The First Day of our Christmas Sale

Welcome to the first day of our Twelve Days of Christmas Mystery Sale!

Today's special deal for all of our blog reader's is on books...

 

and what a deal it is!

Come in, browse our extensive book selections and....

BUY ONE - GET ONE FREE!!!!

We have dozens and dozens of books...

books on applique, books on colour, books on machine quilting....

strip-piecing, Christmas quilting books, scrap quilts

books on felting, and making cards,

books on skinny quilts and books on baby quilts

So come on in and check them out and remember... tell us you read about it on our blog and you can

Buy One, Get One Free!

(available Monday, December 5 and Tuesday, December 6 in store only!)

and don't forget when you buy your books to enter the draw for Jan's fabulous Christmas basket!

Twelve Days of Christmas Mystery Sale

We're having a Sale!



 The Twelve Days of Christmas Mystery Sale at the Sewing Basket starts Monday, Dec. 5!

Every day, starting Monday, Dec. 5, and continuing through Saturday December 17... Jan will have a new daily special and you can only find out about here on our store blog.

Each day's special will be available for the day it's posted, and the following day only, so you will have two days to come down and take advantage of each of the fabulous offers!
(the Special on Saturday, December 17 is so terrific, it will be available on that day only)


Make sure you check back each day to see what Jan has come up with; we're not advertising it in the store, nor will we tell you about it on the phone... just on the blog... and when you come in you just need to tell us...



"I read about it on the Twelve Days of Christmas blog"

and you'll get the sale price.

How fun and easy is that?
So add us to your favourites and come back here each morning after 7:00 to check out the daily special!

 And... as an extra bonus, for every total purchase you make, you can enter into a draw for a beautiful Christmas basket filled with wonderful goodies to fuel your creativity.
The draw will be held December 19 so make sure you take advantage of our special deals and enter often!

Demo Fun - Napkins and Dresdens

We had a great time at the last Free Friday Demo and hope all of you that were there did too!

We showed how to make an easy mitred napkin and as promised, here is a pictorial "How To".

For each napkin you will need:

 one 18" square of fabric (this will be the border and back)

one 12" square for the centre

Mark the centre of all four sides of the 18" square with a marking pen or a pin as shown above and below

Do the same thing for all four sides of the 12" square - Best Press Spray Starch works well to get rid of any creases in your fabric (you definitely do not want any creases when you go to do the mitred corners!)

Place the squares of fabric right sides together, raw edges aligned, centre pins matching, and pin all along, leaving a two inch opening for turning. See below.

Begin sewing 1/4" from one end and stop sewing 1/4" from the other end, back stitching at each side of the opening. (Peach pins show the 1/4" start/stop and yellow are the opening - click on any picture to enlarge). Press all seams under border fabric.

Line up the raw edges of the opposite side, matching the centre pins and sew, again beginning and ending 1/4" from each end. Sew all the way across (no opening!). See below.

Match up the raw edges and centre pins for the third side and sew as you did above.

The photo below shows the third side pinned. Sew and repeat for the fourth side.

Pull sides of napkin out so there is an even border all around and each corner has a piece of excessive fabric that forms a kind of upright triangle (like the sail of a ship). Press as crease as shown below.

Carefully pull that triangle free from the back fabric and sew along the crease, ensuring you do not sew beyond the 1/4" connection of the two side seams. See below.

Clip seam and press open. Repeat for all four corners.

Turn napkin right side out through opening you left on first side, press. Stitch with either a straight stitch or a decorative stitch, just to the right of the centre fabric, along the edge, all around the napkin. This will close up the opening as well as stabilize it for laundering.

Bon Appetit!

The other thing we showed was the 18 degree wedge ruler. The Dresden Plate design below was made with 6 1/2" wedges cut from scraps of Christmas fabrics. Once it is appliqued to the background fabric a circle is appliqued over the centre hole.

The ruler is clearly marked and comes with an instruction booklet with lots of ideas and how tos.

The photo below shows (from left to right) a cut wedge, a wedge that has been folded, sewn and trimmed and finally a wedge that has then been turned and pressed.

The ruler makes it easy to create Dresden Plates of many sizes that would be ideal for table centres, table runners and tree decorations not to mention pretty quilt blocks.

We have several in stock - just ask at the counter for yours!

