Amitie Girl: February 2011

NEW ONLINE!!

LIBERTY OF LONDON SEASONAL PRINTS

AVAILABLE ONLINE AT WWW.AMITIE.COM.AU UNDER NEW PRODUCT!

Tuesday Trees in Bright

These are just the beginning - more to come over the next week!

xoxo

amitie girl

So much to say, so little time!

Been a while since I've blogged... life's been pretty flat out. Balancing a visit from Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably with rearranging the shop and glandular has been a little touch and go but here I am on the other side still breathing!

Start with the most exciting... Kaffe and Brandon!!!

Talk about inspiration! These boys find beauty in colour and print everywhere they look. I feel like I've been walking around Melbourne with my eyes closes... so much I've been walking past and missing!

The lecture last Saturday was a huge success - 250 people, all sitting in awe. Some brilliant questions were asked, and a lot of laughs were had. Was lovely to see so many smiling faces leave the venue!

I've walked away thinking I'll design this quilt and that one, do some mosaic and try a little tapestry (some more unfinished projects ahead in my future me thinks)!

The excitement was too much, and all I managed to capture was a series of blurry photos!

The boys enjoyed a look around The Ian Potter Art Centre with the Boss Lady (a.k.a Mum) and myself. The Fabulous Jenny R (all the way from Sydney) taxi'd us around.

I particularly loved this one. Hot pink, black and white. YUM!

Being in the city I couldn't help myself and had to show Kaffe and Brandon a little bit of Melbourne street art, so we made the quick trip from Fed Square to Hosier Lane (it's across the road but Jen still drove us, thanks Jen!)

Kaffe and Brandon were quick to jump out of the car and take a look around.

Here's some of the amazing art that caught my eye.

Great stripes!

Unfortunately on the Sunday of the workshop I wasn't feeling the best so spent the day in bed. For the hot gossip check out here and here.

Now onto some more fabric related news...

LIBERTY OF LONDON, NEW SEASONAL PRINTS ARE IN STORE!

OH ME OH MY!

I will be loading them onto the website starting Monday... just have to tidy the shop, package block of the month and find time to sleep!

xoxo

amitie girl

Little helper

We've been flat out at Amitie this week in preperation for Kaffe's Visit.

Luckily we had a little help!

xoxo

amitie girl

The great debate...

I've umm and ahhed over whether or not I should write this post. It's something I have discussed with many, on many occasions and have always hoped that things would swing back around but I am not sure that's the case!

I know I am biased... but I thought my point of view might be an interesting one because this hits so close to home.

Overseas online shopping VS. Your local store.

Now writing this, I don't just mean in the fabric and patchwork industry but of course this is the one I can pull most examples from because it's the industry I work in and love.

I can understand the pull to O.S shopping - everybody can! It's cheap, and easy. The range of stock presented on the web is greater than you'd find in your local independant store... but I also see the draw backs.

Anybody who comes into Amitie can feel the warmth. I am so proud to work with the women I work with because the service they give is outstanding. We are known for free advice, a helping hand and a warm smile (majority of patchwork shops are) ... what if this was to disappear? What if there was no store to go into and touch and feel, to get the true colour value, to ask for advice and opinions?

Here at Amitie we do try really hard to keep the prices down... but it can be quite difficult remembering we have a small population that's quite far away so fabric needs to be brought in via a distributor. These distributors do put a mark up on, yes but remember they also employ people.
I was greatly offended when a debate started on a local blog. Patchwork shop owners were referred to as "greedy" and called "fat cats". It hurt me to know people think patchwork shop owners are laughing all the way to the bank. Unfortunately, this is a labor of love not money!

I am also afraid for the future of this country - we don't see any growth from the money sent overseas. I feel blessed to live in a country where I get paid a good wage, I get superannuation and I have a good health care system available to me. We've seen a lot of industry die because it's cheaper to get things done overseas. I would hate to see small business' go and the unemployment rate increase.
This is something that effects all sorts of small business' - my friends get a pretty fierce rant from me when I find out they go into a sunglasses store to try on the sunnies they like, and then go and purchase them online for cheaper. They've wasted that shops time and resources just to cut them out of the market.

I'd never tell anybody where they should spend their money - people's finances are their own. This is just a patchwork shop employee's/young woman's point of view on something that is constantly on her mind.

xoxo

amitie girl