I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year....

Hi Everyone

    Before my family and I leave on our Mexican Holiday, I just wanted to wish you and your family the happiest of Christmas'. Enjoy your loved ones close to you and far away and remember those we have lost; but are in our hearts always. Blessings for a Happy New Year! Remember the reason for the season!

Merry Christmas, Natasha



"It came without packages, boxes or bags!"

The Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!

"Maybe Christmas," he thought "doesn't come from a store."

"Maybe Christmas....perhaps....means a little bit more!"

from: 

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

by:

Dr.Seuss

The Christmas Countdown is on!

    Hi everyone, sorry it has taken so long to get a new blog out. I finally started holidays and went up island for a few days. I have a very dear friend there, her and her husband will soon move away. It was the perfect time to go up to Parksville. Trudy and I both considered Michelle a sister, our friendship grew through Michelle. We both rely on each other when things get tough.




This is a quilt for Trudy and Gene's new home, with love from me!

       My sister also came along for the trip, while we were there we attended The Bethlehem Walk at Parksville Baptist Church. I'm including some photos but they don't do justice to how much work everyone went to. It was a great presentation and I loved it. A great start to the Holiday Season. Besides seeing great friends it was one of the highlights of my trip.

Shepard guarding his flock.....

Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus

One of my favorite market vendors

all wool....loved it!

      I have done a little sewing too. I finished my new tree skirt. I'm thrilled how it turned out, the crystals look like sparkling ice under the tree. I wish you could see it better.

Next on my agenda... start working on some of my class samples for the New Year.



 Well I better sign off for now, quilting with friends tomorrow need to get ready!

Natasha

If found please bring me home

    I was so sad to discover that someone has stolen one of my quilts from the store. It saddens me that there are dishonest people who would steal from me and I do take it personal, I put time and effort into that quilt. If anyone sees my quilt or feels ashamed at having taken an item of mine please return it to The Cloth Castle. It can be left by the back door.
    If whoever took it is reading this..... you should be ashamed!
   The quilt is a whole cloth quilt stitched out on my embroidery machine and I have attached a copy of a photo.
   Sorry everyone for having to post such a negative blog but I just can't believe that there are still dishonest people who would steal from me. I know it shouldn't surprise me but It still stings.

Take care everyone, Natasha

Christmas on my mind....

     I can't believe that we are past the middle of the month already. This year is going by way too fast! With thoughts of Christmas quickly approaching I thought I better get going on some sewing. My embroidery machine has been working hard creating new Christmas decorations and gifts. I have been working on a new tree skirt for myself, I actually made the same one for my mom last year and just loved it. The snowflakes are all embroidered and then I use the iron on crystals to embellish, if only you could see how the tree skirt sparkles beneath the tree.

The picture just doesn't do justice to how pretty this comes out.

 

This is one snowflake with the crystals ironed on. When the light hits, it just lights up.



   I just have to pause and say sometimes these computers really get on my nerves! If it would just type where I want it to that would be great! Very frustrating. Sorry about the large space between.

   Anyway..... I also downloaded this embroidery design for a Christmas Stocking. It took a bit of time to stitch out but worth it. Now to finish it.

 

    Have you ever visited the Bake Shop on the Moda home page? There are so many great patterns, and they are all FREE! I spent hours looking there the other day. Great project ideas and fun blog to read. Just click on the link below and it will take you there. Have fun.

www.modabakeshop.com

     I have been working on my new classes for the new year. I'm starting a great new program, Natasha's 5 for $75. You can pick from 26 different classes, you pick the 5 classes you would like and only pay $75 (supplies extra). That's only $15 per class! Anymore classes than 5, you only pay the $15 per class. The details will be available soon at The Cloth Castle, the schedule should be out by Dec.1 or around that time.

    Well I better get back to my sewing, have a great week.

Natasha

It Slices and Dices and More!

