Celebrating our 5th Birthday

Its been 5 years since we opened the door of the shop, in Catherine Hill, Frome, Somerset. Its been such a fab 5 years, we have seen so many fabrics come and go through the doors, and made some great friends along the way.  

We decided that as it was our birthday the Frome shop needed a good spring clean and we got a bit carried away and gave it a whole new look.

The Fabric Room

The black shelves and Chandeliers give the fabric room a boudoir feel, the tea chests are perfect for holding the many different interfacings and vilenes and the tin bath is great for storing the bulky poly waddings and cotton battings.

The Pre-cuts

We have managed to find a perfect little home for all the lovely Moda pre-cuts. Layer cakes, Jelly rolls and charm packs. Which do you prefer? 

The Button Tower

This is our beautiful button tower. Just like a tiered wedding cake and So many new buttons!

These beautiful dresses have been made from Millie Moon fabrics by the fabulous 'Make me a dress' by Alexandra King and Anna Vickery  http://www.makemeadress.blogspot.co.uk 

Habby Wall

                                                                

Even the habby has a new home, 

everything you need for all those sewing projects                      

Geekly chic 

looks great sitting on the enormous wooden cotton 

reel in the window.

  

A big thank you to all our creative customers, our very talented tutors and our amazing team for supporting us over the last 5 years. We hope you like the new look, pop in and say HI soon. 

BIG love 

Rachel and Becki x

PS watch this space...exciting news coming soon!

English Paper Piecing with the Frome WI

This month we were very excited to be asked back by the Frome WI to join them for their 1st Birthday. 

We were with them at the very first meeting when we made Jubilee corsages with the group. We also popped back to see them in November to do a christmas make with them, little felt gingerbread men. 

This time, we decided to teach the group a skill and show them the traditional patchwork method of 
"English Paper Piecing"

We used pre-cut 2.5" paper hexagons and 3" pre-cut fabric squares to create flowers. Each hexagon is sewn by hand, once 7 hexagons have been made, then the group began sewing the hexagons together to create the flowers. 

Hand sewing is very satisfying and english paper piecing is very addictive. Its that little project that you can carry around and do anywhere, in the cafe, on the train, in front the tele. Just pop it into a bag. 

This process can be developed into an appliqué design on a larger project, turned into placemats, baby balls or sewing the flowers together will make a very detailed and special handmade quilt. Its great for using scraps as its only small pieces that you are using. Perfect for a memory quilt or using vintage fabrics.




About the WI
Over the last year the group have held a wide variety of meetings attracting about 50 ladies, covering Astronomy, clay modelling, wreath making, midwifery, wine, cheese, self defence and craft, but they have also been involved in fundraising and working to support local causes and businesses. 

  

If you fancy going along to the WI:

They meet on the third Thursday of every month in the United Reformed Church Hall on Whittox Lane in Frome from 7.30 - 9.30. The best place to park is in the Westway carpark (behind Argos in the centre of town) and then walk up the lane by the bike shop. This will bring you out on Whittox Lane. 

Contact info for the Frome WI: 

WI.frome@gmail.com. 
http://fromewi.blogspot.co.uk
also on Twitter and Facebook


Pictures supplied by Frome WI 

Wow! quilts by Abby.

Abby is a regular at Millie Moon Sewing club. She has been coming along for a while now, and always has a quilt on the go. This month we were all amazed as she brought in the two memory quilts she has been working on for her girls. They were fantastic and I asked her if we could pop them on to our blog. 

Over to Abby:


I started quilting in June, My brother and sister-in-law were expecting their first baby, and I thought a baby patchwork would be a perfect present. They didn't know if they were going to have a boy or a girl so it had to be suitable for both. So the binding was a dark material with tiny strawberries on, and the patches were mixtures of colourful dotted material, ladybirds, frogs and stripes. They had a lovely little girl in September, and she loves the quilt.

 I then made a similar one for my nephew, with jars of insects and more boyish material.

Then I made the quilts for my daughters christmas presents (pictured), these were a much bigger task as not only are they six times the size of the ones I had done for the babies, but I had to try to do them without them realising. As well as buying special materials with designs that suited them, I also bought all the baby grows and beautiful clothes that I couldn't part with when they had grown out of them down from the attic. After a large glass of wine I managed to build up the courage to cut them up . My mum bought round some clothes from when I was a baby for me to use, and she also made the buttonholes for the pockets as I didn't have a clue.The hardest patch were the coca-cola ones. I traced the writing from
the label of a cola bottle, then cut it out and pinned it to the fabric then cut round it, but it was very fiddely. My favourite patches have all the funny things they used to say as toddlers embroidered onto it. Its nice to look at them and remember. The girls favourite patches are one of the pockets with a laminated four leaf clover in them that we found on a walk one day, (luckily we found two or that could have been awkward) and the marmite and nutella jars. I have just finished making a single quilt for my eldest niece, which I hope she will like. I have also made my girls a couple of dresses. It is a fairly new hobby but one I enjoy very much, I have met some new friends through the Milliemoon sewing club, and they are always happy to help if I have any questions.

Millie Moon Sewing club meets on the 1st tuesday of every month in the Frome shop 6-8pm 

Come along and bring a project, meet new friends, and chat over a cup of tea and cake. 
Next one is 5th March

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

Christmas in July...?

Summer is here! The sun is shinning! Lots of time to sit in the garden and enjoy all those light warm summer evenings. Ummmm ...


Maybe we should take advantage of this weather and get ahead of ourselves. Christmas is only 173 making days away and if the sunshine does arrive in september/october again this year, we will want to be rushing out into the garden for a quick bbq not making stockings and lavender hearts for the school fair.

Shop display on Sunday 1 July for the Frome Artisan Market including christmas tree

So now is the time to be bold and brave. Buy that christmas stash and get those projects started. You will soon have a large collection of stock ready for all those last minute gifts, school fairs and house decorations. 


We have just received the first of the Christmas collections in from Riley Blake.


The first is 'Santa's workshop'

Beautiful bright fresh prints, small enough for those little projects or as a babes 1st christmas quilt 

by the metre, FQ, charm packs and layer cakes

Also 'Apline Wonderland'

A contemporary collection of greens, reds and blues. Birds and trees in winter scenes. Perfect for christmas tablecloths, napkins and quilted coasters.

by the metre, FQ, charm packs and layer cakes

Finally, Riley Blake Advent Calendar Panel 

A simple and effective way to create a family advent calendar which can be used year after year

  The panel includes the calendar, softies in christmas scenes and a holiday banner. 

This is just the start of the christmas collections, we have many more to come including Michael Miller and Moda

What will you make?