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.

POP UP SHOP!

Sooo excited! Tomorrow we open our POP UP Shop upstairs  in a small Gallery space at 

"Opendrawer"  1158 Toorak Rd Camberwell (Hartwell Village) at 11am.

 We will open Wednesday to Saturday 11- 4pm until 22nd December, possibly some time in January too!

We have squeezed a lot of gorgeous stock in, but will add even more tomorrow!

Everything will be 10% off and other specials will also be offered!

If  there is a special product that you like to purchase from us, please check by email or ring 0423 514 668 just to make sure we have included it, or Pam or I can ensure it is in stock for your visit!

This is a great chance to stock up on your supplies for holiday Crafting or purchase something for those crafty friends.

The unique array of amazing, all Australian handcrafted items that Opendrawer offers will of course be an added bonus of visiting us!

TWO FABULOUS STORES IN ONE PLACE for a short time!

Look forward to seeing you there!

We had a Pop Down Shop now a Pop Up !!

It has been so long since the last post! Sales have been happening over on Facebook, while we continue to search for our perfect or nearly perfect Retail space. In the meantime, we are so pleased to announce that we are having a small POP UP SHOP, opening Wednesday 5th December at 11am.

Our good friends Robyn and Prue of Opendrawer, an inspirational Gallery and Retail space, have offered us the short term use of 1 of their small gallery rooms. Situated at 1158 Toorak Rd Camberwell
(Hartwell Village) it is easily accessible by tram No 75 and getting off at Stop 52. Melways Ref 60 C6.

We will open our usual days Wed to Sat 11am - 4pm. Opening from 5th Dec until 22nd Dec, and then 1 day per week through January (TBA) and maybe evn February.
There is a great little Coffee shop nearby and the added bonus of all the treasures at Opendrawer, the perfect place to shop for that special HANDMADE AUSTRALIAN Christmas gift.

We look forward to catching up with our lovely customers prior to Christmas! If there is something you are after particularly, then email or phone to ensure we have it with us, as space will be limited!

Other places you will find us prior to Christmas are the Steiner School Open Day and Fair at Warranwood tomorrow Saturday 17th November from 10am and then at the Victorian Feltmakers Christmas Meeting and Market on Saturday December 1st at the Hartwell Church of Christ Highfield Rd Hartwell from 10am.

 Come and see us at 1 of these places, we are missing our shop and customers!!

Facebook Bargains or get in quick here!

Still looking for that elusive shop space that ticks all the boxes for us!

Selling of excess stock on Facebook is the place to be for bargains! I am posting something for Knitters, Crochet and Felters, so stop by www.facebook.com/preciouspurlfitzroy

Todays post features Felbi Logs at a heavily reduced price. RRP is $54, now$32.40 and if you purchase more than 1 log, I may be able to reduce them a little more!!

Moss and Cumin are sold, but we have 1 more Cumin in stock.
The other colours in this pic are Turkish Red and Heath.

 
From l to r Rose Quartz, Urban, Flamingo and China Blue on top of the pile!



Send an email (see my profile) if you are interested in any of these and we do have a few more colours available. I will post more bargains on Facebook late next week, after we have had a few days R and R down on the coast!

Bargains!!

Well not all the bargains went before we closed our Precious Purl shop temporarily! We are featuring all remaining excess stock on Facebook and some will appear here on the blog! These will be for knitters, felters and those who crochet, but a great way to stock up on gifts for the Crafters in your life!! Items can be purchased by phone- (see sidebar) or email - (go to my profile)

Lot 1 5 hanks of  Colourscape yarn has sold before I managed to get it on the blog!!!!!
So, first look -
 Lot 2 will be Noro Silk Mountain, a lovely textured yarn 50g of 65 % wool/ 25% silk/10% kid mohair.
Available in 4 different colourways, 2 purple blend, 2 strong pin blend, 3 aqua blend, 4 pink/multi blend.

RRP is $$17.20. 50% off, now $8.60 or the lot for $80!!
This lot is available until midnight AEST, Wednesday 24th October
 SOLD!

