Crafters Quarters member Denise Coulson won a first place blue ribbon for her beautiful quilt at this year’s Topsfield Fair. After designing and piecing the quilt, Denise consulted with Georgette Gagne at Black Wolf Quilting studio on the quilting design and had her quilt it. Congratulations, Denise! You make us proud. 

Besides quilting, Denise’s other interests include riding her motorcycle, taking beautiful professional-grade photographs, and dressing up in vintage clothes, like the 1933 wedding dress she’s wearing in the picture below.

We welcomed members of the Essex County Needlecraft Guild (ECNG) to Crafters Quarters today as part of the ECNG’s mystery trip to Amesbury. While here, guild members assembled and sewed 50 very cute chemo supply bags to donate to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. 

The whole chemo supply bag idea started when cancer survivor Sara Gallet was ending her treatment and was given her chemo supplies in a wadded up paper bag. Gallet said that she felt like that bag–and didn’t want anyone else to feel that way. So she went to Zimman’s to shop for fabric to make her own bags to donate. Word about the bags got around to Kristin Hunter at ECNG and the guild decided to pitch in. And we are so glad that they did because we got to meet them and they are wonderful and we hope they come back soon. (Especially since they shared their  lunch and candy with us!)

Also! ECNG welcomes new members. If you are interested in attending a meeting, please email Kristin Hunter at the following address: kristinhunter@comcast.net .

Hi, my name is Lisa, and I’m a CQ-holic.

I first heard about Crafters Quarters in the fall of 2008 when I saw Jensi and her family moving furniture into the building. I am pretty sure my jaw hit the asphalt when she said that she was starting a craft studio–RIGHT ABOVE OVEDIA CHOCOLATES–and coincidentally right across the street from my condo.

I could not wait for her to open but was working fulltime in Boston as a textbook editor.  Long story short, my wonderful husband gave me a Crafters Quarters annual membership for Christmas last year (thank you, honey!)–about a month before I was laid off from the aforementioned job. Talk about SPECTACULAR timing! The rest, as they say, is history.

More often than not, you will find me working on my latest obsession in what Jensi and Lori so kindly call “Lisa’s clubhouse” (which sounds very clique-y but it’s not) when my hubby calls to find out where I am. It all started with Leah Allman’s silk scarf painting class, followed in quick succession by Kate Broughton’s fabric origami workshop, learning to sew with Lori Felch, Gail Picard & Linda Carey’s quilted tote bags class, and of course, Jensi’s Flirty Thirty fabric dyeing class.

Currently, I am addicted to all things having to do with quilting. Mind you, when I first started coming to CQ, I told Jensi that I was flat-out not interested in quilting, or even in machine sewing. She sort of smiled a little and didn’t say much.  I think she knew that after being immersed in such a supportive, friendly environment, surrounded by all of you inspiring quilters and your beautiful work, I would finally succumb. And I am so grateful that I did.

What is your CQ story? What are you up to, craftwise? I want to hear it. You can email me at Lisa.Phillips@craftersquarters.com .

Talk to you soon!

Lisa

At last week’s  Oh, Scrap! meeting, goddess of recycling crafts Angie Adams gave an inspiring {reCREATE} talk, “Being Green” where she showed us how to turn recycled plastic bags into totes and purse liners–with nothing more than an iron and some ingenuity! We also swooned over her beautiful collection of barrettes, magnets, and pins upcycled from maps, canceled postage stamps, and magazines.

This week as part of Oh, Scrap!, we’re excited to have Ellen Vidal’s Easy Paper Piecing class, where we’ll learn how to piece a cute little house block using Ellen’s techniques. Come on over and join us this evening (Wednesday 9/23) between 6 and 8 p.m. There is no charge for the class (THANKS, ELLEN!) beyond the usual Oh, Scrap! fee.

Hope to see you there! 

Lisa Phillips

We have been lucky indeed to have renowned artist and FAU professor Janet Siegel Rogers in the studio this week, wowing new and returning students with her Experiments in Color classes.

Participants have reported seeing the world around them in an entirely mind-blowing way with their newly-acquired color sensitivity and awareness. . . to the point where they’ve had to pull over while driving so they can see what all of those colors on the side of the road are doing to each other! Although we consider this to be the very best kind of rubbernecking, we do advise caution on your way home from this eye-opening class.

A women’s group from Main Street Congregational Church (MSCC) in Amesbury MA is happy to announce their first “Supporting Women in Wellness and the Arts Fair” to be held Saturday, October 24, 2009.

They are inviting all vendors selling arts and crafts as well as those with products or services relating to wellness to participate in this event.  They are looking for vendors related to:

• Wellness - such as yoga, massage, essential oils - sharing a service or product
• Education - local services for women such as Jeannie Geiger Crisis Center, breast cancer awareness, child oriented services such as Amesbury Parent Coop
• Arts and crafts - such as handcrafted pottery, jewelry, textiles, soaps
• Spiritual - music (live or recorded), poetry or book readings

The fair will run from 10am - 2pm on Saturday, October 24, 2009 in the Parish House, Fellowship Hall and sanctuary.

There will be a $20 charge for a space + a donation of one item from each vendor, such as a gift certificate for a service or a piece of art/craft work.  This will help create a basket or two for a raffle.  The purpose of this fair is to raise money for missions work at MSCC and to support women’s art and wellness in general.   Publicity will begin in August and will be conducted via local newspapers, cable TV, flyers and the church website.

Vendor application forms will be available from their website as well as by emailing Jane Ansaldo Church at j.ansaldo@comcast.net or Nancy Frick at nancy.frick@verizon.net.  They reserve the right to accept or deny registrants so as to offer a well rounded fair.  First come, first served!  Applications will be accepted up until Friday October 9, 2009.

If you have any questions, you may call Jane at 603 929 4919 or Nancy at 978 388 6833.  They look forward to having you join us at this exciting service-to-women fair!