Handmade Holiday

Saturday December 5th

10:00 AM - 6:00 PM

Celebrate the holiday season with us!

Local artisans will be offering unique and beautiful

handmade gifts, or choose from our extraordinary

selection of fabrics, yarns, ribbons and trimmings

to create your own handmade offerings.

www.franklinmillstore.com
.
Hope you will join us!

Boo!

It's that time of year again - lots of last minute desperados trying to figure out how to rig up monster-fairy-vampire-madhatter-spiderman-queen mum....costumes. We are always ready to help these folks and it's actually kind of fun. Last minute "costumers" are usually pretty easy to please, truth be told - "Wow, you can cut a cape out of felt!!!!", but every now and then there's a real challenge like rigging together a hooped skirt or finding the appropriate ingredients for a human Twinkie.
Good thing I have a college degree.

The toughest part about Halloween for me is that the next day I know I will wake up to Christmas music playing somewhere (probably Walgreens) and this will trigger a terrible panic in me. Every year - EVERY YEAR! I am not prepared for this to happen. I won't go on and on about this, but lets just say it's a glimpse into my dark side. Organized friends who know of my holiday ineptitude are always telling me "well just do something about it, make lists, get organized!!!"
I hate them.

But HA HA! I'm now going to tell you all to get crackin' with your holiday crafty gift makin'. Don't you love the irony?

I'll keep it simple for the moment and just share a few photos of groovy new things in the store. And when I've re-grouped from my post halloween shock I'll get back to you!

Love this new laminated fabric from Kokka!
(terrible photo of it, but trust me, it's cool)

Woodland Friends
by Ellen Crimi-Trent


I learned from a customer who has a pet hedgehog
(did you know this was possible??) that Norfolk Agricultural School
has a Hedgehog Festival!
cute, cute, cute
This is what the judges are looking for in a "showhog":

"The animals should be easy to play with,
and they should not be afraid.
As far as aesthetics are concerned, we look for form and flow.
The hedgehog should be almost "aerodynamic". The animal should be
shaped like a tear drop - a short, wide face with a filled out behind."

"Aerodynamic??!"
Gotta love it!



From those wonderful folk who bring us One Skein Wonders:


One More Skein!
The projects take a bit more time, but are still manageable.

Cookies!

Girl Scouts collection by Robert Kaufman.
yum, yum, yum


A small taste of new things rolling into the store:

Happy Halloween!

Mary

Red, Yellow.........Brown

Just three weeks ago I stepped out the front door
of the mill at closing time and encountered
the most perfectly crisp, blue, early evening sky.
The sunflowers FINALLY made it to full bloom and I thought:
"At last, the best part of summer has arrived!"
...and now it's gone.
I don't know why this always catches me off guard.
Could be a learning difference, but... probably just my need to deny
the inevitability of winter.
(Yes, winter does come every year after Fall).
The scenery IS beautiful though. The pond I pass on the way to
work each morning is my usual measure of the passing of the seasons.
The tiny little pale green leaves of springtime bringing the most
excitement for me, but the Autumn leaves are glorious too,
especially this year.

It's a very busy time of year here in the store.
Classes start up again: quilting, knitting, sewing,
rug hooking... a veritable frenzy of creativity.
New yarn and fabric collections are rolling in, which has
everyone here contemplating their next projects.

Foremost on the project lists are holiday gifts.
Although there are some who can "whip-up"
amazingly complex sweaters and quilts for everyone on
their lists, many of us (moi) are looking
for unique, quick and relatively easy things to make.
For those who need a little help getting the ball rolling
we'll be offering workshops to help. A few coming up:

Cute casserole carriers
to carry your sweet potatoes safely to Grandmother's house...


Aprons

Dress up your favorite chef.
Dog lovers, sports fans, polka dots, cupcakes...
makes cooking a lot more fun.

Check our website for workshop listings.


Don't forget to make something for yourself too.

Dorothy made us this fabulous outfit using
two of the new designer fabrics we have in the store.
Perfect for strolling about town on these crisp days!


More fun things...

...new patterns by our friend Jennifer at Sew Fun.
Brainy Baby Ball...


...and Grab n' Go Diaper Clutch.
Great gifts for newborns and new moms!


That's all for today.

Hope to see you in the store.

Mary

End Of Summer Sale

summertime and the livin' is easy...

Not such a great summer for ball games and beaches, but not so bad for old mill buildings without artificial air. If we dared, we could almost be smug about our superior "green-ness", but we are not so foolish.

