TheSewingRoom

Its been a long time!

Yes it has been ages since I've updated this blog! But this does not mean I haven't been sewing! I try to fit in what I can in between my scrapbooking.

I thought it was about time I showed you my sewing area which I promised ages ago. Its what I call my 'Sewing Room' but really its just a space...lol, a small corner of the hall area down in our basement.

It is great though because its warm and cosy, I have a great computer set up (just brought myself a new 22" monitor), I can surf the internet when looking for something or most of the time I just play a movie for company.

I have a Brother sewing machine and a fabulous Babylock, here it is:

I found this great little shelf in a boutique which I store some of my jelly rolls, still need to hang a few things though.

In the last year I have actually worked on a few quilt tops. I have four finished ready to press and get quilted and five others that I have yet to complete but are not far away.

Here is a pic of two that are ready to put together and send off to quilt. Sorry, really bad shots plus they need pressing!

This first one was a basic pattern from the book Material Obsession (first edition) really simple but showcases the prints from Amy Butler & Joel Dewberry.

This next one is using all Amy Butler's fabrics from her Midwest Modern range, just love this quilt, fresh and summery looking. Will be great once finished.

I will show you the end results once they have their binding.

I have just finished a kids quilt. I am making one each for Emily and Briana using a free download pattern from Valori Wells. I am using her Urban Flannels and I discovered that you can cut two quilts from the fabric requirements the pattern says for one.

Really gorgeous warm fluffy flannels that the kids are going to love. Here is the quilt pattern I am making, the top I have finished is at work so I can't show you.

Its actually a lot brighter and colourful in real life.

Other excitement for the week is I received my copy of the NEW Material Obsession Two book! yay, just love these books from Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke. Will definitely be sourcing this to stock in the shop.

Other fabrics I have ordered and are on the way some of Valori's new Del Hi fabric. We have ordered all the fabrics in one of the colour palettes - featured in the main quilt below:

To view all the Del Hi fabric range click HERE

Well, thats about it for now, will try to update more often I promise! :)

I've been sewing!

Hello everybody, yes its true! I have posted for so long that you would think I don't sew at all! Well I can tell you I have actually been really busy sewing but just been super slack and taking photos of anything.

I have completed around 3 quilt tops but I do have to however get them quilted. Two of them are out of Amy Butler/Joel Dewberry fabrics and the other out of a Jelly Roll. I have two other quilts on the go that are out of Jelly Rolls also.

I have enjoyed making some smaller items, one skirt using Amy Butler fabric from her Daisy Chain collection that I do have to finish sewing two buttons on. But I have really enjoyed lately making Gumdrop Pillows! This is one of Amy's patterns. The first one (a large one) I used her Canvas fabrics, the 2nd the smaller one, using a fabric from Anna Maria Horner, a canvas fabric also from her Drawing Room Story.

Here is my 2nd one, now these are very easy to make,they do however take a lot of stuffing. With this one I cut out the same piece of fabric for each panel, one joined they form a kaleidoscope type of pattern. I am really pleased with how this came out.

I had an idea that it couldn't be too hard to re-design the pattern to make a pin cushion, it did end up being a bit of a mission to get the dimensions right but it did work in the end. I am going to make this up as a pattern with maybe another variation so keep posted.

Here is my prototype using Heather Bailey fabrics:

Photo Quilt Class in now Finished!

Hi everyone. Last week our Photo Quilt Class finished with great success and the girls are all up to quilting & binding. Three of the girls have purchased more fabric to make a second and a few of these are also Christmas gifts, wow what a fantastic gift to give. We will re-run the class once again in February once the holiday season is over.

Here are some of the girls finished quilt tops:

This next one still has two borders to go on but check out how creative she was in changing the design of the fans and the travel photos are fantastic:

This next one is a copy of the original but look at the gorgeous photos:

Just love the colour combo of these Amy Butler fabrics together:

This colour combo is gorgeous also using the Kiwiana Pohutukawa fabric border:

Photo Quilt Class

We are now on to week 3 of Liz's Photo Quilt Class. All the quilts are coming along nicely and are all going to look so different, its great to see the colour combinations coming together.

A few pics of the girls busy at it:

 

 

Liz giving advice to Kim

 

And here the two quilts as examples:

 

 

I spent the evening editing some of the girls photos and printed their first lot of the photo fabric, they turned out fantastic. Next week I'll post pics of how their quilts are coming along and show you some of the different colour combinations, bye for now!

Some Cool New Fabrics on the way!

Wow, do we have some awesome new fabrics on the way! Some gorgeous NEW designs from some HOT designers. I just can't wait, I have seen so many quilts and projects I want to do already! Check these out!

HEATHER BAILEY - NEW Pop Garden

Check out her Blog HERE

ANNA MARIA HORNER - NEW Garden Party

Check out her blog HERE

VALORIE WELLS - NEW Olive Rose

Check out her blog HERE

and AMY BUTLER - NEW Midwest Modern

Check out  her website HERE

This NEW pattern just arrived in the shoppe, we will also look at doing this for an upcoming class:

Also just in, we have Amy's new book MIDWEST MODERN

We've also managed to source the awesome and my most favourite book at the moment MATERIAL OBSESSION, this book is a must have if you are interested in modern, bright and colourful quilts with charm.

Upcoming Sewing Classes

Just an update with out upcoming classes. Liz is busy working on an intermediate wall hanging quilt using some stunning colours and photographs built in. Before that she will be hosting a class for a quilted sewing machine cover which will run over 3 nights mid June. For more info email me at scrapbookstudio@xtra.co.nz and I will get a pic up soon, the sewing machine cover will also have applique which is a great technique to learn.

