Friday, 29 April 2016

Fabulous French & Best of British

French General has delighted quilters again with their sumptuous range Ville Fleurie. We chose just 5 for our shelves, but each one is a stand alone must-have fabric!  They are all in different tones of the lovely French General red that we've come expect.  Just try and resist some of these!
#1 Ville Fleurie

#2 Ville Fleurie
Here are 3 gorgeous florals, 2 small, 1 medium, all on a cream background with pink and green tones and just a hint of soft grey-blue.  All 3 are very "19thC English" looking, from the Ashford range and will team perfectly with other soft florals and stripes, or with muted reproduction browns, pinks and greens.
#3 Ashford
Finally, we have one stunner from Canterbury to show you.  Corliss could not go past this one for fussy cutting, applique vases, or border.  The colour is a rich blue with regal tones of red, mustard, cream and lighter blue.   
#4 Canterbury
Sammy has been staying home most of the week with Kurt and "helping" in the garden.  Perhaps he was a little miffed that Poppy took his limelight last week on the blog.  He did have a bath today ready for his close-up, but then decided against coming out in the rain to visit us at the shop for a photo.  Meanwhile, Poppy has been growing, learning to run, and making friends with Joey the Maremma.   And...she is very happy to take Sammy's spotlight for one more week!  Have a great weekend everyone!

Friday, 22 April 2016

Fabric and new arrivals!

We are all looking forward to the long weekend here in Victoria with the Anzac Day holiday on Monday.  Threadbear will be open Saturday and Sunday usual hours, but we will be CLOSED Monday 25 April.

Our Passionate Piecer's Group will meet again on Saturday 7th May and the booking email will be sent out to everyone in the group on Monday afternoon (Anzac Day) as usual.  However, we won't be here to receive and reply to bookings until Tuesday Morning.

Well with no sign of the delivery man on the horizon, we don't have any brand new fabrics to show you this week.  Di Ford Hall's new collection, Giggleswick Mill, is due any day and we can't wait for it to arrive.  But in the meantime, we thought we'd show you some of the selections we put together for customers this week.  We always encourage ladies to mix and match fabrics from different ranges and be guided by the colour and print rather than the manufacturer or designer.  That way, your work will have a little more life and interest and keep the eye moving across the quilt.
This combination of pink, purple and brown works so well together, with plenty of fussy cutting possibilities too all gathered for Jan from 3 ranges; Treenware & Berries, Mille Coleurs, and Southern Exposure.
Roslyn was after a much more subtle pallet for a baby's quilt in green and gold, so we collected pieces from Paintbox Prints, Classic Elegance, Esprit Maison, Ophelia, and Roses & Chocolates. Lucky Baby!
Marla quickly chose this beautiful border fabric but wanted a few extra bits to use in her pieced blocks. We mixed a check, a plaid, a tone on tone and a small print to help her on her way; Collection for a Cause~Nurture, Prairie Woven, Georgetown, Southern Exposure, and Country French.
This fantastic print from Laundry Baskets Quilts is an old favourite for fussy cutting.  We've cut hexagons, leaves, flower centres, and fruit from parts of this print in the past and love it in the new colourway.   Rhonda decided to team it with a couple of teals and golds to show it off beautifully ~ picked from Color Daze, Chamberlain, Townhouse, Southern Exposure, and Uptown Duets.
And we think these fabrics that we helped Sally pick complement the gorgeous floral border beautifully~ a mix of Southern Vintage, Trinkets, Home Essentials, Chocolate & Bubblegum, and Hyde Park.

The big news at Threadbear this week however, is what was waiting for Megan when she arrived home from work last night.  Despite all the best laid plans, and a due date of Anzac Day, this little Cria arrived a couple of days early and was shivering in the rain when Megan got home. So like any good quilter, she used an off-cut of cotton wadding to wrap around the baby and covered her with a Glad bin liner!  Not a great look, but little Poppy stayed warm all night.  We are pleased to say Poppy will be wearing a proper Cria coat tonight!



Meanwhile, Sam is back home from his beach holiday and is settling back into his regular routine of sleeping, snoozing, and sleeping some more.  Have a great weekend everyone!


Friday, 15 April 2016

Lots and Lots of visitors

We've been enjoying lots and lots of interstate visitors this week with so many girls visiting the Australian Quilt Convention via Castlemaine!  It's a bit like an episode of the Lelyland Brothers (that'll test your memories!) with visitors in the shop today from Townsville, Darwin, West Australia, South Australia, Hobart, Sydney, and Maitland!  It's been great to catch up with so many lovely customers and see what they've been making!

