Blog Archives - Nicola Foreman Quilts

Summer Market update

26/6/2011

What a glorious day! I set off bright and early this morning to go to Ipswich, as there was a fabulous Summer Market in St Peter's Street. It really was an absolute extravaganza of all things crafty.....

.....the sunshine had certainly bought out the crowds - there were people everywhere! There were lots of fab stalls selling all sorts of goodies (both crafty and edible) to tempt me.....

.....oh look - it's that Nic from Halfpenny Home! I bought some beautiful lace and several metres of vintage ribbon, oh and also had a good look at her lovely book "Country Crafts".....

.....and I also met Jess of Cuppa Tea and Cake fame (I felt like I'd met a celebrity as I've followed her blog for a while!) who was also one of the organisers of this fantastic event..... -

.....there were some food stalls as well and I had the most delicious scotch egg for my lunch and the biggest chocolate brownie I've ever seen (oh yes, I DID manage to eat it all hehe!! Sorry - no piccies of the food!!) It was such a hot day, and the heat finally became too much for me, so after lunch I plodded home - might need a little nap now to recover from seeing all those crafty delights! I certainly had a great day out :)

Italian Market with lots of goodies

26/6/2011

I popped into Wickham Market yesterday as there was an Italian Street Market there - was feeling VERY hungry, and was lucky enough to sample some delicious olives and cheese and bread and pastries and cake and even some wine!!
Now off to look at lots of gorgeous craft goodies at the St Peter's Street Summer Market in Ipswich - might see you there :)

St Peter's Street Summer Market

25/6/2011

This Summer Market is on in Ipswich tomorrow - I've never been to these before but friends who have been say it's fab, so I'm going to try my hardest to be there tomorrow - well, Mr F is on night shifts, so will need lots of peace and quiet so he can sleep, so what better excuse than to go shopping hehehe :)
Hope to see you all there!

Sweetwater patterns.....

25/6/2011

These patterns arrived in the post all the way from America - I love Sweetwater fabric, avidly follow their blog Make Life Sweet and adore their patterns - I've just GOT to get started on another project - hmm - now, where is my rotary cutter and ruler??

Quilting magazines and another couple of new books.....

25/6/2011

These quilting magazines arrived in the post recently - firstly Vignette by Leanne Beasley - this is on subscription from Quilt Fabric Delights in Australia.....

.....I really like this pin cushion pattern - and I really NEED to do some hand stitchery again soon as it is so relaxing.....

.....and my favourite Australian magazine, Homespun, this is yet ANOTHER another subscription, this time from The Fat Quarters in the UK.....

.....and than along came these cute little books, Tis the Season by Natalie Bird and Petit Noel by Rosalie Quinlan.....

..........they are both filled with Christmas stitchery patterns and projects, and was from Coast and Country Crafts in Cornwall.
I've got more than enough reading material to keep me out of mischief for a while :)

Cotton Floss

25/6/2011

This beautiful book by Natalie Lymer of Cinderberry Stitches fame arrived in the post the other day from Coast and Country Crafts in Cornwall.....

.....it is filled with lovely projects using toadstools and fairies and owls - and I can't wait to get started on a special little something for Erin :)

Fat Quarterly

25/6/2011

As it says on the Fat Quarterly website, Fat Quarterly is an e-zine (electronic magazine) for modern sewists, by modern sewists. I spent a couple of hours browsing through the online-pages of this magazine online, and the next thing I knew I'd bought and downloaded the first five issues.....

.....the first project I'm going to tackle is the pattern for a tablerunner (no surprises there!) and what's so fab is that it uses a charm pack and I just so happen to have a few of those lurking in my stash - now - which one to choose?

More sminkepungers.....

19/6/2011

More "Sminkepungers" are in production - another friend has had some bag-making lessons - she was an excellant student!! She very kindly brought her new pincushion to show me (of course I wan't jealous - much!!) that she'd made from Lynette Anderson's book "Quilting Cats and Dogs" - now, I've got this beautiful book too, and have I made anything from it yet?? No. And is that going to change VERY SOON? Yes, definately, especially as I really NEED one of those pincushions.....

.....this was her final creation, which looked really pretty. We also managed to fit in a little bit of retail therapy (I bought some beautiful fabric to back the Høne Pøne runner and placemats that are in progress - piccies of that to follow later), had lunch out at Friday Street Farm Shop (2 Saturdays in a row there for lunch - how decadent - I'll soon have my own table!) and drank copious amounts of tea to keep us fortified. All in all we had a great time. She's written about it here on her blog too.

Happy Father's Day

19/6/2011

Wishing all dads out there a very Happy Father's Day - and remembering my own dad who is sadly no longer with us. I've got so many happy memories of him. His beauty routine was pretty quick - a dab of Brylcreme and a splash of Old Spice ....

.....as a little girl I would meet him on his way home from work. My favourite part of sitting in dad's lorry with him was having a swig of cold black tea that was left over from his lunch (???!!!!!) - can't believe I drank such awful stuff, but I guess it tasted good because it was my dad's :)

.....he really was a true gentleman, and his passions were few - gardening, boxing, wrestling (as a little girl I spent many a Saturday afternoon squashed into his armchair with him watching Mick McManus on TV) and walking - we'd walk miles on a Sunday afternoon after lunch, collecting hazelnuts and chestnuts, with my younger sisters trailing behind moaning because their legs ached or wanting to hitch a ride in the pushchair with my baby sister Becky! As he got older he loved walking in the Yorkshire Dales with my mum - this is a fav piccie of him, near Malham Tarn. My one regret is that we didn't have a family holiday altogether with him and mum - with all his daughters and grandaughters....

.....and finally a quick update on Jasper - he bounded into our lives and hasn't stopped yet! He's such a happy puppy, full of fun and energy - and has completely taken over the Foreman household!

Friday Night Sew-in.....

16/6/2011

I've just read about a Friday Night Sew-in over on the Dilly Dimple blog - hop over and read all about it, and over the weekend I'll post some piccies showing what I was able to sew on Friday night.