We have another beginners course starting on June 16th which will be on Monday evenings at 7pm running for around 7 weeks. Here is a pic of the quilt hanging in the shop, you will choose your own fabrics and colours, I will get pics up soon of the quilts made in our last course.

A great easy strip quilt to learn and a good size at around 56inch square finished. To book phone 09 5703200 or email Lisa at scrapbookstudio@xtra.co.nz

Books

Hi everybody,

Wow just got the coolest quilt book yesterday, am going to source it for the shoppe! I have been pouring over it all day and I can confidently say I'd like to make every quilt in it! From very basic to advanced even the simple quick quilts are lovely, the book is filled with contempory fabrics and gorgeous designs.

The two authors of this book are based in Sydney Australia, you can check out their blog HERE

Here it is: Material Obsession

Very inspiring book if you love bright and bold fabrics!

We just got in a special issue of CLOTH PAPER & SCISSORS magazine, its great here are the details:

Cloth Paper Scissors® Studios is a special issue dedicated to creating beautiful, inviting, unique, and functional studios for making collages, quilts, handmade books, and other types of fiber and mixed-media art.

our special Studios
issue features:

101 Organization Tips
An Extreme Studio Makeover for our Editor-in-Chief, Patricia Bolton
Budget Storage Solutions
10 Art Projects to Personalize your Space
plus: artists’ dream studios; a sneak peek into some of your favorite artists’ creative spaces; our staff’s favorite tools, gadgets, and storage systems; and more.

Upcoming Sewing Classes

Hi everybody, yes I know its been ages since I've been on here, super slack I know.

I just wanted to let you know that things have actually been happening in the sewing department. We are almost finished the 1st beginners Quilt course. Our quilts are coming along nicely, I just have to sew the outside borders on mine and the top will be completed. Its great to see all the different takes as the girls have all chosen quite different fabrics and colours. Once they are completed I'll get pics of all of them to share.

A couple of weekends ago I spent a couple of days making up samples for our Designer Pincushion class, this is coming up next week. We have one class in the evening and one class during the day. For more info call 09 5703200 for details. The class will be $20 complete. The square one is a slightly modified version of Heather Bailey's and the circle one I made up using the same design principals. They are super cute and very practical in size, great for long patchwork pins. I have also re-inforced the bottoms.

Awesome products keep streaming into the shop. Not only do we now have a great range of fabrics, but we are stocking Moda Marbles, alot of other small monochromatic prints you can use for plains and fillers plus a great range of NZ themed fabrics and Batiks. We also have several Moda Jelly Rolls in and will have some coming soon that will be cut with Australian and NZ themed fabrics. We have a good range of Notions, cottons, tools etc, books, patterns and kits.

An article has just come out in the NZ Up2scrap magazine where Rose Eckford has made a stunning handmade fabric/acetate album.  She has used some of our Amy Butler fabrics along with some Hambly overlays, supplied from Scrapbook Studio. Its a great feature and worth reading so grab a copy of the latest Up2scrap Magazine from your bookstore or local Scrapbooking shop, should be hitting the stands anyday. Here is a sample of Rose's Album.

Here is also a sample of our beginners quilt class and some other goodies in our store. Thats it for now, hope to have more exciting pics soon :)

Heaps of Cool Products!

Yes, I know its been ages and I've been very slack at keeping this updated. But things are looking so bright and colourful at the shop. Our range is growing very quickly every week, not only do we have an awesome big range of contemporary and retro fabrics but we are starting to build a good collection of kiddie prints and tradional fabrics too.

We have a great selection of tools from mats, cutters, rulers, cottons, needles, pins etc to more Arty products for Art Quilting like rub-on templates, Shiver Sticks and some gorgeous mixed media mags and books. We have a great range of fat quarters which are proving to be very popular, not just for the quilters but scrapbookers and cardmakers too.

We just got in a heap of cool Moda Jelly Rolls plus some in tins which come complete with a pattern. On top of this a big selection of books plus Fat Quarters co-ordinating stacks, containers of Batik Squares and heaps of patchwork patterns.

I just love this next Jelly Roll, I brought this book and wanted to do one of the patterns using this Spring Fling but unfortunately Fabrics are like Scrapbooking Paper, the fashion and products change very quickly and this one was no longer available! But alas, I hunted and hunted and managed to find one, the pattern required 4 so I decided to use a different colour story for the pattern and will make a smaller lap quilt with the Jelly Roll.

Wev'e got a great selection of New Zealand prints some on cotton and others on batiks, these I think will also be popular for the Papercrafters as there aren't alot of stunning NZ themed papers around. We are hoping to have a stall at the Calico Christmas Quilting Show later on in the year run by the Auckland Patchworkers & Quilters Association.

I'll post again over the next fews days with finally my pics of my new sewing area plus my latest creation 'My quilt top'.

The Skirt Finally Finished!

Well making this skirt was really a breeze with my new surger, but I didn't use it to its full advantage. I could have done all the gathering on it but was a bit scared to try incase the measuring didn't work out but will experiment more on my next gathering project. Olivia loved it so much she put it on straight away and it hadn't even been pressed! Being a novelty she is even wearing it again today.

I took the kids down to the beach yesterday, we went down to the plaza for ice-cream, brought a ball from the $2 shop and headed down to the beach for a play. Here is the skirt and some pics.

The kids have been having heaps of fun, Emily and Briana got quite burn't one day so have been keeping them indoors most of the time the last few days. Hope to take the Jet-ski out in the weekend.

My next sewing project, A Bag, I have taken two patterns away, one Rag Bag Kit and also one Amy Butler pattern, not sure when I'll get to reveal how these go but will update when I get started.