Have you ever been to Hawaii?  Try as I might to persuade our General Manager to book tickets to Hawaii as a reference and research experience, it just didn’t fly.  🙂

Instead of heading there physically, let’s take a virtual trip to this beautiful island getaway and learn about our friends of Ink & Arrow Fabrics and their shop,  

Kuni Island Fabrics 

Terri, the owner of Kuni Island Fabrics, was in contact with us earlier this year.  After working at ‘Kuni Dry Goods’ as a buyer for many years, the shop closed 20 years ago.  Terri opened her own store on the property and kept the ‘Kuni’ part as the business was established for almost 50 years!  Many of the employees from Kuni Dry Goods remained and have been there ever since.

We were excited to hear from Terri when she reached out looking for sponsors for their upcoming contest. Kuni Island Fabrics has a contest at their store once a year.  They choose fabric, set the rules and inspire their customers to participate!  This year, as a way to encourage shopping local, to contribute to collections for the Food bank and to provide some variety into their daily businesses, Terri reached out to other stores in the area.   The Calico Cat, Kaimuki Dry Goods and Hidden Yardage also participated in this contest.  In fact, Carol at Calico Cat had just been shown the I&A collections by our Sales Manager Jesus, and everyone agreed to feature the main print from City Life as the contest feature! We were thrilled and proudly donated the main prize.  This, along with contributions from other vendors and the stores provided three gift certificates and Terri created Prize baskets.  We loved the contest idea so much, we wanted to also give a fat quarter and pen to every participant as a thank you for supporting the stores and our fabrics!

The challenge:  Use the City Life Rooftop Gardens print and create original projects in the following categories:  Tote Bag, Quilt and Gift.  Another fun requirement was the project had to include an arrow, as a nod to Ink & Arrow.  How fun!?!?   I must say, every time we got project pictures from Terri it was like Christmas morning!!!!

Here are some of the entries…. Ahhhmayyyzing!!!

Quilt

Quilt

Quilt

Placemat, basket & box of fortune cookies!

Chair & Cushion

Bag & Plane Accessories by an 11 year old student!

Backpack

We will be adding these beautiful projects to the  Your Ink & Arrow section of our website in the coming weeks.   Feel free to send us an email at info@inkandarrowfabrics  if you were one of the participants and want to include your name with the project on the ‘Your Ink & Arrow’ part of our website… you’ll be famous!!!

Patti (one of our Sales Managers) and Nui Mona (shop owner) were tasked with picking the winners! They definitely had their work cut out for them – wowza!  Here are the winners – so exciting!!!

GRAND PRIZE WINNER:  BROOKE WITSBERGER 

QUILT CATEGORY WINNERS:

TOTE BAG CATEGORY WINNERS:

GIFT CATEGORY WINNERS:

I am INSPIRED!  I’m sure you are too.   Big round of applause to all the participants, we are truly impressed and cannot wait to see what else people make with Ink & Arrow!

What a wonderful way to engage the customers and it just happened that Terri said it helped bring in a new group of customers and their families.  It helped to build her business, not to mention the entries made a stunning store display!

We are so thankful for the shops we work with, we hope you enjoyed learning a little more about Kuni Island Fabrics and look forward to sharing more stories from the industry!

Continuing our  look into digital fabric printing, we have some other excellent examples!  As a nod to the digital fabric trend, we created our own brand, ArtWorks.  This is a line developed to show off how detailed and realistic the designs are when created with this process.

By using this printing method, we capture the intricacies and subtleties of the original artwork.  You could create your own masterpiece using these fabrics as the feature of a quilt, for decorative pillows, or frame them for an instant piece of art!  Artworks is our way of bringing the museum to you!  Your home gallery awaits!!!

Here are some fabulous examples!!!

My particular favorite idea is this chic pillow set on a modern love seat!

And, because these are just too stunning, here are some detail shots… Gorgeous!

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These designs are available mid July!   I know, we cannot wait either!!!

It’s wonderful to see art in a museum, but it is institutionalised. I don’t like the idea of the artwork as something that requires special conditions. I would like it to be universal.

              ~Antony Gormley

Sometimes, things are so fabulous, you can’t stop talking about them. That is how I feel about our Talk to Me collection of fabrics. Admittedly, I enjoy anything and everything with a retro/vintage vibe. I listen to Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin on the regular. I swoon over retro gadgets and home decor when I am […]

via Hello Again…Talk to Me! —

It’s almost April.  At this time of year, I am impatiently waiting for the sunshine, ocean breeze, the sand under my feet and maybe a icy beverage.  We have three distinct collections that will help us through until our  daydream of the upcoming beach weather turns to a reality.  Even better, these fabric collections are perfect to celebrate that getaway feeling, year-round.   What will you make?

Charlene Audrey’s Paradise Delights is just what you need to get into the beach groove! Drink umbrellas, fruity beverages along with flowers and a palm tree scenic – aaaahhh.

Next, we have our bright and fun Jewels of the Sea collection by Christine Graf.  Beautifully bold with a soft watercolor styling, this collection has a great balance of blenders and thematic prints along with a picture patch!  

This is Pam Damour’s 3-D Star Pillow Pattern – click above to get more info!

Finally, we have Sea Treasures by Charlene Audrey.  The natural beauty of seashells are beautifully depicted on these fabrics.  Tonal sailboat prints and  realistic sand textures coordinate with the picture patches.  Wonderful rich browns, blues, and soft cream colors are very home decor friendly, perfect for your cottage by the shore.

We hope you love these collections.  Look for them in your favorite quilt shop and remember that summer is only a couple of months away!

…The summer wind, came blowin’ in from across the sea
It lingered there to touch your hair and walk with me…

~Johnny Mercer

Our friends at Izzy & Ivy Designs are back with another fabulous fashion!  This little girl is divine in her Emory (PDF Pattern) or Macy Giggles (if you prefer the paper pattern) dress!  The patterns above are links to their Etsy shop – so many great patterns to choose from…..  Meow Meow!!!

The Cat’s Meow collection just purrs in this little number.  What a great project to make for your little diva?  The collection has a fun retro vibe with red, black and turquoise colors 🙂  See the whole collection here.  Available in shops now…

The little details make it even more fun – the lace border on the center pixies and the gingham edging on the cap sleeves.

←  ←  ←  ← Click  to visit their blog!

We just love the mix and match in this dress.  It’s the perfect way to use the Ink & Arrow designs – #becausefabricshouldbefun.  And remember, each I&A fabric has a hidden motif so it’s a cute little conversation starter!  What do you all think???

I might just have to create this look for my cat, Zazz!  I think she would look smashing in red. 😉

*****Oh, one more thing *****

Our last blog we announced a contest  and I’d like to extend the deadline.  In my excitement to see your City Life creations, I realized, umm… you might need some time to get the fabric, plan and then create something?!?!   Oops…

So, we will have April 1 as our new deadline… this takes some of the pressure off – and the anticipation will build even more 🙂   I updated the original post to reflect the new date… I still can’t wait to see what you all come up with but I will listen to my mom and remember that patience is a virtue!