Down and Out but Looking Forward!!

It is quite a while since my last post but sooo much has happened!
 We moved our entire shop downstairs for our 5 day  "POP DOWN" shop and what a success that was!
So much attention from passing shoppers as at last we had great windows for display and so many wonderful customers coming to take advantage of the big discounts.
Thank you to everyone who made the special trip to see us before we disappeared!

The packing and moving was exhausting even with the help of great friends and family, so we are catching our breath, as we continue to scour the Commercial Real Estate and close neighbourhoods for something that has just the right vibe for us! Thank you to all the customers who have made suggestions of spaces, we are working on these too!

While all this was happening I managed to grab 25 minutes on my way to the shop, to drop into the annual sale day for The Victorian Button Collectors Club. I was not going to miss this chance to build my button stash, so a few pics of my loot!

I looove big Buttons! 

I could not go past this gorgeous collection of red and white made by Robyn Caddy, to adorn my neck!

Quite a statement piece!

Please stop by the Facebook page for updates as to where we will appear next!

www.facebook.com/preciouspurlfitzroy 

The link in the sidebar is not working, so I will need to investigate the linky business and will look at getting  an Etsy page going too!

Sleepless!! Homeless!! What next??

I can't sleep, so will chat to blogland as I contemplate the next move for Precious Purl. I'm feeling rather devastated as we have become the meat in the Real Estate Agent/Landlord redeveloping sandwich, having been told just a matter of hours ago, that we only have a week to vacate the premises!
The last 3+ years have gone by so quickly as we branched out with our own Retail Space and I have loved every minute of it!
 I have so enjoyed meeting all the wonderful, creative people who have become our customers and it has been a pleasure helping them source supplies and introducing many to new passions. As the wonderfully wise Penny O"Neill, "Crochet Teacher Extraordinaire" said to me recently, "It's not about the money, it's sharing the knowledge," and women do that so well!
After moving on from many years of Teaching, it has been wonderful to pursue the passion that was obviously begun at a very young age by a creative Mother who sewed all the clothes for 4 females in the house and even indulged her love of millinery, making hats for us back when a Sunday best outfit with hat was "de rigeur!"
We really want to stay in the Brunswick St area of Fitzroy as we have loved the vibe, the convenience of it being halfway between my partner/sister Pam and I and where our customers have easy transport access to us!
We will continue to search for something suitable and we are flexible about what that is. A shared space with like minded Business or Artisans, small warehouse, upstairs/downstairs but with reasonable rent! We would love to hear from others who may be in similar situation as I know many retailers are finding it hard, while many landlords seem to continue to expect high rents.

BUT! our customers will benefit from all this, as we open our POP DOWN shop on the ground floor of 397 Brunswick St on TUESDAY 2nd OCTOBER commencing at 11am. There will be huge discounts, as we reduce our stock drastically - less to pack and move for us!!
Our shop will only be open for 5 days!! Yes! we have to move out next Sunday 7th October.
Do come and see all the Specials and help us to feel a little better about this next  step for Precious Purl. We are not ready to quietly "ride off into the sunset!" just yet!

Our plans for more workshops such as the Felted Flowers on 13th October will have to be cancelled unfortunately but do stay tuned to this blog and our other means of staying in touch!
www.facebook.com/preciouspurlfitzroy 
www.lara-downs.com.au

Enough! Thanks for reading this, my longest post ever! It has helped to share it with Blogland and I had better try to get some sleep now before I front up for my last day in our current space!
Cheers
Wendy

Geelong Fibre Forum this week and a POP DOWN shop!!

Precious Purl will be trading at the Geelong Fibre Forum, Geelong Grammar from Wednesday to Saturday  this week. Wednesday and Saturday are special Open Days, so come and join in the wonderfully creative atmosphere as about 200 participants enjoy a huge array of classes with wonderful local and international tutors.
Trades hall is open every day to the public so come and enjoy the shopping if you are in the Geelong area.

This was our stand last year so we will try hard to make it look just as inviting!

