For The Love Of Thread (Fabric!)

A couple of weeks ago I booked myself a trip to Nantes for the Pour L'Amour Du Fil textile show and exhibition in France. I can't tell you how excited I am! (and nervous! I'll be travelling alone, which I've never done and I've never been to France before! - I know it's embarrassing.) It's a textile show to celebrate 'the love of thread', with a focus on patchwork and embroidery which is organised by Quiltmania annually. 

My main reason for attending this year is to see the incredible work of Willyne Hammerstein, a Dutch quilter now hugely popular worldwide from the success of her book Milleifori Quilts, and the now infamous quilt 'La Passacaglia'. She will be there promoting her new book; Millefiori Quilt's 2, which is in stock at Sew and Quilt now! I'm pretty sure I am the first shop to stock it! They are flying out at the moment so be quick if you want one. Oh and while we're on the topic, we will be stocking La Passacaglia paper pieces to match the templates from the Millefiori book, they'll be arriving with us within the next couple of weeks, so watch this space! But more on that another time! I'm also visiting, as I'm dying to see Bill Volckening's collection of New York Beauty Quilts, this will be the first time the whole collection will be shown! I'm a regular reader of Bill's blog, WonkyWorldQuilts so I've long admired his fantastic collection of vintage quilts, so it will be brilliant to see some in the flesh. You know me and vintage quilts ;-) I'm booked in for a couple of workshops too, annnnd I'll be doing a little 'roving reporter' work for Love Patchwork & Quilting magazine while I'm there, I'll keep you posted on that.

I feel like I have SO much to catch you all up on, but I can't even think where to start. There's alot of juggling at the moment! So here are some recent fabric eye candy purchases for you to enjoy while I sort myself out :-) These amazingly gorgeous bunch of fabrics above are from Fat Quarter Shop, a whole host of different one's I'll be mixing in with future quilty projects. 

Including this fun text fabric from a new Cotton and Steel collection with the U.S. states printed. I looove all things Americana, and state related things :-) so it goes great with my other American state printed fabric by Michael Miller, which I've got about 2 yards of and hoarding until I find the perfect sewing bag/organiser project AND when I find the time to make it?

I visited my sister in London a few weeks ago, and one of my first pit-stops was to Shaukat on Old Brompton Road. They have a huge selection of Liberty fabrics downstairs in their shop, so after a lot of open-mouthed gazing to the wares on offer, the staff pointed me in the direction of the off-cut piles - ideal for quilter's like us ;-) I also bought a 1/2m piece from the bolt of the top/left one above. I love the more muted colour's, so it was too good to miss.
Right, no more fabric buying for me. Hope you're all having a good week! xo

Fat Quarter Shop Giveaway! Blogger's Choice Fat Quarter Bundle

I have a super exciting competition giveaway today! My very own 'Blogger's Choice' fat quarter bundle by Fat Quarter Shop! 

I have personally selected 15 fat quarters from Fat Quarter Shop's beautiful range of fabrics - from their new arrivals in February. I was lucky to get that month as their were SO many brilliant collections arriving! Florals and texts from Cotton and Steel lines, stripes and checks by American Jane's latest collection 'Fresh Air', and a few lovely 1930's repro's from Darlene Zimmerman, some delightful florals from the gorgeous 'Milk, Sugar & Flower' collection and rounding it out with some solids by American Made Brand. Perfect.

I think the colour palette is just great, though I would say that as I'm a little biased ;-) So more importantly, what should I make with these pretties? I need something special. Any ideas?

Right, who fancies winning one of these gorgeous 'Jessie Fincham Bloggers Choice Fat Quarter Bundles', offered by the very generous Fat Quarter Shop? Of course you do, and all you have to do is...

To Enter:

Leave a comment on this post telling me what you would like to make with them and follow my blog. 

For an extra entry, you can follow me on Instagram @messyjesse1 - leave another comment on this post to tell me.

Competition closes Sunday 8th March I will then check through the results and announce the winner Monday - so be sure to subscribe and check back. Best of luck!

