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.