Perfect Summer Hats and the Very Best of People

Last weekend was the final workshop in my Helen St studio.  From now on, all my own scheduled classes will be held upstairs at GJ's in East Brunswick, and I'll be teaching about the traps in places like Addicted to Fabric in Canberra, Bargain Box in Mornington and Kimono House in the city.

 

 

I love hat workshops - so much less complicated than a bag, so satisfying to see all the finished hats being worn and enjoyed at the end of the day. 

 

Hats are something I know an awful lot about (I have non-crafty friends who still think that I make hats for a living, because that's what I did for a very long time... and for some reason, they never quite cottoned on to the sewing pattern idea).  I know lots of tips to make handmade hats look super sharp and snappy, and lots of time-saving tricks.  My hat patterns are the result of a much-tweaked and much-used pattern, that I have personally used to make thousands of hats. 

 

It's great to see beautiful fabrics coming into the classroom...

 

 

...and leaving at the end of the day as beautiful hat (photographed here in Holly-Hobby obscured profile style to ensure anonymity). 

 

 

What made this one extra-special is that the maker outed herself at the beginning of the class, as a not-very-confident newbie sewing gal.  I think this newbie sewing gal did an amazing job.... as did everyone else in the group.

I have a weekday "Perfect Summer Hats" class scheduled at GJ's and I'll be teaching a hat class in Canberra on Sunday (and you still may be able to get a place on that one - contact Addicted to Fabric if you're interested).

 

 

Yesterday was just a fun, fun day.  What started as Gillian and Jodie's idea to gather a few friends, resulted in 49 crafty blogging chicks descending on a small hall in Ballarat for a day of Crafty Hijinks. 

 

There were door prizes and mini-workshops and food and talk and lots of making.  A few of us set up little shops.

 

I was thrilled to see so many bags made up, using my patterns (2 Belles and a City Bag on my table).

 

And as always, it was a pleasure to see my quilting hero, the amazing and gorgeous Annie.

 

There was so much colour, so much joy in a shared love of making....

 

And we all have these two gorgeous, generous gals to thank for bringing it all together.

 

I love that this looks like the school teacher and the rebellious schoolgirl in confrontation... it was nothing of the sort.  These girls smiled and laughed all day!

First Post from Quilt Market

Apologies for the social media and email silence from this end.  Things have been a little busy, to say the least.... but the good news is that I did indeed make it to Quilt Market in Portland, Oregon. 

All manner of technological glitches, a hefty dose of jet-lag and a hectic work schedule have hitherto prevented me from sharing the experience with the online community. 

In short, I had a lovely time, met great people, talked a lot about exciting possibilities and picked up some new US-based stockists for my sewing patterns. 

There were 3 trips to the local department store the day before set-up and a spot of last-minute, late-night hook-making, when I discovered that the Ikea hooks that were pre-ordered would not fit the top edge of the booth.

Of course, I had lovely travel companions and Quilt Market neighbours...

My samples in Riley Blake fabric attracted a load of attention, and 3 of them are staying in the Riley Blake warehouse, with a few of the patterns.

The Hobo (above), the Laptop (below)....

and the Sling (below again)

The super-popular A-line Skirt pattern will be available through Pink Chalk Fabrics as soon as the Pink Chalk team recover from Market and upload the details.

I was so happy to met Kathy and the girls from Pink Chalk - every one of them is super-lovely.  They've been selling my pdf patterns for a long time but we'd never met before.

As we sort through the invoices and organise the new stockist listing, I'll keep you updated on where to find my patterns in the USA.  My Facebook and Twitter feeds will be the more immediate source of updates, but my post-market resolution is to bring more attention back to my blog, so I won't forget the non-Facebookers-and-tweeters.

I'm off to pour myself another glass of wine and put my feet up. I'm staying with my sister and her family who happen to live in Portland, and I feel that I should perhaps make an effort to interact and make conversation, now that the market madness is over.

Table Top Selvedge Mountain

I've been saving selvedges for so long, I can't seem to stop.....even though Jodie has exhausted her interest in using them (with all manner of overwhelmingly amazing projects) and doesn't need any more.

Can anyone else use them...? They're mostly yard, half-yard or yard-and-a-half lengths (and there may be a few two metre lengths too, I think).

If you're inspired by Jodie and have an idea of what you'd like to make with these selvedges, leave a comment to let me know and I'll send you the bundle. If there are lots of responses I might have to draw names out of a hat.

EDITED TO ADD: Looks like there's going to be a hat involved here....

And while you're over at Jodie's, check out the STUNNING selvedge quilt that some lovely, lovely people made for her special birthday present.