Friday, July 17, 2015

Some more new items in this week -
 Japanese panel and toning fabric


And this range is a panel and couple of fabrics. Love the asymmetry of the panel.
This fabric is very different. Trail Blazing designed by Kathy Doughty. Very Art Nouveau/Art Deco styling but interesting.
The latest NZ Quilter magazine arrived in this week, with more items from the Quilt Symposium featured. Thank you to Anne Scott for featuring so many quilts from the symposium.
Also in this week is Quilt Mania - this issue has several pages devoted to the Quilt Symposium also. Thank you to Carol for featuring us, she was a merchant in the Symposium merchant mall.
Contact me if you want to know anything more about any of the above (or anything else), I am happy to help.
If you cannot visit the shop during business hours please let me know and we can sort out a time for you to visit. I don't mind opening outside of normal hours.
Dianne

Merchant at Coast to Coast

I am going to be a merchant at Coast to Coast Saturday 25th July at Wellington Girls College in Thorndon. I have found out that they will have door sales available so if you want a quilting day out why not come along an join in the fun. I will bring a variety of stock with me to sell - fabrics, books, paint/dye supplies, haby,mixed media items....
Hopefully see you there.
Dianne

Sunday, July 5, 2015

New fabrics in store July

Here are some of the lovely new fabrics available in store this month.
This is part of the Art Glass range from P&B Textiles. NZ$26.90 per metre
There are some lovely bags made in the range shown on their website
Don't they look great?
I also have a free pattern for this range if you buy any of the fabrics.
This next range is from Troy Fabrics and is part of the Paris Panache range. NZ$26.90 pm

 I love this one with the Eiffel Tower and flowers
 This is a batik in the range
 And a slightly off stripe
And a lovely mottled red.
There are some lovely felt embroidery kits now available, locally designed..
 NZ$29.95
 NZ$29.95
NZ$12.95
These are some of the items received in store this month. If you are interested in seeing anything please contact me by email or phone or do call in and see the studio.
Dianne

Christmas Prints

Christmas fabrics are now arriving in store to give you plenty of time to get them made up. Some are regular price and a couple are on sale.
 The Advent panel is 60cm wide and is NZ$16.50
The stocking panel is 60cm wide and is NZ$16.50
The allover print to go with these panels is NZ$27.50 per metre
These next 2 designs are both specials and very good prices -
 This stocking panel is only NZ$6 and is 60cm wide. The labels I think could be used to make a quilt by adding frames/sashing between them and them writing words, sayings or family names to make a Family Christmas Quilt - what do you think?
This panel is 75cm wide and is only NZ$7.50. Lots of choices here to make stockings with plain backs to give you more for your money.
Dianne

Fabric Specials

Recently some of my wholesalers have been offering very good prices to get fabrics out of their warehouses so I have been taking advantage of these specials and can now offer you some very good prices starting at NZ$10 per metre.

The above fabrics are all only NZ$10 per metre, very good value.
These next cream on cream and white on white fabrics are only NZ$11 per metre
If you would like any of these contact me or call in and see me at the shop. They are going fast. Some I have not pictured sold out within 1-2 days of arriving in store.
Dianne

Ezy Carve blocks and tools

Renoir Ezy Carve Blocks
I have 8cm square blocks, 14 x 21cm blocks and 50cm square blocks available. I hope to have more 10cm brayers in a few weeks. At present I only have 21cm brayers available. The brayers are rubber rollers which you roll over stamp ink or paint to then roll over the stamps. Much better than using foam rollers which can squish and mark the background as well.
This is what I stamped on a piece of fabric.

Saturday, July 4, 2015

Scan N Cut Demonstration

I have Rachel, the Scan N Cut demonstrator from Brother, coming on Wednesday 8th July to demonstrate the Scan N Cut machine. She will be in store from 11am - 2:30pm. Do call in and see what she is demonstrating and if you have any queries on how to do something with the machine she will be able to guide you in the right direction.
I have a Scan N Cut machine in store that is the paper version (CM110) which is $100 off normal retail. To make this up to the fabric version we also have a kit bundle for a special price, making the whole set cheaper than purchasing a fabric version (CM550X). Check in store.

Carving Your Own Stamps

I recently ordered in some Renoir Ezy Carve blocks to carve my own stamps. Oh what fun! These are so easy to carve, a light touch of the carving tools and you have a line, slightly more pressure and it is a deeper line.I brought in 8cm square, 14 x 21cm and 50 x 50cm blocks, plus some sets of carving tools and some brayers (the hard rubber rollers to put paint or ink on them).
I took a small block and decided to cut it in half using a craft knife. Very easy to do. So now I had 2 pieces 3" x 1 1/2". I started playing with simple straight lines with the carving tool. Yay, so easy to do. Turned over the block because they are thick enough to carve on both sides. Played with some tiny notches cut out which sort of look like rain or rice dotted over. Then I thought I would try some spirals. Very smooth by gentle turning to create the pattern without any bumps. Again very easy to do. Here are some photos of what I did...



Now, once you have carved you need to stamp them and see what they look like, whether they need any small details fixed. So I stamped them on the Fabrico stamp pad which is good for fabric (it does need a top up of ink so is a little faint, but still shows up okay -


I stamped this on to hand painted fabric. You can create your own designs with the stamps and then stamp all over your plainer fabrics to make them more interesting. I could have used fabric paint as well.
I am having a class on how to carve your own if anyone is interested in attending (see earlier post), otherwise have a go yourself. It is fun. If you want to know more about these items and prices please email or phone me or call in and see me, and the samples, in the shop.
Dianne