Tissue Case Tutorial

At last Friday's Demo Jill promised to post a tutorial on making these cute little tissue cases and here it is...

you need: one rectangle plain fabric 4" x 8" and one rectangle print fabric 3" x 8"

6 1/2" x 8" fabric for lining

one button and one piece of co-ordinating ribbon, 10" long

pin fabrics together along 8" edges and sew with 1/4" seam allowance; press seam to one side

lay right side up on mat, lining up seam with markings on mat

using grid lines on mat, lay ribbon in place, centering over the seam

pin in place - if you wish to add a decorative button, place the last pin about 2" from edge of fabric - sew down each side of the ribbon using matching sewing thread

slide button on to ribbon and pin ribbon end in place

if you don't wish to add a button, sew right to the end

pin front piece and lining right sides together and leave a two inch opening for turning

(refer to green pins in photo above - opening should be on a long edge

sew all around, back stitching at beginning and end, and ensuring the opening is left unstitched - clip all four corners

turn right side out, pressing thoroughly - (don't bother to stitch the opening closed as it will be taken care when the sides are sewn)

lay on mat, right side up and button at the bottom

fold bottom edge up 2" and pin in place

fold top edge down 2" (the edges will overlap slightly) and pin in place

sew side seams with 1/8" seam allowance and very carefully, trim corners slightly

turn right side out and carefully push out corners; press

these are a great way to use up scraps of fabric and ribbons and make wonderful stocking stuffers or little gifts for friends...

Enjoy!

-adapted from Rachel E. Dowd's design in Pretty Little Cozies

More Hidden Wells

Two Demos ago we showed the Hidden Wells pattern, and at last week's Demo one of our customer's brought in her version.

A lovely rendition by Marj, using beautiful aquas and mauve.

Marj said she had enough leftovers for an extra block so she made a pillow cover - this design really lends itself to square shapes and it looks fabulous!

And here's a picture of the entire runner.

Hidden Wells is a beautiful, graphic pattern that lends itself to any style of fabric and the more you use the better it gets.

Thanks Marj!

Demo Fun

Hello All!

The past two Friday Demos at the shop have featured the Hidden Wells pattern so we thought we'd post a picture of what Jill made for those who weren't able to make it.

This is a fabulous design that looks complicated but is really very simple; it's strip-pieced and goes together in a snap.

We have a free handout available if you want to give it a try and ...

if you make one and email us a picture we'll post here on the blog.

The next free Friday Demo is February 11 - two days away...

Hope to see you there!

Hi Everyone
First of all ---Thanks so much to all that took part in our great PICK YOUR DISCOUNT SALE. Wow were we ever busy. We needed that as we have to take stock the end of January.

We are having a BLOCK CHALLEGE. Yes we haven't had one for awhile and they are so much FUN. All you have to do is Buy a packet of Fabric for $5.00, register and make one or two
12 1/2" blocks and have them in the store by Feb. 25. You could win the blocks and 3 meters of Fabric to finish the Quilt. ( Plus the left over fabrics.)
We usually have enough blocks for at least two Quilts.

The other great event I would like to tell you about is our UFO THERAPY CLUB.
We are cleaning up and clearing out and thought maybe we could help you do the same.
We suggest you go through all your unfinished projects and sort them into one's you still like and one's you have no intension of finishing. Don't feel guilty about those WHAT WAS I THINKING OF PROJECT. Pull them out, pattern and all and package them up and donate them to one of the groups that make donation quilts.
In Salmon Arm you can bring them into the store either for the Baby Quilts, The Safe House donation quilts or the Chemo Quilts. We'll disperse them for you.
Next just pick up a Registration Form from The Sewing Basket and enter as many projects as you like. Each entry costs $1.00, and you will have to write a brief description of each one.
You must register by Feb. 28 and you have until Sept 30th to finish your projects. Anything unfinished qualifies as long as it is at least 1 1/2 years old (or older)
For every finished project you bring in you get an entry for all the prizes.

#1 A GIFT CERTIFICATE FOR THE AMOUNT OF ALL THE ENTRIES
#2 A GIFT CERTIFICATE FOR $100 from The Sewing Basket
#3 TO #10 MYSTERY GIFTS (that means Jan just hasn't decided yet)

Are you having Fun Yet? Well join in some of our events or join in some of the classes .
We're always having a great time in the store.

Cheryl is busy opening lots of NEW FABRIC and yes it's still at the same old prices.
Drop in and see all these wonderful fabrics.

See you all soon.