Shopping in St. John's

While in St. John's last week, I visited Fiber Lilly, Sew Many Stitches, Sewing World, Cast On Cast Off (recently moved to Duckworth Street) and Some Good Market. Of course, I made a few purchases! Here's a few of them:

These colours caught my eye

The blues might be used in my next Snow men hand embroidery piece.

Oriental panel has no project assigned to it yet!

The cup is mine. I thought the owl looked cute sitting in it.

I will use some of this yarn in my Fibre Lace Scarves and other projects.

More mittens for Gale!

Short and Sweet!

Today I have a couple of blogs for you to check:

• The Raspberry Rabbit - interesting eye candy
• Sew Fresh Quilts -  Blog Hop for the 85th Anniversary of Jaftex - which is the parent company for Blank Quilting, Studio Fabrics, and Henry Glass Fabrics. Lots of interesting things to see.
• Mark Lipnski's Blog - a fun blog

While my sister was home this summer, I gave her several bags of fabric. Among the fat quarters, half lengths and scraps, she found the perfect pieces to make this pincushion. She said it is 6" high and 11" across. Not one that she would misplace easily!

Fiber Lilly - Fabrics

Fiber Lilly had their first year anniversary this summer. I dropped by a couple of days ago to check things out as I've been gone since mid June. Nine new shelves of quilting fabric have been added! Apparently lots more fabric is on the way.

I'm not affiliated in any way with this store. However, I do like to promote and shop locally. If you are in town, please check them out. They do have lots of other supplies including yarns, notions and sewing machines.

Enjoy!

Christmas and winter

Christmas

Reds!

Summer colours. Stunning!

Lots of fat quarters!

Christmas organza to the left!

So soft for a cuddle quilt.

The Advent Calendar is now finished. When I was there it wasn't quite done.
This is a very easy one to do and looks wonderful. I saw it on face book.

Recent Fabric Purchase

My latest fabric purchase was at Atlantic Fabrics in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. The multi coloured piece is batik. I think it will make a couple of very nice Pisci Fantasticus.

The other pieces just caught my eye. I'm thinking mug rugs at the moment but who knows what they will be used in. The white with black lines reminds me of sashiko stitching.

Canadian National Fabric - online shop

Today I'm presenting the Canadian National Fabric online fabric store based in the Caledon, Ontario area.This company offers a flat rate $5 shipping across Canada and free shipping if you spend over $50. They also offer flat rate shipping to the U.S. and other countries internationally. Not only that, check out their "Cash for Stash" Points Reward Program for all customers, where your purchases get you points for discounts towards future purchases.

What else?  Free Samples!!! Yes!  Quote: 

•  So for all you “touchy feely” types out there, we will be more than happy to mail you out a sample of whatever fabric you want! Free of charge of course. We will try to give you a generous sized sample showcasing all the colors in that fabric. Sample sizes may vary.  

What more could you want! Check out the button on top labeled Info.

By the way, I'm not associated with this company in any way. I just wanted to let you know it's out there. I haven't ordered from there either but I think it's worth having a look at their site.
Enjoy!!

Quilters Quest

Quilters Quest is a fairly new shop located in Woodridge, IL. Even though it is listed in this summer's shop hop, I didn't realize it was en route to our Chicago destination each day. It was quite by accident that I discovered this. It is adjacent to a very large tool shop - how convenient is that! The shop also has a husband lounge area with a large screen TV (for those men not interested in tools).

As I opened the door to this wonderful quilt store, I was greeted by the owner. I introduced myself, told her about my blog. She gave me permission to take as many photos as I wanted, including all the wonderful quilts hanging all around the walls and shelves.

There was a Moda sale so lots of quilters were taking advantage of this event. I took my time looking around at all the wonderful fabrics, notions, threads and patterns (the tool shop was next door so I had lots of time)!!

Have a look at the shop:

Cord Wraps

My latest textile creations are Cord Wraps. I use scraps of fabric in their construction. The closure is coloured velcro. I like matching the velcro to the fabric. Most shops just carry the standard black, white and sometimes taupe but I managed to find coloured velcro on my travels.

These Cord Wraps are great for organizing cords from irons, hair dryers, small appliances, cell phones, and tablets. The list is endless. Think about all the cords visible on your kitchen counter or on your desk that would benefit from Cord Wraps. Organize your life!

In keeping with the smaller items I make, they are light weight and can be easily mailed in an envelope. Plus they make great little gifts.

 Have a look!

Made using the embroidery machine and sewing machine.

Robert's Sewing Center: A Quilter's Paradise

 

Robert's Sewing Center was next on my 'shop hop' following Prairie Shop Quilts in Batavia and it happens to be close to the RV Park. What a place! At first glance, you find yourself surrounded by sewing and embroidery machines and accessories. Walking a little further to the right and past the sales desk, is a whole other world of fabrics, books, patterns, accessories / tools and quilts. Two large classrooms are adjacent to the over 7000 bolts of cotton fabrics which line the walls and center aisle! I didn't know which way to turn. Thankfully, my husband met Robert and they had a lengthy conversation about sewing and embroidery machines. In fact, I was finished my exploring and purchasing before they were.

I was permitted to take photos as long as I didn't photograph the quilts on display. The sales staff were very friendly and helpful. I did find a rather large selection of batiks at the back of the store.

There is also an upstairs which looks down on the first floor. Robert has a collection of commercial as well as antique machines for sale. All along the upper wall are beautiful quilts. The patterns are available for purchase.

There are quite a few photos so I think I will show them in a couple of posts. Tomorrow there will be some views from the balcony. Please check out the shop's web site for more photos and lots more!

Enjoy!

Hurricane Leslie & Stuff !!

This had been quite a week here in the St. John's area. Hurricane Leslie, with a diameter of approximately 800 miles, reached our shores on Tuesday morning. HERE is an interesting video someone posted - it takes a tour of down town St. John's and up to Signal Hill during the storm. Actually, you get a brief glimpse of the colourful row houses in the older part of the city. Most visitors are usually amazed at the vivid colours and tend to look for art and/or souvenirs depicting these houses. Here's several of my card sets that can be found at the Devon House Shop.

We were very fortunate on our street as we only lost the power for about an hour. Others, throughout the city, weren't as lucky. I spent the day in my studio sewing. Since the storm, we have had very warm, sunny weather, which has been quite enjoyable. However, it certainly doesn't put me in the mood to be creative! I have to get busy. Christmas is only a couple of months away and there is so much to do.

Maybe these links will help the creative juices kick in:

We'll start off with a Handmade Fabric Bauble tutorial HERE and another fabric ornament HERE.
Here's a Christmas Stitchery and a Christmas Present Quilt
12 Gifts of Christmas Tutorials might have just the perfect gift
This Christmas Door Stop is a nice idea. Make one for spring, summer and fall too - just change the fabric and the appliqué designs.
Some Knitting Gifts for those evenings when you want to be busy but not doing sewing stuff.

To see links to other Christmas freebies on my blog go HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.

Enjoy!

Ottawa Street, Hamilton

Yesterday, I went to Hamilton, Ontario, to visit relatives. While there, I took a detour to Ottawa Street (scroll down), the textile and fabric district. Unfortunately, been Sunday, most of the shops were closed. I thought that strange as the malls and big box stores were all opened. At Fabricland, I was told that the local fabric shops were family owned and as a result kept Sunday as a family day. Here are a few photos I took of the area.

Had a fabulous brunch at this diner!