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

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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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

Busy Weeks

The last few days have been extra busy for Esther and it won't be slowing down for a little while either. She led the first sessions of the Bag of The Month Club, plus 2 other classes, she went to Calgary to pick up our new Aurifil Stand, and today she went to the Border to pick up all the boxes that Accuquilt sent us for our trunk show coming up next week. 

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The Bag Club went great and the ladies that signed up left with a mesh zipper pouch, and an ID pouch with a zipper pocket and a lanyard to make for easy carrying. Next month is the Bag Workshop, and we can still fit you in if your are interested but have not signed up yet. 

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Our newest Aurifil stand (number 3) was picked up yesterday by Esther, and this morning her and I set it up, and started filling it, when Carrie got to the store she jumped in and we got all three stands pretty well organized. We are just waiting for some 40 weight small spools that were back ordered, but these should be here in about a week and a half. Our new stand is all small spools as we wanted to have a wide variety of colors in the 50 and 40 weights available. This stand got here just in time for our Aurifil Presentation that is just around the corner. There will actually be two presentations, one in the afternoon and one in the evening of Tuesday, October 2. The presentation will be given by the President of Aurifil and their Director of Marketing.  If you haven't yet registered to attend this, do so soon. It will be very informative and will show you how important thread really is.

The Accuquilt Trunk Show starts on Tuesday. I have mentioned this show a few times but haven't gone into a lot of detail about it. Esther picked up an entire pallet of boxes, which contain quilts, product and gifts for the Trunk Show. I for one can't wait to see what all the boxes contain.

We will have the Trunk Show set up in our main floor classroom from September 25-29. Their will be quilts from Accuquilt displayed, all three of the Systems will be set up, and we will do demos on them. We will also give you a chance to try them out, we have lots of fabric available to chop up. 

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There will be gifts available with each purchase of a machine or major bundles. The Baby Go's are on special next week as well. We will also have some draws and there will be some freebies as well, so come on out to see what these machines can do.

In addition to the Accuquilt Trunk Show, it is also Shop Hop Next weekend. This is always a fun weekend with so many quilters coming through in such a small space of time. I am sad to have to miss the majority of the weekend, due to a work thing I have to attend with my husband, but I am excited to go away with him for a couple days with no kids. 

A new shipment of Emmaline Hardware came yesterday, this shipment contains her latest releases as well as everything that needed to be re-ordered because we were running low on inventory after the bag classes this past weekend. 

A shipment of fabric came today as well. Another 6 boxes. I didn't get a chance to see what was inside but it was whispered to me that it is supposed to be Art Gallery, so I will definitely be checking them out tomorrow!

Our first Phd Class session yesterday went really well, and everyone commented that it was nice to be getting some of these older projects finished and off their mind. The next one goes tomorrow and I am excited to see the next batch of projects half done. 

As a side note and something that made our day, on Wednesday, Moda mentioned us on their blog and shared a photo of the Moda Blockheads we have been doing. That in addition to Chris W Designs including a photo of Kayla's backpack in her email last week made us feel pretty special. 

We love to see what you create with fabric you purchase from Chicken Feed, so tag us in your photos!

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