Papped in Frome by Fromemaid

The Roman blinds for beginners workshop on September the 17th was fully booked and the new shop layout worked really well in allowing space for customers to browse whilst the workshop was in progress.

The photographer from the local paper Frome Times came by and Rachel; one half of the sisters team who own the business, invited him to return when the workshop was in full swing.
  Whether this was prearranged or spontaneous I do not know!  All four ladies were happy to have their picture taken and I think it will be a lovely momento of my time at Millie Moon when I am older, our copy has gone in our family keepsake box!

More importantly, each participant successfully completed a sample sized Roman blind and felt equipped with the skills and knowledge to go home and produce their full sized blinds in their homes.

I too was inspired  by the workshop and this seasons trend for "Scandi greys" soft furnishings and bought plenty of my favourite fabric; from the Michael Miller range "Just my Type" by Patty Young, to make blinds and a quilted throw for our bedroom. It feels very much a modern interpretation of Orla Keily to me.

Many thanks to Martyn of the Frome Times for allowing us to reproduce his photographs in this blog post with his kind permission.

By Fromemaid xxx

Join Fromemaid for her next Roman blind workshop In Wells on Sunday 20 October 2-5pm £40 inclusive of fabrics.  

The workshop makes a sample blind approx

65x35cm to allow you to learn the skills and gain the knowledge to go on and make a full size blind. 

There is nothing standard about our lamps :)

Workshop with Fromemaid.
Sunday the 8th of September saw my first whole day of lampshade making in our Frome shop.  We used the  individual lampshade kits now stocked by Millie Moon which make the whole activity that more approachable to beginners-not to mention more affordable, if you only want to make one, or a few for personal use.
Eight lovely women attended the  morning and afternoon workshops and as ever, the range of fabrics chosen varied greatly from person to person. So at the end of each workshop there were four very professional , individual lampshades to wear (!)

Or of course, you could make them as gifts or adorn your home with them, which probably makes more sense!

The sheer delight of these is they are so easy to do once you have made your first one.  There is no sewing involved at all, so they are really relatively quick to complete, certainly something you could make one evening after work on your kitchen table.

They are a really affordable way of adding some individuality to your home decor, we worked out to make a  size 30 cm barrel shade using our kit and buying  40cm  of your chosen  fabric would cost just £ 20.60.  

Come along and Join Fromemaid Vickie on the next Lampshade workshop -  Wells on October 20th.  Followed by another in Frome on January 5th. Price £40 including all materials

Dates for your diary

Hows the christmas shopping going so far? Slowly? mine is. Luckily we have a couple of fantastic events coming up in december which I think will help us all. 

Christmas at the Barn, organised by Edamay www.edamay.com is a great weekend event with plenty of interesting handmade, artistic creations worth a visit for that unusual gift in the beautiful setting of Mells Barn, just outside Frome and one of Millie Moons favourite places. Its taking place on the 1st and 2nd December 10-5pm.


We will be there on the Saturday with a little stall of gift ideas along with many talented others including our very own Vickie,  Fromemaid with her amazing kids superhero capes www.fromemaid.com

 On Sunday the lovely Gaynor, will be there selling her unique mixed media creations, including her collages, felt brooches and decorations www.folksy.com/shops/gingergirl


check out the blog for more info http://christmasatthebarn.blogspot.co.uk

      Frome's christmas Supermarket takes place on Sunday 2nd December from 10-4pm. The creative artisans will be lining the streets of Frome, including Catherine Hill, selling unique and fabulous gifts, food, decorations and more. The Flea market at the Cheese and Grain will  be a great place for that special find. 

Shops and cafes are also opening, perfect for christmas shopping. 

We will be open 10-4pm and the very creative Quilt Queen Caroline Frances-Payne will have her colourful stall outside our shop for the day. 


Hopefully I will get all my shopping done that weekend. How about you?
                                                                                        
                          
 Shop Local, Shop Frome

The Great Create

Well, we have finally got our breath back and we can now fill you in on the fun we had at our Charity event "The Great Create" at the fabulous Mells Barn.

After months of planning, cutting and excitement, the finally day came. The sun shone and we arrived early at the beautiful Mells Barn to hang the bunting, set up the sewing machines and lay the craft tables ready to welcome all the ladies to the event. Even the Cows came to say hello.

