Happy Christmas from The Crafty Quilter

Well Christmas is nearly here and it has certainly felt very seasonal this year with all the snow and frost this past week. The shop is open until 4pm tomorrow on Christmas Eve for anyone wishing to venture out for any last minute quilting supplies to last them over the holiday period. I have been busy quilting in the shop while it has been cold, which has been lovely!
The shop is closed on Christmas Day and will reopen at 10am on Tuesday 29 December. The opening hours for that week will be 10am till 5pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I am closed again on New Year’s Day before returning to normality on Saturday 2 January 2010 and the usual opening hours.
The Annual Sale starts in the shop at 10am on Tuesday 29 December with many fabrics at £4.00 a metre and other items will be available at reduced prices.  The Christmas shop starts its half price sale the same day and don’t forget you can get a nice meal in Hayden’s restaurant in the complex. 
My sale will start online on the website on 2 January for those of you unable to get to the shop. though fabrics at £4.00 a metre is quite good incentive to pay it a  visit …….....

The other big news is that I am expanding into the unit next door which will become a classroom for the classes I will be starting in 2010. A class list will be available shortly.

It has been an amazing year for me both personally and professionally in the business and I just wanted to thank those who have been so supportive of me, namely my parents and especially Steve without whom none of this would have been possible.

Lovely Flowers

The first few fabrics from this new collection from Sevenberry fabrics in Japan have been so well received that I have stocked some more designs from the collection.

I now have a tiny polka dot, pinstripe, gingham check as well as a pretty floral co-ordinate. The fabrics are up on the website and are priced at £9.60  a metre

     

The Dinosaur panel print from I Dig Dinos is due back in stock again very shortly and the next exciting collection to arrive should be Twleve Moons from Robert Kaufman.

The last few weeks have been incredibly busy in the shop but I have still tried to find a bit of time to work on the web pages for the two challenges from this year as well as the next block of the month and hope to have more details of these ready soon.

More New Fabrics

Where to start? I managed to get up to date and upload nearly all the fabrics that have arrived in stock in the last month on the website yesterday.

Firstly there is a collection called Ceylon from Hoffman. This is an antique style collection and some of the prints look like old-style crewelwork embroideries.

Next there is a fantastic dinosaur collection from Timeless Treasures called I Dig Dinos. This collection has been really popular since it arrived in stock a month ago, so much so that the panel print I bought has sold out already. But don’t panic, it will be back in stock in a few weeks. The dinosaurs are really cute and friendly.

The next collections are also from Timeless Treasures; a great texture wood effect collection called Prism and an oriental collection with a wonderful centre panel.

Lastly, are some more fabrics that Steve picked at the Robert Kaufman warehouse on Monday, the most exciting of which are some fabrics from Sevenberry which have great design possibilities. I have a feeling they are going to fly off the shelf in the shop

             

My next job is to create the web pages for this year’s Quiltette Challenge and Little Block Challenge.

New Christmas Stocking

I have just uploaded a new smaller Christmas stocking panel and kit to the website. It is from the Grandma’s Gingerbread collection. Also back in stock is the gingerbread man toss fabric….I sold out of it before as the farm shop in the complex finished the first bolt to make a tablecloth for all the yummy Christmas food they now have in stock.

Also new on the site are some titanium machine needles from Superior Threads. As usual Superior have done their homework and come up with a great needle. I have a #90 and #80 in stock.

 
I have some fantastic other new fabrics to get up on the website too

Christmas at the Olde Watermill

Christmas has come early to the The Olde Watermill. These lovely festive garlands were put up today.

So everything is looking quite Christmassy in the shop as I have my advent calendars in stock now too.

I have three advent calendars for sale, available as panels, kits or completed calendars.

 

As well as an Christmas stocking and a toy sack

 

These will all be on the website in the next few days.

The Christmas shop has also just opened in the shopping village which looks fantastic

……and don’t forget you can make a day of your visit by eating in Hayden’s Restaurant, Sophie’s Tearoom or the coffee shop in Streets Farm Shop.

Oriental Panel Quilt

This is the quilt I made with the fabrics from the Imperial Collection from Robert Kaufman. Its finished size is 54” by 73.

As I said in the previous posting, I have two colourways of the fabrics in stock but the kits sold so well at the Scottish Quilt Championships last week that I had to go and pick up more fabrics last week and I decided to stock the third colourway in the collection; the pink/blue colourway. This colour will be in stock shortly. The kit for the other colours; blue/brown and grey/gold is already on the website and is priced at £37.25.

I also picked up a selection of colours from the Marbleous collection last week and will get these on the site shortly, along with a few other fun prints I found.

New Fabrics……Part Two

I have now uploaded the remaining fabrics that were delivered last month before the Festival of Quilts.

Firstly, there is a great Japanese collection from Robert Kaufman, The Imperial Collection. This features a fantastic full fabric width print with some great co-ordinates. I have made one of my wall hanging quilts using this full width fabric and will upload a picture of this shortly, but in the meantime here is a picture of the print in question.

