Festival of Quilts

Wow, I think I've finally recovered from my day out in Birmingham at the NEC for the Festival of Quilts on Saturday. It was AMAZING.
I was completely blown away by the variety and standard of quilts on show and had much fun spending a few pennies at some of the hundreds of shops.
I wish I had bought my camera to capture some of the exhibited quilts, but there were some (rather small!) signs asking you not to take pictures, oh well! I guess my one and only gripe was that the £6 programme was a bit of a swizz in my opinion. It just gave you a very small amount of detail on each of the exhibited quilts and told you the stand numbers for the shops. I would have glady paid a little more if it had included pictures of the show quilts - then the ones that didn't want pictures taken could have opted out! Oh well, I've not let that spoil my day!

I am really pleased to have been able to see so many finished quilts in the flesh as it were. It's made realise that there are so many different techniques and approaches to take. It's also made me realise that I need not worry about small imperfections, as many of the quilts I saw had a few, BUT the overall effect of the quilt was in no way effected.

I am now brimming with inspiration and have a skecthcbook loaded with plans, and a shopping bag overflowing with new fabric. Below are some pics of my stash.

Fabulous bargains were to be had from a Japanese Fabric stall:



Some gorgeous retro fabrics from the Eternal Maker and a very handy mini iron from the Stitch Witch.


And a final 2 pictures of all the Christmas themed fabrics I snapped up!



I now just need to decide what project to start with first!!!

Fabulous Fabric Folksy Friday!

OK - so I know technically there's still a couple of hours to go until it's Friday but I thought I'd get in now as I won't have much free time tomorrow!

This week's Folksy Friday is a fabric themed spectacular as I'm so excited about going to the Festival of Quilts at the NEC on Saturday!

Below are fabrics for sale on Folksy that really caught my eye, if you click the picture it will take you directly to the store!





I hope to report back on Sunday about all the great inspirations (and purchases) from Saturdays trip up the M1!

Stash shopping

Wow another week has flown by with no time for crafting at all :o(

I spent the week at my parents in Suffolk so that we could have a new kitchen fitted - hurrah!! There was no way I could stay home with Robyn whilst it was done so a little Lowestoft holiday was in order. We had a great time and did manage to visit 2 great fabric shops and do a *little* shopping!!

This pile of loveliness came from Tyler's Patch in Barleylands which we visited before we left for Lowestoft:

I plan on making a quilted wall hanging for my bedroom as we don't have a headboard we need a little something on the wall to pretty it up a bit.


This stash pile came from the magnificent Sew and Sos in Bungay, Suffolk. If ever you're in the area and love fabric shopping it's a must-see. Stacked to the rafters with gorgeous bolts of fabric and a huge chest of drawers with bags and bags of offcuts.

I plan on using the brown with the turquoise from the other picture to make the wall hanging. The circles and fish are going to be some fun things for TopCat's Corner on folksy as well as a picnic blanket. The lilac floral pile is going to be turned into a quilted buggy liner for Robyn, just need to get some terry towling to back it.



Finally we went to Taverham garden and craft centre and stopped in at Sew Simple where I got some lovely white fabric for the ellie quilt I'm making for Robyn and some other bits and bobs, including a great issue of Homespun magazine, with a fab pattern for a Don't Look Now designed quilt. I hope one day to be able to attempt it!


I also managed to get enough plants to fill up the new flower-bed-that-used-to-be-a-pond, just need a little more topsoil in the bed before I can put these in:
Please ignore the weeds in the background!!



Happy Days!! Now before I can play with fabric and flowers I'd better get the kitchen stuff all put away and clean this dusty house!

Creative Space Thursday

I've had a couple of these fat quarters for a few months now and didn't really know what to do with them. After a successful browse in the local (ish! *) fabric shop in Leigh in Sea I was able to significantly improve my stash of sea blue fabrics. Don't you think they look like sticks of rock all lined up like that? ** Now, what to do with them all?!

Pop on over to {Kirsty's} place for more Creative Spaces!

* It takes a 20min walk to the station, followed by a 30 min bus ride and then a 10min walk to get to my local fabric store!! But it is as local as I have!

** For international readers, a stick of rock is a large candy stick you buy at the seaside, it generally has the name of the location written through it. It's very reminiscent of my childhood!! I'm not sure if it's a special UK thing?

Creative Space Thursday

I'm working on finishing off lots of "almost there" items. And I'm pleased to report that I am almost there....!! Hope you like the sneak peeks above, they're an integral part of my folksy grand opening... watch this space!!!

Don't forget to check out {Kirsty's place} for more creative spaces!