Di Mill

On the road

A beautiful way to start the day - breakfast on the beach!

My New Website

I'm very excited to let you know about my new website. It's taken many hours of blood sweat and tears but it's finally up and running and I'm over the moon. It's simple.... but I like it and hopefully you will too. Although my main focus was to build a site that my customers (patchwork & quilting shops) would find beneficial, it's a public site so I hope you will enjoy it as well.

 

The site is just a baby at the moment and it will grow and mature as time goes on. At the moment it has many of the fabric ranges that I sell on display and you can browse by style: floral, Asian, modern etc, or by fabric company: Anna Griffin, Clothworks, Maywood, Northcott, In the Beginning etc.

 

There is also an Inspirational eBook section where I have uploaded the first of many ebooks. In this eBook I have 3 colour palettes from the Northcott Colorworks Solid range and mood boards to match the palette as well as a simple quilt. There is not a pattern for the quilt but if you know the basics of patchwork, you will probably be able to work it out. The quilts are a single block that is repeated. If you would like a pattern for any of the quilts, please contact me and I will see what I can do.

 

image of cocktail glass by design seeds

 

I have lots of ideas of how I want this website to grow so it's exciting times ahead.

 

Take care....Di

 

 

AQM part 2

Following on from Wednesday's post, here are some more photos of some of the booths at AQM last weekend:

Lynette Anderson's booth is always lovely but I just couldn't catch here when I was free to take photos. Her slippers are just the cutest things I've ever seen.

 

 

Buddies Corner was a new booth this year with lots of fun designs.

 

Sue Daley was a ball of energy and had a copy of her new book - "New English Paper Piecing" - which is due for release early next year.

 

 

Clares Place was also a new booth which was filled with lots of fun, fresh quilt designs.

 

So that's my take on AQM. I hope you've enjoyed a bit of an insight into how I spent my weekend.

Take care...Di

AQM

Last weekend I travelled to Melbourne to work at the AQM - a trade show for the Australian Patchwork & Quilting industry. It's always great to catch up with other reps, our amazing designers, and to see what's new in the market. It was a great weekend, but it's work - so I didn't get to see any part of Melbourne except for the short walk from the hotel to the convention centre.

This is part of the Lloyd Curzon booth and my sales table.

 

The quilt below is "Almost Oriental" by  Sandra from The Secret drawer in Robe SA. and is made out of the Shadowplay fabrics by Maywood Studio.  

 

 

The two stunning quilts below are both by Michel Hill and are made out of her latest fabric range - Morris Meadows.

 

 

I meet the lovely Nicole Mallalieu of You Sew Girl. Her booth was lovely and if you pop over to her blog you will see some much nicer photos!

 

 

Nicole has the cutest hat and bag patterns:

 

 

And her A-Line skirt pattern is on my "I want" list.

 

 

 

One of my favourite booths was HQW. Lynne always displays her products beautifully and she has some great new scrappy patterns that you will be seeing shortly in the shops.

 

 

I love catching up with Leanne, Rosie & Melly. We often only see each other once a year but we quickly catch up with what's has been happening in each other's lives.

 

 

Melly's new patterns are just adorable!

The softies below are by Ric Rac

 

 

Natalie Lymer's area was so cute. Natalie has her new fabric range out..Woodland, so it was nice to see what projects she had designed with the fabric.

 

 

Saffron Craig's booth is always a delight:

 

and Natalie Ross & Gail Pan are always 2 ladies I love to catch up with:

 

 

 

 

I'll be back on Friday with some more photos of AQM.

Take care....Di

Patchwork Shop destroyed by fire

It was very sad to hear the news that Gail's Patchwork Emporium in Sebastopol, Victoria was destroyed by fire late on Monday night.

This is an image of Gail's store as it was:

image via Gail's Patchwork Emporium

 

And this was the image in the local newspaper on Tuesday after the fire:

 

image via The Courier

 

You can read the article here. Please keep Gail and her family in your thoughts and prayers as from what I understand, Gail and her husband lived above the shop and have also lost their possessions. I believe that they were away at the time of the fire.

Although I have never visited Gail's store, I have often heard of it from other quilters who have visited and have always commented on what a lovely store it was. I know how hard it is to operate a business in this industry and it is especially difficult for retailers so it is heartbreaking to see years of hard work disappear so quickly.

 

Take care...Di

 

 

Craft & Quilt Fair

I've just spent 5 days working at the Craft & Quilt Fair in Brisbane. It was great to see what it was like to work on the other side of the counter for a change although after all day on my feet, I was desperate for a foot rub each night! Sadly neither of my children would give my poor aching feet any relief!

I met some lovely ladies who had travelled from far & wide to enjoy a few days or just a few hours, being inspired by all the lovely projects and products that were available. I worked with a friend of mine - Dianne who owns The Quilt Basket in Victor Harbour, South Australia. It was great to catch up with her and help her on the stand.

