Open over Christmas

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I cannot believe how hot and muggy it was in Palmerston North with 30 and 31 degrees Christmas and Boxing Days. It is so draining being muggy but it was wonderful to have such wonderful weather for Christmas. As we have not gone away I am open over the holiday period, if you come on a day I normally close then knock on the back door and I am happy to open up for you. That is the beauty of working from home.
I did not win the Bernina 7 Deadly Sins challenge but my friend Sonja did, so well done to her. It is fun creating things for challenges. Sometimesw it can be hard coming up with ideas to start but once you do it is great. Rose City Quilters have a challenge for club members for Tote & Gloat, our one day event in May. This year it is "inspired by a paper napkin/serviette". So far I have found 6 napkin's which could tempt me. I usually let them sit and 'ferment' to see what comes into my mind and then consider what I would like to make.
Off to open up now and will come back later with some pictures of what you can do to make your own fabric using fabric felt pens.
Dianne

7 Deadly Sins Quilts

I have made 2 entries for the Bernina 7 Deadly Sins Challenge and both are on Facebook for you to vote on.
I had fun creating these 2 quilts -
The first one I made was about shoes -after all we women love shoes and I could incorporate all 7 sins in this. It took me a while to come up with an idea for this challenge, but one night in bed (where my best ideas occur) I suddenly thought of shoes, as we women lust after them, envy them, are greedy for them, are gluttons in how many we have, wrathful if any get marked, have a lot of pride in how our shoes look and as for sloth - well we aren't into slothful ways when it comes to our shoes, are we? etc etc. Here is a photo -

Can you identify with some of those feelings? I certainly can. Shoes are lovely and so much fun these days. What choices we have. I drew a lot of designs of shoes I would love to have in my wardrobe and then decided on fabrics and appliqued them to a shiny fabric background. I added a few Swarovski crystals as well for bling.
And my other entry was of Marilyn Monroe. She was a woman men lusted after and women envied her and I am sure another couple of the sins could apply as well.
Here it is -

I 'drew' this picture with needle and thread based on her famous (or is it infamous) shot over the subway vent, so all free motion stitching. I added some more of the Swarovski crystals for bling around her name. I didn't want any binding to distract the eye so I made a faced binding and then stitched a lovely knitting yarn I had found a while ago along the edge. This yarn had little black sequins every so often which I though gave it a little bit of a different edge.
I hope you like my ideas and would like it if you could go to the website and vote on the one you like best www.facebook.com/welovetosew
Dianne

Japanese Sashiko fabric

We have just received in this new fabric from a designer in Australia. She is Japanese and has designed this panel to make it easier for people to try hand stitching sashiko designs. The lines are pirnted on the indigo blue fabric for you to try stitching over. You can make the panel as is or cut the blocks, frame them and make a larger bed quilt or wall hanging.

And here is a closer look at a couple of the designs

Why not give them a go. Sashiko thread available.
And there have been a few other Japanese fabrics arrive in store as well -

This beautiful piece runs selvedge to selvedge and is about 60cm wide before it repeats again. NZ$16 per panel
And this lovely fabric goes with it - shading from grey to brown across the fabric

This is the grey side

 

And here it is leading into the brown side. NZ$27.20 per metre
Another range new is is this gorgeous panel of birds - NZ$17.70 panel

and toning fabrics

These fabrics are NZ$26.50 per metre
Call in and have a look or email me for more info
Dianne

New Fabrics Oct/Nov '12

I have had some lovely new patchwork cotton fabrics in this last month. I love some of these modern style fabrics that are coming through -
These first 3 are from Stof NZ$27.20per metre

Aren't they crisp and clean designs.
And then there is the Cosmopolitan Range NZ$28.05 per metre

I have a plain cream homespun which goes perfectly with the off white shading in these fabrics. I think they look lovely, don't you?

There is a new range out from Jason Yenter "Deco" NZ$27.80 per metre

 

These are rich and vibrant colours. I think they would look good in most designs. I can see a stained glass rose window style in them, can't you?
And then there is this most unusual, soft seafoam green style of colour and soft designs, very reminiscent of underwater......

This is the Alchemy range NZ$28.70 per metre.
Hopefully some of the above tempt your creative juices - do call in and see what we have on offer.
Dianne

Modern Quilts

I have been looking at websites and books about Modern Quilting. I like the freshness and simplicity of these quilts. Here are a couple I have made

This is one I made to show at our recent quilt exhibition in Palmerston North. I joined a whole lot of scraps 2 1/2" wide into rows and joined them together with white between. Here is the piece before shaping it.

I joined all the strips on a bias angle to make them look more interesting that a straight join. I made it the width I needed to make my circle. I then joined 2 pieces of standard width white fabric together, folded it into quarters and cut a circle out of the centre. I then placed the white fabric over the strip piece and turned under the edges of the circle then used a buttonhole stitch to stitch it into place. Then I trimmed the excess strips from the back piece.

Here is my cat Tiger helping me. He thinks that if I have a quilt/fabric/batting on the floor then he can plonk himself in the middle of it and 'help' me. You can just see the rest of the stripped piece under the white fabric. It has to be carefully cut back near the seam otherwise you do see these coloured fabrics under the white. I then chose to do a simple style of quilting in rows across the quilt.

