Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Happy New Year from Fancy Tiger!

We really appreciate all of your support during our past 2 1/2 years in business. We have some awesome and exciting plans for 2009 to keep you crafting and inspired! Look forward to more Fancy Tiger-made and Fancy Tiger-exclusive products, kits, and patterns in 2009. The first product we'd like to introduce is our new all-natural wool wash! This locally made wool wash comes in two scents - the Fancy blend and Tiger blend and is great for blocking or washing your handknit items. We look forward to surprising you with more great crafting products and hope that you all have an abundant and creative 2009!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Holiday Peacock Ornament Fun!

Here is a little holiday gift for all of our blog followers--a cute handsewn peacock ornament pattern! Jaime made this ornament for our Fancy Tiger holiday tree and it is super cute. You can download the pattern to make your own Peacock ornament right here. Enjoy!

Happy holidays - thanks for all your support!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

New Echino Fabrics by Etsuko Furuya!

We have tons of new Japanese fabrics in by our favorite fabric designer - Etsuko Furuya. The colors, imagery, and scale all come together to form pure awesomeness that we can hardly keep from eating. Come and get it.
Also in - new Amy Butler fabrics (Midwest Modern II) and more Japanese fabric by Kokka featuring tiny bikes floating in clouds (eek!!) and dutch horses!



Thursday, December 11, 2008

Holiday Gift Guide part 3 - Gifts For Folks Who Knit

Today, some holiday gift ideas for the knitter on your list.

Always a great gift for any knitter is super special yarn. Some of our favorites right now are: (clockwise in the photo from top left)
  • Zealana Possum Yarn--New Zealand possum naturally hand dyed in Colorado!
  • Twinkle Soft Chunky--100% merino super duper bulky lusciousness
  • Malabrigo--super soft kettle dyed yarn
  • Pinon Woods Handspun--beaded "single origin" alpaca yarn from Norwood, Colorado, each skein of which includes a picture of the little alpaca it came from (Elana is shown here)
  • Ohsuzanna's Handspun Mohair--so soft and fluffy with cute curls of mohair locks spun in


We've got lots of great kits for the all in one, easy-peasy kind of gift giving. For the knitter who wants to dabble in dyeing--the hand dyeing kit includes three skeins of yarn, dyes, woolwash, and instructions for dyeing and knitting your own one-of-a-kind scarf. The sock knitting kit is a great gift to for those ready to take on socks. It includes sock yarn--enough for one pair of socks--a set of needles and six different style of sock instructions for to choose from.

Some fun knitting accessories which make great little gifts or stocking stuffers--how about locally made fancy stitch markers with cute sheep on them, a pom-pom maker for fun embellishment of handknits or a festive peppermint twist measuring tape.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Holiday Gift Guide part 2 - Gifts For Folks Who Sew

We've got lots of great holiday gift ideas for the sewing addict in your life.

Just in--the newest Amy Butler, Heather Bailey and Portabellopixie sewing patterns! We've got great new patterns for aprons, handbags, pincushions, cute baby toys and more.



Does your favorite stitcher have a pair of Gingher fabric shears or thread snippers yet? These are the crème de la crème of sewing scissors--an essential for every sewing studio! Also for the sewing room, some really cute accessories, are our cupcake pincushions and cake tape measures.

As always, we have great fabrics to choose from--a yard or two makes a great gift--and we have cute fat quarter bundles that are great for small projects or quilters.

Monday, December 08, 2008

Holiday Gift Guide part 1 - Books!

This is part one of our Holiday Gift Guides featuring awesome books for crafty types.

For General Crafters: Switch Craft - an awesome new book all about incorporating electronics into your crafts. Handmade Nation - all about crafty people who are heading the craft revolution in America, a gorgeous and inspiring book. Stitched in Time - various projects for machine and hand sewing that are all adorable and old-timey.

For the Seamster: French General Home Sewn - sewing projects for the home, inspired by Provencal French living! Zakka Sewing - a cute Japanese sewing book translated into English! Seams to Me - by fabric designer Anna Maria Horner this book features awesome patterns from skirts to bags to sewing organizers!For the Knitter: Picture Perfect Knits - super sweet designs and instructions for intarsia knitting. Knitting America - a coffee table book that celebrates the history of knitting. Continuous Cables - the new book from the authors of Cables Untangled featuring all new patterns!

For the Felter or Spinner: A Fine Fleece: lots of patterns to knit with your handspun yarn. Beautiful Sheep - stunning photographs of tons of different breeds of sheep (cute!!) Wool Pets - our favorite book for felting!

Friday, December 05, 2008

Needle Felt Taxidermy Art!!

We are super excited about the art show going on right now at our neighbors Sputnik. 58 artists and crafters each designed a diorama. Fancy Tiger did 2 and of course we had to showcase needlefelting. They are available in a silent auction with all proceeds benefiting Share our Strength. The opening party is tonight starting at 8pm and the auction will be going on through the month! Be sure to stop by and check it out!




Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Do you like Angora Goats? We do!

We think these cuties are the cutest things we've ever seen. They produce some of the softest, most lustrous and silky fiber around. We just received a shipment of 100% kid mohair yarn from Wagtail Yarns, a small farm in Queensland, Australia. They raise, shear, spin and dye all their mohair - from little curly guys like this. Do you know why they call their farm "Wagtail"? Have you ever seen an angora goat that is happy to see you? They wag their tail like a happy puppy. Omg, we want to live on their farm!



You might want to come by and see this stuff in person. It's irresistible! We also have some fantastic one skein patterns for it.

Holiday Gift Series

Of course, we're all about handmade gifts here at Fancy Tiger. We know that can be a lot, especially if you have a large family or a lot of friends to account for. That's why we've created the Holiday Gift Series - this series has you complete a handmade gift in an hour, for minimal cost. This year choose from Herbal Sugar Scrubs, Melt and Pour Soap, Patchwork Scarves from felted sweaters, Needle Felt Jellyfish Ornaments and Scrap Fabric Pin Cushions. Each class is $20 and includes all materials! Check the schedule here.