Newsletter June 2021

Newsletters

June 16, 2021

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Hello Lovely Ladies!
Winter seems to be taking its time to get here this year, but isn’t it lovely to have a bit of rain this week – the perfect atmosphere for pulling out sewing and knitting projects! We have had a couple of quieter weeks in the shop traffic -wise, but this has given us some time to complete several projects and prepare kits for upcoming BOMs. Carol has quite a stash of fabric hiding in her cupboard and she has been giving me the odd bit to play with to complete my Urban Owls quilt. I started assembling all the blocks yesterday and it’s amazing how the fabrics we have pulled off the shelves are starting to come together to make a stunning quilt. There are still 4 months left for this project and I have seen some pretty cool blocks being made, sometimes with our kit fabric, but often with participants choice, to pull this quilt together.

Here’s a snippet of the first block assembly – this is about one third the size of the finished project!

During this ‘quieter’ time, David & I have moved in to a new house, just around the corner from our last one – as a result of a mention in the last newsletter that we needed to find a new house to rent, it was amazing when we found our new home the next day and were able to move in the following week. Things can move pretty fast around here when they have to!
I’m still in the process of unpacking as I haven’t had much home time in the past couple of weeks, but hopefully this weekend everything will be sorted. This is the perfect testimony of ‘putting it out there’ and seeing what comes back. We are so thankful that our house hunting process went so seamlessly.

We are also busy preparing for the Rainbow Quilter’s Exhibition in Rotorua at the end of this month (Saturday 26th/Sunday 27th June) where we have been invited to be merchants for the weekend.
I hope some of our very delayed Moda and ByAnnie products arrive in time! Unfortunately a shipment was sent to Norway instead of New Zealand so had to be recalled and resent in the right direction, adding an extra 6 weeks to the expected delivery time. This doesn’t help with the existing shipping issues and makes it quite difficult to plan for a project with particular fabrics.
I was delighted though, when the Moda Maryland panels and matching fabrics arrived at the end of May, and we will have a lovely sampler that I have made, up on the wall next week once it’s back from being quilted.
We have a great selection of these fabrics from Moda Maryland and plenty of panels available for your next project.

The Bernina Road Show in Taupo is fast approaching and is only 2 weeks away now. The shop will be taken over by Bernina HQ for the day. With the recent arrival of the new Bernette L850 Air Overlocker and the Bernette b64 Air Overlocker this is the perfect time to get a good demo of both these machines as well as others that we may not usually have on the shop floor. It’s also a great opportunity to buy a new machine with some good discounts and spot prizes. It’s all out of my hands and the Bernina team pretty much come in and take over for the day. Come and join us for a coffee and some yummy baking and put your vote in for the Decade Challenge while you’re at it.
Please note our normal Wednesday classes are cancelled this day.

LAURA HEINE FABRIC COLLAGE CLASS

There has been huge interest in the Fiberworks-Laura Heine fabric collage blocks that we have in store and I now have all the details for our very own workshop.
I have booked the Acacia Bay Hall for Friday 20th and Saturday 21st August. The class will start at 9am and run until 4pm. Lunch, morning & afternoon teas will be provided both days and this is included in the class fee. There is a maximum class size of 20 people. When you register you will be required to pay the full class fee of $150, and you can then choose the pattern you want to use in the class. If you are from out of town we will require you to pay your registration by internet banking – you will be given our account number when you enrol. I suggest you register your interest by phoning the shop 07-3765965 rather than emailing me or responding at the end of this newsletter, as it will be first in, first served. There will be at least 6 different patterns for you to choose from – Roosters, Flamingoes, Pink Pump Shoes, Caravans, Fish & Sewing machines to name a few – I will order the patterns when we have a class full of registrations.

If this class proves to be as popular as interest would suggest, a second class is tentatively booked during the week prior – Tuesday 17th & Wednesday 18th August. The second class will only take place if the first class is completely booked out.
The only preparation for you to do before the class is to sort out the fabrics you will need – big flower fabric is ideal! There won’t be any sewing involved on the first day, but there will be lots of cutting and ironing and you will need lots of Steam-a-Seam and a good sharp pair of scissors – we do stock Karen Kay Buckley’s Perfect Scissors which will be ‘perfect’ for this class, and we will have a good supply of Steam-a-Seam available as well.

JEN KINGWELL’S GYPSY WIFE – SEW ALONG

The first of our Gypsy/Wanderer’s Wife Sew-Along’s went really well earlier in June. We still have a few workbooks left so its not too late to join in. We will meet on the 1st Friday of each month and stitch a feature block in class, and then give you instructions for what you will need to churn out at home before you come back the following month with a completed section of your quilt.

This concept is similar to a Block of the Month, but you choose your own fabrics (from The Eye Of A Needle), or you can use your own scraps or stash in colours of your choice.
The quilt is a sampler, with many one-off blocks, a smattering of square-in-square small blocks and vertical stripes. It finishes throw-sized at 59” x 68”. It’s been great to see so many variations of colours chosen – this quilt can be as formal or as scrappy as you like.
The Wanderer’s Wife workbook costs $36. Each time you come to the Sew Along we ask you to pay $5 to cover expenses.

KID’S HOLIDAY PROGRAMME – JULY HOLIDAYS.

Our next Kid’s Beginner Class on July 13th/15th is already fully booked, which goes to show how popular the class is becoming. These classes fill fast, so it’s always a good idea to put the dates in your diary, especially if you know of family or friends planning holidays who don’t want to miss out on the Holiday Programmes we provide for the girls.

There are still some spots available in the Kid’s Advanced Class in the second week of the July Holidays. Anyone who has completed our Beginner’s class is eligible to enrol for this one. We have decided that the girls need some consistent seam allowance practice, so we will be making a mini quilt using 2-1/2″ strips to get those seams straight! straight! straight!
The Advanced class will cost $50 for the 2 days + fabric requirements.

FOUNDATION PIECING CLASS WITH MARYANN PATERSON

There are still a couple of spots left in this popular Foundation Piecing class with Maryann Paterson on Friday 8th and Saturday 9th October. The class will run from 9:30am – 4:30pm. Maryann is a Qualified Quiltworx Instructor and has taught a lot of foundation piecing classes at Grandmother’s Garden.

The cost of the class will be $60 per day. Maryann will teach techniques to make the Bear Claw Cushion as shown in the photo above. There are some other samples of Maryann’s work in store to inspire and I challenge you to sign up for this workshop to learn new techniques.

I have several ideas on my radar for some gorgeous new Christmas projects, so I hope to be able to get these out in the next few weeks to tempt you, just in time for Christmas. We are almost half way there already!