Festival of Quilts Goodies

So after admiring all the hard work in the quilts and having a sit down for a breather and some lunch, it's time to shop!

First rule of quilt show..have a set list

Second rule of quilt show..have a budget!

I had projects in mind that I needed fabric for, such as toddler clothes and did well to find what I needed.

These are destined to be a reversible hat, from the Oliver and S book, I've made one before and little Rowan's been wearing it to nursery all summer!

This dolly kit was from The Bramble Patch and I hope it will be one of Rowan's Christmas presents.

Some cord from Mulberry Silks for friendship bracelets, a bit thicker than I wanted but it's proving to be quite hard to find a thin cord.

From Colour Craft I got some tools for lino printing, I had hoped to have a go with the girls in the holidays but so far haven't had time.

Gorgeous thick cotton from the Eternal Maker, as always I had a hard time at this stand, I must go to their shop someday! I wanted some material for winter toddler trousers, it might be a bit jazzy but we'll see!

This flannelette caught my eye and I broke the rules because I still haven't got a project for it but it's rare to see printed flannelette!

Lovely heavy cotton from Fabrics Galore, again for toddler trousers but now I'm thinking I might see if I've got enough to complete a small bag pattern I've got as well!

I hadn't seen these little mini charm packs before, this was from Simply Solids and I wanted one of these mugs from Lu Summers when I saw it on her Twitter feed!

Theses were only 20p each and I thought they'd look good as embellishments or on a quilt.

Silky soft cotton from Cool Crafting who had lots of interesting kits, the buttons are for a toddler romper I was half-way through and the fabric for another hat?!

Digitally printed I fancied this as a wall hanging or cushion.

I also had on my list to get a large Creative Grids square, which I did and have used already!

The shopping is as much fun as the quilts! Another lovely trip, I got home tired but inspired!

I'd love to hear if you went and what you bought!

Baby prep ie. shopping!

Ok so with 6 days to go, I thought I'd round up my baby essentials shopping.  Being baby number three, people assume you've kept all your old equipment & clothes from your last baby's, but living in a shoe-box with no storage and always needing extra pennies, we've always sold our cast-offs at boot fairs.  Seeing as that's where we bought most of the items in the first place, it always seems like good karma!

The items I have saved are sheets & blankets - these were bought new for my first daughter and they were so expensive I haven't dared sell them for mere pounds, because we all know sheets & blankets can come in handy in a crafty household anyway!

Also, maternity trousers!  I find it so hard to get good trousers anyway, but if you're lucky to find comfy (& good looking) maternity trousers/jeans, I recommend you hang onto them!  I favour the over bump elasticated panel, supportive, comfy and no revealing gaps!  In summer they are a little warm though! I have some from H&M, some from Next and some early pregnancy ones from Mothercare - which have a small elasticated waistband, which also come in handy AFTER delivery when you still can't fit in your normal jeans!

This time round I've bought all my tops from eBay, nothing fancy, just basic t-shirts mainly for a few pounds each and it's meant I've had more variation this time round rather than spending a lot of money on a couple of new tops.

 

I did have good intentions of making several tops, but in the end only got round to one (above)!  Mostly from reticence over spending money on good fabric when I'm not very experienced in dress-making for myself.

The one I did attempt was the Mariposa tunic from Anna Maria Horners' fab book 'Handmade Beginnings'.

I got 4m of Amy Butler fabric (Love collection: Memento in Midnight) from the Sewing with Pleasure show in March and it took me until the summer to have the confidence to cut into it!

I found the instructions very wordy and almost with too much information for me, I think I like more diagrams as I tend to be a bit slapdash and if I know how the garment goes together, I'll usually fudge it together!

So once I actually got down to it and figured out how the pieces were meant to join I just got on an sewed!  Not very neatly but I had fun!  I used the large size being a busty 14/16 up top and a scant seam allowance (rather than getting into re-sizing the pattern) and hoped it would fit.

And actually I'm really happy with it!  If you undo the ties it has a front modesty panel to enable you to breastfeed and I hope to wear it as a normal top afterwards anyway (with a bit of taking in?!)

I'm also considering making the longer dress version in a lighter fabric to wear over jeans in the winter. 

So I've been trying to buy as much stuff second-hand as possible, which means some enjoyable rummaging in charity shops & car boots and browsing eBay!

All the baby's clothes are second-hand, they wear them for such a short amount of time, it's criminal the price of buying new.  Also, not knowing what sex the baby is most items I've bought are neutral/white and I'd rather save my money to get colour appropriate outfits when it's bigger.

