Girly Goodness

 No nepotism here, just a beautiful quilt that needed to be shared.  Anna, my sister, started this quilt in Sheena's workshop a couple of weeks ago. It's now all finished and ready to be hand quilted. It is the perfect balance of girliness, without being over the top girly.  Perfect for her little girl Poppy to treasure always.

Anna used some of the new 'A Day in the Country' spots in her quilt top. The coordinating stripes are fantastic too.

See....how good are they!

Around the Balmain Store

Over the past month, the first classes at C&I Balmain have started,  creating such a buzz of excitement and experimentation.  Sheena started off the classes with "Branching Out", teaching the girls all about curved piecing and placement.

This is Ingrid's piecing.  Can't wait to see it finished!

Sarah Fielke's Friday Girls are going in all different, exciting directions.  It will be great to watch each of the ladies projects unfold as we pass through the weeks.  Above is the start of Margaret's new project

 Fiona's lace workshop was wonderful.  So nice to watch the girls grasp and love the new technique that they've learnt.

Newly made in store is this beautiful little dress in Liberty and Eco Baby yarn, whipped up by Donna. Straight from the mouth of a babe I know - "divined"!

Soon to come, some shots of the crochet girls, who have embraced their hooks and are all crocheting up storms and enjoying every moment of it and of each others company too!  That's what it's all about.

classes, classes, classes...

 (lace shawl by Clare Lakewood - mosman park)

Lace knitting is big... we have a class at each store to show you the tricks.  See also the abundance of other knitting disciplines we are teaching this term.

 (crochet cushion by Heather Hunt - balmain)

(flower crochet by Danielle Reader - mosman park)
 

Crochet still continues to be enchanting to many... and with samples like this, who could wonder why?

(Amish inspired quilt - Anthea Carboni - mosman park)

(cushion cover - Sheena Chapman - balmain)

Abundant ideas being taught for our stitchy girls - the two above are just to whet the appetite.

And Sarah Fielke is teaching for us in Balmain - how lucky are we to offer the opportunity, and you to have the option to take that opportunity!

Her new book 'Quilting From Little Things' is inspirational and relevant.  Don't let these learning opportunities with Sarah elude you.

Flick over to our website and pop into the class list relevant to you - I think you might find something to tempt you.  I have only shown you here a sprinkling of the many options available to you this term.

Classes term 2 2011

Two shops means long days for me lately... but a greater joy there is not!  I'm off to the land of slumber...

balmain continued and fabric crochet

Simply put... thanks.  We have read your enthusiastic comments about our new store in Balmain... thanks.  I have received emails with offers of assistance, and talent abounding... thanks.  Even a few heads have popped into the half open doors while the paint dries, and the preparation works continue... thanks.  At such a busy time in the collective lives of those of us at Calico these touches are so uplifting... so many thanks.

Personally what is ringing through clearly is that Balmain is a community of like-minded, friendly, positive souls.  I have lived much of my life in and around Fremantle, here in the west, and that same vibe is what ties me to this environment here.  It feels good... very good.

Anthea has been guiding a class of girls through the ins and outs of fabric crochet.
The enthusiasm was such that before the second class these are some of the goodies the girls whipped up at home.

The above baskets were Jill's creations, just in one week.  The basket in the first image is made of multi-coloured voiles, the lower image shows a green woollen check with cotton string used as a trim for one basket and the other a patterned fabric, with added strips crocheted onto the edge to create the whimsical edging.

Above is Tracy's basket made from cotton fabric with the trims being strips cut from an Indian fabric skirt.

Next term might be your opportunity to learn this fun skill.

class list and Kaffe lecture

today the latest class listing was emailed out to those of you on our list, and an invitation to purchase tickets for the Kaffe Fassett lecture on March 2nd, 2011.

I enjoyed such a lecture by Kaffe two visits to Perth ago, and became an even greater devotee as a result.   Kaffe's books are an inspiration, but he has a wonderful presence when speaking, and I found myself so much more engaged by listening to his descriptions of the elements that trigger his imagination and ever changing works, and enjoying the musings of such a creative man.  All of this accompanied by a spectacular slide show, and Brandon will be along side for some light entertainment.  Of course the lecture content changes for each tour presentation.  Bliss.

To access our class list follow this link.

To purchase a ticket follow through to here.

