Fall Season is ending; Winter changes are ahead.

We've had some time this fall to think about the changes ahead for Wooden Toy and Gift.  The larger pieces, including the rocking motorcycle and 18" doll furniture are dwindling in numbers. They continue to be sold with a 30% discount to lucky buyers who will  have items in the limited collection designed and made by Rick. The shop will be adding more plaques, puzzles and small wooden items in place of the larger ones.

Please stop in to see us on Small Business Saturday (November 30, 2013. We'll be celebrating the new Quilters' Quarters with door prizes and discounts on fabric, batting, sewing notions and more. And of course, we'll be serving hot cocoa and home made cookies.

Visit our webstore at the www.woodentoyandgift.net site to find which items are still in stock and on sale. Or come visit us and save shipping cost! We'd love to see you.

Fall Clearance Sale!

The beautiful weather has seen Rick and Terry out front this weekend. With a multi-family yard sale next door benefitting a young girl's college fund, Wooden Toy and Gift has again set up the canopies and is offering a great price on the larger wooden toys that Rick makes.

Rick is going to begin focusing on the smaller, more detailed scroll saw work, creating  plaques for many special occasions. Weddings, births, retirements, homecomings ... college, military and public service affiliations ... disability awareness butterflies and angels, large and pocket size ... along with the smaller-sized trucks and puzzles that intrigue and inspire creativity and imagination in young children ... these are the items he will continue making. "Beautiful things that make people happy" is still his goal; toys that allow kids to think and enjoy playing with for years ... things that will last from generation to generation ... these are the things that are worth the time and care he puts into his work.

And so, from now until the larger items are sold out, Rick is offering them at a 1/3 discount. This may be the last chance for shoppers to acquire the large rocking motor cycle and the 18" doll furniture pieces:  his  pedestal dining table and arm chairs, the armoire, china hutch, grandfather clock, bureau and picket fence bed will all become collectors' items of
limited numbers. You really don't want to miss this pre-holiday clearance sale!

In place of the larger items, space in the shop will be refurbished to accommodate a woodworker's and a quilter's dreams ... for several years now, Georgetown has been without its Five and Ten Cent hardware/general store in town. When Cressy's closed downtown, a piece of Georgetown's history was lost. The place where local shoppers could stop in and find almost anything they were looking for had met the needs of local quilters for many decades. While Wooden Toy and Gift can't physically accommodate all of those varied shoppers, there is a small group whose needs have not been met by the other retail stores in town: stitchers have had to go out of town to find those essential little notions to begin or finish their quilts and fabric needs.

The second half of Wooden Toy and Gift known as Terry's Thoughts and Threads will expand to fill the open space. Fabrics, threads, needles and pins, batting, trims, patterns and books will begin to appear in the first floor shop, and sewing lessons will be offered in the space.  In time, the second floor will become a quilters' studio where lessons for beginners and small groups of quilting friends can gather to share ideas and skills with an end-goal of producing small quilts that will be donated to those in need. As the disability plaques honor those who face and meet challenges, the charitable quilts will warm those in need of a bit of comfort and love.

A little bit of the town's history will be reborn ... memories of the centuries past will be reawakened as Terry shares her knowledge and care of treadle machines ... . Rick will continue to honor the accomplishments and courageous battles of those who face illness and those who face challenges in protecting our way of life. And together, they will continue to use all that they have to fulfill their retirement dreams of hosting local shoppers in the little shop "just two doors north of Perley School" in Georgetown, Massachusetts.

Watch for the clearance sales, and listen for news of the quilt shop's opening. There will be updates here at the WTandGNews.blogspot.com, at www.WoodenToyandGift.net, at www.TerryCrawfordPalardy.com. and on our Facebook pages for Wooden Toy and Gift and Terry's Thoughts and Threads.

And watch for a new book that will surely follow all of these events ... the Happily Ever After years of Rick and Terry's retirement are coming true~

Rocking Motorcycle made of Eastern White Pine, gentle to the touch

A board of Pinus strobus (eastern white pine) having a dovetailed joint cut in it. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Newsletter # 3:

People are always curious about what kinds of wood we use in our products. We use a variety of woods, enjoying the contrasting colors when pieces are made of more than one type.

Many of our pieces are made of Eastern White Pine. But not all Eastern White Pine planks are equal. Our wood must be carefully viewed and pass the test of 'select' wood ... that means that there are few knots, widely spaced, and the planks are straight.

If you have ever gone into a lumber yard and watched people choosing boards for their D.I.Y. (do it yourself) projects, you may see some setting a pile of good lumber to one side, and of 'rejects' to the other. At first glance, you may not recognize the flaws in the 'reject' pile ... but a woodworker would quickly show you how to hold a board and look down its length for a straight line indicating that the board has not warped or twisted since being cut, and then to turn it over scanning the back, edges and front for loose knots that would cause a saw to jump, or be in the way for positioning joints such as the dovetail joint in the photo above.

The Rocking Motorcycle made here in our shop is made of select Eastern White Pine; the body has to be 'built' by joining several lengths and thicknesses of pine planks with glue. The body pieces are then shaped with sanding, resulting in a very smooth, gentle-to-the-skin touch. Each wheel is made of more than twenty separate pieces of pine. The wheels do spin on their axles.

Its rockers are made of Hard Maple. Hard Maple is often cut from Sugar Maple trees (the ones that people tap in late winter/early spring to gather maple syrup.) You can tell the difference between a board of hard maple and a board of soft maple by finding a smooth edge of the wood and firmly pressing your fingernail against it. If you can leave a mark, it's soft maple. If you can't, it's hard. The rockers will get a lot of wear and tear, and so the wood needs to be hard to hold its arc shape.

Even though the motorcycle has three times the quantity of pine in comparison to the quanitity of maple in the rockers, that smaller amount of maple will cost more than the larger amount of pine. But it is worth it for the life of the rocking motorcycle. This piece of 'furniture' will last for decades and will become a family heirloom to be shared from generation to generation. That is said with this caveat: even though it is a toy, it must be cared for like a piece of furniture. Leaving it outside in the rain will age the pine, may warp the wood, and weaken the joints. Lifting its full weight by the handlebars to move it from place to place will also strain the wood along the grain. But given the right care and treatment, this rocking motorcycle will delight many for years to come. It is an investment for your family, and has been made with a loving labor.


Remember, you can see images of the rocking motorcycle at our website. It is also currently being featured on eBay. See the right side margin for links our webstore and Etsy and eBay. Or drop by the shop, if you're local. If you're coming a distance, call us at 978-352-2676 and leave your name and number or email and we'll set up an appointment for you.

And one last thing - if you want to receive an email each time we update this news, just 'follow' us at the links in the margin.  Thanks!