Archives: needlework

This weekend there are so many interesting things going on I’ll be hard pressed to do them all!

Starting on Friday there’s the International Market Place; an event put on in partnership with the Immigrant Women’s Centre. I checked it out when I first moved to Hamilton and would love to see how it’s evolved and grown since last going five years ago.

Be sure to stop by and support your local community and pick up some handcrafted goods and wares!

 

On Friday night at Christ Church Cathedral there’ll be a special talk about the potential future of James Street North. It’s entitled James Street North 5×7; 5 minute talks by 7 community thinkers on improving the James Street North community. It’s free and starts at 7pm.

*Christ Church Cathedral, 252 James St. North

 

On Saturday in partnership with Hamilton Artists Inc. and Needlework, the first of a new quarterly talk series put on by a recent new crafty collaborative Pulling Strings will take place.

If you can remember the whimsical underwater crocheted window display of White Elephant from two Supercrawl‘s ago then you might know who Shannon Gerard is. She’s been a collaborating force with the Hyperbolic Reef crochet project among many other craft, art and crochet endeavours. She’ll be giving a free talk from 2-3:30pm at the Inc. followed by a $10 (no experience necessary) crochet workshop at Needlework from 4-5:30pm (RSVP for the crochet workshop to [email protected]).

If you have some time Saturday afternoon I suggest you check this event out!

*Hamilton Artists Inc. t 155 James Street North

*Needlework 174 James Street North.

 

Last but not least, on Sunday afternoon I’ll be taking part in a #HamOnt Blog Fair at The Casbah organized by Hamilton bloggers I Heart Hamilton and Cut From Steel. There’ll be food trucks, beer, and a whole crew of Hamilton’s finest local bloggers. Come out and grab a bite to eat, sip some beers, and check out alt-electro-dance-rock duo Dear Rouge play a set at 5pm. The event is free and all are welcome! Please come by and say “Hi”!

If you’re knew to Hamilton or just want to get to know your city a little better this will be a great event to get your finger on the pulse of the city’s goings on, and to meet with some Hamiltonians who are passionate about their city. Hope to see you there!

Although I would like to consider myself someone who sews and is crafty, in truth, these things don’t necessarily come naturally to me.

I’ve always had daydreams of being a quilter and one day (as step one in fulfilling this dream) wanted to make a quilt of my very own.

Last fall when I saw a baby quilt class being offered at Needlework I figured at nine months pregnant -why not?  What better time to get in on some of this quilting action and test out what if any sewing skills I might have in making a mini-quilt (before venturing on to full-on adult sized ones).

This class was great, in that even a beginner sewer like me could handle it without breaking into a sweat. Once we got going it really was quite easy.

Omi was a late baby, and I remember during the four days of pre-labour leading up to his birth, trying to finish the binding on the quilt. During all the “waiting” I would take moments in between contractions to work on finishing the binding.

The quilt did get completed on time and it was immediately put to good use. In the fall and winter the quilt went with us everywhere to throw on friend’s hardwood floors, or to bundle and swaddle Omi in and in the spring and summer it has most often been used as a picnic blanket.

Once I had my first quilt done and under my belt. I decided to make another one for a friend and her baby.

One of my favourite parts that doesn’t require any sewing is the choosing of the fabric. Needlework has such an amazing selection of gorgeous printed quilt weight cotton fabrics that I quite literally could spend hours pouring over.

Here’s my finished work on my second baby quilt ever! You can see that my sewing lines aren’t straight and do a bit of meandering but I kinda like that it’s not perfect or totally symmetrical. Can’t wait to meet the little guy that’s going to get wrapped up in this blanket!

Needlework is offering the baby quilt class this summer on July 30th and August 6th. You can see their class schedule here.

So I’m not really a knitter. Which is precisely why I signed up for a toque knitting class at Needlework.

To prepare for the class I had to brush up a little on my knits and pearls and I also had to pick up some yarn.

