’s son, Benton Odessa, came to work in the business, exporting the jobbed fabrics to Central and South America. Benton also began buying mill end pieces of greige goods, seaming them together and roller printing them (screen printing wasn’t feasible because the screen would jump over the seams) to sell to companies that would service the chain fabric stores.

Servicing the chains

In 1978, Benton’s son, Ed, began working with his father, and a few years later his brother, David, joined him. Together they decided to cut out the middleman and sell fabric directly to the chain stores themselves. Within 15 years, General Fabrics had become a major fabric supplier to Wal-Mart, JoAnns, House of Fabrics, Hancock Fabrics, Clothworld, “and all those guys that aren’t here anymore,” David says.

By 2001, 50 percent of General Fabric’s sales volume was coming from Wal-Mart and the Odessas began to feel that their company was at risk. Chain fabric stores were closing; those that remained were beginning to source products directly, including fabric. “We saw the writing on the wall that there was no future there,” David says. It was time to diversify.

Creating for the independent market

Independent quilt shops offering premium quality fabrics, specialty notions, and classes were popping up all over the country. In 2001, the Odessas met a stylist and a salesperson from competitor, Benartex, and hired them to start a new division called Red Rooster, catering to the independent market. In 2009, they bought P&B Textiles, an established brand already serving the same market, to expand their portfolio.

Meanwhile, the chain store market deteriorated further. When Hancock Fabrics went bankrupt, General Fabrics took a major financial hit. Then Wal-Mart began sourcing almost all of their fabric directly. “It nearly knocked us out of business,” David says. In 2015, the Odessas pulled out of the chain store business entirely with what David describes as “a lot of collateral damage.”

Letting go of Red Rooster

“We made the decision to really shrink our business and things financially turned pretty bad for us,” David says. Analyzing their remaining assets they realized they needed to shut down Red Rooster.

“Red Rooster was killing us—the cost of product development, sampling, and just the overhead of running it. P&B Textiles is mostly basics and digital and we could keep a low overhead, but you had to keep an image with Red Rooster. New patterns, paying freelancers, it was astronomical.”

According to David, from 2011-2016 the competition among fabric companies serving the independent market grew exponentially.

“It became a free-for-all,” he says. “It’s such a low cost of entry on the manufacturing side. The mills in Korea were the cause of it because they made it so easy for the small companies to get into it, especially now that it’s digital. The mills back the fabric companies and give them credit, make it easy for them. You can outsource everything. You just need office space and a couple of computers.”

Even with just one brand, the Odessa’s business continued to suffer. They were in an expensive spiral of downsizing, trying to lower overhead fast enough to keep up with dropping sales. “We lost some very valuable designers because we couldn’t pay their royalties on time, so they left,” Ed says. Staff members were becoming demoralized.

A way out

Just when the company nearly hit rock bottom, David’s phone rang and he heard a familiar voice. It was Eddie Ricci, someone he knew well from the fabric community in Rhode Island. Also a third generation textile executive, Eddie was now CEO of Brand & Oppenheimer, a company he and his business partner, Ben Galpen, had grown from $20 to $50 million through streamlining and strategic acquisitions. He wanted to know if General Fabrics was for sale.

“The timing wasn’t right,” David says. “We needed to fix our business.” The Odessas spent a year and a half restructuring to make General Fabrics more attractive to an equity partner. Then they called Eddie back. The deal closed February 1, 2018.

Brand & Oppenheimer owns a suite of textile companies serving the military, tactical, commercial, apparel, industrial, bias bindings, trim, and specialty end items markets. Quilting cottons was a welcome addition to their portfolio.

Once they’d been acquired, General Fabrics was immediately financially viable again. Orders started coming through and deliveries were going out which invigorated the sales team. “It’s been really good. It’s been great,” David says with a smile. “We’re able to make commitments and keep them.”

General Fabrics is now laser-focused on just one brand, P&B Textiles, and on serving the independent market both at home and abroad. They’re working to attract top-notch freelance designers back to the company again. This spring they had three booths at Quilt Market in Portland where Eddie gave a rousing speech to the sales team. They showed their product well, with more samples and better marketing materials, thanks to a larger budget and sales rolled in.

When asked what would have happened if Eddie hadn’t bought General Fabrics, David said “Without Eddie, we wouldn’t have made it to 2018. But now we’re strong. Thanks to Brand & Oppenheimer we’re viable. It’s not just the money part, it’s the people part. They’re behind us. They want us to succeed.”

2021 Quilt Guild Challenge - Angela Brant

The theme this year will be International Travels- Real or Virtual: Pick a country outside of the US and design a quilt that represents that country.Go wild!

Time Frame - October 2021 - May 2022

Size Minimum - 18 " square Maximum - none

Categories for Prizes Best Representation of Country Best Use of Color Most Original Best Applique- While no applique is required in the quilt, there will be a ribbon for best applique for those who are so good at it. So get your creative juices flowing through the long winter months. Members will vote on winners at the May meeting . 1st, 2nd and 3rd place prizes will be awarded and announced at the May meeting. If you have questions, please contact Angela Brant at 484-682-3871

Ways & Means

Pop-Up Sale – Fabric and Quilting Goodies Ways & Means will be bringing a portion of the donated items to the in-person meetings. Remember to bring cash or checks so you don’t miss out!

Membership - Sara Reindel and Elizabeth Young

We had 19 real live people at the September, three of which were guests. There were 

several other who joined via ZOOM. meeting As of August 24th we have 31 paid members. Please Please send your membership info to Sarah  Reindel or Elizabeth Young or bring to the October meeting.

Please send to: Reindel, Sarah                   Elizabeth Young

                      315 Dundee Place                 827 Mystery Lane             

                      Devon PA 19333                   West Chester PA 19382

Penn Oaks Sunshine

If you know of a guild member who could use some well wishes or encouragement because of a sickness or life event, please contact me at marianne@thecaporales.us.  I will make sure, as the in-coming Corresponding Secretary, to send our collective good thoughts to our fellow member.

Marianne Caporale

2022 Getaway - It's Reservation Time!

We will accept the Getaway reservations via snail mail in October. The reservation form will be sent via email around mid-October. We request that the completed form, along with your deposit check, be returned by November 8th.  We will continue to hold our Getaway at the Amish View Inn & Suites at 3125 Old Philadelphia Pike, Bird-in-Hand. Next year, the Getaway dates are February 23-27. To allow for a bit of social distancing we anticipate that the sewing room will hold 20 quilters, allowing one 6 foot long table per quilter. At this point in time the Amish View Inn is following CDC and PA State guidelines. Guests who are not vaccinated are expected to wear masks in the public areas, except when eating. In consideration of others, we expect our members to be vaccinated. Please be aware that dependent upon the covid transmission rate at that time, masks may need to be worn in the sewing room. The sewing room fee is $530; this amount will be shared equally by all attendees. The room rates (including tax) for a single/double room will be $125.43 for Wednesday/Thursday nights, and $177.60 for Friday/Saturday nights. A deposit of $100.00 per room will hold your reservation. Come for one night, two, three or all four nights to sew, shop and visit with your fellow members. Just a reminder, the POQ Getaway is completely self-funded. Members are responsible for finding their own roommate and for sharing the room cost. Our contract is for the Double Queen Rooms. Take a look at the Amish View Inn web site ( www.AmishViewInn.com) to learn about this wonderful venue. Please contact us with any questions.

Ellen McMillen (ejmcmillen@verizon.net) and Cindy Vognetz (cvognetz@hotmail.com) 2022 Getaway Co-Chairs