Canadian Fabric Shop, Ella’s Cottage

Screen Shot 2013-05-16 at 8.43.21 AM

Ella’s Cottage is another great Canadian online fabric shop find, and is located in Charlottetown, P.E.I!

Ella’s Cottage has been in business for 3 years, and carries an excellent selection of modern fabrics, like Moda’s Comma, Simply Color, PB & J, 2wenty thr3e and Happy Go Lucky lines, as well as a selection of Bella Solids, all great additions to any modern quilter’s stash.

Leigh Anne, the lovely owner of Ella’s Cottage, has offered our guild free shipping on orders over $50, just enter SHIPFREE50 at the checkout!

Big thanks to Leigh Anne for such a generous offer to our members! 

It’s so great to see so many friendly Canadian shops coming online offering such great selections of modern fabrics and more. Happy shopping and let’s support our Canadian shops! 
Visit Ella’s Cottage by clicking the image above or click here!

Fridays Off, a new Canadian Fabric Shop!

Screen Shot 2013-04-29 at 3.44.37 PMFridays Off is a new Canadian online fabric shop find, located in Toronto, Ontario!
We love to feature Canadian fabric shops, and especially with shipping from across the border going up, it’s even better to find such excellent and up to date Canadian sources to help us enhance our stashes!
Fridays Off carries 100% cotton designer fabrics that are modern and fresh for the contemporary quilter, home decorator or budding sewist, along with patterns, fat quarter bundles, and sewing kits, with more inventory arriving soon so check back often!
You can find Fridays Off on Facebook here, and on Twitter here

Alanna, the lovely shop owner, has offered our guild a 10% discount, valid until midnight on May 5, 2013, just enter this code on checkout: FVMQG

Big thanks to Alanna for such a sweet and generous offer!

Happy shopping and let’s support our Canadian shops!
Visit Fridays Off by clicking the logo above or click here!

Creative Threads Conspiracy, Denman Island, October 25-27, 2013

thread conspiracy copy (1)

We would like to invite you to join us on Denman Island for the 2nd Annual “Creative Threads Conspiracy”, October 25-27, 2013. The event  includes three full days of classes, catered meals and a free Wearable Art Fashion Show as entertainment included in the Saturday evening dinner.

Classes include several by well-known and loved quilting teachers from the area – Sharon Pederson, Ionne McCauley, Barb Mortell, and Carol Piercy; as well as many different streams of fiber arts: Basketry with Cynthia Minden, Felting with Christine O’Neill, Knitting with Jean Cockburn and Kerri Boland, Hardanger Embroidery with Judy Briosi, Rag Rug Braiding with Phyllis Fabbi, Paper Cloth making with Pelka Wiltshire and Natural Dyeing with Anna Heywood-Jones. In addition Marilyn Jensen, a local multimedia artist will teach an all-day class in using your sewing machine as a drawing tool… a great way to truly learn free-style quilting for those who don’t yet.

For more information or to register check out our website at:
http://www.creativethreadsconspiracy.com/

Please note: Register soon! Some of the class sizes are very small and therefore, will fill quickly.

Just 5 Things about… Cynthia

just 5 thingsIs it odd I am posting about myself lol! You all know me as the website/Facebook/emailing/online mod part of our group, plus our guild’s co-founder with our fabulous Lysa!

Here goes!

me!
Photo by Cathy Empey Portrait

Find me here!

Blog: Cynthiaf.ca

(you can find links to all the other  places to find me online linked thru my blog)

Work: Green Couch Designs

Tell us 5 things about you that we may or may not know, quilting-related or any other fun things you’d like to share…

Cross Stitch Inspired Quilt by Cynthia F1. I grew up in White Rock, BC. As much as I love living in the valley now for so many reasons, I miss being nearer to the ocean. My dream home would be somewhere near a west coast beach, with a view of the ocean, if not right across the street, where I could see and hear the waves and smell the lovely oceany breeze. I always notice the ocean smell when I go into Vancouver for the day.

2. I am a magazine addict. I love magazines. I LOVE MAGAZINES! Any kind, I buy all varieties, old or new, crafty and beyond. Lately I’ve been loving Town & Country, Mollie Makes, West Coast Gardens, and Country Living.  Some all time favorites are Marie Claire Idées, HOW, Quilting Arts, Cloth Paper Scissors, and the ones mentioned above. I’m an avid thrifter so am always looking for old crafty or home/women’s magazines, got any you want to pass along? I’ll take ‘em! Which leads me to….

madein
3. I’m starting a magazine! In light of my addiction I figured why not start my own and do it my way?! I named it “Made In” and it will feature makers of all sorts, showing things they have “made in” their own spaces, their own way, their own country, and on and on. Still working on details but coming asap!

www.madeinmag.ca

4. At 6 foot tall, I am a member of the “Talls”- (I admit to loving the Real Housewives shows and Atlanta’s Nene’s designations of “The Talls” and “The Smalls” cracks me up) which you probably already know, but along with tall body comes tall feet. I love and obsess over cute shoes, but they are hard to find in size 12. Which is probably good or my bank account might be in trouble! For now, my go-to brand of choice are Clarks, always comfy and stylish. However! My dream shoes might happen to be Manolo mary janes, size 12 please.

