ow was everyone's 4th of July?? Ours was fairly eventful but not in the best way, because "Cafe Moxie," a darling little restaurant on Main Street here on the island, lit on fire at around 9 am, and burnt to the ground. Insult added to injury as it was next door to an island icon, independent bookstar, and literary tradition called Bunch of Grapes Bookstore. Center of the earth for downtown Vineyard Haven, it's completely waterlogged and damaged and a terrible loss for the summer. People are out of jobs. Very sad. They turned off all the electricity to the town for 9 hours -- and had to close Main Street (on the 4th of July, unheard of!).

ike most small-town stories, this didn't make CNN, but it was certainly a sad milestone in island life and will be remembered for a long time, just like no-name hurricanes, and the fire of 1883, which was the last time that building burnt down, along with most of the town. Finally, after a few hours in the dark, overcast, humid day, making fried chicken anyway for the beach picnic that night, we walked downtown to see what was going on, skirted the yellow tape, and got close enough to take this photo...

ireworks in Edgartown went on as usual that night, two very different kind of fireworks that day. Of course they're already rebuilding. You can't keep a good girl down.

arrowing things down to my own little world, we have exciting news and then bad news and then more exciting news. First off, THE CALENDARS ARE HERE! You know how fast they go, so "think Christmas" and don't wait too long. We have the long awaited PURSE CALENDAR, and 3 other calendar formats for you to choose from.

lso, our first-time ever offering, 3 limited Collector's Editions (only 750 to be made of each, ever, in the world) GICLEE PRINTS, personally hand-signed and numbered, have arrived and are ready for shipping.

abric is going swimmingly; now I'm working on three brand new lines of fabric for RJR, and my first question is, "what would YOU like to see?" Any particular colors, size of prints, subjects you would like me to do? Love to hear FEEDBACK from you.

y new IN LOVE WITH NATURE fabric will be in stores in September. Here's a wee bit of a PREVIEW, with more photos on the web site. Lots of good fall colors...

new fabrics and tons of colorways, not to mention the new LETTER FABRIC, big excitement on that as you know. Read about STORY QUILTS on our web site.

ther huge big excitement, BABY LOVE COLLECTION will be introduced at Fall Quilt Market. TEA PARTY is in stores now, soft colors, corals, yellows, and lots of interesting whites. I did some new mix-and-match PHOTOS on our web site so you can see how they work together.

emember if your local quilt store isn't carrying Susan Branch fabrics yet, you can show them my website www.susanbranch.com or point them in the direction of www.rjrfabrics.com.

K, I've held off long enough, I dread telling you this, BUT here it is, I've decided to close my HEART OF THE HOME STORE.

t's been a little work of love, our store. For everyone connected to it.

t's given me such a connection to so many of you; I've gotten so many letters from people who've stopped in and write to tell me about it. I know how much it's loved by the local "girlfriends." But I'm so far away! I used to be able to go in every day, check it out, move things around, bring FLOWERS from my garden, "decorate," but I'm 3000 miles away and I can't do that anymore. I have so much going on writing this new book, new fabric designs, the new rugs and other things coming. It's not like, oh let's choose the thing we hate and cancel that out, because we don't hate anything. It's all good! So we're forced to cancel out a good thing. Cloning isn't coming through as quickly as I had hoped. I think you would be much more upset if there wasn't a calendar next year -- if that was the good thing I had to give up? Does that make it any better? COMMENT, but try not to kill me for this -- wasn't it a fun 3 years??? You can still get a little flavor for it on our web site right?

f you're in the neighborhood, we are having a huge 50% off SALE on EVERYTHING, including wonderful furniture, beginning July 25th through to August 2. Our parting GIFT and a way of CELEBRATING the last 3 years of encouragement and support you so generously gave us.

peaking of FLOWERS from my garden, and rapidly changing the subject, I just have to show you a photo of the bouquet on my table right now. Is that not just gorgeous? Can you not lose yourself in that? Are you having a wonderful summer and taking time to stop and smell the flowers?

y brilliant artist girlfriend Margot Datz wrote a new book, it just came out, and it's called A SURVIVAL GUIDE FOR LANDLOCKED MERMAIDS. We're carrying it in our web store because it's an adorable book full of "tips for dating, mating and beyond." Margot and I have sat at my kitchen table over countless cups of tea and have solved all of the worlds problems together. If they would only listen. But you can, if you get this book! If we run out, we'll get more, but if you can't wait, just visit www.amazon.com" for unlimited supplies!

edid the HOME PAGE. We did what everyone does around here in the summer, had a YARD SALE! It was one heck of a day, just about killed us, but we cleaned out 15 years of barn storage, took pictures, so you can learn to never wait 15 years -- we don't want this happening to you!

ig tip o' the day: To all you tea drinking girls. I have done the unthinkable and have abandoned Earl Grey Tea. I never thought I would hear myself say such a thing. It's a big news alert. Because I was introduced to the wonderful world of PG TIPS!! If you haven't tried it, it's fantastic. Strong! So strong, that even me, veteran tea drinker, had to warm up to it. One cup a week, "for dessert" was how I started, removing tea bag after just a few moments. But that's over now. Tea bag stays in for duration. So fabulous with a spoonful of honey and a little half and half. Mornings are better than ever now; 4 pm is something I get excited about. Try it, it's true English tea. Don't get the normal looking little box of PG Tips tea bags, that's something different -- get the square box about 4" x 4" that says "pyramid tea bags" in little letters toward the bottom. If you can't find it at your supermarket then go here www.britishdelights.com and enjoy!

unch with the girls today..have to go get ready. Hope your summer is full of the little things that make life sweet.

P.S. Special request: Kellee just reminded me -- we've already had so many phone calls and emails, we know we'll be getting lots of orders for the calendars. As you know, we try our hardest to be right on time with everything, but if it takes a couple extra days to get your order to you, please know it's because of the dratted calendars and we'll be working as fast as we possibly can. Thanks!

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