I Do Like To Be....

Beside the seaside! Sing along if you know it!

So the summer holidays are in their final weeks and we are enjoying the last few days of our holiday in Weymouth. One of the good things about having family all over the place is that you have lots of places to visit, and Weymouth is one of our favourites!  We've played on the beach, danced, laughed, ate a lot of ice cream and had a lovely lovely time.

I've missed my little shop though and am looking forward to getting back to it properly once the new school term starts! I've got lots of plans and of course lots of new fabrics to come.

In the meantime, I thought I'd bore you with a few holiday snaps :)

Love these sand sculptures at Weymouth Beach.  They are out of this world!

Can you believe I saw my very first Punch and Judy show this weekend?
Shocking I know!

These guys make me so happy!!  My handsome hubby, my two little girlies and me
all had an amazing holiday. 

ps Don't forget you have a few more days to use the SUMMERSALE code to get 30% off your order

{Whats New} I hate to be the one to mention it....

But if you havent already seen over on our Facebook page our Christmas fabrics are now in stock!!

I know I know, Christmas starts earlier every year and the summer holidays arent even over yet but I've had these on order since last Christmas!  Things start earlier in the fabric world!

Our first Christmas collection is by Riley Blake and is called A Merry Little Christmas.   I love Riley Blake's designs so it went without saying I was going to order their Christmas range.  The second one I picked was this one by Clothworks...

This one's called Not Even A Mouse and reminded me of my favourite Christmas book, The Night Before Christmas!  Very glad I ordered it cos its super cute and the diamonds are perfect for smaller Christmas makes.

Will be adding Christmas ribbons and other lovely bits and pieces as they arrive but these were the first to hit The Sewing Boutique HQ so thought I'd add them now for you super organised crafters!  We do of course have a section on the website where all our Christmas goodies will appear in one place.

Thats it....I promise not to mention Christmas again until at least October ;)

Summer Sale!

Seeing as all the shops are having their sales and, not one to be left behind, I thought we'd have a very quick sale in the shop!

So grab yourself 30% off all fabrics and sewing supplies with the code SUMMERSALE at the checkout.

All orders will be posted from Tuesday 27th August onwards and the sale ends on Wednesday 28th August so stock up on all your favourite fabrics before it ends!!

Im off on (another) summer holiday now so I wish you all a lovely bank holiday weekend.  Please do keep your fingers crossed for some sun :D

Where Can You Visit Us?

I know a lot of people (me...sometimes) like to see their fabric before they buy it.  As well as feeling the quality of the fabric (as it does vary from designer to designer) you can never be sure the colour on the screen is the same as the colour you will get...which can be a pain if you're looking for something specific for a specific project!

As well as getting The Sewing Boutique name out there, I like to get out and about to craft fayres so customers can do exactly that...see their fabrics before they buy it!

We've got a couple of fayres booked in so far so if you're local to either Abergavenny or Cardiff, come along and see us!

The first one is in a lovely village hall in Clydach, Abergavenny.  Its their Easter Fair so guaranteed lots of lovely spring makes and easter themed games...oh and us!

We've also booked to go to the Cardiff City Stadium Craft & Hobby Show again in May.  We've been twice before and its always an amazing two days with loads and loads of craft suppliers on one floor and dozens of very talented crafters on another floor.  

Tickets are £4 each and we'd love to see you there!

There are a couple of other events we may be attending too but will list them another time.  There is a "top secret" project underway at The Sewing Boutique HQ that I cant talk about at the moment (dont you hate it when bloggers do that!) but may affect how many craft fayres we can attend this year.  More news soon!!

 

First Craft Fayre of 2013

With the run up to Christmas being so busy and January and February being such dismal months, I decided to start back on the craft fayre circuit in March.

The first fayre of the season was the Cwmbran Craft Fair.  I love having a stall here, its full of friends I've made along the way and I can spend a few hours talking crafty stuff with lovely customers!

My layout doesn't change too much, fat quarters folded nicely and all lined up, buttons in pretty glass bowls and all the haberdashery items in jars (thanks Ikea!). Here's a few photos of todays set up, including one of my cheekiest little assistant, who even brought her own till!

