Greetings to All

Greetings to all from Sammy and a special greeting from Sammy to Natasha and her Mum.  Natasha visits us from Sydney a couple of times a year but on the day she came to Threadbear, Sammy was out and about with Kurt and missed out on cuddles and pats. 
Another 3 fabric deliveries this week to get excited about. First was "European Taupes", by Kinkame and made in Japan. If you admire the work of Yoko Saito and other amazing Japanese designers you will be reminded of their beautiful little projects when you look at this collection of floral taupes and small prints in soft complementary colours. We have 13 from this range and they are sure to inspire.

Then came these beautiful toiles, and what can you say about toiles....other than you can never have too many....these two are from Robyn Pandolph's latest range, "Incense and Peppermints". We have a light ivory and a deeper beige and they are soft and very pretty indeed.

Next is Sienna from Windham Fabrics.  Quite a big range, 12 in total, with only one signature print in a great soft brown.  There are lots of blenders in a handy range of colours, and best of all, a really great check in three colour ways.

Three huge cheers and a really big thank you to Jude for showing us her quilt and for letting us take a photo for show and tell. Jude came into Threadbear to find a binding for this absolutely SENSATIONAL quilt,...Jude, it is beautiful and all those tiny hexagons makes you an inspiration to us all.

And then, guess what, the next shipment of Di Fords book, "Primarily Quilts", that we were expecting in mid May has arrived...that means we have plenty in stock if anyone has been waiting for a copy...and plenty of mail orders to send out for those of you on our waiting list.  Sammy is here to lend us a hand, he is wagging his tail because that looks like a lot of walks to the post office...he will be happy to help.

Can't get enough purple

A fabric fix for us all today, just delivered to the shop in time for some blog pics is Mary Koval's newest range "Rebecca".

If anyone is leaving comments on our blog please feel free to suggest some new adjectives for us to use when new fabric ranges arrive because once again..look at this great range...is all we can say about Mary Koval's "Rebecca".

This range is full of fantastic colour and several highly sought after purples, gorgeous little florals, handy blenders and a couple of lovely signature prints...We have 1/8th packs of this range cut and ready to go, it is so pretty and a tiny bit of all the fabrics in this range would be a lovely treat and a perfect addition to the stash.

If you have a  needle turn appliqué project on the go and you don't have an Aquawash pen in your sewing basket, well get yourself one immediately because it will make life so much easier.

When filled with Best Press spray starch this pen is at the ready for a quick paint around your seam allowances and when pressed over a Mylar template you will have perfect crisp shapes to sew around..absolute bliss for borders or blocks with a gazillion leaves or circles.

Our thanks go to Joan for this amazing, inspirational show and tell.  Joan drove to Threadbear from Kyneton to get a backing for this sensational quilt top and we are so glad she brought the top with her so we all have the opportunity to see it.  Joan has made this quilt using Margaret McDonald's pattern, "Persistence", and she has created a truly beautiful quilt...look at all those tiny little pieces and all those perfect joins....and start taking your vitamins everyone because Joan in now in her 90's and we hope that we are all making quilts this amazing well into our futures.

Sammy has a busy day today and has no time at all to sit with us for a chat and a pat...he is off out with Kurt doing the deliveries.  A dog's work is never done.

Thank you to Di Ford

Welcome.  Book signing here today

We just want to start by sending our great & heartfelt thanks to Di Ford for all the hard work and energy she put in to make the day so happy and special for so many of us on Saturday.  It was a pretty frantic day for Di, first the long drive to reach us so early on Saturday morning, then a beautiful talk about her book "Primarily Quilts" to all at our CAG meeting & then off to the shop in the afternoon to sign copies of her book

Our class room was set up for Di to sign her book and it was a great afternoon for everyone that popped in to meet Di, and have a chat...she must have almost incurred a repetition strain injury with all the books she has signed over the past few weeks. A big thanks to Wendy Blyth for loaning us some of the many quilts she has made from Di's patterns.

Sammy was sitting with Di all afternoon so not only did everyone get a beautiful signed copy of the book but also a handshake or pat from Sammy.

And a special hello to Dianne that came all the way from Brisbane for the day, it was great to meet you and your friends.
And, of course, thank you to everyone who attended CAG or came into the shop on Saturday and made it such a fabulous, happy day.

Once again we promised great photos of show and tell from our CAG meeting and once again we were so busy that we haven't any photos as evidence of a great day, but the photos of Di's book signing will be enough to show you that a good time was had by all...photos of show and tell...well maybe next time (promise).

We had another great book delivered to the store this week, a must have for all lovers of quilt history.  This book, titled "Layers", is published by the Chester County Historical Society, and tells the story of quilts and quilters from Chester County.

It is an interesting read and full of great photos, too ~ this book was recommended to us by Margaret McDonald so you know it is a must for the collection.

We had a good time in the  shop today with a group ladies from Western Australia, who came in to visit us...it was lovely having them in the shop and hearing about all their projects.

Every couple of days we have a good look around Kurt and Sammy's shop in case any new goodies
have appeared, and look what we found...Kurt thinks this would make a great display cabinet for special favourites from the fabric stash and we agree with him...seems if we are not buying something lovely for our stash we are looking for things to store it in.

