On Saturday 27th January and Sunday 28th January I had the pleasure of attending Kaffe Fassett's lecture and workshop hosted by Buzy Bee Quilt Shop Wellington.

We had a great day, Kaffe was inspiring, and Brandon was so entertaining. The hosts were friendly and accommodating to everyone.

I can truely say we didn't have a whole heap of quilt designs all the same. They were all different, just like all of us whom love textiles are. We even had a lady whom cancelled her flight home to attend the workshop who had never sewn a quilt ever, but loves Kaffe's knitting designs. That is her in the middle row with Kaffe her design was simply stunning as were all of them.

My creation is the bottom right where Kaffe is giving his rundown on how we came to this end result. I wanted something light and summery with yellow like the hot hot sun we are experiencing, plus I love yellow and have never used it before. The finished quilt will be posted once I've got through the mountain of sewing there is to complete it. So WATCH this SPACE

Hi everyone I know it's been a while since my last post. I'm in the best job in the world! I get to sit sew and create everyday it's heaven. the only downside is I loose myself in my creativity and forget to blog.

The shop is filling up with the new seasons Christmas fabrics. I know you all will be saying OH! NO! not Christmas again, but yes it comes around the same time every year and this year is the year to get organise early.

Come in and see our projects. We have advent calendar's of all kind whether you want traditional, modern or quirky we've got them all.

Starting now on your Christmas decorations, placements, table runners and advent calendars means they will be finished in time for this year not next!

NEW!!! in store is the wonderful Accuquilt system where you save up to 90% of your cutting time. Now you will have more time for quilting. This is a new revelation for us quilters as you can cut multiple shapes, squares, diamonds, triangles all exactly the same size with no variations. There is a wide range of cutting shapes and applique shapes also.

Winter is well and truly here with these cold frosty mornings the winter woollies are now a permanent clothing item.

We have loads of glorious wool for you to choose from and all of it is going on Sale for the month July!!

YES that's right we are having our MID WINTER BLOW OUT SALE. 25% OF ALL WOOL. We do have a couple of exceptions that being the already reduced wool and the Windsor 8ply.

Now 's the best time to come in and get that project started especially the Alpaca and merino blends.

Happy Knitting, crocheting and sewing everyone

Hi all I know it has been quite some time since my last blog.

Wow how time is flying. I have been very busy in the shop with temperatures now dropping, the need for warm woollen clothing is paramount. We have lovely warm hats for the little ones on sale along with all our samples. so if your looking for a ready made knitted or crocheted item come in to see us.

New in store for those fabric crafters out there we are getting all the new seasons Christmas fabrics, so we've got Advent Calendar panels and bunting, fabrics and jingle bells for you to start your Christmas projects now!! before it sneak's up on you before you know it. We also have new in store is Bali Batiks these fabrics are truly stunning. I have started a project with them a quilt called Midnight Explosion this is a reverse applique quilt and I am entering it into next years Wine Country Quilt Exhibition. Now is the time for you to plan your entries into this biannual exhibition. It is a really great show and runs from 23-25 March 2018. It is open to all quilters from East Cape to Cape Palliser, all quilters of all levels and skills. So come in and see us if your interested in putting in an entry and we can plan your show quilt together.

That's all for this week but be sure to come in and check out our specials on wool and our ne fabrics.

My it's been a busy time Easter has come and gone and tomorrow we have ANZAC Day a truly special rememberance day.

The shop will not be open tomorrow as both my husband Stu and I are ex service personal and Stu is a returned serviceman from two of our most recent conflicts East Timor and The Gulf. We will be attending both the Dawn service and the later service at Hawkes Bay Memorial Hospital. We are proud to wear our medals having served with many wonderful people.

As you can see I have been sewing furiuosly running two machines consecutively, when I tire on one project I move over to the next one and sew until that gets to me.

I love these convergence quilts and am running a class on how to make one registar your interest with me with your prefered day and we will put together a class for you. I do have the Ricky Timms Convergence Quilts book for sale also so just pop in and see me.

