Yarndale!

Posted on 29 September, 2013 by patchworkfairy

We went to Yarndale! Actually we nearly didn’t! Having arrived at the entrance around 1pm we were waved away by police blocking the road! I was horrified and stuttered – ‘but we’ve come to yarndale…’ – this only evoked a shrug and the words ‘it’s full’ !!!! We had driven for 2 hours, been stuck in traffic jams and really wanted a coffee by now, and as I continued to stare at the policewoman in a daze of disbelief, she added we should ‘try again’ in half an hour or park in the town.

Well not being from around there we weren’t quite sure which way to go! OH drove off down a road with me nearly in tears – how could it be full? It was advertised as parking for 1000 cars so I hadn’t thought there would be any problem. But alas no woolly welcome waited for us and so off we went, parked in a layby, looked at the map and decided to head back towards Skipton. The sat nav lady took us past the entrance again and now there was no block! It was only 20 mins later but we were allowed in! There was no queue inside and we found somewhere to park fairly easily so I am still mystified as to why we were kept out beforehand!

So all ended well – we had a half hour wait for the café but the food was good and plenty of room to sit down and eat. Feeling much better I set off to explore the woolly wonders ahead while OH retreated to the car to ‘read’ (sleep), leaving me in peace to wander, sniffing the woolly aroma and stroking the woolly goodies everywhere!

Red Crochet Bowl from Hooplayarn

The place was heaving with serious Yarn addicts and in some cases their bored OHs but I managed to see all I wanted to see and chat to some stallholders as well! I bought quite a bit of woolly rovings for my felting, some ‘not quite fat quarters’ for my quilting, which at £1.95 were very good value, and a big cone of Hooplayarn from The Chunky Hooker! I am now hooked on hooking with Hooplayarn! It’s really easy and very gratifying as it grows very fast. Here is my half finished first attempt at a crochet bowl! I chose the red so that I could make some xmas items for my stall at the 02! Surprisingly (to me) they said the most popular colour was cerise pink!

It would have been lovely to have met up with craft bloggers at the event but I didn’t know anyone else who was going and didn’t have time to linger in the knit and natter area. Maybe next time..? Now though I am going to meet up with some lovely bloggers in the online world of Handmade Harbour! See you there?

Website Shop Page and Round the World Quilt Making!

Posted on 22 September, 2013 by patchworkfairy

Well what a week! My site has been ‘down for maintenance’ since last Sunday whilst I uploaded my products to my website shop page and sorted out the legal text you have to have about Distance Selling Regulations! It’s not that onerous a task but it sort of takes over and it does become tiring and long drawn out as I can’t spend too long on the laptop without too much pain. Anyway it’s now up and running thanks to Jon at Brill Skills!

Whilst uploading images and text for the shop I have also been making things for my stock. I really miss making things if I leave it too long! I have been wanting to do a ‘trip around the world’ quilt for ages after seeing pictures of them on pinterest. So here is my first attempt – it’s not sewn up completely, this is just the 4 panels which form the ’round the world quilt’ pattern. It’s a very easy quilt top to do as long as you are very careful when sewing the strips together! unpicking half a block is no fun at all – how do I know that? 😉

coloured squares in round pattern making a quilt top

Trip Around the World Quilt Top

And here are 4 panels with applique in the lovely red gingham and pink and cream roses fabric left over from my Abakhan project. Fabric was courtesy of Will Abakhan and hopefully you will soon see some of my project work on the Abakhan website!

4 blocks with different patterns

So that’s about it – I did also start on a doorstop using a pattern from a craft magazine but that isn’t quite finished either! Maybe I should just actually complete one thing before starting the next? But where’s the fun in that eh? 🙂

Hope you are all enjoying the amazing mini summer! I’m afraid I’m a killjoy here – I have had enough of it and want to get my leggings, boots and winter dresses out! Anyway I’m off over to Handmade Harbour as usual now – see you over there?

Sewing for the xmas market!

Posted on 8 September, 2013 by patchworkfairy

No more lolling in reflection this week! I am on a countdown to the Handmade Christmas at the 02 and have to increase my stock dramatically! So I’ve tried to get up early and get some morning sewing in before I get too tired. Trouble is I want to try out all my ideas but designing and making prototypes is very time consuming although very interesting!

So here’s what I managed:

Owl pouch

I though this would be a nice little pouch for a child’s reading book or for a kindle?

small fox bag

This one is a small shoulder bag -it has orange spot fabric inside!

And these are healing hearts! – Each is stuffed with soft filling and includes essential oils so they smell lovely. I am going to attach some of the red string I think, but I am not sure. The idea is that they would be a nice gift instead of, or as well as a card for an unwell person. They are all Reiki blessed as well as I am a Reiki Master. What do you think? Are there too many stuffed hearts on the market all ready?

Now over to Handmade Monday for the usual weekly read and see what everyone else is making!

Reflective perspectives

Posted on 1 September, 2013 by patchworkfairy

It’s that time of year again which makes me feel reflective. The smell of overblown summer flowers coupled with the keen edge of autumn always brings on a mixture of sadness and anticipation as I realise that summer is over (or, as has been the case in recent years, never going to happen!), and that prickling sense of excitement that accompanies the ‘new pencils’ feeling at the start of the new term. Not that I am actually starting a new term anymore and the ‘children’ are all way past that too but the feelings I get around this time of year have never left me. Funnily enough after never having those sorts of feelings my OH is now working at a school, a completely different way of earning a living and is embroiled in the terminology that goes with school life! Today having just returned from our last few days away he is sorting out his ‘school bag’, his snacks and his ‘uniform’, all ready for tomorrow.

However for me, now with my arthritis, chronic pain condition in the cervical spine, dodgy knee, fibromyalgia, pernicious anaemia and hashimoto’s thyroiditis there is not even the ‘back to work’ feeling which used to happen after our annual holiday and every Sunday night of the year as well! But at the moment I don’t miss those particular feelings and I am enjoying doing my sewing, knitting, crochet and felting and planning for a future when I can increase my production, sell things more regularly and perhaps make a real living out of these arts. Also I know that at 9 o’clock tomorrow I may still be in bed or I could be in a sunny craft room dreaming and designing with a coffee and a bagel, or I could be sitting in the garden with a cup of tea, so despite all the things which have happened in the last two years, today, and every forthcoming Sunday night I will feel quite lucky! So I leave you with a picture of me yesterday in sunny Shropshire and go over to Handmade Monday to see what other folks have been doing! Cheers!

Drinking coffee in Coalport!