Geelong Fibre Forum and catching up!

It has been such a long time since I posted here! Facebook is where the action seems to be but it's great to be able to say a bit more right here!

Some time in hospital with an erratic heart has slowed me down, along with a trip North for some R&R and lots of sun, but back in action now!

 Precious Purl and Lara Downs are spending the week in Geelong at the Fibre Forum.

This is held each year at Geelong Grammar, such a lovely setting and I have even had some time to take a walk around the huge campus right on the edge of Corio Bay, beautiful!

We will still be here on Friday 8-5 and Saturday 8-1. This is a great chance to pick up some crafting supplies from we Traders in Darling Hall, along with amazing student work produced during the week, Textile Exhibitions and a Bazaar on Saturday, featuring work of tutors and students for sale.
We also have lots of SPECIALS! The prefelts to my left in the pic are reduced by 40%!! There are not many of these left after the first few days of trading so be quick!

We also have 50% off many yarns from last season! There are multiples of all the yarns featured in the wooden box.
Hope you don't miss this show, it's always a buzz, especially Saturday!

Precious Purl at Work!

It has been rather quiet on the Blog front but things are still happening with Precious Purl!

Lara Downs (Pam) represented us at the Handknitter's Guild Sale Day where she was welcomed with open arms by many of our Fitzroy Customers. She enjoyed catching up!

I traded at the Geelong Patchwork and Quilters Quilt In and really enjoyed their Guest Speakers and chatting to members.

 This all happened while we had our Pop Up in Geelong, where we finished up at the end of May after a great visit with Jen Hyland of A Piece Of Cloth. Her old Paper Mill Studio is a great space and the sun seemed to shine everyday I spent there! Lots of new customers especially interested Felters! Thanks Jen, we may be back!

Another Pop Up is not happening just yet but there is still plenty to keep us busy!

 

  

 Plenty of ordering, packaging,searching for everything! After so much packing and unpacking it's hard to remember where everything is! This bag? This Tub? This room? Maybe in our storage facility? Trying to get organised as we plan for our next forays.

Victorian Feltmakers monthly meeting at Hartwell Church of Christ Hall Sat 15th June

Bendigo Wool and Sheep Show 19th, 20th, 21st July.

 

This is my work room!

 Many of you can identify with the slightly chaotic nature of this space I am sure!

Surrounded by many of the things I love and with a great view, but tooo much stuff! Those letters 

C R E A T E, constantly encourage me to get going!!

Precious Purl sponsors Team Road Runner

Precious Purl is sooo proud to be involved in a huge fundraiser for Cancer Research. Fab cause, not so fab name, the Shitbox Car Rally has raised over $1m during the course of this year. Teams find an old vehicle, less than $1000 in value and undertake to raise a minimum of $4000. This is for the "privilege" of driving this vehicle (in 2013) from their home destination (being Melbourne for us) to Adelaide to Fremantle via ULURU in 7 days.
So, owned by Dad, sponsored by Mum and Aunt,   (aka PRECIOUS PURL)  and driven by Son and Wife as part of  their honeymoon, this Magna Wagon is well on its way to Kalgoorlie today and has not missed a beat!

At home in the garage all ready to go after some decorating!

Awesome background and going well on Day 4 from starting point in Adelaide.

We love this vehicle taking part as Team KnitBoxers. Congratulations on all the work!

Well Done to Scott and Eloise ie.Team Road Runner, an amazing thing to do as part of your honeymoon, we are so proud of you both. Drive safely and have fun!

Pop Up opens with a BANG!

We opened our new Pop Up Shop on Saturday  at 9/100 Lower Paper Mill Rd in Fyansford, Geelong!

 We are sharing this great old bluestone space with Jen Hyland of "A Piece Of Cloth." Jen sources vintage quilts and fabrics and has a depth of knowledge in how best to use these for current projects.

It was so good to see the lovely ladies of GeeTAG, the Geelong Textile Arts Group, as our first customers. Thanks for coming and making us feel so welcome in this part of the world!

Lots of luscious textile/fibre goodies, especially Sari Remnants, mixed thread packs, gorgeous baubles, silk, mohair and wool top and lovely hand dyed Lara Downs yarns have gone to new homes!

 We will be here for about a month so hope to see lots more locals and we even hear some Melbournians are planning a visit to us and all that the lovely city of Geelong now has to offer. TheWaterfront has been developed beautifully and has great eating places along with easy walking distance to the National Wool Museum.

We will have lots of discounts on yarn ready for customers next week!

Opening hours -  Saturdays and Sundays from 10-4pm.

Family Wedding!

Just indulge me a little, while I rave about the much awaited family wedding of our only son, before I get to Precious Purl stuff!
The Gods shone on us with an absolutely beautiful day and as the ceremony was to be on the beach - we were so lucky! The bride was gorgeous, groom so handsome, all attendants were sooo colourful, everything they had planned was sensational and thoroughly enjoyed by all guests. Our hearts were full to overflowing!

