Holiday opening hours

With school half term next week, I'll be taking a break and all orders placed between 24th and 30th May will be posted on 31st May. Have a good week!

Pins and tins and other things

The humble patchwork pin. Florence introduced me to these, and I'm so glad she did. My old pins were getting a bit blunt and prone to snagging threads when used, so the idea of something a bit finer and more friendly towards fabric was very appealing. These pins are finer, a bit longer and more flexible making them really easy to guide through layers of fabric. They have been wonderful for my medallion quilt.

The box they come in is a bit of a fiddle to open so when wandering around a new Paperchase at the weekend (one of my favourite shops being obsessed with stationary as I am) I found these tiny 'collectable' tins that are perfect for homing my lovely patchwork pins.

I do have a bit of a thing about haberdashery too, and have been using these great Clover wonder clips when sewing the binding on my quilt, they are so much easier than pinning like I usually do.

Binding is my favourite bit of making a quilt, or maybe choosing the fabrics, let's say both. I like the slow pace of binding, tidying up the rough edges and making it look perfect and finished. I like sitting under the new weight of it on my sofa, while it's still perfect and all mine.

Happy weekend

Happy Friday all, the weekend is around the corner, he's some random things I have been up to and that have caught my eye on the interwebs this week.

Feels like the weather to garden at last, I have been painting plant pots to match our front door; easy and fun. I love having a cheery plant to welcome us, I don't so much love trying to remember to water the poor thing.

There are some great tutorials over on the Art Gallery fabrics website, this sewing machine cover looks good.

I have been dreaming about fabric collections coming later this year, don't they look pretty together? these are Koi by Rashida Coleman-Hale for Cloud 9 Fabrics and Tule by Leah Duncan.

Happy to say I have got a fair bit of sewing done this week, I am finally quilting my medallion quilt. I intended to quilt in straight lines but took a wrong turn in the centre and now it's on diagonals, it looks much better. A happy accident.

My beloved sewing pals have been available throughout for feedback on the quilt's comfiness.

The kids and I watched all of the videos by the amazing CSA Astronaut Chris Hadfield this week, they are an absolute must see. Highlights include him wringing out a flannel (yes - really!) and watching him singing David Bowie's "Space Oddity" is an unexpectedly moving experience. If you have kids you must watch them all on YouTube, if you don't have kids, you must watch them all on YouTube.

Not quite so meaningful, but entertaining none the less, is watching someone try and feed Ryan Gosling cereal.

It's the Portland Quilt Market right now, I'll be following the pictures on Instagram to see glimpses of the beautiful booths and upcoming fabric collections. You can search for them all here.

So whether you are sewing, wringing out flannels in boring old gravity or actually feeding Ryan Gosling cereal (lucky you) - happy weekend!

Copenhagen

Over the bank holiday weekend, we were lucky enough to escape to Copenhagen. It was an escape because it was our first proper trip away without the kids. I have long yearned to visit Denmark being a huge fan of Danish design and it seemed the perfect place to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary.

We stayed with Airbnb for the first time after reading about it on Katie's blog. It was a really great experience and one I would definitely recommend,. We stayed in a beautiful flat with a roof terrace, it was cheaper than a hotel with the benefit of having space to hang out after a long day of sightseeing. And such an easy experience from beginning to end. They have some amazing places to rent on the website in the US.

Highlights for me? on our first day we wandered up the Observatory, it was such a beautiful building on the inside and the view was great from the top.

There is some great architecture in Copenhagen, with amazing glass fronted buildings like this cropping up right next to the historic Tivoli.

The Royal Palace in the middle of town was really beautiful too, with it's handsome, statuesque buildings.

And of course the shopping; there were lots of lovely shops to explore. The first thing anyone said to me when talking about Copenhagen is that 'it's really expensive'. Yes it is, so we mostly window shopped, and although it is Finnish, it was lovely to visit the Marimekko shop.

We took a long walk on our last day (covering 14km by the end of the day!) to visit Normann Copenhagen. It was worth it, so much lovely Danish design in one shop, I was in heaven; the lighting, the chairs, the tables. I did a bit more than window shopping here, buying a teeny bowl as my souvenir of Copenhagen.

Again on Katie's recommendation, we visited Mikkeller and drank small beers from a numbered menu in the afternoon amongst other (mostly beared) discerning beer drinkers. It was very nice indeed. Apparently one will be opening in London soon.

And you can't go to Copenhagen without a walk around Tivoli, I was far too much of a scardy cat to try out this ride, but it was fun to watch.

One restaurant; Tight, which we visited on our last night was a particular highlight, the atmosphere, the food, the drinks with monkeys in. When I tried to retrieve that monkey from my drink before it got taken away for a souvenir, the waitress very kindly came back with a collection of clean monkeys to take home with me instead. It made me love the place even more.

Bikes were everywhere in Copenhagen, being so flat it is a great way to get round, some had big boxes on the front for carrying all sorts of things, but mostly kids and dogs. 

A great number weren't locked, not something I can imagine getting away with back home.

Another great highlight although not for the reasons I expected, was the Danish Design Centre. I was expecting a centre full of mouth-watering Danish Design but really there one was small exhibition, the real delight was the cafe, an oasis of calm, beautiful furniture and food looking out to the rides of the Tivoli.

They had this wall on which was hung a thin gold sheet of plastic so that when you walked up or down, it created a wave that whistled along next to you as you moved, very cool.

And before we came home, we had time for an epic hotdog, so epic in fact it was quite a task to eat, or maybe I was just dragging my heels reluctant to come home.

And I won't even begin to mention the Danish pastries that we consumed ...

Breakwater collection by Megan Neilsen now in stock

Just arrived; the new Breakwater collection from Megan Neilson patterns. First up the versatile Eucalypt tank and dress pattern. A stylish wardrobe basic, this woven tank top and dress features relaxed fit, scoop neckline, and curved hem. It is full of potential and ideal for casual and more formal occasions.

Next, the Cascade Skirt pattern. This full wrap skirt has a graduated hem, and attractive cascades along the hemline. Aimed at a beginner level, this skirt is perfect for every day wear, but also dramatic enough for a special occasion.

The Tania Culottes pattern is ideal for every day wear, this modern take on culottes combines the practicality of shorts with the cuteness of a circle skirt. The pattern features a fitted waistband, wonderful drape, invisible side seam zipper and hidden centre front and back pleats to create the illusion of a skirt. Comes in short length, and is easily adapted to longer hems.

And finally, the Crescent blouse which features attractive cut outs over the shoulders, loose fit from below the bust, button closures at the neckline, and a cute collar. Pattern comes with two hem variations - a cross over curved hem and tunic variation, as well as optional collar.