If you've visited us on the internet this week at threadbear.com.au, you'll have seen a few changes to our look and layout.  We've undergone an upgrade so while everything should now be back in it's right place, you'll notice a few minor changes to the shopping cart.  If you're unsure of anything, just give us a call at the shop. 

With all the changes going on behind the website, we weren't able to bring you a blog post last week so we'll try to make up for it with lots of pictures from our Applique Group's show and tell last Saturday.  It was another happy day of stitching and catching up.  Jan brought along some of her antique quilts to show us, including a couple that were undergoing some rescue and repair work!  This beautiful clamshell quilt was our favourite.
 Anne showed us her version of a stunning Material Obsession pattern she's been working on.  Wow!
Wendy's gorgeous Poppies quilt was started by her and sat in a UFO box until her friends decided to complete it for her as a special birthday present.  (pattern by Di Ford-Hall)
Jude made this quilt together with her granddaughter who also designed the applique blocks and chose the colours. What a great way to bridge the generation gap! Well done Jude.

Elizabeth decided to turn her Phebe centre (above) into a sweet little quilt to hang on a wall.  That's a great way to deal with projects you know you love but you know you'll never finish. (pattern by Di Ford-Hall)
 Michelle made this applique beauty for a special gift for a family member - as soon as she's finished machine quilting it, she's giving it away!!   Next up was Helen's work in progress (below).  She started the centre at a class with Di Ford-Hall many moons ago... then she has been making up the borders as she goes.  Those little star blocks are stunning Helen! 
We always want to see what people in the room are working on...Deb showed us the centre of her BOM design by Susan Smith (above).  The red toile centre and those soft colours are so gorgeous Deb.
 New to our shelves today are 7 must have pieces from Southern Exposure by Laundry Basket Quilts.  The border print is a show stopper and we have 6 other supporting fabrics in warm pink, cream, irky mustard and bold teal.
#1 Southern Exposure $26.50m

#2 Southern Exposure $26.50m

#3 Southern Exposure $26.50m
#4 Southern Exposure $26.50m
#5 Southern Exposure $26.50m
perfect for a mitred border
Sam finds that when he is flat out at work, he likes to take a quick little "mini-break" to the seaside where he can play ball, bark at waves, chase seagulls, and eat sand.  Here's one of his holiday snaps from earlier this week! Have a great weekend everyone!


Friday, 1 April 2016

Trinkets

We are loving the cooler autumn weather this week here in Castlemaine.  The leaves are starting to turn and the mornings are cool and dewy.  Perfect weather we think to turn our minds to new quilting projects and replenishing our stash.  Our friendly delivery man was right on cue yesterday when he walked through the doors with 3 boxes of Trinkets by Kathy Hall for Andover Fabrics.  This gorgeous collection of basics are perfect to blend with so many reproduction prints. But they also stand alone with some subtle prints and stunning colours.  You'll find some light beige and dirty creams, yellow, red. some double pinks, a few purples, some excellent blacks, some different blues and drop dead gorgeous greens and teals.  Something for everyone. 
#1 Trinkets $25.50 metre

#2  Trinkets $25.50 metre

#3  Trinkets $25.50 metre

We are gradually filling our classes for this year.  But the good news is there are still a couple of places left in Cloverdale with Di Ford-Hall Saturday 25 June 10am-3pm. 
From Di's first fabulous fabric range, Cloverdale House, you can make this gorgeous quilt.  The circular centre is created using broderie perse and hexagons, surrounded by more broderie perse appliqué, then finished with triangles and a border of the stunning pillar print. We have plenty of Cloverdale House still in stock, so you can  easily recreate Di's quilt. The Class fee is $95 and is payable on booking ~ just phone us at the shop on 0354721881.
Make a start on this beautiful broderie perse applique centre in class with Di


Surround the centre block with simple triangles and Di's stunning border print

Cloverdale House
Speaking of classes ~ we always enjoy seeing finished quilts that were started in a Threadbear class and here is a beauty from Meagan who came to a Margaret MacDonald class with her mum Marg on Mothers' Day 2014. Congratulations Meagan on finishing it off and also Marg (we saw yours a little while ago ).  It's always satisfying to see a newly completed quilt on your bed!


The Pattern & a Starter pack for Vintage Grace by Megan Carroll is now available in the shop and on our website. It's looking great hanging next to The Mary Stubbs Quilt.

Sam is in charge this weekend with Kurt while we enjoy some sewing time. Have a great weekend everyone!