I am writing this as a bittersweet post.  I have found out that Rose Mary Huber Pauls is going to have to drop out of judging further Project Quilting Challenges.  I am going to miss her and her expertise but I am happy that she is doing what she loves!

She is currently helping a new Sewing Center open in Madison and it is taking more time than she imagined when she first signed on.  Here are some details on what’s going on:

Quintessential Quilts Sewing Center

to open soon.

Things are progressing with the new Pfaff and Husqvarna Viking Dealership opening on Madison's East side. Products are starting to arrive. We don't have an exact opening date yet, but because of the product and shipping times we are now looking at early June for our opening.

We want to be totally ready to serve you the best that we can, so we are pushing the opening date into June.

Here is a little more info for you.

We have a great start on the staff that will be joining us. You will see some familiar faces as well as new ones.

We will be open 7 days a week

I have received e-mails from many of you with questions and letting me know how excited you are to know our new store is coming to Madison's East side. Thanks you for such a great response. Decisions are still being made regarding the store, but here is more information for you.

1. Will there be repair service? YES!! We will be doing sewing machine and serger service. We will be able to service all makes and models of sewing machines and sergers. I know many of you have been waiting for service for your Pfaff and Husqvarna Viking machines. Please be patient as we get our service department set up.

2. Will the store have fabric? Linda will continue to have fabrics at the Reedsburg store, but at this time we will be concentrating on the Pfaff and Husqvarna Viking machines at the Madison location. Who knows what the future will hold as far as fabrics in the Madison store.

3. Is there a classroom? YES!! I will be teaching the current clubs and classes that I have been doing as well as adding a variety of other classes and instructors.

4. What products will be carried? We will have Pfaff and Husqvarna Viking machines, sergers, quilt frame, parts, embroidery designs, software, Dakota Collectible Designs, Robison Anton thread and many other parts and notions. We are still working on the list of products that we will be bringing into the store.

5. When will the store be open? Our exact opening date is still undecided, but I will send an e-mail as soon as we know.

Not only is she helping get the store started she’s continuing to teach her Embroidery Classes and Retreats along with a Creative Sewing Club at Stitcher’s Crossing in Madison.  If you want to keep updated on what’s happening with Rose Mary’s Classes and the new store opening send her an email rmpsew@hotmail.com to be added onto her weekly newsletter list.

Thanks again for helping me get this started and I wish you the best of luck in the future.  I hope once things calm down you may be able to hop in as a guest judge here and there.

What does this mean for Project QUILTING? Well…it means I’m looking for another permanent judge.  The guest judges are great but I have to ensure that I’ll always have two judges so we get a variety of eyes, opinions, and preferences.  I’m the only one that sees all the critiques and scores and it’s so amazing to see how different the judges can be – which I think is what is making this great. 

If you have anyone in mind or would like to apply to be a judge (takes about 1 – 2 hours every two weeks) please email me at lapaceksorchard@gmail.com.  I am willing to fill one to two spots (I think three permanent judges would be great and still average in guest judge scores when I can find them). 

What does it mean to be a Permanent Guest Judge? I would blog about you, your experience, anything you want to promote in one main blog post with a permanent side link to you.  You would also be mentioned frequently in my blog for the next 14 weeks.

Thanks so much for your help and best of luck Rose Mary!