Ornament Treasures

Wow! Hard to believe October is over in less than 10 days!! Where did it go?? It's very true that time flies when you're having fun... Most of my free time, along with allotted hours in the day & night, have been spent on preparations for the upcoming Make It! Vancouver craft show {head over to the page for details & discount coupons for admission} The crochet hooks have been twisting up a storm, creating new treasures since June when I learned I was accepted by the show's jury. It's very exciting to be moving from being "Front Door Meeter/Greeter-Hand Stamp Lady" to being a vendor with my own booth...  and Yes! I'm nervous, too, as this is my first big-city show!!

A holiday season craft show... I love handmade ornaments & decorations ~ combined with my tendency to think outside the box a majority of the time... hmmm... the results? The 2013 Limited-Edition Ornament Collection by Carla's Victorian Heirloom's ~ 4 different motifs; 13 different colors ~ each one individually handcrafted with heirloom quality, a treasure to pass to your future generations along with cherished memories... warm, happy thoughts lovingly wrapped into each stitch ~ the motif-style of these creations are suitable for displaying all year... a wonderful gift to mark a special occasion...

Here's a photo of some finished ornaments:

 Set of 3/$30 {Available at vendor booth beginning 28November13}

And here's what's "on the block":

Out of pins & out of starch... batch #2

This is the big one of the secret projects I've been working on the last few months and teasing you with {I'll show another one of the 3 in a couple of weeks}...

Simple Victorian elegance ~ a treasure sure to become a cherished heirloom for future generations...

Have an awesome week... see you next time... 

... here, In The Parlour =)

*photos by ccthompson

Studio update...

The last few days have seen us without power for a stretch of 27 hours. A freak wind storm blew through unexpectedly Friday afternoon, taking down trees and branches and a couple of power lines close to us. In all, it was reported that approximately 50,000 hydro customers lost power. Of course, with the power went the internet... out came the extra blankets and all the candles we could find. Stitching without decent light and heat was not option... the bit of paperwork that I worked on ended when I began to consider putting gloves on to continue... you know it's cold when...

Today is the weekly tea & stitch session in the city... the carousel horse will be finished and the first Victorian heirloom decoration for the booth display will be ready to go for our upcoming show in December... details are in the craft markets listing below... Watch for a picture of that ornament to be added to the gallery this week...

The next couple of weeks will be spent sewing and stitching for the Christmas market... with some business workshops in between... only 20 more sleeps to go until market day... and hard to believe it's only 45 days until Christmas morning! (sure can sneak up on a person when there is so much going on around the studio...)

Until next time... stay safe, be happy.

Happy Hallow's Eve

photo courtesy of S. D. Jackson Photography

Good morning to all,

Hope everyone had a great weekend with all the parties and festivities. As today marks the end of October, tomorrow marks the official grand opening of Carla's Victorian Heirlooms. Long hours and hard work to get to this point, and it won't be slowing down anytime soon. It certainly has not been without its challenges but that has just made it a bit more interesting. Challenges help us to see if we are actually up to the task. They can also guide us down a different path to the same result; I like to think of it as "taking the scenic route". It may take a bit longer to get to where we intended, but we get there eventually with a bonus of seeing different sights along the way. So even though it took us almost 25 years to get here, it was definitely worth the detour of twists and turns along the way.

The weekend had its challenges as well. A new project went smoothly up until a point. The bags were cut with casing lines and buttonholes marked in no time. However, the transfer pencil took its sweet time transferring to the fabric. It eventually showed up after about 5 minutes under the hot iron and the motif is ready to be hand stitched today before I stitch the seams. Another challenge is the fabric has a pattern that is somewhat hiding the lines of the transfer... easily dealt with under good light. The 'scenic route' again.

Stitching time yesterday was fun. I met some ladies that also have a passion for needle and threads. I also had a quick lesson in lace making. I have heard of it but had never seen it done so now my curiosity is satisfied. The results are absolutely gorgeous to behold... an heirloom art for sure. I am still undecided as to whether I will attempt to learn the technique. It would definitely fit with the repertoire of the studio...something I will ponder. I actually didn't get much stitching done on the little project I took with me as we were too busy chattering about threads and patterns and the different cloths we use for our art... next week's sit & stitch will see the finish of the first piece in a set of Victorian Christmas ornaments in the works for the craft market booth display. 

Today will be a stitching day as we have sunshine and a break in the rainy weather... A day of work and then over to Twin Beaches tonight for some cocoa by the bonfire and watch the Halloween fireworks. To all the ghouls and goblins out there... safe trick or treating and have a Spooktacular Halloween!

a Work In Progress...

someone to watch over me

shades of purple & grey

from the Fabric Gallery

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Carla's Victorian Heirlooms - In this moment...