Oodles and Oodles of New Fabric!

We had 6 huge boxes of fabric delivered today! Lots and lots of bargains priced at 8.99/metre (8.09) per yard ... and some new ones priced at 5.99/metre (5.46/yard). There are lots of great kids prints ... such as the nice blenders below from Avlyn...some summer prints and new panels. There are also lots of jewel toned blenders, some gorgeous browns and greys and a bright floral line called Dutch Treat ... more pictures to follow!

Kids Brights from Avlyn! Click here to purchase ....
5 FQs only 9.99...yardage also available!

Sew Sisters in the News

We had a bit of excitement at the store yesterday when a Globe and Mail reporter popped by for a visit...here's the story!

http://www.reportonbusiness.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080429.wrebay29/BNStory/Business/home

Here's how I look to the Globe ... although I'm not normally standing around scowling and looking so firm!

Weekly Special! All Thread Buy 4 Get 1 Free

This week we have a special on all thread:

Buy 4 Get 1 Free!

We stock:

• Aurifil Thread which is an extremely high quality Italian thread that is suitable for piecing of all kinds. We find it to be excellent for hand work as it rarely tangles up. It 3.79/200 metres for plain colours and $4.29 for variegated. Buy 4 get one free!
  
• Sulky Blendables. Blendables are a high quality long-staple 100% Egyptian Cotton thread. There are 42 different variegated colours. They are 30 weight so are wonderful for hand and machine quilting. Our price is only $7.29 per spool. Buy 4 get one free!
  
• Gutermann Jumbo Spools. For a well-priced but reliable, quality thread we stock Gutermann 800 metre spools for $7.29. There are 36 colors in stock. Buy 4 get one free!
  
• Gutermann Creativ heavyweight silk thread … 100 meters only $3.89. Buy 4 get one free!
  
• Gamut Embroidery Thread ...1000 metres of high quality embroidery thread for $3.00. Buy 4 get one free!
  

Getting Ready for the Creativ Festival!

We are busy cutting and folding and otherwise preparing for the Creativ Festival. The Spring show is at the International Centre in Toronto. The Hours are:

Friday April 25th 10 - 8

Saturday April 26th 10 - 6

Sunday April 27th 10 - 5

We are in booth 239 which is halfway down the main aisle in Hall One!

What can you expect to find in our booth this time around?

• 150 bolts of batiks priced at 9.99/yard!
• 400 bolts of other fabric at 6.99/yard!
• 1000s of fat quarters $4/10.00!
• Giant bins of sale fat quarters for $1.50!
• Olfa blades 5 blades only $16.99!
• Microstich Basting Guns only $29.99!
• 100s of books priced at the US ticket price (or less)!
• Warm and Natural Batting by the Bolt...our regular price is 12.75/yard...for the bolt of 20 yards pay only $175.00...do you want to guarantee you get one? Pre-order by phone and save an additional $10.00! 416 633-8800
• Plus lots of surprises and specials!

Where oh Where Did Sew Sisters Go??? Oh There they Are!

Oh my - I really pulled a fast one this afternoon. I accidentally deleted our entire website. By some marvel of modern technology when I tried to delete one category I deleted the whole megillah! Yikes!

I quickly called my technology support guys at NI Solutions (that's my hubby's company) where they promptly calmed me down (I thought I was going to throw up) and had it all restored within an hour. Whew - what a close one!

Meanwhile 3 big boxes arrived in the shop! One was all the way from Japan and it was full of more Sashiko Samplers, threads and books!

The other two came from England (via Montreal) and contained all sorts of lovely new fabrics from Makower UK...including the Christmas 2008 fabrics ! More pictures of the new goodies to follow!

Don't forget that the 1930s repros are on sale this week for 5.99/yard and that we are drawing names for free tickets to the Creativ Festival so pop on by and fill out a ballot to win!

Everyone's Working Hard and a Fun Sidetrip!

This has been a fun week in the shop! On Thursday we had a one block wonder class ... it really is a terrific technique... one of the women converted this terrific moose print...

Into these blocks...

Here is Terri hard at work (and still looking glamorous). Yes your eyes aren't deceiving you ...Terri is hand piecing the quilt! She truly is the fastest, most accurate hand piecer I have ever seen!

