Craft Classes June 2014

Below is a list of the craft classes I am running over June and July 2014.
String Pieced Quilts #1
Tuesday 17 June 7pm-9pm NZ$15
A lot of people are using up their stash so this class will show you some great techniques to use your scraps on. String piecing is a very old technique yet there are various ways of doing it which Dianne will share with you. You can make these blocks as scrappy as you wish or colour controlled.

Mesh Bag
Wednesday 25 June 7pm - 9:30pm NZ$20 + $15 pattern fee
Dianne made this wonderful mag using vinyl bag mesh. This comes in a wide variety of colours and is so easy to sew. Makes interesting bag designs.

Beginners Fabric Dyeing
Saturday 21 June 1:30pm - 4:30pm NZ$25 + $25 materials fee
Dianne has been teaching fabric dyeing for several years now and loves sharing how easy it can be to dye your own cotton fabrics. You will create 6 shades on one colour, then do some double dipping and colour mixing. By the end of the three hours you will have either 6 metres or 12 metres of fabric depending on whether you use fat quarters or half metres. Come along and see how easy it can be to dye your own patchwork fabrics.

Discharge Dyeing
Sunday 29 June 9:30am - 12:30pm NZ$25 + $8 materials fee
Discharge dyeing is taking the colour out of your cotton fabrics. Using bleach or a non-toxic colour remover you can create fabulous new fabrics from plain colours. See how easy this can be.

String Pieced Quilts #2
Tuesday 1 July 7pm-9pm NZ$15
Another in the string piecing series - this time creating a different look and using more background fabric to create blocks. In this picture I used it as a border but could also be in blocks by turning the blocks around to create a different pattern.

String Piecing #3
Tuesday 22 July 7pm - 9pm NZ$15
The last in this String Piecing series - how to use string piecing with curved piecing. Create ovals and circles with your string piecing as the feature in the middle. Dianne has some great techniques for piecing circles.

You can use scraps and metreage when making string pieced quilts so don't worry if you don't have enough scraps yet, you can still create some wonderful pieced quilts using strips from metreage.
Do call in and see the class samples and book in now.
Dianne

Fabulous Fabrics

Sorry for the delay in writing up on the blog, so many things to do and not enough time. I cannot believe April has been and gone. I will try to be better at writing up as things come in. At the beginning of May we had Rose City Quilters Tote & Gloat, a wonderful day meeting lots of people from the region and sharing their quilts at our large Show and Tell. Then on to guest speaker Dale Rollerson from Perth. A Kiwi who lives in Australia but regularly visits home, Dale shared her life story with us and shared several pieces of her works. Then on Sunday and Monday Dale taught 2 classes in Mixed Media. Everyone had fun and created lots of samples of her techniques. Thank you Dale. I do carry many of the media she was working with so call in and check it out.
Since then ....
Lots of fabulous new fabrics have arrived in recently. I will spread these over a couple of posts.

This is an unusual but gorgeous border print from Palazzo. NZ$28.40 per metre. I love it, modern and traditional at the same time.

These 4 fabrics are from a new range of Indigo Blues. All of them are reversible and offer a slightly different shading on the reverse. NZ$28.90pm. Japanese but not overly so, can be used with any fabrics.

Textura in the grey is an interesting fabric - offers lots of grey shading. NZ$24.90pm
Looks like something rolled paint over the fabric to create the pattern.

Wild Things has animal skin prints - Leopard at the top and Zebra below. NZ$20.50pm
Quite a few prints for the kids .....

Caterpillar Trucks are popular, this is a great border which can be used as a border or cut into blocks.
NZ$27.50pm

DC Comics - a collection of pictures allover this fabric from the comic range. Each picture could be cut out and sewn into a quilt or use them in borders or make something like a rubbish bin cover for the kids room, ideal. NZ$26.70pm

City Construction, a 60cm repeat of this fabric is NZ$17.10. Bright and cheerful, these squares can be used in rows, blocks or panels. Try cutting out one or a group of 4 and sashing it with bright prints. Ideal for children's quilts.

Monster Truck Madness, a great panel for a boy NZ$16 for a 60cm panel.
Use as a panel or cut them into individual blocks, sash them and make a larger size quilt.

Spiderman - 2 new fabrics now available in this range.NZ$27.50pm
And the last one for now is a gorgeous grow chart.

It has both inches and centimetres so caters for all countries, has gorgeous owls and bright colours. NZ$16.50 60cm panel
If you see anything you like please either call in and see it at the Studio or contact me for mail order.
Dianne

Vinyl Mesh Bag

I have finished my vinyl mesh bag and love it. I chose to use some Kaffe Fasset fabric on the front and a plain orange inside (so I can see what's in my pockets) and I used a purple vinyl mesh. This bag was very easy to sew and I will make more I am sure. It is light and yet holds everything really well.

These shots clearly show all parts of the bag. It has 3 pockets on each side both inside and out. I like to sling my handbags over my shoulder rather than hold them so I added a longer handle, this could have been made from the same fabric if I had wanted. It was really easy to put the zip into as well. Do call in and check it out. The vinyl mesh comes in lots of wonderful colours, so plenty of choice.
Dianne

New Patchwork Fabrics March 2014

I love unwrapping parcels - don't you? Especially when it is wonderful fabrics -
Check what has arrived in store over the last week or so

These wonderful bright fabrics are extra wide backing fabric 2.8m wide NZ$31 per metre
These can be used on the fronts of quilts as well, not just as backers. But what fabulous brights fabrics to back a quilt, and no joins!

