A few goodies

Didn't buy much at Sandown quilt show today - it's a small show, and I haven't been quilting much lately, so I don't really need to top up my stash at all. I bought three pieces of novelty fabric which were in a sale bin and one pack of fat quarters with a purple theme, which I thought were really pretty. I also bought this pattern to make a Bubble Pod and two FQs to make it up for Sarah (she chose the FQs for that).

She bought a purse/bag (very small like a purse - just big enough for phone, keys, card - but on a long strap - good for going out), I bought a cool shirt and a necklace as well, but they aren't quilting related!

Successful shopping...

Today I went to the Quilter's Sale & Quilt Show at Farnham Maltings - I go every January, as there are quite a few vendors there getting rid of older stock for somewhat bargain prices (anything from £3/metre to the more common £5 or £6 and up).  It's an excellent place to get backings for quilts, without quite so much cash outlay. I went with a list of all the quilt tops I currently own which don't have paired backings (except one older, really big one, which I'm not really interested in finishing up any time soon). There were 10 on the list. I came back with suitable backings for all of them. A good start to the quilting year. Hopefully that will bode well for the year!

Here they all are, paired up with the tops. The one above is small quilt/baby quilt sized. 

This one of course didn't come out well, colourwise, being purple. It's more warm in tone. The quilt is scrappy, but I think the background is a good match.

Baby quilt size with hand-dyes; the batik backing will suit very well. 

This is quite a small quilt, what's show is a quarter, and I bought the bolt end of this fabric, so I'll have some leftover to do other things with.

This one doesn't show well - it's a taupe colour with small blue dots. 

As the quilt top looks quite "stained glass" I thought the  back suited it well.

This one is African fabrics on the top - the backing is black and brown and isn't African, but has a similar sort of feel to it.

These squares are of hand-dyed fabrics, with some signature squares, from a swap with group I used to belong to. I wanted something with an interesting colour tone for the background, but not handdyes...

This has a lot of Hawaiian shirt fabric in it, along with strong tonal colours; the backing is pretty in-your-face but it seemed quite Hawaiian in some ways.

A nice strong brown to go with these autumnal prints; the colours are actually quite tricky. I was hoping for something in the olive green tone, but couldn't find anything suitable. The brown is very pretty, though.

And finally, this doesn't go with any of my quilts, but it was very inexpensive and will make a nice addition to my Project Linus stash.

A few bits and pieces

We had a trip down to Ikea yesterday to pick up a much needed mattress for one of the kids' beds; the closest Hobbycraft is right down the road, so I had a quick stop to stock up on paper flowers and a few other bits and pieces...

A little fabric in

...but only a little. These two charm packs are all that I bought at the quilt show yesterday - just done so little sewing lately I wasn't that inspired by fabric. These packs were both from New Threads, my friend Meg's shop (which reminds me, there was an excellent fabric with a Venetian scene which I did want to pick up as well), and I spent quite a while - in the quiet moments - catching up with her. A definite plus of the show!

Fabric shopping...

Today my cousin and I spent a couple of hours shopping around Vero Beach, mostly consignment shops and thrift stores, used book stores, etc, but we also ducked into a quilt shop I happened to spot along the way, and I picked up a little fabric. (The Dragonfly Quilt Shop)

"Shopping" the PL stash

On Monday afternoon, I took a big load of quilt tops  which have been hanging out in my house to Liz, my local co-ordinator for Project Linus. She sent me away again with these prints, good for borders (or who knows, perhaps something else) for more Linus quilts for future. I love not having to spend money on fabric (but still coming away with fabric!)

A trip to Farnham Maltings

Almost didn't make my annual trek to the quilter's show and fabric sale in Farnham this year - I just drove to and from Brighton yesterday, I am at the end of a rubbish cold and my friend who I often go with couldn't go this year. But I decided to do it anyway as I really needed backing fabric for a couple of quilts - and I'm glad I did. I picked up backing for the two t-shirt quilts (the stripes at bottom right), for a wedding quilt for later in the year (the elephants) and for a baby quilt I need to do soon (the flamingos). Also picked up a couple of yards of cheap cute fabric for Project Linus, some fat quarters (the spots will be binding for the t-shirt quilts) and a fun half metre piece with a major league baseball theme. Think I might make a cushion from that. Success all around!

PAT Swap Returns, part two

These are the other cards I got in the recent Pick-a-Theme Swap which I showed some from last week. My theme for this group - you may have worked this out - was trees.

