Fabric-a-licious Friday

So here we are again - it's Friday, so I thought I'd have a little browse amongst a couple of my favourite online fabric shops.  Today it has been Tikki and The Eternal Maker.  I dropped into another couple of favourites, M is for Make and Fabric Rehab, but will save those for next week, as I don't want to bamboozle you with too much in one go!

Tikki have a great selection of sewing and haberdashery themed fabrics at the moment, all with a vintage or retro feel.  

The vintage workshop sewing labels fabric

Vintage workshop sewing labels fabric Amy Barickman 

Vintage sewing notions, haberdashery design quilt fabric  

Make Do and Mend text lettering sewing quilt fabric 

The Eternal Maker have some cute, patriotic Hello Kitty fabric.  I am rather tempted by this,  though it is not my usual thing.  

 

hello kitty in the uk - sanrio for kokka japan

Having dithered over whether or not I liked and would buy some of Liberty's Hello Kitty fabric last year...

...only to decide to buy some and find it had sold out, and could only be bought at exorbitant prices on ebay, I might just HAVE to get a fat quarter or two!

Also there are some beautiful Japanese double gauzes.  I have never had any of this type of fabric and feel a spot of experimentation might be in order...

But which should I choose?

little letters - blue cream - double gauze - nani iro by naomi ito for kokka japan

Or...

peaceful cooing - grey - double gauze - nani iro by naomi ito for kokka japan

This print is adorable, so reminiscent of faded Durham quilts...

pink tiny floral - durham collection by brenda riddle - lecien japan

And then this collection from Moda looks lovely. The Eternal Maker have layer cakes, charm squares and jelly rolls...

petite odile - jelly roll - french general for moda

Here is the complete range...

frenchgeneral.blogspot.co.uk

Pay-day today...I wonder if I'll be able to resist?

Vintage at Milestones

7.30 am Sunday 24th June 2012, all was quiet in the streets, ginells and yards at 'Milestones' Museum, Basingstoke...

A number of strategically placed trestle tables hinted at the day that was to come...

Very soon the place was alive with sellers setting out their wares...

 Miss U-t-B and I busied ourselves next to the tram...

...and then passed a pleasant day, chatting with fellow stall holders and visitors.  It was a great setting and we had a most enjoyable day!

'Milestones' is a great museum, with so many little memory joggers...

...great room sets...

...and time-warp moments...

 It was a fabulous setting for a vintage fair, brought alive with music from a male quartet and dancing by a group of lindy-hoppers.

Such a shame I am incapable of taking a decent photo!

I blame a) Mr U-t-B for walking off with my camera

 and

b) my phone, for taking rubbish photos!

Spot the link

What do these three have in common...

Ben Nevis

Scafell Pike

Mount Snowdon

Answer:  they were all climbed by my intrepid sister this weekend, in 27hours, during some of the most horrible weather, to raise money for charity.

Well done, Stephanie!

I am in awe!

A very special birthday present

First of all, thanks for the nice comments on my last post (when I was thinking of shuffling off) and a big welcome to new followers.  I think there is something in the air at the moment (rain perhaps?), as others out there in blogland seem to be feeling similar.  Anyway, as I said, I do like blogging as a record of events, and this week or so has been jam packed with things to note down for posterity!

If you've been reading this blog a while, you may remember that this time last year, a very special delivery was made, just ahead of Father's Day...

Sophia!

Thus it was that last Sunday (a day ahead of the actual anniversary) we found ourselves at a very lovely 'Fairies and Bugs' tea party to celebrate a first birthday!  The food Mags and Ewa had prepared was as pretty as a picture (so I took several!)

Mummy, Daddy and Baby were suitably attired...

As was Miss U-t-B...

...who also tried to echo the mood of magic and mystery by practising the skills of hypnosis and levitation...

Nearly there...

Success!

 Sophia liked her CK rag doll and the bed I'd painted and made bedding for...

...though her Mummy probably liked it better!

Only one thing took a teeny weeny edge off the afternoon - the fact that two close family members were absent.  However this was for the best of reasons!  For the second year on the trot, it looked like Mr U-t-B would have a new grandchild on Father's Day!  In the end the new arrival took a leisurely pace into the world, and instead arrived on Sophia's birthday!

No photos with Mummy and Daddy yet, but here's a very proud and happy aunt...

The new arrival is called...

So now you can see what all the boy fabric was for!

 BIG congratulations to the clever parents! 

Welcome to the world little man - may your days be filled with happiness, love and laughter! 

Fabric-a-licious Friday

You may have noticed that I have been struggling to get round to posting anything much on my blog recently.    

I do like my little space on the blogosphere, but don't seem to have anything much to say these days!

I have even been thinking that maybe I should just shuffle quietly away, but this seemed a little drastic as I do like the 'journal' aspect of blogging, a record of fun times and things I've enjoyed doing.  

So I thought that maybe if I could think of some regular-type posts I could do, I wouldn't be hanging around waiting for the children at school to come up with something amusing to write about, or to finish some project in order to do a 'ta-dah' post.

And so it was that with a package of fabric arriving nice and alliteratively today, on a Friday, I thought I would share its contents, and maybe I will use Fridays as a sort of treasury day, to record gorgeous fabrics I have found (Though I won't always be buying them.  That would be a rather expensive habit to get into!)

So here is what I purchased for an upcoming project.  I won't tell you what these will be turned into yet (I think I know, but I am in a dithery mood, as, indeed, is the person for whom this project is being made), but will show the result once complete.

All of these were bought online from 'The Eternal Maker', which has a HUGE selection of covetable fabrics. And I've even been so kind as to put links to each fabric's page, in case you are tempted!

Ordered (effectively) on Wednesday, they arrived today.

Pretty good!

buses, trucks & cars fabric £2.50 per 1/4m

robots - trefle - linen blend fabric from kokka £4.50 per 1/4m

Okay, it's pricey, but the quality and sweet design are great!

space cream - circa 52 - monaluna - birch organic fabrics £4.00

I chose this for the design, without noticing the 'organic' price.  Lovely, but I'd prefer another of the Kokka linen blends if spending that much...

pirate pups - monkey's bizness - alexander henry fabrics £3.00 per 1/4 m

I love the stories in each of the motifs of this one.  I might have to buy more for a bigger project.  And it has this cute co-ordinated fabric...

pirate flags - monkey's bizness - alexander henry fabrics

animal trains by cosmo tex

I am a sucker for cute selvedges, so I wish I'd bought more of this one!

animal trains by cosmo tex

I needed a solid for my project and this one is great...

moda cross weave - storm £3.00

It was awfully hard for me to stop there.  I was especially keen to acquire these...

gone fishin' - storyboek fq bundle by jay-cyn for birch fabrics

Lovely, but I wasn't really looking for nursery colours.

monsterz mint fq bundle - michele brummer everett for cloud 9 fabrics

Cute, but I wanted to mix-and-match myself, rather than buying a co-ordinated bundle.

chasing airplanes - sarah jane for michael miller fabrics

I just forgot to put this one on my order! Oh dear, maybe next time!

Have a fab weekend - hope this storm doesn't turn out as bad as they seem to be suggesting...