*** The giveaway is now closed. Thanks to all those who entered! ***ย 

I haven’t had a Canadian Online Fabric Store feature in a while, so today I am happy to introduce Alanna, owner of Friday’s Off Fabric Shop located in Toronto, Ontario. She started her shop recently and has a great (and growing!) selection ofย 100% cotton designer fabrics. Her fabric is available by the metre, in fat quarter bundles, and in quilt kits. She also sells patterns if you need some inspiration!

Alanna has a full time job, a toddler at home and a baby on the way, she blogs for UrbanMoms.caย (which has some really great information on it) and she decided to start Fridays Off Fabric Shop too! She’s not busy at all – ha!

So, with all that going on she’s also generously offered to give away a Valori Wells Wrenly fat quarter bundle to one very fortunate Thread Riding Hood reader! Hooray! I love this fabric and am so jealous of you guys… it makes such a pretty quilt. And (of course!) Alanna stocks the Valori Wells Wrenly Christmas Quilt kit – so you can get started on your gifts for this year!

Let’s meet Alanna!

Thread Riding Hood:ย What inspired you to start Fridays Off?

Alanna:ย It was kind of one of those light bulb moments. I’ve been sewing a lot over the last 10 years and buying really great fabrics at shops in my neighborhood downtown Toronto. People always admire the fabrics I buy because they’re modern and fresh and not available at large fabric stores like Fabricland and Fabricville. I also started buying fabrics online from US sources (which are expensive!) and that’s when I realized there was a huge lack of online fabric shops catering to the Canadian market. So, ย I just went for it and set up my own shop online. It’s still a work in progress, but I’m having so much fun with it and I’ll be continuing to stock beautiful designer fabrics as we move forward. Most of my customers live in rural areas or in cities that don’t have great quality fabric stores.

Thread Riding Hood:ย What is your best trick for making sure you find time to sew?

Alanna:ย With a toddler running around, a full time job, a budding business and a baby on the way (4 more weeks!) I don’t have very much time at all to sew at the moment. I try to sneak in time by sharing the bath and bed routine with my husband, so some nights he does bath and bed with my son and I’ll sneak downstairs and do some sewing or I take advantage of my son’s nap time on the weekends. Now that I’m on maternity leave I’ve got my days free to get a bit in here and there. I often have to make something in stages though. Like I’ll cut a pattern one weekend and then sew it up in parts the next weekend.

Thread Riding Hood:ย Which of your upcoming fabric lines are you most excited about right now?

Alanna:ย I’ve got lots of great lines coming in over the summer. Like Lotta Jansdotter’s Glimma collection, Madhurri Cottons, Hooty Hoot Returns, Ashbury Heights Cottons

Thread Riding Hood: Ooohhh, nice selections, I’m excited! Thanks Alanna.

Alright – so you’d like to win some fabric?! The prize consists of 8 fat quarters, 1 each of 8 different fabrics from Valori Wells’ Wrenly collection. This giveaway will run from June 14th (today!)- Friday, June 21st at 10pm. Canadian and US residents are free to enter.

Hereโ€™s how to win: (Make sure to leaveย one comment per entry on this postย so we can count them all properly.)

  1. Check out Friday’s Off Fabric Shop. Pick your favorite fabric/bundle/kit/pattern and leave a comment on this post to tell us how you would use it!
  2. Optional Extra Entry:ย Like Fridays Offย on Facebook and/or follow onย Twitter.ย Leave a comment on this post to say that you did, include your Facebook name or Twitter handle.
  3. Optional Extra Entry:ย Like Thread Riding Hoodย on Facebook and/or follow onย Twitter.ย Leave a comment on this post to say that you did, include your Facebook name or Twitter handle. (If you already like Thread Riding Hood on Facebook or follow on Twitter this is an easy entry for you โ€“ Leave a comment!)

Here are some of my favorite fabrics from Alanna’s shop, what do you think? While you are commenting, let’s leave Alanna some well wishes on the coming of her baby!