   Well we have been home 1 week and have I been busy! Lots of activities at work and also lots of ideas running around my brain for my Slice. I love this gadget I can't wait until we get the rest of the cards for the machine.
    This weekend I got down to business and made up some samples to show the ladies at Quilt Club tomorrow, if you are a club member you may not want to peek! But if you are like me you won't be able to resist! Oh well you can see them in person tomorrow. Enjoy. I loved doing all the projects I have other things I need to get done, all I want to do is Slice and Dice!

Snowflakes were all cut in Slice Fabrique Machine

Flowers and Alphabet all cut with Slice Fabrique. I also used the ruffler attachment for my sewing machine... that makes a quick job of ruffles! This summer when I went to the Husqvarna Convention I also took a class on free motion quilting. The circles on the background of the alphabet were circles that I learned in that class.

Quick and Easy tablerunner, it took only 15 minutes to cut these leaves!
To make this runner took only 3 hours start to finish.


I don't know if I mentioned it , I'm loving my Slice Fabricque and no I don't get paid to say that it is a great tool!

   So as you can see I have been having fun this weekend, now I better get to work and actually get the demo ready for my pattern for club tomorrow!

Have a great week!

Natasha

The Final Days of Market .......

Hi Everyone

    Well, it is time to come home already! The time has gone by so fast. Sunday and Monday were very busy days, it took the two days just walk and see what was being offered.  I did all my ordering on Monday. We had a great time and now it is time to start thinking of making up new quilt samples.

     You're the first to hear this but I won BIG at the show. I won a Slice Fabrique Digital Cutting Machine! I am sooooo excited! I can't wait to try it out when I get home. It is one of the items I have ordered for the store, so to get one before they are even available is really thrilling. I'm going to put it to work as soon as I get home!

The SLICE™ Fabrique is a revolutionary fabric-cutting tool that makes quilting easier.

Don’t spend hours cutting intricate designs with scissors when you can save time by allowing the SLICE™ Fabrique to do all the work for you. The SLICE™ Fabrique works with design cards specifically customized for fabric so you can cut alphabets, numbers, flowers, icons, basic shapes, and more.

Apply a fusible web to your cotton fabric, felt or flannel and you are ready to start Slicing. If you can imagine it, you can SLICE™ it.  

Thank you so much everyone at Making Memories for such a generous prize! For all my quilt club members make sure you are at the November Meeting to see this little baby in action!

Visit Making Memories to see more information.

This is one of the quilt projects made using the Slice Fabrique.

Have I mentioned I'm SO EXCITED!

 

 

     

My sister won big too!

      My sister also won a really great storage unit, I think we both came away with generous prizes. Well I better start getting my bags ready and hope and pray that my bag isn't over the weight restriction. I hope you all enjoyed following us at Quilt Market, I have posted more photos at The Cloth Castle Facebook page, enjoy.

See you in the store soon. Natasha

Ready for day 2?

View of the show floor from windows above, this is a small portion of what is here.

     What a day! We have just finished walking the show floor for the day and in about 45 minutes we are heading to a party that Moda puts on each year. Dinner and fun! We had a really great day today, there is just so much to see.... I'm in overload right now. I have collected a lot of fliers from only about a quarter of the booths, I will review them tonight and decide which I will order from. It is a tough decision.....what will everyone like and what will be popular?  I have some beautiful pictures to share with you, I can't fit them all on this page, but I will put the whole collection of pictures on the Cloth Castle Facebook page and you can enjoy them all there.

Blackbird Designs Booth. Isn't it gorgeous!

 

 Hop over to Cloth Castle Facebook page to see the rest of the pictures! Have to run and get ready for the party......until later!

Natasha

 

News from Houston

 Hi Everyone

   Houston we have a big problem...... I want it all!

   Miriam and I arrived Oct. 28 in Houston, Texas. It was a long journey here, it seemed like it was never going to end. We left our  house at 3am and arrived here local time around 4pm. We wandered over to the convention hall and then relaxed. I don't think my sister really understood how busy we were going to be on Friday.

Miriam's first Quilt Market

   Today was our first day of activities. There a series of classes called Schoolhouse Series, you can choose from around 250 different classes, some are only 15 minutes and some are 30min. We selected classes of things we thought our customers would like or new notions or tools that we should take a close look at. So we did that all day, only breaking for a very quick lunch. It was  really fun. The following photos are quilts that were featured at some of the classes I went to.

