Tag Archives: fabric stash

Sunday Stash – Catchup

I may have been quiet here recently but not for lack of new fabric acquired, so what better way to resurface than with a Sunday Stash (linking up with Quilt Show Winner Molli Sparkles), and a sneak peek at what’s been keeping me busy (psst… it’s sparkly!)

Sunday Stash - Fat Quarters from Kate Quilts
Making more of an effort to buy citrus colours, the purple is from Collage which I’ve always wanted and the kitties were just too cute. All purchased from Kate Quilts at the Quilt Show.

Today I’m sharing the fabric I picked up at Australia’s First Modern Quilt Show. April was a whirl wind of helping to get everything organised for the show and not a lot in the way of sewing, except for the quilt sleeves on the back of my quilts.

Sunday Stash - Low Volume Fat Quarters from Kate Quilts
Adding to my mini stash of low volume from Kate Quilts, these have been great for the Aussie Modern Instabee

It was hectic but all worth it, we were so happy with how everything went and that so many people came to visit.

Australia's First Modern Quilt Show
The main hall of Australia’s First Modern Quilt show, see more photos over on Instagram #modernquiltshowau

We also had a wonderful range of stalls who I was more than happy to support, I just wish I has some more time to go shopping. I did get to go visit My Patch Fabrics in Milton after the show and picked up a few more low volume pieces to.

Sunday Stash - Screen Prints from Ettie + Marion
These beautiful fabrics were hand screen printed by Minevra who launched Ettie + Marion at the show. The octopii were a bit creepy at first but I think they’re more friendly in peach.

As soon as the show was over I was straight back onto another project, a costume that had to be ready by the end of May (eek!) for WAMED, the West Australian Middle Eastern Dance Festival. Lucky I enjoy hand sewing because this was pretty much all done by hand. The sequins are a fabric, I’m not quite crazy enough to sew all those on individually but it is a pain to sew through. The beads and crystals take a while but they’re sparkly and pretty to look at so not all bad.

Anubis Costume - original design by Virginia Keft-Kennedy
Anubis Costume – so shiny, yet tricky to capture in a photo!

The costume is an original design by Virginia Keft-Kennedy with each of the seven performers designing their own motifs. Being creative on a short deadline isn’t always fun but I’m happy with how all the motifs turned out.

Anubis Costume - Motif close up
Motif close up to show the colours of the Volcano crystals – my favourite

Sunday Stash – GJs Discount Fabrics

For Sunday Stash this week we have part two of my fabric buying adventures in Melbourne from a few weeks ago.

I’ve seen GJ’s Discount Fabrics mentioned by a few Aussie bloggers, in particular on Red Pepper Quilts and You Sew Girl as their local quilt store, click through to their posts to see some beautiful photos of the store and their fabulous fabric range.

The store is an easy tram trip from the CBD out north to East Brunswick, it should take about 20 minutes, unless your tram gets stuck behind another tram that breaks down, in which case it’s about 15 minutes on a tram and 20 minutes to walk the remaining 5 blocks… ask me how I know!

I must have been seeing spots because at first I picked up these dotty fabrics, the two on the left were pre-cut fat quarters, the third from left is a bright fluro dot on a linen background that unfortunately doesn’t photograph well but trust me it’s really bright. On the right, I believe the white on teal is a birch organic cotton.

Polka dot fabric in blues and oranges

Spots and dots in blues and oranges.

Not only do they have a great range of quilting cottons, including a wall of Kona cottons and a tonne of basics like spots and stripes, there’s a whole other floor of dance & costume fabrics. Lycra and sequins and glitter.. oh my! I was very disciplined however and went back downstairs without anything shiny.

Right by the cutting counter I spied some sneaky raccoons looking out at me, I’ve had my eye on those raccoons for some time so grabbed half a meter each of that and a complementary Humming Bird print. These are destined for a purse/wallet/bag type thing (when I finally decide which one).

Tula Pink Acacia Fabrics - Racoon & Humming Bird

From Tula Pink’s Acacia range – Humming Bird in Dusk, Raccoon in Blueberry.

The sooner I get a few more WIPs out of the way, the sooner I get the play with these gorgeous additions to my stash. Linking up to Sunday Stash with Molli Sparkles so I can go see what everyone else is playing with.

Sunday Stash with Molli Sparkles

Sunday Stash – Amitie Textiles

Happy New Year everyone!

Considering the rapid intake of fabric over the holidays, all technically purchased or received in 2013,  you’d think I was partaking in the Fabriholics Anonymous fabric fast of 2014 and doing some last minute stashing. I’m not, at least, not intentionally, though there is always the vague intent to use what I have and only buy what I need for a particular project.

My latest additions have come to me in different forms:

  • a particular line & coordinates I purchased for myself “for Christmas” that I’ve been holding out on for months
  • fabric received as a Christmas gift
  • fabric purchased while visiting specific stores while on holiday (different state, doesn’t count right?)
  • and a few on-a-whim scrap packs purchased via an Instagram sale from the lovely Ms Poppleton (she has great taste, these scraps are so yummy!).