A Treat from Etsy: My latest crafty purchases

Hi friends, I didn't mean to have such a long blog break! We've been busy around these parts fitting new a new loft hatch, boarding out our attic and lots of *spring* cleaning. Including sorting through old clothes, 'vacuuming bagging' out of season clothes, ebay'ing and making charity shop runs. We're almost there, I'm hoping to sell a now, unused wardrobe to clear some space up in our spare room and then we're done ;)

But of course none of that is photo worthy. So instead I wanted to show you some recent crafty purchases. I went on a bit of an Etsy buying bender, ha! I couldn't resist, plus I had some birthday money to help me out… 

From top left; a vintage feedsack fabric, my first! I love the primary colours. Underneath are also vintage fabrics from a seller needing to de-stash. Top right; I am completely in love with, I was searching for a palm tree, fruity fabric like this for a future dress-making project next year, and boom! there it was in the search results. It was exactly what I wanted, I just love it when that happens. Below are some super cute 30s repro's I got from this shop that accidentally all seem to work so well together? I also got a rivet maker from here and some leather for a bag handle. I've wanted to make a bag with leather straps for ages, so I got the supplies in order to start. Though it will probably have to be in the new year after all the Christmas gift making I need to be getting on with! 

Oh, and some wash-tape's >.< I'm not normally mad for them, but I thought these particular ones were so sweet! 

So now you've seen my greedy purchases, I hope you enjoyed the eye candy. Right, I'm going to hide them in a cupboard now so Robin won't find them! "oh these? I've had them ages!" ;) xo

'New' Vintage Fabric + Latest Farmer's Wife

I don't know if I've mentioned this before? but I'm addicted to shopping on Etsy! especially for vintage fabric. I normally go through faddy stages where I can end up spending hours, yes hours ... (and I wonder where all my time goes?!) hunting for lovely fabric to add to my stash. These two below are the latest additions...

I have a real weakness for kitchen inspired fabric, so I couldn't resist this delightful fruit bowl print. There's over 5 yards of it - which was the main reason to buy! So much potential. I do love a gingham too, and these primary colours are right up my street ;)

I picked up a vintage sheet this week too, I do a little happy dance whenever I get one nowadays as I can never seem to find them. This one is a bit of a gem as it's so bright, it will make a great quilt backing. Talking of fads, I've added five more farmer's wife blocks to my collection! I scratched an itch when I made two the other week, and I haven't been able to stop. Though I have to take a break from them again as I have other *must* projects to be getting on with.

From top left; #71 Puss In The Corner / #72 Railroad 

#106 Wild Rose & Square / #80 Single Wedding Star / #52 Hovering Hawks

A Fabric Giveaway + Updates

Hi everyone! Happy friday :) I hope you've all had a good week? I've been looking forward to this weekend after a super busy week. Lot's of 'day job' hours, working on things for Sew and Quilt - some great new stuff arriving at the end of the month ;) as well cracking on with wedding plans!

As a nice finish to the week I have this adorable bundle of fat quarters from Sew and Quilt to give away! All you have to do is click here to enter :) Best of luck!

I've been photo bombing Instagram lately, it's my favourite way to keep up to date with everyone; so quick and easy. If you follow me (@messyjesse1) you will have seen I got these amaaazing! new Denyse Schmidt Shelburne Falls fabrics, such happy mail! ahhh I've been waiting so long to get my hands on them! Once I've finished my mum's zig zag quilt and a couple of other sewing jobs I have to get done I'm allowed to play with them :) I've only pet them so far...

We've been having some great weather here too! Some blue skies finally :) and in other news I've got completely obsessed with The Big Bang Theory these last few weeks, so hilarious! Oh and we had an un-inentional date with the priest on Valentines day to discuss the wedding and set a date! :o will most likely be the last weekend in May or first weekend of June 2014. Eek!! Let the planning commence!

Pam Kitty, Love!

I'm so happy that I'm stocking the wonderful new Pam Kitty Love collection by the super talented Pam Kitty Morning! It's a delightful line full of whimsical prints in a pretty colour palette of reds, pinks, yellows, grey, green and blue! 