The Bohemia range from Julie Paschkis is NZ$27.90 per metre and the panel is NZ$17.30
I love her folk artsy style and rich colours. Check out the cat slinking along the black and white area on the border print.

This appealed as it is so different. Home is Where the Story Begins by Jamie Fingal is a lovely design making you think of home and holidays in caravans. Have fun incorporating this into a cheerful little design. NZ$27.40 per metre

And this one is another 'fun' print, full of bright and happy colours. Happy Town is NZ$27.90 per metre

Pukeko Posse is the latest New Zealand design. NZ$22.30per metre

The Magic of Oz NZ$27.90 per metre and the panel is NZ$17.30 for a set of 8 squares, 60cm wide
Walk along the yellow brick road with Dorothy, Toto and the Tin Man and create a lovely quilt

Whoo Loves Ya NZ$22.30 per metre - a lovely bright group of owls, who are still very popular.

Come in store to view some of these and many more patchwork fabrics and mail order is welcome as well.
This weekend March 21-23 I will be having a merchant stall at the Wine Country Quilt Show at Pukeora in Waipukurau. Love to see you there. The shop will still be open here, although closing at 12:30 on Saturday.
Dianne

Opening Hours While Craft Fair Here

The Craft Fair is coming to Palmerston North next week February 20-22. Whilst I will not have a stall at the Craft Fair I will be open from 9am - 5pm Thursday, Friday and 9am - 4pm on Saturday so you can visit me as well while you are in town. If you want to come outside those hours please call me to arrange a time.
I'd love to have you visit
Dianne

Patchwork & Craft Classes

I have scheduled a selection of patchwork and craft classes for this first term of 2014
Applique Quilt Class - 3 Tuesdays 18 Feb, 4 March & 18 March 7-9pm
OR Sunday 9 March 9:30 - 4pm
Dianne has designed this gorgeous applique quilt to showcase a few different techniques - fusible applique with decorative machine stitches around the raw edges (could be done by hand but will take much longer to do) machine quilting and then put the piece together using Quilt-As-You-Go methods.

Table Runners - Wednesday 12 March 7-9pm
Dianne has designed this table runner which is easy to make, no binding and can be embellished with appliques. Your choice of colour and quilting and appliques makes the difference. See my samples -

The bottom picture is a close up of the appliques

Don't they look quite different.

Music Quilt Wednesday 26 March 7-9pm
Would you like to try something different design wise? Dianne created this quilt design for the Bernina Music Challenge. It only uses 2 fabrics. Dianne will help you create a quilt of your own and show you how this technique works.

Fabric Vases - Saturday 29 March 1-4pm
With the recent 6.2 earthquake I lost 4 lovely glass vases so I thought I would like to try some that won't get broken - All done on the machine using lovely fabrics and a variety of shapes you can use.

You can put a glass jar/vase inside these and hide it.

Mixed Media Playtime - Tuesday 1 April 7-9pm
Would you like to play with mixed media items? Dianne has been playing with Lutradur, xpandapaint, heatguns, paint, stamps, stencils and butter muslin to make these wonderful shapes and creations. Can be incorporated into patchwork and quilted or placed onto canvas. Come along and create your own unique art.

Garden Trellis Quilt - Sunday April 6th 10am - 4pm OR Wednesday Feb 26th and Thursday Feb 27th 7-9pm

Come along and see how easy it is to create this lovely quilt. Your squares can be straight or 'on point' like mine. Dianne can show you some variations including an Argyle design and using a single or double trellis. Very simple to put together even though it may seem complicated.

Contact Dianne about putting your names down for these classes.

Bag Mesh

I have just received in store a selection of colours in Bag Mesh. This plastic mesh is wonderful for sewing with and creates light and airy bags.

As you can see there are some wonderful bright colours available, at the bottom is a close up of the mesh.This mesh comes in rolls which are 18" x 36" - one roll is sufficient to make the bag below, including the handles. Cost is NZ$10.30 per roll. I can also order this in by the metre, but thought I would try these precut rolls first.
Here is a picture of the bag I am currently working on

I chose to use some of Kaffe Fassett's fabric with a purple mesh. I hope to finish this in the next day or so and will post a photo of the completed bag then.
They are really easy to make. Take one roll of bag mesh, 25cm each of feature fabric and lining fabric. The pockets are on both the inside of the bag and the outside. I chose to quilt the pockets on the outside of the bag and just leave the ones inside as fabric only. Each side has 2 lines sewn down to split the large pocket into 3 smaller pockets. I am up to sewing the zip in place, then I will sew the sides and it will be done. I made longer handles as I prefer to sling bags over my shoulder than hold onto them.
There are lots of versions of bag you can make - here are 2 patterns I brought in to sell -

Both these patterns are NZ$16.40. They offer lots of variations for you to make.
You can also make tote bags. The mesh is lightweight and lets air through your bag. I think it would also be effective used between panels in a quilt to create a more light and open style yet still hold the quilt together. Worth experimenting with, especially with all those yummy colours. Contact me for more information or come in and see my sample.
Dianne