Village Fabrics & Crafts

What's New

Updated 7/14/10

Just let us know if there is something you read about and would like before your next visit - we will ship! The web page and email are not secure so please do not send credit card numbers or other personal information via these methods. Please write or call with what you would like or any questions you may have.

What’s New

We have joined facebook! Log in to your facebook account and search for us under Village Fabrics & Crafts. Click the “like” button and you can stay up to date with all that is going on.

7/14/10

Plaid, texture and dot flannels arrived today! A whole grouping of browns, blues, tans, reds and greens!

There’s a black and red buffalo check style included and the polka dot flannels will add excitement to the plaids and textures. There’s even a patchwork print available in two different color ways. A piece of these with a backing and either tying or a bit of quilting and you’ll have a cozy quilt in no time! These are definitely great fabrics for flannel shirts and PJ’s, too!

A cheerful summery group of fabrics with checks, dots, plaids, small, medium and large floral prints all in turquoise, pinks, greens and a bit of yellow. There’s even a print of dragonflies and one of cute snails to complete the look. The different designs and sizes of the prints fit together so nicely for your tote bags, purses, table runners, placemats and the most darling quilt for a new baby girl!

The next fabric has a black background with gorgeous bright colored butterflies scattered about. These butterflies are spaced perfectly for fussy cutting or using them for appliques.

Everyone’s been making the woven fabric baskets and now they’ve gotten so much easier! The stiff interfacing used in the fabric tubes now comes precut on a roll. With these you really can buy time!

Decorated cotton tea towels can’t be beat for a little something to add a special touch in your kitchen or for wrapping a gift of cookies, muffins, etc. Now there are even more colors from which to choose making it even easier to coordinate your décor.

It’s summer, it’s busy, you are camping and you want good food without all the fuss. Check out the new cookbooks for grilling the entire meal, special camping recipes and even cooking in foil for clean up that’s a snap. More time to enjoy summer or your favorite stitching project!

6/02/10

Quilt Market Review
    In a previous Enews, I told you that I hoped to be able to send pictures from Quilt Market for Lisa to post.  I did figure out how to send pictures via the cell phone.  However, we found that there are all kinds of copyright and privacy issues in posting pictures over the internet.  In respect of these issues, we did not post pictures.   We took lots of notes to give you the absolute best descriptions and as always, when you shop, we demo these new products for you!
    As I compiled the notes and looked at all that we learned and saw in the four days at Quilt Market, it’s no wonder we were tuckered out!  It was a great Market.   We attended very informative classes and viewed so many interesting demonstrations!  We learned so much by being able to talk to the designers, authors and inventors.  They can answer all the questions and give you every detail of their products, books and patterns.
    After being in business for 24 years, this Market certainly confirmed that quilting and the fabrics arts are alive and well.   There are so many  wonderfully creative new products, books and patterns.
     I’d have to say my favorites are the new rulers that create entirely different quilt block designs.  You can easily turn squares and rectangles into curvy blocks!  And we’re talking gentle curves that are so easy to sew!  Can’t wait to get my hands on these and try them out!
    Rachel Cross has a new series of rulers made for cutting your quilt block pieces after your strips are sewn together.  Simply sew the strips, cut the shapes and your quilt block is almost complete, just a couple more seams and it’s done.  Not sewing and pressing so many small pieces makes your quilt blocks much more accurate and saves time too!  What a winning combination!
    Alex Anderson, Eleanor Burns, Ricky Tims and Sharon Pederson each demonstrated their new die designs for the Accuquilt GO! fabric cutter.  They showed all the block possibilities, how to get the best use of your fabrics and even what you can do with the “negative” pieces left from cutting the applique shapes.   The Accuquilt GO! is the biggest time saver ever and each and every one of them are so excited about it. 
    Karen Hellaby is such a delightful lady and so clever too.  She’s definitely a lady who thinks “outside the box” and has simplified the construction of the pineapple and attic window blocks into methods that absolute beginners can stitch with perfect results.  There’s even a bonus technique for making curvy attic windows with stunning results.
    Nancy Ziemen has new Trace ‘n Create bag templates and shared with us many extra tips on making your bags look so professional.  With her expert methods to create nice smooth handles, sharply turned corners, evenly sized  piping trim and more, you’ll be delighted with every one you stitch.
    Shelly Stokes, author of “Paintstiks on Fabric”, is a wealth of information!  In her class, we learned not only all the different ways to use the Paintstiks, but what they are made of, how to store them, what fabrics to use and combining colors and application methods.  And, because we are all human and make mistakes, she showed us how to deal with those, too.  Not thinking, I wore light colored pants to class, and her class is so thorough that I left class without any new “artwork”  on my clothing!
    Kathy Brown is the author of the “Take 5” quilting patterns and her new book “Take 5”.  She gave us the background on the development of her “Take 5” theory and how you can create such beautiful quilts with just 5 fabrics!  In fact, Lisa is making the quilt from the cover of the book with the new pansy fabrics that just arrived.
    Sue Daley is an “English Paper Piecing Specialist” from Australia. She shared with us her time saving method of doing English paper piecing without basting the fabric to the paper pieces.  No basting means no basting stitches to remove!  Another great time-saver!
    Stacy Michell (daughter of Marti Michell) showed us how you can do fusible applique without raw edges!  Your applique pieces are securely held in place without pins to snag your threads as you stitch!
    During dinner one evening, totally by chance, I ended us seated next to Ilene Bartos, author of “Spectacular Rectangles:  12 quilts from a Simple Shape”.  She is a delightful lady with a great sense of humor and she knows her rectangles!
    