The shop in Fitzroy is open as usual this week with a slightly depleted stock!

UPDATE

You have heard of POP UP shops and restaurants, but we are having a POP DOWN shop as we pop downstairs into the space previously occupied by Calico House. As of Wednesday 3rd October we will open in this space for an unknown period of time!!! We are learning to cope with the uncertainty as we continue to look for a more permanent home for Precious Purl.

We will also have a big SALE to celebrate this new step!

 Busy times for us in the next 2 weeks!!

Come and join us!

FACEBOOK!

We had another great Crochet workshop with Penny O'Neill on Saturday. I even made a bit of time to join in, as my crochet skills have become a little rusty over the years! I love the versatility of these circular motifs! Any size, any colours, any combination of stitches, any yarns!! A great way to use up your stash.

 Congratulations to Shirley who had never really had the chance to master crochet skills but now she is flying! Thanks Penny for your generous sharing of knowledge and stories. We all loved your coat of many colours.

HAVE YOU HEARD?? Precious Purl now has a Facebook page!
www.facebook.com/preciouspurlfitzroy

Check in often to see specials that we will feature and become a liker to keep up to date.

Our next workshop is Felted Spring Flowers on Saturday 13th October. Email for all the details.

Something a little different at Precious Purl!

I have been lusting after a gorgeous Art Journal that would showcase some of the gorgeous goodies that we have at Precious Purl, for quite some time!

Of course I could have had a go at making it myself but  ....

when Ro Bruhn robruhn.blogspot.com and her friend Elizabeth Armstrong elizabeth-armstrong.blogspot.com visited our space a while back I had the perfect opportunity!

Aside from feeling in awe of these 2 talented Artists .... in my shop at the same time!!! .... and being a devotee of both their blogs and their Art, it was such a pleasure to meet them both.

So now, Ro has made just for me!! and for our customers to enjoy, the most gorgeous journal!

 The cover is hand felted and stitched with lots of bright buttons along the spine. An absolute must for a passionate button collector like me!

 

I love the stitching on these lustrous Sari silks and the fabulous Tyvek bead.

  There are many beautiful painted, stamped and printed pages along with the fabric pages featuring our vintage Indian Sari remnants.

That amazing flower is cut from a plastic plate on which Ro mixes her paints!

Thank you so much Ro, I love it!!

Available now at Precious Purl for lots of OOHHs and AAHHS!!

  

UPDATE: 1.There are still vacancies in our Crochet and Felted Flowers Workshops, see the  previous post! 

                  2. Latest on our premises!! - hanging in until at least the end of September, stay tuned!

Workshops are happening!

We are going ahead with our planned workshops, although we are not sure about our future premises at this stage!(see the post of  9th July, "Precious Purl on the Move")

Saturday 25th August 10.15 - 4.15 we are running our very popular Cobweb Felting Workshop again with 1 space still available!  
UPDATE: THIS WORKSHOP IS NOW BOOKED OUT!
We may be able to run another later in the year!

Saturday 8th September 1.15 - 4.15 we have the Artrageous Penny O'Neill, "Queen of Freeform" or "No rules Crochet" and a wonderful user of Recycled materials, coming to entertain us/introduce us to the endless possibilities of Crochet. This is suitable for Beginners or those who have some skill.
Some examples of Penny's workshop creations below!

UPDATE: This workshop will focus on MOTIFS as in this gorgeous wrap below! These motifs, which are rather like rounded Granny Squares, can be made in any size or yarn and can be joined together to create exciting freeform garments. Penny can answer all your queries about Crochet and this class is suitable for beginners or advanced.

Saturday 13th October 1.15 - 4.15 Kriscilla Delaridis, a wonderfully creative member of the Victorian Feltmakers, will run our popular Spring Felted Flowers class again.These flowers have endless applications to hats, bags, brooches or giving that hand crafted touch to your Spring Racing Carnival outfit! Along with hand rolled dreads, these make a gorgeous neck piece!

No felting experience needed for this class.

Please phone, email or visit Precious Purl to get all the details for all workshops!