Quilt Pro 4 Released

The latest version of this quilt design program for Windows was in November 2001. The new release was featured at the Houston QuiltMart the end of October. There are no plans to upgrade the Macintosh version at this time. Our price is unchanged at $134.95 (a special order item - not stocked).

If you already own an earlier version, contact QuiltPro regarding upgrade prices.

New features include:
Round Arranger. Create one flower, heart, etc. and ths tool does the rest (sounds like EQ4's Wreath Maker).
New Fabrics Scans. Thousands of new fabric scans featuring designs from the major mills. Additional fabrics are available from the QuiltStash.com web site.
Multiple Fabric Palettes. You can open multiple palettes to increase the number of fabrics and solids available to colour quilts (QP3 had a single palette limited to 64 colours).
New Quilt Layouts. Hexagon blocks, Baby blocks, and Freeform are now offered (Freeform is like Country set in EQ4).
Foundation Wizard. Makes it easy to number, section and print foundation blocks (EQ4 automatically numbers and sections foundation papers too).
QuiltPro Assistant. Click any menu item or tool and the Assistant will explain how to use it.
Search for Blocks and Quilts. Type a keyword and the program will find all blocks or quilts with that name.
Rotary Cutting Charts. For any block that can be rotary cut, you can print cutting charts.

For you Electric Quilt Fans, EQ5 is in the works, but not expected to be released until summer/fall of 2002 at the earliest. If you have a wish list item, contact Penny McMorris.

13% to 20% Canada Post Rate Increase

Each January we see a notice in the paper that letter postage has increase another cent -- about 2%. What we often do not see is the much greater parcel rate increase each October. For the past 3 years parcel rates have increased by around 13% per year. This October they went up again. This time by a whopping 13% to 20%. Last year, the increase was accompanied by a dimension surcharge for items which were deemed too light for their size.

Show me the way to go home

Those of you who visited our store over the last six years heard many stories about Bailey Beagle, our little hound who was born the day after St Patrick's day (he's named after Bailey's Irish Cream). This is Bailey at a few months old in a blue cat harness. As I update pages, I will add Bailey to the bottom left corner. Just click on him to return to our home page (You can also click on our logo at the top of each page...)

Clover Irons Returned this fall

This little iron has been phenomenally successful with quilters since its introduction last year. Sales here were abruptly curtailed after a CSA ruling early this year (see below). The problem has been resolved to the satsifaction of both the manufacturer and the CSA. The irons are once more available here (some US stock was offered in Canada without certification earlier in 2001 -- the difference in design was minor). All new irons meet both UL and CSA standards.

New Fabric Pages

July 29, 2001. The new fabric page uploaded May 19th has some company. The first page now lists individual fabrics and fabric series. You can click the series image to see all the fabrics in any one series. Abstract Designs, Civil War Reproductions, and Sunwashed are the current series shown.

New Books

May 19, 2001. Bonnet Girls, Ghost Layers, and a number of other new titles have arrived. The new Susan Oroyan book Finishing the Figure has sold out and will be in again at month end. Creating Faces, Barbara Owen's book on needle sculpting soft doll faces is now in stock. Omiyage is back in stock.

Store Front Closed

Apr 30, 2001. After 22 years at 2877 Bloor Street West, we closed the store front on Saturday, April 28th. Our lease ended in April and we reluctantly decided not to renew it.

In addition to ecommerce and mail order, we will continue to be active at selected guild shows.

Our thanks go out to our many thousands of quilting friends who have made it so much fun to share a bit of time and excitement. Be sure your mail address is in our mail list. You can call us at 416 232-1199 or 1 800 363-3948 (same numbers as before) or email us at robert@quiltersfancy.ca.

Bubble Jet Set Rinse

April 16, 2001. This new product is now in stock. The rinse works with any hand dyed fabrics to rinse away any residue from the dyeing process. 500ml bottle is $15.95.
NOTE: As of 2006 Bubble Jet products are no Longer available from Quilters' Fancy Limited.

Clover Mini-Irons no long available

March 2001. Well, it just goes to show that it's hard to second guess our standards folk (at least four organizations, including one government body share the task of setting Canadian standards for various goods including electrical, plumbing, and building products).

We were excited when Clover released its clever little mini iron this fall. After featuring it in our newsletter, we were surprised to find it in short supply just before Christmas. Behind the scenes, we learned that the irons which are imported into North America by Clover, were certified as meeting US standards but had not been certified as meeting Canadian standards. Delivery of Ott lamps was delayed a few months earlier for the same reason and after 6 weeks and a flurry of paper work they arrived once more -- this time sporting a UL label showing both Canadian and US certification.

I continued to take orders while my supplier talked to Clover and CSA (Canadian Standards Association). Since the mini iron resembles the common mini soldering irons and stencil cutters sold at hardware and craft stores across US and Canada, I expected the problem would be solved with a suitable label change.

Instead, our standards organization classified the mini irons the same as a full size iron which amongst other things must have a strain relief on the cord. The estimated effect of complying with this ruling for the relatively small Canadian market was a retail price increase of about $10, or almost $50 SRP compared to the much more reasonable US suggested retail price (about $25 US).

Faced with the real likelihood of poor sales here at such a high price compared to the US market, the product has been removed from the Canadian market.

Ott Floor Lamp Recall

February 2001. We sell a lot of these wonderful lamps. My shipment for late January was delayed while the supplier checked to make sure none of his stock carried the model number DMBLH-18W or DMBLP-18W on the ballast plug (the black cube that plugs into the power outlet). A couple of days later, Ninon Anderson, a customer of ours in Nova Scotia called to alert me of the US CSPC warning on a small batch of some 1,560 lamps sold late this fall. If your lamp has the model number in question on the ballast cube, carefully check the labelling. The defective cubes have a black label with white lettering. Good cubes with the same number have the number moulded into the case. My supplier believes at this time that none of the defective ballasts were on lights sold in Canada. Please contact the store where you purchased the lamp if you have any questions.

New Web Address

Feb 16, 2001. Our new URL www.quiltersfancy.ca has been activated. I will have the pages from the old URL moved over in a few days. Or may be not... I didn't expect you to keep me so busy. I will try to get things moved coincident with the publication of our next catalogue in late May.