Virtual Bag Making Marathon

 Happy Thursday! A few months ago we hosted a virtual retreat and had so much fun. It was wonderful to spend a couple days sewing with others even if it was virtual rather than in person. We have decided to host another retreat in May. This time to make bags. 

Audrey

The dates of the retreat are May 6 and 7. 

We will be focussing on Sallie Tomato Patterns. Her patterns go together really nicely. You can choose any Sallie Tomato Patterns you like and you can make as many as you want.

Casey Duffle 

Esther, Carrie and I have made a wide variety of her patterns and we also have a truck show from Sallie Tomato coming for the Retreat. We will do a little virtual trunk show prior to the sewing days so that you can see all the different bags and decide which ones you would like to make and get all your supplies in time for the sewing. 

Myrna Crossbody

There will be discounts, door prizes, helpful tips and tricks, some games and a lot of bag making! And you get to do it all from the comfort of your own home, no need to pack up all your supplies. 

Luci

Space is limited for this event so sign up soon to guarantee your spot, it is $50 to register, and supplies are not included.  There is a link at the bottom of this post to register. 

Sign up will end Friday April 23.

Ginger

Some bag making experience is recommended for this event as it is more of a sewing retreat than a class. That being said the patterns are written very well and several of them are beginner friendly. 

We hope you will join us for this fun event. 

Have a great weekend!

Kayla

Register Here

Bag Club - Spring 2021

 In one month we are starting a new Bag Club. 

This Club will run via Zoom Video Meetings. 

We will meet on the second Friday of the month in March, April and May, from 10am-4pm. 

Each time we will be making a different bag. 

The patterns we have chosen to do are the Double Flip Shoulder Bag by Emmaline in March

The Roxy or Rozy Wallet by Serial Bag Makers in April

The Classic Market Tote by Andrie Designs in May. 

The fee for this club is $25. This fee will give you access to all 3 Zoom Meetings in which we will walk you through the pattern. You must own the patterns to participate. The patterns and supplies are not included in the price.

The patterns and hardware needed are available to purchase in our shop. We have sold out of the Double Flip Shoulder Bag patterns, but more are on order and they should be back in stock early next week. 

We can put Hardware Packs together, and assist in Fabric Choices if needed. 

You can sign up for the club by clicking here 

Have a great weekend. There will be no blog post on Monday as it is a holiday. 

Kayla

Andrie Designs Bag Gift Event

 Happy Monday, I have mentioned the Andrie Designs Bag Gift Event on our Facebook Page but I thought I would go into a little more detail about it here this evening. 

Lisa of Andrie Designs has been wanting to do a bag swap event for sometime, however with Covid-19 the mail system has been struggling somewhat so she changed up the plans and came up with a similar but new idea. 

Instead she is planning the Bag Gift Event. It will give you warm fuzzies to give someone a bag you made and the person on the receiving end should also get some warm fuzzy feelings. Choosing someone local to you will avoid the need to use the mail. 

There are a couple dates and details to be aware of for the event and for the rest it is pretty simple. 

In order to be eligible for a chance to win prizes that are available you need to register for the event and be a member of the Andrie Designs Patterns Facebook Group. Both are free to join. 

Here is the registration link, and if you search the above name on Facebook it should pop right up for you. 

Registration is open until October 3.

After registering you need to choose your recipient. The person you choose to make the bag for can be anyone, friend, family, neighbor, coworker, it is totally up to you. You can even make bags for more than 1 person. 

There are 4 different patterns available to choose from to be eligible for prizes. They include the S & S Tore, Gemma Carryall Pouch, Polly Crossbody Pouch and the Stand Up and Notice Tote. We have all four patterns available in our shop if you need to purchase one. 

     

After you have chosen your recipient(s) and bag pattern(s) it is time to get sewing. Finish your bag and gift it to your chosen recipient. and take a video or photo of them receiving it. You need to upload this photo or video to the designated Facebook Album in the Andrie Designs Pattern Group by October 25th.

Voting for the winners begins on October 26 and ends on October 28th with the winners being announced on October 29. 

There are prizes for the best video, peoples choice, admins choice and most creative. The prizes are from over 30 different sponsors, and we are super excited to be one of them. 

