The latest precut collection to arrive from Moda fabric is Awesome by Sandy Gervais.

This fabric collection is available in jelly rolls, charm packs and layer cakes and would be great for an Autumn project.

Moda’s Lumiere de Noel by French General is one of the Christmas fabric collections, but I wouldn’t say that it is particularly Christmassy. French General’s collections all have a vintage French theme to them and this is no different.  The color palette includes taupe, creams and French reds which could be used at any time of the year.

Moda fabrics: Lumiere de Noel by French General

We’ve got jelly rolls, charm pack and layer cakes in this delightful collection and for inspiration there’s a free pattern for a table runner made in Lumiere de Noel fabrics or a table cloth pattern over at the Moda Bakeshop website.

Yes, sad as it may seem, we’re thinking about Christmas already, because we recently had a delivery of some new Christmas fabrics, Advent calendars and Christmas stockings from Makower.

This year’s advent calendars are certain to be popular. In fact we’ve sold several already.  What you get is a panel with the calendar printed on one side and pocket pieces on the other.  You cut the pocket pieces out and sew them on to correct place on the calendar.  Everything is clearly marked where to cut and where to sew.  You can then put some wadding and a backing piece of Christmas fabric on and voila!  All you need to do is hang it and fill the pockets with treats for your kids (or even yourself )

See our post from last year for more details on how to make advent calendars from these sorts of panels.

The first design features a cheerful snowman with a glittering night sky behind.

Snowman Advent Calendar

And the second is a stack of Christmas presents on a cream background with gold stars.

Christmas Presents Advent Calendar

We’ve also got some Christmas Stockings this year too.  These are even easier to make.  On the panel there are two stocking shapes to cut out.  One shape features a snowman, the other Father Christmas.  If you want to make one stocking, just sew the two shapes together.  If you want to make two stockings then buy some additional Christmas fabric and back the panel pieces with that instead.  They could be lined and quilted if you wanted, but if you don’t feel confident enough to do that, they they’d work just as they are!

Make some Christmas stockings

I’m very excited to show you this quilt, made by my Mum, using the House on the Hill pattern - Days in Provence.

Days in Provence Quilt from House on the Hill

My Mum recently got a new Bernina sewing machine complete with embroidery unit and she was able to use it to do the four embroidered lavender flowers as well as the writing.

This is going to hang on display in the shop for a while, but I hope that it might inspire others to have a go.  It would be a good quilt to try for those who are new to quilting as there aren’t any small or tricky shapes to deal with.

This week we also had a delivery of Moda scrap bags.  These bags contain the left overs from Moda’s production of layer cakes. Near the print plant, they were being destroyed. Moda swooped in and came up with a clever way to save a scrap!

Moda Scrap Bags

Each bag contains strips of between 30 and 40 fabrics. Each strip is about 2.5 inches in width and 32 inches long and may contain selvedges. Each bag’s strips are colour coordinated and come from Moda’s most popular collections.  In total there is approximately 1/2 pound of scraps.

Ideas of what to do with a scrap bag can be found on the Moda Bakeshop website

Supply of Moda Scrap Bags is intermittent.  You never know when they will next be available, which means once these have gone, that will be it for a while. Get them while you can!

Moda’s Park Avenue collection of jelly rolls, layer cakes and charm packs is now in stock.

Moda Jelly Roll Park Avenue by 3 Sisters

This picture helps to show you what the fabrics in the collection look like:

Moda's Park Avenue fabric

You can purchase these Park Avenue pre-cuts from our shop now.

This lovely little selection of fabrics is taken from Moda’s popular collection called Rural Jardin by the designers French General.

Rural Jardin by French General for Moda Fabrics

The French farmhouse feel to these fabrics reminds me of summer holidays in Provence when I was a child. I find them so pretty and think they’d be perfect for some home furnishings.

You can buy any of the fabrics pictured up in individual pieces or buy them all in a fat quarter pack for just £18.50.

When the DHL man called yesterday, I was somewhat surprised.  I’m wasn’t expecting a delivery from him.  So I was delighted when I opened it and discovered that the parcel contained three Heather Bailey Nicey Jane design rolls (jelly rolls).  I had ordered these back in February I think, but when the Kaffe Fassett jelly rolls and Amy Butler design rolls arrived a few weeks ago, I was told that the Nicey Jane ones had all sold out and that I wouldn’t be getting any.

They must have proved popular enough for Rowan/Westminster Fibres to cut some more!

The Heather Bailey design roll contains 40 strips from her Nicey Jane collection, a really pretty collection that offers a mix of nostalgic florals and modern geometrics presented with Heather’s signature flair for colour.  It’s fresh and summery and I’m sure will inspire all sorts of lovely projects.

I just have to show you the beautiful quilt that my Mum finished this weekend.

Jelly Roll Taupe Quilt

She made it for one of her sisters and I’m sure my Aunty will love it.  It didn’t take her too long to actually sew.  I think the hardest part was deciding what colours to put together first in the squares and then finding a suitable fabric for the outside border to pull the whole thing together.  The red outside edge was a last minute addition which finishes the whole thing off nicely.

The pattern came from this book: Jelly Roll Quilts: The Perfect Guide to Making the Most of the Latest Strip Rolls
by Pam and Nicky Lintott

Another jelly roll arrived last week!  This one uses fabrics from Jenean Morrison’s California Dreamin’ fabric collection.

California Dreamin' by Jenean Morrison Jelly Roll

This jelly roll contains just 16 strips, so you’d need two or three to make a quilt.  However there are other uses for a jelly roll, such as wall hangings, purses, bags, book covers…

Jenean Morrison’s own blog has some lovely pictures of items people have made from her fabric.