 

 That's me in the blue, thought I would blend in with the Sea! I was so pleased I had gone for the flats on the sand, so much more comfortable than that sinking sensation my friends were finding! The Bride and Bridesmaids ditched their shoes and went barefooted!
Only a Mother would notice, but just as the bride arrived, I realised my son had his phone and keys in his pockets!! Why?? He was not driving, or ringing anyone, they were all there!! It ruined the line of his pants! but as I said, too late to grab them from him!
Everything else was perfection!

Another Pop Up!!

Where have I been??
Busy with wedding plans for my one and only offspring, and my outfit! Dress-check, jacket-check (likely to be cool on the beach at Lorne in 2 weeks time!), shoes-2 pairs, 1 for the sand and 1 for dancing! Bag, necklace and earrings all go! Guess I'm as ready as I will ever be for such a momentous occasion!

Also been busy with plans for our next Pop Up Shop! Yes!! We are going to share a space with
A Piece Of Cloth Studio 9/100 Lower Paper Mill Rd, Fyansford!Where's Fyansford you may well ask? In Geelong! I can almost hear cheers and cries! We have lots of lovely customers in Geelong whom we hope to see and it  is such an easy drive from Melbourne! Make a day of it! Walk along the beautifully developed Waterfront with its great eating choices, take a short stroll to the National Wool Museum and a visit to us on the outskirts and you have a great day!

Take the bypass road to the Hamilton/Newtown turn off, turn left and then a right turn into Lower Paper Mill Rd. A Piece Of Cloth is well sign posted from there. This is a very different space for us but it will be great to share with Jen Hyland who has a passion for vintage quilts and fabrics. Her Studio is in a very historic group of old bluestone buildings that has been a paper mill among other things and is open Saturdays and Sundays from 10-4pm
Grand Opening of our little Pop Up space will be Saturday 13th April at 10am for an indefinite period.

Also been busy with orders! This gorgeous soft Merino Wool Top is all going to be used by some very lucky children in Ballarat during the Easter holiday period.

 Lots of these Vintage Sari Silk pieces have been packed, sold and more ordered along with some other gorgeous skeins of brightly colored Sari Silk Ribbon. Lots of great products will be available at our Pop Up space along with all the beautiful Lara Downs yarns. Hope to see you!

What Next??

The very last day of our Pop Up shop at 1158 Toorak Rd Camberwell today!!
We have enjoyed our 3 months in Camberwell, but are keen to return "home" to the inner city where we had been for almost 4 years.

Finding just the right space at the right price, has been more difficult than we had hoped and we continue to search!
Big thanks to Robyn and Prue for offering their Gallery space for us to use in the interim, it's been fun sharing with friends.

Everything goes back in to storage until our next Pop Up wherever it may be.
In the meantime stay in touch through our website and Facebook, see the sidebar for addresses.

Pre felt Special Offer!

A Precious Purl Super Special for all Blog readers and Facebook likers today!!

Felbi Wool Batt (prefelt) logs 150x200cm RRP $54 now $32. If you purchase 2 or more an extra discount will be offered! Get in early as these are all we have in stock of this size. Simply make your selection from the colours pictured, ring 0423 514 668 or email,  that easy. Postage will be extra.

Colours L to R  Top Row: aubergine, verdant, tom tom.

                         Middle Row: rose quartz, china blue, flamingo, urban.

                         Bottom Row: heath, turkish red, smudge, cumin.

The colours are more intense or stronger that this pic shows!

UPDATE: Aubergine, Urban, Turkish Red- SOLD

An Update on the Update!!

SOMEHOW I DELETED MY PREVIOUS POST !!! *#*# I wish I was clever enough with computers to find it! Mr Purly assures me it is here somewhere!!

It went something like this!!

Did you get some bargains in our online sale which finished last Wednesday 31st January? Thanks to all those who did, we had a great response which was so encouraging given we don't have a bricks and mortar store at the moment!

We are continuing with our Pop Up Shop at 1158 Toorak Rd Camberwell, opening Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays during February. That leaves us with 4 days a week to devote to walking the streets where we want to be and  trawling those Commercial web sites continually, to find that new home for Precious Purl. Real Estate agents are not much help. Maybe if we wanted a Multi Storey building they might be more interested!

Our Pop Up space looks great, even though it is small.

 Beautiful hand dyed Lara Downs yarns.

Large selection of wool top for Spinning and Felting

Beautiful Baubles

Bits and Pieces for all sorts of Projects.
Come and visit!

ONLINE SALE!

The annual Lara Downs/ Precious Purl Online Sale began at 8am Australian Eastern Daylight Saving Time today! This is your chance to grab some bargains, especially for our customers who are not on Facebook where other sale items have been featured!
Lots of beautiful Knitting yarn, much of it hand dyed is available, along with Felting requirements and some Haby items. 60 gorgeous items, to choose from and so easy to purchase! See all the details at

 www.lara-downs.com.au

 Some pics of sale items are below.

 Bundles of prefelt in bright colours

Lovely 2 ply Touch yarn

100g packs of Silk Sari Remnants

100g gram Scrumbler's Delight packs featuring mixed fibres.