Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Big News




It is with great anticipation and some tear-stained reservation that Geri at The Pine Needle is announcing her retirement. After 25 years, she's earned it! We are excited for Geri and the opportunities now open to her, and while this is a bittersweet moment, the rest of us Pinecones are also excited about the adventure ahead.

It has been a wonderful quarter century and we have made life-time friends. All of us at The Pine Needle have enjoyed each and every day that we have shared with you.  It has been our honor that you have chosen to be one of our customers and we value you and your choices more than you know.

We know you will have lots of questions and will try our best to address them all. First off, from Wednesday Feb 21 through Monday Feb 26th we'll have everything 20% off. We've received some new goods and added more of our sample quilts for sale, so come on in!

The shop will temporarily close from Tuesday Feb 27th through March 7th while we are at the Sewing Expo in Puyallup (feel free to come visit our booths there for savings on kits, fabric, and notions!).

This means no Westside Modern Quilt Club meeting in February. In all likelihood, WMQC will go on hiatus for a few months as the shop transitions to it's next inhabitants. We are still planning on having our Black and White special exhibit at expo though, so keep working on your challenge quilts!

Our classes will also continue as scheduled. 

March 8 will mark the beginning of our everything must go final sale, and doors will close on April 1st.

Geri's not going away completely though -- she will run the retreats scheduled for 2018 and plans to devote her time, skills, and boundless energy to more retreats! If you are interested in being added to our 2019 retreat interest list just come on in to the shop before April 1, give us a call, or sign up online here. We'd love to continue the adventure!

Sunday, February 11, 2018

Westside Modern Quilt Club - Jan 2018


  Happy New Year!


We've missed our monthly meetings, and with the full house at our January meeting, it looks like you missed us too. 

We started off by talking about our annual challenges. Last year's Transitions exhibit was well received at the NW Quilt Expo and we've been invited to exhibit at the Clark County Quilt Show in April. Our exhibit can include pieces from ANY of our previous challenges. That means it could be a Bridges, The Pearl, Modern Heritage, or Transitions quilt. If you would like to participate, please give your name and phone number to Kristin or Geri and plan on dropping off your quilt by March 15th.

Our challenge for 2018 will be Black and White. You can approach this as conceptually (or not) as you wish. The shortest sides should be no less than 36" and the longest no more than 60." 

Pinecone Kristin was our speaker for the evening. She shared some tips to get yourself organized and Get Things Done in the new year. 

Of course, Show and Tell is the best part of our meetings:

Deslie is the queen of letting the fabric do the work. Her "Wild Bush Flowers" quilt shows off the patterning in the Australian fabric of the same name beautifully.



Karen G showed off her tessellated fall leaves  quilt designed by the inimitable Sandy Rae, a beloved instructor in the shop who may be gone, but is definitelynot forgotten.



Mary Pat brought two quilts to share. The first is color blocks for a recent grad. The ombré fabrics add perfectly to the overall glow .



Mary Pat's second share was a fabulous indigo and taupe quilt who's relatively simple design shows off a fabulous collection of fabrics.



Sandy shared a cute little birdie wallhanging in progress.



Susan B shared her improvisational "crumb" quilt, made up of scraps! Her straight line quilting in overlapping peaks wowed us as well.


Cathy E shared her most recent Modern Baltimore Album oversized block with exquisite machine quilting. She hopes to enter her quilt into a show or two, so it will have to remain somewhat secret for the time being. We wish her all the best!

Please keep your eyes out for our monthly meeting email announcement. We'll be at the Sewing Expo in Puyallup, WA at the end of the month, so we may hold our next WMQC meeting a week early, or skip February. Stay tuned.

Friday, December 22, 2017

Holiday Hours and SALE!

Stuff your own stocking! Our after-Christmas sale actually starts today, Friday Dec 22nd and lasts through Monday, Jan 1st.

All Christmas fabrics 50% off*
All Children's flannels $7.99 per yard*
All Books 35% off
All TPN patterns $5.99
Plus lots and lots of specially tagged fabric marked down*
(half yard minimum, please)

We've added more sample quilts to our sale.These samples have been marked at give-away pricing. They are one-of-a-kind and have never been used. Perfect for that last minute "home-made" gift giving.

Holiday Store Hours:

Friday, December 22 - 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Saturday, December 23 - 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Sunday, December 24 - 10:00 am to 2:30 pm
Closed December 25 - Merry Christmas!
Tuesday, December 26 - 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Wednesday, December 27 - 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Thursday, December 28 - 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Friday, December 29 - 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Saturday, December 30 - 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Sunday, December 31 - 10:00 am to 2:30 pm
Monday, January 1 - 10:00 am to 3:00 pm

Our website is open 24/7!

Friday, November 17, 2017

Westside Modern Quilt Club -- See you in 2018

It's been a busy few months for us, and unfortunately that's pushed our monthly club to the back burner. We apologize for not getting the word out effectively that our October meeting had been cancelled.

Looking forward into November and December, we see that most everyone's calendars are filling up. Therefore, we've decided to keep it simple and not hold November and December meetings.

Westside Modern Quilt Club will return in January, ready for the new year. We look forward to seeing everyone on the last Wednesday of the month, January 31, 2018, at 6:00.

Monday, September 4, 2017

Expo Excitement and More


We're less than a month away from the Northwest Quilting Expo so things are getting exciting! As the Pine Needle Quilt Shop is one of the drop off points for the quilts to be displayed at Expo our pile of entries grows daily. If you have registered a quilt to be displayed, hurry and bring it in to the shop any time before September 6th.

