Deck the Halls

The days are short, we've just stuffed ourselves silly with turkey and pies.....

 what a fine time to be rushing about in preparation for

"The Most Wonderful Time of the Year"!  Right?

Don't want to shop at the Mall?
Come visit us!

We have great gifts for kids (big and small)

Fabulous stocking stuffers too!

YES, we have burlap!

Looking for ideas?

Check our burlap board on our Pinterest page.

Making last minute-ish gifts?

 We have lots of new fabrics for your projects!

Here are a few:

 "Fox Playground"

Sweet new collection Dena Designs
Make a fun pillowcase for a girl or boy...
or a quick quilt backed with flannel.

PJs for the holidays?

Check out this sweet flannel collection from Riley Blake:

 "A Merry Little Christmas"

My personal fave this year...

"Betty the Yeti" from Robert Kaufman.

All of the flannels we carry are of superior quality.

They have a wonderful weight to them, are soft

and have very little shrinkage when washed.

Kaffe Fassett

Some new designs and more of his classics

Delicious!

No time to create?
A Franklin Mill Store
Gift Certificate is always a great gift!

If you need a reprieve from the madness,
come see us for an "other worldly" holiday experience. 

Cheers!

Holidazzzzze

Oh yes, as lovely as they are, I think most of us

feel a bit under pressure.

Cleaning, decorating our homes, shopping,

cooking, eating-too-much!

I try to keep it simple with food and gifts, but I love decorating
my house and table with greens, pine cones, gourds, candles.......
and of course fabrics.

My go-to source for last minute sprucing up is
our Home Decorating remnant tables (how convenient).
 Perfect for covering
anything less than beautiful in my house.

No matter how simple the gift, it's always nice
to wrap it well.  I'm a big fan of our sheer ribbons

(the ones we tie around customers bags).

They just look sooo yummy in a bow...layered...

mixed with several different colors and widths.

Makes even a gift of coal appreciated! 

So many new things have been coming into the store.

Here are a few of my faves:

"Pin Up" from Alexander Henry.

Snazzy pj's or a pillow case for your sweet heart.

From Joel Dewberry 54" home decorating weight cotton sateen.

Think cushions, valances or freshen up an old chair.  

"Cherry Christmas" from Aneela Hoey

very sweet 

Fantastic new Collections from Art Gallery:

"Splendor 1920"

"Floressence"

Great clutch from Indygo Junction.

This one made with 2 sqaures of wool felt.

 Elegant Winter from Moda.

Perfect for a quick tablecloth. 

Banners are quick to make and very festive.

The most simple can be made with felt, scissors and glue,

but it's not too tricky to take it up a notch either.

Gotta have one of these...

Feed The Animals coin purse.

Cute, easy...

fill it with money - great gift!

 Fun Dots

 Gorgeous new wool from designer

Derek Lam.

No time to make anything?

Give a Franklin Mill Store gift certificate!

See you soon!

Mary

Aloha! Snowmen, women and children!

I am only just now digging myself out of my igloo.  Haven't seen my shadow yet though and they say snow's comin' again.  So quickly, before I turn into a frozen pumpkin, I'm going to share a few new things at the Mill...and then some.

 Anna Maria Horner's new collection has just come in

and I love, love, love it!

Even more exciting, those AMH peeps have made a fantastic

laminated fabric with two of these prints, not here yet, but soon.

These will definitely bring a warm glow to my igloo.  

Her new book "Seams To Me"  has all sorts of groovy projects

to keep you busy until Spring 

Sweet, funny little owls from Alexander Henry

Also from Alexander Henry:

(Bambi on acid)

My son just sent me a link to the coolest site:

folkstreams.net

It's a national preserve of documentary films about

American Roots Cultures.

If you're into that sort of thing, you will love this site.

I just watched a short film called:

Anything I Can Catch:  The Handfishing Story

All I can say is: Wow.

Check it out.

Aloha!

mary

 

Giving Thanks

We have the greatest people who come into our store looking for things to create. Fortunately for us some are willing to share their creations. It's always very inspiring.
Our friend Katie, who is one of Patti Barnatt's sewing students, is a relatively new sewer who has done amazing things. One of the nicest aspects of Katie's sewing story is that she inherited her sewing machines from her grandmother and is now carrying on with the sewing tradition.

She made this dress to wear to a wedding and it is just amazing! ( My photos don't do it justice.) The main patterned fabric is "Feeling Groovy" by Michael Miller. Perfect.

Her bag is a testament to the merging of the two generations. The retro floral on the bottom is from Katie's Grandmother's stash. She then added a modern flair with the Alexander Henry dots on the top band which is what makes this bag work. Funky, modern and hip.

The pattern for the bag is Amy Butler's "Frenchy Bag".


Next to share:

Our friend Lynn made gorgeous wool applique Christmas stockings for her children and grandchildren...





















Sweet Aprons...

Another customer, inspired by the patterns in the book "A is For Apron" made the cutest aprons as gifts for her sisters:

Sexy Aprons...


And if you're not the "girl next door" type, how about this bewitching number...

made by our friend Joan.













Last but not least:

One of Joan's sewing students, Devin, made this quilt which she has titled: "The Magical, Mythical World Around Us". Fantastic quilt Devin!

Thank you everyone for sharing your creations!

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Mary

... with a little help from my friends

About six months ago our friend Lindell introduced us to

the cell phone bag kits by Quiltsmart. THEY ARE SO MUCH FUN!

and so easy to make. It's best to buy the kit first, which includes

instructions, pre-printed fusible interfacing for 3 bags, and cording

for the straps. Once you get the gist of it, you can buy the interfacing

by the sheet without the kit. Probably the most fun about making

these bags is embellishing them.

Add buttons, bedazzle them with crystals . . . oooo la la!

Quiltsmart also has a tote bag interfacing with which Lindell made us

an adorable bag using fabric from the new 4th o' July collection

by Marcus Brothers .

Thank you Lindell!

Check out these new fabrics from Michael Miller and Robert Kaufman!

Adorable kitties, cupcakes, camo, and colorful dots:

Perhaps it's a bit perverse to mention at this time of year, but...

we also just got these really cute retro Christmas

and Halloween fabrics by Alexander Henry.

I promised a while back to show you the Oliver + S

tunic and skirt Joan was making. I wish I had a better photo,

but it is on display in the store, so come in and have a look.

Last but not least, our friend Karen R. loaned us this

cute little sweater she made from one of the new

Sirdar kids patterns.

If you see it, you'll have to make it.

Thank you Karen!

and thank you all!

bye for now...

Mary