Today I’m going to share some of my holiday purchases from an amazing store called Amitie Textiles. We popped down to Melbourne for a few days to ring in the New Year and as a bit of a significant birthday present, so of course I found a few fabric stores highly recommended by fellow bloggers to visit, and Amitie was at the top of my list.

It’s a fairly quick and easy train ride from the city and a short walk from the station, so totally worth the trip. They have a gorgeous store stocking so many beautiful fabrics, patterns and notions but by far my favourite was the range of Liberty prints in store. I could have stayed there just running my hands over the fabric for hours. It was a tough choice, but I couldn’t go past some of the new season prints…

Liberty Prints from Amitie Textiles

Liberty Art Fabrics Tana Lawn, L-R: Juno’s Garden C, Eve C, Willow D

Liberty Fabrics from Amitie Textiles

Liberty Art Fabrics Tana Lawn, L-R: Older print not sure**, Isabel Susan A, Heidi Maria A

**I know that the print on the left above is not from the new collection, and I haven’t had any luck finding it yet, if you know what it is I’d love to know!

I picked up the pattern for the Gypsy Wife quilt by Jen Kingwell after seeing the real live quilt in store, so had to grab a couple handfuls of fat sixteenths to start me along on my scrappy way.

Amitie Textiles - Fat Sixteenths

Top Row: 4 Liberty print fat sixteenths | Bottom Row: 10 randomly picked fat sixteenths

I can’t wait to show you some of my other recent stash additions, but it’s all a little too much for one post so I’ll be linking up with Molli Sparkles for Sunday Stash over the next few weeks.

Sunday Stash with Molli Sparkles

Sydney Quilt & Craft Fair 2013 – Part 2: The Loot

If you don’t know about the Sydney Craft & Quilt Fair, go check out my previous post, where I share how my interest and experience has changed over the last 4 years.

On top of the gorgeous quilts and great workshops & seminars, there are aisles and aisles and aisles of stalls selling just about everything for sewing, quilting, knitting & crochet, card marking, scrapbooking, beading and other crafty things, you’ll also find a lot of amazing gadgets and products you never knew existed.

Before heading to the show I put together a list of the things I was looking for and did a bit of research on some options before hand so that I was prepared. Included on the list were:

  • A good desk lamp for my new sewing area
  • Creative Grids 18 degree wedge & 60 degree triangle rulers, recommended in Sarah Fielke’s Craftsy class
  • A supreme slider & new quilting gloves
  • Some perle 8 cotton in pretty colours
  • Some mini scissors & another thimble since I’ve lost mine somewhere…

It was a great show and very successful for me, I found almost everything I was after and of course, a few things not on the list as well. I didn’t manage to find the rulers, but did find a vendor and have since bought them online.

On to the loot! How pretty are these Perle 8 Cottons?

Perle Cotton

Perle Cottons by Valdani (top row) and Presencia (bottom row).

I got a great deal on the lamp from the Daylight Man stand, it’s perfect for my new sewing space (more on that soon). It’s a Daylight Slimline Table Lamp which clamps on to the back of my table and has a flexible arm so I can get it wherever I need it. It uses an energy efficient daylight bulb which is great for colour matching, easier on the eyes than normal lights and the bulb will last for ages. I love it so far and the difference in colour between the lamp and other lights is amazing.

I may have also found some fabric I just had to have from Material Obsession – an Alexander Henry print, Atzlen, from the same line as my first quilt back which I’ll be using to back the brother of my quilt.

Alexander Henry - Atzlen & Fiesta Firecracker

Alexander Henry fabrics – Fiesta Firecracker as my quilt back (bottom) and Atzlen (top) for the back of another quilt to come.

Another favourite vendor is Kelani Fabric, every year they have amazing fabrics and patterns, this time I picked up some Echino bicycles, I’ve already used a piece of the green in a cushion back. It’s always lovely to chat to Saffron Craig at her stall and I can never resist her fabrics.

Echino Nico CyclingSaffron Craig - Valley View

Left: Echino Nico Cycling in Chocolate, Fuscia and Green. Right: Valley View by Saffron Craig

I got a couple little presents for friends and decided to get a decent mini iron & rest. I have a cheap mini iron which is super handy, but it has a collapsing handle which is really annoying and it doesn’t get all that hot, but I know I’ll use it so figure it’s worth getting a decent one, especially since there won’t really be room for a full ironing board & big iron where I’ll be sewing from now on.

By far my favourite not-on-the-list finds was some awesome washi tape.

Washi Tape

Super cute washi tape!

That’s it for another year of the Quilt & Craft Show. Maybe, just maybe, I might try to enter a quilt in next years show, and can continue to discover new aspects of the show.