Also coming up on Saturday 20 May is a Quilt in A Day session where you come into store and choose one of the three quilts featured above. We will precut the quilt for you and you just need to come at 9.30am with your sewing machine and sewing supplies and start sewing. We'll guide through all the steps to complete the quilt top during the Day. Tea, coffee and light lunch provided, booking essential. $155.00

These quilts are all acheviable in a day depending on your skill level but are all designed to been completed by beginner level sewers.

Well I know it's been a while since I wrote in my blog ! What can i say but I've been sewing furiously and keeping silent was for a good reason.

This lovely quilt was made for a very dear friend of mine for her 50th Birthday. I had to keep it quiet so posting on my blog was not an option! Carolyn is always reading,sharing and commenting on everything I post so this time it had to be silence until she received her quilt. Happy Birthday Carolyn my dear absent friend though we don't see each other often you are always in my heart.

Winter certainly looks like it is here with all the bad weather we are getting. We have some lovely 3ply and 4ply merino in lovely fresh colours . Along with a new range of Minky Plush for all those teens ordering a fluffy jumper this winter.

There is plenty of exciting projects in store for you all to come on in and check out we have new classes and exciting times to look forward to.

Remember the shop is closed over Easter Weekend for me to complete my first stocktake.

So Happy Easter everyone.

Husqvarna in store Event Thursday 23rd March 2017

10.00am - 3.30pm come meet Dianne let her show you the incredible Husqvarna Epic or Sapphire 963Q

Let us show you all the amazing capabilities of fancy stitches,

embellishing, appliqueon quilts handbags, pillowa or table runners, all that can be done on these and all models of Husqvarna machines.

Learn to Patchwork

Sampler Quilt Class

I have 2 spaces available for this class starting Saturday 4th March 10am -1pm.

the class runs every fortnight for 10 weeks and you will end up with this amazing quilt top below.

Call me on 06 878 9083 to book your place.

Lets get creating together

Valmae

I have promised myself that I would write my blog weekly, well that failed but I'm only a couple of days out. I've had a busy week with moving house how exciting is that! but we are in and among a swarm of boxes and furniture.

I managed to play with the FM725 Felting and Embellishing machine and boy what fun I had!! My slide show some of the playing I did with a piece of Dupion Silk , wool fiber, chiffon and embellishing with the fancy stitches on my machine using silk and metalic threads. The possiblities are endless and the creativity we can now do is totally amazing.

Happy creating till next week

Valmae

Hello!

The Janome FM725 is an amazing felting and embellishing machine.

It is a valuable addition to any sewing or craft studio. My first go on this machine and I produced the telephone case pictured below. The creative juices are flowing and I am losing sleep at night with all the ideas that keep popping into my head. At the moment I am playing with some Dupion silk come back next week to see the result.

The quilt pictured also is a mystery quilt I signed up for, on line, with Meadow Mist Designs while I was a "fly in, fly out" worker in Australia last year. This was so much fun to do, and I'll be the first to say I was not always on time with my monthly blocks but the end result is pretty good.

Saying that, have you spotted the mistake in it? It will be corrected when I add my borders to it.

If you ever get the chance to do a mystery quilt you must do it as they are a lot of fun.

I will be running a sit and sew class when Meadow Mist run their next mystery quilt so just contact me and let me know if you would like to sign up for it.

Talk soon

Valmae

Hi Everyone

I recently had the pleasure of having the wonderful Diane in store to do a Husqvarna demo. The quilt shown below is a result of her amazing talent and passion in getting to know your sewing machines. She totally believes that we, and I am one of those people, do not use our sewing machines to their full extent. Diane also believes that all machines have accessories for a reason, to be used!!! They should be used to embellish and make our textile crafts pop and glow.

These Husqvarna sewing machine are dynamite they have everything you could ever want out of a machine.

We will be having a Husqvarna show day in store, to demonstrate the machines and will be holding a class for you to get to know your machine. Diane is not a machine snob and nor am I; we welcome everyone with any brand of machine to join us in exploring the beautiful craft of embellishing and adding pop glamour and glow to your quilts, bags, cushions and clothing.

Make sure you sign up to our newsletter and we'll let you know when the Husqvarna day is happening.

Cheers

Valmae