Just a side note that this company is based out of Australia and all dates are Australian Eastern Standard Time, so to avoid missing out do not wait until the last minute, as they are 16 hours ahead of us here in Alberta. 

We are having a sew day in our shop this week Friday to work on your bags for the event if you wish to join us. It is $10 to sign up and sew for the day, but if you buy all your hardware and fabric from our shop we will credit the $10 sign up fee back to you. You can sign up for the sew day here

We hope you join in on this fun event! 

Kayla 

Bag Making: Patterns

Happy Thursday, how has your week been? Our Annuversary Sale is still happening and so it has been quite busy at the shop. If you haven;t heard, all the yardage in the front room is 30% off for our in store shoppers. There is a minimum 0.3 meter cut to get the discount and if you finish the bolt you get 40% off that piece. This sale continues until June 24th so there is still time to come in and get some new fabric at a great discount. 

Quilt Coaldale our little Market is taking place next week Thursday and Friday and Thursday is nearly sold out but there is still some spaces available on Friday. You can sign up for that here.

Tuesday we did another Facebook live and talked about some of our favorite bag makers and why they are our favorites.  Esther, Carrie and I love making bags, and swap between that and quilting often. All the bags we make are sewn on domestic machines. 

Pattern designers all have different ways of writing patterns, both in quilting and in bag making, and I am sure any other craft as well. Some of them are very wordy, some use lots of pictures, some have very few pictures. Some over explain things and some don't explain it enough. 

Classic Carryall Andrie 
Roadtrip Wallet Emmaline

I am going to list some of the ones Esther mentioned in her video and provide you with a link to their website. Many of them have a free pattern or two available for download, and most of them are quite simple to make. 

If you are new to making bags this is a great place to start, as it will give you a peek into how that pattern designer writes her patterns and constructs her bags. Most bag patterns are labelled with a difficulty level, so you can gauge whether or not you will be able to make the bag. Many of the designers also have a tips and tricks section on their website to help you with various techniques. Most also have a tutorial page with more tips and hacks on some of their patterns to add zippers, change the straps, use different closures and more. 

We have many of these designers patterns in our shop available to purchase, and are willing to offer classes on them as well in the fall. 

We are also planning on doing some virtual classes with the free downloadable patterns and if you are interested in any of those please send us an email to chickenfeedquilts@gmail.com 

Andrie Designs is one of our favorites, she writes great patterns, has lots of pictures, and the pieces always fit together so well. She is also in the process of creating lots of free video tutorials on various techniques related to making bags, which is super helpful if you are at all nervous about anything, and several of her patterns also come with the option to purchase a video class where she walks you through walking the whole bag. Here is a link to her website. Andrie Designs

Adventure Time Backpack Andrie

Chris W has fantastic patterns. We do not carry them in the shop, but we have taught several classes with her patterns, and what we have done is buy enough copies of the pattern for everyone in the class from Chris W and than get the patterns printed and coil bound for you at Minute Man Press. Chris W

Penny Inn Wallet Chris W

Mrs H is another one of our favourites. She has some fun bags, and her instuctions are really good. 

Sallie Tomato designs bag patterns and produces hardware, and we carry both. Her bags are quite easy to make and her hardware is great. Carrie has taught several of her patterns in our young adults bag class and our Bag Club 1. 

Emmaline is another one that designs patterns and produces hardware, we really like her hardware and have nearly all of it in our shop. I find her patterns a lit difficult to understand when I read them, but if I follow the instructions I end up with a great bag. Emmaline has several free patterns on her site to check out. Emmaline Bags

Noodlehead has great patterns, and we teach many of them in our beginner bag making classes. My 6 year old son just made a tote bag for himself using her wax and wool tote, and Taylor and Shay both made a Range Backpack for themselves, and neither of them had sewn very much before making it. 

She has a couple free downloads, and tutorials. Noodlehead

Wax and Wool Tote Noodlehead

By Annie is a designer that we do have in the shop but I don't really care for her bags, mostly because they are quilted and so they require a lot of fabric, and they also call for you to bind the bag, and I just prefer to flip mine. That being said I have made several of her patterns and the patterns are written very well. 

Next week Tuesday at 10:30am on Facebook Live we will be talking about stabilizers for your bags, tune in too learn more. 

