Need a Christmas Stocking?

PageQuilts Christmas Stockings are quilted, about 18" long, cuffed and fully lined. Backs are plain, not quilted. A sturdy loop big enough to fit over a doorknob or bed post makes hanging a breeze.

Each stocking is hand made by Valerie, in your choice of one of the following styles;
1) green and red stripes
2) all green fabrics
3) blue and silver
4) all red fabrics

Order your own traditional Christmas stocking for $45. If you live in the Toronto area, you can contact Valerie to have yours made in time for Christmas, up until December 20th.

One Of A Kind Christmas Show Visit PageQuilts at booth Y51

Dates + Times Wed Nov. 24 - Dec. 4, 2011 Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place, Toronto Weekdays 10am - 9pm Saturdays 10am - 9pm Sundays 10am - 6pm OPEN LATE Thurs Dec 1 10am-11pm Booth #Y51 More Info: www.oneofakindshow.com

PageQuilts is happy to announce its participation in the 2011 One of A Kind Christmas Show & Sale, kicking off this Wednesday November 24th and running until Sunday December 4th. Don't let the recent fall weather fool you, the holiday season is right around the corner!

Taking place at the Direct Energy Center in Exhibition Place, Toronto, the One of a Kind Christmas show features over 800 very talented artisans and designers from across Canada under one roof. You can find PageQuilts at Booth #Y51 for the full ten days of this creative wonderland.

You will find new tea cosies + wonderfully rare quilts of all sizes - the perfect gift for baby showers. Be sure to stop by, see the hand made works quilted art in person and say hello as you explore all the excellent artisans.

For a Scandinavian Wood Kitchen

A light and airy tea cosy for a gentleman's Scandinavian kitchen, to match beech Hans Wegner Wishbone chairs. Can we make you one? Email Valerie.

Inside? A dash of crimson of course.

Custom Quilts For Special Babies - a gift for all time

Looking for that perfect gift for a friends new baby? Valerie can sew up a custom baby quilt in colours that match mom's favourite palette, in about a week. Prices are very reasonable, so ask Valerie today.

(Shown: Bronwyn's, Norah's and Sophia's baby quilts.

Painting with Fabric & Fibonacci Spirals

Leonardo Fibonacci was an Italian mathematician from the Middle Ages. His legacy was a very peculiar number sequence where each value is the sum of its two preceding values. Valerie uses a geometric representation of the Fibonacci Spiral as the basis for this gorgeous quilt - with individual pieces of fabric based roughly on the Fibonacci dictum. Comment are welcome - Valerie.

Fibonacci Vines Quilted Wall Hanging - Measures 30" x 30" / Toronto 2007 / Cotton. Machine pieced and quilted. More info >>

Tired of pouring your second cup of tea only to discover that the pot has gone cold while you were reading the morning paper? Cry no more - there is a solution! Treat yourself to a PageQuilts Tea Cosy and your tepid tea days will be over. Tested and proven to keep a pot of tea steaming hot for three hours, each PageQuilts Tea Cosy is handmade in Valerie's Toronto studio. No two are alike. The cosy's secret is its insulated interior padding, sturdily anchored within a cotton cover and liner designed to withstand regular washings over many years.

Don't miss out on Tea Cosies from PageQuilts at the Spring One of a Kind this year. Cozies are available in a selection of sizes to accommodate your tea pot, whether it's a small 2-cupper, typical 6-cup or larger. Priced from $55 for the standard 6-cup size.

Valerie's Quilted Tea Cosies were born out of necessity. After years of trying to find nice English-style tea cosies to no avail, she took it into her own hands and created these beauty's below. Not only are they trendy and colourful, a PageQuilts tea cosy will keep a fresh pot of your best tea hot for at least 3 hours! Enjoy your tea with friends this winter, at your own pace.

For all the British ex-pats and tea drinkers of the world who have searched in vain for a decent tea cosy to envelope their favourite Brown Betty of Ceylon, your search is over. Valerie has sewn Tea Cosies in a select range of colours and quilted patterns, all guaranteed to keep 6-to-8 cup sized tea pots steaming hot.

Made by hand in the Leslieville area of Toronto from patchwork cotton fabrics/felted cotton batting and dense polyester batting lining. Machine wash in cold water, cool dryer setting. Price: $55 cotton. Buy Now.

PageQuilts Tea Cosies Keep Hot Tea Pots, Hot

Hot tea is the best tea, so we tested the special insulation used in each PageQuilts cosy before anything else. In the first test the tea pot was left uncovered, and not surprisingly the water only remained hot for a short while. In the next test under identical parameters, the tea pot was wrapped in a PageQuilts tea cosy. After three hours time under the cosy, water temperature was a nice hot 50°C (still hot enough for steam to rise from the tea cup).

So there you have it, a bare tea pot rapidly cools off while a PageQuilts tea cosy will keep your best tea steaming hot for at least three hours! If you cherish the high quality tea you drink, you need a tea cosy.
Test Parameters - An Omega HH501DK Type-K digital thermometer and an epoxy-encapsulated thermocouple temperature sensor located at the center of a standard porcelain tea pot, boiling water was poured in right from the kettle to within an inch of the fill line.

Loose Leaf Tea in Toronto?

For starters there is a wonderful new tea store on Toronto's Queen St. West called David's Tea that is certainly worth stopping by. It's a couple blocks from the legendary Red Tea Box which is on the opposite side of Bathurst. If you spend more of your time in the East end of the city you'll want to browse through the neatly stacked shelves of tea at the Tea Emporium or Pippins Tea Company (both in the Beaches). BlogTO.com has also put together a good Top 10 List for the Best Tea in Toronto .

Gearing up for Quilting Classes

Think you can make a quilt? You can. Taught by Valerie Page, the one on one Beginners Quilting Classes start early in the new year and cover basic quilt construction techniques.

More advanced quilters can benefit from Valerie's Mentor Sessions and topic-specific Advanced Quilting Classes - great if you want to take on a challenging pattern or complex technique.

Further details here, or contact Valerie to discuss the classes with her.

In Making a Quilt, Always Start with the Best Fabric

From start to finish, the best quilts start with the best fabric. Follow along as Valerie walks through the process of making one of her quilts. Photo's courtesy of the very talented Rob Barnes.

Fabric is sourced from shops in New York, Paris, Vancouver, Toronto and all points in between. Painters can mix pigments to create the hue they need, with quilting it is imperative to build up a rich palette of fabrics to sew with.

 

Only the artist knows which colours to choose and how to combine them... Fabric is cut into strips, squares, triangles and sometimes octagons before being combined into the final quilted item. It takes at least 10 years of practice to consistently get straight seams and square 'tops', as the combined bits of coloured fabric are called.

Add in as much as three months hand sewing for the prized, completely hand quilted pieces, and you have a quilt like no other.

Valerie's Tea Cosies are made to similar standards with specially selected insulation to ensure they keep the tea pot nestled below, hot.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years from Valerie

When you sit back and think about all that happens in one year, it's amazing how time flies by so quickly. When I look at the Red Magic Garden Quilt (above) I'm reminded of who I made it for; how each one of a dozen different shades of burgundy fabric were selected, and how one day a bit of blue fabric went into the pot at the last minute making this lovely Quilt what it is. You might only see a quilt made of red and blue squares; to me, and to the person upon who's wall it hangs, it speaks of much much more.

Enjoy the holidays and let the nattering around the Christmas dinner table be lighthearted and memorable!

Hand Made Quilts of a Bright Colour

As promised, a look at the new quilts from Valerie.

This pillow you see below measures 16" x 16" (cotton). Colour combination - purple/green prints. Price: $180 each.

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