Pia Jane Bijkerk at Magnolia Square Tomorrow

Anyone who has been reading my blog for a while would have noticed Pia Jane Bijkerk's blog on my blogroll.
I have been a huge fan for a couple of years and have loved her beautiful words and images.
Pia has a beautiful new book (sneak peek images on The Design Files blog) which is being launched at Magnolia Square at Malvern Town tomorrow from 12pm until 4pm.
So come along and get your copy from Scarlet Jones at Magnolia Square, hot off the press and have Pia Jane sign it.

Fresh Look

I think I read somewhere that if you plan to do something, work out how long it takes then double it. I now totally agree.
Geoff and I thought it would be so easy to sand all the floors recoat and change the shop around in three days.
Well we got one room done ish, (still needs the displays done) as usual though as soon as you shift something you see that you then need to paint. Other than that the new counter and French cupboard look fabulous. The shop looks so much larger now.
Looks like Christmas we will be getting the painters in.
Meanwhile a few quilts and posters strategically placed will suffice till then.
Luckily we are more realistic in our timeline for opening our new clothing store in the end shop, and it is a great place to hide all the crap until I deal with it sooner rather than later.

Easter Trading

As I have mentioned before Geoff and I are using this Easter to revamp the shop but not until Sunday.
So we are open for business as usual on Saturday at Patchwork on Central Park and Scarlet Jones 10 am to 4 pm.
All the other days we will be closed, we re open for normal business on Wednesday.
So have a really Happy Easter and enjoy your extended break.

Around Scarlet Jones

Here are a few snaps of the latest stock to arrive in Scarlet Jones. We will only be open on the Saturday of the Easter weekend, a good opportunity for any interstate visitors to come in and say hello to Kate.

Daniella's Quilts

The other day the lovely Amy from "Say it with Flowers" was in the store getting some gorgeous Liberty's to make a quilt with applique circles she had seen on a blog. She described it to my friend Daniella in no time at all Daniella had whipped up her own version using a simplified way that Effie and I suggested.
Daniella drew out various plate sizes onto Vlisofix, stuck them onto Liberty 1/6th's, cut out the circles then put them onto a heavyweight linen we sell in our shop.
She then stitched around 1/4" inside the circle with perle 8. It looked gorgeous.
Photo's were taken with my iphone so not that clear, but give you the idea.

OMG What a Mess

Today we started our small reno at Patchwork, many may have noticed in the last few week that we were in more than the usual disarray.
We are starting with the back room and intend giving the shop a long overdue fresh look. Geoff has sanded the floor and will continue the rest of the shop at Easter.
We will only be open on the Saturday of Easter and closed Friday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
Hopefully by Wednesday we will be looking gorgeous again.
But for now new fabric is arriving thick and fast, so ignore the mess for a few weeks and check it out.

Liberty Strips Take Two

This is a bracelet made using a strip of Liberty tied into your arm and a Vintage clip on plastic earing I picked up at Camberwell Market. Would look much better on a younger arm model but unfortunately she moved out.

Dressmaking Service

For anyone that does not know, we have the most wonderful service at patchwork on Central Park.
You know that favourite shirt,dress etc that you keep because it is perfect on but threadbare, now you can get it re made in any of our special fabrics.
Our wonderful dressmaker will cut you a pattern and re make it for you from a fabric of your choice from our shop. She does not do fittings but makes it exactly the same as the sample.
Ask in the store and the girls can give you the pricing, it is from about $90 plus fabric.
The photo's above are some she has jus made for me.

Liberty Strip Pom Pom Flowers

We are selling narrow ribbon strips of Liberty in the shop and I am regularly asked "what do you do with them" I will show and tell in the future posts. Today it is flowers made like a pom pom I have used for a bag decoration.

New Project

It has been a while since I have sewn anything as I have been busy sorting out. Yesterday a customer came in with an adorable two year old and she had a patchwork skirt. It was so cute I thought I would make one using the lovely Japanese fabrics we have in the shop at the moment and mix solids in the same colours. It was made of small 3" squares and gathered at the waist.

Scrap Quilt

This quilt is one mum made using 2 and 1/2" strips. The quilt is 9 blocks by 9 blocks. The finished blocks end up 8" square.
It is a great way to use up those leftover scraps. Try to keep to three colours and then it does not matter what shades you use of those colours. It always seems to work.

Count Your Blessings

Today I am feeling a little flat after waving mum goodbye again, the month has just flown by. A walk around the garden is always a good remedy as the beauty of Autumn is everywhere.
It helps teach you to "Count your Blessings"