LEWIS AND IRENE – A GIVEAWAY WINNER

Just a little bit of belated housekeeping today.  I’ve been so consumed with deadlines of late that this little giveaway completely slipped my mind!  So, apologies if you’ve all been on tenterhooks but I can now reveal that the random number generator picked farmquilter’s comment.

Congratulations!  I’ll be in touch to arrange delivery of your prize.  Thanks to everyone who entered!

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INTRODUCING LEWIS AND IRENE

There’s nothing nicer than taking a trip to a city or town, only to discover a new fabric shop. My quilted heart skips a beat every time I see the words sewing or haberdashery emblazoned across a shop front window.  A while back, quite a while back actually, I visited Hereford and sought out Doughty’s, a place I heard great things about.  You may remember I blogged about the experience in this post. One of the things I picked up was a great dinosaur print by an unfamiliar-to-me manufacturer, Lewis and Irene.  I really liked the look and feel of the fabric and set about investigated the company further.

A quick tour of their website and I was sold.  Their fabrics are “threaded with love and printed on 100% pre-shrunk cotton with a light Schreiner finish”.  They have some great collections, featuring a wide range of styles and colours.  Being the dinosaur geek I am, I was always going to be taken with Jurassic Coast, a bright and breezy collection with a perfect binding print.  Another favourite from their Autumn 2014 collections is Fox & Friends, which is full of cute critters and leafy tones, a lot of which would be right at home in my stash.  They have some great upcoming lines too, and I do love a fabric company that gives impatient quilters like me a sneak peek.  I’m particularly looking forward to Spring Hare, coming in 2015.

Jurassic Coast

Fox & Friends

Spring Hare

I contacted Hannah, the creative director, who was kind enough to answer some questions and tell me a little more about the story behind Lewis and Irene.

“The directors of Lewis & Irene are Bryan (Managing Director) and Jacqueline Taphouse (Finance Director), Andrew Heaton (Sales Director) and I (Creative Director).  Andrew and Bryan have been in the textiles business forever.  Bryan for over 40 years now! We are based in Romsey in Hampshire.  Bryan and Jacqueline are my parents so it’s very much a family run company. It was Jacqueline who decided to start Lewis & Irene – we wanted to create a fresh company that designed for the modern quilter and had a wide appeal with lovely designs. We feel it’s exciting times for the craft industry with so much renewed interest in sewing and creating.”

“Once we had decided to start the company we had to think of a name.  My Grandpa died in 2012 and my Grandma died of cancer 26 years ago when she was just 58 years old. They were really incredible people. They showed such love to their little family despite not coming from the most loving backgrounds themselves. As a family we are very close and their influence has been passed down through three generations now. Their names were Lewis & Irene and we couldn’t think of a nicer tribute to them. ‘Threaded with love’ couldn’t be more appropriate! We have a lovely designer who Bryan and I work with very closely. The designs are a real team effort with each of us contributing something and it’s my very favourite part of my job! Lots of our collections have quite personal relevance.  Jurassic Coast for example is inspired by my little boy who is 4 and loves dinosaurs.  One of his favourite places to go is Kimmeridge Bay in Dorset so he can hunt for fossils and look at the dinosaurs bones in the marine center.  He runs around with his bucket and spade knowing it’s where the dinosaurs lived and his little imagination runs wild!  Every collection has a real meaning to us.”

I’m really looking forward to adding some more from the collections to my stash.  The variety of prints is great, with focal fabrics as well as useful blenders and small-scale prints that would work well in almost any project.  Fancy trying some of their fabrics for yourself? Yes?  Well isn’t it your lucky day. Lewis and Irene have generously provided a vintage fabulous forties for me to giveaway to one lucky reader.  What’s a fabulous forties I hear you ask!   It’s forty strips of fabric, each cut to two and a half inches, exactly like a jelly roll.  These cuts are so versatile and there are loads of great quilt patterns that use them.

To be in with a chance of winning, please sign up to follow the blog then leave a comment telling me what you’d make if you won.  If you’re already a follower go ahead and leave your comment.  I love hearing all your ideas!  For a bonus entry, go and like the Lewis and Irene Facebook page and leave a separate comment telling me you’ve done so.  I’ll leave the competition open for a week before randomly drawing a winner.  Good luck and thanks for visiting!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.

STASHING #21

I’m having a Dorothy Gale moment.  I’m realising how she must have felt stepping into those ruby slippers given to her by Glinda the Good Witch.  I mean come on, those are some pretty sparkly shoes to fill, and with all those citizens of Oz watching too.  That’s a gig!  Well, move over darling, because today I get to wear the sparkliest shoes of all and attempt to walk tall and proud in them.  Not an easy feat when their previous occupant was the effervescent Molli Sparkles.  That’s right, Sunday Stash is with me today fabric lovers, and I’m so happy you’ve all popped over to say hello.  Thankfully there was no arduously long yellow brick road to follow, just a simple click of  a link.  Dorothy really didn’t have it easy did she?

So, this week has been so crazily busy, what with sewing and teaching and designing…oh my…that my only really fabric purchase was a 10cm strip of black solid to use for binding on a quilt that I’ll be sharing soon.

“How terribly unglamorous!” shouted the assembled crowd.