The second new collection on the website is Nuance by Paula Nadelstern for Benartex. This collection features Paula’s fantastic kaleidoscopes and coordinating designs. There is a panel print again, similar to the mega marble print from the Opulence collection and a great texture print called Sunstone.

Advent calendars prints should be arriving in the shop any day now and the next delivery of fabrics should be from Timeless Treasures next month.

New Fabrics…..Part One

I have just uploaded some of the new fabrics that were delivered last month.

Firstly, as this year’s Quiltette Challenge has just ended the fabrics are now available to buy separately. The fabrics were from the Island Sanctuary collection from Robert Kaufman.

The challenge has resulted in some wonderful entries as usual and they will be judged shortly.

The second collection new on the site is Elementals, also from Kaufman. These fabrics are a wonderful striped batik collection by Artisan Batiks. As usual I have a great idea for a simple quilt using the stripes to make it look more clever than it is!

I have two more collections to upload so watch his space!

Ferret’s New Book

I have just taken delivery of Ferret’s new book, Ferreting Around – A Contemporary Sampler Quilt.

I’m trying to have a quick read in between serving customers and it is very good. There are 96 pages with colour pictures and diagrams and excellent instructions. I think it will prove to be a great book for new quilters anxious to learn many of the techniques in quilting.

The price is £15.99 and each copy I have in stock has been signed by Ferret herself.

Latest on the Shop

Its been a busy few days. The flooring finally arrived Friday lunchtime and I was at last able to start putting the fabrics on the shelves at 2pm that afternoon.

Steve had put the slatwall on the walls that morning and everything was starting to take shape.

We finished at 8pm that night…all of us very tired and hungry. Thomas had been very patient, bless him.

Anyway this is how the shop now looks

It was great to open at last on Saturday morning and a big thank you to everyone who turned up on Saturday and the last couple of days.

Steve worked in the shop today and even managed to sell a quilt for me!

Now back to reality and get the latest fabrics photographed and on the website which is in need of an update…..must make another to do list !

Day 2

We didn’t seem to achieve much today but Steve did manage to put my new cutting table and counter together.

As you can see we needed more flooring and it was supposed to be delivered today but never came so an afternoon was wasted while we waited for it. Most frustrating.

Tomorrow will be more productive…..it has to be !

Day One of the Transformation

Steve set off early this morning to start laying the flooring and what a fantastic job he has done so far. He even had time to put some of the shelving up!

I have put a couple of the entries for this year’s Quiltette Challenge in the front windows and they look wonderful hanging there, makes it look like a quilt shop already!

More pics tomorrow…….

From this to a Quilt Shop….

We now have 3 days to turn this empty space into a fantastic quilt shop!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve started work first thing this morning laying the flooring and Thomas came home a day early to help out. He is busy sorting out all the thread cabinets for me before helping me colour code all the bolts of fabric.

The shop front sign was done on Monday so its all official now!

I’ll post further photos of the transformation over the next few days

New Facebook Page

As well as being able to follow me on twitter and receive short updates, I now have a facebook page for you to keep up to date with all the goings on in the shop. You need to be a member of facebook but once you are there you can search for Crafty Quilter and become a friend.

I’ve been busy getting ready for the Festival of Quilts next week and will have lots of new fabrics for you all to see. Do come and say hello if you are going to the show.

Shop Pics

Here are a some pics of the shop for you all to see. They are "before" shots as I don't get access to start converting it to a quilt shop until the week before it opens. Its currently being used as a pottern painting studio.

This is the front of the shop. It has a lovely little bay window. I'm just waiting to meet the sign writer so I can get the shop name done above the shop front.

The rest of the photos are of the inside of the shop from each corner. It has some nice semi-circular windows on one side which will let in natural light which is sooo essential for choosing fabrics and as you can see its a good sized shop.

Steve and I went over during the week to do a proper measure up so we can start planning where to put everything and we are also in the process of buying all the right fixtures and fittings. We found a fantastic counter/cutting table last week and that is being delivered in a few days.

Its all very exciting.............

The News is out......

And my exciting news?.............. I'm opening at shop!

Its at a wonderful venue halfway between Luton and Bedford just off the A6. The Olde Watermill is a converted watermill that also has a Dickensian shopping village, garden centre and restaurant and is a great place for a day out. There's free parking too so its ideal for quilters!

The shop will open on Saturday 29th August and is open 7 days a week. Visit my booth at the Festival of Quilts next month to receive more details.

I'll be posting pictures as soon as I take possession so you can watch the shop have it makeover so watch this space!

Exciting Times

I'm soooo excited.......big news is on the horizon.......

Watch this space for more details

New Fabrics

I have just uploaded the fabrics I picked up from Robert Kaufman yesterday at their Open House. Steve and I have a great day picking fabrics off the shelves, had some nice food and managed to avoid getting stuck on the M25.

I picked up some great background landscape prints like this treescape print which are available at £9.60 a metre.