These 2 quilts are new from Piece of Cake Designs and using the new fabric line Daisy and Dots.

These 2 quilts are all done on the embroidery machine! This was my favorite class I took today, I wish you could see the detail in the stitches. This is from HoopSisters.

      After a busy day of classes we had one more event to attend this evening, it's a big one not for the faint of heart! The event was Sample Spree and it is  the running of the bulls for Quilters! Hundreds of people start lining up hours before the doors open and then make a dash for your favorite fabric suppliers.

Waiting for Sample Spree to Start.

    This a chance for stores to pre-buy fabric bundles, fat quarters, charms, gadgets and more. The big booth to be at is Moda and no I don't go near it, it's DANGEROUS over there! I looked for a few new things for the store, which I found. My sister,  she had a ball, she bought a few fabric bundles and book she really liked. We'll get back to her she is going to give us a special report. We spent about 1.5 hours shopping there, it is only open for 2 hours. The picture below is the mob around the Moda booth. You haven't seen a more dedicated group of shoppers until you've seen shop owners and their staff looking for deals!

 

As I mentioned my sister had a ball and found a few things she really liked.

  

Well I better sign off for now, I'll keep you posted on what I see and pick up tomorrow.

Natasha


My First Quilt Market- By Miriam
    What a day, today I did schoolhouse classes all day with my sister. After picking the classes that I would do, I was having an amazing time, when I realized I forgot my camera at home! I know how horrible. The classes I really liked was a Sashiko Stencil Quilt and stacking the large Dill buttons to make great broaches and embellishing. I won a sweet door prize....4 charm packs from a vintage collection called Clothesline Club.
    The most interesting thing I learned was when in line for Sample Spree...Don't get between a women and her fabric, they take you down! The women will do anything to get to the Moda booth: pushing, shoving, elbows anything goes just to get to the Moda booth. Sample Spree is crazy, fun and little nuts. I will admit I was ready to shove a few people to get some Robert Kaufmann Fabric! The fever infects you!
    All in all I felt like a kid in a candy store and I love Candy! What a great day plus I'm here with my sister, we are having fun.
    Day one down, next we get to see the show floor...... almost 1000 booths to look at!

Miriam

Halloween Pumpkin Carving Party

     Wow what a turn out! We had about 35 people over and sadly the weather didn't cooperate! So.... we had a lot of people trying to find corners to carve their pumpkins but they managed and they all turned out great. So an afternoon spent with friends turned out great! Thought I would share a few photos, enjoy.

A few of my wonderful friends and my sister in her costume.

Our Youngest little guest, Tori dressed as a little spider! With her mama Megan.

My sister made this wallhanging. You can't see it but the spider web is stitched with Glow in The Dark thread and she also made her own bat buttons.

 

Apple Cider Recipe

1 Quart Apple Juice
2 cups Cranberry Juice
1/3 cup packed Brown Sugar
4 whole cloves
2 cinnamon sticks (3 inches)

In a large saucepan, combine the apple juice, cranberry juice and brown sugar. Place cloves and cinnamon sticks on a double thickness of cheesecloth, bring up corners of cloth and tie with kitchen stringto form a bag. Add to pan.
Bring to boil over medium heat. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered for 20 minutes.
 Disard spice bag. 

I like to put it into a crock pot and let it simmer and keep warm. 

Natasha's Spinach Dip
CAUTION THIS IS ADDICTIVE!

2 Sour dough bread
1lb Bacon
10oz Spinach Thawed
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
2 large garlic cloves
2 packages cream cheese
1 cup Mayo

1. Cut a whole in one bread. Tear the left over pieces into bite size pieces as well as the second bowl.
2.Cook bacon until crisp. Blot excess fat, cool and crumble.
3. Squeze out excess water from the spinach.
4. Mix all the ingrediants in a bowl.
5. Serve in the hollowed out bowl.


Happy Halloween everyone!

Natasha