Have a great weekend,

Kayla

October Classes

Happy September! I sent two of my boys off to school today, 1 headed off to the first grade and the other is in Grade 3. While I do like getting back to a more structured routine, I sure will miss hearing their laughter and chatter all day long, and miss their help as well, they do so much around the house and are great at occupying the two younger boys. With them back at school I am hoping to carve out a little more time for quilting as well, as I didn't accomplish nearly as much as I wanted to this summer. A great way to get back into the quilting groove is to take a couple classes and we have some fun ones taking place in October. We have some classes running during the day and others that we are offering as evening classes.
We have introduced a new way of pricing classes for this season. Unless otherwise posted our classes are free to attend if you buy the supplies from our shop, if you choose to use your own fabrics there will be a charge. In most cases this will be $25. We hope that this makes taking a class a little more appealing.


The Jelly Roll Rug is still super popular and we have a class for you to learn how to make your own. There are several shapes and sizes of rug as well as a wide variety of Jelly Rolls to choose from. The class is two sessions, Tuesday, October 8 and Tuesday, October 15 from 7pm-9pm. This class generally fills up quite quickly so if you are interested register soon.
A popular quilt of late has been the One Block Wonder Quilt. Made from one print of several of the same panels this is a fun to make quilt that looks different each time. This class is available as a full day class or as two evening classes. The full day class is on Wednesday, October 16 and runs from 10am-4pm. The evening class takes place on Wednesday's, October 9, and 16 from 7-9pm.



Finally we have a class that is a more of a get to know your ruler better than a look at what I made class. I will be doing a session on The Creative Grids Stripology Ruler that will show you how to get more from your ruler. You probably know it is wonderful for cutting strips and squares, but it can do so much more for you.
 The supply lists for each class will be listed on the website under the specific classes, if not yet than they will be up in the next few days.
The majority of the bags we are making in Bag Club will also be available for anyone to attend, although there will be a $25 fee for any of the single day classes and a $40 fee for any of the two day classes, if you wish to attend any please let us know. The first open classes fer these are the Adventure Time Backpack by Andrie Designs, this Backpack does require previous bag making experience. it is a two day class taking place on October 10 and 11 from 10am-4pm both days. 
The second open bag class is the Hippo Hobo Bag by Emkie Designs, this class will take place on Saturday, October 19 from 10am-4pm.
 Supply lists for the bags will be sent out via email a week or two prior to the class date, but are generally whatever the patterns call for.

We have a few different classes taking place in November yet which I will post at a later date, but are there any other classes you wish to see?

Kayla

Bag Club x 3

This past Wednesday we held our Class Reveal at our shop, thank you to everyone that came out. As promised I will now share them here. I will begin with the Bag Clubs that we are offering, and when we are back from our camping trip, I will share the other clubs we are offering followed by some of the individual classes.
At the Open House we had two Bag Clubs, a beginner friendly club (Bag Club 1.0) and one that is more advanced (Bag Club 2.0), however after some feedback we will be throwing in a third club.

First up Bag Club 1.0. This club as mentioned is beginner friendly, the patterns are a variety of sizes and styles and come from several different pattern designers. There is wallets, handbags, duffel bags, and more. You will learn new techniques and how to work with different materials like mesh clear vinyl, cork, leather and more. How its going to work is as follows. There are a total of 9 bag patterns to choose from. Each bag pattern has a date scheduled for it (1 a month), on this date we will get together in our classroom and make this bag. In some cases there may be a little prep work, in others it might end up being a finish at home kind of bag, some of them you may finish completely in the allotted time. Supply lists and any prep work will be sent out via email about a week prior to the class date.
There is a $120 commitment fee for the club. You can come to all of them or just pick and choose, for the first 6 that you attend you will receive a $20 Chicken Feed Quilts Cash Coupon, this coupon is yours to spend. If you attend 6 or more, your club fee will be completely reimbursed to you, if you attend fewer than 6, you will forfeit those coupons.
Bag Club 2.0, this club will work the same way as the Bag 1.0 Club.  Bag Club 2 includes all the Bag Club 1 patterns as well as an additional bunch that are a little more advanced, for the majority of these additional patterns we have made them 2 day classes, and have provided an optional cutting day as well. All the patterns are on different days, none of them overlap with each other, (for the most part there is 2 different patterns each month) For the classes that include the Bag 1 patterns, we will all get together as a larger group.
The fee for Bag 2.0 is $160 and for the first 8 classes you will receive a $20 CFQ Cash Coupon, again you may attend as many as you like.
Bag Club 1 and 2 will both be held during the day and we will start at 10am and the classroom will be open for sewing until 4pm.

