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Do You Wanna Be A Cowboy?

May 16, 2010 in fabric, giveaways by Andrea | 211 comments

Comments are now closed for this, while I pick 2 lucky winners out of the virtual hat!

I ordered some of this to make PJs for my friend, thinking it was flannel but it’s not (it is available in flannel, I just misread the etsy description). It’s called Wanna Be A Cowboy, designed by Samantha Walker for Riley Blake. I am giving away 2 fat quarters to 2 lucky winners as part of the Giveaway. There could be other goodies too!

rileyblakecowboy
Please make sure to add your contact information as part of your comments, and good luck.

Update: you can get this fabric in flannel, in case you don’t win this giveaway (or just need this in flannel!) My favourite supplier for flannel is Sara, aka the flannel queen. The flannel is really good quality, shipping is reasonable, and quick.

I'm on Cloud 9

September 25, 2009 in fabric by Andrea | 4 comments

I have been following the blog of Michelle Engel Bencsko since about March of this year, when I discovered Cicada Studios and some of her amazing fabrics. At that time she was blogging about her up and coming line of organic fabrics, called appropriately Cloud9, because that’s where you go when you see them, and I have been following her progress with this collection all through the summer. Both the 100% cotton that she prints on, and the inks she uses are environmentally friendly (you can read more about that here).

I am a little envious of her, and other fabric designers like her, because 12 years ago when I started to study fabric design and printing at OCAD, I was bothered by the use of toxic inks in the printing process, but back then there really wasn’t much available in the way of environmentally friendly inks, and organic fabrics tended to resemble burlap, which didn’t make printing on them very easy! Part of me is ready to set up my own screen printing studio in the basement and get on down to turning out yardage of my own, but it’s way easier (and less messy) with 3 kids to just buy the fabric that others are printing.

The fabric finally hit the stores last week, and my order arrived on Friday. The fabric is even more beautiful in real life, and so very soft, it’s absolutely perfect for baby items.

I showed pictures of it to my friend, and she ordered a cushion to be made immediately. Here it is, and there’s another one available in my etsy store.

I hope it gets snapped up quickly, because I adore this fabric, and want to buy more! Next project, a baby quilt using pieces of the entire collection.

Fabric Giveaways (shhh, keep it between you and me!)

September 10, 2009 in fabric by Andrea | No comments

Angela at Raggedy Owl spent a weekend sewing in Vermont with two fabulous fabric designers, Heather Ross and Denyse Schmidt. To celebrate she is giving away a Heather Ross autograph along with a thirty piece, 5-inch square charm pack from her own collection. Her collection includes all those Heather Ross fabrics that are so difficult to get hold of now because they are out of print/rare and highly priced so I’m hoping to score some. Head on over to see how you can win (or perhaps I should have kept this a secret!)

trueupheader-600 Over at TrueUp you have a chance to win more divine fabric. I am a huge fan of Michelle Bencsko’s designs and she has 2 collections just hitting the stores. The colours and patterns of Shade Garden are delightful, and My Happy Garden is the debut line for her new organic fabric manufacturing company, Cloud 9 Fabrics. Back when I was at the OCAD, studying surface design, I loved fabric printing, but baulked at how toxic the printing inks were (and we just washed them down the drain!) At that time there were no earth friendly alternatives, so I am so excited that Michelle and her partner have produced this beautiful collection. I have plans to make baby quilts with it, as soon as I can get my hands on some.) Good luck with your entries.

Log Cabin

July 30, 2009 in fabric, sewing by Andrea | 1 comment

I had an entire day to myself last Friday, so decided to take a class at the workroom.

I met the lovely Karyn, and her dog Maisy, and spent 3 hours immersed in learning a new technique; how to make a log cabin quilt block. Here’s the start of mine:

IMG_0273_1

Besides spending my free time learning something new, I discovered how great it is to be with other sewers. I have sewn on and off for over 30 years, but a lot of that time is on my own. I glean bits of information from blogs, online tutorials, and books, but you can’t beat being having a teacher who can show you in 2 minutes the best way of using a rotary cutter. Especially if your teacher is also a lefty like me, thanks Johanna!

The class is the first in a series of “a la carte” classes, where you can pick and choose which quilt blocks you would like to learn how to make. You can see more images of the quilt blocks here.
In the future they have plans for a class which will teach you how to finish and bind your quilt, once you have completed all those blocks.

In addition to the classes, The Workroom has an amazing collection of fabrics, some of which I have seen on line and was excited to see in real life (I know, I should get out more!). In addition you can pay an hourly rate to use a sewing machine or serger there, and Karyn is always around to help.

If you get a chance, go sign up for a class there, who knows, we might bump into each other!

Got Fabric 'Eh!

July 21, 2009 in fabric by Andrea | No comments

This is my first post, which is one of a (small) series about Canadian online stockists of fabric!
For a few years now I have been browsing enviously at online fabric stores in the USA, coveting all those sumptious fabrics but resisting (most) purchases because of the prohibitively expensive shipping rates to Canada. Recently I have discovered a few online stores who operate out of Toronto, and I can now get my mitts on Lizzy House, Sandi Henderson, Amy Butler to name a few.

My favourite online store is pink panda fabrics. The owner, Cheryl, started selling fabrics on etsy, and she opened her online store in June of this year. She is always helpful, gets back to me really quickly, and even includes a free fat quarter with every fabric order. I am in the process of making some buttercup bags, using fat quarters from Sandi Henderson’s Farmer’s Market, I hope to have pictures posted by the end of the week.