We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

We wanted to give you an update on the status of our First Saturday block of the month program.  We have been putting this off in the hopes that things might improve.  Sadly, things have not gone the way we had hoped.  

     
As we are sure you are aware, First Saturday is not only a fun time, but it is also our biggest marketing opportunity of the month.  While we enjoy giving you a free block each month, that is certainly not why we have been hosting this event for the past 16 years.  It is a time for us to let you know what is new and what is to come in the hopes that you spend money while you are at our store.  

In this current climate that is not possible for us.  This past program has not been a great investment for us without you in our store shopping while you are picking up your blocks.  We are grateful for those of you that have been coming in faithfully each month to pick up your block and maybe even make a purchase. However, we have decided not to start a new First Saturday Block of the Month in January.  At this point it is not a great financial decision for us.  While we have spent quite a bit of time brainstorming how we can make it work,  we have just decided to take a little break.  We do not know how long of a break at this point, but we will keep you updated as the year progresses.  

We are not ruling out another 6 month program starting in July, however we are not committing to that at this point either simply because of the need to be way ahead of the game as far as ordering the fabric needed for such an endeavor.  As you may or may not know, the availability or I should say the unavailability of fabric is one of the consequences of the current climate.  It makes us very nervous to commit to a program not knowing for sure if we will receive the goods that we have ordered to fill that commitment.  

Having said all that, we will certainly let you know if we decide to try a program in July.  We would like to thank Ann for all of her hard work and dedication to this program.  She has worked so hard to prepare patterns, create sample blocks and teach all of you each month. Her dedication has been the driving force behind this program and we could not have done it without her leadership and creativity. 

While we are sad, we hope that you keep your First Saturday traditions going.  We know several of you get together and make a day of coming to class and maybe having lunch, coffee or just meeting your friends at the store.  We would like to challenge you to keep that going with or without (but preferably with) a trip to Cloth and Quilts included in that day.  Feel free to stop in and see what is new anytime (well...,  that is anytime during business hours).  :-)

Sincerely,
The Cloth and Quilts Team