I managed to cut into it just before Christmas to create these sweet little drawstring bags for some Christmas gifts - of course, using Jeni B's tutorial. I just love that scalloped stripe, I know it will be perfect for future quilt bindings ;) It's also made lots of appearances in my scrappy trips quilt :) and I'm sure will be the base of many sewing projects to come! 

Have a great weekend everyone! It's sooooo cold here so I'm planning to have a fun weekend of staying indoors in the warm and sewing all weekend! yayy! What about you? Jessie, xo

Craft Books and New Fabric!

There's nothing I enjoy better than sitting down with a nice cup of tea and paging through some eye candy in the form of sewing and craft books. It's one of my favourite things to do, after actual sewing of course ;)

This Christmas I was the very lucky receiver of this amazing stack of crafty delights! Little did I know when I was adding them to my amazon basket throughout the year they would be appearing under the tree :) thanks Robin!

                       

I also got these amazingly cute!! lecien prints, just look at those deers! and the oh so sweet stamps! eek I can't wait to cut into them :) perhaps a project from the Happy Quilt book by Atsuko Matsuyama!? This book is seriously amazing. My mum bought me the other japanese book when they were in Hong Kong for Christmas! It's full of fun patchwork ideas. 

And sometimes you just need a picture book, and what better than a picture book full of vintage fabrics and feedsacks! Vintage Fabric From The States is exactly that, it's perfect. 

You can find all the links to these books on my new amazon widget on the left sidebar. I have added all the books I've shared on the blog over the years, and I personally own each one so it comes highly recommended. If you decide to go ahead and purchase any of these I would really appreciate it if you could click through the link as it would really help me out! :) Did you receive some nice crafty presents? Please share, I'd love to hear! and exchange book recommendations ... Jessie, xo

Liberty Lifestyle Fabrics Winner!

I had the best mail day earlier in the week! These beautiful Liberty Lifestyle fabric swatch packs arrived at my door all wrapped up in the prettiest of packaging! I was very lucky to win the competition Liberty were holding on their facebook page @libertylifestylefabrics all you had to do was enter a project made using Liberty fabric, so I posted my Bloomsbury Gardens pillow I finished recently, and hey presto I won!! 

They kindly sent me two swatch packs, one of Bloomsbury Gardens which I know I'll put to good use ;) and the brand new Stile collection! The colour's are so vibrant and features the most amazing designs inspired by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Art Nouveau period, which is very evident from the bold prints. 

There's so much fabric! I'm going to have a good think about what to make before I get cutting - any suggestions? 

After all this talk of Liberty I decided to put together a nice little fat quarter bundle of 7 prints from the Bloomsbury Gardens Colourway B collection in the Sew and Quilt shop, and It's going to be 20% off this weekend!! Grab yourself a bargain at only £17.60! 

    Perfect for creating some Christmas gifts for friends and family or gifting to yourself ;) don't worry I won't tell! 

Have a good weekend everyone. xo

Fratelli Bassetti Tessuti - Rome Fabric Store!

So before heading out to Rome to soak up the history and sights of the city, I couldn't help but do a quick google search for a fabric shop I could visit while on my travels - hey, it's normal for fabric obsessed people like us, right!? My online quest brought me to a place called Fratelli Bassetti Tessuti, so I wrote down the address and en route for our day trip to the Vatican City we found it! and yep, it was certainly well worth the visit!! 

The place was PACKED! with fabric, I couldn't even take in how much was there! We walked through what felt like endless rooms of fabric with bolts and rolls of fabric packed from the floor to the ceiling - double height ceilings ok! Everything from a *room* of shirting fabrics, to another *room* for wools, suiting fabrics, cottons, stretch, silk, beautiful wedding lace - you name it they had it! They also carried designer fabrics such as Versace and Roberto Cavalli to name a couple, they looked amazing! It was such an interesting place to people watch too! all sorts of people eyeing up the fabric for their next tailoring project. 

