Blog

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Hello everyone!
As we head out of September and in to October it’s so lovely to wake up and hear the dawn chorus. I always get very motivated in the Spring and I have lots to tell you today, so make yourself a cuppa and prepare for a wee read!

We are excited that the Taupo Patchworker’s Quilt Exhibition is going ahead this weekend from Friday 2nd October through until Sunday 4th October at the Great Lake Centre here in Taupo. We are anticipating a huge weekend, as the majority of exhibitions of this type have not been able to proceed this year. This one is actually happening! We have been busy for the past month collecting wares to sell at our merchant table at the exhibition, including a lot of new product and prepacked kits not seen before in the shop.

The exhibition will be open from 10am – 4pm for the 3 days; we will also be open our usual trading hours as well as Sunday from 11am -3pm – just in case there are out-of-towners who need to shop with us over the weekend.
If you go to the exhibition you will receive a voucher offering you 10% discount off fabric on the bolt from our store for this weekend only. You will need to present your voucher to get the discount. This doesn’t apply to Fat Quarters, or fabric already on special – but you may find something in store that you simply must have!
We are pretty well stocked at the moment (still waiting for a new elastic shipment however!) so I hope we can meet all your quilting needs.

We are also very privileged to have Barrie Ashton form Wonderfil Threads in store over the weekend. Barrie missed out on stall space at the exhibition, so I invited her to set up a stall with us in the shop instead. There haven’t been many opportunities for Barrie to set up shop this year due to so many cancellations, so this will be a good opportunity to stock up on all the threads that we don’t stock in the shop. We will have the Sue Spargo Eleganza and Ellana stand at the exhibition, and Barrie will bring everything else to the shop.That’s TWO good reasons to come to the Exhibition AND visit the shop as well!

This morning I have put the finishing touches on my ‘Lord-a-Leaping’ and ádded some extra hearts as the last chapter in our 12 Days Of Christmas story. We have been creating this lovely family for the past 12 months and now its complete. David is making the trees to display the characters and can make one for you for this Christmas for $100 if you order during October.
This now makes way for some new hand stitching projects which have been advertised in the last 2 newsletters so we can set some new dates now to start those.
THE SANTA, THE TREE, THE TURKEY AND ME

This BOM designed by Anni Downs from Hatched & Patched will start at the end of October. I ordered 10 kits and one is waiting for me to assemble after the Exhibition is over. There has been huge interest in this wall hanging both in NZ and internationally, so those who got their name down early will receive information about starting this in the next couple of weeks. Sourcing the background fabric has been a bit of a mission, but I have enough to at least start the first sample, so I’m looking forward to that being my new evening hand stitching project.

URBAN OWLS by Wendy Williams

We will start Block One of Urban Owls after Labour Weekend on Friday 30th October.
For this BOM you can collect your own fabrics and I will supply the pattern to you each month for $5.00.
If you would prefer me to make up a kit each month for you, that will be an additional $15.00 and may take the pressure off choosing your own felt & fabrics. You will pay $15 for a kit each month, taking the total to $20 per month over 10 months.
We will meet once a month on a Friday when you can collect your Block and receive tuition on how to make it up – or I can post to you if you’re from out of town.
This is a lovely way to use up your scraps and our lovely selection of merino wool felt colours are perfect to make your own unique Urban Owls quilt. I am also waiting on some new woven felt to arrive from Moda, which will also be suitable for this project. I still have a few booklets available if you want to sign up for this 12 month BOM.

Our ChiaoGoo knitting products are selling well. Those who have bought have returned for more.The word on the street is that once you have tried ChiaoGoo products there is no going back to other brands.
DMC Hollie yarn and patterns are proving to be very popular. We have received our first range of knitting patterns by ‘Truly Myrtle’, and plan to expand our range of yarn and patterns next year.

We will continue with the Knitting Club on Thursday afternoons from 1:30-3:30pm in Term 4. Jenny has helped out several ladies with knitting issues over the past few weeks and I am thankful this is one area that I can delegate to a knitting expert!

