A Random (But Essential) Collection

I have now found out it takes a lot longer than I thought to bind a quilt, sew in all the ends and sew on a label.  Must remember in future!

Anyway one of the, minor, reasons for visiting my sister this weekend was to visit the chain of fabric shops near her.  To date I have not tracked down many fabric shops near where I live, although I have to say the ones near me do sell some very inspirational/tempting fabrics.  But near where I grew up there is a chain of fabric mill shops- known as Abakhan fabrics - which sells wool, trimmings, crafting equipment, bridal trimmings and has recently branched into household goods (that branch is a little too large in my opinion in the main store it has severely impacted on the fabric sales spaces, but anyway...) It has a bewildering range of fabrics on the roll, not a huge amount of crafting fabric but if you need dresss or home fabrics or wool tartan then this is your shop.  But what is most special about it, even more so than the price of most of the goods, is the range of fabric they sell by the kilo.  Mostly seconds or roll ends but still lovely stuff - many curtains and bed covers have been created from thses fabrics.  And this weekend I got to visit two of the stores...and couldn't resist.

And yes the pink and white fabric and the grey fabric ARE glittery.  The pink tartan and blue lining are my sister's purchase for an item she is trusting me to make for her - these were off the roll and cost less than £4.50 and £2.70 a metre respectively.  The 8 fat quarters in the roll weren't too bad either and are just what I wanted for a gift for a friend.  The other three fabrics (approx 6 metres of cotton with only minor flaws) were less than £18.  I am ridiculously pleased with these purchases (my sister even more so with hers - as all the shop assistants she bumped into can confirm!) and all have definite projects in mind, even if some are very vague projects and will be making further appearances on here in the next few months.  All I will say is they're not all for quilts.