The Circle Game - Gary's Journey - Part 4

Apologies for those following my journey waiting with baited breath for the next instalment of my take on Jen’s Circle Game. (Well that’s mum apologised to, and even then, I have my doubts!) For everyone else I am sure you know and have experienced the best intentions of BoMs and how time slips by.

There have been several competing factors, one I’ll blame Jen for, the others are just life. Some of you may have seen my journey through Jen’s Delilah ToM on my Instagram page (@live.breathe.create). I was determined to get this finished and quilted and into the NSW quilt show, along with my second entry which was a wedding ring quilt I designed for my eldest daughter. This was only 5 years late, but as I am led to believe as wedding (ring) quilts go that’s pretty standard and probably ahead of the game!

 

Anna Maria Horner - The Private Dinner

The Private Dinner with Anna Maria saw 12 ladies, well 14 including Anna Maria and Jen, for dinner!

We converted our cafe into a restaurant with beautiful native flowers, using Anna Maria's Sweet Dreams collection as our inspiration (a range inspired by her previous trip to our beautiful Australia - perfection!)

The flowers were styled by Jen. I assisted but can take no credit because she really worked her magic... this is where I should mention one of Jen's secret talents is she is a trained florist so she has a little leg up in this department!

Now, it's hard to say, but I believe this event was an industry first! We hosted Anna Maria a little over a year ago and offered her lecture and trunk show in Melbourne. We did so in a lecture room where we could welcome the masses to hear Anna Maria speak. It was a great event but this time around we wanted to offer something different... something unique to our store, exploring our new found capabilities with the kitchen on site and sheer size of this building!

Our chef Tana did an amazing job at catering this event- the food was delicious and abundant.

A guest asked me if I was a chef and gave very high praise - I quickly corrected her.

If only I could cook like our Tana!

I mentioned on the previous post that a picture says 1000 words and these are no different.

I'll let the images do the talking!

xoxo

Lucy

Anna Maria Horner - Plot Twist Workshop

On the 23rd and 24th of June we hosted the incredibly talented Anna Maria Horner for a fantastic workshop and what I think has been our most interesting event to date... The Private Dinner.

I think a picture speaks a thousand words and these images do the events more justice than my words ever could.

This post features photos from the Workshop.

Plot Twist was the workshop we chose to hold - a choose your own adventure style of class with each participant working on their own unique version of Anna Maria's pattern.
We love workshops like this one. They encourage the participants to tap into their own creative abilities and go their own way exploring a theme! Fabrics both new and old appear out of bags, and the buzz in the shop is electric.

xoxo

Lucy

FOCUS ON : Delilah by Jen Kingwell

I cannot write anything about Delilah without singing MY, MY MY! It's a curse... but also a little blessing because it's a fun song to sing. This quilt, as many know, was named after a Tom Jones song. Delilah was Jen's first Template of the Month program which we shortened to TOM!

Tom Jones was a staple sound track in our house growing up. 'What's New Pussy Cat' is often played at family affairs because it gets Richard, Jen's husband, up and dancing!

What can I say about Delilah - she is a beauty and is so fun to make. I can say that with confidence because I have made her! This is the only project of Jen's I have made myself and I loved every stitch (I owe you all a blog post on my version but... where does all the time go?! So, soon... I promise!)

MMQG RETREAT

On the weekend we hosted a a wonderful group of sewers from the Melbourne Modern Quilt Guild.

This was the first retreat type of event we have ever hosted here in our Torquay space, and we hope it is the first of many! With a class room that comfortably sits 20+ and a kitchen in the space for catering and coffee purposes, it's fun to explore our business' true capabilities!

It's always fun to share time with the MMQG because of their approach to quilting - it goes without saying that it's modern and their enthusiasm for all things fabric is infectious! They see quilts in a different light with a strong focus on improv - it's pretty funky!

The machinists of the group were whipping through their work, but Jen still managed to spread the good word about hand stitching!

STAFF PROFILE - Introducing Nat!

Hey Amitie Addicts,

Time for another staff profile. I love sharing these because our team are the backbone of our business. They are the smiling faces that greet you, the warm voices on the end of the phone and it's important you know how FABULOUS they truly are!

The next cab off the rank is Nat - the wonderful Nat, who many of you might know from her pattern company Cinderberry Stitches.

Jen and I were pretty chuffed when Nat applied to work for us - Instagram has opened the craft world up and Nat's feed always caught out eye. Her attention to detail is fantastic which is why we made her chief Visual Merchandiser!

The thing we love most about Nat is her wicked sense of humour. She always has us laughing and we love her for that!

Thanks for sharing yourself with our wonderful customers, Nat!!

xoxo

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Well hello, I thought it was about time I introduced myself to you. 

I'm Natalie Lymer and it's been 2 hours and 18 minutes since I last sewed.

Introducing - Meg Nicholson

Many moons ago I found myself in a trance.

I was at a busy maker's market in Fed Square. It was close to Christmas and busy. Way busier than I could cope with... I was on my way out the door and there they were. The most enchanting stitched artworks with colours that spoke to my soul.

The work belong to Meg Nicolson.

Flash forward to now, years later, and I am proud to include Meg on our class room schedule - sharing her unique skills and knowledge about this gorgeous art form.

Meg was also kind enough to answer some questions for our readers.

