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HALLOWEEN
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Trick or Treat!
 | | Halloween |
Make this quilt using fusible web and the Machine Applique instructions included with the pattern. Have it ready to hang in no time... and now's the time!
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WHAT'S NEW!
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Janice's Hand-dyed fabric - more!
Craving unique hand-dyed fabrics for your one-of-a-kind creations? Pick yours here.
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CURRENT
INTERNET SPECIAL
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Delicate Beauty
(Regular Price: $12.00)
click here
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YOUR QUILTS ON DISPLAY
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Occasionally our customers tell us where their quilts, made from our patterns, or Janice's hand-dyed fabrics, will be on display. Here are two:MARTHA SHEHORN
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Dragonflies in Flight
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Made by Martha Shehorn, on display Sept 19-21, 2013 at the Northwest Quilting Expo, Portland, OR.Martha tells us, "In May of 2010 I was fortunate to take an applique class from Nancy Lee Chong when she was hosted by the Clark County Quilters in Vancouver, WA. I've been enjoying applique ever since and feel very glad that my introduction to this form was by such a skillful teacher. "I completed this quilt based on the Dragonflies in Flight pattern using needleturn applique with extensive quilting, including metallic thread on the dragonfly wings, as well as multi-color crystals. "The quilt honors my grandfather, born in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). As a child I accompanied my family to his farm about every other weekend. The quilt looks so much like the pond at his farm, abuzz with dragonflies and other critters like caterpillars and beetles among the reeds. These also are represented in the quilt with a 3D fuzzy caterpillar and beads used to form a beetle." See our 2FAQ Gallery for a larger view, and to see what others have done with this pattern. MARIANNE BURR
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Eleven 3 Eleven
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Made by Marianne Burr, from one of Janice's hand-dyed fabrics. On display at the National Quilt Museum, Paducah, KY, October 11, 2013 to January 14, 2014. Exhibit: Two Approaches: Now & the Future of Quilting
Exploring the works of modern quilt maker Denyse Schmidt and innovative quilt artist Marianne Burr. Marianne says about her quilt: "I have been painting my designs using silk painting techniques on plain white silk, but I tried something new with your hand-dyed cotton and painted some basic shapes on it, added some of my own hand-dyed silk organzas, and my trademark: lots and lots of hand stitching. It was good for me to make a change to see an alternative way to work. "I looked at it (the hand-dyed fabric) for a long time and was finally inspired to create a quilt inspired by the terrible earthquake and tsunami in Japan on March 11, 2011. Eleven 3 Eleven is meant to honor those who were lost and those whose lives and homes were forever changed on that day." Visit Marianne's website to see a close-up of this quilt (in Portfolio 1), and more of her amazing quilts. Then go see Janice's Hand-dyed Fabrics to pick something for your next creation. |
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READY TO RETREAT?
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QUILTING ON THE BEACH
Feb 8-15, 2014
 A quilters' retreat in paradise! Hosted by Quilt Passions in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii (the Big Island). Featuring local and national instructors, a quilt show, shop hop and an authentic luau!
Nancy will be teaching:
- 2 Fabric Applique (Feb 11)
- Hand Applique Landscapes (Feb 13 - 14)
"Finding Time to Make Quilts" will be the topic of her evening presentation on Feb 11.
Make your reservations now to join Nancy in paradise.
For information go to: www.quiltpassions.net
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Aloha!
What do you crave? Just the other day Janice was telling her husband that she craved more colors. Not more shades of red, blue, yellow...but more DIFFERENT colors. Our color pallet is just too limiting. Then, lo and behold, she was listening to National Public Radio and the Radiolab* program's topic was color! Did you know that as humans we have just three color cone receptors in our eyes (red, green and blue), while butterflies have five, and mantis shrimp have sixteen! They see colors we can't imagine and don't have names for, because we have never seen them! "Now that's what I'm talking about. I want those eyes!" So, there are more colors, we just cannot see them. (Dogs only have two color cone receptors, blue and green. Too bad.)
Alas, being limited to three color cones, Janice will have to be content with red, yellow, blue and their various combinations. What do you crave?
Nancy has just returned home from teaching in Illinois. The weather was hot, the hospitality warm, and the students eager to learn. October will find Nancy teaching in Oregon and Colorado, then we will be vending in Spokane at the Washington State Quilters, Spokane Chapter quilt show (the largest quilt show in Eastern Washington). Why not come visit us in person?
E komo mai,
Welcome,
Nancy & Janice
*National Public Radio (NPR), Radiolab, Season 10, Episode 13. Try this link, hopefully it will still be available to you.
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WHO ARE WE?
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A brief overview of Pacific Rim Quilt Company
We bet not one of you said, "I crave more information about Pacific Rim Quilt Company." Be honest, you did not. But here we go anyway.
