Have you always wanted to try your hand at the Cathedral Windows technique?

Susan has created this georgeous cushion using a non tradtional method, making it much quicker and easier to piece.

As a special we are offering Midweek Moments reader two kits for the price of one. That’s right 2 for 1. Choose two of the same colour or mix it up by selecting two different colours.

Kits are available in either Green, Blue or Pink.  Click here to view the kits.

When ordering online order 1 and we will send the 2nd for free just specify which one you would like for FREE.

British-born John Hewson (1745 - 1821) was one of the earliest and finest chintz printers in the United States, most widely recognised for the beautiful cotton he block printed with an amphora vase holding a bouquet of garden flowers.

He immigrated to Philadelphia before the American Revolution at the invitation of Benjamin Franklin to start a business printing and dyeing fabrics to compete with those being imported from England.

Winterthur Museum John Hewson is a stunning replica of some of John Hewson’s early designs.

Click here to view the entire range.

Barthelemy Thimonnier - it was a riot!

In the early 1800s a few industrious individuals attempted to improve on Thomas Saint’s primitive sewing machine model, which he patented in 1790 without a prototype. These clumsy attempts all came to naught, until 36-year-old French tailor Barthelemy Thimonnier took up the challenge in 1830 and created the world’s first functioning sewing machine. This contraption involved a hooked needle, which made a chain stitch using only one thread and was capable of 200 stitches a
minute, compared to a tailor’s 30 a minute.

Thimonnier worked with his friend Auguste Ferrand, a mining engineer, who assisted him with construction of the prototype. Although the patent was in both men’s names, it is Thimonnier who is historically most linked to this invention because of what happened next. He opened the world’s first machine-based clothing factory, which was designed for the production of army uniforms. Unfortunately, the only combat they ended up seeing was when the factory was ransacked and then burned to the ground by rioting workers who thought the patent would put them out of work. Thimonnier had to flee for his life, abandoning his invention.

Part 3 - the drama continues across the Atlantic in America…

After many requests, we have now cut a fat quarter bundle of the Morris Meadows by Michelle Hill range of fabrics.

The pack includes 32 fat quarters.  One of each of the fabrics in the range excluding the three border prints.

Limited bundles have been cut and are now available to purchase from our store or click here to purchase online.

This London cabinet-maker holds the distinction of being the very first person ever to take out a patent on a ‘sewing machine’.

Very little is known about him, except that his machine, which he patented in 1790, was intended to be used mainly on leather and canvas with a notched needle and awl for a chain stitch.

Saint was obviously more of an ideas man than an action man, as he never got around to actually building a prototype for his invention.

The other thing working against him was the title he gave his patent – “An Entirely New Method of Making and Completing Shoes, Boots, Splatterdashes, Clogs, and Other Articles, by Means of Tools and Machines also Invented by Me for that Purpose, and of Certain Compositions of the Nature of Japan or Varnish, which will be Very Advantageous in Many Useful  Appliances”.

Understandably confused staff at the patent office incorrectly filed the patent under “Glues & Varnishes” where it languished, unnoticed for another 83 years.

Part 2 - the quest jumps the channel to France…

Click here to purchase your very own piece of history.

22 heart-felt projects

In this book you will find a collection of items perfect for the new baby’s arrival. The projects designed for the little ones are suitable for a variety skill levels, from beginner through to advanced. These beautiful gifts include bottle wraps, cutie booties, flower cot quilt, nappy stacker, memories board, rocking horse quilt, play blocks and many more cute projects.

While this book is bundled for a baby, you will also receive tips for embroidery stitches, techniques for fabric and wool felt applique. There is plenty of help to assist your sewing and expand your capabilities while creating sweet treasured gifts for the little one.

Available from our store or click here to purchase your copy online.

Due to popular demand we will be holding another class on Mastering your Bernina 440.

We will address all of the features of this great 440 Bernina sewing machine that a quilter will need. Looking at the walking foot, BSR free motion foot, threading tensions, care of machine, appliqué and decorative stitching.

This class will be held on Friday 18 May.

Click here for more details or to book a spot now.

The Big Apple

It seems a bit of an anticlimax to finish our epic road tour of concrete and fibreglass with a Big Thing we’ve already seen several different versions of – but there you have it… life’s messy. Introducing our very last Big Thing: the Big Apple in the southern Queensland town of Thulimbah. We’ve virtually come full circle. We’re now only a three-hour drive to Byron Bay in NSW, where our journey first began many moons ago with the Big Avocado.

As well as being one of several Big Apples in Australia, this particular Big Apple has had several different lives, been painted in different colours and lived in different towns. It’s also constantly being confused with that other “Big Apple” on the other side of the world – the City That Never Sleeps. If there was ever a Big Thing that was a prime candidate for an identity crisis, this was it.

First constructed in 1978, the Big Apple is made of steel and fibreglass and is 4m tall with a 4.5m diameter. It was originally a bright shiny green Granny Smith, and lived outside the local servo in the town of Stanthorpe, about 20 minutes down the road from Thulimbah. When the site was developed in 2003, the Apple took a redundancy package and a temporary retirement, reappearing not long afterwards as a dark red Royal Gala, in Thulimbah. This move also pushed up the Apple’s socio-economic rating as its new position was promoting a business called Vincenzo’s – an upmarket deli/wine/gift shop showcasing the region’s produce. A far cry from being outside a BP servo.

Meanwhile, it seems that the town of Stanthorpe has never quite gotten over the loss of its very own Big Thing. Ever since the Big Apple relocated, Stanthorpe’s local Chamber of Commerce has been talking about installing a Big Thermometer, to celebrate the fact that the town is officially Queensland’s coldest place. In June 2011, Southern Downs Regional Council invited local artists to submit designs for its “iconic Climatic Art Piece”.

It seems that there’s almost no place in our wide brown land that can resist the prospect of having its very own resident Big Thing. And there’s almost no limit to the lengths (or logic) to which they’ll go to realise their fibreglass dreams.