A while back I posted about a knit store called Fire Ball Knits that was in Westdale, which has since closed up shop. So let it be known that downtown Hamilton does not have a knit shop (yet).  I’m sure it’ll be no time until someone gets in on this minor gap in the market of downtown knit shops. But until then the closest knit shop for me is in Ancaster at the Needle Emporium.

It was my first visit to the Emporium, and although I wasn’t able to explore in the shop for too long I did love that it was in old Ancaster. I got to take a nice winter scenic drive up the mountain and sneak some peaks at some of the old surrounding buildings on Wilson St. I loved the old stone building exteriors of many of the neighbouring shops.

 

Inside, The Needle Emporium is ram packed with a variety of wool in all different shapes, shades, textures and colours. It was a tight squeeze with Omi in a stroller walking amidst walls of yarn so I took just a quick look around, bought my required wool and headed back home.

I would like to come back another time to get a better look at their yarn selection. Once I get this whole ‘how to knit’ thing figured out I’m sure I”ll make a trip back up the mountain to pour over all my knit purchase options.

In the end I narrowed down my yarn selection for my toque to Madeline Tosh‘s hand-died yarn (in charcoal) or something a little brighter. In the past most of my toques have mostly been black so I thought I’d forgo the charcoal and opt for a super colourful ball of Drops Big Delight.

In hindsight I wished I’d gone for the Madeline Tosh. Once I successfully finish knitting my first ever toque I’ll be gunning back for the hand-died charcoal.

*The Needle Emporium, 420 Wilson St. East, Ancaster, 905.648.1994

During last month’s art crawl Needlework hosted a little mini market with the folks from Mint Textile Studio. There were some super cute handmade goods that were perfect for Christmas present giving. Like this super cute zipper pouch from Madrad. I actually bought it as a little gift for myself -shhh.

If you didn’t get a chance to check out Mint Textile’s Handmade Holiday Market at last month’s crawl try visiting them during this Friday’s art crawl on the third floor of the Sonic Unyon building at 22 Wilson Street.

During my rounds of the galleries I passed by this stuffed cat pillow. Meow. I bought it for $5 for my sister as part of her Christmas present to go along with the cat teepee I got her from White Elephant.

If you have the slightest itch towards craftiness, and sewing then you need to make your way down to Needlework on James Street North.  It carries beautiful fabrics, patterns, crafty books, sewing and embroidery supplies.

I love that there is now a sewing place downtown, and that I no longer have to get in a car to grab some fabric, or a button.  Not to mention if you don’t have a sewing machine or if you just want a different sewing/work environment you can pay by the hour to use their in-store machines.

On top of it being just about the prettiest store ever -high tin gold ceilings, bright and airy, and filled with creative inspiration one would usually only dreams of- it also offers fabulous classes. Next month’s workshops sound amazing; a leather moccasin making class umm hello!? Awesome!

Over the weekend I attended my very first ever introductory embroidery class at Needlework.  Our talented instructor for the day Kate Jackson taught us some basic embroidery stitches to get us novice embroiders on our way to creating our own masterpieces.

The samples below are from Kate Jackson (our instructor), Kate Hunter (partner of Needlework & avid embroiderist), and someone who I know is on their way to becoming a fantastic embroiderer -today was her first time and look at her stitches!

Next month Kate Jackson will be back to teach two more classes: Machine Embroidery, and Hand Embroidered Monograms.  I’m especially interested in going to the Monograms class.  I think that embroidered lettering is so gorgeous.  My goal is to one day have the alphabet from A-Z in a variety of fanciful embroidered stitches.

It was great to meet Liz Simpson (partner of Needlework) and all the lovely folks that came to last Saturday’s class.  I hope everyone enjoyed continuing their projects for the day in the comforts of a shady and breezy garden patio stitching away.

For another sneak peak at Liz and Kate’s store check out Beaux Mondes’ post here.

*Needlework, 174 James St. North, 905.667.5663, Open Tues-F 11-6, Sat 11-5, Sun 11-4