Welcome to Ma's Got'a Notion
Here at Ma's, we got your back...quilt back, that is!!!

I hope everyone is enjoying the flowers and garden you have been busy planting! Gardens for us have been in the review mirror for the last eight years. Once we downsized (which I am so glad we did), we also downsized in yard space, so there is no place for one, and quite frankly, I can't get on my knees to garden anymore. I am thankful for the farmers' markets in the area, which I have come to rely on for the fresh produce. If you are in the same situation as I, seek out local produce; it's the best. I can't wait till tomatoes are ripe on the vine!

Memorial Day sneaked up on me this year. I repeat it all the time, but time does seem to fly! If you have a service member in your family, please tell them I appreciate their service to our country. Their bravery has kept us safe, and we celebrate them every day. We need to tell them more often than once a year!

Speaking of Memorial Day, all patriotic fabrics on the bolt, layer cakes, jellyrolls, charm packs, and the patriotic print wide backings will be 20% off this Thursday, May 22, Friday, May 23, and Saturday, May 24. This is a great way to jump-start those July 4th projects and the Quilt of Valor, so many of you freely make and give away. 

Please take the time to stop in and shop. I so appreciate your patronage.

As many of you know, the tariffs will affect the fabric price from now on. The new price will only affect the new fabrics arriving. None of the current inventory will be raised. As you know, I have a pretty large and solid inventory, so you can enjoy many purchases of BTPI (before tariffs price increase) on hundreds of bolts of fabrics I have in stock for many months at the original price! 

Now, on to something I have pondered for the last couple of years. I have posted signs, but they are ignored by all they are intended for. Some businesses on my block tell customers that their bathroom is not for public use, so you know what they do, they walk into my building and use my facilities.

My bathroom is for customer use only. I have posted that on the windows, but non-customers can't read and come in and use it anyway.

My restroom is only for my customers because on many occasions, people (non-customers) have made a nasty mess in our restroom. My customers are respectful and leave the restroom as clean as they found it. On many occasions, this has not been the case with random people coming in for no other reason than to use the restroom. I do not expect Deb, who has been the only one in the shop on several occasions, to have to clean up after someone who came in only to use the facility and make a disgusting mess in the restroom.
Honestly, there have been a couple of times when I swear they have used the sink to wash their dirty underwear!

I have put off doing this for long enough. From now on, the restroom will only be for our customers' use. I am having a lock installed on the bathroom door.

Many of you drive a distance to shop at Ma's, so WHEN YOU WALK IN THE DOOR, ASK US TO UNLOCK IT FOR YOU. I do not want you to have to wait... believe me, I know the urgency at my age! The restroom is for YOUR use, not the random folks off the street. We do our best to keep it clean for your use, so please understand why I decided to keep it locked so my customers have a clean restroom upon their arrival and departure at the shop.

This has been such a hard decision, as I don't want to deprive anyone of needing to use the restroom, but we never know who will come in and make a mess and expect us to clean up after them. Enough is enough, and I only know one way to stop it, and the lock seems to be the answer.

This is a quick update on my hubs; he is doing much better. Saw the general surgeon this past Monday, and he will be collaborating with Don's GP, Gastrologist, and Cardiologist to get out the gallbladder, which was the real culprit that led to the pancreatitis, abscess on the bowel duct, the need for two stents in the pancreas, the blood clots, and the need for two heart stents, and the sepsis that caused his sixth hospital stay of eleven days. If the stones had only been caught in January, all of this could have been avoided. A simple CT scan done in the beginning would have shown his physician at the time that a simple procedure of removing the gallbladder would have taken care of the vomiting he experienced multiple times a day for more than six weeks. He is in great hands now, but the oversight of the medical treatment in the beginning sure made him miserable for months! The general surgeon thought the removal of the gallbladder could be done in July, and then the gastrologist could take out the remaining stent in the pancreas in August. Don has lost a tremendous amount of weight, and, of course, his muscle mass has also deteriorated, so he is very weak and has a pretty steep hill to climb for a comeback. Thank you to all who have asked about him. I tell him that he is sent good wishes from quilters to recover quickly, which tickles him.

That's about all I have to say right now. I do hope to see many of you this coming week. I will be helping Deb in the shop all three days of the Memorial Day Sale. I hope to see YOU!