Merchant at QuiltFest & New Fabrics

I have just had a lovely day at the QuiltFest put on by Town and Country Quilters in Levin. Lovely exhibition of quilts and 8 merchants, of which I was one. Thank you to all who visited and purchased items from my stand. It is really fun meeting everyone at these shows and seeing what you have been doing, especially when it is from one of my classes.
I have had a couple of new fabrics in which have been very popular. The Harvest range featured a couple of blogs ago has sold and, come in and sold out again. It is such a lovely rich fabric range.

There is a new childrens fabric featuring building and construction which had a beautiful border and a book panel, which can also be used as squares for a quilt. Bright and cheerful colours and a lovely little story that goes with it. Here is the border print NZ$27.50 per metre. I have sold out of the book panel at present.
Then there is Phat Cat Jazz fabrics -
A fabric which features musical cats - this fabric has 10 different cat blocks in a panel which is NZ$17.30 (or is sold by the metre NZ$27.50pm). There are several fabrics which go with this panel range.

This is the hot pink background with music over it.

This one has multi coloured dots allover and is great to mix as a border.

And this one is lime green with little paw prints allover.

Here is the quilt I made using the free pattern that came with the fabric, although I did alter their centre strip and put my own version through the centre and along the sides.

Check out these fabrics and much more in store.
Dianne

Class List for 4th Term 2011

Here are the craft classes left for the rest of this term.
Painted Wholecloth Miniature Quilts - Thursday 20th October 7pm - 9pm $15

Following a recent US magazine article about using fabric felt pens to create designs on quilts Dianne has made this miniature quilt which you too can replicate or create your own design. It is made using one piece of fabric and a fabric felt pen in black (although you can use any colour you like). Once you have coloured the design you can then quilt it to suit.

LEAVES Thursday 27th October 7pm - 9pm $15
Dianne will teach you how to create a variety of leaves using mixed media (fabric, felt, sheers, yarns, Lutradur, Tyvek etc). These leaves can then be used in quilts, scrapbooking,dolls, embroidery, jewellery etc. Some are hand or machine stitched and some are made using a heat gun or a soldering iron.Come in to see Dianne's samples.

STRIP PIECED QUILT Saturday 29th October 1:30pm - 4:30pm $20

This lovely quilt has been made using strips which are sewn together then cross-cut and then re-sewn together to form a pattern. By using just 3 fabrics you can create something really lovely and it is easy to sew. I had a gorgeous border fabric which I had to use for this project but if you don't have a border that suits you can join a couple of fabrics together to create a similar effect.

TAKE ONE BLOCK QUILT - Sunday 30th October 9:30am - 4pm $45

Dianne has had fun designing and teaching this scrap quilt. The block consists of 5 small half square triangles and one large half square triangle. She has designed at least 40 ways to sew the block and then there are at least 40 ways to layout the blocks...ohh the choices!! Dianne will show you 5 ways of sewing these half square triangles together, you'l learn a variety of different methods then you have to choose how to put the block together. All previous students have created some wonderful designs - why don't you join in and have fun too?
Give Dianne a call, email or drop into the studio and see the samples and join in.
Dianne

More yummy fabrics

There are some lovely fabrics arriving in store. One came in and was sold out within 2 days of arriving so I didn't even get to photograph it. I tried to get more but they had sold out, hopefully they will try and get more and then I will order some in again.
These 2 lovely black and silver fabrics from RJR Fabrics are from the Hana Yume range NZ$26.10 per metre.Both are gorgeous and so different to what we usually get in. Most fabrics have gold metallic but the
silver metallic is beautiful.

Then there is this rather beautiful large print poppy, in the most rich red, green and black. The poppies are about handprint size. NZ$26.90 per metre

Another lovely range out is Camelot by Jason Yenter. As well as a book (NZ$21.00) featuring a selection of quilts there are the fabrics (NZ$26.80 per metre) -

And then this gorgeous rich range called Harvest from P & B Fabrics NZ$26.50 per metre

The one above is a main print and the one below is a tonal fabric.

And this is the most gorgeous border print, about 10" wide for the 2 repeat and repeats 4 times across the width. I only needed to buy my longest length and I could cut out the 4 borders I require from this strip.

I just felt in love with the rich colours in this print and had to make something from it. I combined an easy block made from strip pieces from my Quilt Techniques Savvy class with the wide border print and made this beautiful quilt. Unfortunately the photo does not do it justice, it is better in real life.

Why not call in and see this quilt in all its glory. I have sold a couple of 'kits' for making this quilt already and ran out of the border fabric but have more arriving the end of September.
Dianne

A lot of things going on

I am always amazed at how fast the months disappear, but with sooo many things going on it is no surprise. The Shop Hop has just finished after being extended by a week because of the snow earlier in the month which held up some participants. It was a wonderful event and we had over 100 people calling in to collect their blocks. Many travelled together and made it a fun weekend out.
I had 26 people making my quilt and I was so surprised at how long it took to cut out and package these blocks. Thanks to my friends Alison and Wendy I got it done in time.
Then my local club Rose City Quilters had Mariya Waters to visit and be our guest speaker at club night. She was very interesting and her miniature quilts were exquisite. Those who attend her machine quilting class and decorative threads class all seemed to enjoy them and are now waiting for Mariya's next visit when she will be teaching her famous applique method using the Floriani Stitch n Wash Fusible, which I stock in store for only $6.10 per metre.
Now I have to find time to get my class list for this term done.
Dianne

Photos from Sue Wademan Class

The Sue Wademan class was very successful with 10 ladies participating. They created some wonderful pieces of fibre artwork
Here is a photo of Sue critiquing some of their pieces.

