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My sewing machine is packed and ready for a weekend of uninterrupted stitching! My bags are packed too, as I'm going away this afternoon with 26 other crafty minded ladies! There will be lots of chatting and laughter, good food and maybe some gin. Oh and lots and lots of sewing of course! 
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I don't have much of a scrap collection, as I tend to give most of my scraps away! However that might change after looking through this fab book by Stuart Hillard.  My parcel of goodies that arrived at the weekend from Cross Patch also included these gorgeous spools of thread! Another favourite thread of mine is Presencia Finca Perle 16 and this gorgeous feative red is really beautiful. My friend Julia introduced me to this thread earlier this year when it was included in a kit I'd bought from her (eeekkk!!! I still need to get it quilted!) - I used it for hand embroidery and it looks fabulous. The best thing about perle is using it straight off the spool, so no worries about seperating strands and getting it tangled.  One of the goodies that arrived in my parcel from Cross Patch at the weekend was the kit to make Little Winter Wonderland, designed by Lynette Anderson Designs. The kit includes the pattern, all the fabrics and these cute hand painted wooden reindeer buttons. There just isn't enough time to make a festive quilt before Christmas, (I haven't even started Winter Playground yet, I've been too busy working and baking and stitching Hearts and Happy Flowers!!) but there should be time to make this festive project instead...  ...and this is the table top quilt hanger that it will be displayed on once it's completed. Purchased online, this table top hanger arrived flat, and easily slotted together. It will easily stand on a dresser or sideboard. This is perfect for small projects, approx. 12" x 14" or smaller, and I plan to make a few seasonal ones so I can rotate them depending on the time of year!  How appropriate is this! Apparently it's National Cake Day today. I was busy baking in the kitchen this morning, and made some cheese scones and this Victoria Sponge ready for afternoon tea for my girlie and her boyfriend. No picture of the cheese scones though - my daughter liked them so much she took the remaining ones home with her! So poor Mr F has had to make do with just cake for his supper!  This year I'm trying to support my local area by purchasing a few gifts that have been made by local crafters. On Sunday morning I drove over to the Orford Festive Makers Market. I bought a couple of Christmas gifts from Lovely Lydia - she had a super stall, and has an online etsy shop "Shop Lovely Lydia" if you want to see all the gorgeous goodies she makes. It was lovely to see so many people supporting this event, and I bumped into loads of people I know, so it turned into a very sociable morning!  It's that time of year when there are lots of festive markets being held. Last weekend we drove over to Long Melford - the Craft Fair itself wasn't very impressive, but on the way we'd stopped of at Bridge Farm Barns at Monks Eleigh, and I also had a trip to the Woolpatch in Long Melford which more than made up for the fair being less than expected!! Then on Sunday we went to the Christmas Crafts at Wantisden Valley, which is always spectacular. A few goodies were purchased there (some of them edible). and a beautiful table decoration that will be able to be displayed every Christmas. I'm hoping to get some locally-made Christmas gifts today from local crafters at the Orford Festive Makers Market which is just a few miles up the road from where I live. Will you be there too?  Blimey!! My special delivery from Cross Patch arrived this morning! As usual, Julia has provided such amazing customer service as this was only ordered yesterday. Unfortunately I can't share a piccie of all the goodies that were inside as everyone would be giddy with excitement - also the parcel contained a couple of Christmas gifts for friends so I don't want to spoil the surprise!  I've made a start on the stitchery for block 5 - this is the large centre block of Hearts and Happy Flowers. As I'd already stitched the smaller pre-printed blocks, I decided to carry on and this one too. These Cosmo threads have a wonderful sheen to them. The threads for this project were ordered online from Gum Valley Patchwork in Australia, as I specifically wanted certain colours and couldn't find all the ones I wanted here in the UK.  Hearts and Happy Flowers, the latest BOM by the Australian designer Leanne Beasley, is really coming along nicely. I decided to embroider all of the remaining pre-printed "mini-blocks" so that when I go off on a sewing weekend at the end of November, I can plan out the fabrics and piece together the remaining large blocks. I've been using Cosmo stranded cotton for the hand embroidery - these threads have a really lovely sheen...  ...I prefer to use a wooden embroidery frame to keep the fabric taut. These pre-oriented stitcheries already had a soft interfacing fused to the back, and they have saved me several hours of tracing time! I'm really pleased with how these look, and can't wait to get the larger blocks pieced together! *if you're also interested in buying the pre-printed linen, it was purchased online from Fabric Patch in Australia.  |
 About me...Hi - welcome to my quilting blog! My passions are my family, my dog, my friends and sewing, not necessarily in that order! 
 
 
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