Fiskars Craft

more from Alaska - Quilting in Ketchikan

I'd like to introduce you to the lovely "Betty" ....the owner of the only Quilt Shop in Ketchikan,ALASKA

I had a lovely chat with Betty.....who kindly allowed me to take these pics on out recent holiday to Alaska......Betty has been in the Quilting Business for about 30 years.....most of those years in this Shop.......I noticed all the NATIVE Alaskan designs coming through in the materials I could see on display....at The Silver Thimble

Betty told me that Quilting is  very popular in Ketchikan....she use to travel overseas on business to network but now she stays at home as her hubby has MS and she is unable to leave him for too long...

Looky what I spotted on my arrival in this fabulous store....The Silver Thimble

Bill & Betty Gale moved their two children and one dog from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to Ketchikan, Alaska in 1979.  She was a stay at home mom who took extra special care and gave heaps of love to her two children and Bill. Betty was a constant supporter in all that their lives entailed and she sewed clothes for the children and even for Bill.  Being a helicopter pilot in Southeast Alaska sure made for an exciting lifestyle and even more of a change in his wardrobe.  Warm clothing was a must during the winter months in Southeast Alaska.  You never knew when Bill would be flying in a helicopter on a medivac flight to a neighboring community. 

Bill & Betty purchased The Silver Thimble from Tom & Alice Rowe in 1984.  Bill bought the store for Betty as a gift.  Never in Betty’s wildest dreams did she ever imagine owning and operating her own sewing shop.  Betty’s love for sewing was a strong passion and Bill knew this would be the perfect gift for her.  They have run the business together all these years. 

In 1984, The Silver Thimble was located at 603 Mission Street.  The store mainly carried fabrics that were geared towards clothing, home decorating and upholstery along with notions and sewing machines.  Halloween costumes and Easter dresses were a huge hit back in those days. Halloween parties all over town for children and even adults went on during the month of October.  Each year the costumes grew more and more elaborate with costume contests.  The Easter attire was also another big trend that had beautiful bolts of flowery fabrics for adorable little dresses and suit fabrics to dress little boys to the nines. 

 
In 1987, Betty & Bill moved the store to 2450 Tongass Avenue.  Betty remained focused on keeping her inventory on clothing and started dipping into the quilting world.  The classes she had scheduled touched a bit on quilting but primarily still focused on “Learning How To Sew” and craft classes. She had no idea how big quilting was soon to become.   

After carefully redirecting her interests into quilting, she & Bill decided that it was time again for another move.  In 1999, the store relocated to its present location at 5 Salmon Landing Suite 204, an area that was once the Ketchikan Saw Mill.  The Salmon Landing Market was located in a prime area that provided plenty of customer parking and was conveniently located near the downtown cruise ship docks.  Tourism has flourished in Ketchikan and has become one of the leading economic forces in Ketchikan since the Ketchikan Pulp Mill closed in 1997.

 

Betty realized that there was a need to expand the shop and to shift its current inventory from clothing and home decorating fabrics to the quilting needs of the local residents.  Quilting was a new territory that Betty was not 100% familiar with, but with the help of her close friend and long time employee, Jean Mackie, The Silver Thimble was soon to be renamed to The Silver Thimble Quilt Shop.  Betty’s strong desire, hard work and support of her family & friends as well as her loyal and fastly growing quilting customers, everything changed for the better.

The shop was seeing more and more visitors each summer and obtaining a large group of ladies who regularly stopped into her shop in search of "the perfect group of coordinating fabrics for their next work of art." 

 

In 2006, The Silver Thimble Quilt Shop was out growing its location and needed more room to expand. The new addition of The Silver Thimble Alaska was opened right next door to The Silver Thimble Quilt Shop at the Salmon Landing Market.  This new addition allowed Betty to expand her very popular selection of Alaska fabrics, quilt kits, and specialty quilting gifts into one location.  During the summer months this new addition is busy with visitors from all over the world and even local residents who just cannot stay away from the array of gorgeous Alaska prints and designs.  During the off-season, this store takes on another personality and becomes the classroom and assembly line for quilt kits.

I hope you are enjoying these pics from Alaska....

I'll be back later this week with the most gorgeous Athabaskan Fur and Beaded coat that you have ever seen......

.....it's only worth about $6.000.00 and took 6 months to create......LOL!

