Pickled
Herring
Designs
a quilter steff and thunderpeep collaboration

9.29.2014

Falling into Fall

Hello! We've blown through the summer, and here we are into Fall. Michelle has already had a few shows with thunderpeep, and last weekend was the big Pickled Herring premiere at the Etsy Made in Canada show here in Toronto.

The show was a huge success, with large crowds all day. Responses were very positive with the release of our embroidery kits, even if most of the show crowd was there to buy completed works, not do-it-yourself projects. I taught a workshop to a friendly crowd of folks who embroidered cards with floss. (some really great designs, that I wish I documented with pictures) and I also talked to a lot of our booth visitors who seemed to be eager to do some sewing. That being the case, I had to talk about the great classes taught at The Make Den. Of course I want everyone to get hooked on quilting, but I was realistic enough to talk about all of the other great sewing options there too.

Now we're through that show and we're preparing for the upcoming Creativ Festival which is at the end of October. We'll be making up some new quilting kits featuring Ferdinand and the Polar Nights creatures. Michelle has been busy at work getting designs up and ready on Spoonflower.

We will keep you posted with a few pics when I get the chance to get quilting.

Here's the booth from Saturday featuring patterns, dish towels and applique kits.
Thanks for reading, and come back soon,

8.21.2014

Fall = Showtime

Now I know you're probably not to happy that I just dropped the F word… but seeing as Back to School is less than 2 weeks away I think it's ok for me to start talking Fall when we have 2 pretty amazing shows coming up.

On September 27th we are participating in the First ever Etsy: Made in Canada show - a day of pop up markets all across Canada. Our show is being hosted by The Toronto Etsy Street team and 416 Hustler team at will be at the MaRS Atrium which is located on the corner of College St and University Ave here in Toronto. A gorgeous space, with 124 vendors, workshops, food and so much more. You can start checking out the talent by flipping through the pages of the event LookBook here (the book also happens to be designed by our own thunderpeep designs!) Join the Facebook event page and be sure to come by and say Hi!

A bit further on we will be participating in the Fall Creativ Festial at the Metro Convention Centre South Hall from October 24-26. That's 3 full days of fabric/sewing/embroidery etc heaven! We'll have more details on that event as it gets closer.

We have tons of fun new stuff in the works for both shows so stay tuned. Don't forget you can like our Facebook page for instant news and updates and maybe photos of cute cats!




6.08.2014

Starting off on the right foot

Not to confuse you, but this post has nothing to do with the foot on your sewing machine. What it is about however, is how to get your piecing off to a good start. This simple tip applies when you're sitting down at the sewing machine ready to start sewing two pieces together.

I recommend that you always start by first sewing over a small scrap of fabric. Simply start sewing on the scrap, then feed your pieces in next (with their seams nicely aligned). It's okay if the machine takes a few stitches in between your scrap and the pieced items, as it won't harm anything. The potential thread mess will be on the scrap instead of on your piecing, and if your pieces are getting eaten by the machine, you can give a gentle tug to the scrap and help pull your pieces through.

It's nothing fancy, but I've included a picture. Happy Sewing!





5.15.2014

We're finally here!

Tomorrow is the Toronto Etsy Street Team's 5th Annual Spring Market and Steff and I will be there for the first time ever with Pickled Herring. We'll have some DIY embroidery kits and Quilt patterns for the Holly Goose and Ferdinand the Fox illustrations. The Embroidery patterns are a bit delayed due to some printing hurdles :( But they'll be the first things up online, hopefully on Sunday!


It's been a pretty crazy couple of weeks getting here, and to be honest we're still not quite fully up and running (um yeah that etsy shop is still in progress - but soon PROMISE!)

For now we'd both like to welcome you the Pickled Herring world and hope that you'll keep coming back to visit us. We're going to have all kinds of posts here. News about products and events, Steff is going to do up Tutorials as well as tips and tricks to help us in all our quilting and embroidery adventures. There's also going to be some super fun freebie downloads including screen savers for your computer, phones and other gadgets.

If you're not in the Toronto area here's a little sneak peek at some of the products that will be launching tomorrow.


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