A big THANK YOU to everyone who came out last night to make quilt blocks for our Quilt for a Cause! The UCC is in the process of making some community-sewn baby quilts to be raffled off during our next Knit and a Movie night, Feb. 27. All proceeds from the raffle tickets will go to Haiti relief charities. Raffle tickets are currently on sale in the store, $5 each or 5 for $20. You can purchase them in person or over the phone.

If you couldn’t make it last night, don’t worry…we’re having another drop-in sewing night next Wednesday, Feb. 17th from 6-8 during our Sewing Club night. So if you can, stop by and make a quilt block for a great cause.

One product we’re proud to have on our shelves is ICE Resin. It’s a non-toxic clear resin that is a breeze to mix up and use. It doesn’t have any fumes so it’s safe to use indoors, and you can mix a batch as small as 1/2 an ounce at a time, so it’s great for small projects or just doing a little bit at a time. If you’ve ever used traditional resin for a project, it was probably a stressful experience. Not only does traditional resin give off horribly noxious fumes, you usually have to buy it in large quantities and mix it all at once, forcing you to have a frenzied large-volume pouring session to get the most out of the batch.

With ICE Resin, just squirt equal parts of A and B into the little measuring cup, stir for 2 minutes, and pour! You can fill bottle caps, jewelry findings, belt buckle blanks and more with pictures, beads or little treasures to make one-of-a-kind pieces. You can mix glitter or paint into it to created interesting color effects, or write on tissue paper to creating magically floating text (the tissue paper disappears in the resin!).

ICE Resin comes in a kit with enough resin and hardener to make 8 oz of resin. It retails for $24.00. We also sell kits of 10 bottle caps and magnets for $3.00 each, and assorted jewelry findings at varying prices.

Come work on our collaborative quilt project during Wednesday’s Sewing Club from 6-8pm Free! Bring your stash of fabric to swap, then work from one of our quilt block patterns and help us make a series of baby quilts. These quilts will be raffled off on February 27th during our Knit & a Movie Night – don’t forget to get your raffle tickets!! All proceeds from the raffle will go to Partners In Health: Stand With Haiti
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I love this pattern because it’s simple enough for a beginner seamstress and a unique and modern design you can make over and over again! Here are some photos from last night’s class, taught by Shannon Richards who also designed the pattern.
Her next class is Garment Alterations, a 2 part class starting Monday March 15th from 6-9pm.

We’d love for you to lend your hand and creativity to the process. Finished blocks can be dropped off up until February 21st, or you can work on the project in our studio for free. Stop by after work for one of our drop-in group sewing nights, bring in fabric to swap with others and be a part of a fun project for a great cause (The American Sewing Guild has offered to dedicate their meeting this week to working on the quilt!). We’ll provide you with the pattern and one common fabric for each quilt block – the rest is yours to choose!

The raffle drawing will be held on February 27th, during Knit & a Movie Night. 100% of the proceeds will go to Partners in Health: Stand With Haiti. (you don’t need to be present to win, but it will be a lot of fun!)

The quilt block on the left was created using a string block quilt tutorial from one of our favorite crafty quilt blogs, Film In the Fridge!

We have a brand new class this weekend with special guest teacher Nicole Stevenson from The Craft Kitchen! Nicole is an artist and crafter who makes and sells everything from record album purses, to clothing with handmade appliques.

This Saturday from 3-6pm Nicole will be teaching her Spa Goodies class in our studio. The class is $65 and you’ll leave with a full line of natural body care products and the resources to make them again and again. Personalize your goodies with creative packaging using fabulous papers and collage materials. You’ll leave this class with three full sets including salt and sugar scrubs, bath ‘cookies’ (exfoliating bath salt bars that look like cookies), soaps, bath salt sachets, moisturizing lip balms, and lip glosses perfect to keep or give as gifts. Give us a call or drop by to sign up!

Check out photos from the past weeks classes and studio projects! See more on our Flickr page.

We are very excited to welcome Jeannine Stein, author of the book Re-Bound: Creating Handmade Books from Recycled and Repurposed Materials into our studio for a brand new bookbinding class! In her book, Jeannine demonstrates 16 step-by-step projects of bookmaking using recycled/repurposed materials, from potato chip bags and sweaters, to record albums or gift cards. The illustrations are beautifully done, including a 14 project section in the back that showcase artists’ handmade books.

On Sunday, February 7th Jeannine will be teaching the Bingo Book in our studio. This class is fit for a beginner and books will be created from scratch, using vintage papers and materials. Create your book cover out of Bingo cards, and the inside pages of your book using papers from vintage fashion magazines. Lastly, you will learn the beautiful Romanesque stitch to bind the pages of your book to the cover. Attach with a button closure and you’ll be set with a handmade, vintage, one-of-a kind journal!

The Bingo Book class is on Sunday February 7th from 11am-3pm. The cost of the class is $80 – members receive a 15% discount! Please drop by the studio or give us a call to reserve your spot – space is limited!