The third Bag Club is being taught by Carrie and is geared towards young adults between the ages of 16 and 24. Little to no bag making experience is required to attend. In this club you will make bags that are very useful, and simple, but also teach you new bag making techniques. You will put zippers in, use hardware and explore the use of different interfacings, stabilizers, and different types of materials including some opportunities to use cork, leather or vinyl.
The fee for the club will work the same way as the other two, with this one being set at $80.
The Young Adults Bag Club will be an evening club, running from 7pm-9pm, most of the bags will be taught over the course of two evenings to ensure you get as much done as possible, and are not left with unfinished bags.

To sign up for any of these clubs click here. (The dates for each are listed in the Class Description when you open the class link)
If you wish to sign up for any of the classes individually there will also be an option for that, I just have not uploaded them to the website yet. The fee for the single day classes will be $25 and for the two classes it will be $45, you will not receive CFQ cash coupons back for this fee though, that is only for those that commit to the whole club.
There will be no blog posts next week, the next one will be on Tuesday, August 27.
Have a great weekend!
Kayla

Bionic Gear Bag Recap

We hosted our Bionic bag Workshop these past couple days in our shop, although it turned more into a fun little retreat than an actual structured workshop. 

Esther, myself and an additional 8 ladies have spent the last two days, laughing, learning from each other and best of all sewing. The Chrysalis Cafe made snacks, coffee and lunch for us both days and delivered it to us, so we sewed to our hearts content, and when food arrived on our tables we ate, than kept sewing. 

Each of us made a Bionic Gear Bag, and all of them turned out so great. Most of us still need to finish binding the edges, but we decided to do that at home and make the couple bonus projects that Esther had planned for us. 

We had a fun pouch tutorial from Anna Graham of Noodlehead Designs that we modified a little by making it even smaller and it works great for holding Wonder Clips. 

Esther also designed a neat little machine needle holder that has space for needle boxes, lightly used needles, as well as a description for what each needle is to be used for. It rolls up and neatly fits into our gear bags to keep everything together. 

As is usual when you get 10 ladies sewing together there were some mistakes made. This cute little corner was dubbed the "Comfort Corner." Because if you have to pick something out, you may as well do it in a fun, comfortable chair. 

Everyone walked away with a nifty notion or pattern as a prize, and it seemed that every time we drew a name, the winner was not even paying attention to what was going on and we needed to call the name a couple times along with "winner" before they would clue in. 

Thank you again to all the Ladies who joined us, Esther and I had great time, and we hope you did as well. This was a great ending to a season of making bags together, and once we get the plans finalized for next years bag club we will post the details, and the sign up information. 

As a side note my nails matched my fabric so well that I just had to take a picture.
 Kayla
Scroll down to see more pictures of us working hard.

Bag Workshop Highlights

Last weekend was our Bag Workshop. It was a three day event in which we made 3 different projects. 

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The first day Esther and I were the teachers and we combined this day with our Bag Of the Month Club for October. Most of the class made the Dainty Day Tripper by Mrs. H, which is a bag that can convert from a small backpack to a cross body bag. Nearly everyone completed their bag and they all turned out beautifully and look so different from each other! Two ladies did the Luxie Lunch Bag which is a pattern by Emmaline Bags. 

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SXLLM​​Friday and Saturday we had Tara from UhOh Creations come down from Calgary to do some teaching, Esther and I were even able to spend the two days sewing. We made the Cottowwood Boho Bag and Pouch which are patterns written by GML Designs and Serial Bag Makers. Again nearly everyone finished their projects. All the ladies made their bag and pouch a matching set, and even those that started with the same focus fabric looked very different in the end.
Many of us also added some Bling to fancy up our bags, we added extra rivets, zipper pulls and handmade labels as well as tassels that we made ourselves. It is amazing how a little extra bling can take your bag to a whole new level. 

