Saturday, January 30, 2010

The Plan...

Okay, so for someone who owns a shop that is supposed to be about creativity, I have been anything but lately (unless blogging, keeping up with friends on Facebook, listing stuff on Etsy and website development are considered creative?).  All computer no sewing machine!  Yuck....  well not really, I love both.

So, anyway, Victoria has been asking me to bring my machine home from the shop so it is coming home with me tonight and I am going to spend this evening and most of tomorrow finishing up the creative or mundane projects that have been piling up and I promise to have at least one thing completed before the end of the day!  I also promise to try my best to take some cool photos of the works in progress, as the progress.

So, have a lovely weekend! If you get a minute, vote for my cousin Joseph's band, The Bank Dogs - they are very talented kids living my dream!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Beautiful Brazilian Embroidery!

Edmar Threads now at Sugar Shack Quilting! If you are not familiar with this type embroidery, there is no time like the present!

It is beautiful and has a lot of possibilities. It is three dimensional so you can create object with it that are part of a picture without being flat like more common forms of needlework such as cross stitch.

Brazilian embroidery is a type of surface embroidery that uses rayon thread instead of cotton or wool. It is called "Brazilian" embroidery because the use of high-sheen rayon thread in embroidery was first popularized in Brazil.  Brazilian embroidery patterns often include flowers formed using both knotted and cast on stitches.

I have wanted to do the lady shown here (her name is Verana) for ages but I just cannot seem to find the time in my chaotic life to finish my current stitching project (Mirablila's May's Emerald Fairy) so that I can move onto the next.  I learned long ago that I need to finish one before I start another or the other NEVER gets done!

Watch for more patterns and books being added to the website over the next few months.  Included the wonderful "A to Z of" books.  If you have never seen an "A to Z of" you are missing out on an invaluable resource.  We do have the A to Z of Brazillian Embroidery in the shop if you are interested please email me at tina@sugarshackquilting.ca.


Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Winter Clearance Sale

I love snowflakes.  When I am ordering fabric for the shop I always want to order every single snowflake fabric that is available.

Look at these fabulous fabrics at 25% off!! at Sugar Shack Quilting.  Just till the end of the month though so hurry in and don't miss out, all of the other fabric is on sale too...

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Whip Crackin'!

One or two Fridays a month a group of us get together at Sugar Shack Quilting to quilt and we stay till until late at night sewing and venting and gossiping and having a nice time with a diverse group that we may otherwise not be with.  I would say that the ladies that come (there are four of them, and Brandi and me) have all, to some extent become my friends.

Okay so that has nothing to do with what I wanted to say - well very little.

The last time we got together, Brandi was not there to point me in the direction of the project that needed my attention and no one really needed my help to I went into the "in progress" bin we have at Sugar Shack and came out with a half woven ribbon thing that I planned on turning into a pillow top.  One of the ladies saw it and insisted that it be the project that I worked on that evening - so I finished it and I have to say, I am glad that I did.  It is gorgeous!

I had seen it done in some book or magazine along the way - a long time ago - and had wanted to try it since.  So in the spring (maybe longer ago) I cut the ribbon and sewed the top and the left side to a piece of muslin and started weaving.  I did not finish as I thought it was really crooked and I am a perfectionist but is looks great not that it is done and the ribbon has relaxed into place.  Super easy, a little teadious, fabby results!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Ho Hum...

Well I finally did it, I took down my Christmas tree.  Pathetic I know.  We always have a real one and this year we opted for a fake one.  Air freshener is NOT the same but it DOES make you lazy.

So last night I spent like two hours cyberstalking my high school friends on Facebook. I wonder if anyone ever does that to me?

So today is my day off.  I spent it cleaning my house.  The dog, cat and person hair needs to be thoroughly vacuumed on my hands and knees kind of vacuuming about once a month.  You know get in the corners kind of cleaning.