Looking forward to next months already!

Happy Birthday To Me!

I say it all the time, "I cant believe how quickly time is going", today is no different when I think back over the last year.

Thing is, exactly a year ago today we opened our virtual doors to the shop....A WHOLE YEAR HAS GONE BY!!  A whole year since we posted this post saying we'd launched, and what an amazing year its been!  Since then we've sent out so many beautiful fabrics, hundreds of scrummy buttons and a fair few metres of ribbon!

Our collection of fabrics has gone from a few lovely florals and prints to nearly 100 different patterns and its increasing every month.

But the shop wouldnt be what it is without you, so thank you, for making the first year of The Sewing Boutique fantastic beyond my wildest dreams!  Without wanting to sound too gushy, I do count myself so so lucky that I can do what I love every single day!

As a thank you, every customer will receive one of these new scrap bags with their order.  Choose between blue/yellow, blue/green and cream/pink.  They will also be available to buy from the shop here but for this weekend only, they will go out free with every order!  

There are already so many exciting things in the pipe line for this year, some of which I dont want to jinx by saying too much too soon, but guaranteed, there will be lots of lovely fabrics and buttons involved!! 

So thank you...and heres to many more years doing what I love and  many more beautiful fabrics!

Design Team Makes - Valentines Special

I thought to myself when packing up the Design Team challenge this month, that the this could possibly be their favourite one so far...and I was right!!  The Riley Blake - Sweetcakes fabric went down really well and soon photos of their makes were dropping into my inbox.  They each had a fat eighth of fabric (a fat quarter cut in half - coming soon to the shop) and co-ordinating buttons and ribbon.  I did wonder if they would struggle with such a small amount of fabric (each piece measured around 28x50cms) , but that was the challenge.  Well, as you can see, they certainly didnt struggle!

First up, Eli at Heartstitch made not one but five different designs (see, you can do loads with a fat eighth!)

From the fabric she made 2 love bird art hoops - hand sewn using embroidery silks, the delightful Sweetcakes - Tiny Hearts fabric, with felt details on calico, in 5" embroidery hoops that have been painted with a b&q tester pot(!) and hung with pretty ribbon (bright pink backing).

She also made a "love" art hoop, hand sewn using embroidery silks, yummy Riley Blake fabric in a 4" embroidery hoop painted using b&q tester paint, hung with cute satin ribbon. 

Then finally...1 heart & button brooch card, made using pretty fabric, felt, tiny buttons, cardstock, a brooch back and a stamp.  Also a speech bubble love brooch card, made with the gorgeous fabric, felt, a broochback, cardstock, decorative paper and a stamp and a heart card (not pictured) made with the scrumptious fabric, felt, cardstock and a stamp.

Emma from Sweet Williams made these beautiful keepsake items.  

A lavender ring cushion using the fabric, the ribbons and a little button detail, a beautiful "key to my heart" decoration and an amazingly cute fabric and button brooch.  Emma also made a very good point that a lot of people think its expensive and that you need a lot of equipment to start sewing, but these were all made with the smallest amount of products. 

Next, Rachael from Sew Rae Me created these very useful and more importantly very pretty coffee cup sleeve and coaster set. 

As the rules stated "no hanging hearts allowed" Rachael decided to make a practical gift using the fabric, some wadding and one of the spotty buttons.  But if coffee isn't your thing, she also made a very cute matching coaster, using the left over fabric, one of the spotty buttons and a little ribbon tag for added cuteness!! 

And last but by no means least...Lane from Willowlane Designs put a different spin on the ring cushion.  How amazing would this be as a proposal on Valentines day??

Lane used some of the fabric, the ribbons and two of the buttons and again, said she had lots of fabric left!  

All these items can be bought from each member of the DT, just click on their links and it will take you to their Facebook page or website.

All the items used for these makes can be bought from the shop and not just for Valentines day, but for any romantic day of the year!

I hope you enjoyed this installment of the Design Team and have been suitably inspired.  The next pack will be winging its way to the Design Team soon so more lovely makes will be posted here.

Until next time....