We sent our first e-Newsletter in May 2009, to 1,700 quilters - mostly appliquers, just like you. We recognize that appliquers are sometimes made to feel a bit odd in the quilting world, since most quilters consider "applique" to be a nasty 4-letter word. Many of you sit at home, needle in hand, and wonder if there are others like you some place in the world. Well, yes, there are many of you. Currently we have 4,600 subscribers, all with a passion for quilting, applique and Hawaii, or things tropical. (See, we do know what you crave.)
With the turn-over in subscribers, we figure that upwards of 3,500 of you subscribed after our first several issues were published. So, we thought we would sprinkle a few of the early articles into our current newsletters so all of you could get to know us better. This month we want to introduce you to our company, Pacific Rim Quilt Company, and tell you who we are.
Perhaps you have seen our advertisements in quilt magazines, shopped in our booth at a quilt show, or you found us on the web. But who is behind the name and logo of Pacific Rim Quilt Company?
 | | Nancy Chong |
There are just two of us: Nancy Chong and Janice Baehr. We are sisters with incredibly supportive and helpful husbands. Nancy lives in Gold Beach, Oregon and Janice lives in Snohomish, Washington.
 | | Janice Baehr |
Separated by 500 miles, we make good use of the phone and Internet. It is fortunate that we are two very different people. Nancy loves to teach and be with people; Janice prefers the solitude of her office and companionship of her computer. So Nancy is the person most of you know as she spends a good deal of her time traveling to teach around the country; while Janice is the person who keeps the business humming -- marketing, buying, filling orders, customer service, writing these newsletters, dyeing fabric, and more. We both design and make quilts, though Nancy makes more time for these activities.
In the mid-1980's we started selling a few Hawaiian quilt block patterns at luaus in the Seattle area. We formed Pacific Rim Quilt Company in 1990. We found we were designing new patterns regularly enough that in 1999, Janice created our website and that is when our business really began to grow. In 2000. Nancy quit her full-time job as a legal secretary to teach quilting full-time. Janice gradually followed, cutting back to part-time at her banking job in 2002, then quitting it completely in 2005. (More about each of us in future newsletters.)
Our first pattern line:
In 2003, we introduced a second line of patterns:
(or what we just call 2FAQs - pronounce like 2 fax.)
Then, in 2011, we introduced our third line of patterns:
Because we believe it is best to learn a technique (specifically, needle-turn applique) by watching someone do it rather than reading about it, we produced companion videos for our two primary pattern lines:
- Hawaiian Quilting with Nancy Lee Chong
- 2 Fabric Applique Quilts with Nancy Lee Chong
In 2012, to keep the art of designing Hawaiian quilts alive, we published our book:
- Design Your Personal Hawaiian Quilt
Ours is a home-based business. We both work at home, we have no employees. But we do have the help of our two wonderful husbands. Janice's husband, Rudy, is our "Chief Logistics Officer", meaning he makes daily runs to the post office with your orders, picks up our orders from the printers, packs, lifts and hauls. He is also the videographer (i.e. cameraman) for all of our videos. Nancy's husband, Warren, has the title of "Chief of Product Packaging", meaning he has packaged thousands and thousands of quilt patterns. (But more important to Nancy, he is an excellent cook!)
TIP: Your reward for having read all this -- you are the first to know we will introduce four new patterns next month!
Now you know a little more about Pacific Rim Quilt Company. In future issues we will put the spotlight on Nancy and Janice individually, so you can get to know each of us better.
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DELICATE BEAUTY: Hibiscus - Hawaiian Quilt
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Craving Collaboration or Companionship?
 | Delicate Beauty: Hibiscus
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Quilting is often a very solitary endeavor. Even when quilters gather together, they most often work on their individual projects. We read (somewhere not long ago) that it is not necessarily true that when pioneer women got together in quilting bees they were all working on one quilt. Even then, they gathered to socialize, but very often worked on their individual quilts. What we often crave is the companionship of other quilters, but we still want to work on our own projects.
Nancy and Janice worked together to design this quilt. Nancy sketched the basic concept and emailed a picture to Janice. Janice put the photo in PhotoShop to digitally alter the design. After passing it back and forth a few times, a new design was born.  | | Purple Hibiscus |
Nancy appliqued this version of the quilt, and Janice machine quilted it. We often work this way to finalize our designs and make our quilt samples.
TIP: Read more about this quilt, and what inspired its name in our March 2010 e-Newsletter.
Delicate Beauty: Hibiscus, 44" x 68". Normally this pattern sells for $12.00, but for a limited time it is our Internet Special for only $10.00. Purchase your pattern here.
