California Girl

Being an 'east coast girl' I'd never been to California until last spring, when I had a 6 hour layover in the LA airport on my way to a Superior Threads Seminar in St George, Utah. I was so happy to finally make it to the west coast. When I left England it was snowing, but California was warm and sunny,  full of palm trees and friendly people. 

Feedback from the La Mer DVD has just started arriving. The first email came from Pam in, you guessed it, California. Here's what Pam had to say:

I received my dvd yesterday.... and I love my La Mer.... I shall be doing beautiful work I know it..... I have felt that maybe my domestic sewing machine and frame are like maybe 2nd to a long arm machine... but now I can make my quilting sing with the beautiful techniques you have shown me..... thank you so much.

Pam from
Sloughhouse, California

Notes from Maria

Martha
Just a short note to say I'm delighted with my NEQ that arrived today as planned. I reckon I was up running and practising well within the hour thanks to the very easy to follow instruction manual. It took longer to find  and cut a bit of fabric, backing and wadding to load up to start practising! The table height is just right for me at 5'11" and I'm so glad I opted for the handles. I just need to find a more permanent home for it now as it can't stay in my living forever!

Here are some photo's of Maria's first quilt machine quilted on the New English Quilter. Maria has used a Ripple Stipple pattern that was demonstrated in the La Mer DVD. It's turned out great. It's hard to believe that Maria just got the frame last Wednesday!! She already has a quilt finished for her daughter to take back to University. Well done Maria!

The Other Half

I enjoy watching the men at quilt shows.  I would hazard a guess that men are probably out numbered by 100 to one at most shows.  They often have that glazed look of someone who would rather be somewhere else. All those fabric stalls that make our hearts race just don't have the same appeal to the average guy. But men generally do love our machine quilting frame. Their glazed look disappears and the eyes come into focus, here at long last is something they can get excited about, a tool they understand.Quilters are often married to engineering types. They like to stand there, arms folded across their chest and figure out how it works. They ask all the right questions too. Like why the wood won't warp and how all the parts fit together and extend. They appreciate the genius behind the simplicity and recognize a great piece of kit when they see it.

This is an old photo from years ago from my SuperQuilter days. But I get a kick out of it because it's June Barnes husband and he did talk her into getting a frame.You can follow the link to find out more about this award winning English machinequilter. June had an exhibition of her work just across the aisle from our stand in 2004. You can't help being inspired by her machine quilting!

I often get enquires from husbands who want to purchase something special. A month ago I received a phone call from a husband who'd seen our frame at the Festival of Quilts last summer. He rang up and said, "I want to purchase your 10 foot New English Quilter frame and the10 foot purpose built table and the JUKI sewing machine and the speed control Nifty grips to go with it. He wanted a copy of the new DVD too. No questions. No discussions. Just a credit card number. I have to admit that I love this kind of phone call. Anyway two hours later, I had a phone call from another husband. It was like deja vu. He also just wanted to order the whole set up for his wife. He'd seen it at the show and was ready to make the purchase.  Well, it's one month later and these are two happy ladies! I'll finish the story in the next post.

Pre-Order Window

The skies are clearing and we're able to post international La Mer pre-orders! We've decided to keep the pre-order window open until Monday morning April 26th Greenwich Time. You can follow the link in the preceding line to order or find out more.This gives everyone one more weekend to take advantage of the pre-order discount. We're excited that the La Mer DVDs are finally winging their way to you. Thank you for your patience. We can't wait to find out what you think.

UK £19.95 pre-order price £14.95

USA $24.99  pre-order price $19.99

The Big One

From time to time, we get requests to do custom jobs. This particular project was to create a table and frame for a Singer stretch sewing machine called the Homesteader. Sue imported the Homesteader from America and uses it with the PCQuilter. Sue needed a table and frame to accommodate her new set up.  She wanted the table and frame designed so it could be set up in a variety of sizes. She also needed it to be easy to set up and take down. Paul loves a challenge and he did it!

 In the top photo you see Paul showing Sue's husband how the table extends. The cut outs in the table keep it light enough to move around. The side photo shows the table extended to 10 feet. And in the final photo, Paul is showing how easily the frame attaches to the table. Sue is going to send us some photos of the set up in her home. We'll pass them on to you when she does.

UK Posting

The La Mer DVD pre-orders should be arriving today in England, Scotland and Wales. I've had confirmation from Argyll in Scotland and the Isle of Wight. I'm hoping that all is well in between! We'd love to hear your feedback in comments on the post or emails. We are already working on the next DVD in the Line Dancing Series.Let us know if there is something particular you would like to see covered.

International orders continue to wait for the skies to clear.If the problem persists beyond this week, we'll get the La Mer DVD duplicated by an American company for State-side distribution.Sorry for the delay!

First the good news...

The good news is that La Mer is all printed, packaged and ready to post. We'll be sending copies of  La Mer all over the UK and to the USA and Canada, the Netherlands, Greece and even Australia. The bad news is that a giant plume of volcanic ash  is making it's way across Europe and stopping all air traffic coming and going from the UK.This means that all international posting will be disrupted for the next few days. We'll get it to you just as soon as the planes start flying again!

Fortunately, the ash won't be disrupting the UK posting and the pre-orders for England, Scotland and Wales will all go out by first class post tomorrow. 

Sneak Peak

Here's a sneak peak of the La Mer DVD cover. We'll be tweaking it over the next couple of days. But here's a rough idea of what to expect. You can click the image for a better view.

DVD Progress

I'm happy today. The sun was shining. The daffodils were blooming and the DVD editing is finished! There are still some graphics to put together for the DVD case but all the hard stuff is completed! If the DVD was a quilt, I would have just completed the third corner of the binding. Not far to go now.

I wish everyone a joyful Easter!