Yes, yes I know.  But fear not, as I have some pretties (these don’t fly or wear little tailored waistcoats) to share that were…ahem…gifted to me.  Isn’t that the best kind of fabric?  Stuff that just lands on your doormat with a ta dah and a puff of awesomeness.  I have Katy Jones of I’m a Ginger Monkey fame to thank for these and although I can’t actually share with you all what I’ll be making with them just yet, know that they’ll be put to good use.

Timeless Treasures Sketch in yellow, sun, gold, daffodil and charcoal

You know those types of fabric that you just want bolts and bolts of?  Those trusty, go-to in a crisis ones you’d be happy to visit the Wizard with?  Well, the Sketch fabrics by Timeless Treasures are the Lion to Robert Kauffman’s Kona Scarecrow and Essex Tin Man.  I can’t live without them and want need some in every colour way.  I was having a hard time finding these yellow colours in the UK so Katy and her awesomeness got them sent to me, directly from Timeless Treasure.  That was a very good mail day I kid you not!  These prints need to be seen in person.  Their subtlety really does pack a punch and they’re far from cowardly.  My plan is to stock up on these at every available opportunity.

Since Dorthy got to go home it’s only fitting that I share a gift with all of you lovely people.  So, who want’s some fabric money?  I’m offering one lucky reader a $25 gift certificate for an online fabric shop of their choice.  So, whether you want to go wild in the virtual aisles of  Fat Quarter Shop, Intrepid Thread, Pink Castles Fabrics or M is for Make, just leave a comment letting me know what you’d buy if you won.  I’d love to shop vicariously through you all!  Also, whilst you’re here, please consider follow the blog and calling back for another visit.  I’d love to see you again!

Now, show us what you got!

1. Link up a blog post welcoming any new sewing supplies to your stash.

2. If it is fabric from your existing stash that you’ve showcased before, please use new photos with as much natural light as possible, and provide as many manufacturing details about the fabric.

3. Try to leave a comment on at least two other links. We want this to be a safe space for sewing supply collectors, after all!

4. Grab the button, and proudly proclaim you endorse Sunday Stashing!

An InLinkz Link-up

STASHING 18…AND A GIVEAWAY!

Last week I was fortunate enough to stumble upon a new LQS.  Well, I say stumble, the man actually told me about it and, shock horror, offered to take me!  Never again may he moan about how much fabric I buy when he willing places it within my reach!  The first fabric I saw after walking through the door was something that I’d been coveting for a while.  In fact, I’d only looked at it online that very morning.  If there are quilting gods, then this was definitely a sign from them.

‘Hearty Good Wishes’ by Janet Clare for Moda is a stunning debut collection.  The dusky colours feel like they’ve been weathered by salty sea spray and the depictions of whales and seaweed are so charming.  I could have easily walked away with something from every bolt but I restricted myself to just a few pieces.  The whales were too difficult to leave behind, so I took some in each colourway, along with some seaweed and fish.  Given the close proximity of the shop I’ve no doubt I’ll be back for some more pieces from the collection.

I actually returned a few days later to have a chat with Susan, the owner, and find out a bit more about the place.  The Patchwork House in LLantrisant is all at once charming, quaint, cute and any other heart-warming adjective you can think of.  It opened in October of 2013 and stocks a carefully chosen selection of Moda fabrics, including yardage and precuts, Aurfil threads, yarns and notions.  Sunlight streams through the windows and makes everything all that more appealing.

Susan told me she’s always had a love for fabrics and was taught to sew by her mother.  She runs beginner’s classes in the shop, and had previously done so in the town hall.  Her interest in patchwork began when she attended an evening class in machine embroidery.  As she waited in the queue she was taken by all the patchwork she saw in the other line, the one for the patchwork class, and promptly switched.  She’s been an avid quilter ever since.  Her fabric tastes are traditional, reflected in the wide range of Moda she stocks, but recently she began buying Kaffe Fassett for the shop and would love to make a quilt from that one day.

Like me, Susan said that she is always sewing and, during quiet times in the shop, finds herself straightening bolts and folding fabric.  She’s currently working on a charm pack sampler, which she hopes to hang along side the other quilts she’s made.  I had such a nice time chatting with Sue.  Her shop is truly lovely, exactly how a quilting shop should look and feel.

She was kind enough to give me a ‘Soho Chic’ charm pack as a prize for a giveaway.  To be in with a change of winning, simply follow my blog AND like The Patchwork House’s Facebook page.  Leave a comment below letting me know you’ve done both of those and I’ll draw a winner in a week.  Good luck!

Today as usual, I’m linking up with Molli Sparkles for Sunday Stash.  I’m off to check out all the other wonderful goodies now…

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

The winning comment was number 7.  Congratulations lindarees!  I hope you enjoy your prize.

 

500 FOLLOWERS INSTAGRAM GIVEAWAY

Happy St. Patrick’s day to you all!  Whilst there has been lots of sewing with green scraps in the attic today, the timing is purely coincidental.  I’ll be sharing more about what the scraps are for soon but I just wanted to check in and remind you that today is the last day to enter my Instagram giveaway.  Tomorrow I’ll randomly draw a pair of winners and these fat eighth bundles of Hapi by Amy Butler will be no longer up for grabs.

You’ve got to be in it to win it!  Good luck.