 

xoxo

Lyn Dwyer

Dolly Likes The Cat in The hat

 

Dolly loves a big cumfy cushion for lying around on, watching TV or having a read. Here is a fairly simple method to make your own Cat in the hat floor cushion

you will need

 1 cat in the hat panel( or 60cm of your chosen fabric)

90 cm of contrast fabric for back of cushion

60cm sq of quilt wadding ( I use cotton)

60cm sq of plain colour fabric ( you can use something that you dont like , it will be inside and not visible)

20cm stripe fabric for binding

15cm of wide hook and loop fastener(velcro)

60cm purchased cushion insert

safety pins 

masking tape

Sewing machine

 matching threads

Tools used were Soft grip scissors, Rotary cutter,  Cutting mat and the 12 in one tool for those little unpicky moments

If you have a walking foot use it . If you dont , you can lengthen your stitch  a bit and use plenty of pins.

Step1: Trim the fabric panel to create a square. (it's not quite perfect but you can get away with it)approx 23 1/2"(60cm). 

 

Step2:Quilt  the square . Cut the plain colour fabric to measure 1"(2.5cn)larger all round than the cushion square. Cut the piece of wadding to this size.Tape the plain fabric to a firm surface. Smooth the wadding over this and tape again.Spread the cushion square right side up over all these and safety pin through all 3 layers.

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Step 3 Quilt the cushion top. I quilted between the pictures on the fabric and also between the inside of the" picture frames"Change the thread colour as needed and pull the threads trough to the back of the work and knot firmly.

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Back of the cushion

Step 1 : Cut two rectangles of fabric 16"x 25"( 41x64cm) . On one long edge of each piece press under a 1/4" hem (1cm) Press another fold 2" (5cm) from the folded edge. Pin hem in place and stitch.

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On the wrong side of the fabricmark the centre pointof the hemmed edge. Measure 7"(17cm)to either side and mark again. Repeat on the other cushion back but mark on the right side this time.

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Cut three velcro pieces and stitch one side of each velcro sq where marked

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Check to make sure that the squaes have lined up neatly and the cushions overlap evenly. make aline of stitching about 3"(7cm) from the outside edge  of the cushion back square .

Step4: Spread the cushion back square out and lay the cushion top over it.Wrong sides together.Check that the two squares are the same size. Trim if necessary. Pin together and stitch 1/4" fro the edge all round.

Binding the cushion

step 1: using the stripe fabric and cutting across the width of the fabric cut 3x 2 1/2"(6cm) strips .

* 

Join these to make one long strip. Press with wrong side together along the length of the fabric. Open out one end only of the strip and press under 1/2"( 1cm ) hem.

Step 2: Starting half way along one side of the cushion and 3"(7cm) from the pressed end of the binding strip Stitch through all the layers using a 1/4" seam allowance.Stop stitching 1/4" from the corner and take the fabric out from under the machine foot.

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Flip the binding up at a 45 degree angle 

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Then fold the binding back down so that the raw edges are even, and the folded edge is levl with the top edge of the cushion.

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Step3: When you come to the pressed end cut the remaining binding strip so it overlaps about 11/2"( 3cm). Open out the binding strip and lay the overlao inside it .Fold back together and keep sewing to where you started from.

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Step 4: Fold the binding round to the back of the cushionand handstitch in place, making sure that the stitching line is covered. Fold the excess fabric at the corners to make a 45 degree angle and stitch in place.

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Step 5: Insert the cushion inner and lie back and enjoy. Just like Dolly.  

 

 

xoxo

Debbie Guihot

(Canowindra,NSW)

 

Phillipa has finished her next Quilt

 

Here are the pics of Becky’s quilt, finished two weeks ago – and much appreciated, along with Julia’s cross stitch.

 

....and JULIA'S CROSS STITCH.......JULIA is Pip's daughter......wow.....crafting talent sure runs in this family doesn't it......thanks Pip for sharing these fabulous projects of love!!

Also attached are pics of the charity quilt that I am making in red, white and blue Courthouse Steps pattern (pattern kindly drawn up for me by Annemarie Campbell). I need to get this finished by November 17^th, when the ladies at Mornington Golf Club are holding a charity Golf Day with proceeds going to Family Life to help fund a Community House and services down at Rosebud West, where children and families are in need of help. From the Community House, Family Life will run before and after school programmes, parenting courses, and leadership programmes. We will also run Community Bubs, a programme unique to us, where we support mums who would otherwise be at risk of DHS taking their children from them because they don’t have the skills to cope, and are possibly also facing problems with violence, drugs and alcohol. Our aim is always to support families through community support so that they are strengthened, as is the whole community.

 

These pics show one of our new rotary cutters with titanium blade, and the Eco Mat, which is 100% recyclable.

If you would like to see more of Phillipa's lovely sewing/quilting.....then just type in something like Phillipa's Quilts or Pip's quilts into the Google Search Bar at the top lefthand side of this Blog..............see it up there...that's the same if you are wanting to search for another project,etc.....just type in a few words...and up come the search results...............saves you scrolling back all the time...........

