Florence's Attic

Take a deep breath - and go shopping!

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

Colourful Tea Party

I have been putting off posting as my camera has been without batteries for a few days so have no pictures to share.  I always feel a blog needs a few images to make it a bit more interesting, however I have a free moment to post so here is it with no eye candy!

I went to a Quilters Guild tea party yesterday.  It was a very pleasant afternoon with tea and cakes and a talk by Louise Mabbs.  Her work is interesting - very colorful.  She is doing a lot of work involving origami inspired patchwork and has recently written a book on this.  There was a particular wall hanging I loved from her book which is shown here.  The garden we were in overlooked Preston Park which was hosting the Pride celebrations.  I bet not many quilt parties have the police helicopter overhead (someone commented we looked probably like a lesbians tea party to them) and "It's raining men" blaring out (I promise I kid you not about the music).  As much as I moan about the way my hometown is becoming so corporate and money orientated, unique days like this make me so pleased to live as part of an accepting and diverse community.

The weather has been great this week for getting out and about.  We went and chose chickens with my Dad on Thursday for their new ark in their garden.  They are so funny to watch, I have not even been tempted by Big Brother this year, and watching the chickens is far more interesting than that.

On the sewing front I feel a list coming on.  I repaired two pairs of trousers my Dad gave me six weeks ago this morning.  They took all of 10 minutes, and whilst I was doing them my husband threw a pair of shorts at me which he had also been waiting for my attention.  Do clothes for repair in your houses go to the back of the line at the sewing machine too?  My work in progress is:

1. Quilt Top for City and Guilds piece based on the West Pier.  I still need to decide colours, then dye the fabrics.  Is dyeing fabric a task for the summer holidays with little people about?  I think not, but I must get it done by October.

2. Another shirred dress for Bizzie, and one for my niece.

3. Posh dress for Bizzie for a wedding we are going to in the autumn.  I have bought the pattern, and am just trying to get the courage to cut the georgette.

4. Toys for the kids for our trip away from Toys to Sew.  I have enlarged some of the pattern pieces and now just need to have a trawl through my fabric.

5. Cushions for living room

So as you can see I have just a few things lined up, so any more clothes needing repair will be pushed to the back of the line for the foreseeable future!

The zine is coming along well.  Designing the cover is next on my list.  I want it to look diy so am going for something quite minimalist.  On the front of each issue will be a square of fabric, with a piece written inside about the range it is from.  It will be held on my a piece of double sided tape, so if readers need it for a bit of applique they can just swipe it off!

Happy Sunday x 

The Quarter Inch - A Zine for Quilters

The Zine finally has a name "The Quarter Inch" and it's own blog here.  There are more details on the blog, but if any of you would like to submit anything that would be great (and a mention on your blog would be even better!).  It will be published in October and firstly on sale direct from me, or via Etsy, and I am hoping to get some quilt shops on board too. 

In other news we went to a kite festival this weekend.  We enjoyed the brief spell of sunny weather with lots of other people.  Behind where I took the photo were kite stalls, food stands and an arena with kite displays, I would never have believed that people would be able to handle kites to music and was completely in awe of it.  As for us, we were the family bickering about the best way to get a tiny kite to fly!