Fresh Quilting is full of beautiful, inspiring, colourful projects and has become one of my favourite quilting books. If you’re an experienced quilter or just wish you were, Fresh Quilting is a wonderful book to have on your shelf.

Go over to The Daily Stitch and leave me a comment to win a copy!

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I haven’t finished DSD’s Heather Ross quilt yet. I only just pinned it last weekend. It’s huge. I’m scared to sew it. So I took a break to work on this new project. It’s also excited because I mixed collections which, for me, is scary!

The fabrics here include designs from ‘Modern Meadow’ by Joel Dewberry, ‘Kumari Gardens’ by Dena Designs and ‘Nature Walk’ and ‘My Happy Garden’ by Cloud 9 fabrics. I love the colours and I’m so excited to see it finished. I have no idea what I’m going to back it with but maybe an Anna Maria Horner voile?

The pictures don’t really do the fabrics justice, but I’ll try to take more when I get a little further with the project.

This time you can save 10% off anything from the Stocking Fillers range with code VMXS10 by 30 Nov.

Here is more info on the range from Crafts4Kids:

Children’s Stockings are part of the Christmas tradition and much loved by kids of all ages, so if you need some ideas to give to Santa that won’t break his bank and that will inspire the kids then have a look at our Stocking Filler collection – great stocking filler gift ideas for boys and girls from across the Crafts4Kids range and all great value at under £8.50 – perfect for small gifts for the kids friends, nieces, nephews, cousins and the like too!

Also on sale right now is the Djeco Toys and Games range which is 10% off. Djeco Toys is a French toy brand that offers exquisite children’s creative art and craft sets and traditional games for kids.

Djeco offers some really cool toys, like the Djeco Felt Tips Draw a Fashion Show, a colouring and drawing set for older girls:

Here is a picture of E in the scarf. Look how long it is – that took ages! I actually love this picture because the red in the scarf matches the red under the umbrella.

And here is the hat. This was actually quite quick:

They are both so cozy and warm. These patterns came from Knit Knack Kit: Simple Instructions and Tools for 25 Terrific Projects by Kris Percival. E gave it to me for my birthday two years ago!

I used this video tutorial for the binding instructions and found it really helpful. Well…maybe I shouldn’t give credit before I’m finished! If it comes out right it will have been really helpful! Thank goodness for YouTube, don’t you agree?

Sewing clothes for dolls and stuffed animals is a great way to start kids out. Our project, as you can see, was trousers for Bear (the top was the one he came with). They don’t really fit him properly as I just cut off a big square of fabric and didn’t do a lot of measuring but I don’t think that really matters – it was more about the activity than the result.

You don’t need to run out and buy fabric for this project – it’s a great way to use up your scraps or even bits of worn out clothes. DSD picked out the fabric from of my leftover quilt pieces that she determined were boy-appropriate (Bear is a boy). We picked a contrasting thread to make it easy to see the stitches and I helped her thread it on my biggest needle. Then I held the fabric tightly while she did the sewing, which made it easy to see where the next stitch would go. She caught on quickly and the level of dexterity needed for this was perfect for her. She tried big stitches and tiny close together stitches and zig-zags.

I highly recommend helping your kids learn to sew! It’s such a useful skill, it’s fun and it really doesn’t cost very much (if anything!) to do small projects like this.

The show was incredibly popular. I was told Sunday was the slowest day but it was busy to the point of being a bit exhausting. I’ve never seen so many knitting and sewing lovers in one place!

In addition to the shopping there were classes (which unfortunately were mostly full by the time I heard about the show) and galleries. But mainly I wanted to shop!

Here is the floor plan so you can see the incredible scope of the show.

We were first drawn to Fibres Exotica, which had the most vibrant silk yarns I’ve ever seen. This picture just does not do it justice at all. I bought some AMAZING cobalt blue yarn here and I thinking I’m going to make a neck cozy something like this.

Next we went a bit crazy for the designs of Purl Alpaca Designs.Don’t you just love that jumper?