Thanks Pip for sending through these fabulous projects.....I love what you and your quilting group are doing for the community....aren't crafters an amazing group of human beings....sharing what they love to do to benefit others....so that they also may enjoy the fruits of their labour.....

**** Pip tells me that SPOTLIGHT shall be taking a NEW RANGE of FISKARS QUITLING TOOLS come OCTOBER.......so watch out for more news about this release in the coming weeks.

xoxo

Lyn Dwyer

 

A labour of love and a quilting cat

True to form......Milo is still involved in Pip's Quilting Journey....seems that she doesn't want to miss a thing.......LOL!

Phillipa Godinho (Pip)from Fiskars HO here in Port Melbourne has sent through these latest pics....here's what she had to say.....

After having Windows 7 installed and finally working out where all of my pictures were (!!) I can now update you on my latest project, a quilt for my niece Rebecca, who lives in Wellington NZ and is moving to a new house in late July.

 

Like me, Becks is a “girlie girl”, and loves pink!! I loved selecting the fabrics for this quilt, following a design by Jenny Kingwell of Amitie Textiles in Bentleigh. It’s called Bricks and Mortar.

 

As usual, my quality controller, Milo, has been overseeing the project! I have been able to put a Fiskars Supersized Circle Template to good use here, marking the circles that I am hand quilting over the entire surface of the quilt. I have a nice beige pearlized thread to use, which matches the “mortar” polka dot pattern which holds all of the “bricks” together. My hand quilting is getting better and I fully expect that I’ll be able to get this one finished in time for the house warming!

Below is a cross stitch that my daughter Julia is doing for Becky, to match the pinks of my quilt. Julia went to the Craft and Quilt Show at Darling Harbour last week and sent through some pics which were very interesting (some of the exhibition quilts plus the fabulous display of Fiskars paper craft tools at the Fantasia stand); she is moving back to Melbourne in September, and is looking forward to going to the next craft show as a mother and daughter outing!!

WOWIE......don't you just love these gorgeous projects that both Pip and Julia have created..!!

What  gorgeous handmade and personal gifts!!! I bet Pip is looking forward to having her daughter move back to Melbourne.....and how nice to be able to share the love of crafting together!

Looking forward to seeing those finished circles.....sounds intriguing PIP and a great way to use those Super sized Fiskars Circle Templates.....

Has anyone else been sewing/quilting lately? If so....we'd love to see what you have been up to...just send through some pics to:

                                     [email protected]

....and we'll share with our readers.....we love seeing what crafters do with the Fiskars Tools!!

 The Craft and Quilt Fair heads to Melbourne next month....so I'm sure Pip shall be attending to gain even further inspiration and ideas.....Shows are great for this.

xoxo

Lyn

 

 

Congratulations to Debbie Guihot !!!!!!!!! It's Fisk-a-fabulous news!!!!

We would like to congratulate one of our very talented Fiskars Demonstrators......the lovely Debbie Guihot from Canowindra in New South Wales.............

Craft enthusiasts from all over the country are set to see Debbie Guihot’s latest quilting creation as part of the travelling ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ exhibition held in conjunction with the Sydney Craft & Quilt Fair.

Six weeks of hard work paid off for Mrs Guihot when she was chosen as a finalist in this year’s Australian Patchwork & Quilting and Australasian Quilt Convention (AP&Q AQC) Quilting Challenge.

Her quilt, ‘Forbidden Fruit’, features the snake from the Garden of Eden tempting Adam and will go on display as part of the prestigious exhibition.

The quilt was inspired by the bible reference “Out of the darkness grew a wondrous tree. And God said to Adam ‘Eat not the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden.’

To read what the Canowindra Local Newspaper had to say this week you can click on

http://www.canowindranews.com.au/news/local/news/general/sydney-set-to-see-debbies-sinful-stitching/2196043.aspx

 

***REMEMBER all the fun that Debbie and Robyn had a few years ago at the Sydney Craft and Quilt Fair with their "Dolly" adventures.....well guess what.......................these two talented crafters are going to combine forces to bring you some fabulous Blog posts during SEPTEMBER......so make sure you remember to drop by...........................word has it they are planning some fun things........LOL!   Debbie and Robyn both run businesses in Canowindra!

Elie Smith from WA shares her quilts

One of our very talented Quilters from Western Australia.....Elie Smith has sent through some of her latest quilts to share with you all......this is Oscar's Quilt......think that may be Elie's Gradnchild!