After shopping with my jaw to the ground for about fifteen minutes, the lights went out and we were hurried out to pay (if you look at the clock in the picture above you will notice it was lunchtime, ha! oh and that's me in the pic too!). I had to go through a series of kiosks like a drive-through to pay for my fabric - which was of course great fun when you don't speak Italian, and they don't speak english!

I eventually came away with a fun floral cotton that I found nestled away in a small corner by the window; that now as I'm writing this post - I have forgotten to photograph it! another time ;) it's quite 1960's reminiscent (probably is from the 60's!?). I plan to turn it into a dress at some point to forever remind me of my beautiful time in Rome :)

Jessie, xo

P.S. don't forget to enter my free fabric bundle giveaway here, in celebration for my Sew and Quilt fabric shop opening, the competition closes tonight!

Vintage Fabric

Hello! Firstly I just wanted to say thank you for all your helpful suggestions on finishing of my pinwheel quilt top. I will check in soon with an update for you ;) But today, I have these pretty vintage fabrics to show! My mum picked them up for me last week at the carboot for a £1 each! I know, amaze! Definately 1960s/70s era, I think some of them would make such cute dresses :)

I got yards and yards of the stuff, all 'brand new' and unused. It was funny looking at the prices, if only fabric was this cheap still! 

   Last month I also picked up some more vintage goodies. I went along to my local auction and managed to win a lot of paper peiced hexagons, (tons!) loads of fabric, and tapestry projects amongst other things. My favourite were the hexies the owner had already started to sew together, I would love to make my own and finish it off someday.

I hope you all had a good weekend. See you later in the week, yeh :) xo

Pinwheeling

So, the pinwheel conundrum is now turning into the Dutch pinwheel quilt! I couldn't help myself :) I love the design so much, I had to re-create the exact same block as before but this time with white background. I'm either going to have 9 or 12 blocks in total, depending on borders etc (which I haven't figured out quite yet). 

Most of the fabrics I used are from my new stash I received from Kerri at sewdeerlyloved. Aren't they just adorable!! I've been eyeing up her shop for quite a while and when I saw she had a delivery of the 'Old New' collection by Lecien I decided I needed to act fast! Those cherries are too good to resist :D

I hope you all have a fun jubilee weekend! My mum is holding a street party on Sunday, so we're going to have tea and cucumber sandwiches (queeny style!) with all the neighbours hehe! Jessie, xo

New Fabric & Farmers Wife Friday

I was soo happy on Wednesday to receive my wonderful fabric swap I arranged with lovely Steffi of steffiscandyquilts, she was having a fabric giveaway a little while ago with some cute 1930s repro fabrics - unfortunately I didn't win the giveaway but I asked her if she would be interested in a little swap and she was :) they were definately worth the wait! I just love them all, and Steffi kindly included some extra pieces! yippee! Don't they look such a sweet bunch, all sitting neatly!

I also had some time to whip up a couple more farmers wife blocks, these were much simpler than my first two! Although, for this one #9 Box it was a little tricky because I had to match up the straight design of the red fabric so all my triangle peices were facing the right direction... it took me a few attempts ha!

I'm not so keen on this one now? #10 Bowtie maybe it will grow on me... it was nice and simple to put together though :) Have a great weekend guys! Jessie, xo

Pink Castle Fabric Contest

Hello! I hope you all had an enjoyable weekend :) I'm linking up to Katy at 'Imagingermonkey' today, she has teamed up with PinkCastleFabrics to host a fun competition involving blogger bundles from their online shop! Here is my bundle I have created - and very much drooling over now! I'm trying hard not to to hit checkout on my etsy account!

