New to my craft room in August

This month’s additions can be summarised as ‘too good to pass on’ and remarkably the majority of new things this month have either been free, a gift or very good value, though my final purchase of the month blew what would have been a frugal month - but it was definitely worth it!

Both the lace above and the ‘Fat Cat’ ruler below came via my patchwork group, some from the same stash sale as last month. The lace - something I’ve not sewn with yet - was £1 per card, and the ruler just a fiver. It’s designed for making patchwork cats, and the triangular shape is the cat’s body. While I’m a cat fan, cat quilts aren’t on my radar - but I did like the shape and have a project in mind. It’s one that’s not on this year’s list but maybe it may just sneak in.

The vegetable nets are from onions - red and the more usual sort. Usually I pick up bags of onions but this month MOH picked up these in the nets and I was like ‘oh why not’ I may be able to weave with those, and I think I can. They’re not as soft as the fruit nets, but for what I have in mind I don’t think it’ll matter.

Which is handy really as I’ve managed to snag a small weaving set, along with some other goodies from Hobbycraft. I was gifted a voucher as thanks for looking after our neighbour’s cats, which was totally unnecessary as I was happy with the cat chats and tickles, but very much appreciated. Though I went to my local Hobbycraft to suss out some of the items, especially the shears as I wanted to feel the weight of them, something you can’t do online. That I was able to do but many of the items weren’t available at the store so I ended up shopping for some in person and for some online.

The small embroidery stork scissors were part of the online shop, which meant our local DPD needed to ID me for the delivery - when I told him what was in there, and specifically the size of the scissors, we did have a chuckle. Rules are rules and safeguards are safeguards and all that, but it did make us smile.

I also learnt of a huge stash sale via my patchwork group which takes place in Chesterfield market place once a year, and this year it was in August. I was umming and ahhing about whether to go along or not, but with sixty market stalls full of very good value craft stuff I decided that I’d go along and see what it was like. Chesterfield is about an hour from us, and seems proper up North, but it was worth going and I’d look out for it again next year.

It was particularly good for large pieces of material which I plan to use as backings for my charity quilts. The white/pink flowered fabric is an Ikea print from 2005 and everytime I see an old Ikea fabric I’m reminded of how good their fabric was, I don’t know if it’s still the same though?

The green and lilac raindrop material is actually a single duvet cover, and the colours were just my thing. Since I’ve been home I’ve realised these colours are a really good match for my Mystery Block of the Month quilt which remains stalled. I wondered now if that’s because I’m not really onboard with the backing fabric I have, and maybe it’s that. I looked to see if this single duvet cover would work size-wise but it doesn’t - it’s wide enough, but not long enough and I don’t want to piece it with another fabric to make it fit, so I think I’m resigned to my original plan (which btw is absolutely fine, it’s just this one was better - well if it fitted anyway!)

The other two pieces will definitely be for those charity quilts, and it’s likely that some of the material will also make it onto the tops too. When I say these were good value, in total these four pieces of large fabric cost £7 and will do many more than seven quilts I’m sure.

Also good value were these balls of wool at 50p each - I’m almost knee deep in crocheted decorations for our tree dressing later in the year, and these will also be used for that along with more scraps of wool I’ve found that I didn’t have plans for. Our tree will meet its brief to be colourful, that’s for sure.

The final items that I picked up in Chesterfield were these two dies for £2 and the blue and white linen remnant for £1 - meaning in total I spent just £12 at the biggest stash sale I’ve ever been to - see what I mean when I said things were too good to pass on?

I’m not sure what I’ll use the blue and white linen remnant for, but it reminded me of the willow pattern and a jumper I knitted myself a long while back. I think it’s the memories of that jumper that meant this one was always coming home with me.

So that just leaves my final purchase of the month, and it’s another that I couldn’t leave behind. My long-time fabric store nemesis had a stall on Newark market last weekend, and so I thought I should show willing and support this, as having a fabric stall on the market is to be encouraged.

Sadly though I approached from the non-remnants side, after our visit up the church tower, and fell in love with this Indian block printed cotton.

