A Weekend in Grand Forks, BC

I didn't have time to post for a while as we were busy preparing for our trip to Grand Forks last weekend.   There are two stores there that sell our work and they have been wanting us to come out and hold some classes so we finally managed to find a weekend where everyone was available.

We held our "Quilt Patterns in Clay" class in the morning for the Heart N'Sole Quilts shop.  Everyone in the class made three quilted designs which were each mounted on a snap so they could wear them after as an interchangeable brooch or necklace.

Sole of the quilted clay pieces created in the class

Catherine of Heart N'Sole Quilts modelling her Quilted Clay Pendant

Heart N'Sole Quilts is located in a really quaint 100+ year old vintage home.  They are in the process of repainting and I love the yellow color!

Catherine of Heart N'Sole Quilts

Besides selling our handcrafted buttons and seam rippers, they also sell our scarf jewelry which we left a new supply of while there.

In the afternoon, we held our "Buttons Make & Take" class for Lynden Tree Yarns.  Everyone was given a block of clay and a huge selection of textures, shape cutters and mica powders to create lots of buttons.  Some made pendants or charms as well and everyone was oooing and aaahing over all the pretty colors that were mixed up and applied to the various designs they created.

This is Brook who is only 10 but our prize pupil in the class!  The buttons and charms she made turned out so well and she was so good with her color and design choices I think she will be an up and coming polymer artist some day.

It was a full but fun day with lots of activity.  We left more buttons and accessories with Lynn at her store and she now has a wide range of shawl pins and sticks with a snap base and decorative snaps for interchanging.

New Interchangeable Shawl Stick Designs Created With a Snap

Our shawl pins are a popular item at the yarn shops where they are sold and sometimes we have a hard time keeping up with making more designs.  It seems as soon as we make a bunch, the stores snatch them up and we don't have many left to list in our Etsy shop or online store.  When we started up our Snap Decisions Collection (Interchangeable Fashion in a Snap!), we came up with an idea of adding a snap base (with clay) to a metal shawl stick so the designs could be interchanged.

Our other shawl pin styles are metal that we cover in clay and after a lot of brain storming (and lack of sleep) I finally figured out how to add a snap base to those as well.  I am quite excited about this.  While the metal sticks work best in knits with a tighter weave, the clay covered sticks are a little thicker, so are a better fit for bulky or loose weave knits.

These shawl sticks work really well with our larger snaps as the snap base is plain (no frame surrounding it).  The snaps can be worn on other similar type snap base accessories and worn as a necklace or even a large chunky ring.

Finally, our third and latest shawl stick design has the clay covered stick and a snap base with a decorative metal frame.  The frame makes the shawl stick more suitable for adding our regular size snaps. 

All of our new shawl sticks with a snap base are available in our online store and some sets we have put together will be in our Etsy shop soon.

They are also available in several yarn shops that sell our work:

Kelowna Yarn & Needlecraft

Kelowna, BC

A Twist of Yarn

Vernon, BC

Intwined Fibre Arts

Salmon Arm, BC

Lynden Tree Yarns

Grand Forks, BC

Donna's Yarn & Craft

Kamloops, BC

Knit 2 Yarns

Kamloops, BC