The next one I made was for our club challenge. Rose City Quilters turned 30 this year and our challenge was to make a quilt 50cm wide by 1m long representing 30th Anniversary.
I decided to make a 'modern' quilt using traditional techniques. I joined 29 different batik fabrics with a white fabric between each strip, with a white border (therefore making 30 fabrics). I quilted 30 different stitches between each strip and around the border, at the top of the strips I quilted 30 repeated and at the bottom I quilted Happy Anniversary repeated. Most of the quilting stitches were modern so around the outside edge I used a feather quilting design and modernised it with bright colour around it.

Then I find I didn't take a picture of the finished piece. I'll go and do that now and put it up
Dianne

Gorgeous Fabrics

There are some more gorgeous fabrics in stock. It is like Christmas opening these parcels. The fabrics are so delicious I want to make something with everything that arrives in store, but unfortunately I cannot do that.
Here are some that are now available

Lovely jewel coloured batik NZ$26.80pm

Beautiful blue with dot batik NZ$26.80pm

Bright fresh green batik nz$26.80pm

Blue and yellow/old gold batik NZ$26.80pm

 

Warm red/orange & yellow batik NZ$26.80pm

This is a lovely warm autumn range of fabrics,NZ$29.90pm

A gorgeous border print to go with the feature fabric

and a warm allover print to blend with the 2 above.
I made a quilt last year using a similar range of fabric which looked gorgeous made up.

It doesn't have the flowers of the range above but similar colours and is a lovely warm looking quilt.

This is Shimmer - a lovely range of butterflies and blending fabrics. The butterfly border print NZ$27.00pm

Lovely jewel colours with a metallic gold outline

Nice rich looking design with the metallic gold overlay

Beautiful rich looking fabrics that just beg to be made up into a gorgoeus quilt. Oh for the time!!

Call in and see them or order by email

Dianne

Shop Hop 2012 Now Over

After 4 weeks the Shop Hop 2012 is now over. Thank you to all who participated. It was lovely to see all the ladies who travelled around on the Shop Hop.
The draw has been done for the sewing machine which was won by Lisa Avery who signed up at Sawmillers in Upper Hutt and the 2nd prize of fabric went to Janice Hoggard who signed up at Crafty Pear. Congratualtions to you two, enjoy your prizes.
Now we have to think about next year and what we can create.
Dianne

More wonderful craft books

Here are some more wonderful craft books just arrived in store

Piec-lique NZ$45
Sharon Schamber shows you how easy it is to sew curves. I have used her set in sewing method for circles and it is wonderful. Check this book out now!

Piece by Piece NZ$45
Another book by Sharon Schamber, this time featuring her method for beautiful applique. Sharon's quilts are award winners. Read up on how you could improve your methods as well.

Curiosities and Mischief NZ$35
This is a cute book with some wonderful ideas for childrens quilts and cushions and wall hangings. A full alphabet included so you can t5race off your appliques and use any word/name you want.
Come and check out these books
Dianne

Books, Books, Books

I have received a new shipment of books in. I just love books because they are food for the soul (the creative soul). In my mind I have made so many things, if only I had the time to make them in real life. I wish!
Anyway you could enjoy any of these -

Bed Runners & More NZ$25

This lovely book has lots of designs to make runners for the end of the bed rather than make a full size bed quilt. By using a neutral bed cover and changing the bed runners you can change the look in your bedroom at will.

 

City Blocks NZ$40

I love the quilts in the book. A good variety and very modern.

 

Print With Collage & Stitch NZ$45

A textbook for trying out a variety of Mixed Media printmaming techniques. Good photos and instructions throughout.

Dream Feathers NZ$48

This book will help you understand how to stitch your own dream feather quilting designs. Well set out and good instructions, so easy to follow. Try feathers for yourself. I can attest that they are easier than you think to machine quilt. I love stitching them now.

Visual Texture on Fabric NZ$40

Lisa Kerpoe has set out to show you how to create a variety of stunning art cloth designs with water based resists. Good photos of what you can achieve and how to do it. Why not try something new for yourself. I love printing my own fabrics.

SkyQuilts NZ$50

Mickey Lawler has been hand painting her own fabrics for years. Now you can too. Her latest book is very descriptive and you can create some fantastic fabrics for yourself.

Patchwork Sassaman Style NZ$50

I love Jane Sassaman's new book. This is a must for anyone interested in using fabric to its best advantage. Jane uses very simple piecing - squares, 4 patches, rectangles. It is all in how you cut the fabric and piece it together. Her quilts have movement and life, all from the way the fabric was cut. Great book (you can tell I love it, can't you?)

Scrap Basket Sansations NZ$45

We all have scraps, don't we. See what you can create with those scraps and make lovely quilts.

Simple Graces NZ$50

Kim has created some lovely quilts in this more traditional style patchwork book.

Friendship Strips and Scraps NZ$50

Edyta Sitar has some lovely books out. This is the second of hers we have had in, the first one sold out in a few days and didn't even get photographed to put on here. Will have to get more of her lovely style which uses up all those scraps you might have in beautiful quilts.

Call in and check out these lovely books.

Dianne