Penn Oaks Newsletter May 2022
A Ghost of President’s Past (Robin is still recovering)
The news from the sale is in and we “done good”. After all
is said and done, we will clear close to $3000.00. A special shout out and thank
you to all who worked on this activity. A double shout out to Marianne
Corporale for going far beyond the expected mile.
The sale was a huge success and we had some fun along the
way. Several of our newer members showed up to help and it was fun getting to
know them and learn of their quilting journey. In addition, the usual suspects
from the guild showed up and it was fun visiting with them in person! We haven’t
had a lot of real time visits over the past two years and we all had many
stories to tell.
If the money and the fun weren’t enough, we also had some
education. While going through one of the books, I found a truly interesting
historical tidbit from the world of quilting. In 1982, the Art Quilt movement
was in its infancy. The quilt world was turned upside at the International Quit
Festival in Houston when an art quilt, “Threshold of a Dream” by Katie Pasquini
Masopust, was awarded “Best of Show”. What was more shocking was that the judge
that year was Jinny Beyer, “the acknowledged queen of old-fashioned quilt making”
(she even hand quilts). Her choosing an abstract wall quilt over the gorgeous
traditional pieces entered in the show gave instant legitimacy to the art quilt
movement. It is interesting to contrast Ginny’s response with that of the “traditionalists”
response the first time a “machine” quilted quilt won “best quilting”. I believe
this was at a Paducah show and the reports were that the weaping and wailing
could be heard as far away as Nashville. We traditionalists accept change slowly,
kicking and screaming all the way. We eventually change as witnessed by the “Long-Arm”
movement which permeated the quilting world with hardly a mummer.
One last thank you to all those who helped, including the usual suspects of husbands. It was great seeing them one more time for the good times.
May Meeting
Our May meeting is for the challenge. Please come with your challenge quilts.
June Meeting
Our June meeting will be our postponed celebration of our 35th anniversary. We will have a cake to celebrate (depending if the church’s mask policy at the time of the meeting) and a show and tell. Do you want to show your first quilt? Your pandemic finishes? Please bring a quilt or 2 for show and tell.
2022 Slate of Candidates
President - Carolyn Davis / Jamie Loncaric
Program Chair - Donna Daley
Assistant-Deb Houck
Treasurer - Rita Marie Smith
Recording Secretary - Angela Brant
Corresponding Secretary - Nancy DeTeodora
Membership - Elizabeth Young / Sarah Reindel
Ways & Means - Jen Burke
2022 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 |
Less than three years later, ChristaQuilts.com had grown from a means of supporting Watson’s quilting hobby into a thriving business. By 2006, Watson realized that her site had the potential to support her family. Her husband, Jason, quit his job as a certified professional accountant, and the couple decided to grow the business enough to provide two full-time incomes.
“At that time we were getting a bunch of emails
from Amazon asking if we wanted to sell there,” Watson recalls. “Jason said we
should try it for six months, just to test the waters.”
According to Amazon, there are two million third-party sellers
on the site. The Watsons decided to become one of them. Thinking like the CPA
that he was, Jason thought precut fabric bundles, rather than yardage, might do
best on Amazon. He set aside some new stock to experiment with and the couple’s Amazon business took off.
After just a few months, the couple saw that their Amazon sales
were strong, but discovered a flaw in the new business — fulfilling orders had
become an all- consuming process. After doing some research, the Watsons decided
to step things up and try the Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA)
program.
FBA allows Amazon sellers to use Amazon’s fulfillment services
instead of trying to fill orders on their own. Sellers send as much inventory
to Amazon as they’d like, and Amazon scans and stores it at their fulfillment warehouses.
When a customer places an order, Amazon packs and ships the items and manages customer service.
“Once we decided to use Fulfillment by Amazon, it just went
through the roof,” Watson says of the couple’s fabric business on Amazon.
The Watsons closed down their eBay and website shops and focused
their efforts on selling precuts on Amazon.
Today, the ChristaQuilts Amazon shop supports the family
of five and allows Watson time for designing patterns, writing her third craft
book, and teaching quilting classes around the country.
