Thangles...

 Have you come across the wonders of Thangles yet?

If you have, I'm guessing I'm preaching to the converted.

My lovely sponsor Kate of M is for Make sent me a pack to try. Kate is well aware of my love for HSTs and having recently got into these herself knew I would love them.

And how right was she! Have you tried them? Have you??

 To be honest, I wasn't wholly sure that they'd offer me something that I needed. 

How wrong was I???

I absolutely love making HST quilts and to be honest they aren't the most complicated block on the block (see what I did there?!) but what Thangles do do is make a relatively easy block downright pips, cutting out all that boring mindless trimming after you have pieced them all. I mean, how tedious is that stage? 

 Thangles work by cutting the right strip pieces to begin with and then simply sewing along the dotted line and cutting along the solid lines.

THAT IS IT...perfect HSTs every time.

Honestly, to do just these 8 little HSTs trimmed in all their perfection would take unnecessary and tedious trimming time.

With Thangles there is none of that. 

The trickiest thing about working with Thangles is stopping! I've been at it for 2 minutes and already got 2 projects on the go. I started with piecing some LV with reds and secondly with greens. Greens? I don't do greens, but am rather finding that I do.

Anyway enough from me and the wonders of Thangles. Go see them for yourself. In fact go check out Kate's beautiful HST quilt she made for a wedding gift. Not only is it stunning, but I'm betting Kate enjoyed every second of creating it, thanks to Thangles.

Kate has packs to make HSTs from anything from 1" up to 4".

 I'm using 2.5" for these 2 projects but am thinking I'd like to make a larger quilt with 4" HSTs...

**pops off to purchase a couple of packs before Kate sells out...**

Oh and did I mention Kate is very kindly offering 10% off all purchases of Thangles before the end of November. Simply quote "thangle" at the checkout.

And one final thing...if you aren't signed up to Kate's Newsletter, then you must. She regularly has things you need to know about...including announcing her Black Friday Sale this weekend...you don't want to miss out on hearing about that! 
Go sign up at the bottom here!

countdown...

I am 10 days away from having a stand at my biggest fair to date...and I am bricking it!

I have absolutely no idea what to expect.

In just 10 days Blueberry Park will be at Country Living Christmas Fair, which is in Harrogate for the first time. 

This is the first time too that I will have done a retail event that consists of more than just a table top display.

I have a stand that is 3m x1m, no great shakes in CL terms but since I normally have a single 1.5m at most table, this is one hellava space to fill.

In an attempt to make it as eye-catching as possible, both in decor and items to sell and have some more larger "in your face" pieces I have designed my Pompom Cushion range of Gerry and Steve, to hopefully catch people's attention as they sidle by.

I am also aware that people will be after little stocking fillers and little extras while they are at it, so have also come up with another new item - a trio of xmas tree decos, screen printed on warm fluffy felt.

I am still none-the-wiser how I am going to display everything and still have a vast amount of stock still to make, but hopefully I am there in terms of which items I am going to take.

And to be quite honest with just over a week to go, let's hope so!

If you live in the vicinity and fancy a little excursion, the fair runs from Thursday November 29 until Sunday December 1. I am on stand C60 and would love to see you there!

ps don't forget about the fab Green Bee Pattern giveaway from The Village Haberdashery that I am running until next Weds...enter before it's too late!

announcing workshops...

Having talked about it for a while I am excited to announce that I am now offering Screen Printing Workshops at my home here in North Leeds.

Those of you who are regular readers will know how passionate I am about screen printing. It is such a wonderful skill to learn and has so many possibilities. I'm just itching to spread the love and make you all converts too!

I am holding 3 workshops early next year - same topic, different dates - where you will learn all there is to know about screen printing your own stencil cut designs onto fabric. I am keeping the groups to a maximum of 4 to allow plenty of help/space/time with all that there is to learn.

The workshops will be extremely relaxing and no experience is necessary. Just bring yourself, your creativity, some ideas, oh and an apron to keep you clean!

Go here to find out more or to book or do contact me on info@blueberry-park.co.uk if you have any other questions.

The first date has one space left, but at the time of writing the other 2 have all 4 spaces available. Maybe you want to get a group of friends together and come and have fun together either on one of these dates or ask me about setting up a mutually convenient time.