    These are just a few of the highlights of all we learned.  We will be offering a ruler demo day once all the new rulers arrive so stay tuned for more details on that event.

Fabrics
    There’s an ever expanding pallet of batik colors and patterns.  Newest to this market were absolutely gorgeous light tones.  These are just what we need for backgrounds!  A background created with a whole collection of pieced squares would be really stunning for applique designs.
    Lots of nice flannels from kids brights, pastels, plaids and of course nature themes.
    Coming soon are new color assortments of 2 ½” strips (jelly rolls) and 10” squares of batiks.  Batik print themes include new butterflies, dragonflies, leaves, flowers and so many new colors of the tonal batiks.
    A glimpse of the new prints to be arriving are songbirds, hummingbirds, snowmobiling, a great sport fish panel, antique sewing machines and buttons, sewing notions and more.  Full details will be in future newsletters as they arrive.

Books and patterns
    “Raggy Quilts” are as popular as ever and these new patterns are a new twist on the old favorite.
    Embroidery is relaxing and the perfect “take along” project.  These new patterns feature northwoods designs and angels.  Stitch them as redwork, use colors, even color them with Tsukineko inks.  Each pattern includes 12 different designs - a whole quilt - or stitch your favorite; whichever you prefer.  The author had enlarged some of the designs to make pillows and we loved those, too!
    There is a new pattern of stitches for quickly finishing your quilts without the “tufts” of tying, hand or machine quilting and all without basting.  The author is a Mennonite lady who has studied stitches from way back.  She was so interesting to talk to and showed us first hand how simple they are. 
    There are more patterns in the works for the new rulers, Accuquilt GO!, Paintstiks and more.  We’ll keep you posted!

