RETAILING on circus

sf bur Ellen Anderson, She

West and Renata Crowe a

@ williog to throw their hats

into the ring

!onilliners have
apened the Big Top Hat Shap
av 73 Water St. in Gi
and are billing it as
Greatest Shop on Barth.”

3, The store has a. circus

theme, which was front and
ntre during an opening
Wedni

tiny storefront by the aroma
of fresh. roasted nuts and,
once inside the big top, fered
with animal crackers, smar-
ties and popcorn.

around

. Milliners Ellen Anderson, .

Shelley West and Renata
Crowe open “The
Greatest Shop on Earth.”

.. The flamboyant hosts
were decked out in fishnets,
corsets and crinolines, (“You
-should see. what we wear. for
evening,” quipped Anderson
of the trio’s working attire.)
. But the real stars of the show,
of. course, were the head-
turning berets, felts, cloches
and. “fancies” that the fin-
loving owners’ design with
sleight of hand. ;
There is also a supporting
cast of scarves, jew

NM: Uther. accessories, including

4

. silver pieces by Sou! Flower

and stockings from
Londoner. Jonathon Aston.
For fall they'll bring in fedo-
ras and porkpies for men.

ciezrance contra
JAX’S fabric and clothing
outlet on Cordova Street has
‘long been a cherished source
of bargains for home sewers
and style seekers. The July 4
opening of Jax’s fourth our-
fet. (the other two are in
’ Richmond and Burnaby)
brings those same bargains to
the North Shore. .
Located across ‘from
* Capilano Mall, at what was
‘-formerly the site of Sussex
Realty, the clearance centre
stocks fabric, samples and
: seconds from the Vancouver-
made Country, Jax Separates,
Studio J and Jax lines.
All items are either slight-

ly damaged or from previous

seasons’ collections but still
make excellent buys, says
Jax’s retail division manager

Bd Arlee Gale.

- Store hours are Monday to
Wednesday and Saturday, 9:30
a.m.-5:30 p.m.; Thursday and

ay Friday, 9:30 a.m.-9 p.m.;

® Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.

allue prize

PUILTERS 16 years and
older can enter the “Do the
’ Puyallup” Quilt Challenge
by pre-registering before
Aug. 15, Completed quilts
will be submitted on entry
days, Aug, 23, 24 or 25. The
fair runs Sept, 6-22. For info,
cheek the fair’s home page at
/www. thefair.com,
ister by calling (206)

841-5017.
— Layne Christensen

For NV’s Linella Devlin,
quilting Is
a full-time pursuit

BY LAYNE CHRISTENSEN
Fashion Editor

LINELLA Devlin admits she’s “a_ little

obsessive” about her hobbies.

A five-year love affair with gardening found her tending
500 rose bushes; a brief fling with golf had her making
daily forays to the fairways, :

For the past three years she’s been devoted to quilting
— so devoted that she’s been booted out of her own bed-
room by a husband who was tired of waking up with fluff
sticking out of his nostrils.

She jokes that in the beginning when she brought her
hobby to bed her somewhat neglected husband would
inquire; “Will you only be
interested in me if 1 have pins
sticking out of me?” -

Now any nocturnal quilting
activity takes place in a second bed-
room that doubles as a studio, she
says, and balance has been restored
to the household.

Right now, quilting is a fill-
time pursuit for Devlin, whose
labors of Jove embrace the walls of
her Grouse Woods home.

It’s an expensive habit, too.

Devlin pegs the cost of new mate-
rials for a single-bed quilt at $250.

And. then there’s her own
unique situation: what to do when
you’ve blanketed your home in 18
or so quilts and you've run out of
display space? “The walls are all taken
.. $0 We bought a summer house,”
is Devlin’s quick-fire response. But
of course she’s only joking about
this costly solution.

What she’d really like is someone to
commission her work, a quilt lover who would share
in her appreciation of the craft.

She may find just thar at the Great Pacific
Northwest Quilt Show, July 26-28 at the Seattle
Centre, where she'll be exhibiting one of her newest
quilts, Aladdin’s Cave, which took 300 hours to
complete. Ten thousand visitors are expected to
attend the show, which is organized by the Association
of Pacific Northwest Quilt

While committed to her craft, Devlin is phil
sophical about such indications that quilting is enjoy-
ing a surge in popularity.

She sees it as just part of a fashion cir ic.

Interest in quilting will “fade in and tade our the
same as bell-bottoms have come back and macrame
will come back.” she muses before pausing for a
moment. “Macrame? God, I hope nor!”

BUSINESSG.............

CELESRATIONS

Local wedding, engagement
and anniversary celebra-
TIONS... .eeeceeessereseeeeeene QD

ENTERTAINMENT
Eagle Harbour’s Colin
Hempsall — inspired by the
VOYAGE. .esserecsesserseeeees dF

Fs a MEWS photo ike Watetiond ~
A beaded collar from her granny’s evening
gown and an epaulette from her grandfa-
ther's war uniform: adorn Lireila Deviin’s
“crazy quilt” Alladin’s Cave (detail photos,
left.). A classic quilt is pictured above.

“THERE’S — something
about a quilt that everyone
can relate to. There’s a vist-
al warmth,” says Dolores
Bell, a founding member of
the nine-year-old Lions
Gate Quilters’ Guild.

The guild meets the
fourth Thursday of every
month, 7:30 p.m. at
Jaycee House on Lillooet
Road in North Van. The
meetings are a great. place
to pick up information,
receive. word of work-
shops, meet other quilters
and browse a well-stocked
library of patteras, says
Bell, who shares her pas-
sion for quilting by teach-
ing the technique through
the guild and through
North Shore Continuing
Education.

Inquiries about the
guild can be directed to
Bell at 988-2610.

— Layne Christensen

1 2)
SUNSHINE GIRL.

TRAVEL
Get away from it all, island-style.. 18

TV LISTINGS .000...cccccccccccccseseccseeeeessssse 26

VINTAGE YEARS
Breakthrough Alzheimers treatment
re-creates old memories...........0..0