Phew, things are starting to slow down round here. As well as the holiday we have had a family wedding and my brother and his family have been down from Yorkshire so I have tried to spend a lot of time with them. We have also had the last of the birthday parties (I did not plan the children so close together!) and had the start of the new school year for Mister J and nursery for Bizzie. It is only two short mornings a week, but gives me a bit of time to do all those things which need doing.
I went into town before work yesterday and bought myself a new pad, pen and pencil in Paperchase to help get me organised. A necessary purchase I am sure! I also popped into the new Cath Kidston store in town. I love her stuff and it is a real treat to have a store I can pop into. I love some of the new merchandise for autumn such as this sewing range but felt a bit uncomfortable when I saw that the cute needle case was manufactured in Indonesia. I feel the brand is based on Britishness and it would good to see some items made in the UK. Apart from that the layout was lovely, very homely and there were some vintage items which were gorgeous (if pricey). My favourite thing was a textile wall-hanging of a cottage. Retailing at £275 there are 2 per branch and they are in the style I love - naive applique with decorative stitching. At that price however I did come away doing the crafters mantra - "I can do that myself", especially as they were a bit similar to the box I recently made.
It is the Hever Quilt show this weekend. Whilst not local, is is about a 50 minute drive so not too far. I took Bizzie last year and had big problems wheeling the buggy round the marquee as it is in a field with lots of divits! I have decided not to go this year as I bought some bits at the Festival of Quilts and really need some time to get on with actually doing some sewing, but if you are going then have a good time.
Talking of the Festival of Quilts here is a photo of some of my purchases
half a metre of fabric which was £3, two packs of linen ribbon (check out the Eiffel Tower one) for £1.00 and couple of blades for my rotary cutter. One is plain, but the other is pinking and I have wanted one of these for ages. I am going to use it to cut the fabric up for the Zine.
5 fat quarters for £6.25. I like the cute thirties prints so whilst I don't know what I am going to use them for, they won't be in the stash for long. Peeking out from the bottom is half a metre of plain blue which was £2.50 - bargain!
and whilst I was in town yesterday I popped into a fabric shop and bought these Tana Lawn prints. They are the ones which I think are Liberty bolt ends. At £12.95 a metre they aren't cheap so I just bought a little bit. I love these prints, although they are a bit thin and slippery to be used in patchwork so i take care about which projects I use them for. I love the deep colours of the one on the left, and the whimsical print of the one on the right.
Another buy from the Festival of Quilts is the fabric to dye for my City and Guilds quilt. I have never used cotton sateen before and worried about putting it in the washing machine to pre-wash it. A few days later I realised that it will need to handle going in the washing machine if I am to dye it! Moral of the story, don't consider dyeing fabric when you are doing a million other things, and never get too precious about fabric for dyeing!
Finally, just a plea for the Zine. If you have made a quilt you are particularly proud of and fancy sharing a photo and tutorial with us, then please get in touch. Either leave a comment on here or email thequarterinch@hotmail.co.uk and I'll reply with with a bit more info.
Thanks for reading! x