Scrap vomit strips count=320! I need at least 400 to get enough blocks. All sewn by hand! #yesIamcrazythanksforasking

5. I almost became a fashion designer. I took sewing all thru highschool with the idea that I’d go into a fashion design program in college. I studied fashion magazines like nobody’s business, and even took a college fashion illustration course while still in highschool. Last minute, I changed my mind and went for graphic design instead, and am very glad I did!

Take ma pickture mama! #dailystarr6. Can I add a  number 6? I do.not. like. having. my. picture. taken. Do. Not. Like. So I challenged myself to have it done and the results are at the beginning of this post and I love it. So SO glad I did it. Such a great and positive and fun experience! I’d highly recommend it!  You can check out the studio where I went here, Cathy is lovely and so awesome at what she does! Amazing!

modern nybeauty

Show us your stash!

I decided I’d be real world with this- mostly because I really don’t feel like tidying up right now- and also because this is how my stash always looks despite my best efforts to make it all pretty and Pinterest-worthy. Who lives like that for real? Not me!  I don’t have the time. Weekend comes and bing! I’m a bit of a tornado, pulling stuff as I need it. I know where everything is and that’s what I think is most important, I hate spending time looking for stuff I know I have but tidied away and can’t find it anymore. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

stash

My shelf is an Ikea shoe rack- but I turned it into my stash chest. Complete with a massive scrap bin built in, my Tickle Trunk!

scraps

In my craft closet I store my vintage sheets, plus randomn odds and sods- knitting needles, sewing patterns, batting, whatever I can shove in there. I always leave the doors open, a little superstition I have.

closet

Show us your sewing room or space, we wanna see where you do that thing you do so well…

sewingroom

It’s a mess. I know.  But, a creative mind is never tidy right? I can however justify it’s current state in that I just got back from doing  a presentation to the Sunshine Coast Quilter’s Guild- such a warm and friendly group, so I have stuff unpacked and piled everywhere that still needs to be put away (read as in the same piles just in a different room).

Finally finished this project! "Studio" quilted sign for my art room!
I keep some of my fave collections around me, my sadly kind of neglected Blythe dolls, vintage sewing supplies, inspiration board, and a plant or two for good measure. I also have a record player buried in there, and a collection of fabulous sewing tunes like Harry Belafonte’s greatest hits, various Hed Kandi compilations, Buena Vista Social Club, and oldie lounge compilations.

What makes your quilts modern and how would you describe the modern aesthetic to say, a very traditional quilter who was interested in finding out more?

Madrona Road in the City

This is a question we all hear a lot, what is the difference between modern quilting and traditional? I think it’s hard because everyone has their own interpretation and I think that is what makes modern quilting “modern”.

sari silks runner

I respect traditional quilting and all of the techniques and designs are beautiful and inspiring, and it’s good to know the basics or “the rules” as  a starting point, as it is with any art or craft you might try. But for me, I see my own quilts more as art and an expression of my artistic aesthetic. Kind of like painting with fabric or playing with a blank canvas, assembling pieces until they “work” for how I want my quilt to work.

I don’t follow patterns, I make them up. I might be inspired by an existing pattern, but I’ll always change it up somehow to be my own.

I don’t measure anything if I can get away with it, and love to cut with scissors, or a rotary cutter without a ruler- freestyle!

Spoonflower one yard by me, for giveaway day!I don’t buy fabric by designer (faux pas to say that since I’m also a designer?) but by colour, and by colour that will work for a project I am working on or thinking about.

Close up!

I love the solids that are used heavily in modern quilting but I also love subtle- or not so subtle, prints, semi-solids, and textures, and can find a use for most fabrics, even if they are deemed “traditional” in theme. I have been known to put chunks of batiks or “old” prints in my quilts, and I think it adds another artistic level to them! In fact I think if used in a specific and thoughtful modern way, any fabric can be modern, even batiks or reproduction prints. Did I just say that outloud? Hmm maybe I’ll challenge myself to do a modern batik quilt, anybody up for that? wink wink!

I believe in doing things my way, not following the crowd, trying new techniques, being fearless and bold, and playing with fabric as if it were paint. There are no mistakes, just happy accidents. There is no particular right or wrong way to do modern, it’s more an expression of you as a quilter and what you love, rather than an expression of a love of tradition.

I will always cut into fabric, nothing is too precious to use. I will always quilt my own quilts, and never be afraid to maybe “ruin” something (and nothing is ever ruined anyways!) how better to learn than to just do it?

So long story short, doing what you love in your own way, is what I think is what is modern!