And here are a couple of the pieces created by the participants.

Many thanks to Sue for coming up to Palmerston North. Everyone enjoyed their class very much.
Dianne

Music and Other Fabrics

I have just received in store some lovely new music fabric. I always sell a lot of fabric that is music related so it is nice to have some new designs.
From a range called Perfect Pitch I have a border fabric NZ$25.50 per metre

And this panel is 60cm x 112cm NZ$15.30

Then there is Tea For Two - 2 bright and cheerful fabrics - a  teapot one and cups and saucers. NZ$22 per metre.Ideal for table runners, place mats, coasters, aprons, quilted wall hangings etc etc.

Some lovely new batik fabric have also arrived in. I do have a weakness for batiks, they are lovely to work with. This one is dark blue with lighter blue swirls on it NZ$25.80pm

and this one is a bright blue with orange flowers called Mardi Gras NZ$27.30pm

I love these next ones - this one is blue background with chocolate brown squares overprinted  NZ$25.80pm

and the next is brown background with the blue square overprinted NZ$25.80pm

Then blue background with a brown squiggle NZ$25.80

then this one is very much like a paint stripe, (and landscape) looks great in green NZ$22.30 per metre

and I do love the combination of chocolate brown with lime green circles in this batik

I will be at Rangitikei Country Quilters exhibition this weekend July 23rd & 24th at Rangitikei College in Marton. The shop will still be open on Saturday for you. Come for a drive and see the lovely quilts on exhibition and check out the merchant mall whilst you are there. Looking forward to seeing you

Dianne

Quilters Friend Shop Hop

The Quilters Friend Shop Hop is on from August 12 - 28th 2011. I have been busy making and quilting my shop hop quilt and finally I finished it this afternoon so see below.
The 6 shops involved are -
Village Books & Crafts - Palmerston North, Cherry Pie Bernina - Levin, Sawmillers Quiltery - Te Marua (Upper Hutt), Quilters Land - Masterton, Crafty Pea - Pahiatua and QuiltWorks in Waipukurau.
We have given you 3 weekends and 2 full weeks to visit each of these shops to participate. When you pay your $40 registration you choose what colourway quilt you would like to receive. My quilt is Batiks (lime, purple, turquoise and black background), Cherry Pie Bernina's is Bright Childrens; Sawmillers Quiltery's is 1930's; Quilter Lanes is Blue and White, Crafty Pear's is Country and Quiltworks' is Kaffe Fasset. You will soon be able to see all quilts on the website http://www.quiltersfriend.wordpress.com/ .
Here is my quilt "The Grape Harvest"

After paying your registration fee and choosing your quilt colourway you can collect a block pattern and enough fabric to make 2 blocks from each shop. At the end of your shop hop you will have enough fabric to make 12 blocks. Each shop has made their quilt up in their own layout and will offer a limited number of finishing kits with sashing, borders etc. I, and a few of the others, will offer you choices in your layouts. I had fun creating The Grape Harvest using these wonderful batiks in lime, purple and turquoise which I partnered with a black background. I decided to set them on point - this is really easy, it is basically a 4 x 4 layout with a black block in each of the corners so it merges into the background and then a large triangle of black fabric is added to each side. To fill this large black triangle I decided to applique grapes and vines. As I made this quilt over 10 days I did use raw edge applique but you can choose to do needleturn etc for your quilt. I like to applique and quilt at the same time so I stitch over my appliques through the batting and backing so I am only stitching once. I quilt using a domestic sewing machine and have had fun creating different patterns for each block. I decided that since the quilt was a sampler block I would quilt each block differently and you can choose what kind of quilting you want to do after seeing this. I quilted a leafy vine around all the blocks using a variegated green thread which makes the sashing appear to be a different fabric. I now have the quilt hanging in the shop so do call in if you can and see it and decide which colourway you would like for your shop hop experience. On registering you will receive a quilters friend 'passport' - if you spend a minimum of NZ$10 at each of the 6 shops you will receive a stamp on your passport. When you have all 6 stamps write your contact details and leave the passport at the last shop and we will enter you into the draw to win a Janome Sewing Machine. You will also receive a 10% discount at each shop on production of your quilters friend passport for the duration of the shop hop.
Although I have set hours I am happy to open up at any other time if you ring or email me. I will be around all 3 weekends so can open up later no problem. Check with each of the other shops as well as many of us are happy to open later to suit your travel arrangements.I look forward to seeing you.
Come in and register now. Get a group and travel together to each of the shops. Have fun and drive safely.
Dianne