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NEWSLETTER - FEBRUARY 2012

Welcome to Term 1, 2012.

Happy New Year to everyone….it’s amazing to think that the festive hype subsided a month ago, the children have gone back to school already and we are now full-steam ahead into yet another year of stitching and designing. And we have been busy!! We have several new projects in train for 2012, the first of which is our new “ScrapBag Sampler” BoM project. This will be a nice contrast to the intricacies of Mrs Billings Coverlet, which itself is an ongoing program of course.

Our Summer School program of classes during January was very well attended again, with some being so popular, we’ll be running repeats over the next couple of months. One class-list event that is developing something of a cult-following is the Midday to Midnight Madness and we have one scheduled for late in April. Probably best to book early as we’ve had waiting lists the last couple of times we’ve run this class.

Term 1 is a short one this year, with Easter coming in early April. So the class-list is also a little short but it does have all our regular social sewing groups, along with a new “Casual Tuesdays” group and a couple of one-off special events. We are very fortunate and excited to be having An Moonen - author of “A History of Dutch Quilts” - visiting us in March. We are also co-presenting An for a special lecture at the Box Hill RSL (see below).

Our blog - karenatsomerset.blogspot.com.au - is now a feature of our outreach to customers. Whilst it won’t replace the website, it does allow us to quickly add an update of the latest happenings at the shop. So pay a visit occasionally to keep abreast of what we’re getting up to.

The flow of new fabrics is starting up again after the Christmas/New Year hiatus - thank goodness! - and we’ve recently taken delivery of “Vivaldi” from Whistler Studios and “Josephine”, a beautiful new “first release” range from Dutch designer Petra Prins. Both these lovely collections are on the website and are well worth a look. We have a number of other gorgeous collections in the pipeline, so keep an eye on the website and blog from time to time.

Our “Show” commitments this year include the Australasian Quilt Convention, the Craft & Quilt Fairs and some of the Craft & Sewing Shows. First up for us is the Craft & Sewing Show in Brisbane, March 22-25; we’d love to see you there.

Special Events

An afternoon with An Moonen - Author of "A History of Dutch Quilts"

Saturday 17th March - An Moonen will be at the shop for an informal afternoon visit (2.00-4.00pm); join us to meet and chat with An and purchase your own signed copy of her book. Already have a copy? - You’re very welcome to bring it in for An to sign.

Sunday 18th March - Quilt Study Group Victoria & Somerset Patchwork are delighted to present An Moonen who will deliver a special lecture : The History of Dutch Antique Quilts.
Time/Venue: 2.00pm, Box Hill RSL (Upton Room) 26-28 Nelson Street, Box Hill
Cost: $25.00 incl. afternoon tea

New Fabric Arrivals

When you come into the shop, you'll find these beautiful fabrics waiting for you -

  • Josephine from Petra Prins
  • Vivaldi from Whistler Studios
  • Winterthur John Hewson from The Winterthur Museum - this collection is selling fast
  • Civil War Journals from Judie Rothermel - arrived pre-Christmas

These are all on our "Whats New" web-page now. For those of you a little further away, please remember that we offer mail-orders so you don't have to miss out!

And coming soon, we have these beautiful fabric collections -

  • Rouenneries Deux by French General
  • Cocheco Mills IV from Judie Rothermel
  • Civil War Ladies also from Judie Rothermel

Classes for Term 1

Please go to our "Class List" web-page for details or download a printable copy of the class list by Clicking Here

Did You Know....

Sue Daley of Patchwork with Busyfingers has a new book out - "New English Paper Piecing" - and we have it in stock now. This beautiful book features 10 of Sue's loveliest and best known projects.

Of course, with An Moonen's impending visit, we have copies of her beautiful book "A History of Dutch Quilts" in stock. The history is fascinating and the full colour pictures show up the quilts quite spectacularly. We also have a small number of the Dutch language edition of this book.

Looking Ahead....

Something to consider for 2012:
“Indulge - Winter in the Hinterland” - join Sue Daley, Karen and Michelle Yeo in Queensland’s Sunshine Coast Hinterland in June 2012 for 3 fabulous days of sewing, inspiration and great food. There is still a few places available for this delightful retreat - details available from the shop, Sue Daley’s blog or by Clicking Here.

That's about it for now. Please do come in for a visit - we’ll do our best to make you feel welcome.

Until next time, happy stitching.... Karen, Sue & Paul

Buying On-Line
It's been a long time in coming, we know, putting a system in place to let you order items from our web-site. So we have put a new page up - it's our "How To Order" page which you can visit by Clicking Here and it explains the alternatives available.

We have decided to start by offering PayPal as a means of ordering and more importantly, paying via a secure medium. PayPal is a system accepted world-wide and it's simple and convenient to use - as the web-page explains, you can pay by credit card or by using your own PayPal account if you have one.