Esther's daughter-in-law was kind enough to provide us with some baking and lunch each day, which was appreciated by everyone, and very much enjoyed. She made us tacos one day, sandwiches another and soup on the final day. 

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Friday night, Tara did a little show and tell for us, sharing her background of sewing, and some of the bags that she has made, as well as telling us about her role as a pattern tester for various Bag Designers.  I believe everyone went home from the show very inspired. I for one got home and purchased one of the patterns, and have already printed it and chose my fabrics and hardware, now to see if I can finish it before my next trip. 

Next week is our November session of the Bag Of The Month Club, in which we will be doing the Evelyn Bag by Swoon, and learning about the various strap anchors from Emmaline. 

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For more pictures of our Bags from the Workshop check out our Facebook Page.

Kayla

Fall Events

For the past few weeks Esther and I have been finalizing the details on the fall events, clubs and classes that will be taking place in our shop this fall. We will send out a couple emails with them all listed for you later today, if you have signed up for emails but haven't been getting them check your spam, as we have heard from some people that this is where they found theirs.

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 The first class on the calendar is the Mini Pineapple make and take on August 30, there is still a few spots left in this class. We have kits available for the class, and it finishes up at 22" square.

The next class is a Laura Heine Collage Class on September 8. I have taught this class several times in the past year, and it is always fun and productive. You can do any of the Laura Heine patterns and learn a few tips and tricks along the way. There is seats open, and we need to have at least one more person register by August 31, or we will have to re-schedule this. Some prep work required, so if you are interested sign up soon. Class fee is $40 and supplies are an additional cost.

Esther's Violet Craft Paper Piecing Class is a four week session that begins on Wednesday, September 12 and takes place in the evenings. In this class you are free to do any of the Violet Craft Paper Pieced patterns, and Esther will share with you some tips and tricks to help you create your own masterpiece! Cost is $80 plus supplies.

We have three different clubs taking place this year.

GO Club which has been an ongoing club in the shop for several years will once again take place the second Tuesday of every month. The fee for this one is $80 and it runs from September through May. In this club you can share tips with each other and use a variety of GO dies over the season.

The PhD Club is a new club that has been designed to motivate you to finish off some of those projects that are half done. There is a weekday and a Saturday session available to join. Each sew day you will bring a project of yours that is incomplete, work on it for the day and set a goal for yourself to have done by the next months sew day, whether it a a few more blocks, the whole top, or binding it that is up you. I will record your goal, if your homework is not done you will pay a penalty of $10, if you are done you will get an entry into the bucket for the jackpot at the end of the year. There is no class fee, and you are able to join just one session or both of them. The more people that join the more fun it will be! This club runs September-May, but we will skip December.

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The third club is also a new one, it is the Bag of the Month Club, which I have mentioned several times over the summer. We still have some spots available in both the Tuesday and Saturday sessions and would love to have more people join us to make this club even more fun. Esther finished up one of the September projects this week, an ID lanyard, which turned out really cute and is already being put to good use by Carrie. Each month we will share tips and tricks on various parts of bag making, interfacing, different fabric choices, hardware, and accenting. This club is great for beginner bag sewists and will be fun for experienced bagineers!

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If you have checked out our events page recently, you will have seen that there is several different ones happening this fall.

First up is National Sew a Jelly Roll Day, on Saturday, September 15.  The purpose of this day is for you to sew a jelly roll, it doesn't matter what you make, just that you pull out a jelly roll and sew with it. We will be having a Jelly Roll Race in store that day, and stitch off is at 10:30am. We will also have jelly roll patterns, and jelly rolls on sale that day. There will also be giveaways, draws and freebies so come in store for this fun event, and be sure to register yourself for the race! Watch our Instagram page next week for some Jelly Roll Inspiration. Also start going through your Moda Jelly Roll stash and pull out the oldest one you own. We will be having a fun little contest with this as well.

Our Accuquilt Travelling Trunk show arrives on Monday September, 24. There will be projects made with the Accuquilt Dies and we will be doing demos all week on this amazing cutting system!

