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

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!

Cover Girls

Over the last little while we have been introducing our new neighbours to Amitie's fantastic new space and part of this means local advertising!

Working with the Surf Coast Times has been great. This smaller, local publication has been very hands on with understanding our needs and desires in regards to spreading the word!

We were thrilled when asked if we wanted to be featured in their Celebrating Seniors lift out.

Jen and I graced the cover and I love this photo. Neither of us are super comfortable in front of the lens but it worked out just fine, I think!

Both in our white linens, both smiling... for me, it's just a snap shot of another day in paradise doing what we love and love sharing.

Amitie Update

We have some images from around store we thought you might like to see!

For those who haven't seen - the image above is part of our new space. Photos can't really capture the size, but this one does as an alright job! I get a bit gushy about it all, but I am seriously proud of this store. Jen's vision really came together and it feels unique. It definitely was a risky move, but those often pay off with hard work.

Seriously - we have no regrets. It's been an amazing adventure so far!

This is just the fabric side of things. We also have an amazing class space to the right of here.

A space that can sit 20... quite comfortably. We really thought size mattered in the "creating space" to allow us an in house experience when we invite teachers from around the world. A luxury we have really missed the last little while!

But this is also an big bonus in our smaller (more regular) workshops - you have space to spread out and let loose a little.

The Proverbial Quilt

Oh, am I excited!

I have been on a improv binge of late... I really love it! You kind of get to flip the bird to perfect points and all the other pressures we put on ourselves as quilters... there's a freedom involved which is exhilarating.

So, I have jumped at the chance to participate in one of Denyse Schmidt's workshops we have coming up... The Proverbial Quilt!

This pattern is ACE as you can come up with your own quilted message to keep you warm at night.

DENYSE SCHMIDT

We advertised this one recently and we fear we left out some very important information...

Normally, when a big wig like Denyse Schmidt comes, class sizes are quite large to cover the costs of bringing such a superstar in to teach! 

Well... not this time!

We have decided that to truly bask in the glory of Denyse and everything she offers as a quilt designer, fabric designer and just all around creative genius .. then you need time to really soak it up, ask questions and get inspired!

This is just too exciting!

We are getting ready for some pretty amazing visitors... and we mean, AMAZING VISITORS! The kind of patchwork royalty that make quilters weak at the knees. Yup, that kind of amazing!

Get ready because this is going to be awesome.

ANNA MARIA HORNER AND CAROLYN FRIEDLANDER ARE COMING TO TEACH AT AMITIE!!!!!

Excited?! We thought you might be.
These are going to book fast so MOVE. MOVE. MOVE!