Once everyone had received their Millie Moon bag containing their 'Speed Crafting Makes' and taken a seat at a crafting table, the day started with a welcome talk by Kelly Hall from PAC. She explained the role and importance of the charity and the reason why we were all there. After a brief explanation of the days events, the Mayor of Frome, Pippa Goldfinger, rang the bell and we were off.

"Ready Steady SEW!"

The speed crafting had begun and so off they went, sewing, gluing, folding, pinning, cutting...

As each project finished, the bell would ring and a game of musical chairs began as the ladies moved to the next table to create again. Bows, pincushions, christmas decorations in felt, paper and ceramics, jewellery, yo-yos... 

A total of 80 ladies completed a total of 640 craft projects in one day! Unbelievable.

We had a fantastic lunch provided by the Walled Garden at Mells, a great informative talk by Lyndsey Mayhew from Mollie Makes magazine, more speed crafting and then a talk by local illustrator and designer Carol Tratt had everyone laughing. Afternoon tea and cake was needed to keep sugar levels up as the Jelly roll Race was about to commence. 

Four teams of ladies raced through the Jelly rolls and we had 4 finished quilt tops in under an hour. Incredible but addictive... and maybe a little competitive? 


All fabric for the Jelly roll race was supplied by MODA 

The raffle was by far the best raffle we have ever seen. Prizes donated by so many local businesses, Vita interiors, Bramble and Wild, Marmalade yarns, Edamay, all the tutors and from EQS, COATS and MODA. Fabric, Jelly rolls, Coat, Bags, kits, cushions, subscriptions to mollie makes and simple things magazines and much much more. The raffle raised over £500

From tickets Sales we raised a whopping £2000, with the raffle and the selling of the quilt tops from the Jelly roll race the total is now £2522! 

Millie, Dee and Julie... Superstars in the Kitchen

We cannot thank everyone enough for their help and support. From the tutors and volunteers who gave up their time and expertise, Kelly, The Mayor, the speakers,The Walled Garden, the businesses who sponsored and gave raffle prizes, Sue who supplied the cutlery at very short notice, the speakers and of course to everyone who bought a ticket. Without you the create would not have been so great. 

Thank you and for those of you asking already...

Maybe next year??? Keep your eyes peels and get practising those Jelly Rolls races....


Rachel and Becki xxx

(Finally, apologies if we have missed anyone from the thank you's.  So many of you were part of an amazing day, we have been totally overwhelmed by your support and your generosity and for the fabulous feedback we have received) 


About the Tutors:
Gaynor Ringland - Gingergirl
Vickie Piper - Fromemaid   http://www.fromemaid.com
Angela Lai Yen - Little studio red     http://angelalaiyen.blogspot.co.uk
Emma and Jane - Dufflebobble     http://dufflebobble.blogspot.co.uk
Caroline Frances Payne - Quilter
Jo Luckstead - Ceramicist     http://jolucksted.com
Alexandra and Anna - Make me a Dress     http://makemeadress.blogspot.co.uk
Anne Baillie Smith - Designer and Maker

Please respect the tutors who gave up their time, skills and creativity and  be so kind as to not reproduce the patterns for commercial purposes

A little bit of advice...?

Dear ladies 

I received this on Facebook and thought I must share it with all the lovely sewing ladies out there.  Now I know where I have been going wrong all this time... 

If I had the technical skills, I would enable a sound track to play Andy Williams crooning  " Hey, little girl, fix your hair, put on your makeup" !






Love Vickie, Fromemaid 

Anyone for tennis?

What a year for celebration!  We've had the Diamond Jubilee, it'll soon be the London Olympics and in the meantime Wimbledon starts on June 25th.  


Now, I've not got the best record with tennis, my friend Lisa and I used to spend our PE lessons hitting our ball into the outside swimming pool.  My Mother In Law is coming to stay this week and loves to watch the tennis tournament on TV.  I usually just dip into it through the Sports News headlines at 10pm.  I prefer the cultural traditions that occur such as; the queues around the block, the crowds singing in the rain, applauding the rain covers being removed and play being stopped by an errant pigeon- to the actual games!  I'm not so good at sitting still doing nothing during the day because I have a little haberdashery devil sat on my shoulder telling me I could be sewing!  I think a good compromise might be for me to keep the elder Mrs. F company  watching Wimbledon using appropriately themed fabrics and trimmings such as these juicy little numbers we have in store.  Mmm, strawberries, now that's something I can get excited by!

Pretty lace trim bias binding

strawberry bias binding

lots of strawberry printed cotton fabric

By Vickie, Fromemaid

Olympic Torch Relay in Frome today

What an incredible day it has been today, there has been not a single cloud in the sky- which helped to make the occasion a really memorable event.