‘BY ANNIE’ HOLD EVERYTHING SATCHEL

The class for our ‘Hold Everything’ satchel is filling up but there are still a couple of spots available on Saturday 17th October from 9:30am – 4 pm.
‘Hold Everything’ is like a little fabric lunch box – perfect for storing all your sewing bits and pieces (or other collectable items which need safe storage)
The cost of the class will be $50 for the day plus your fabric and bag making requirements.
Bernina are hosting an ‘Experience the Q16’ workshop in 4 locations around the country in October. The nearest one for us will be in Rotorua on Thursday 15th October. If you have been considering purchasing a Bernina Q20 or a Q16 quilting machine, this is an opportunity to truly experience the Q16 under the tuition of an experienced tutor and Bernina staff. The workshop will be 3 hours in duration and most materials, project, thread, ruler and Q16 machines for use in class will be provided. There is a maximum of 10 people per class. I understand there are still some vacancies on Thursday afternoon. If you are interested, please contact me at the shop in the first instance. The cost to BERNINA NZ will be $50.
KID’S HOLIDAY PROGRAMME

We will be holding an Advanced Holiday Programme in the second week of the school holidays. On Tuesday 6th October & Thursday 8th October some of the kids who have done a programme with us before will be making a Wall Hanging with Storage Pockets. It’s always pretty full on when we have kids learning to sew in the shop but it’s so nice to see these girls improving their sewing skills every holidays and they are making some very cool things! The class costs $50 for the 2 days + fabric requirements.
Due to the worldwide shortage of new sewing machines at the moment, we will be unable to hold another Beginner’s Sewing Programme until January next year. We are hopeful that the demand to buy cheap sewing machines will settle soon and that normal production will resume before the end of 2020.
JOLIE PAINT ARRIVING THIS WEEK!!!

FINALLY, we have some very exciting news! Tomorrow are expecting our very first shipment of JOLIE home based paint. The timing of this delivery isn’t great with the exhibition being our main focus this week, so unfortunately all the stock that arrives will need to be stored out the back until after the weekend. As of next week though, we will start to introduce you to our favourite JOLIE paint products for upcycling furniture and more. David and I trained with Jolie in Melbourne this time last year, and we have been keen to bring in some upcycling furniture projects to the shop ever since we opened – but the timing just hasn’t been quite right. With COVID and lockdowns we have had a few delays with our plan, but over the next few months we would like to show you a beautiful paint brand which we absolutely LOVE! We hope to be able to hold some paint workshops and simple upholstery projects in the future, but we will start slowly and do a bit of painting and planning before we bring too much
in to the shop. We will probably start with some small summertime workshops at home.
If you have tired old wooden coffee tables/chairs that need resurrecting, then this paint will work wonders on your old furniture. You can either learn to do it yourself, or we may be able to do it for you.
Here’s a snippet from the Jolie Home crew:
It’s your life – make it beautiful! Jolie Home understands the positive impact a quick home transformation can have on your life. We want you to feel the joy that comes along with creating something beautiful, something personalized, and something you want to share with others. The quality and versatility of Jolie Paint is like no other. You can attain a variety of finishes using just Jolie Paint and Jolie topcoats.
You can learn techniques to create common finishes for furniture, floors, cabinets, accessories and more…* BASIC * SMOOTH * TEXTURED * DISTRESSED * DRY BRUSHED * WASHED *

Watch this space – there will be more to come on this exciting development!

I look forward to seeing many of you at the Exhibition over the weekend

Happy Stitching
Kay

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Hello everyone!
I have been trying to get to my laptop for the last week to send out an email to all you lovely customers; We have been inundated with sales of ELASTIC and attempts to write anything at all have been constantly interrupted by another sale at the counter!
The good news is we had our best week EVER last week. The sad news is I have sold out of 3mm and 6mm wide elastic – but I do still have a good supply of hat elastic in both black and white, and plenty of wider elastic 10mm and up.
We have several great free patterns for face masks on the counter and they have been rocking out the door. I must say I’m quite impressed with some people’s creativity when it comes to making such things – I also admire the determination of those who confess to not being a sewist but want to give it a go anyway!
I haven’t got to making a set of masks for myself yet, aside from a quick sample or 2 whipped up in the last lockdown. Any requests from my family will just have to wait until things settle down a bit!

Greetings to you all!
It is so satisfying for me to see people walking out of the shop with finished projects. It gives everyone such a great sense of accomplishment!
Our Beginner Adult Sewing classes on Thursday mornings have yielded some great results – classy aprons, cushions and Needlecase samplers. The Westalee Ruler class with Barrie was inspiring for those wanting to improve their ruler skills, and this week we’ve had the kids in completing their projects from before lockdown.