Community Quilting Day

Thanks to Pam Raby, one of our amazing instructors, The Pine Needle recently hosted a Community Sewing Day to make quilts for Cares NW, a local charity. 

Pam has been inspired by the heart quilts that so many guilds have made for communities affected by tragedy. Cares NW has long been near and dear to the Portland community and especially the Pine Needle.Thinking about how she might contribute, Pam offered her time as a teacher and presented construction techniques as well as heart quilt ideas which she discovered online. It was a wonderful day! A lovely group of generous, kind hearted women came to our community service day. Pam (and probably everyone there) especially enjoyed the collaborative, willing spirit everyone brought. As quilters, we often spend many hours alone happily stitching the hours away. It is refreshing and gratifying to pitch in and work together to create quilts for kids in need of comfort in our town.

Part of the group was busy working in our Lounge.

While still more people worked in the Classroom.

Some of our Pine Needle regulars, and prolific quilters for CARES: Charlotte, Pam, and Margaret.

Master coordinator, Karen, working behind the scenes organizing and making kits

Kathy's work in progress.

Kathy's finished quilt top (Illumination, designed by Pam Raby).

Beth's hearts in progress.

Nikki's citrus themed quilt top.

Another heart top in progress

Heartfelt thanks to everyone who participated. The event was so fun and productive that we will definitely be doing again.

Mary Fons is Coming to The Pine Needle!

Mary Fons is Coming to The Pine Needle 

September 18!

We have two exclusive and fabulous events scheduled with the energetic and highly creative Mary Fons! Sign up now as space is limited! Call us or click on the register buttons below to sign up online.

Sunday, 9:30 am to 11:30 am

The Mary Fons "Meet & Greet" is a mini trunk show, book signing, and autograph party. Also, it is the 18th of the month (sale day, so the attendees that come to this event will get the first opportunity to get the sale discount! Included in this event is a light Continental Breakfast.  $35 per person

REGISTER FOR MEET & GREET!

Sunday, 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm

Mary Fons' afternoon lecture: 10 Things I know About Quilting (and Life) NEW!

Mary is all grown up. For the past 8 years, Mary has been learning, teaching, failing/succeeding, creating video, designing fabric, recording TV shows, creating podcasts, lecturing, traveling, and of course, making quilts. She has learned a few things about making patchwork and teaching it - and she has learned about life too. Full of quilt-making tips and inspiration, this funny/touching lecture is a favorite. 

$35 per person

REGISTER FOR LECTURE!

Classes at The Pine Needle

Local customers know that we offer a variety of classes at The Pine Needle, right?

We love that we can connect talented teachers in the area with our customers and offer fantastic opportunities to learn and grow. We also enjoy the energy that a full classroom brings to the shop. The wide variety of creativity we see makes us proud to be a part of it.

Our foundation is the Sew With classes. These are once a month meetings where students can bring whatever they want to work on and Vicky, Nancy, Pam or Dawn lend their expert guidance. With students signing up session after session, these are also wonderful social gatherings and accountability partners for getting projects done!

We offer many project-based classes or various lengths as well. Recently the Turban Footstool and the Coloring Quilts classes have been super-popular. There's quilt classes too. Pam's Sequoia is gorgeous, and Vicky guides students through myriad variations of Farmer's Daughter quilts. It's always fun to peek into the classroom and see what's being created.

Our current class session is already underway, but there are still a few workshops with openings (call us if you are interested in any of the classes below).

Quick Curve Ruler Follow-Up Class... May 21, June 18, July 23, Aug 20 (10:00am - 1:00pm)
Seeing Stars Class... May 21, June 18, July 23, Aug 20 (1:30 - 4:30)
Sew With Dawn... May 22, June 19, July 17, Aug 21 (12:30 - 3:30pm)
From the Begining... May 23, June 6, June 13, June 20, June 27, July 11 (1:30 - 4:30pm)

Check our website here in a few months to see our new Fall offerings.

Join the Open House fun

Today, Friday Jan 15th was the first day of Open House and the fabric was flying! Customers enjoyed hourly drawings and inspirational demos and class samples from our wonderful teachers, Pam Raby, Rachel Kerley, Vickie Pierson, Dawn White, and more.

Coleen Barnhardt wowed us all with her Coloring Quilts class samples.

Nancy is demonstrating gadgets to help keep accurate seam allowances of several widths.

Author and teacher Sheila Snyder of A License to Quilt will be on hand. Here she's explaining her Turban Stool class to intrigued customers.

Plus, enjoy a jewelry show and sale by Kelly Forester of Kis Designs.

If you missed today's fun, there's still time tomorrow, Saturday Jan 16th. Come on in from 11 to 5 and check it out!

Winter Open House Festival

Welcome to the new year! 2016 is off to a great start at The Pine Needle with lots of fabric and events on the horizon. I'm Kristin, the newest "Pine Cone," and I'm going to don the social media mantle. I hope to keep the blog humming along with updates monthly if not more. Our Facebook and Instagram accounts will be getting more attention too.

What's coming up? Don't miss our Winter Open House Friday Jan 15th and Saturday Jan 16th from 11am to 5pm.

Come meet our outstanding staff and take advantage of their professional input and receive discounts on many items. Our instructors Pam Raby, Rachel Kerley, and Vickie Pierson will share inspiring projects and upcoming classes. Dawn White and Nancy McGuire will demo a few of their favorite products.

Meet author and teacher Sheila Snyder of A License to Quilt who will be on hand to help select fabric for her Turban Stool class. And, enjoy a jewelry show and sale by Kelly Forester of Kis Designs.

If that's not enough, we'll be having hourly drawings for great prizes too. We hope to see you here!