All this talk and teaching of zipper pouches has got me obsessed with making them. They are such a joy to make and produce something so pretty and so useful. What can be better?

This particular flat-bottomed style that Manda and i taught last week is a gem. I love the way the pouch sits so you can open it up and rummage in it nicely.

I also love the way that once you have mastered putting in a zip, you can make the pouch any size you like. Ruby and I made a few diddy ones at the weekend for her hair clips and bobbles...more about those another day.

But I'm particularly keen at the moment on these slightly longer but less deep ones for pencils. They are just big enough for a fair selection of pencils, but not too big that they are all flopping about.

Needless to say they are available in store now, both in Pounds and in Dollars, depending on your penchant ;-)

And tomorrow? Some of those diddy pouches for all those lose, lying about clips and bobbles will be available....

I can't believe it's Tuesday already...and I haven't blogged since last Wednesday. And I was on such a roll!

Being away for the weekend is partly to blame. As is the amazing summer we are having. I'm almost beginning to feel how you peeps that live in warmer climes must have it... knowing what to put on in the morning...enjoying coffee breaks in the sun...a general feel of merriment going on.

It has meant that I'm not doing as much sewing as usual. Quite frankly, even though it's one of my most favourite things in the whole wide world, I'm more than happy to give up hibernating in my attic studio for a bit of sunshine.

And that's why the boys' version of my quilt-cum-playmat has taken a little longer to produce. But, just as long as I'm continuing to produce things, albeit at a slower pace, I'm more than happy to take a step back and enjoy the summer we are being blessed with. Long may it continue.

I've been lucky to get a fair few commissions recently for already designed pieces, but with an individual touch. It's great to have a twist in the process. The general theme remains the same, so no design time needed to work it out, but just a little different detail to make it not seem repetitive.

On this occasion, the quilt for the new born baby in question was requested with a heart theme. Whilst I wanted to stick to the simplistic style, I decided on embroidering a row of hearts across a linen strip.

Newborn quilts aren't too big so any fussy design doesn't do it for me. So to do a second row of hearts didn't seem to quite fit in. And repeating any fabrics didn't work for me either. So, here we have Grazia's quilt (that's Grace to you and me), a simplistic, pretty, snuggly baby quilt, that hopefully she will have for years to come.

We were in Bristol over Easter staying with one of Matthew's brothers and famille. The other brother and famille were there too, so it was a mad old but great time. I love both his brothers and wives and one of my sister-in-laws in particular. I would have chosen her as a friend and I think that's always a good sign.

We are all on the same wavelength alot of the time. Just to illustrate the point, we'd brought down 2 bottles of bubbly, the others had too and the host family had bought a couple in too! So 2 nights and 6 bottles of bubbly later... ;-)

As well as seeing my lovely in-laws, the other thing I love about going to Bristol is the obligatory trip to John Lewis' Haberdashery. We don't have a John Lewis in Leeds, although rumour has it that is soon to be rectified. We took the kids to see Nanny McPhee (fab film) and I managed to drag everyone into JL while I fabric shopped. JL fabric department is one of my favourite places to buy fabric. I love that you can buy as little as 10cm. I know you are thinking 10cm won't get you very far, but believe me I can make a heck of a lot of these and certainly a load of these with 10cm.

Time was short so in supermarket sweep style I picked up a few stash favourites - stocked up with some Cath Kidston dots and flowers, a couple of Tanya Whelan's, an Amy Butler spot that I love and then this gorgeous green Liberty esque almost Tana Lawn, which I think is going to be a new fave. The small scale is perfect for my pics and cards.

If you haven't yet discovered the wonders of John Lewis fabric Department, it's well worth the trip of finding your nearest one.

Hope you all had a Happy Easter x

ABC easy as...

Do you remember I bought this Cath Kidston fabric a little while ago?

Well it's Ruby's birthday on Saturday and after finishing working on other things last night, the fabric caught my eye (it hadn't quite been categorised and put away yet) and even though it was almost midnight, I just had to rustle these little keyrings up for part of her party bag goodies.

I'm really pleased with how they've come out and hopefully her little friends will be too.

I have one slight worry After yesterday's discussions, does this constitute plagiarism? Or is it merely using a fabric design to one's own design? If it's the latter, then I think I'll add some to the shop. If you think it's the former I'll leave well alone.

All I need to do now however, is find the mahoosive bag of keyring rings that I know are hiding somewhere in my studio...

Inundated

I've had another little splurge of fabric purchasing of late. You could call it an addiction. You'd be right. But we all know it isn't too frivolous as it will all be used - eventually.

These first few were my purchases whilst in London in January. John Lewis is brilliant for fabric buying. Not only do they have an amazing selection (queue Cath Kidston and Amy Butler fabrics below) but with a minimum cut of just 10cm, it is just far too tempting to not get a little of this and a little of that.


Then on to Designer's Guild. Their fabrics aren't suitable for everything, with their overbold oversized prints. (They'd be rediculous for my cards for one). But in the bargain bucket for £5 a metre, I'm sure i'll think of something.




I've just taken advantage of ordering whatever I fancied from a couple of favourite US based fabric suppliers, without the worry of incurring steep import taxes. My aunt, who lives in Connecticut has just been over for a visit and kindly brought a couple of stashes with her. (She's over again in June - think I might be needing more by then...)


This first selection is from Reprodepot, which, as we all know, has the most awesome array.





An indication that I'd obviously ordered far more than I needed to, is that they threw in this bundle of cutoffs free. Lucky me :-).

My final pile came from Cia's Palette. Cia has the most amazing selection - in the sense that EVERTHING in her store is beautiful and covetable. With this in mind, I think I was extremely restraint.





I think it would be pretty fair to say. I don't need any more fabric. But does NEED come into it?