Prepare yourself! I have a lot to show you so this will be a long post. I will start with goodies I got at the Festival of Quilts 2016 and then share some London holiday fun for those of you that are interested in my general life stuff!

First up were these incredible metallic zips from The Eternal Maker, honestly a photo can't capture how pretty these are. The zip tape is a beautiful sparkly black, they also have gold and silver.


I have been wanting an octagon acrylic template, so I snagged one along with some papers at Sew & Quilt. I'm looking forward to using these.


Both of these shops had gorgeous fabric ranges, I wasn't looking for fabric but it was really tempting! If you haven't already I recommend checking them out.

My wonderfully talented friend Nicky surprised me with an incredible gift. She knows I love Superman, she recently made her daughter an amazing bag and I proclaimed my love. This is literally one of the best gifts I have ever been given - handmade, by my friend, beautiful notebook cover with Superman fabric and a notebook!! She even gave me Superman scraps too. Thank you so so much Nicky ❤



Look at those clever fussy cut cover flaps and a pocket too. I will treasure it but also use it!


This past week I have been in London and part of the reason I didn't buy fabric at the festival was because I was saving myself for Liberty. It is the most incredible shop and even if the fabric isn't to your taste, if you are ever in London you must pay a visit!


That floor and all the displays could become fabulous quilt patterns!


I hotfooted it to the Haberdashery section...




If I could I would have bought everything and while I was tempted to go for some of the more recognisable classic prints I was really drawn to the new season fabrics and something more unusual.

 In the background - top: Pebble Bay C  bottom: Josue A

I got a little bundle too, admittedly because it had this pineapple print in it but it is nice to have a bit of variety too:

 Painter's Meadow C


 Mae

 If you know what this print is called please let me know!
Ibiza Berry
- thank you The Strawberry Thief for the identification

Prince George B


We had a lovely few days in London on our holidays. It was beautiful weather and we spent nearly all the time outdoors. We stayed right near Tower Bridge:


With a view of The Shard:


We walked through Potter's Fields every day and the kids loved these paint tube flower displays!




They thoroughly enjoyed our theatre trip to see The Scarecrow's Wedding at Leicester Square Theatre. It really was a great performance with brilliant songs!


We did some sightseeing...


Lots of walking...


Exploring and picnicking. Quite by chance we came across a wonderful performance by Zadie Xa - Linguistic Legacies and Lunar Exploration at the Serpentine Gallery in Hyde Park.

They had the most fabulous costumes, bleached and appliqued!


We can only cast our evil together, so
(i tell you) we protect this space
With courage we kill the attempt to hate
on my crew all we spread is love
Good vibes only allowed on our cloud
and thrive off collected strength
Bad omens should only be cast down
the debris falls back to earth
Are you ready to come where we're going
it's a better way

If the earth is spared, only justice
to all living things (and everything alive)
will save you

Adapted from:
Alice Walker 'Only Justice Can Stop a Curse' (1982)
Wu-Tang 'M.E.T.H.O.D. MAN' (1994)
by Taylor Jayne Le Melle


Here is a snippet I recorded:



And then just afterwards we randomly encountered a helicopter right before it took off. The helicopter crew and Police officers that were there were so nice and the pilot shook hands with our kids. Very cool!


I was so thrilled to be able to capture it:




After all that excitement we are home, I've nearly done all the laundry and am looking forward to a bit of machine sewing.


Molli Sparkles