And just a quick show and tell from Kristen at our Tuesday sit and sew....wow..thanks for sharing
Kristen..absolutely stunning .

Moda Moda Moda

This week saw the arrival of a lovely big box of Moda fabrics, and as we tore open the boxes Paintbox Prints from Laundry Basket Quilts revealed itself.

Few words are required, except to say...feast your eyes on this GORGEOUS fabric.
Paintbox Prints is full of large rich florals, pretty pretty smaller florals, and blenders...it is a stunning range

Imagine the excitement for all the fussy cutting fans out there. Your scissors will be itching to get into the large prints & florals in this range..one look at all four colourways & you will be snipping away with delight.

Perfect Curved Scissors

 With the arrival of a fabric so perfect for fussy cutting it seems like a good time to mention an addition to the Karen Kay Buckley scissor range, new to the shop. They are the Perfect CURVED Scissors at $27.50. These are our new favourite scissors for clipping threads, and cutting curved applique shapes.perfect for fussy cutting. Their short, micro serrated blades are just right for clipping tricky shapes, trimming close to fabric seams, or cutting away stabiliser. They are comfortable,easy to handle, sharp and beautifully weighted scissors; well worth tying out next time you are in Threadbear.

Threadbear for bandanas

We had to take our mind off the fussy cutting potential of Paintbox Prints this morning when Christopher popped into Threadbear for some help in choosing his latest bandana. Christopher is a photographer,and was on his way to photograph a local wedding...he will have smiles all round from the wedding party with such a groovy bandana...great fabric choice Christopher..Threadbear is indeed the "go to" destination for all your bandana needs.

Castlemaine Appliqué Group will be meeting again tomorrow, and as always we expect another big day for all and the promise of some great photos next week from our show and tell and the launch of Di Fords book, "Primarily Quilts".  And of course another chance for Sammy to catch up with all his sewing friends.

Moda Moda Moda..what about a pat

Sammy's big day

Well, we have lots and lots of photos to show you this week.  We are all still on a bit of a high after having such a FANTASTIC day at Appliqué School on Saturday.

Teachers, Margaret McDonald and Wendy Whellum

Di Ford

Margaret McDonald

Robyn Falloon

Sammy is completely tuckered out after his big weekend.  He was busy all day Saturday with so many of his sewing friends to meet and greet...he loved the many pats from our visitors & was ready to sit down for a coffee & a chat, and even a bit of tourism advice for those customers visiting from out of town.

Morning tea

Friends

Thank you to everyone that joined us at appliqué school and helped to make it such a happy day, especially to many of you who travelled a long way to join us...we had class mates from far and wide including Tasmania, South Australia & NSW.

free tourist advice

And a huge thank you to our four amazing teachers for all their inspiration & hard work in helping to make the day run so smoothly...each of our teachers generously brought some of their quilts for us to display on the day. All were absolutely stunning...& so exciting to see some close up, that we have seen before in magazines & books.

Margaret McDonald

Robyn Falloon

The day began for most with a quick visit to the shop, and then off to school, ready for the first lesson at 10.00.  Every one agreed that the time just flew by and when morning tea was announced no one  wanted to put their lessons down or stop what they were doing.

yum!!!

There were plenty of yummy biscuits for morning tea then back to work for the second class...then lunch break and the two remaining classes and more scrummy biscuits for afternoon tea.  Last lesson ended way too quickly and with heads full of new skills and techniques it was back to the shop for some last minute supplies. A lot of fabric buying took place after school, almost essential to take home a little bit more gorgeous fabric to try out all the new tricks learned in class...i am sure many of us remember racing off to the corner shop on the way home from school for a bag of mixed lollies...well same thing really, but fabric is not fattening and doesn't rot your teeth.

No rest for Sammy though, he was busy again the next day as he joined in the Sunday "sit and sew" for a bit of appliqué and a chat with friends.

serious applique disscussion

And no rest for us as we put the excitement of a wonderful weekend behind us and start to prepare for next Saturday's meeting of the Castlemaine Appliqué Group (CAG)...we are expecting another great as we host the long awaited launch of Di Fords fabulous book"Primarily Quilts".  We are all thrilled to have Di on hand to sign copies of her book in store on Saturday 13 April from 1pm-2.30pm.  .  This launch day has been on our calendar for months now & it was way back in July 2012 that we started our list for pre ordered copies of Di's book.   All the pre ordered copies from our first shipment have now been sold and many of you will be bringing your copies with you for Di to sign on the day.  As we mentioned before we are taking names again to reserve copies from our next shipment, but boy....is that list growing quickly, so get your name down soon, because if you haven't got a copy and you catch a glimpse of a friend's copy you will be green with envy & kick yourself  for missing out!
 We have also just found out that we have secured a few extra copies for sale on the day, not very many, but if you are lucky enough to get one of these Di will be ready to sign it for you here at Threadbear.  As you can imagine it is going to be another great day, and hopefully there will be some show and tell for you to see next week.

zzzzzzzzz

That means another big Saturday ahead for Sammy, time to catch up on some sleep.