5/04/2010

Get your summer projects organized and ready to go with you!  So many creative and very useful organizers have arrived for sewing, knitting, crocheting, etc.  There are boxes with lots of compartments for all the little things, fun fabric cases for your knitting needles and crochet hooks, projects boxes and my favorite (because I never go anywhere without my knitting) is the new yarn project tote. 
    This tote has it all; a shoulder strap or short handle, pockets, a rubberized grippy bottom so it holds it’s shape, keeps out the dirt and the moisture and keeps it from sliding away.  My favorite feature is the clever design on the top.  The whole top zips open for easy loading and unloading and also in the top are reinforced slots.  These slots allow you to very easily add or remove works in progress and add just the right amount of stability to keep the yarn safely inside while the yarn feeds thru the slots as you knit or crochet.  I am in love with the tote!  It comes in fun colors, too; periwinkle, raspberry and pink. 
    One of the new compartment boxes loaded with all the “tools“, yarns in the new organizer and I’m ready to knit all the way to and from Quilt Market!
    To keep all the threads and snips under control, this clever new notion is a must have.  It’s made of nylon fabric over a very large “slinky-like” spring.  Squish it down and secure with the attached elastic band to make it thin and easy to tote.   When needed simply slide the band off and it pops up ready to be filled with your snips and strings.  It empties in a snap, too,  the nylon fabric allows what’s inside to quickly slip out. 
    “Tawashi” is the Japanese word for a scrubber brush.  The tawashis in this book are crocheted with cotton or acrylic yarns.  They come in fun shapes; 19 in all and include a flower, frog, cat, fish, mitten, butterfly and more.  These will be especially attractive to the kids and may even get them to volunteer for helping with dishes or taking their baths!
    Birds, batiks, Bali Pops, cherries and frogs.  What a fun assortment of fabric themes! 
    There is one each of a cardinal, hummingbird, Oriole and Goldfinch on the panel of this very well done fabric.  The colors are so nice and very realistic.  The coordinates include an allover print of songbirds and a birdhouse print with nice spacing to allow for fusing cutting if desired. 
    Batiks and Bali Pops.  Even more new colors of batiks; they just keep adding more to round out the palette!  Bali Pops are packages of perfectly color coordinated 2 ½” strips of Hoffman Batiks.  There are more new patterns all the time and with the color selections and cutting all done, you will have a quilt in no time!
Or jacket, fabric basket, fabric rugs and more!
    This group of cherry themed fabric is so striking!  The red cherries shine against the black and white colors in the background and the green leaves set it all off perfectly.  There’s a stripe perfect for the 60 degree table runner pattern, cherry coordinate prints and a black with tiny red dots and white with tiny red dots.  It’s a very classy, clean and elegant group of fabrics.
    Smiling frogs sitting in a bed of tulips and daisies.  Who can resist this fun fabric?  Great for any age and any project!
    Yarn lovers take note:  The Needlearts Market comes up in June.  We’re already getting sneak peaks at new colors and patterns.  Watch for future updates!

4/09/10

There’s a brand new color of Zauberball sock yarn.  This is one of your favorite sock yarns now in a beautiful self striping combination of creams, greens and pinks.  Now which pattern?   Knitted socks, plain or fancy cuff or maybe a scarf? The long color stripe pattern lends itself so well to so many possibilities.  We’ll let you know what we decide.
   
    “Wacky Woolies” perfectly describes these fun loving sheep that will make you smile every time you look at them.  They are frolicking on the new mugs, kitchen towels, potholders and oven mitts.  Whether you love wool yarn, love sheep or just need a smile to brighten your day, you can’t go wrong with these fanciful “Wacky Woolies”!
   
    Last fall we introduced you to a series of 12 heirloom embroidered ornaments.  Now there are 3 new designs from which to choose as well as 3 new Christmas stocking designs.  The embroidery designs and the subtle background shading are all printed on the fabric.  You simply embroider them and enjoy!  The new ornament designs are a house, a church and a quilt shop.  The Christmas stocking designs are all done in a crazy pattern style featuring one for baby, one with a quilt/sewing theme and one of traditional Christmas designs.
   
    Create intricate looking fabric braided designs for quilt borders, embellishing towels, tote bags, etc. in no time with the Double Diamond Ruler.  There’s two sizes for the price of one and there are great patterns designed just for using these braid designs.  You won’t believe just how easy this is.  We’ll be doing a free demonstration at the Spring Open House.  Come see it firsthand  and all the possibilities!
   
    Spring is definitely the theme of these two new featured batiks.  One is a print of lady slipper wildflowers and the other of dragonflies. 

Our Blog!

Lisa has a blog for the shop. The address for the blog is http://www.villagefabricsandcrafts.wordpress.com./ Check out the blog to see what is happening in the shop, pictures of the new models as we finish them and class projects.

"All Threads E-News"

Send your email address to villagefab@jamadots.com and we will add you to the list to receive our new email newsletter the "All Threads E-News". It will keep you updated as to what's new, special sales, classes and other events between our regular printed newsletters. Just a note: We do not sell or rent our snail mail or email lists to anyone.

Village Fabrics & Crafts

32702 W Hwy M-123

PO Box 254

Paradise, MI 49768

(906) 492-3803
villagefab@jamadots.com

Village Fabrics & Crafts – Where all threads lead to Paradise.

We are open 7 days/week, 362 days a year.

(Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter.)