And how about this:

Lauren Price is staff member Suzie's 18 year old daughter.  Lauren has come up with this and a couple of variations to use on our promotional material for the upcoming tour.  I am so delighted with her work, just a little direction on my part and off she flew.  My thoughts are that this young lady is a very bright star. My favourite colouring of this image is that which we chose for the front of the lecture tickets.  When you receive your ticket you will see what I mean.

Lucy in the sky...

with diamonds.

Our classroom has been sparkling brightly and warmly over the past two weeks with stunning diamond quilt creations.  Sue Hanson joined our teaching crew and was overwhelmed with participants wishing to have a try at a diamond quilt.  We were overwhelmed with the results.

Two of our girls have been back in to show us their progress, Nimet being first, as she was keen to finish the top before heading back to Thailand for a little while.
This was the beginning of Nimet's adventure...

and the finished quilt top...

Kerry was in our second class and came in to show us her progress, from this...

to this...

not quite finished but the story is unfolding.

Anna joined me in the shop on Friday and kept snapping, so enjoy...

Sue guided these girls through the fabric selection process and onwards teaching a very clever piecing technique.

Thank you Sue, we look forward to your next class installment when you are in Perth again, and thank you Nimet and Kerry for thrilling us with your creations.

I will showcase more of these amazing quilts as they revisit us in store.

and more...

Nimet has been a fairly permanent member of the calico and ivy family for a while now.  Her husband has kindly loaned her to us as a semi full-time student, and been left to fend for himself in Thailand while she plays with us here.  We are not complaining, as a matter of fact I have loved getting to know Nimet better.
When Nimet first signed up for a beginner's patchwork class she was like most of us, very unsure of her abilities.
Look at her now...

 this quilt top is the result of a class with Anthea - Contemporary Quiltmaking.

I love it.  We have shared so much excitement with the growth of this work of art.

Then it came to putting together a backing and we encouraged her to add a few quirks, so she took us on... and ran

Well... we all agree this is a quilt in it's own right, so now two new backings need to be made.

This is so much the point of Anthea's classes.  Nothing is carved in stone, they are designed to  stimulate each participant to create and add their own soul.

I believe Nimet has so much more confidence in her creative abilities now, and will miss her when she feels the time has come to return home.

I will be putting the next term class list on our web page in a couple of weeks.  If you are on our mailing list you will receive an email advising you of this.

You too might consider a class with Anthea.

Silly Billy

We had a little visitor while in Mandurah, and he presented us with a few dilema's, you see he was a little bird, and we have a little cat.
The story goes....
Mama and dada bird expelled little Billy (as he became known to us) from the nest, as they felt it was time he took to the skies, but little Billy had other ideas, and chose to be a ground dweller for a while.  No amount of coaxing from mama and dada was going to get Billy to make his maiden flight.
This little scenario was being played out just outside of my kitchen window, and I became very aware of the situation by the somewhat shrill and distressed cries from his parents, as they became aware he could not get back to the safety of the nest, and dark was descending.  Eventually they manouvered Billy to they safest place they could find which was a dark corner by the trunk of the tree that held the nest, and they retreated for the night.
Being very aware that my Lily cat would enjoy the delicious morsel that Billy presented, it was time to take over.  We rigged a box up to the pergola rafters and placed a makeshift nest inside of it for Billy's comfort, and up he went.
It was a mighty blowy night that night, and I ventured out at around 3am to see the box swinging wildly in the wind, but all was well.
Next morning we placed Billy back where he had been left, and began a rotation system of Billy in the house in his nest, and cat outside for a bathroom break, and vice versa.
We found that Billy's problem was that although well developed, his tail feathers had hardly emerged, thus affecting his balance.  Now to cut a long story short, we kept cat from bird for four days, while mama and dada continued to work on Billy's flight abilities.
None of these tiny birds seemed at all unhappy with our human interference, they just had a job to do.
Darling Billy took to the skies and hopefully a happy bird life much to the relief of the by then three carers who had become completely besotted by him.
Now this little story may seem a little removed from Calico and Ivy, but no...

Here you see little Billy in his makeshift nest... yes, I had crocheted it after a lesson from Anthea from assorted shot cottons, and padded it out with fine slivers of Liberty.  A fine pad for a sweet bird.

If you have been considering doing the crochet basket course with Anthea, I now feel I have put forward an argument for you all to attend...
you never know when a silly Billy will come knocking