Staff Holiday Gift Picks: Jaime & Angelique

This week all of us at Fancy Tiger Crafts will be sharing our most favorite, most coveted items in the shop. These are the things we might (winkwink) be hoping to find under our own tree, but would certainly make a great gift for your dearest crafty friend. Enjoy!

I'm Jaime, and I'm one of the owners of Fancy Tiger Crafts. Since I do the a lot of the ordering I pretty much love everything in the store, but here is what I think would make the most amazing gifts of all time!

2-1/2 yards cotton velveteen $52.50

Colette Patterns Beignet Skirt $12

For sewing, I really want to make the Beignet skirt out of the Anna Maria Horner cotton velveteens. These rich, soft fabrics are so beautiful and I've been wanting to make a skirt out of them. I think the high-waisted pencil skirt would be perfect.

Fanciful Felties $19.95

Fanciful Felties is a new book that has really been inspiring me lately to hand sew! I love the embroidery detail on the faces and you can see me stitching up these cuties at craft night.

Ladybug Spinning Wheel with Bulky Flyer $600

The Ladybug spinning wheel by local company, Schacht is also at the top of my list. This adorable, well made, light-weight spinning wheel works like a dream. I'd love to get it with the bulky head option for spinning up lots of crazy art yarns.

Hi, I'm Angelique... I'm one of the new faces at Fancy Tiger. I only look scared in this photo, but I'm actually quite friendly. Come in and say, "hi."

Liberty Art Fabrics $38.95/yard

Over the years, I've spent a fair amount of time in the U.K. and one of my favorite places to visit is Liberty of London. I was so excited when the Liberty fabrics arrived at Fancy Tiger... I dream of sewing a dressing gown, but picking the perfect fabric is so hard because they're all so gorgeous!

Last Minute Knitted Gifts $24.95

One of my all-time favorite knitting books is Last Minute Knitted Gifts. This is my go-to book for making quick (and not-so-quick) knitted presents for friends. I've made countless knitted gift bags as featured on the front cover of the book, but another favorite pattern is the Angora Baby Booties. I'm knitting the Men's Cashmere Scarf in Malabrigo Rios as a gift for a friend this holiday season.

Thanks, Jaime and Angelique! Check back tomorrow for Dan and Jess's favorite picks!

Amber's Fall Knitting Bonanza!

Our recent CSA harvest party was an evening filled with campfires, wine, delicious farm food and cool fall weather. The perfect opportunity to bring out the my newest handknits!

This sweet little plum shawl is the Damson, a Ysolda Teague pattern that practically flew off my needles as I was antsy to get it finished for my Iceland trip. I loved working with this self-striping indigo and magenta colorway--which is actually quite subdued as Zauberball goes!


The scalloped lace bind-off was a treat at the end!


Joelle Hoverson's new book, More Last Minute Knitted Gifts is just as adorable as her previous books. I couldn't get my mind off of a certain pattern, the Easy Baby Cardigan--which unfortunately is an infant pattern. Here is my "me-sized" take on it. I knit it up in Cascade Baby Alpaca Chunky and it is insanely warm and cozy.



Eddie, my handsome husband, was recently the recipient of a handsome brown Daybreak. This rare item of gift knitting was knit in Malabrigo Sock striped with Zauberball Sock. It is a pattern which I could knit again and again.



And can you handle how awesome his reverse appliqued keyboard hoodie is? Emily whipped that up at a craft night recently.

Now I'm off to knit more shawls and cardigans and perhaps a hat or two...

New Books That Make Us Want To Craft Everything!

Inspiring new craft books are arriving left and right! We can't keep up with all the lovely, inspiring craft projects!

We are doing our best, as Jaime shows below modeling her new "Pointy Elf Hat" from More Last-Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson. She knit hers up in a couple hours in Malabrigo Aquarella yarn. We love how Joelle's books are divided by how long each project takes, including everything from quick two hour projects to eight hour and longer projects. Every project is simply beautiful.


Jaime and I both got inspired to make the cute toys in Sue Havens' Make your Own Toys book. Jaime made a cute little fox and I made a floppy patchwork kitty. These were so much fun to make. What an adorable use for all our favorite sewing scraps!


The handsewn dolls in Hillary Lang's book, Wee Wonderfuls, are cute as cute can be.


Alicia Paulson's newest book, Embroidery Companion, is a beautiful modern take on vintage style embroidery. Alicia includes patterns for embroidery, cross-stitch and crewelwork projects. It makes me want to embellish everything!


Style Stitches is Amy Butler's newes book, chock full of structured bags for every seamstress. Twenty-six new Amy Butler bags just waiting for you to make them! Yes!


I'd better get back to crafting!