We also fell for the incredibly soft, rich colours of Manos Maxima from Crafty Yarn. I bought the fiery red and I don’t know what I’ll do with it yet. Maybe socks?

We were also really impressed with the Toft Alpaca Shop. What is it about alpaca? I didn’t buy anything here yet but I’d love to make this jumper. You can buy the yarn with the pattern online.

I was over the moon to find Eternal Maker, a West Sussex fabric shop that imports fabrics from some of my favourites, including Anna Maria Horner. They have an online shop too!

Coats Crafts is also a brilliant shop, with FreeSpirit Fabrics. They have a great site with loads of free patterns.

We also found Loop, an Islington knitting store I haven’t been to yet, which had some gorgeous yarns as well.

And are these the biggest knitting needles you’ve ever seen? I’ve never seen anything like it!

The show is coming to Dublin and Harrogate if you’d like to go!

• NEW TIP: Read knitting blogs! Helpful and friendly knitters and knitting shops out there will share free patterns and inspirations. I’m currently spend a lot of time on the Purl Bee but there are oh so many more out there once you look.
• Join local knitting circles—when you have friends who knit you can borrow needles and books or swap yarns. In London, try Stitch and Bitch London or the knitting group and Sunday knit roast with iKnit.
• Use Google video search to find free online demonstrations when you’re trying to learn a new stitch.
• Sign up with Ravelry, the online social network for knitters, for free (and not free) patterns, advice and tips.
• Recycle yarn, either by taking apart your old clothes or shopping thrift stores for items that can be easily deconstructed. Look for pieces with seams that are woven rather than sewn, so the yarn can be pulled apart in one long piece.
• Check your council’s libraries for knitting books rather than buying them.
• Make friends with your local knitting store (or local John Lewis) so you’ll find out ahead of any sales or discounts.
• Consider substitutions. For example silk can be expensive and a silk blend or even an acrylic yarn could be just fine.
• Don’t throw anything away. Bits and bobs of extra yarn can be used to make doll clothes or in quilts, or small projects like oven mitts.
• Skip the fancy accessories. We’d all love to have a Cath Kidston knitting bag but that free tote you got in last month’s Marie Claire will do the trick and you know it!

Happy knitting!

Nottinghamshire-based Crafts4kids is one of the UK’s leading online retailers of educational toys and crafts for children and they have launched their autumn / winter range of sewing & kniting kits for kids. There are two new brands in their range, Buttonbag and Sparrowkids.

I love to knit and sew and I do a lot of projects with DSD to help her learn. When I was looking for knitting supplies for children for her last birthday I struggled to figure out what would be easy for her to hold in her small hands so it is great to see companies putting together these kinds of kits.

Here are a few of my favourites from Crafts4kids range. There are loads more projects and kits on the site!

Buttonbag Knitting Kit – £19.50 (age 9+)

Alex Toys My First Sewing Kit – £19.95 (age 7-13)

The Little Experience Stitch It Dolly Kit – £9.50 (age 6+)

I did want to throw up a quick post though to talk about some things that are making me happy this week! First up, my shipment of gorgeous Anna Maria Horner fabrics arrived. These didn’t come cheap (especially after customs fees that I completely failed to factor into the equation) but it is hard to get them here. Aren’t they stunning? There are cotton voiles and flannels from the Little Folks range and cottons from the Good Folks range. I can’t wait to start sewing with them!

I also learned today about the knitting and stitching show next week at Alexander Palace. I’m really excited about this. Most of the classes are sold out but I think it will still be really fun to wander around and do a little shopping! I’m going to be a bit cheeky and see if they’ll give me a free pass as press (unlikely) but I plan to go either way.

Finally tomorrow I and I are going to a fun event I’ve been invited to by Mission Foods called We Will Wrap You. The event is promoting their new range of wraps developed by the cast of the musical We Will Rock You. I think it will be really fun because we get to see the show!

Okay, I’m now off to send a couple of work emails (bah!) and then to bed. Two days to Friday thank goodness!