Later that week is the Annual Harvest Hop, pre-registration has already started for this, and ends on September 15. Our prizes from our distributors have started trickling in, and we have our gifts for getting your passport stamped all ready to go. The Hop runs September 27-29. 

Tuesday, October 2 we will be having an Aurifil Information Session in our store. The President of Aurifil as well as the Director of Marketing will be coming to our store to do a presentation on all things Aurifil, as well as hand out some swag! There are two time slots available, one at 3pm and the second at 7pm. There is a $5 fee to hold your place for this presentation, which will be given back to you after the event as Chicken Feed Cash to spend that day.

I have frequently mentioned the Bag Workshop and Trunk show which is taking place October 18-20. We would love to have a few more people join us for this. The workshop is beginner friendly, so don't be intimidated if you have never made a bag before. We will help you through the process! The workshop and the trunk show are two separate events and you may attend both or either if them. Even if you don't sew bag the Trunk show would still be a fun evening out with friends!

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 For our final event of the year we will be hosting a Zen Chic travelling Trunk show in partnership with Trend Tex fabrics. This will take place December 3-8. We will have a games evening on December 4, focusing on  Zen Chic. There will also be a contest to enter your projects made with Zen Chic fabrics. The projects must be brought in store by November 30, contain at least 75% Zen Chic fabric, and can be a quilt, wall hanging, topper or bag. We have had some representatives from Trend Tex offer to judge the entries, but don't be intimated as they are not quilters and are not critical at all! 

If you need some days set aside to make your Zen Chic project feel free to join the PhD club to finish one off, or join the Go or Bag Club to make a new project using Zen Chic!

These classes, clubs and events all have limited spaces available (aside from Shop Hop) and you need to be registered ahead of time to attend. To sign up, call the store, send us an email, or better yet come in store and see all the new fabric that arrives every week!

Kayla

Bag Of The Month Details

We have decided on the dates for our Bag of the Month Club as well as the designers. The Club will have one session that runs on Saturdays and another that takes place on Tuesdays and will start at 10am and go until 4pm. 

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To kick off the club the first month will be a free pattern and the supplies will be included in the club fee. We will be making a pouch, and we will be focusing on using mesh and clear vinyl. The dates for this one are Tuesday, September 15 and Saturday, September 18. 

October is the Workshop and so there is just the one date, Thursday, October 18. We will be using bag frames this month, there is the free Retreat Bag pattern from Emmaline as one option, and we have a few other patterns as well that designers have written which use the frames from Emmaline. 

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November we are back to Saturday and Tuesday the 3rd and 6th respectively. We will be doing a pattern by Swoon this month and learning how to use the variety of Strap Anchors that Emmaline has developed. 

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On December 4 and 8 we will do a NoodleHead pattern and lean a little more about different interfacings and how they can change the look of your finished bag. 

As this is a lot of bags in a few short months and life can get in the way we have decided to use January for a makeup and finishing class, if you had to miss a class you can use January  to make the bag you missed and if you have been able to attend all the classes you have the option to work on any of the bags that you haven’t finished. 

February 5 and 9 we will be working on a wallet! We have a couple options on wallets and will discuss them more in the club and make a final decision with you. 

In March we will get together on Tuesday the 5th or Saturday the 9th and will be doing a pattern written by Andrie Designs. 

For the final month we will be making a backpack by Sassafrass lane. This class will feature some different rings.The dates for April are the 2nd and the 6th. 

The goal each month is to try out a new designer and learn new techniques and how to use the specialty Hardware that Emmaline offers. Esther and I have been working on all the bags and we have made small changes to each one.

Registration for this club is open now and we can hardly wait to get started. Sign up in store, through email or by phone. 

I will be going camping next week so there will be no blog posts on Tuesday or Friday. The next post will be on a Tuesday July 23. 

As a result the pair of the Be My Neighbor Quilt Block 10 will be postponed. This gives some of you a chance to catch up and for those that are caught up feel free to make Block 10, and if you have any tips for me please tell me about them. 

I am off to do some more packing, have a fantastic weekend, 

Kayla

Bag Workshop Details

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago we will be hosting a bag workshop in October. We have finalized the projects, so continue reading to see what they are along with the rest of the details.

This will be a 3 day event that will run Thursday, October 18, Friday, October 19, and Saturday, October 20. 

