Happy Easter!

 Here are the names of the very lucky winners of the eight mystery boxes containing fabulous books, fabrics, tools and more treasures all contributed by the wonderful girls of the Castlemaine Appliqué Group. Congratulations to.... Jan Williamson; Audrey Goonan; Victoria Melbourne; Diane Hendry; Sharon Rigney; Heather Cartmel; Alison White; Anita Yttiup. Thankyou  to all who gave so generously and bought tickets in our Mystery Box raffle.  Your donations together with the entry fee from all who attended our Exhibition totalled $8000 to be donated to Emma's House Domestic Violence Service. 

We can't wait for our next meeting in April, and we always welcome new members.  So  if you're interested in joining us, just phone us at Threadbear for all the details.

New in the shop this week is Lizzies's Legacy by Betsy Chutchian for Moda.  With 40 bolts in all, there's heaps to choose from.  We are loving the prints in deep blues, warm browns and medium,warm toned reds and pinks.  

#1  Lizzie's Legacy $26.50m

#2  Lizzie's Legacy $26.50m

#3  Lizzie's Legacy $26.50m

#4  Lizzie's Legacy $26.50m

Or perhaps if you are more of a Purple person, you'd like some of Sarah Morgan's new range, Vintage Miniatures. These tiny, delicate prints are repeated on vibrant mid-toned purple, charcoal/black, and tan. Gorgeous!! 

#1 Vintage Miniatures $25.50

#2 Vintage Miniatures $25.50 m

#3 Vintage Miniatures $25.50

Our Easter trading hours are as follows ~

Closed Good Friday  & Easter Sunday.

Open 10-2pm Easter Saturday, 11-2pm Easter Monday. 

Sam really doesn't know what all the fuss is about Easter - after all, no-one will share their chocolate with him, or their Hot Cross Buns!   So he's making his own Easter preparations at home today, setting up the best vantage point to keep watch for any stray bunnies running about - if he can stay awake that is.  Have a great Easter everyone!

Quilts Galore!

Thankyou to all of you who travelled the length and breadth of the state and indeed of the country to visit Castlemaine last weekend and support our Applique Group's beautiful Exhibition.  It was once again a huge success and we raised $8000.00 for Emma House Domestic Violence Service in Warnambool.  With so many gorgeous quilts on display, visitors came away inspired to sew. For those of you who couldn't join us, here are a few photos of the exhibition.  Follow us on Instagram for photos of individual quilts.

Threadbear was buzzing for three solid days and it was so lovely to see so many friendly happy faces sharing in the fun and enjoying a day out or weekend away with girlfriends.

Next week, we'll have some lovely new fabric to show you that just arrived today.  But in the meantime, we do have a new quilt to show.  Vintage Grace is Megan's latest design - pieced hexagon stars appliqued to a centre block, then surrounded by simple pieced borders and blocks.  (suits hand or machine piecing).  Pattern and a Starter Pack are available now.

Vintage Grace by Megan Carroll - Pattern available

Vintage Grace starter pack

When a thousand or more women visit the shop over a weekend hoping to meet you and pat you, it's a bit overwhelming for an excitable Spoodle.  So to stop any "Runaway Spoodle Alerts ", Sam spent the weekend safe and sound at home snoozing on his bed, or on the couch, under a table, in the sewing room, on the good chair, under a blanket, anywhere he fancied really......!
So for anyone who was disappointed not to see him during the Exhibition weekend, here's a pin-up photo of the boy himself. No doubt, he'll be back in action in Threadbear next week. Have a great weekend everyone!

New Fabrics and a massage for Sammy!

After a huge team effort last week to upend half the shop and rearrange things, we were just feeling satisfied that everything was looking ship shape in readiness for our visitors for the Applique Exhibition next weekend.  Then the delivery man arrived on Monday...., and again on Tuesday!  Yes, box after box of new fabric had to be unpacked and shelved which meant lots of shifting and rearranging ~ again!  Of course, we always love having new fabrics to show you, so here are some of the ranges from this week.

 Garden House by Jan Patek for Moda is a fantastic collection of warm reds, tans, and teals with a great mix of large and small prints.  It is rich and luscious, and sits beautifully as a collection, or mix and match with other ranges. The tiny delicate checks are brilliant for backgrounds, and how good is that big floral for borders, setting triangles, fussy cutting or borderie perse!

#1 Garden House $26.50m

#2 Garden House $26.50m

#3 Garden House $26.50m

#4 Garden House $26.50m

Songbird Gatherings from Primitive Gatherings is another great range of tiny delicate prints in milk chocolate brown, medium red, and rich cream.  We especially love the shirting style prints in brown on cream, and the teensy tiny little birds.

#1 Songbird Gatherings $26.50m

#2 Songbird Gatherings $26.50m

Also on our shelves this week is Farm House from Sara Morgan.  It has been a while since we had a new collection of traditional Turkey Reds, Poison Greens and Chrome Yellows from the late 1800s.  The prints are gorgeous with some we haven't seen before ~ well worth adding to your reproduction stash.

#1 Farm House $26.50m

#2 Farm House $26.50m

These seven little prints from Chocolate & Bubblegum by Audrey Wright were just too delicious to resist.  It's a funny name for some seriously gorgeous fabrics.  We love the icky greeny-gold and the soft pink and cream combinations.

Chocolate & Bubblegum $29.75m

All the preparations for the Applique Group Exhibition (12th & 13th March) and all the new fabrics and friendly faces we've seen in the shop this week really took it out of Sammy who was feeling exhausted  ~ nothing a good ear massage couldn't fix!  Have a great weekend everyone!

"..a little to the right..."