Isn’t it beautiful? And very much ‘my colours’ - but at £12 per metre it wasn’t cheap. The big question was how much would I need, in the end I decided not to scrimp, as not having enough would be worse - and despite a conversation with some other ladies also perusing the stall who suggested making a skirt, decided to stick with my original thoughts for a dress. I like skirts, but when the fabric is so bold I struggle to pair items with them, and like to have versatile clothes rather than set outfit choices.

But anyway, it came home with me - and when I got home I looked out the pattern I had in mind, and then decided that that wasn’t right at all. But luckily - or at least fortuitously - a pattern sale dropped into my email box the next morning, and so I’m almost set. I’ll share the pattern next month as it’s not arrived yet.

So I really do need more time at my sewing machine next month, I’ve plans and projects that just won’t stop forming!

Thank you for joining me for another month in my craft room, please check out my previous updates for earlier additions, and remember to let me know below what you’ve added to your craft supplies this month.

New to my craft room in July

This month I’ve been to the Festival of Quilts at Birmingham’s NEC and despite thinking I didn’t need or want much, my heart said otherwise when I got there in person. It’s the leading quilt show in the UK, perhaps Europe and happens once a year so while there’s lots to see quilts-wise, there’s also plenty of vendors.

I went along armed with a list of potential purchases, some for me and some requests for mum. Of those I was only successful on one, and probably the one I least expected to be, but let’s start with my purchases from the show.

It was the Bauhaus inspired fabric on the right that broke my resolve, which to be fair was early on in the day so it hadn’t had much to resist. But I fell for the fabric immediately, I was only walking past and it was just discarded on the top of the various rolls of fabric. It was the type of love at first sight that you just had to keep hold of the fabric even though I had no idea what I’d make with it. It’s a very light lawn material (think the same weight as the Liberty tana lawn fabrics) and so will drape fantastically. While pondering what I could make - a dress, but goodness knows what style, and how much I’d need - hard to judge when you have no plans I saw the olive green and ecru material too. I knew I was done for, and so ended up with 4 metres of the Bauhaus fabric, and 2.5 metres of the other - as I think this will make some fantastic summer trousers and will match a plain olive top I’ve bought recently.

I’ve still no idea what I’ll make with the Bauhaus fabric or what style it will be, but it’s a gorgeous fabric - and slightly weirdly reminded me of my favourite secondary school teacher, music teacher Miss Smith!

I was keen to look at patterns at the show as trying to wing it entirely making clothes isn’t always the way to go. The dress pattern I have in mind for some fabric I already have, but the trousers pattern is for that olive and ecru material. The Sew Different ladies are very clever as not only do they have their pattern designs made up so you can see what they’ll look like (or what they’re supposed to look like!) they also wear their designs - and one of them had the trousers and cami combo on and it looked great.

The Alice Caroline bee pattern appealed too - there were kits available, but it was just the pattern and know how that I needed, I have plenty of material to source my own bee colour ways. But I did pick up some Liberty scraps while I was there, mainly because these too are hard to resist.

The labels are pretty cute too, the Sarah Hearts ones say “Thanks I made this” and I think should really go on the outside of the garment; the others say ‘You can’t buy this’ which made me smile.

I had taken with me the pack of hand dyed fabric which I had for my birthday in May, as I now have a plan in mind for how to use them and wanted to get something that goes with them to extend what I already have, as I think I need a few more squares. I bought the bundle of fat quarters for that project and was happy that I could make them work.

However less than ten minutes later I stumbled upon the Whole Cloth Studio stand (the makers of the hand dyed fabric) which was both fortuitous as I didn’t know they were going to be there, and expensive because they were there! As I approached the stall I pulled my existing pack of fabrics out of my bag and immediately struck up a conversation with the vendor and other customers, who praised MOH’s foresight for such a wonderful present. It is of course a wonderful present, but he did have great guidance!! And so the small bundle of purple fabrics, which match perfectly was now added to the day’s purchases, and I’m very happy about that. I think I will still use the bundle of fat quarters (or at least some of them) on this project but just not in the way I first thought I would.

It was quite a show, and quite a day - and now I need to find time to put all my plans into action (as always!)