On Thursday, Esther and I will be teaching the Retreat Bag by Emmaline, and we will have some different options for adding pockets and straps. There is two sizes available for this pattern. There are also a couple designer patterns that feature the Bag Frames to choose from instead of the Retreat Bag.

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Friday and Saturday, Tara Sinclair from UhOh Creations will be coming to make two bags with us. One is the Cottonwood Boho Bag by GML Designs and the other is the Cottonwood Pouch by Serial Bag Maker. The Bag has a few different size options and features 2 exterior pockets, as well as an interior zip pocket and an adjustable cross body strap. The Pouch has a zip top, 8 credit card slots, hidden slip pocket and interior zipper pocket. 

The combinations of fabrics and hardware will make your creations unique to you.

The price is $125 for all three days of instruction and will also include 3 meals as well as beverages and snacks. All supplies will be an additional cost, and will need to be purchased from Chicken Feed Quilts. 

Friday evening (October 19) Tara Sinclair will also be doing a trunk show. Come join us to see some incredible bags and have dessert at the same time. Cost to attend this is $20. Even if you don't make bags this will be fun to attend.

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To go along with this workshop we will also be starting the Bag Of The Month Club in September. It will be a seven month club running September through April and skipping January. We will get together one day a month and work on a bag together. Each month will be a different type of bag from a different designer. Esther and I are working on the samples so that you can see which projects we will be doing. So far it looks like we have a project pouch, a backpack, a tote bag,  a ruler holder, a handbag and we are still deciding on a wallet and a couple other patterns that we are waiting to be released to the public. 

This Club will be $150 to join. All patterns and supplies that are needed will be an additional cost.

If you sign up for both the workshop and the Bag of the Month Club before August 1st or before the workshop is full, whichever comes first, you will save $25. 

Spots are very limited, and several seats are already spoken for, so we are asking that you pay a 50% deposit to hold your place.

Sign up quickly if you want in on what is promising to be an exciting weekend. You can sign up by phoning our store, sending us an email, or even better coming in. If you sign up through email or phone you will need to send us an interac e-transfer or credit card for the deposit.

Come see us next weekend at the Cactus Rose Quilt Club Quilt Show. It is being held at the Medicine Hat Curling Club, Friday, June 8, 12-8pm and Saturday, June 9 from 10am-5pm. Admission is $5. 

Kayla

Bag Workshop

Esther has been working on setting up another workshop for sometime now, and this week we got confirmation on a Bag Workshop! This is mainly a teaser post about it as this is just confirmed and very few details aside from the dates have been worked out. 

We have an experienced bag maker who also happens to be a pattern tester and designer coming to our shop October 19 and 20 to do a workshop on two bags as well as a trunkshow for us. 

Esther and I are also thinking of adding an optional third day as well, where we will teach a third  pattern. This would take place on October 18. 

We are still working out the pricing details, as well as venues for the trunkshow.

I will do a much more detailed post in a few weeks when we have all the information worked out, along with some pictures of the bags we are making, and who will be teaching them. 

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To go along with this, as well as by request we will be starting a Bag Of The Month Club in September. The Club will get together once a month to sew a bag. The patterns will all be from different designers, and range in style from totes, to wallets, to backpacks and more.

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Esther and I will be spending the next few weeks making up the bags that we have chosen for the club, and get them into the store so that you can see the different patterns we will be doing before you sign up.
If you have never sewn bags before but are eager to try the Club is a great place to learn. It is a great way to learn and get advice rather than doing it completely on your own. That doesn't mean only beginners can join, it will be good for bag makers of all skill levels.

We have recently got in some fun cottons that look like cork and leather, and there are a few more colors on the way. These are great for those of you who like the look but are nervous to work with the real thing, or are scared your machine will be able to handle it. Come in store to check them out in person.

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Before I can start my bags for the club, I need to finish up the minis that I am working on. I have a couple that need quilted, one that is cut, and another that I took home today. I hope to have them all finished for next Friday's blog post. 

We will be closed on Monday for Victoria Day.

Do you have any long weekend plans? My husband is taking me out for breakfast tomorrow morning while my inlaws watch our boys and than our family will be doing some yard work, and we have a Family Barbeque Sunday Evening.

Kayla