I think Maxine is fabulous. At work I have a print out of her that says "Don't believe everything you think."  I LOVE that!

As I said, Ho Hum.  Did you check out the sale at Sugar Shack Quilting?

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Sugar Shack Quilting is Having A Sale!

I do not like sales.  Well of course I love to shop them but I do not like to have them in my shop.  I am a self proclaimed hypocrit and it seems maybe a bit of a snob!  It is not selling for less that bothers me, it is that I feel it cheapens my shop....  I do not remember any sales, ever, at The Cloth Shop (terrible website - but wonderufl shop where I learned to quilt!).  Well, that is Vancouver and this is little old Trail and sometimes our local shoppers need a little pick me up!  That and my staff talked me into it!

Hope to see some of you here in the next few weeks helping to clear out the old to make room for the new spring fabrics that will start arriving in February.

Oh, one more thing.  Can you please make sure you tell everyone you know about this sale, I want to warm up to the idea and a good sale will help!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Rain Rain Go Away!

It was raining so hard this morning that I asked my husband to get busy building the ark - he did not get it.  Running around the house unable to open his eyes because he has a migraine.  He does not often think I am funny - but I do. Sometimes I make myself laugh so hard that I cry.  I love it!  No sound coming out, tummy hurting, tears rolling down my face, everyone thinking I am an nuts.  Goods times!

Anyway, about that the rain.  This is not the West Coast.  This is the Interior.  We should be getting snow even in the lowlands and it should be very cold... anyone have any plans they can send me for that ark?

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Who Am I?

I have finally decided to take the plunge into what seems to be a well used venue for venting, sharing and just chatting by women in similar shoes to my own.

My shoes you ask? Huge and very full! I am the mother of several (four) lovely children with wild tempers and loving hearts. I am the wife of an emotional, kind, warm hearted snugly man. I have several cats (4 - this Phoebe and she is as cantankerous as she looks!) and a big hairy yellow dog, a small sometimes hairy white dog and am thinking about some fish. I am the owner of a lovely quilt shop and sewing store. I like to think I am a brave, creative, funny, intuitive. I know I am impulsive, intelligent, and gullible. I am dependable but impatient. I am terrible with money but I am great cook.  The good with the bad and the bad with the good.  :o)

I think I might be crazy to start doing this - who knows maybe I will do one post and never look at it again. Maybe this little blog with turn into somethings fabulous that propels my little business in the next level - where I want it to be!  Maybe, maybe, maybe.  One of the best parts of life is the whatifs!

I love a good tear jerker...

Last night, I spent most of the evening trying to load Anchor Pearl Cotton onto my website which I would have finished if I did not get so consumed by the movie I was watching.

My husband found me a copy of The Time Traveller's Wife.  It was so so good that I did not even look away from the TV.  I have watched lots of good movies lately - Avatar, Inglorious Bastards, and now Time Traveller's Wife.  Tomorrow is the Season 4 Premier of BIG LOVE so I won't be getting anything done during that hour either....  this is making me sound lazy.
Anyway, I have been working on listing all of the Anchor threads now that the DMC is finally done.  Sugar Shack is going to be a thread mecca.  In addition to the DMC and Anchor we have Caron, Kriniek, Mettler, Guterman, Sulky, Wonderfil, and Aurifil!

Anyway back to the movie.  I do not want to ruin it for anyone so I will just say that although it did not get a lot of press and has no huge action or special effects it is really touching.  It is based on The Time Traveler's Wife" is based on the best-selling book by author Audrey Niffenegger and starring Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams. I have now become a fan of Eric Bana - I always loved Rachel McAdams.  Anyway, such a good movie I have to read the book - it is always better!  I am so excited to read it.  The last book I read was a Mauve Binchy novel called Quentins, it was a good read - I like to use those kinds of light hearted books as filler between the intense historical fiction that is my passion.

I am all over the place with my post so before I fall into the danger of sounding like a lunatic, good by for now!