I just love these colours together, I'm really drawn to brown at the moment - I haven't got any in my stash so I think it's time I invested... invested? Yes fabric is always an investment, along with shoes and handbags of course ;) 

From top left: 1. Alexander Henry Fabric Heath Brown Chocolate, 2. Swoon in Red Ruby by Bonnie and Camille for Moda, 3. Maritza Dot in Aqua Queen Street by Jennifer Paganelli Free Spirit, 4. Rivera in Blue - Maya for Anthology Fabrics by Leah Duncan, 5. Timeless Treasures Sketch Crosshatch in Yellow, 6. Sundae Stripe in Ruby Red by Bonnie and Camille for Moda, 7. Dotted Leaf in Red - Flea Market Fancy by Denyse Schmidt, 8. Mono Pez in Gray Pezzy Prints by American Jane for Moda, 9. 1/2 Yard Garden Daisies in Blue Punctuation by American Jane, 10. Mono Pez in Indigo Pezzy Prints by American Jane for Moda, 11. Punctuation Ditto Daisies in Red Punctuation by American Jane, 12. Farm Fresh by October Afternoon for Riley Blake Designs

I think these would be perfect for my farmers wife quilt blocks, ooh yes! I hope you like my picks! speak soon, Jessie xo.

Happy Mail Days

If you follow me on Instagram (@messyjesse1) you will know that I've had some happy mail recently...

... all the way from Japan! I just love receiving little packages in the post, and the happiest ones seem to come from Japan. I spyed those gorgeous square dot fabrics over in lovely Ayumi's shop recently, and after a few email exchanges we thought we would arrange a fun little fabric swap :) she's just the sweetest, just look at those yummy goodies she sent me! So if you haven't been to her shop before - check it out, it's amazing! Thank you so much Ayumi, I hope yours arrives safely to you soon :D The other delightful goodies came from the etsy shop BonsaiBlossom, they were having a 50% off opening sale, so I found myself making a snappy impulse purchase! :O I got a couple half yard cuts of some lecien and kokka prints, and some really pretty trim that I couldn't pass up. It came wrapped in the cutest gift bag I have ever seen!! I need to get some immediately :)

I found these little gems on Ebay of all places, a nice seller was auctioning off some of her 30's reproduction fabric. I'm slowly building up a nice collection now :) and I'm actually waiting on another fabric swap from another bloggy friend of mine over in Germany, she's got some 30's repro's for me too, I just can't get enough of them! ;) What have you been buying/swapping lately? Not that I need any more temptations! Jessie, xo

Fabric Giveaway Result

Hi folks, just a quick stop to announce the fugly fabric giveaway from last week. And drum roll please ....

A big CONGRATULATIONS to Nicki, of 'the-home-bird' blog. Please drop me an email with your adddress and I will send your fabric bundle out to you! :) Well done Nicki, I hope you enjoy it and make something pretty with it. And thank you to everyone who entered!

I had lots of fun setting this up, so I think I will be doing more in the future - keep a look out ;) Jessie, xo

New Fabric Love

I'm supposed to be making savvy money saving decisions now I'm a homeowner, but I gave in to my impulses recently and splurged on some new crafty things! I spyed these lovely Antique Treasure fabrics at my local quilt store the other week and I couldn't resist them. I'm planning on using the top two for this patchwork cushion project. The other floral fabrics are a recent purchase from Cath Kidston, I ordered a set of curtains last month in the print of the right-hand side for my living room. I got them in the post last week, and they look flipping amazing! I'm in love with them, a much prettier look than the temporary ones we had been using. A couple of plain scatter cushions are in the works with those fabrics too ;) 

And last but not least, I had a very happy mail day when these babies arrived! I've been devouring them since, and using them to help decide how I'm going to peice my mini quilt together? Right. Lots for me to be getting on with so I'd better get busy! Speak soon. Jessie, xo

Thank You for this amazing gift I received from Melissa

Hello, hello friends! I had to share with you all this completely amazing gift I received from one of my dearest readers Melissa of 100 Billion Stars. She is just lovely, and gives such nice words of encouragement for my sewing projects. I still can't believe that she was kind enough to send the most gorgeous fabric and cute buttons to me! all the way across the pond :) I am so privilaged to have my blog readers and followers and I cannot thank you enough Melissa.

Just look at all that fabric goodness! Tanya Whelan, Dena Designs, and not forgetting PamKittyMorning too :D  yayy! I am one happy sewer to say the least. 
Jessie, xo