Did you Hear Who is Visiting US?

I can now tell everyone as it is now official. We are having Sue Daley, the Queen of English Paper Piecing visiting us  at Cynthia's Ark as part of her Australian tour on the 19th October. Can you believe it! I organised it and I am still doing a happy dance she is coming here.

I can tell you it will be held at the Mallala Institute which is down the street from the shop. It will be $30 per person and there will be refreshments available, the shop will be the for some shopping and everyone will receive a special event show bag with some goodies in it.  I am just waiting on confirmation of the time. You are welcome to book a spot now if you are happy with those details.
Sue will be share with us her story and her quilts, which some of you may have seen some of  Sue's quilts already as I have had a few hanging in the shop over the last couple of years. Note: Sue's Evergreen quilt is currently hanging in the shop until 18th August so pop in and have a look before it heads off to join Sue on her tour. Also remember we will be running Evergreen as a block of the month in two versions one using Rustic Romance and the other one will be scrappy. Both are currently being stitched up for samples.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

A New Block of the Month

I have been really quiet here in blogging land. I am still catching up on work from when I was away. It is great to get away but not so great when you come back to a pile of work taller than yourself. Well that's what it feels like. Next time I need to do something about it, so it doesn't happen again or at least not as bad.
The Gypsy Wife Block of the Month is wrapping up over the next couple of months and it is time to let you know what our new Block of the Month program will be.

I like the programs to have different techniques so you can try something different. Plus I like you to have options in the Block of the Month so if you don't like needle turn applique you could machine applique instead.
The new Block of the Month is a Sue Daley Design called Evergreen. I have Sue's quilt in the shop on loan if you want a closer look.

Now the fabrics in our version will be different to Sue's.
Here's the centre block of our version stitched.

The Evergreen block of the month will run over 9 months and will be $36 plus postage each month. You will receive over the 9 months the pattern, acrylic templates, papers for the English paper piecing, fabric for the top and binding.

During the course of this program you will be doing needleturn applique or machine applique, English paper piecing and Hand piecing or machine piecing. So there is a variety of techniques included in this project. This block of the month will start in September, so in the meantime check my blog regularly for my block progress so you get a feel of what the quilt will look like. I can tell you we are using Riley Blake Designs fabrics.

You will be able join this block of the month on our website, ring the shop or visit. Please note when you sign up you are committing to the full 9 months and payment needs to be made with a credit card. You will be able to sign up from the 15th July 2018.

 Until Next Time
Keep Stitching
Cynthia

Cotton Carnivale Part 3.

Here are a few more photos from my trip to Noosa.

Sue Daley's stunning quilts from the left is Evergreen, Round We Go block of the month which you can still join here at Cynthia's Ark with Faded Memories for the fabric or just get the templates and papers and use your own stash. Lastly Sue's new one Windchimes 

 Sue Daley's Evergreen quilt made with templates which can be hand or machine pieced. It will be a block of the month later this year to help us use some of our stash up.

 Funky Friends Factory softies which we already have some in stock and there will be more like Snags the Sausage dog.

 Keera Job who designed Daisy Days which we still have some in store. There will be some of her patterns arriving soon.

 Aggie, Audrey and me.

 Lindsey from Sew to Grow. Her workshop was  a high light. I will be running some clothing workshop with some help.

 Jenny's workshop. How big is my star block? Bottom left.

Joanne from Tranquility Crafts and myself at the gala dinner with special guest Jenny Doan from Missouri Star Quilt Co.

 A couple of shots out and about.

Now I must get back to the real world.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

It's Cotton Carnivale 2017

Yes Cotton  Carnivale  is here. Let me say it was a challenge getting to Noosa this time. The plan was to fly to Sydney then to the Sunshine Coast followed by a short shuttle bus trip to the resort.
I can tell you it didn't go to plan. Due to delays in Sydney I ended up on a flight to Melbourne which didn't get off the ground due to fog. So after a hour and another coffee will finally got going.
By the time I got to the Sunshine Coast  I was only a couple hours late and  my room mate waiting for me.
We eventually got to our destination and after a hike to our room we were back over for a swim in the pool before dinner.
The view from our balcony. We are up a floor this year.

There will be plenty more to come about this weekend. It is a great event to attend and we will learn lots.

Until Next Time
Keep Stitching
Cynthia

English Paper Piecing and Needle Turn Applique Extravaganza

Over the coming months we are going to work on our English Paper piecing and needle turn applique skills. Come into store and see one of the English paper piecing  or needle turn applique demonstrations to get yourself ready or started on the Pemberley Block of the Month or All Over the Octagon Fussy Cutting Fabric Club. Stock up your English Paper piecing supplies, enjoy a cuppa and biscuit, we may include a few rounds of calendar bingo if there is suitable numbers in store at the same time. Who know what other surprises may happen? I have a couple more ideas that may just happen.

Pemberley Block of the Month is a 12 month program involving needle turn applique and English paper piecing. It is $42 per month plus postage and includes a free Cynthia's Ark Fussy Cutting Pack to get you started with your first month.

All Over the Octagon Fussy Cutting Fabric Club is a 12 month fabric club featuring English Paper Piecing octagons in many different ways. It includes papers, templates and 6 x Fat 8's of modern bright fabrics each month. We are going to brighten up the world with our octagons.  It is $36 per month plus postage only on the first month which includes your  FREE Cynthia's Ark starter pack of needles, glue pen and thread. Then it is a flat $36 per month.

So if you are interested pop over to Cynthia's Ark and join up online or pop into the shop on Saturday 14th May to sign up. Only a few spots left in both clubs. Don't wait or you may miss out.

