Ballan Quilt & Craft Show

Last weekend, I had a stall at the Ballan Quilt & Craft Show held during Ballan's Autumn Festival.

This year's theme & challenge was ... "All the fun of the fair, life's just a circus".

The Ballan Quilt group makes a terrific effort to host this annual event.  The hall entrance was decorated like the "big top" at the circus.

Inside, amongst the superb quilts & craft on display there were a dozen stalls.  During the weekend, there were a huge number of visitors, particularly from out of town.

Autumn is a great time to visit the country-side, since it seems every town & village has its own festival at this time of year.

Here are a couple of photos of my stall ...

Journal Secrets

I have a regular group of school girls who are becoming very accomplished with a needle & thread.

The journal cover design below, from "The Janelle Wind Collection", will be the the project for our next class during the Easter school holidays.

As usual, we will have other school holiday classes as well, including papercraft & beading. 

The workshop schedule can be viewed by visiting our website.

Daylesford Makers' Market & Glenlyon Art Show

"A festival of craft & design in a pretty county town" 

That's how Daylesford's Makers' Market has been described & with the Chillout festivities on in Daylesford this Labour Day long weekend, it's a very apt description.

The Makers' Market will be held at the Daylesford Town Hall on Sat. 6 March from 10 am to 3 pm.

There's always something new to see at the market which will be held monthly this year (click here for dates).

The Glenlyon Art Show will also be held this weekend at the Glenlyon Hall.  This event, held annually, showcases talented local artists.  The art show is open each day from 10 am to 4 pm.

Daylesford Craft Experience

"Indulge your creative self ..."

... in conjunction with Zoe Bradshaw of Purl's Palace, we have created the "Daylesford Craft Experience", a fabulous new craft retreat to be held over the weekend on 3-4 July 2010.

We have 3 very special guest presenters:

• Melanie Hurlston of "Melly & me"
• Jodie Carleton of "Ric Rac"; and
• Anette Eriksson

The retreat will be held at the award winning, Peppers Springs Retreat & Spa at Hepburn Springs, situated in Victoria's Daylesford & Macedon Ranges region.

Join us & enjoy a fabulous creative day at one of Victoria's most popular tourist destinations, while sharing the experience of meeting & learning from 3 very popular designers.

Find out more at www.threadneedle.com.au.

Anniversary Fabric Sale

Yay! ... we're having a sale on all our fabrics to celebrate our second anniversary since opening.

We will have 20% off all fabrics for 2 weeks commencing Saturday, 13 February until Sunday, 28 February 2010.

The sale includes all fabrics, including fat quarters, layer cakes, etc. There will also be special offers on other selected craft items in the shop.

We stock contemporary & traditional fabric designs, as well as colourful designs for kids. 

There are patterns & kits to create fabulous home décor & accessories. As well as rotary cutters, cutting mats, templates, hoops, bag handles, threads & batting.

The shop has a large range of craft & art supplies, including needlework, beading, card-making & art supplies. 

There is also a great selection of craft books & gift ideas for kids.

Our friends at Purl's Palace will also be having a sale. They are within walking distance at 39a Albert Street, Daylesford.

Rudy the Reindeer

This is "Rudy" the Reindeer, a Christmas creation from Melly & Me.

I've helped to make about ten of these cute critters, with a group of local school girls who have been learning to sew with me during the last few weeks.

We will have more workshops for kids during the school holidays. You can view our class list at www.threadneedle.com.au

Best wishes for Christmas to all our customers ... I look forward to seeing you again in the new year!

Sweet Life Bags by Amy Butler

Amy Butler has released a fabulous range of bags designed with crafters in mind.

The bags are constructed using mid-weight fabrics from Rowan & feature Amy Butler's "August Fields" fabric designs. The bags are 100% cotton lined with co-ordinating prints.

They have lots of pockets & tool channels, strong & long straps for carrying comfort, expandable side panels & bag bottoms.

I only have two of these gorgeous bags available in-store (a third vanished into my Christmas stocking!)

The bag on the left below is the "Dew Drop Sling" (Forest/Seafoam) & on the right is the "Diana Sling" (Orange/Coral).

These bags retail for $198.50 & $155.50 respectively (plus postage).

French General

We have a gorgeous book & French country-inspired gift collection from Moda Home.

Historically, young French girls embroidered their initials on their finest linens.

The initialled letters were always blood red because red was a strong & endurable dye that could be easily seen.
..


"French General - Home Sewn" by Kaari Meng contains 30 French-inspired projects for every room in the house.

"French General - Home Sewn" by Kaari
Meng ($55.00 + postage)

The French theme is used in the gift range shown below, that includes a sewing case, sewing bag & note book.

French General - Sewing Case ($28.90 + postage)

French General - Sewing Bag ($74.90 + postage)

French General - Note Book ($38.90 + postage)

Grand Opening!

Finally, we're open in our new location ...

The move last week was "fast & furious", but thankfully everything is now in it's place & we're back at "work".

The best news is that we have a 10% - 20% sale on all stock this week to celebrate our re-opening. The sale ends on Sunday, 13 September.

Here are a few photos of what you can expect to see ...

Above, is the view towards our fabric section. We have lots of new shelves to fill with fabric. The new bead shelves are shown on the left.

At the front of the shop, we have threads & embroidery on one side (above) & books & craft for kids on the other side (below).

Shown below is our workshop table with art supplies & card-making products in behind.

We look forward to seeing you when you're next in Daylesford!

Threadneedle on the Move ...

Our final news this week is that we are moving our shop in Daylesford ... next week!!

We are re-locating from our current location (across from the Primary School) to a great new spot in the Coles walkway, next to Kabuki.

We are already expanding since opening less than two years
ago! The new shop is bigger & will allow us to increase our product range (especially our fabrics!).

The central location will also be more convenient for customers.

To enable the move, we will close for a few days commencing on Monday, 31 August. We hope to re-open on Friday, 4 September.

Here's a few photos of our preparations to date ...

This is a painter's ladder that David found at a local auction. He has transformed it into a set of fantastic display shelves!



Daylesford Engineering has fabricated a wrought iron stand to hold shelves for beads.

This is a view of the new shop looking towards the rear ...

This is looking towards the front ...

We look forward to seeing you at the new shop from late next week!

The new shop address is Shop 2/52A Vincent Street, Daylesford.

Dumpling Dynasty & Rosie Flo

We have some fantastic new products for kids from Lark.

They include the "Dumpling Dynasty" Sewing Kit & Easy Sew Bunny Kit ($29.95 + postage). These introductory sewing kits for children are extremely popular.

The Bunny Kit contains instructions & all the materials required to stitch a cute felt bunny.

We also have the "Rosie Flo" & "Johnny Joe" colouring book series.

These beautiful colouring books by Roz Streeten feature clothing & costumes & are printed in the UK ($14.95 + postage).

Gift Ideas for Kids from Lark

Dumpling Dynasty Easy Sew Bunny Kit

Anniversary Sale

It's our first anniversary since opening, so to celebrate we currently have a 20% sale on all fabrics ending on Sunday, 29 March 2009.

It was bedlam at the weekend, with visitors to the shop from all over Victoria!

The sale applies to all fabrics in-store, including fat quarters, wadding & backing fabrics.

Daylesford is glorious during Autumn, so if you haven't visited recently, now there's another great reason to come!

Xmas School Holidays

I hope you've had a great festive season!

Kids will have fun during our School Holiday's program. We are doing a few different projects this time.

Do you remember DAS when you were a child? It's still available ... now, in a variety of great colours.

In this class, we've used DAS to create stylish chameleons. Here are a few creative examples!