On to new things...

New colors from the aboriginal fabric people in Australia...

Designed with traditional aboriginal symbols, not only are they

beautiful to look at, they are preserving a rich story

telling tradition of the aborigine people.

Below are a few of the symbols found in their designs:

On a lighter note. . . for all the Lil' Princess' in the world

. . . from Michael Miller:

Very cute! Think princess p.j's, princess pillowcases, pinafores...

...ok, you get it.

New Amy Butler pattern:

Lydia made this Amy Butler mini dress/smock for us using

a beautiful cotton lawn fabric (not Amy's). Very summery and

easy to make. She says the pattern has impeccable instructions

and was very easy to follow.



Books to inspire:

These are a few of our favorites.

All have creative and relatively easy projects to follow. . .

so now's the time to get started on your handmade holiday gifts!







More fabric...

From one of the many fabulous designers at FreeSpirit -

Wildwood by Erin McMorris

We also have Erin's "Park Slope" collection.

Check out these Flickr photos to see some

of the amazing projects being made with her fabrics!



...and from Joel Dewberry - Deer Valley:




Also from FreeSpirit...

Jay McCarroll's (of Project Runway fame) Garden Friends

(Where's that wabbit?)

I love his bio on the FreeSpirit page:

Jay's Bio



For fans of Windham Fabric's "Paper Doll's"

our friend Lindell made the ultimate in adorable cuteness:



Lindell, once again, thank you so much for sharing with us!



Last but not least...

Diane made a tool belt for her son (a carpenter) using Alexander Henry's

"Heavy Equipment"

what can I say? (Diane!! ; )



Oh no! so many pictures, so few words...time to go.

See you in the store!

Mary

sweet little dress

As promised: the dress Lydia made using Bari Ackerman's (Windham)

"Full Bloom" fabric and Tina Givens' "zig zag girl" pattern.

Super cute. Definitely a "smockish" sort of dress.

Plenty of room for swirling and tumbling about.

Itata by Araucania

I have been patiently waiting for this yarn to come in.

Arauncania's new sock/fingering weight yarn has beautiful

hand-dyed colors and is made with a wonderful blend of

superwash wool, silk, and bamboo.



New Books: Debbie Bliss


Just in, two new books from Debbie Bliss.

Both have lots of useful tips as well as fabulous patterns

and inspiring photos.




Bye for now!

Mary

Hello Sun!

Well, it has become quite apparent lately that my grey cells

operate on solar power. So, now that things have brightened

up a bit and the synapses are synapsing...

time to share new things.

Japanese Fabrics

Heather Ross's latest collection

for Kokka is absolutely

gorgeous. This unique cotton

double gauze is incredibly soft

and breezy without being

transparent. Perfect for a

summer smock, dress or

very special baby's quilt.



Great new collection from Windham Fabrics:

Check out how fabulous this looks in a quilt and pillows:



New Tina Givens patterns:

Lydia is making the smock on the left using the Full Bloom fabrics.

It'll be up in the store soon, so come check it out!

We also have Tina's "Fairy Tip Toe" fabric collection

by " Free Spirit.


Helmet Liners

We've had a lot of requests lately for washable wool yarns.

Many of these requests were from people who are making helmut liners

for the troops. Ella Rae Superwash wool is perfect for this project

and it comes in the most fabulous colors.


Here are the links for more information and knitting

instructions for the liner:

Operation Helmut Liner

Helmet Knitting Instructions



No Sew Belts
(or headbands)


For those who want to make something, but insist they don't/can't sew,

the fabric gods invented Fabri-Tac.
I'm a huge fan. It's a permanent, quick drying adhesive

and works on most surfaces

(fabric, wood, leather, lace, suede, tile, felt, plaster, glass, trims, canvas, ribbons...)

Come in, we'll show you how to make a belt!


Noro


Lots of new "Silk Garden" colors in. We are loving this cute

summer sweater from the Noro Designer Mini Knits book.




Another fabulous creation by Lindell:


A very cute and practical casserole holder. Much better than putting

your potluck dish in a paper bag and letting it crash

around the back of your car (that would be me).

It's Kwik Sew pattern 1135.

Thanks for sharing Lindell!



Special Purchase Home Decorating Fabrics


As always, we have a great selection of home decorating remnants,

you'll never know what treasure you'll find.

At the moment we have some incredible silk pieces from Robert Allen.

Hurry, these won't last long!



Oh No! Here Comes the Rain AGAIN!!!

Mary