Showing posts with label kaffe fassett fabric. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kaffe fassett fabric. Show all posts

Traveling and coincidences...

by : Freaky Knitter
The Old Silk Road




My honey, Geoff, left on Monday for Uzbekistan and we just got the Kaffe Fassett collection which has fabric called Uzbekistan...go figure! Geoff thought that was really neat when I showed him!

We do a lot of traveling together, but this was a trip that wasn't within my interest scope, however, I will be excited to hear about his adventures when he gets back in May.




He will be gone for almost a month and I will miss him, but I know he will have fun. Of course I will have fun here at home and may have to grab some of the Uzbekistan fabric and do something with it before he gets back.


What beautiful textiles he will see!

He will be traveling The Silk Road on a tour and has gotten it in his head to do some wheeling and dealing to buy yarn and maybe Laura will make him her international yarn rep...ha ha!! I am afraid that when he gets an idea in his head it's impossible to shake and of course he is actually kidding about this, but is truly going to look for yarn and textiles!!


Oooh, ooh, I just thought of an idea for the Kaffe fabric...a couple of comfy pillows!! What do you think?


How about the Honey Bun Pouf by Amy Butler? We could sit around on the floor and eat in an exotic manner and that would be almost like being on a trip!

For now we can all dream of travel together and consider the projects that we can make around those wonderful mental journeys! Are you travelling anywhere fun this year? Feel free to share!

As always, happy knitting, crocheting and sewing!

Jeanne
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Quilting Fever Hits JBW!

by : MarinadeDesigns
A couple of months ago, Jeanne posted about the quilting lessons that she and Sandy have been giving the staff here at Jimmy Beans. When we started carrying fabric last fall, many of the beans were anxious to learn how to sew. Some had never sewn before and others had learned at a young age and not kept up with it. In any case, it was a great opportunity to learn something new!

Jeanne and Sandy patiently led their students through the process of learning to choose the right fabric, matching prints and colors, washing and cutting, following instructions, how to works the machine, sew a straight line, and all of the other steps associated with quilting. The finished quilt tops are just beautiful so I wanted to share a few of them here. I’ve got pictures from Laura, Erika, Sharon, Lianna, and Sandy. Each quilt, although they all used the same pattern out of Joel Dewberry’s “Sewn Spaces” book, is beautiful and unique in its own way.

First is Laura’s stunning yellow and grey quilt. She used a mix of Joel Dewberry prints from the Aviary 2 and Heirloom Collections with some Mark Cesarik Calypso and Amy Butler Midwest Modern thrown in for good measure. In regards to her fabric choices she told us, “I chose these fabrics because I liked the way the yellows and grays worked together. The combo was relatively modern, but not too wacky!” Choosing fabrics that she liked was key for Laura in order to motivate her to learn to sew in the first place. She recommends picking colors and a project that you love and then you’ll be inspired to finish it.

Next we have Lianna’s gorgeous quilt! She used a wide selection of prints ranging from Joel Dewberry Heirloom and Modern Meadow to Valori Wells Wrenly, Amy Butler Lotus, Heather Bailey Freshcut and more! Basically little bit of everything. This was her first sewing project and she made this quilt as a gift for her cousin's wedding. Her fabric choices we selected based on the colors in her cousin’s wedding registry, that way it could be used in any area of the home. Such a neat idea! Lianna said that she had a lot of help from her mom on this project since she has been sewing for many years. Her mom ended up loving the pattern so much that she is now making two more quilts. Thanks Lianna for sharing your lovely project with us!

Erika took a slightly different approach to the making of her quilt. She absolutely fell in love with the Gold Rose Bouquet Print from Joel Dewberry's Heirloom collection and based the rest of her quilt around that. She tried to choose prints that would compliment it but still allow that print to stand out among the rest. This was also Erika's first sewing project and she was the speediest sewer in the group finishing her entire quilt before anyone else. We think it turned out so pretty and we love how prominent her favorite print is!



Sandy, our most experienced quilter, used several of Kaffe Fassett's gorgeous prints as her inspiration. She settled on a mix of pinks and cranberries with touches of turquoise and blues. She hadn't quilted in a while, since knitting is her favorite sport, but she was really excited to dust off the old sewing machine and stretch her legs a bit. She loved how simple this quilt pattern was. The perfect small quilt to get back in the game with! Since this project, she's been planning all kinds of other sewing projects to keep her busy through the summer! Don't you just love these colors?



Lastly, we have Sharon's bright and wild quilt! As vibrant as her bubbly personality, this quilt is a mixture of prints and colors. Even though each of these prints are so different, they do work together really well. Basically, Sharon just picked every bright print that she liked and found a way to make it work in the design. We would expect nothing less out of our ever-exuberant Customer Service Lead. After she finished this quilt, she was so pumped that she grabbed a Jelly Roll of the Berenstain Bears prints and started on a cute log cabin kids quilt. We'll share pictures of that one soon too, promise!