Next big purchase - the pram!  For my daughters I had a Graco travel system which had a very useful system of quickly moving the car seat from the pram to the car with no fiddling with seat belts.  The downside being it was heavy and bulky. At about 4 months I moved to the much loved Mclaren Quest buggy, which was a revolution and I'd recommend it wholeheartedly.

So knowing that I only needed a pram for the first few months (as I still have my battered Mclaren in standby) I knew I wouldn't waste money on a new pram, it was definitely going to be second-hand and there are loads at boot fairs/eBay or local noticeboards when you start looking!

Now I was going to just get a cheap Graco again but then I thought about getting a more robust all-terrain type as the one thing the Mclaren doesn't handle very well is off-road walking.  Now we don't do a lot of hiking or anything but we do go for days out, to gardens, fairs, forests, parks and I thought it might be useful to also have a buggy that could handle these.

So I spent some time keeping an eye out on local pram/travel system auctions on Ebay (I love Saved Searches, my current one is for a bike trailer!) and eventually won a Jane Powertrack 360 for the princely sum of £10! It was a bit further away than I wanted but for the price I was very happy!

It was in a bit of a state and needed a good scrub but it came with the carrycot and car-seat parts.  I spent an extra £30 on accessories - a rain cover, a pram mattress and the actual adapters to hold the carrycot (again from eBay) and then spent a lot of elbow grease getting the mud off the frame and bleaching out the mildew from some of the fabric parts (all thoroughly rinsed off after, I found normal stain cleaners rubbish but normal bleach did the trick).

It is rather bulky with the carrycot on but I wanted this so that in the mornings for the school run I didn't have to worry about straps and waking the baby up in the usual scramble!  The car seat also clips on quickly when going out and about and when it's a bit older the fabric seat will get put on and it'll be an off-roader!

I did treat myself to some pads for the car seat as it didn't have any from Kryshees shop on Folksy, as she had some fab fabric, these were made and posted really quick and make the car seat look much newer!

Next big purchase - the cot!  Can you guess? Yes eBay again!  Another local search, this time I needed to be a bit fussy as I wanted the standard size cot so that my saved sheets would fit!  After watching and waiting for awhile, I found this fabulous one, which I think originally came from JoJoMaman Bebe and has the option of being used three sided against your bed, for the fabulous price of £31.

This meant I didn't feel so bad about the extortionate price for the mattress - £99 from Mothercare - I went for the same type as I've had before as it has a removeable zip off cover which I found very handy when you have a sicky baby or leaky nappies in the middle of the night!  I've also saved the spare covers from before which should be handy.

Had a bit of a panic with the matress as they delivered the wrong one - it was a cot bed size but they were very apologetic at customer services and sent out the correct one the very next day. Being 38 weeks pregnant at the time, I was convinced the baby would come before it did, like sods law, thankfully not though!

So eBay has been my salvation with this baby and helped us spend as little money as possible because frankly there's not much left over every month to afford the type of offerings in the Mothercare catalogue!  I do hope most new parents don't get sucked into the over-priced 'must haves' that they offer, the 'helpful' shopping list they provide at the back of the catalogue must be a real money spinner!  Don't even get me started on the designer prams!

The other source I've found for new items on a budget is Ikea, bit of a drive for us to get to, but when you're getting a lot of items I think it makes the petrol cost worthwhile.

Their baby range is really lovely and affordable and has all the basics.  I was going to get the cot and mattress from there if I couldn't find a suitable secondhand one, as they had a good one for only £60, there is a cheaper one still but not as sturdy looking.

So on a recent trip I got a bundle of their cheap white hand towels - 19p each! These can be used as muslins, for changing the baby on, or as I'm hoping to make bibs with!

Muslins, why are these so expensive? I got this three pack for £2.99 as I liked the colours. I've already got a bundle off eBay, and being pre-used their much softer - these Ikea ones are huge though, so I may even cut them in half them to get more for my money.  If you have babies who like to sick up/dribble out a lot of their bottlefeeds, you'll want a load of these!

Baby flannels/washcloths £2.99 for 10, these again can be useful for lots of things, burb cloths, flannels for bath time or meal times, keeping in the change bag for spills, as muslins, I did look into making your own baby wipes, which these might be good for? 

And lastly, bibs, if you're bottlefeeding, again you'll want a load of these and as a staple they seem to be rather expensive in the high street, these pack of 5 were only £1.99! Bargain, I nearly bought more, but am really going to try and make some of my own, probably using these as a template!

So with 6 days to go, I think I'm set!  The time really flies with subsequent babies, there's no time to sit and relax and ponder like when it's your first!  And trying to complete the rush of the school run while heavily pregnant and with a painful pelvis, well, they don't talk about that in the pregnancy books! 

