Salisbury Craft and Hobby Fair Round Up

At the weekend I attended the Salisbury Craft and Hobby Fair which I have done for over 10 years. Things sure have changed in that time. Some good, some bad. That is life you take the ups with the downs.
 I have a real soft spot for this event it was the first big fair I tried. So even with attendance down over the last couple of years I still have gone to sell my wares. One of the things I love about this one is my spot. I am along a wall with a railing high enough that I can hang quilts along. This year I had the beautiful Pemberley Quilt (on loan to me) hanging there. She was eye catching to put it simply. There centre stage you couldn't miss her.

A few English paper piecing demonstrations using some of month #1 fabrics from our All Over the Octagon Fabric Club.

Thomas was popular with the kids that all the panels sold out leaving 3 kits only. They are part of the Quick Quilts series.

There was plenty on offer but fabric was the most popular.

Of course this little giraffe Raff was a big hit. So I have kitted it up with the pattern so you can make one yourself in this colourway.
Until Next Time
Keep Stitching
Cynthia

Blocks of the Month, Fabric and Thread Clubs

At Cynthia's Ark our Block of the Month's, Fabric and Thread Clubs are growing. Have you visited our website recently and seen we now have a section that holds these Clubs together for ease of locating them. Previously they were all of the place. Now they are at your fingertips.
Since I am here let me tell you about them.

At Cynthia’s Ark we have 4 Clubs on offer for you to join. Please feel free to ask questions if you have any or if you have a theme you would like to suggest, we would love to hear it.

Batik Fabric Club – In our Batik Fabric Club you receive a colour themed pack of hand dyed Batik Cotton fabric which contains 4 x 30 cm width of the fabric. Plus there will be a bonus surprise in your parcel in January, April, July and October. Each month is $30 plus postage.

Stashing Building Club – In our Stash Building Club you receive a themed packed of quilting fabric which contains 5 x 30 cm width of the fabric. Plus there will be a bonus surprise in your parcels in January, April, July and October. Each month is $38 plus postage. This is the perfect way to increase your stash, add variety to your stash or if you are only starting on your quilting journey to build a stash.

This is April's Selection from Leonie Bateman's Harrington range. Also I have a surprise planned for May and you are going to want April's pack once it is revealed. Join today so you will receive the surprise next month.

All Over The Octagon Fussy Cutting Fabric Club - It is a 10 month English paper piecing program with fabric, template and papers each month that make octagons when pieced together.   It is $38 per month plus postage for the first month only.  It is starting mid May 2016. With the first month you will receive a Cynthia's Ark Fussy Cutting Starter Pack for free. It includes a Sue Daley glue pen, needles, thread and a fussy cutting mirror. (Valued at $36.50) 

Cynthia’s Ark Batik Brights Thread Club – In our Batik Brights Thread club you receive 6 x 200m spools of specially selected Aurifil 40 wt sewing cotton which is perfect for all your machine piecing and quilting projects. As a bonus you receive a personalised storage case with your first month parcel. Each month is $39 plus postage. This Club only runs for 12 months.

 The Thread club has a set 12 month plan and you can start when you like.   The Batik Fabric Club and Stash Building Fabric club has no set time plan, they are both ongoing clubs, stay for as long as you like. If you choose to leave a club please email Cynthia’s Ark and giving me 1 month notice of cancellation. Our email is sales@cynthiasark.com.au 

Look out for the post on the Pemberley Block of the Month starting in June if I have my way. 

Plus a new Stitchery Club for all those stitchery lovers out there. A few details to iron out still but it is looking great.
Until Next Time
Keep Stitching
Cynthia

Cynthia's Ark Christmas Reproduction Sampler BOM

If you have visited my Facebook page recently you may have seen the post on my new Block of the Month.  This project started out as a special customer request and as I worked on it I could see it running as a Block of the Month program, so the last few weeks I have been working on it flat out to get it through the design stages ready for sewing and instruction writing.
Here are some of the basic details for you to get things started. It will be a mystery to start with but I will reveal the quilt design once I am happy with the final block placements. There will be 35 blocks x 6 inch in this quilt and it will be a machine pieced sampler but it wouldn't be hard to do it by hand if you prefer. The colours will be an assortment of reproduction reds, greens and creams. Here is a guide to the layout of the quilt and the first 3 blocks. There will be a mix of blocks at different skill levels. As you can see January's blocks are at the easy level but I will mix them up as we go along. The finished size of the quilt is approx. 50 x 64 inches.

So each month over 12 months you will receive a parcel that will have the fabrics for your blocks with instructions on how to piece the blocks. Most months there will be 3 blocks but a couple months you will have 4 blocks. Plus over the 12 months you will receive your sashing and cornerstone fabrics, border and binding fabrics. The fabric will be spread over the 12 month to help keep the postage cost down. Plus there is bound to be a little Christmas gift at the end of it. The cost will be $30 plus postage(Australian Dollars) but I am happy to ship overseas, just note the postage maybe be different. This Block of the Month will be dispatch about the middle of the each month (so around the week of the 15th).
Any questions just ask me. I hope you will join me in sewing this quilt. You can sign up for the Christmas Reproduction Sampler at www.cynthiasark.com.au now. You will find it at the bottom of the homepage under the Clubs/ BOM heading. Limited spots, so be quick.

Now since we are speaking of Blocks of the Month I asked late last year about doing the Pemberley Quilt as a Block of the Month and I got some good feedback and there was enough interest. So it will go ahead. I will post more about it soon but at this stage it looks like it will be an April start for this one. It will be a little dearer than my Christmas Sampler as it is an English Paper Piecing quilt and the papers will be included with your fabrics and pattern. I will let you know when you can sign up for it but here is a picture of it if you haven't seen it.

It looks like it will be a busy year here at Cynthia's Ark. I look forward in you joining us in all the sewing adventures planned. Don't forget Project Uninterrupted has start and we are work on finishing some of our UFO project. You can join us in person at one of our workshops in store or work from where you are and join our Cynthia's Ark Project Uninterrupted group on Facebook to share what you are working on to encourage each other to finishing some projects off. For more details about Project Uninterrupted click on the button on the right hand side on my blog to get you going.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia