BC Quilt Show 2013

We have been preparing for the upcoming BC "Everybody Loves Quilts" 2013 Show.  It is in Salmon Arm this year which is not too far from where we live.  We took a large space so we can display a wide range of the products that we make.  If you click on the poster you will see a map on our website of where the show is located.

I posted this photo on our facebook page a little while ago of a bunch of leaf canes I made that day.  That was an extremely good production time for me and it did help with having most of my clay colors already premixed.

So here is what some of the leaf canes were used for ...

More concave leaf buttons -- this time we made some in a smaller size that will be perfect for the knitter.  Our leaf buttons have been a popular item but since we put a lady bug on them, people cannot seem to resist them!  So we should have lots of leaf buttons available at the quilt show next week.

More Butterflies and Owls

There has been a big demand lately for items with butterflies and owls.  These are more butterflies this time  made into shawl sticks.

And here are more owls made into shawl sticks as well.

Whenever I make a new item such as these owls, I like to take a photo showing basic construction.

I then print it out on an index card with more instructions such as clay thickness, clay color recipes used, etc.  I then keep it in this mini album that sits on my desk for a quick reference guide.  It is important that I do this and not just trust my memory for when I need to make more.

Here are more owls that I made using Judy Belcher's Knitting technique on CraftArtEdu.

My friend, Cynthia Blanton, lives miles away at the other end of the country, but thanks to the internet and e-mails, we feel much closer.  We seem to have a lot of similar interests -- at least where polymer clay comes in.  She has been playing with Judy Belcher's tutorial as well and you can see some cool items she has made on her blog.  I love her "knit" sweater which would pair quite nicely with my knit socks.

I should mention that all of the above items (except Cynthia's adorable sweater of course) are now available at The Falkland General Store.  This is a real gem with lots of great supplies and gift type items for the knitter or anyone else who just enjoys cool stuff!

Butterfly Scarf Necklaces

We just returned from another road trip to the Central Okanagan area.  The past two months have been a blur with long hours spent in the studio claying and Dave also helping with finishing and all the packaging to do.  Taking the time out to deliver our work in person to the stores is a nice break and a good excuse to get out of the house and away from the rat race.  We are fortunate to have family in the area we visit so is nice to combine some time with them between business.

These are some butterfly style scarf necklaces that we made -- one in chocolate brown and cream and the other in a candy floss pink.

While visiting with our family I was showing them some of our newer pieces.  As soon as my mother-in-law (Dave's mom) saw this butterfly scarf necklace she put it on and decided it was hers.  I told her it could be her early birthday present and she was quite happy with that as you can see the pleased look on her face!

Faux Knitting Techniques

I've been playing around with Judy Belcher's tutorial, Polymer Micro Knitting.  I love how she worked out how to replicate 21 different knitting stitches in polymer clay.  She starts with the very basic stitches and then combines them in various ways to create more advanced ones.  Her lesson is pretty clear and easy to follow.  The Missoni inspired stitches remind me of the Bargello but with texture.

Here are a few items I made using this tutorial which have been a big hit with the yarn shops.  You can see a list of all the stores that sell our handcrafted items on our website.

Crackle Medallion Scarf Jewelry

I always wanted to use inks more with my polymer clay but found them to be rather intimidating due to them being difficult to control and work with.  Barb Fajardo's "Crackly Goodness" tutorial gave me the jumpstart I needed to overcome my fear and I have now been challenging myself to experiment further.  The "crackling effect" was not really what I was after but more the gorgeous rich colors the inks can give.  My main  intention was to make buttons but I then decided to experiment further by creating other pieces such as eyeglass holders, shawl pins, earrings and finally some new scarf jewelry pieces.

These are some bails and matching beads ready to assemble.

Some of these are now available at Linda's Quilt Shoppe's booth at the Quilt BC 2013 show that is on until this Saturday.

Quilt BC 2013 - Canadian Quilt Show

The Canadian quilt show is in Penticton, BC this year and officially starts tomorrow.  It is put on by the Canadian Quilters' Association and is generally down east and not at our end of the country.  We would love to make a trip down there to take in the events but we have another quilt show to prepare for coming up in Salmon Arm in 3 weeks.

Linda's Quilt Shoppe will be selling a good assortment of our handcrafted buttons, scarf jewelry and other accessories at the merchant mall.  Some of these include our new eyeglass holders which we have created in various styles.  They are all a brooch + pendant combo so they can be worn as a pin or hung as a necklace on the braided leather cord that is included.

The quilt show is on from the 16th to the 18th and you can see more info if you click here.

Quilt Canada and New Scarf Jewelry for Summer

I am finally back into blogging again now that we are finally getting caught up on our summer orders.  We actually spent the last few days recovering from our busy time by visiting with family.  This was followed up with some rigorous house cleaning and studio organizing which was also neglected a bit from all the rush.

We are also happy to announce that a good assortment of our new buttons, scarf jewelry and accessories are now available at Linda's Quilt Shoppe in both the Kelowna and West Kelowna stores.  Linda will also be in the Vendor's Market at the Quilt Canada show in Penticton this Thursday to Saturday (May 16 - 18).  Everyone is quite excited as the Canadian Quilt show doesn't come to our end of the country very often so it should be well attended.  Many of our handcrafted items will be available at Linda's booth.  One of the items will be a selection of our scarf jewelry.

We now have a new line of scarf necklaces for the summer which we have titled "Soft Elegance".  They are much lighter with our own handcrafted clay bail making them more suitable for the warmer weather.  We searched around for the perfect scarf and found these gorgeous polyester ones.  They came in a wide range of colors so was a lot of fun matching up the clay colors in different designs.

The scarves are light and airy and feel really soft around the neck.

You can see the various styles and colors available on our website.

Black and White With a Touch of Red

The gigantic concave leaf buttons we created have also been a big hit.  We had a request for them in black and white and I love how the red lady bug really pops.

The fun thing about making buttons for both yarn and quilt shops is that each type of store prefers different styles.  Some tend to go best with the yarns and other natural fibers where others work well with the larger quilt patterns.  Some of our buttons happen to cross over and are popular in both areas such as these. They are quite large so would make an awesome accent for either a quilted or felted bag.  They  would also be fun to add to a sweater or quilted jacket.  These are available at Heather's Fabric Shelf in Kamloops as well as  the Falkland General Store in Falkland and Linda's Quilt Shoppe in Kelowna.