Super Shopping Day

Today I've been up to the NEC, to the ICHF 'Sewing for Pleasure', 'Fashion, Stitch & Embroidery' & 'Hobbycrafts' event.

Had to speedily get the day off work in the end as I was supposed to go on Sunday but then had no one to look after the kids and as we all know, shopping plus kids is a recipe for a hard day!

So I set off after the school run and had an easy drive up the M40, hooray for sunshine and a CD changer full of sing-a-long tunes!

I thought the advance ticket price of £9 was reasonable but then of course you then have to pay £8 for the parking! Thanks NEC but I don't think it's entirely justified.

The venue was halls 11 +12 which is sort of round the back, at the end and they're not the best halls, as there were about two toilet places and two areas for food, so with a lot of old ladies, these were both oversubscribed! 

My tip is to get your hand stamped and go out into the atrium, where there are more toilets/refreshments and quieter places to sit down! 

As always take your own lunch to avoid over-priced rubbish and take advantage of the cloakroom facilities for large shopping purchases!

So the halls are split into the three events, with lots of sewing exhibition pieces to look at and lots of shopping stalls!  I was organised this year, I had a list of what I wanted/needed and measurements!  Last year at the Festival of Quilts I was overwhelmed by the volume and choice of fabric and didn't buy much as I wasn't sure what I could justify!

The first stall I clapped eyes on was 'The Eternal Maker' and I was so happy as this is my favourite stall at all the sewing shows. With their selection of fabric, buttons and giant ric-rac it's impossible not to buy anything from them, they are also supremely lovely and helpful if you have a chat. 

I went for a lovely ladybird print (I've been looking for a good ladybird print for ages, as a bag lining, hopefully I'll get to reveal the finished article sometime now!)

and some lovely giant ric-rac, I could have chosen a metre from all the colours but went for the pink as it'll go with one of my other purchases....

They are also now doing SUPER giant ric-rac which is even bigger, which you must see!

Then I found 'Fabulous Fabric' which had some great prices, I spotted this needlecord at £8 a metre and knew it would be perfect for the reversible 'Sew Hip' childs cover dress.  If it gets the nod of approval from my youngest of course!  Should go with the ric-rac?!

Speaking of Sew Hip, they had a stand around the corner, with the new issue on sale (I got mine on Thursday as a subscriber but still haven't had a chance to sit down and properly read it!)

I believe this is Ruth Singer's re-fashion dress from the last issue, which was lovely.

I then found a lovely stall by Dandelion Designs, which had lovely felt & notions, patterns and kits, I chose this doggy kit, which as it looks quite Christmassy should give me time to make it!

Tucked away in the top left of hall 12 was the Fashion Stitch Challenge, which had designers (Charlotte Liddle & Rachel Henderson) re-fashioning and customizing clothes against the clock in front of an audience.  This was a great idea and you got to see them working close-up with the help of the cameras/tv screen. 

Here's the reveal, a jumper made into a bolero/shrug and a dress embellished with fabric flowers, the audience gets to vote on their favourite and the winner appears in the catwalk show in the Fashion area. For this one the bolero won.

Next to this was the truly amazing 'Above & Below the Waves' installation.  You have to see this to believe it, it's a coastal themed knitted display, which you actually walk through like a sea-life centre!  Everything is knitted, from the fish, to the sand and the amount of man hours put into it must be phenomenal and I hope it raises a lot of money for the RNLI.

In the fashion hall was a wonderful exhibition by Ollivier Henry, who is an embroiderer, teacher and costume designer, the detail on these were fantastic.

Hurrah for Clothkits, their designs are so timeless. I've been meaning to get one for ages and I have finally manged to choose a dress for my youngest (I seem to have bought a lot for my four year old, it's harder to find things for older kids isn't it?)

 I shall unwrap this tomorrow and investigate, but I am assured it's very easy!

Now for some Amy Butler love...

 I've finally found a fabric I love enough to try the Anna Maria Horner Mariposa tunic from her Handmade Beginnings book.  It suggests using her cotton voile but after finally finding some today, I found it a little too thin for me, it is lovely and soft though!

So I found this Amy Butler Love:Heart print at Doughty's for £10 a metre and I knew it was the one, it's good when that happen's isn't it, you're not sure what it is you're after but when you find it, you know!  Now I just need some confidence to cut it!

I also managed to find all the magazines I wanted, Homespun & Cloth are both new to me, so am looking forward to a lazy weekend of magazine reading!

Well, I spent too much and my feet ache, but it was a good day, if you are going this weekend, it's on until Sunday, word of warning avoid the Hobbycrafts section unless you like making you're own naff cards and beware of shopping trolleys, the curse of the old ladies!