Today Cheryl Smith finished up her Creative Doll making workshop and the results were outstanding. I let my battery die on the camera so I couldn't snap any pictures! Halfway through the day Cheryl realized she forgot her felting needles so I got to go on a field trip to find some for the class. I wound up at Quiltomatic on Bathurst (just south of St. Clair) - I was warmly received by Hailey and the store bird ... Pluto.

I was only in there a few minutes but they have some really inspiring projects on display...they have a blog dedicated to work of the people who "inhabit the store" ... called Frayed at the Edges . I also had a look at their courses and I hope that maybe, just maybe, after the Creativ Festival I might be able to squeeze one in! Oh and they had the felting needles AND they were very reasonably priced!

Tourmaline Class, Cool New Book and Weekly Special

Feels like a while since I have posted...I have lots of little bits to write about...

This Sunday Irene Dewar is teaching a wonderful class using her newest pattern, Tourmaline. This quilt showcases batik fabrics but can be made using any 5" charm pack you might have in your stash. Irene is a great technical quilter and can really help you improve your precision in class. It is a small group on Sunday so if you would like to try a new quick project we would love to have you join us! Give us a call and we will tell you all about it : 416 633 8800.

Fat Quarter Frenzy two has arrived in the shop and it doesn't disappoint!

There are 13 projects from table runners to full-size quilts.

This week we have all 1930s reproductions on for 5.99/yard (6.48 per metre) - both online and in the shop! 1930s fat quarter bundles are also marked down for the week!

How to Make a Memory Quilt out of T-Shirts...

As we near the end of the school year why not make a memory quilt for your favourite student. Collect all their beloved t-shirts and assemble them into a quilt top they will cherish for a long time!



Penny Heron wrote in her great blog post on t-shirt quilts...

As a rule of thumb, twenty T-Shirts are needed for a twin sized quilt; thirty will make a double or a queen. But, remember, you may want to use the front AND back of some shirts. You may even want to incorporate small designs on pockets and sleeves into your finished quilt. These often work well as corner posts in the borders and sashings or as quilt labels.

This is not the time to turn into Martha Stewart! The shirts that are the most worn and stained are their favorite shirts and HAVE to be included in the quilt top. If they are in pristine condition, they never liked them - and there are no memories attached to them. When the shirts are stabilized, even a hole or two won’t matter!

Once you have all the well-loved shirts collected all you really need to do is stabalize the stretch in the t-shirt using a fusible stabilizer such as Easy-Knit and assemble the top.


Eleanor Burns, that old pro, has an easy to follow pattern to use if you would like it we have it in the shop...click here

Want to see some samples...try these sites:

http://www.tshirtquilt.com/tshirtquiltsamples.htm

http://www.campusquilt.com/ideas/index.html

http://www.straw.com/quilting/articles/teequilts.html

Creativ Festival Tickets Giveaway! Huge Flannel Sale

We will be giving away a pair of tickets a week until the Creativ Festival which takes place April 25, 26, and 27th at the International Centre.. drop by the store to enter your name in the draw!

Also until April 9th all flannel fabric is 5.99/yard! You can shop online or in person. There are lots of great fabrics from Northcott, Red Rooster, Maywood and more!

New Fabric...Moda Minis and Yummy Batiks!

Well the sun is finally shing and we had a nice bundle of fabric arrive this week so everyone is smiling at Sew Sisters! New in the store are some very useful Moda Minis (and they are only $9.99/metre ... fat quarter bundles are 12.49 for 5 FQs)

We also have a new run of batiks and they are just 9.99/yard!

DVD Rentals ... New Titles

Did you know that we have a DVD rental service? All titles are $5 for 7 days. We just received quite a few new titles...

Everything you need to know for gorgeous landscape quilts. Share Joyce's best ideas-when and where it's convenient for you! Techniques and embellishments anyone can do-even beginners. You'll love Joyce's friendly, encouraging style.

Set of the American Quitlers Society DVDs - this is a great little tv program with lots of projects, featured quilters and history segments. Now that we don't get quilting programming in Ontario this is a really nice series to play in your studio while you sew!

Covers everything once the quilt top is complete. As always, the camera angle and close-ups provide the viewer with the clearest details and enables them to see what Ricky sees while quilting.

By far the most popular series of DVDs in stock: DVD Free Motion Fun With Vines and Leaves Volume 2.