Fat Quarterly Retreat 2012

Next weekend I shall be getting on a train (all by myself - no small people needing a wee or a drink or a piece of Lego fixing/dismantling or whatever) and going to London to attend the first ever Fat Quarterly Retreat.
 I am stupidly excited, and equally nervous. I spend so much time playing shops and looking after my 4 boys that my online presence is a bit erratic , (you can see how brilliant I am at blogging from all the recent update) but I am really looking forward to meeting lots of people who I have met online over the past few years.
 I still need to make myself a name badge....I may or may not find the time this week to make myself one, but if not I'll be the person wearing a sticker that says Claire (cos thats my name) who looks like this....

Only my hair will probably be curly, and I won't be holding a birthday cake.....so I'll be the person who looks a bit like this!
I am only at the retreat for the Saturday, I need to get back for a family holiday on Sunday but will be in London from the Friday night, at the Strathmore Grange.....where I shall latch on to the first person who is nice to me! (not joking).
I'll be in Lu's portholes workshop on Saturday morning and John's wonky log cabin workshop on Saturday afternoon, my fabric is all ready, I shall try and sew my bestest, but as Katy will tell you, nobody is allowed to look at the back!!
See you all in 4 sleeps x

Charmed

I've been quite productive on the quilt front lately, well, productive by my standards in any case!
Last weekend I taught the first of our Charm Square workshops, we covered chain piecing and half square triangles and 8 ladies went home with either a small lap quilt or a jumbo floor cushion.
These are the ones I made for the shop - I was so wrapped up in the class that I totally forgot to pick up my camera!

Lap Quilt has pinwheels made with 1 Pezzy Print charm pack and approx 60cm and 50cm of Klona cottons in lime and crimson. It measures 40" square and would make a perfect baby play mat or picnic blanket.

The cushion was made with 1 Urban Cowgirl  charm pack and 30cm of Klona cotton in tan The binding is a Kaffe Fassett dot in Olive. It measures 24".

My next charm square attempt was probably the speediest start to hand-over project I've ever made..
On Good Friday I took 1 pack of Aneela Hoey's Walk in the Woods charm squares and some Walk in the Woods yardage for the sashing and border.
I pieced the charms simply as squares in blocks of 4, sashed with little red bows (about half a metre), the border is circle stripe in red and its bound with teeny mushrooms. I backed it with Klona in Ash and handed it over to my niece on Easter Sunday with only minor damage to my finger ends, and the loss of 2 and a half hours unpicking some really dodgy quilting. (matching the dodgy photography and the dodgy lighting, it was a dull bank holiday weekend here in Lowestoft!!)

Obviously you can make much bigger projects from the charms (Moda Bakeshop have lots of recipes for quilting projects) but I wanted to show that you can get a decent sized baby and toddler quilt for not many ££.
Our next Charm Square workshop is on Saturday 19th May, there are just 2 spaces left on the full day workshop, further info and bookings can be made by phoning the shop (01502 588778) or by emailing me (claire@patchfabrics.co.uk).

Inside....

 Inside Patch changes often. I am NEVER satisfied with how things look. But after almost a year there are parts I can honestly say, yes! this is why I wanted a shop....this is how it was supposed to look.......

Now in colour order...I glare at Leanne and Georgia to make sure they put them back in the correct place ;)

The growing collection of oilcloth is now stored on very nifty stands

buttons..I really didn't want one of those cage like stands to display them - in fact didn't want these tubes either but they work!!

plain cottons (Klona) - obviously there are more than this pic shows, I am adding to the plains with some non Klona plains in the search for the perfect Orange!!

lampshade (30cm size) in the 'workshop' window

other window

Lampshade Workshops

This week at Patch its been all about planning - planning changes to one of our rooms upstairs (more news on that later), planning the new website (ditto) and planning a new programme of workshops for April to June. This is a job that, although I love doing it, usually leave til the the last minute...not this time. I'm ahead of my game!!!

There has been a change to the March programme, the pyjama bottom workshop on 24th March has been cancelled, and in its place we will be running our 1st custom lampshade workshop.

It will run from 1 - 3.30pm and will cost £30 to make a 20cm diameter shade and £35 to make a 30cm diameter shade. All you need to bring is 30cm of fabric (light to medium weight works best)
Spaces are limited so early booking is advisable....we will also have April and June dates for this workshop too.
We are very excited about these sessions - it really is the most fun me and Leanne have ever had making these (perhaps we need to get out more!), and this no-sew workshop is suitable for absolutely anyone!
We are taking bookings now - either by email (claire@patchfabrics.co.uk) or by phoning or calling in the shop.

Kids Club

Yesterday saw the first of our monthly kids club...we say club but really each month is a stand alone session with a themed project, there is no membership so basically you just book a place. There is a £5 charge and that includes all materials.

This month we made felt hearts - much fun was had and new Barbie pillows were created. Not having pink flavoured children the whole barbies needing pillows thing was a very welcome blast from the past (although I was a Sindy girl - mum thought Barbie was a bit of a trollop and highly unsuitable!!), it was lovely to see that 30 years on the desire to provide home comforts for your favourite dolls hasn't changed (now feeling slightly sick to realise that i am old enough to say I did something 30 years ago *crys* )
Anyways, we all had a lovely time - even though neither myself or Leanne don't especially want to see a needle that needs to be threaded for a little while ;)

The next kids club sessions are on Saturday 25th February and Saturday 24th March, from 10am til 11.30.(we are taking bookings now you can email or phone or come in and see us!) 

Teapot Coasters for the RNLI

The Cragg Sisters tearoom in Aldeburgh sent us the information for their design a teapot coaster competition, which has a closing date of 1st March.
Anything goes, knit it, crochet it, quilt it - the only specifications are it must measure 20cm x 20cm diameter.
All of the entered coasters will be sold in aid of the RNLI after the competition ends.
The winning entry will win afternoon tea for 2 at the tearoom.
For more information pop in to the tea room or email emma@craggsisters.co.uk.  

Happy New Year

This blog has been the poor relation of my shop venture....I had planned to use it to showcase all the lovely fabrics we stock, show off our makes and share our workshop fun.....but as my last post was in October I think I can safely say it was a big fat fail!!

 
Anyhoos new year, new start and hopefully I can share more of the goings on at Patch.
2012 has got off to a good start, we have started a quilt club, every other Saturday a group of enthusiastic crafty ladies will be getting together, sharing their ideas and jollying one another along. The response to this has been amazing, and we are now full for this session, so we will be starting a second quilt club during the week (Wednesday the most likely day).
We have a new Workshop programme for January to March(that can be found here), and we are getting the list ready for April to June right now.
Katy is coming back to play at Patch in February. Her Jelly Roll workshop is full. But you never know if we are nice to her she might come back and play again ;)

Alex will also be returning to Patch for the 4th time, this time to teach Machine Embroidery with appliqué and paint effects, there are just 2 places left on this workshop, but Alex will be back again in April with workshop number 5!

2012 will be the year that the Patch website gets some tlc. Long overdue tlc. In fact there will be a shiny new website with better search facilities out in the www before the end of February. We have lots of gorgeous fabrics in the shop that haven't made it onto the website, and tons of new designs due to be delivered over the next few months, all of which will be available on the new site. It's proving to be one of those jobs that needs more time than is available, the launch date of pre Christmas has come and gone but I am confident about the February (self imposed) deadline!!

 (Riley Blake Daisy Cottage available in the shop now...and on the website v soon!)

We are still open everyday except Sunday from 9.30 til 3.30, you can't miss us....pink door and half a sign!! (thanks to this weeks east coast "hurricane"!!!)