stateside supplies

While there are plenty of amazing craft suppliers over here in the UK, I still have my favorites from back home. One of them is Fabric Shack. They have one of the best selections I've ever seen, and I always look forward to going to their store. In addition, they have a massive online selection. They had a sale a few weeks ago, and I just couldn't resist.

It was the first time I'd shipped from them to the UK. They had told me they can fit 9 yards of fabric into a $10 priority mail envelope. So I ordered 9 yards from the "Dreams" line, and despite the start of the postal strikes, it arrived within one week!

I'm really excited to come up with some quilt ideas for this fabric.

I also really enjoy using Lion Brand yarns, because they are a more economical product with good quality. So I was really excited when I got an email yesterday saying they would now ship worldwide. I went to their site, and put a kit in my cart just to see what shipping would run.

A set of needles, pattern, and 2 balls of yarn, costing 15.07 GBP, creates a shipping cost of 24.21 GBP!!!! While I appreciate the move they've made, it seems a bit ridiculous. I even tried overloading my cart, to see if buying more reduced shipping in some way. But double cost resulted in double shipping. I guess if I want Lion Brand, I'll have to bring it back in my suitcase next time I visit.

Knitting and Stitching Show

I attended the Knitting and Stitching show last sunday. It was easy to see why this show was voted number one by Let's Knit magazine. There were so many vendors and exhibits, I wish I had gone more than one day. But my wallet was probably well enough without it. I picked up some really fun supplies:

some Art yarn from Colinette in "Rio"


an adorable Clothkit skirt


cute fabric from buttoncompany


adorable owls from euro-japan links


an sheep embroidery kit from rowandean

I also took two classes. The first was a foundation piecing class, doing a landscape. I've foundation pieced before on a machine, but mainly for quilts. We learned some great techniques for making the work more textured as a decorative piece. It was taught by Sally Holman. It was so much fun, I finished it when I came home that evening.



I also took a class in goldwork, taught by the Royal School of Needlework. It is one of my dreams to one day earn an RSN certificate, so it was a real treat. The coursework was a bit ambitious for the 1 hour allotted for the class. But our teacher was not shy of giving us as much information and encouragement as possible. It took me about 6 hours of homework to finish, and is far from perfect. But I am quite proud of the result.