Tuesday, September 27, 2011

A sigh of relief...




Because this bag is in the mail on it's way to it's new owner.

This bag should have been finished 4 months ago - or maybe longer. She ordered it in February. She asked for something that was like my laptop bag - so I'm working without a pattern. I modified the way that I make my regular messenger bag, and tried a few new techniques. Some good... some not so good. There was definitely a lot of "frog sewing" (you know... rip it... rip it...) and a few curse words occasionally. There were quite a few days that I just needed to put it down and walk away... (thus the 7 month sewing project).

So... the project is modified from this tutorial here (I have made LOTS of modifications!) The yellow is a dividing pocket for papers, and there is a small zippered pocket on the inside. The outside of the bag (back) has another large pocket, and it's all well padded to protect those important computer bits!

For those of you that are wondering, the external fabric is a home decor weight from my last trip to IKEA, and the lining is the Road to Marrakech (found now in our sale section!) and some Dot to Dot Marigold.

The photos are hopefully in order, front, back and then lining. Yay, it's done!!

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Baby Charm Blanket



Another quilting finish from Prince Rupert! Based on the pattern by Elizabeth Hartman, found here: (PDF file!) I used the Hometown by Sweetwater Charm Pack (from fishskin fabrics) along with some Kona Charcoal (because who doesn't love more grey - and the lighter greys were just wrong somehow).
I experimented with quilting with smooth minky - it was my first quilting minky experience. I used the Shannon Fabrics Charcoal in Smooth. I will admit that the price on this minky is quite a bit more than our Telio brand, but the difference is all too apparent when you get to touch them! (for samples, email jill@fishskinfabric.com)
I used 505 spray (which apparently I don't have online and will fix asap!) to stick my layers together, spraying about 12" of batting at a time and then smoothing the fabric over, lifting up and exposing the next 12 " of fabric, spraying and then smoothing down - I did it alone (although this is just a small quilt, about 35" square) and it worked well. Even better, it took me quite a few days to free motion quilt this, and my layers stuck together nicely. If you were wondering why it took me so many days to quilt (which isn't a long time, but I spent a lot of time at the machine on this one!) it is because I asked my husband how it thought it should be quilted - thinking straight lines, wiggly lines, that sort of things. But no, he instead counts how many blocks there are and suggests I quilt one letter of the alphabet on each block, putting I and J on the same block.
Oh.
(Pick something easy why don't you honey?) But, I am nothing if not adventurous in my sewing, so I put on the Free Motion Embroidery foot and off I go - one line per day. There were definitely "oops" and "whoops" moments - still there, for all to see, but i've decided I like it - it was a huge learning experience and I had a lot of fun, and a few glasses of wine, to get through it all!
This is only the second time I've used my new machine to quilt (it's a Janome Horizon and I love it!), the previous time was my Earth to the Stars quilt which I apparently haven't posted about! Guess we need another post!

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Our first Batiks!








I've mentioned this a couple time of times on facebook, but thought I needed to gush a little more about our exciting news.

We're carrying Tonga Batiks by Timeless Treasures - and they're gorgeous!! I bought the entire line of Island Punch in yardage, and will over time get more colourways (the same colourways available in yardage as we have in pre-cuts) For now, you can find them all here - as the selection grows, they will be divided into more precise categories to make your shopping easier!


Tonga Strips are a set of 40 2 1/2" strips of fabric, like a jelly roll and come in some absolutely stunning colours (2 of each print). The Tonga Mini's are also 40 prints but are 5" squares, delightfully packaged. Everyone seems to have a different favorite, but we all love a couple! I'm still trying to decide what to make - if you're looking for inspiration for your own, two great resources for free patterns are the Moda Bake Shop or Robert Kaufman

As always, I love to see what you're working on, so send an email, or post a link here or on facebook!

Jill!
(Soon i will learn how to format these so they line up properly! Soon!)

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

A Finish!



So fantastically happy with the way this quilt turned out. I had my friend Coralee quilt it for me, and she did some funky paisley type pattern, exactly what I had hoped for, adding to the quilt another layer of fabulous funkiness.



After much discussion, I went with a green border in 4 different fabrics, 2 print and 2 Kona solids. I love this border. I also love doing my binding by machine. I love it. It's so fast and tidy, I get the whole binding done in 2 hours (from cutting to finish) and it looks fabulous.


The pattern, in case you haven't seen earlier comments in various places about this quilt, is by Elizabeth Hartman in her book, The Practical Guide to Patchwork. I've restocked this book multiple times in my store, because it's such a fabulous all round great quilting book, especially for beginners (but I use is all the time!) The fabric is Prayer Flag by April Cornell - I used 2 charm packs, 1 jelly roll and some yardage of Moda Grunge from the Max & Whiskers collection. Back is some solid Kona as well as Prayer Flag yardage. I love love love the back.


I also love how it washed up (are you getting that I'm digging this quilt?) and it has already been delivered to it's new owners (with whom I took a yoga class this evening) and promised to sleep under tonight!
Best wishes Morgan & Dinesh - may you have many years of happiness under that quilt!

Saturday, September 17, 2011

my design wall...


and the cozy little nook I've created for myself. I'm on the night shift at the hotel again. Two nights a week we don't have staff in the hotel, and so James opens the hotel at 6:30 and sets up the continental breakfast (he does this every morning, thank you!!) we trade each other off through out the day, and then in the evening he goes to bed early and I stay up until after 11pm to do the night audit. Little does he know I secretly love it. It's so peaceful in the hotel right now. It's what I'm referring to as "renovation season" where we only have a few rooms a night and so are working on lots of upgrades to our hotel.

The point of all of this, is that I took a photo of my little nook tonight, and the new pattern I'm working on, a complete original, I'm VERY excited! I know the photo is a little blurry, but it best captured the feel of the lighting in the room. Can you see my two mascots hidden in this photo? (one is a yellow lab, the other a calico kitty)


Been very busy with the store this week, lots of drop ins, lots of on-line orders (thank you all SO MUCH!) and only 4 new boxes of fabric. Over 200lbs mind you, but only 4 boxes. Let me tell you, it's like Christmas on the days that fabric shipments arrive here. Unpacking and remembering what I ordered makes me giddy! (the number of hours I get to spend uploading fabric to the website... not so much!) I'm very excited to introduce our newest fabric selection, the Tonga Batiks We have in stock the entire line of the Island Punch colourway (I'll have them all up soon!), as well as the Tonga Treat Strips (2 1/2" strips of fabric in 20 different prints, 2 of each print) and Tonga Mini Treats (2 5" square cuts of 20 different prints of fabric. I have never sewn with batiks before, but let me tell you, I am very excited to start! (Once I have finished some VERY URGENT projects!)

We also are excited to announce we are offering FREE SHIPPING to all Canadian addresses for the month of September (and hopefully longer - we're trying to figure it all out) If you have been thinking about ordering from us, now is the time to try! It's quilting season and our fabric quality is always high and constantly being praised. See for yourself!

Did I mention we received the opportunity to be one of only 5 quilt stores in British Columbia to carry a FABULOUS line of blenders? More next time....