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

Craft classes July/August

It is time for a new set of classes for July and August, so I have listed them all below. If you are interested in any please contact me be email or phone.

Burn It Up Wednesday 8 July 7-9pm

Learn how you can use Kunin Felt (which distresses beautifully) with coloured sheers, stitch them and then use a soldering iron and a heat gun to distress. I will also include painted fusibles and fusible foils. Here is an example.

Paintstiks on Fabric Tuesday 14 July 7-9pm

Dianne will show you a variety of techniques to use with Markal/Shiva paintstiks. See how easy they are to use and how rich the metallic colours can be. Can be used on plain or printed fabrics and on completed quilts and clothing.

Birds on A Wire or Branch Thursday 23 July 7-9pm

You can choose whether to paint a background yourself in class or bring along a fabric suitable for your background, fuse the appliques in place and stitch them down. You can create small, medium or large sized pieces for your project, they can be on quilts or canvas. Learn how to couch a yarn for the 'wire'. A fun project.

Scrap Busters - Applique Quilt Sunday August 2 10am - 4pm

Come along and have fun making this lovely and easy to sew applique quilt. You can use up scraps or use new fabrics. I chose to work with an 8" block but can easily be made smaller or larger depending on how big you want the quilt to be. Lots of variations on settings, including scrap sashing and borders or applique. No fusibles used and machine appliqued, but you can hand applique if you prefer.

Carve Your Own Stamps - Tuesday 4th August 7-9pm

It is fun to create your own designs. Dianne will show you how to carve your own stamps easily using Ezy Carve blocks which can be carved on both sides. Then you can stamp on any surface.

Machine Quilting - Thursday 6th August 7-9pm

Want to learn more about free motion machine quilting or come along and practice a little more. Dianne will show you some designs and how to practice to get better. Make a small scale sampler to see how easy they can be to sew.

Small Quilts - Sunday 16 August 9:30 - 4pm

Learn a variety of techniques by making some small quilts, techniques which can be used in making larger sized quilts. This way you learn the techniques, make some small quilts to get used to the technique and have samples you can refer to in future but also have quilts you can hang on the wall. Also good for practicing machine quilting in a small scale.

Quilt As You Go - Wednesday 12th & 26th August 7-9pm

Many people find quilting their own large quilts daunting. Why not try quilt as you go. You break up the pattern into small portions, quilt them and then join them together . Much easier than trying to push a 2m wide quilt under a small sewing machine area.

Here is one example

Fabric Dyeing

I offer a Beginners Fabric Dyeing Sunday 30th August 9:30 - 12:30

You will learn how to mix colours, how to double dip and how to shade colours. A fun class. and Advanced Dyeing - Sunday 13 September 9:30 - 4pm

I will show you a variety of more advanced techniques including batik style dyeing, soy wax and Shibori style wrapping.

Please contact me if any of these classes interest you. 

Dianne

Latest fabrics to arrive

I just love opening the parcels that arrive in store - you never know what it might be as we order a lot of fabrics 3 months in advance. It is like Christmas.
Here are some of the latest fabrics to arrive -

 Kaffe Fasset - love the bold colours in this design NZ$28.70pm

 These 2 stripes are from Brandon Mably NZ$28.70pm

This next range is a lovely print range called Marianna from Gray Sky Studios for In The Beginning NZ$27.60pm

This design is a metallic silver on gray/brown, really subtle and interesting NZ$28.20pm

And this one is grey and white guitar picks. NZ$26.50pm

Call in and check them out or order online
Dianne

new books

I ordered some books that I hoped would arrive in time to take down to Kapiti Coast Quilt Show at Southwards last weekend but , of course, they arrived that Monday after. Oh well - these things happen.

 Adventures in Fabric is a very different book as it features more novelty type items. I found it very interesting and there were several designs I thought I would like to try - a large size star cushion (more like an ottoman) was one.

 First Steps to Free Motion Quilting - a lovely book with lots of information to guide you along the path to free motion quilting.

Make It Modern Quilts - a small leaflet style book with some lovely quilt designs in it.

 Making Quilts with Kathy Doughty - lovely designs and ideas in this book, fresh style.

