Monday, May 2, 2022

 Penn Oaks Newsletter May 2022

President's Note

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.


                                                             Threshold of a Dream

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

Ways & Means
Nothing new this month

Membership - Sara Reindel and Elizabeth Young
At the April meeting we had 20 members, 2 guests and several on line.

   Penn Oaks Sunshine

If you know of a guilt 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 Coporale
  Bits and Pieces From The Sewing World

   In 2003, Christa Watson considered herself an avid quilter looking for a way to     fund her hobby. A woman at her church had introduced her to quilting and, as       Watson’s quilting hobby grew, so did her quilting-related expenses. That’s when     Watson decided to start selling fabric on eBay and her own online shop,               ChristaQuilts.com

   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.

   “Precuts were the ticket. It’s just so much less labor. Before Amazon, I was           cutting fabric eight hours a day,” Watson says.

   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.







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