A nice selection of tree cards!

Transit of Mercury (not my work)

So, here's the quilt I received myself in the recent swap which I organised (Another Little Quilt Swap 10). It was made by the lovely Andrea in Australia, who has played in a number of rounds of the swap, and I'm very happy with it.  Tomorrow, I'll dig out a photo of the quilt which I made for the swap...

More goodies in

...but this time, I didn't buy any of them. This is the contents of a box of fabric that my friend Sharon sent me, from her destashing - these are prints which might be particularly useful for all the Linus quilt tops I make. I'm always happy to have free fabric...

Goodies!

No trip to the US would be complete without a visit to Michael's and/or A C Moore in order to pick up bits and pieces, so of course, we made sure to do that. I think I was very restrained (and most of that washi tape was on sale for $1 a roll!)

Quick Quilt Shop Visit

A quick trip to the quilt shop yesterday as I needed to get something to bind the Christmas Tree Skirt with - this lovely dark red with lighter red in it seemed ideal.  It was all I bought in the quilt shop - I must be getting restrained in my old age.

A visit to the quilt show

Spend a few hours at the Quilt Championships at Sandown - it's not actually a big show, despite the name, but it is only 15 minutes from my house, so I always like to go.  I bought a few things, of course - some fat quarters which I liked for one reason or another, 

a pack of 10" squares in fun metallic prints, 

a couple of charm packs  - all from New Threads Quilt Shop, my friend Meg's quilt shop. 

Also picked up some novelty FQs on sale

and some inexpensive fun fabrics for borders for Linus quilts, etc. Not quite as cheap as the sale at Farnham Maltings in January, but still pretty good prices for UK shops...

Goodies in

A little order from Hobbycraft UK - mainly I wanted some more of those tiny letters, which I use all the time in my ATCs, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see what other fun goodies were in stock, could I?

Fabric in

In this haberdashery in Lund (Sweden) I found a small selection of quilting fabric, and picked up a few pieces - imported from The Netherlands, so not inexpensive, but it's nice to have fabric bought from places you've visited...

Whole lotta letters

Something a little different - a huge load of letters, received in the post. A friend of mine who does a lot of scrapbooking/canvases/cards/layouts, including design team work for several organisations, was having a clearout, and I jumped at the chance to give these a home. Some of them may end up being a little large for the kind of thing I normally do (ATCs and other small works) but as I tend to use single, often small, words, I think most of it will come in very handy. 

Fabric in - the rest of the haul

A few (!) more bits of fabric in, from the Farnham Maltings show - two of these, possibly three are bindings for  quilts which have already been quilted or which are soon to be quilted. The purple spots is a backing for a top which already exists, and the blue and brown polka dots with birds is a "just because" fabric - it was very inexpensive.

This is two packs of FQs in a coordinated range, which I thought would be good for baby quilts, 

and finally, some bits and pieces from the bargin bin - the FQs are just because, including some nice novelties to use in Linus quilts, and the two Dr Who fabrics will become a cushion cover for an upcoming birthday.

Fabric in - Part 2

More fabric acquired at Farnham Maltings, but once again, for a specific project. This one is going to be a Christmas tree skirt. I really liked the deer fabric, so decided to make it a focus and make very simple, quite large blocks on this one. Probably just large, bordered squares. But we'll see.

Fabric in...part 1

Went to Farnham Maltings yesterday, home of the annual quilt show by Farnham Quilters (and others) and The Big Fabric Sale.  There are lots of bargains (by UK standards at least) to be had, and it's often where I pick up backings for quilts, or cheap prints to use as borders for Linus Quilts. Sometimes I also have specific other things to buy.  This time, I was on the hunt for something suitable for a baby quilt for friend - nothing I have made up already is quite right, so my task was to hunt for a focus print and some coordinates...and here they are - more fabric than I will need for the quilt itself, but the tonals will be very useful in stash. Now I just need to make and quilt it (I have a few months, so it's not a problem). 

Pink Panther and mini quilt

A bloggy friend of mine in the US was showing this fabric on Facebook a while back and I admired it - she offered to pick some up for me (it was very inexpensive) and send it to my mother's house in the US - an offer which I took up gladly. However, as my mother wasn't visiting me until Christmas, I didn't get the fabric right away - when I did get the envelope and open it up, to my surprise I also found this lovely little mini quilt inside!

Isn't it sweet?  And aren't (as I've said before and no doubt will say again) bloggy people really nice?