Thursday, December 15, 2011

One Quilting Circle, December 15, 2011

Good morning...

There's lots of news queuing up here for the New Year  - here are some of the highlights  Beginning from now to the end of January - in an effort to jump start the readership of this blog, I'm pleased to announce our first Giveaway and our first Shout-out. No, I haven't been watching too much TV this holiday season - but I've come across something that gives new meaning to good old Customer Service. But first...

Have you heard about Why Quilts Matter - the History, Art and Politics (which has been put together by the Kentucky Quilt Project, Inc.  Here's the link, which tells about the DVD  http://www.whyquiltsmatter.org/welcome/. .This is something that I've heard a lot about, and I was very excited to get the actual DVD. Personal note, I think it should be in every guild library, but we'll start here. 
 
I have 1 copy which will be given away on February 1, 2012. To enter the rafle, all you need to do is to become a blog follower.  There's a button on the right hand side of my dashboard 'follow this blog'. That's all you need to do! I'll keep you posted on the progress as it grows. 

Now for the Shout Out...If you've been following my blog, you know that good Customer Service is a real hot button for me; it's also a real touchstone for most customers, and an excellent way to cement a relationship with your customers.  It's NOT an anonymous email sent from the Internet asking you 20 questions about the last time you had to buy labels. 
 
Like many of you, I came up with a fantastic idea for a last minute quilt project, but I wanted the pattern about a week before I was going to work on a one day retreat. I put a question out to my guilds yahoo group to see if anyone knew where I could buy the pattern.  One of my shops - The Quilted Crow out of Boxborough Mass http://www.thequiltedcrow.com/ emailed me the next day. She didn't have it, but could special order it for me and have it to me in time.  Now, I love Sue and her staff a lot, and this is one example of how she's gone out of her way for her customers.  
 
What makes this story interesting is that this was a simple $10 order - I'm one of her customers, but (because of time and distance) it's not a shop I get to often. The fact that she was willing to do this for me makes her my Shout Out for December...she's made a customer for life. 
Do you have a good Customer Service story...I'd love to hear it.  In the meantime, back to the machines!!!

 
 
 
 



Thursday, December 1, 2011

One Quilting Circle, December 1, 2011


Welcome to the One Quilting Circle blogs here at our new home on blogspot.  The One Quilting Circle posts are targeted towards the quilting industry and quilting professionals; they will appear on Thursday morning. If you have a question or something that you want to see addressed, please post a comment here or email me at Linda@thepatchworkpearl.com.

If you're a shopowner who's been swimming in the tide of rising prices for cotton for the past several quarters, there may well be a change coming...finally.  According to a Bloomberg report this morning, there have been a dramatic increase in production of the crop - coming from sources outside the United States at the same time that demand has been decreasing.  The cost comparisons from 2010 are staggering - the raw commodity prices are on pace to decline over 35% this year alone.

So that's the good news...after having weathered the economic downturn as well as inventory costs skyrocketing, in 2012 we can hope to see a reduction in the cost of a yard of fabric.  If that holds true, shopowners and designers are now faced with re-training their frugal customers to come into the shops and buy new product as they work through their existing higher priced inventory.

2012 looks to be as challenging - in a different direction - as the past couple of years.  But change is good...keep repeating that.