Steve was allowed to pick some fabrics of his own ;-) so there is now a new section on the website called "Steve's Top Picks" where his choices will be featured. It will be an eclectic mix of fabrics and prices. His first choices include a wonderful red music fabric, a tropical bird scene and this cute gingerbread man panel.

I also ordered some great oriental prints which feature a full width print.....so you know a wall hanging kit will be available and also some fantastic batik stripes which will look great in a rail fence pattern. These should be delivered before the Festival of Quilts in August, which is coming up fast!

Willow Fabrics

The Willow fabrics by McKenna Ryan are now up on the website. These lovely gentle fabrics are so useful as they are multi-toned which means you can create different colour results by using different parts of the fabrics. They are priced at £11.50 a metre and will also be featured in the new products section of the next issue of Fabrications magazine.

I will be working on uploading the new King Tut colours next. Reluctantly, I have had to increase the price of these of £5.25 a reel. This is the first price increase since I started stocking these threads which must be almost 5 years ago? and is still one of, if not the best, prices in the country. Postage remains at a flat rate of £2.25 per order for UK customers.

Those of you following my updates on twitter will be aware that I made a quick quilt using the wavy stripe from the Opulence collection on Saturday night. Pics and a free pattern for you to download will be available shortly.

Twitter

I've just signed up to twitter so if you want to follow me and receive short news updates on whats new at The Crafty Quilter then visit

http://www.twitter.com/crafty_quilter

Ok back to photographing the Willow fabrics!

Down to Business....

Its been quite a hectic few weeks......what with getting ready for Quilts UK in Malvern, working at the show itself and then babysitting my nephews for a week......it will be nice to get down to some home-based work for a bit!

I am hoping to catch up all on the website stuff that needs to be uploaded:

• the Willow collection from McKenna Ryan has been selling well at the last couple of shows. The fabrics will be featured in the next issue of Fabrications
• the 21 new King Tut threads
• a new wall hanging kit for the Flower Mart collection which proved popular at Quilts UK

Quilts UK at Malvern was as busy as ever, despite the changeable weather. The trade show in America, Quilt Market, was held over the same weekend in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvannia so I will be ordering new fabrics that were released at the show shortly.

I'm working on the next block of the month program just now which will be ready for the Festival of Quilts at the NEC in Birmingham in August. I'm very excited about it....the pattern will make a great quilt!

New King Tuts

I am excited to let you know that I have just taken delivery of 21 new King Tut colours, in addition to the four new colours that were released about 18 months ago.

This is a picture of the colours which as you can see are quite muted but fill a lot of gaps in the existing range.

I'm not sure if I will have time to get them up on the website before Quilts UK in Malvern in 10 days time......but they will be available for sale at the show.

The Willow collection by McKenna Ryan has also arrived in stock now.

Heavenly Hollyhocks!

After a busy couple of weeks I have now managed to upload these fabrics to the website. There are two colourways; coral and mauve.

I have also made a couple of quick quilts using fabrics from the collection. The first makes use of the full fabric width design and is VERY quick and simple to make.

The second quilt is the same pattern as the Spring Hill wall hanging. The large-scale hollyhock print lends itself to being used in the large piece that this quilt demands.

I hope these project ideas inspire you.

Coming soon..............Willow designed by McKenna Ryan for Hoffman.

Heavenly Hollyhocks!

This is a really heavenly new collection from Northcott and I'm really excited about it.......and its just arrived in stock! The main fabric is a full width pattern featuring tall hollyhocks.

and there are some great co-ordinating fabrics too. I can't wait to create some quilt patterns for you to download.

I should get the fabrics up on the website in a couple of weeks after I have been to Llangollen in Wales for the traders' day at Quiltfest and the Quilt Festival in Edinburgh the weekend after.

If you are going to either show you will get to see the fabrics first hand!

More New Fabrics

Well I almost managed to get the remaining new fabrics uploaded before getting Thomas from school but they are up on the site now; some fun bug fabrics, a couple of useful stripes and the cutest panda panel strips.

But oops...I got the price wrong on the Spring Hill wall hanging kit - it should have been £8.50 not £7.75 as I previously posted.

Hopefully, the next delivery will include Willow designed by McKenna Ryan for Hoffman fabrics and this should be arriving in the next month or so.

Spring Hill Pattern

Wow I am doing well.....I have just uploaded the free Spring Hill pattern that you can download and have also put the kits for sale in the online store. These are priced at £7.75. This project is a great simple quilt that is quick to make so if you know someone who is new to the world of quilting or want to make something at short notice for a friend then this is the quilt for you!

Now, I might just have time to get a handful of other fabrics online if I'm quick so.........ttfn!

Spring Hill Collection

I have just uploaded the fabrics that arrived last week. They were from the Spring Hill collection from Robert Kaufman and feature a fantastic poppy print. The fabric here is from the vintage colourway. The other colours available are the traditional red poppy

and the third colour way is called natural. There are three co-ordinating prints too. I have made a quick wall hanging in this natural colour and will be uploading a free pattern to make it in the next day or so. It was very quick and simple to make and I will also be putting some kits together.