Check out our two workshops at the Expo as well:

This adorable Iron Caddy which is lined with heat resistant fabric so you can use it to carry your iron to classes and retreats and have your own personally ironing space as well (plus be able to pack up a still-warm iron when the day is done). Check out the Expo class listing for time and date and to sign up.

And, this sewing machine caddy organizer. The quilted pad includes handy pockets for thread snips, bobbins, marking pencils, etc. There's also a pin cushion so you always have a place to put you pins. Check out the Expo class listing for time and date and to sign up.








We had our Westside Modern Quilt Club reveal party Wednesday night. It was convivial as usual, and the quilts for our Transitions challenge are just spectacular. We can't wait for everyone else to see the exhibit at Expo. Club members were asked to reinterpret a vintage quilt (maybe a family heirloom) in a modern way. The variety both of starting points and interpretations is inspiring.

Our Fall catalog is just about ready to be mailed. We've got lots of new quilts and kits to entice our customers. Our new samples are already hanging in the shop and we're busily making kits to go with them.

Mark your calendars for Open House on September 15th and 16th! We'll have demos, our teachers will talk about their upcoming classes, and fabric designer Marcia Derse will be on hand Saturday to tell us about her fabulous new line of fabric, Treasure Hunt.

We can't wait to share a super September with everyone!

Monday, July 31, 2017

Westside Modern Quilt Club July 2017

Our meetings are pretty casual, and Geri seems to have a never ending cache of Oli and Lena jokes to start us off with a cheeky smile.

She also showed off some gorgeous digitally printed fabrics from P&B which we'll be restocking in September, and 100% wool dryer balls which are new to the store and perfect for fluffing up all your laundry without using dryer sheets. Geri also demonstrated that folding your quilts on the bias will help prevent creases and prolong the life of your quilts, especially when stored.

Next month (August) will be our annual pot luck party at the park, where we get to unveil our challenge quilts and turn them in for our exhibit at Northwest Quilt Expo, so of course the details are top of everyone's mind. The image below has all the important dates and information on what to submit and when. If you are submitting a quilt for our Transitions challenge, pick up an Expo catalog at the shop to fill out the entry form, or download it here. Make a copy of it before you mail it in to Expo and turn that copy in with your quilt. We'll be displaying a 14"x 20" (portrait orientation) "poster" of your inspiration quilt, block, or other image, next to your challenge quilt, so be sure to note the picture information below. Because there is no charge for this special exhibit unless you want your quilt judged, we ask that you have your poster created at COSTCO yourself and turn it in with your quilt (this simplifies coordination for us as well). Click the image to see it larger:


Business taken care of, it was on to the fun part. This month we were honored to have Annette McFarlane from our local Studio Art Quilt Associates pod bring a trunk show of 50 small art quilts for us to enjoy. These were small pieces which reflected the huge range of aesthetics and techniques employed by members of SAQA.


We're pretty confident in saying that everyone really enjoyed looking at all the pieces in the trunk show and learning the stories and techniques behind them. More than a few were inspired to go home and try some new things.

Show and Tell was lots of fun and very varied as well. 

Darlene brought a beautiful quilt that was a study in light and shadow:


She also surprised Geri with an oldie but goodie quilt she made from a Pine Needle kit designed by our dear friend and teacher, Sandi Rae.



Elisa brought two quilts. The first is a bubbly Christmas Wreath created to showcase equally exuberant long arm quilting inspired by a class with Rob Apell.


The second quilt is a vintage quilt she beautifully long arm quilted for a customer.




Virginia brought another quilt from her book on the US money system. This one is based on the African proverb that a bundle of sticks is stronger than a single stick. To reinforce the concept (and because she's runing out of time to complete the quilts before exhibiting them at Expo), she plans to have the quilt in a frame at the show so that anyone who wants can help quilt it.



Linda made this smallish quilt as a test for a king sized version she's making for her daughter as a wedding present.



Molly recently went on a knitting tour of Estonia and brought some of her purchases to share. The intricately patterned knits also inspired her to make a quilt with lots of mitten blocks, which she brought, in progress:



Diane showed us her exquisite Fire Island Hosta quilt from a Judy Neimeier pattern. You may recognize it as Dianne and quilter Kazumi Peterson won the President's award at the NW Quilt Guild show last spring. 



Debbie showed off a striking black, white, and red wall hanging of her own design...




and a black, grey, and chartreuse work in progress, hoping to get a little feedback on what direction to take it. We think she got some excellent suggestions.



Patty shared a sweet and simple grand baby quilt she's working on with a friend. The pink and gold is a little outside of her comfort zone, but we all think it's fabulous!



Janet made a super cute Elf Hat quilt, complete with ricrac in the border!



The prolific Deslie brought a box of roomy fabric bags she made to donate to Outside In. These will be great for filling with toiletries and needed items for the kids, and also uses up a bunch of fabric so Deslie can replenish her stash with new patterns.




Deslie also shared two fun quilts. We are partial to the one on the right which makes fabulous use of one of our favorite Anthology batiks.




Pat brought a quirky dimensional quilt which will be inspiration for another quilt she's been commissioned to make, based on the upcoming eclipse, and using a vintage bedcover from the Timberline Lodge on Mt Hood. We're curious to see where Pat's imagination takes her.


Remember that next month's meeting will be at Millennium Park, just down the street from The Pine Needle. If you've made one, bring your Transitions challenge quilts, the inspiration photo on poster board, and a copy of the entry form you will have already submitted to The Northwest Quilt Expo. See you then!