Until Next Time 

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Octagons and more Octagons

At Cynthia's Ark we are going to run the All Over the Octagon Fussy Cutting Fabric Club starting late May. It is a 12 month program and over the program you will receive 72 fat 1/8ths of fabric, the equivalent to 9 metres of fabric,13 different EPP shapes and associated templates and 1 design booklet.So each month you will receive 6 Fat 8's, 1 packet of EPP Shapes & template (1 bonus set in month 6).
The idea of this program is to give you a large variety of fabrics to fussy cut and to mix and match with different shapes and plainer more basic fabrics. We have not included the fabric for the joiner blocks as the final design layout is up to you. Remember you don't have to use every piece of fabric each month as you may want to save some pieces to use in other months. Some of my sample octagons at vary stages.

Plus when you join Cynthia's Ark All over the Octagon Club you will receive our Fussy Cutting Starter Pack free with your first month. Valued at over $35. With this bonus pack you will be able to start stitching straight away.

Each month is $36 plus postage on the first month only.  I look forward to you joining us in this club. Book your spot at Cynthia's Ark today. Limited spots available.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Forget me Not Sew Along #5

It has been a while since I posted anything about this project and considering how little sewing I did did through November this project is the only one that has seen any real progress. This is where I was up to the last time I posted on this project.

In the last month I finished adding a little red half flower filler. Plus the white border right around and the multi coloured border that also went right around.

Next there is some star points to be added but I have decided the colour of the centre yet.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Forget Me Not Sew Along #4

I have done a little more on my Forget Me Not project. There has been a lot of other stuff going on, so sewing time has been precious when I have had a few minutes. So this project has been the go to project because it is English Paper piecing. I can pick it up and spend 5 minutes on it at a time. I am up to step 6 and that is a little flower fill in piece so it hasn't taken me long to create the 6 wedges.

Sewing them in will take a little longer and I will enjoy every stitch I make as I know there won't be many this week.

Don't forget if you see a fabric you like in this project, they are all available at Cynthia's Ark

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching 

Cynthia

Forget Me Not Sew Along #3

I have been jumping between projects over the last few weeks. This project had been put to one side and now my star is finished it is time to get back to it. This is where I was last time I posted on this project.

 Since then I have added 6 more flowers to my project.

So this is what it looks like now and I am ready for the next step.

I took my project outside for this picture but it was a little breezy this morning so it took a couple of goes to get this shot. This is what I was getting.

My hexagons are all cut ready for gluing for the next step.
All these fabrics I am using in this project are Penny Rose Fabrics and are in stock in my shop
  Cynthia's Ark.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Quilting Star

I have been doing some English paper piecing lately and I have been sewing along with the Fat Quarter Shop EPP Sew Along on Instagram using the beautiful blues from Katagami range of fabrics..

We are up to the quilting stage of the project. I pinned it on Monday ready for quilting I was hoping one night during the week I would find some free time but it didn't happen.
It was Friday night before I could sit down in front of the machine and tackle this one. I will have to find some serious sewing time  before the end of October as I have 2 project which deadlines are the end of the month. Plus there is one I really need to start on which has a December deadline. Oh boy! I will need to hustle to achieve these deadlines.

I am using a variegated thread for the star and doing some simple straight quilting over the star. Who chose this thread? It was one problem after another but maybe I should of stopped when I got a big bird's nest thread tangle when I was winding the bobbin and picked something else. There is no shortage of threads for me to choose from. Now it is a synthetic thread but I really like the sheen and the colour, plus I have used it before as a quilting thread but I don't remember having problems. As I continued, it was coming off the spool loosely and the machine kept coming unthreaded and a had a few more tangles to deal with. Luckily it is only a small project so I was able to complete the star. The problems I was having influence my choice to change threads when I was ready to quilt the background. I went back to my Aurifil cotton, this time I have selected the #2021 in the 40 wt,  it is part of my Cynthia's Ark Batik Bright Thread Club(You can start your collection at Cynthia's Ark ) and away I went quilting to my heart's delight.

 Normally you would quilt it all then trim it back to the size that you want but I knew my piece was 3-4 inches bigger and I didn't want to waste the thread and my time quilting it all only to cut it off, so once the quilting reached the size I wanted I cut it down to the finished size and then I only had to fill in the corners to complete it. I am so pleased how it has turned out.

Now to the binding I am thinking of one of the darker blues for the binding.

What colour would you choose from the fabrics in my project?

All these fabrics are available online and in store at Cynthia's Ark

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Forget Me Not Sew Along #2

This is what I have been stitching over last week as part of the Forget Me Not Sew Along.

Once I got them completed I had a look to see which fabrics I wanted to use next. I want to do some more fussy cutting for the next bit, I just can't decide if I want to use blue or gold next. Maybe I will use both.
This week we need to make 6 more flowers. This is what my flowers are going to look like 1 done and 5 more to go.
This is what I selected to use.

Until Next Time
Keep Stitching
Cynthia

Hot Bolt of the Week #4

This week's Hot Bolt of the Week is Sue Daley Designs To Norway with Love Floral Diamond fabric. It is only $12.00 a metre for this week. It is a bargain at this price and with 3 other bolts from the range still stock. There is possibilities for this fabric.

This fabric is strongly featured in my Inklingo Star quilt which I have been quilting this week.  So be quick to take advantage of this price. Visit Cynthia's Ark to purchase some.  My star quilt ready for quilting.

Until Next Time 

Keep Stitching

Cynthia