The pictures are a little blurry......sorry....might see if Elie can re-send them.....but the colours are striking aren't they! Elie's husband....Pip (Phillip) created the second Quilt for their grandson Isaac.....it's so good to see men Quilting isn't it.....my own father use to sew and knit....but you don't hear of many men doing this nowadays.

xoxo

Lyn

So what's happening at AMITIE TEXTILES??

Have you seen all the wonderful things that are happening at AMITIE TEXTILES this month?

To view the Amitie Textiles June Newsletter please visit the website:

http://www.amitie.com.au/a/News or you can click on the link on the lefthand sidebar under the INSPIRATION CENTRAL area......to see what's happening this month of JUNE at AMITIE TEXTILES in Bentleigh,Victoria.

Who said Cats can't Quilt !!!!

In case you missed my earlier post about Pip's finished quilt for her sister Bron.....here is the finished quilt.......doesn't it look stunning!! ....and look who's been helping and overseeing Pip's Quilts...it's the gorgeos MILO.....think this cat must have more than 9 lives.....LOL!

So one down......and another one on the way......gosh....Pip is on a roll with these Quilts isn't she!

Here's what she had to say in an email to me today

These are pics of my new project, a quilt for my gorgeous niece, Becky, who lives in windy Wellington. Her favourite colour is pink!! These photos show the fabric selection and the pattern, “Bricks and Mortar” (it’s a simple one), and of course, our little friend, Milo!!! Milo has to approve every quilt that I make .

IF you live in Western Australia you may be heading to the PERTH CRAFT and QUILT SHOW this week.......if so......have a great time.....CRAFT SHOWS are such a wonderful place to get some Crafty Inspiration.........learn new skills......share ideas...see the latest and greatest craft goodies.....and they are also a great place to purchase tools/supplies!!

 

 

 

So what's Phillipa been up to?

REMEMBER all those fabulous Quilts that Phillipa Godinho(Pip) has been creating......well let's see how her Quilting Journey is progressing.....

Hi Lyn,

 Finally! My sister-in-law’s quilt to mark the passing of her dear dad has been completed! A marathon effort which began between Christmas and New Year! As soon as I learnt of his passing, I decided to make this quilt because it was a happy, sunny colour palette which I hope will cause her to remember all the good times.

Although I still love this quilt (otherwise I wouldn’t give it to someone), I am over it! I can’t wait to get home tonight and start on two new projects: hand quilting the blue and white quilt for the new house,

and cutting fabrics for my niece Rebecca’s quilt. I also learnt this morning that I will be making a quilt for a charity golf day for Family Life (of which I am a Board member) which the Mornington Golf Club ladies are very kindly running for us in November. Better get my skates on!

 Although Bron’s “Courthouse Steps” design quilt looks simple, it actually required a lot of machine piecing and then an enormous amount of hand quilting. I would like to repeat this pattern in red, blue and white for a very French look for the charity quilt, but need to work out how to make it a bit simpler and less time-consuming. Although, as they say in the classics: good things take time!!!

xoxo

Pip

 

**  Oh Pip.....these are amazing works of art....and so much love has gone into creating these....each one telling a wonderful story....and so meaningful!! Thank you sooooooo much for letting us share them here with our readers......your Quilting Journey is soooooooo inspiring!!

Won't the Blue and White Quilt look gorgeous in your New House!!

To see more of Pip's wonderful quilts.....just type in Pip's Quilts in the Google Search Bar up the top lefhand side of this blog.....then click the Search Button....if you have missed Pip's earlier shares you can view them all here.....an amazing Quilting Journey and it's a real pleasure to continue to share Pip's Journey with you all.....

For those readers who live in WA ....you might like to get more Quilting Inspiration next week by attending the Perth Craft and Quilt Fair......starts May 18th.

xoxo

Lyn

Fetchy Skechy Friday – sketch 3

Hello all.
Sketch of a difference today. One for the applique and quilt lovers.

Now the lovely dragon fly is one of the many Fiskars shape templates on the market. Designed by Donna Dewberry.

For this project I used:

• Thread
• Sewing machine
• Fabric
• Heat n Bond - for stiffening fabric and adhearing the shapes (its a iron on fabric type glue for applique work)
• Fiskars Applique template set - Dragon and butterfly - pictured
• Fiskars Ultra Shape Express and new sharp blade - pictured
• Fiskars 12 " Cutting mat
• Fiskars 12" square quilting ruler - pictured
• Fiskars No8. sewing scissors
• Fiskars Rotary cutter

I'll show you the finished quilt at a later date. ;)

If you do a layout using this sketch we would love to see it.
email us: [email protected]

Happy creating!

Debbie Buckland