We hope you've enjoyed seeing these photos of our most recent new hobby! We've been so excited to share them with you and hope that you will join us in this new journey into the land of fabric. And if fabric isn't your thing, never fear, we still have many, many fun knitting and crocheting projects to share with you in the coming weeks as well!

We hope you all have a great weekend and happy making!

-Kristen and the JBW Team

PS. Did you know that Heart Disease is the #1 killer of women in America? Find out more about how you can help us and the Heart Truth create more awareness at www.stitchred.com.
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Let's Quilt!!

by : Freaky Knitter


As you may have noticed, we have added tons of lovely fabric to our inventory and, being who we are, we've been oohhing and aahhing all over the place! Fun projects have been dancing around in all of our heads and thanks to Sandy's encouragement, Laura and I decided to make our first quilts. Of course I right away thought of you all out there and decided to share this fun process. Sandy is a super experienced quilter and I am a pretty experienced seamstress, BUT Laura has never sewn a stitch, so you will get the entire spectrum of experiences from these posts. We are starting with a very simple strip quilt by Joel Dewberry from the book Sewn Spaces. I must say I am super excited!!!


Laura can hardly concentrate on work and Sandy (who is our instructor for this project) is already getting hers a few steps ahead of us. While I have sewn everything from soup to nuts (LOL), I have always avoided quilting because I thought it was too hard. I had to remind myself that I am always telling you all to give it a shot with your knitting and it's about time I take my own advice!!


So, on to step one; choosing our fabrics:

Here we are with our pile of options for this project. These stayed here for a week. Our assignment was to walk by the quilts every day and look at the fabrics.

We all did that and wait until you see our final choices next week...you will be surprised!

Our next steps will be to cut the fabric, wash it, trim all the threads and then iron each piece really well.

Below you can see Sandy being a show off (okay, okay she is the instructor so does need to be prepared :) Her project is moving forward nicely.

She is using:

Melissa White, Misaki Mallow and Bee
Kaffe Fassett, Classics Roman Glass

Kaffe Fassett, Classics Lotus Leaf
Kaffe Fassett, Classics Millefiore
Brandon Malby, Shingles



Stay tuned for more, and as always happy knitting, crocheting and sewing!!

Jeanne

P.S. Have you seen our latest catalog yet? It’s 48 pages of pure, 100% Rowan. Visit www.jimmybeanswool.com/catalog to sign up for your free copy!
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More than just yarn...

by : Freaky Knitter
So, some of you may have noticed a bit of a shift on our site, especially under our New Products page. Without further adieu, pomp, or circumstance, I give you FABRIC!!!

You may notice a slight hesitation in my 'voice'. That's because this is a whole new business for us here at JBW, so please be gentle with us as we step into this new (fantastic) part of our fiber addiction. We are working to get the website fine-tuned for you all, but you may run into some questions about the fabric, sewing patterns and whatnots (like the Amy Butler thread) related to this new passion we have here at the shop. Please, please feel free to ask questions. That's what we are here for.

Here we have Sandy and Laura, (aka Jimmy) with the very 1st piece of fabric we cut and sold!!! Sandy cut it and then we all ran around and hooted and howled with excitement!!

Most of us around here have sewn at some point in our lives, but are a little rusty. Amber set up these great Learn To Sew classes and we were off and running!

Kristen's class was on a Sunday and was a huge hit!! She has been sewing for a long time and, of course, is a great teacher, so what's not to be thrilled about? Sandy and I have also taught 2 classes together, all with great success!

You can see Jill, Sharon and bit of Shevawn in this picture of class, sewing away! Good work gang!!

We did some very basic refresher-type sewing projects in class, but if you are looking for your own good refresher course, I highly recommend Rebecca Yaker's book One Yard Wonders as a starting point.

If you have never sewn a stitch (but are interested), then you might want to check out your local sewing store for a basic how-to class. There are some fantastic machines on the market for less than $100.00!

Here is Sharon with her finished bag! What a GREAT job she did!!!

We are all excited and a bit nervous about this new endeavor, so let us know if you see something on the site that is a bit off, or you have ideas for us. Remember this is YOUR LYS online and we love to hear from you.

There is a lot of work to be done (what's new around here :), so please keep that in mind as you surf around in the fabric sections, but we are happy to finally feel comfortable enough to post about our new fabric love.

I hope you enjoyed my little introduction into our line of fabric-related products and as always...

Happy knitting, crocheting and sewing!!

Jeanne

PS If you aren't getting our Newsletter check it out! We never share ANY of your information and it's one of the best ways I know to stay on top of what's going on around here.
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