The Quilt Basket Stand

I didn't get a lot of spare time to see what else was on offer but I did manage to catch up with some of our lovely Queensland Patchwork shop owners who also had stands there:

 

Meagan & Leah from The Quilter's Store

 

Liisa from The Quilter's Corner

 

Colleen from Patchwork Friendsy

 

Natalie from Thread & Ginger

 

Lesley from Faeries in my Garden

 

The delightful Michele Hill was also at the show. Michele's new William Morris fabric range - Morris Meadows  by In The Beginning Fabrics will be arriving in the next month or two. Michele was hard at work on the Phaff stand quilting one of her latest designs. Her quilts are amazing!!!

 

 

And what do you think of this adorable dress? I ran around the other side of our stand to stop her and take a photo. Her dress is covered in Yo-yo's.

 

I'll be back on Friday with photos of the Queensland Quilter's Quilt Show.

Take care...Di

On The Road

Sometimes it works out that I get a lunch break. It doesn't happen very often as I am usually  running behind and racing to the next shop, trying to catch up. It's often hard to predict how long you will be at each store selling fabric as it all depends on how many customers can walk in the door at that moment and need the store owners help. When this happens, I just wait - not that that's a bad thing as I'm sitting in a Patchwork shop where inspiration is all around me! The other day I was running ahead of time for once and I stopped just up the road from my next appointment and grabbed a bite to eat. This was the view:

It's a look to the left...

 

and a look to the right.
 

Look in the middle.....
 

and look out to sea.
 
I think I like lunch!

Take care....Di

How to Achieve a Professional Looking Video Slideshow

You may already know about this little gem but just in case you don't, I thought I would tell you about it. Animoto is a great video slideshow that really gives your photos a professional styling at very little cost. All you have to do is upload your photos, add text if you wish, choose the music and then sit back while Animoto does all the work. In about 10 minutes you will have a very professional looking production. The video below is just a snippet of my life:

 

If you are a retailer, this type of presentation would be great to have on your website or blog to showcase  your shop, to publicise a retreat that you have organised, to show students working in a class you've previously had in your store, or to show entries at a quilt show you have run.

If you are a blogger, then Animoto can be used to showcase any of your photos or projects or use as a tool in the  "about me" section. Go and have a look at the website and look at the examples they have. If you try it, drop me a line with a link so I can see what you've done.

I like Animoto because:

1.  It's easy to use
2. It is very inexpensive
3. Achieves a professional look without spending a fortune on software and hours of time learning how to use it.
4. You can use it for a wide range of applications.
5. It's easy to embed into your blog or website or you can make it private allowing only readers with the link the opportunity to view it.
6. It's fun!

Take care.....Di  

AQM

I've just returned from AQM in Melbourne - the trade show for the Australian Quilt Market. I had a great time catching up with customers and other wholesalers who have become more like friends than work colleagues over the years. I worked all weekend on the Lloyd Curzon booth and I really enjoyed showing our latest ranges to retailers especially our new flannel range which will be arriving in stores early next year. It's called "Return to Romance Flannel" by Maywood Studio. Kerry Swain from Cottage on the Hill has designed 2 quilts using the range: Midnight Rose

and Georgetown Circle 

For kit or Wholesale (pattern) inquiries you can contact Kerry on: 02 67693297

It's always great to catch up with Melly from Melly & Me. Melly had her new doll "Dahlia" who is so cute!

And I just love Leanne'snew BOM "Down in the Garden". I only get to catch up with these lovely Blogging friends a couple of times a year - but it feels like we have kept in touch by checking the blogs and seeing what each other has been up to.

I finally got to meet Kelly from Don't Look Now. She is delightful and her quilts are amazing. Kelly is certainly an Australian designer to keep your eye on. She is a very talented lady.

Also Gailwas there and her Christmas Quilt "Copy Elf" - a large Christmas quilt with 17 stitcheries.

Finally - friend McKenna Ryan of Pine Needle designsis out in Australia and was the International guest at the show. McKenna's designs are breathtaking and she is the sweetest girl. Her lecture on Saturday night was very inspiring and left the audience wanting more. The last time I saw McKenna was at Quilt Market in Pittsburgh so it's quite strange to walk around the corner of the AQM in Melbourne and bump right into her - followed by a big hug and a quick catch up on what's been happening in each others lives over the last 6 months.

 
 
 
 Back soon....Di
 
 
 
  

New York City

Although I have many photos of Quilt Market in Pittsburgh to show you, I thought I would wait until I returned home before I went through them all etc. Today I spent the afternoon in the garment district of New York City. Paula Nadelstern has a great page on her website that guides through the area, giving great advice on what each store is like. I did her "Three Hour Tour" which was just enough for me. I was in heaven....shop after shop of fabric, trims and buttons. I couldn't take photos in all the stores but below is a snippet of what I saw: 

Racks and racks of rolls of fabric

 

 

This store - Mood - had the most wonderful floor dedicated to home furnishings. I swear my heart skipped a beat as I walked down the stairs.

 

 

Shelving full of trims

 

This is how you deliver fabric in the Garment District!

The sign says it all! 

 

 

If you are ever in this area, allow yourself a few hours to snoop around - it's a treasure trove of eye candy!