As you know I’m also a sucker for a stash sale and via my Patchwork Group I’ve been party to one of the largest ones yet, and once again I’m very happy. I’ve had my eye on these Bias Tape Makers for a while now, mostly through a saved search on eBay as they are no longer in production. The ones on eBay go for quite ridiculous sums though, and I’ve never managed to purchase one, so when this one turned up on our WhatsApp group I hesitated briefly, then jumped at the chance as not only was it something on my list, but it was also a bargain.

I also picked up the three threads after a rummage in the box, and the navy and white spotted fabric - which on a quick measure is way over the three meres I thought, so for £9 it was another complete bargain. I thought I’d used this to make a sundress, but now I’ve felt the material I’ve another project in mind, which is to use it for a toile for a more structured linen dress I have the pattern (and aspirations) for.

A visit to mum’s craft room provided the contents of the next few pictures, and there’s some gems, some gadgets and plenty of material which I can use in my charity quilts. The fern fabric below is just gorgeous, and it’s the trimmings of a quilt mum made when they returned from a holiday in New Zealand, and where mum had bought fabric. I’ve yet to unroll it fully but I’m intrigued to see what other prints I’ll find.

I also left with a healthy amount of calico which I didn’t want to pass on, and a mix of Hardanger and Aida fabrics for hand embroidery and some useful looking gadgets. The magnetic window markers in the image below I know I’ll use on my intermittent cross stitch project, which has been out again infrequently already this year. It gets put away as I think I spend more time finding my place in the pattern than actually cross stitching, so hopefully these will help.

Mum gave me her tatting shuttle a while back and I’ve not yet even tried to figure it out. It looks a totally alien craft to me, though much like crochet did before I really got the hang of it. As primarily a knitter at first I couldn’t get my head around how such yarn magic could be produced with a single stick (aka hook), but now I totally get it.

Though I’m not sure my crochet skills will ever be as exquisite as this next item mum wanted me to have. It’s a crocheted pin cushion which easily fits into the palm of my hand, isn’t it gorgeous? What’s more it was made by one of mum’s friends, I’m in total awe and I’m planning to include it in my ‘take to’ supply kit, though I need to get myself organised to start that too.

This next purchase is from a local craft shop in Framlingham, Suffolk where we spent a few days after MOH did the mammoth East London to Dunwich overnight cycle this month. The fabric was in the window and initially I thought it was the same as our garden scatter cushions, and I teased MOH that he could have a shirt to match. On closer inspection though, yes of course we went into the shop, it was more of a velveteen finish and not something you’d really want to wear, though maybe as a jacket…

Anyway, the shop had a bag made up using this fabric and these tortoiseshell handles - the bag itself cost £39, but the materials cost about a third less - and while it’s another project, it’s going to be beautiful.

The shop owner generously showed me her hand drawn pattern and gave me tips for attaching the handles, now I just need to talk myself into making it happen. These handles though, they reminded me of a patchwork bag mum had (and possibly still does somewhere), which was also velvet which I remember her making when I was a child. In fact I made myself a patchwork bag - long since gone I’m sure (sadly) - at the same time, but my handles were more rounded and a lighter wood coloured plastic.

Ah the memories, I’ll have to ask mum if she still has that bag.

And finally I’ll share a bit more about my latest crochet project, which the neon green yarn is new this month. My crochet group are one of the local community groups in a nearby village who are ‘dressing a tree’ in the village orchard this November. As a group we’ve decided to ‘throw colour at the tree’ and this is my first garland for that - I’m sure there’ll be more to come, and I’ve already a plan to make a garland of something that was traditionally kept in orchards, but more on that another day.

So that’s another month in my craft room, check out my previous updates for earlier additions, and remember to let me know below what you’ve added to your craft supplies this month.

New to my craft room in June

This month there’s more to share than in previous months, maybe there’s more around or I’m more susceptible to a nice bit of fabric at this time of year, who knows. The past month has also spawned ideas for two new projects - one inspired by a sewing magazine, and the other by this gorgeous new fabric from Liberty.

FAT QUARTERS FROM LIBERTY’S NEW GIFTS FROM THE GARDEN RANGE, TOPPED OFF WITH A TULA PINK FREESPIRIT CHARM PACK

The main pile of fat quarters is the new ‘Gifts from the Garden’ range from Liberty and they’re full of ‘cheerful florals, fruity prints, orchard charm’ and the email where I fell in love with them optimistically suggested they’d be great for my next project. Well they will be a project and used together at some point, but I suspect it won’t be my next one!