 Modern One Block Quilts - this has some lovely modern style quilts. Lots of interesting designs and loads of quilting in the negative spaces

New Ideas for Fusing Fabrics - I've had this book in before and I love it. If you are interested in mixed media style and using soldering irons and heat guns then why not check out this book. Loads of ideas and samples to tempt you.

 Playful Petals is a lovely book with some fresh ideas for using the petal shape. Love the quilt on the front cover. Good info on how to applique using a variety of stitches.

 Textile Art - I've had this book before and thought it was very good for giving you lots of ideas for anything related to textiles - painting, stamping, dyeing, bleaching, scrunching, texturing etc etc. Lots of colour photos and how to instructions.

The Natural World - Another one I've had in before. This one is more a coffee table style book with lots of quilt photos for inspiration and enjoyment.
If any of these appeal, let me know.
Dianne

Decovil and Terial Magic

I have had a couple of new products arrive in store that I need to let you  know about.
Decovil - this is a stabiliser that has a fusible side and a leather like appearance which is ideal for hats, bags, wallets, vases etc. It resists tears and creases, doesn't fray and is suitable to use with all fabrics.
I made a vase with it to test out the stability - it is great, no problem

Kim Thittichai has a video about it where she paints a light wash of colour over the fusible side and then fuses torn strips of newspaper or magazine pages, then stamps and makes a book cover with it. I saw several bags made with it when I googled Decovil. Why not give it a try.
The other fun item I have been playing with is Terial Magic. This stuff is wonderful. It is like a starch but has no food additives which would attract beetles etc. You spray the fabric, hang it to dry for 10-15 minutes and then iron it and it becomes much firmer. Ideal for putting fabrics through and electronic cutter (like the Brother Scan N Cut, which I have tried) and excellent for using with machine embroideries. My friend Judy brought her embroidery machine into the shop and tried it. After spraying, hanging and ironing she hooped up the fabric and set her embroidery to work,. Was fabulous, no more picking out stabiliser for her any more. This washes out when you place it in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes. Also ideal if you want to embroider on knit materials - stops the stretching and ideal for tee shirt quilts - then the squares stay where they are supposed to be, no stretch. It was developed to make fabric firm so you can make fabric flowers with it - check out www.terialarts.com to see what Terri has made with this product she developed. The petals/leaves are cut out and hot glued together,they don't fray and stay in shape. Do come in and see my samples and why not try some for your next project.

I will have some of these products with me at Tote & Gloat (Saturday 9th May) and then following week (16/17 May) at Kapiti Coast Quilters Exhibition at Southwards Car Museum in Paraparaumu where I am a merchant also.
Dianne

Tote & Gloat

Tote and Gloat is the annual event that Rose City Quilters hold in May. This year it is Saturday 9th May. The day starts at 8:30am and you can enjoy shopping with the merchants or looking at the Guest Exhibitions. At 10am everyone takes a seat and the huge Show and Tell starts, everyone attending is encouraged to bring quilts to share at this show and tell and if quilts are finished and have a velcro sleeve they are hung to view again. Over the lunchtime you get to go up close and have another look at the quilts hung and , of course, check out the merchants again as well as have lunch. After lunch the guest speaker is Kay Haerland from Australia. She will be bringing lots of quilts to show us and talking about her quilting life. Check out her website and see how interesting she is. Then it is the drawing of raffles and awarding of prizes for Rose City Quilter members who entered the challenges and the day finishes at 4pm.  What a fabulous day, immersed in quilting and sharing with likeminded people. There are still tickets available - either from me or from Rose City Quilters, P O Box 892, Palmerston North 4443 enclosing $15 per ticket and an SAE for returning them to you.
I will be there as a merchant and look forward to seeing you and your quilts.
Dianne

Now on Facebook

I am now on Facebook - you can visit and follow me (like me) on www.facebook.com/pages/Village-Books-Crafts/640113096132250 . I will post often as things arrive in store or happen.
We recently had the Brother Scan N Cut demo from Rachel - thank you, it was a lovely day and lots came to visit.
Now looking at the possibility of having a regular group meet for Scan N Cut users. We can share info and I'll show you something new each time. What do you think about monthly - during the day or evening? Love to hear your views.
Dianne