clothshopblog@blogspot.com

Friday, November 27, 2009

McKenna Ryan visits The Cloth Shop!

This week we had a special visit from a very popular quilt artist, McKenna Ryan! And wasn't she fabulous!! Three quilt shops in New Zealand got together to bring her out from Australia, where she was doing a series of talks, and we were lucky to have her in store for a brilliant talk on Tuesday night, and then on Wednesday for a class. We had as many students as space allowed, and it was a very busy and fun packed couple of days!
For those of you who aren't familiar with McKenna, she is well known for her beautiful appliqued blocks and quilts. Many of which we stock patterns for, right here in our shop. Don't you love McKenna's appliqued apron? What a great idea for some of those block patterns you've made up into a quilt and now have sitting idle!
On Tuesday night McKenna gave us all a run down on her background and told us about her beginnings in the quilting business, and how it all started. She also answered lots of questions.




She bought lots of quilts with her for show and tell, explaining where she got her inspiration from for each one. Slowly each one got hung on the walls in the workroom at The Cloth Shop, until the room was alive with colour from all the stunning animals and flowers and scenes.




McKenna was kind enough to sign quilts for anyone who wanted theirs signed, and she posed for lots of photos with her fans!



During the evening our guest of honour made 2 draws for prizes of some of her own range of fabrics, the lucky winners were.....

...... Jo from Taupo



..... and Vicki from Wellington
Well done ladies, we'll be waiting to see what project you've used these gorgeous fabrics in!



On Tuesday McKenna took a class and the project was a small 8"x8" block called Daisy Daze. You can see the finished block on the table below. Here are some of the students concentrating on their projects.




Pam



Lynette


Lynne



Pam

McKenna took over a sewing machine to give a demonstration on free-motion stitching which was very interesting. When she is making her quilts she often doesn't have time to put a great deal of detail into the applique and the quilting of them. She puts the quilt top, the batting and the backing together and appliques block by block. She was very impressed by some of the quilts that had been bought along, and made by New Zealand quilters.

At the end of the day we all had lots of fun, learned lots, saw new patterns and remembered favourite old ones.

Thanks Liz for keeping the jug boiling, and the mugs clean!














Friday, November 20, 2009

Girls having fun at The Cloth Shop


Katherine and Pam are not admiring the fabulous ironing board cover! :) They have been admiring Pam's finished landscape she bought in to show everyone. This was a class taken by Jacqui Karl recently. Don't you think she's made a lovely job of it?

Meet Heather. She was having so much fun at The Cloth Shop that when she went to pour her coffee, she poured it into the milk jug instead of her mug!!


A Cloth Shop girl hard at work!

Here's Aimee hard at work. She's been cutting, sorting and putting together kitsets for the Starlit pattern.

Lyn visits with her finished quilt



The quilt above is one of our tall poppies patterns called Oriental Circles. (38" x 38") The quilt is made up using 5 inch squares and iron on tearaway. Intrigued?
Lyn was, but she decided to push the pattern to the limits and turned it into this fabulous quilt!


We were all amazed to see such a large version of Oriental Circles! What a stunning quilt Lyn!

OH MY! more fairies!

Aren't these the sweetest wee fairies?


These cuties can be found on a new range of Michael Miller fabric just arrived at the shop.

Much too nice for Christmas only! These fairies would make the loviest quilts for your daughter, granddaughter, or be indulgent and make a quilt for yourself!



Tuesday, November 17, 2009

A very special Rooster arrives at The Cloth Shop!

Meet Red! In fact we have kitsets here so you can make your very own Romancing Red. Isn't he adorable?
Complete with bunch of flowers, and sashings, this wall hanging designed by Debi Hubbs is 23" x 27". Cost of kitset is $75.00.
Order yours today!

More Fairies visit The Cloth Shop!


We have been busy here at The Cloth Shop unpacking lots of yummy fabrics, and what makes them so exciting? There are lots and lots of the cutest fairies you will have ever seen! There are large panels, and small panels...



...there are cheeky fairies and caring fairies...




...little fairies, big fairies...


...there are flowers fairies all over the shop!


The Fuschia Fairy



...there are sparkly fairies, and there are fairies hiding in Christmas trees!





We have lots of coordinating fabrics and we will be happy to share some fairies with you!
Visit us today and pick out your very own fairies to take home!

The Christmas fairies have arrived at The Cloth Shop!!


And what may this be, I know you're asking?
Well, Meet Maggie! She is a very special Christmas fairy, and she likes to wear the trendiest head gear.

Jill Maas will be visiting The Cloth Shop to help anyone who would love to create their very own version of Maggie.
Classes will be on 5 & 6th Dec, 7 & 8 Dec and 12 & 13 Dec. Give us a ring or check out our web site for more information.
Wouldn't you like to have your very own Maggie at home?

Back soon :)

Friday, November 13, 2009

Some photos from Jacqui's class


The end of October Jacqui Karl visited The Cloth Shop to take a landscape class. Here are some of her students busy creating. Above Pam works on her landscape.


Above: Joan paints xpandapaint onto her fabric which she will then add the sand to. Then if you use a heat gun the paint expands and gives a puffed effect. Makes really cool rocks and gives your art extra texture.

Angela sprinkles sand on to her xpandapaint to create rocks. If anyone wants to try xpandapaint, we still have some pots here, send us an email and we can pop some in the post to you.
Back soon,
The Cloth Shop Girls


We've been out and about again!

It's amazing isn't it? To be able to create a stunning display of all our yummy patterns, completed quilts, bags and kitsets from this tangle! Katherine and Liz took The Cloth Shop up to Calico Christmas in Auckland, and the great upack took place, and then look what they created!










It was a fantastic weekend and it was really lovely to meet all of you who dropped in and said hello. Both Cloth Shop girls were kept busy answering questions.


Here is our Katherine with the talented Ansa Breytenbach and her quilt 'Gate's to Renaissance'. Her quilt won the prize sponsored by The Cloth Shop. Congratulations Ansa.


We won't show you the packing up photos!
More posts soon,
The Cloth Shop Girls
Blog Widget by LinkWithin