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CAROUSEL - 2 Fabric Applique Quilt
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 | | Carousel |
Not just for little girls
We are aware that the colors we choose for the cover quilt on a pattern may predispose quilters to think of that pattern in a particular way.
Take for example this Carousel quilt. Pink = Girls, true. But what happens if you were to use black, brown, navy blue, or orange, instead?
  Did you know, you can choose any of our 2FAQ Fabric Packs to go with any of our 2FAQ patterns? While we suggest a variety of Fabric Packs for each pattern, you can mix and match patterns and fabric any way you want. You can also ask Janice to pick the fabrics just for you, or pick your own individual fabrics. When you have a craving, we aim to satisfy it!
 One of the things we love to do in our newsletters is to encourage you to creatively adapt our patterns when you make your quilts. In our August 2009 newsletter we shared with you many ideas for how to modify our Carousel pattern (which, by the way, is a Unicorn!). Read the August article for an explanation and lots of ideas.
To see how a number of our customers have creatively adapted this pattern, go to our 2FAQ Gallery, where not one of the quilts is nearly as girly as ours.
TIP: When you click on the links we provide in our newsletters, the link should open in a new window or a new tab - leaving the newsletter open in its original window or tab. When you are done looking at the link, close the tab or window and you still have our newsletter open where you left off. If the link opens over the newsletter, consider changing your browser settings, or right click on the link and select Open Link in New Tab.
Carousel: 36" x 24", $12.00. Buy your pattern here.
Start here to choose your 2FAQ Fabric Packs: Fabric Packs
Start here to select your fabrics: Fabric Finder
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COMING EVENTS
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Nancy's Whereabouts:
Here are opportunities to take a class from Nancy or catch a presentation at shows, shops and guilds. Most guilds welcome visitors, so don't be shy.
Make your plans now for one or more of these events:
2013 Shows, Classes, and Events:
- Oct 1-2, Happy Valley, OR, Pioneer Quilts. Forest Finery Hand Applique and 2FAQ classes.
- Oct 4-6, Salem, OR, Quiltopia, Nancy is the Featured Quilter. See a wide variety of her quilts on display, attend her trunk show to see more quilts, attend her Hawaiian Quilt program and do some shopping.
- Oct 11-13, Colorado Quilt Council Retreat
- Oct 18-20, Spokane, WA, Washington State Quilters-Spokane Chapter, 35th annual quilt show "A Cottage in the Country". Come visit our booth, see our quilts, and meet Nancy and Janice.
- Nov 3-5, Rochester, MN. Quilters Sew-ciety.
- Nov 9, Coos Bay, OR. Nancy will be demonstrating 2 Fabric Applique Quilts at Threads That Bind Quilt Shop.
- Nov 12-13, Orange, CA. Orange County Quilters Guild
Looking ahead to 2014:
- Jan 18, North Bend-Coos Bay, OR, Coos Sand 'n Sea Quilt Guild. 2 Fabric Applique Quilt class.
- Feb 9-14, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Take a relaxing hand applique class from Nancy at Quilting on the Beach.
- April 1-2, Seabeck, WA. Nancy will be teaching at The Applique Society Retreat.
Register early for classes. They can fill quickly, or be canceled if not enough people register in advance.
Click CALENDAR for details and contact information.
Schedule Nancy now for your show or event in 2014, and beyond. If you would like her to come to your area to teach, let your quilt shop, quilt guild, or show organizer know. Print Nancy's Brochure and pass it along.
Piggy-backing is good!
Nancy is always eager to teach or speak at more than one location when she travels. If she is able to book multiple events, then each group shares in her travel expenses. So it is just an economical and efficient way to book. If you see that Nancy will be anywhere near* you, then contact her to see if additional engagements can be arranged during the same trip. That way EVERYONE WINS!
*Remember, Nancy is traveling from Oregon. So near means that if she will be in Florida even Virginia is near. Think regionally.
QuiltUniversity.com
If you do not live where you can take a class from Nancy in person, then perhaps a class at Quilt University would work for you.
At Quilt University there are: No tests. No grades. No pressure. Students receive a password to an online classroom with a teacher-led Discussion Forum and Student Gallery. A typical class consists of three or four lessons.
Remember: The next two months are your last opportunity to catch those classes that you've been putting off. Quilt U will close at the end of the year.
If you have been meaning to take a class at QU, these classes will be your last chance! Nancy's upcoming classes begin - final opportunity: - Sept 27, Make Your Own Hawaiian Quilt
- Oct 25, Hand Quilting
Watch for a future announcement about where to take Nancy's on-line classes beginning in 2014.
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Thank you for spending a little of your precious time with us, we really appreciate it. Remember to send us your stories, pictures, questions, or suggestions. We love to hear from you.
A hui hou,
Until next time,
Nancy & Janice
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