I hope you enjoy as much as I did.

xoxo

Lucy

The Circle Game - Gary's Journey - Part 3

This month we have only one block to do but there were some tricky parts to it with ensuring templates are in the right place. So, in this month’s ramblings I’m going to cover echoes, success in making mistakes, serendipity and then some of the tools I’ve discovered that have helped me in hand piecing.

One of the benefits for this template plan is we have lots of pictures of the circle game on the web and Instagram as well, when I started the ‘Delilah’ TOM there were very few pictures out there of the completed quilt so it was a challenge to think how everything might look once all the blocks were completed. 

In choosing fabrics from Jen’s wovens and a few splashes of shot cottons I was wanting to tie some elements of the quilt together. When you look at the pattern there are blocks that are possible companions. The block for this month has similarities to the nine-patch from last month and so I was wanting to echo the colours / fabrics from that block into this one.

STAFF PROFILE - Introducing Anna

At Amitié, we pride ourselves on having excellent staff - always have and always will!

When we moved, we 'adopted' a whole new team and the experience has been amazing.

We think it's time you all got to meet the new crew and learn a little about them so, with that being said, we are excited to be featuring staff profiles over the next little while - Starting with Anna!

 Anna was one of the first interviews we held and I think we hired her on the spot!!

From the moment Anna arrived, she has been a real asset to our team. She was there during set up - she works hard, stays on task and is super helpful to staff and customers.

The best day with Anna so far - watching her Girl Crush over Tula when she visited (which Anna touches on below!)

Thanks for allowing us to share you with our Amitié Addicts, Anna!

I bet they'll adore you as much as we do.

xoxo

Happy Reading...

Lucy

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Hi there, my name is Anna (@spanzy on Instagram) and I work at Amitie! I can say without hesitation that I literally have my dream job. 

Anna and her family!

I’ve had a few jobs in my life ranging from a supermarket cashier to a Primary School Teacher. Before I had children of my own, teaching was my world, I loved everything about it...except for the work/life balance. I took so much work home with me and found it quite suffocating at times. I had little to no time for my hobby which was sewing. 

The Circle Game - Gary's Journey - Part 2

Month two and we have two blocks. One with curves (well this is the circle game!) and the other with Y-seams. Bring it on!

Staying with the new woven’s from Jen I played with the fabrics for these blocks on my design wall. The difference in playing on a white design board or the intended background really impacted the contrast and saturation.

Try it and see. 

I have some of Kaffe Fassett’s grey design board flannel fabric but I tend to take that to workshops. Maybe it's time to get it on the wall too.

I don’t know about you but I wonder if I overthink this stage but the old adage ‘measure twice, cut once’ is in my head, may be the quilting equivalent is ‘audition twice, cut once’ (feel free to substitute twice for any number), here is the final choice for this month’s blocks: 

The woven’s are a great mix of self-patterns, check, stripes, ‘hounds tooth’ and plains that have a different warp and weft to give depth, there are some with the same pattern in different neutrals.

For the 8-Pointed Star I chose two with the same stripe, and set a challenge of matching the stripes and for the second block this month I went with a ‘square’ theme.

AMITIE STASH CLUB : Updated

We love our Stash Club. It has been running for years and is such a fun way to show participants all the fun and funky new fabrics we have in stock.
But we have been thinking... long and hard about how to improve this program for participants!

 We want to update this system to provide a more "user friendly" experience.

So what does that mean?
Well, we want you to USE the fabrics! We want to encourage you to cut into them and make something you love and adore!

Introducing the NEW and IMPROVED
Amitie Stash Club.

6 mail outs a year - 6 different bundles - 16 fabrics in each bundle (total 1m)

All prints co-ordinated to be used in a project!
and
A CHOICE OF TWO COLOUR PALETTES!

Think of it as a pattern-less block of the month... or as we like to call it, A Choose Your Own Adventure Club.

The Circle Game - Gary's Journey - Part 1

Happy New Year, everybody!

The first post for 2018 and I have to admit, I am really pleased to be sharing this one with you!

I mentioned in a previous post that we aim to utilise this blog more often to share news about Amitie, but also about our community (the broader craft community and also our local community in Torquay). I also made note that we would be including content from guest contributors... and here we are!

I'll admit - a male quilter is rare in our patchwork but that isn't why Gary stood out to us. It was his work and passion for quilting that really caught our eye.

Hi Gary!

He participated in the Delilah (Template Only) program and by the powers of Instagram, Jen and I followed his process and often found ourselves discussing his work with Fussy Cutting.

Let's just say... his fussy cutting is UNREAL!

I mean, just look at it!

When Gary contacted me about doing The Pretty Circle Game (Our latest Template of the Month Program) it was clear he might not want the soft and pretty fabrics we were shipping every month. As beautiful as those fabrics are, they aren't his normal colour palette!

That's when the idea struck to have Gary as a guest contributor to this blog!

I was thrilled when he said yes and I am so thankful to Gary for being open to this as I know his aesthetic will be greatly appreciated by you, our loyal customers!

So, without further ado... here is Part 1 of Gary's Circle Game Journey!

Happy Reading!

How did you get interested in quilting?

I started quilting about 5 years ago, before that I had always knitted and sewn. I mainly knitted jumpers, beanies scarves and waistcoats. In the UK we lived in Sheffield, where a good jumper and beanies were essential. I had always knitted with lots of colours and as well as designing some of my own patterns. I knitted lots of Kaffe patterns, amazed as always at the use of colour.