Fabric Shopping at Shan's

Friday 20th of January I saw Jenn in the morninig

for a cup of tea before she jets away on holiday!

And then took myself off to Shan's

in Hunstanton because I needed to buy

particular types of silks and trimmings for the

next makes.

The shop always looks so interesting and full.

I gave myself the chance to really browse in every

little corner as you never know what treasures you

find and whats new.

Lola, Shan's rather large dog was as friendly as ever and

got out of bed when I asked how she was.

Apparently she had been a bit off colour with the weather

but seemed fine!

Shan will be launching her website soon so that

will be grrat to keep up with her new stock.

Shopping With Jenn

Jenn moved out last week end to be a live in Personal Assistant

at a Bed and Breakfast, as well as keeping her day job!

Visit the Bed and Breakfast at Oxbrough.

HERE

We now make Saturday

mornings as our Shopping and time to catch up with one another.

Above, are some of the pieces that I brought to

continue my Architectural piece and work that I want to

start after Christmas.

Ely Beads

On the way home from St Ives I called into Ely

and went into my favourite shops. I have a soft

spot for Ely because it is where I trained as a nurse

and I met and courted my husband there.

I first went into Ely Beads.

I love this bead shop it's like being in a sweet shop!

I collected together a mixed bag of beads ready to add

to my new piece of work based on Architecture and decay

of buildings.

The orange bead is for another fun 3D piece

I have in mind!!!

I love their inspiration wall in the Beading Workshop Area.

Vist their yummy site

www.elybeads.com

I also went to Ely Bike Centre which has

one of the largest haberdashery and fabric

selection in the area.

I am needing sheers, satins and lace for my

new work.

Visit the shop

www.elybikecentre.com

Fabric Shopping at Shan's

Friday afternoon Stewart had the afternoon off so

we decided to go to Shan's at Hunstanton to

buy fabric for a commission for Will.

Will wants a quilt with colours yellow to green

and red to browns.

Shan's was as busy as ever as we arrived and

Stewart and I set about gathering the bolts for

the quilt. (You can see our choice above).

I think it will make a really good quilt.

Stewart HELPED! Shan with cutting

the wadding, notice I put HELPED in

capitals as they both decided to have fun

wafting and waving it up and down while

I was trying to work out how much I would

need for two quilts with it's width measurements.

Some people do anything for attention!!

I then chose some purple fabrics for myself for

a new project.

We left with a giggle as Shan had recounted

some of her funny stories of being a

fabric shop owner and I took a photo

as she was selling elastic to an

Italian gentleman.

It always amazes me how much fabric

and haberdashery items Shan gets in

her Hut!

Shan's website will be live shortly at

the end of August.

www.shansfabrics.co.uk

Knit Wits Window Display

From September as some of you know, I will be teaching

Patchwork and Quilting Classes at

Knit Wits in Dereham on a Thursday.

(I will still be teaching Mixed Media Textiles,

on a Tuesday @The Gallery).

At the moment there are different quilts of mine going in the window

adding to the colour theme and items but to advertise

the new fabric department and

the classes for people to sign up to.

So for the next couple of weeks my stat quilt and

red bag will be in the window.

Of course, I had to go downstairs and sample some of

the fabrics and I am making items from

these choices to go in the window.

A great excuse to experiment and try new combinations!

Do I need an excuse these days!

Visit Knit Wits for more information or go to their

website

www.knitwitsdereham.co.uk

Fabric Shopping

Before a lunch time appointment I got to go fabric shopping!

Of course I went to Sian's Scout Hut

in Hunstanton.

The bunting outside looks great by the way!

Shan introduced me to her daughter Claire and the

shop will now be open on a Monday 10am-2pm,

by Shan's other daughter Jo.

(It's open now Monday to Saturday).

There was a Fabric salesman there

with all his samples and it was lovely

to see how Shan thought of her customers and

really chose the fabric for them and not what

he was persuading her to buy!

As you can see by The Scout Hut

it is an Aladdin's Cave!

As usual it was wonderful, wandering round and

discovering things, loads of new fabric and bargains!

I was there to buy Blues and Greens for a commission.

A quilt for Jack.

As you can see I found all I needed and could have brought more

and stayed longer if I hadn't had to move on.

See more of my Quilts on

my website

www.art2inspire.co.uk

Fat Quarters

These are the fat quarters I was brought for Alveva Quilters

fabric box. We also have them as our raffle prizes so the box

needs regular stocking up.

Stewart helped me choose them from the different

fat quarter tubs around the hut.

It has to be a mixture so there is something for

everyone's taste.

So what is a fat quarter?

The best way to explain this is, you take a metre

or yard of fabric and when you divide it normally into the

four divisions across, these would be "long quarters'.

They are 25 cms wide by how ever long the fabric is

but when you cut the yard or metre in half

and then halve it fat ways you have four large rectangles or

what Quilters call "Fat Quarters".

See what I do with my fabrics on my website

www.art2inspire.co.uk

Fabric Shopping

OOooo, every quilter loves to go fabric shopping,

especially when it is for someone else!

Chilford Quilt Exhibition was on at Linton

near Cambridge but I decided to go to

Shan's at The Scout Hut in Hunstanton.

This is just part of one wall of fabric!!

So much choice you always find something to

match or get started on.