In the shop this morning, Gaynor held a drop in "Sew a Union Jack Brooch" workshop.  During which the footfall of people heading down Catherine Hill was a quite a sight in itself and  there was a tangible hum of excitement in the air.  Myself and Gaynor went down to watch the torch bearers run through Bath Street.  As we turned the corner into Stony Street there was an almighty cheer from children as the warm up guys on bouncy stilts revved them up.  These guys were high fiving the motorcycle Police Officers as each drove past; the atmosphere was wonderful!    Our position meant we saw one torch lighting the next and glimpsed the runner going past- couldn't have asked for more!  (Well, maybe a photo that is actually in focus?)!

 We headed back to the shop, from where we then saw and heard even more of a crowd heading back up the hill.  When this trailed off a bi,t a delightful young girl came in with her Mum and I helped her to sew her own patriotic brooch from one of our kits. I was very impressed with her stitching ability and it was a real real pleasure to meet her.  Here she is, Elizabeth, proudly showing her work:

 Roll on the Jubilee!

Hope you all have a fantastic Summer, Vickie.

Millie Moon meets the ladies of Wells WI

On Tuesday 3rd April, The Millie Moon team pulled up in front of the beautiful Wells museum, ready for our evening with the lovely ladies of the Wells WI.  Arms filled with sewing machines, fabrics and of course my little speech, I think we were all a little nervous.

Once inside the impressive building, the two rooms we were allocated were quickly transformed into Millie Moon demonstration and workshop space. In the demonstration room the team showed their skills. We had:

Angela - Freemotion embrodiery

Anne - Dressmaking

Vickie - Home accessories

Caroline - Patchwork and Quilting
In the workshop room Gaynor was doing paper crafts and myself and Becki made jubilee corsages.

As the ladies gathered the time came for me to stand  up in front of over 70 ladies and make a little speech about 'Millie Moon and how it all began'. Luckily it went ok and I quickly handed over to the team. 

   

It was soon a buzz of activity as all the ladies moved from table to table to see the demonstrations and take part in the workshops. The ladies were all lovely and very enthusiastic. All chatted and asked questions about all aspects are craft and sewing. 

The two hours flew by really quickly, all of us were tired and hoarse but we left very happy. It was a really fun evening and so great to see the WI still going from strength to strength. 

Thank you to Wells WI for inviting us and we look forward to seeing you all again soon. 

Also a big thanks to the Millie Moon team Caroline, Anne, Vickie, Angela and Gaynor for coming along and supporting us. You made it a great success!

We will be at the next meeting of the newly formed Frome WI on Thursday 17th May... 

Rachel x 

Make and Cake Evening 26th April

I still have Tuesday's where I pinch myself; I can't quite believe I'm part of  the Team  for my favourite shop.  It get's even  better this month as I'll be spending an evening at Millie Moon with my friend Tamsin of Tea 'n Cake, running our first make and cake evening.  I'll get to combine two of my favourite pleasures; sewing and food!
The "make" will be different each time we run these evenings, our first is  a Vintage Style Tea Cosy as we felt it teamed the two enterprises together nicely and it felt a particularly British item; relevant for St. Georges week and the whole 2012 vibe.

I'll be providing a choice of  fabrics, in kit form, so you'll have the instructions to go forth and multiply Tea Cosy's once you've made your first with us!  The kits themselves would make great gifts I think. Please visit Tamsin's blog where she describes the format of the evening:  http://www.teancake.co.uk/index.php/events/

  Phone Millie Moon or pop in to book a place, I look forward to seeing you there!
By Vickie the Fromemaid

My First Workshop by Fromemaid

I ran my first workshop at Millie Moon a couple of Tuesdays ago; Summer Doorstops.  I couldn't have wished for a better group of people to work with.  It was so good to spend time with people who enthuse  over the choice of  fabrics Becki and Rachel have in their shop as much as I do!  All the materials necessary  were provided in the price of the workshop, resulting in each of  the four ladies  producing  beautiful doorstops plumped full with long grain rice.  There was a lovely atmosphere and a fair bit of laughter,  I'm really excited about my next workshops.

I'll be running the Millie Moon rolling programme of  workshops on Tuesdays as well as workshops for some of my own Fromemaid designs.  Check out the Sewing School on the Millie Moon website, if you'd like to find out more.

By Fromemaid x