So go treat yourself to a fun day, or better still, put it on your Xmas Wishlist and get someone else to treat you!

POSTSCRIPT: 
January Workshop sold out! Feb Workshop now Friday 8 February...2 places available! March workshop remains the same and available!

green bee giveaway...

I have a great giveaway for you this week!

Annie of The Village Haberdashery is offering one of Alexia Abegg's new Green Bee sewing patterns to one lucky (UK /Europe based) reader.

Alexia is one talented lady and with talented hubby Rob Bancroft about to bring out his debut fabric line microMod with Cloud 9 fabrics, they are one hellava force to be reckoned with.

Annie has just done a wonderful interview with Alexia. If you haven't seen it yet, pop over there to read all about it.

In the meantime back to the patterns and the giveaway...

Annie is stocking 4 of the quilt patterns and 5 of the dress-making ones. They are all stunning, with fantastic and clear instructions, but I am particularly drawn to the diamond ring quilt pattern, which I am so putting on my To Make list and if I still had little people I'd certainly be drawn to Anya.

So for the giveaway and the chance to win one of these stunning patterns...you know the drill...4 ways to win...

1. Leave a comment here to say you'd love to enter and which pattern you would choose if you won (see the full collection that Annie is stocking here)

2. Go 'Like' The Village Haberdashery on Facebook and come back here and tell me you've done it.

3. Go sign up for The Village Haberdashery Newsletter (scroll down to bottom right) and come back here to tell me you have.

4. Go tweet about it and yup, you guessed it, come back here to tell me you have ;-)

Good luck! you have until this time next week Weds 21 November.

Apologies again for non European peeps...will have a fab giveaway for you very soon ;-)

Also PLEASE make sure you leave a valid email address...no email address, no entry...simples.

number 13...lucky for some...

A day late but here we go...the winners of a copy each of 20 Crafty Makes are...

Lucky Number 13... the lovely Helen of Archie the Wonder Dog

and then Wivi, who am sure is equally lovely!

Thank you all for entering and supporting this wonderful cause and if you would like to still have a copy you can support the cause by buying a copy (or more!) from here.

(Helen and Wivi...email addresses please and your books will be on their way!)

all the fun at the fair(s)...

I am off to the Big Smoke this weekend!

Tomorrow I will be at Selvedge Winter Fair. I am very excited about this one as am a huge fan of Selvedge, so to be included in something they do feels a great privilege.

On Sunday I will be at Old Spitalfields Market with We Make London. We Make London do brilliant events so it should be good. 

Only shame for me is that I probably won't have chance to see all the other amazing makers and their work. But you will! So do come along to one of the fairs and come say hi. It will be great to see you!

I am packing the car as we speak and filling myself up with caffeine for the journey (it was a late night last night finishing off) and then I'll be on my merry way.

I got a little distracted in my preparations yesterday (nothing new there)...I was sewing up a sample Gerry when a lightbulb moment occurred "how cute would Gerry look on a t-shirt?"

I printed him up on a few t-shirts and now he's all ready to come to The Big Smoke with me! Shame there's only one size (one size fits all??) but there will be more of Gerry in various guises in the future...and Steve is pretty keen to get in on the act too...

Have a great weekend whatever you are doing and do come and say hi if you do manage to come to one of the fairs.

x

turning a negative into positive...

 

 I don't know about you but if I wake in the night I am done for...particularly if it is anytime after 4.30.

Off I pop to the loo and by the time I am back in bed I am wide awake with all the things I need to squeeze into the day ahead.

Normally I just get up at that point and before I know it I am doing something that I keep meaning to do during the day but never have time for. There's always something else to be done then.

One thing that normally gets done in these small hours is sorting fabric. I take one look at the piles that have been cast aside while working - never enough time to put back properly - and realise that even messy me has gone a step too far.

Onto my second cup of tea and still no sign of anyone else I had my fabrics sorted and even better, organised into some fab scrap bags that I have now listed in my Etsy Sample shop.

Thanks to the lightening speed of Instagram and several other insomniacs, some have already been spoken for, but there are still a few that you can grab here. They are full of fantastic designer children's prints from Aneela Hoey and Sarah Jane to Lucie Summers and Jessica Hogarth and lots more imbetween. They may include some of the above. They may include all. But they'll certainly include lots of great fabrics!

I should actually set my alarm for 4.30 every day!