Not only do I love the fabrics - and surprise, surprise I couldn’t choose between the colourways - I also love their names. The pinks are called Jam Jar, the yellows Lemonade Stand. Then the blues are Orchard Breeze, with the orange selection as Marmalade Market. I know that the quilt that these make with be filled with zing and colour.

In the photo they’re topped off by a charm pack of Tula Pink’s Freespirit fabrics and I’ll use these 5 inch squares for the applique project I spoke about last month. I’m still planning how to make that happen, but ideas are percolating.

I’ve also added to my scraps and reuse piles this month with nets from the many lemons and limes we seem to be using at the moment, plus there’s a red onion net there too for a different colour. The squares are from our trip to France, they were at the napkins at breakfast at our last hotel and I was intrigued by them, so brought them home. I thought perhaps some embroidery, but then MOH used them for a wine bottle mat, drips and all so at least I now know they can withstand water!

Towards the end of the month I’d booked myself on a workshop to find out how I could make a pattern from clothes I already have. It was a useful day, and I took along a much loved jersey dress which has faded through wear and washing and is now one of those pieces of clothing that you only wear at home.

The tutor helped to make the pattern pieces of the top half, which is the bit that’s the most tricky - the skirt is just straight, so even I can manage that I hope, even though it does have pockets inserted into the seam. And so now I have to try it out - or make a toile - at home. A while back I’d bought some material from the market stall in Newark who was closing down, but I don’t want to go straight to that so my plan is to use the grey and orange striped material in the image below.

This whole pile of fabric came from the Gedling Play Forum a not-for-profit community scrapstore, fabric room and play forum, which for us is on the way to Nottingham, and who had organised the pattern drafting workshop. By joining I could access their scrapstore and fabric room (there’s a very reasonably priced craft shop on the site for non-members) and left with this pile of fabric, which including annual membership cost me £16.

Of course I have plans for it, well all apart from the ribbon which just called my name! The orange and grey striped fabric I’ll use to test out the top half of my new hand drawn pattern, and all going well I could end up with a new top! The two blue patterned bundles and the blue herringbone design, along with the roll of continuous zip and the luminous thread I’ll use to make zippered storage bags for our garden cushions so that they can be stored in the garage over the winter, and in the summer when they’re not in use.

Then the gold/bronze geometric fabric, which is quite soft and drapey, I’m thinking that I’d like a dress out of this - which is a bit random, and probably will be the only one of its kind, but it was too gorgeous to leave behind.

The workshop, and subsequent scrapstore visit, inspired these next additions. The dot and cross paper for further pattern creating ventures, the curved rules to help with shaping arm/shoulder pieces and of course necklines.

I think I now also have a lifetime supply of zipper pulls, as even by adding two to each storage bag for a double zippered effect, I’ll still have plenty left. I like the bright colours of these, and have no qualms about them not matching the zip - I mean, look at the thread I’ve chosen for these! My thinking was it’ll be easy to see if I need to rip it out if I go wrong!!

A friend from my sewing group has recently opened a stall at Newark market, and so I went along to be supportive - and did well to leave with just two additions to my fabric pile. The black - an unusual choice for me - is for another potential project, the one I saw in a sewing magazine, and will ultimately be for my greenhouse, bear with me on that one!

And the other? Well once again, text printed on fabric got me - I’ve no plans for this one but will be happy to admire it for a while!

Talking of sewing group, there were more items in their donation/de-stash pile which came home for me for a donation. I’m currently thinking that the gold flowered design might work with the geometric material above, but I need to check that out. Then the pink will be good for some more charity village quilts, and the final two smaller flowered pieces will come in handy at some point, I’m sure.

There was also a bag of patchworking pre-cut and some pre-sewn pieces. I didn’t want to leave someone else’s work behind so these also came home with me. The cut squares were quite an eclectic mix, but could mostly work together - and I’m sure I can do something with these, at some point!

So that’s another month in my craft room, check out my previous updates for earlier additions, and remember to let me know below what you’ve added to your craft supplies this month.