The Eternal Maker Crafts

Happy New Year

2012-01-16T18:59:00.005Z

Hello! It's been a while. I always have the best intentions but somehow there is so much going on that I don't manage to report back here as much as I want to. I'm always so impressed with those people who manage to keep their blogs/ facebook/ twitter/ pinterest etc. pages up to date. So one of my work-related new years resolutions is to try to do this better. But also to not feel guilty about not managing!

Anyway, this is just a quick post to say firstly that we're having a BIG clear out. I'm adding new items to the sale section on the website every day. You can see it here

Be warned though, we're selling things fast... and adding things. so it's worth keeping up to date with. In my opinion, at least.

So why are we having a clearout?

Well, we've got a lot coming in. We've had deliveries from Kokka, Yuwa, Alexander Henry, Michael Miller, Robert Kaufman - and we're due more in, including LOTS of lovely organics, including, in a month or so, the lovely Birch Mod Basics. So excited. So I need some room on the shelves, really, for all this fabric. Unless I move to a bigger premises, which those of you who've visited the shop will realise is a VERY silly idea.

And that's all really. Although I will leave you with my favourite fabric so far of 2012 (I know, early days yet, but I love it so much I can't imagine anything else overtaking it.)

melody miller spring flowers in mustard. Yum.

For me it's going to be a skirt. Violet, from Colette, I think, and our new Colette Patterns stock should be in any day now. So don't you all buy it, you hear me? I don't know how much I need for my skirt and the bolt is already running a little low. I'm getting that nervous panic buying feeling again (yes, even the owner of the company gets that).

anna x

Shadey Goings On!

2011-10-01T09:17:00.005+01:00

Just how much fun did we all have making up the samples of our new lampshade kits ready for the Knitting and Sttching Show at Alexandra Palace next week?

I think I may have found my new fabric-based obsession!

These really are the easiest (and most professional looking) make I've done in a long time. Just a little bit of cutting, peeling, sticking and rolling, hey presto - lampshade o'clock! I can already see lots and lots of cyclindrical presents under my Christmas tree this year!

Anyway with Paul at the helm instructing (although, we admit we didn't really listen to him much - we were all too excited!) Anna, Sally and myself all created lampshades to be displayed on our stand.

So if you're coming to Ally Pally(the show runs from the 6th to the 9th of October), make sure you come and check out our handiwork on stands L12 and L15 (we're in the brochure listed under "The Button Company" our sister company) - the first three people each day that come to our stand armed with a photo/picture of a lampshade (we don't mind if it's on your photo, camera or printed) will receive 15% their chosen lampshade kit! (One discounted kit per person - while stocks last). Exciting times!

Ruby Star Spring

2011-08-15T19:14:00.005+01:00

Sometimes, a range of fabrics comes along that I just fall in love with. That I have to take home and have in my life. One was Melody Miller's fab range Ruby Star Rising, which I first saw on initial drawings whilst in LA eighteen months ago (that long? how did that happen?). The pics included a few other things that didn't make it into the final range, but I instantly fell in love with Melody Miller's style, and pestered my supplier until it finally came into store. Once it came in, I immediately made a skirt out of this print.

With pockets in the ochrey/limey solid echino, it has been one of my favourite skirts ever since.

And then I heard that she was releasing another range this spring. I ordered it without even seeing it, as I knew it would be great. Then came the wait. And then finally, this arrived the afternoon before we left for festival of quilts. Ahhhhhhhh...

Of course I had to quickly whip up another skirt made out of the big bee print. Of course.

And even more exciting? We got this print before even America did. That never happens.

So, it's been to Birmingham and back, and now what's left is up online here

It's a full 62" wide, rather than your normal 44", which is extra brilliant, and also good for skirt making, as for me I am usually a little bit too *ahem*, wide for a normal half a metre, and this means no messing around with extra bits of fabric to fit around my bottom. Love it.

And i've now seen pictures of her third range... how many Melody Miller skirts do you think is too many?

EDITED TO ADD:

As you (WandaFish!) asked to see my skirts, here they are - you'll have to excuse the awful photos, they were taken on my phone during the course of Festival of Quilts...

a bee skirt!

teacups skirt

Penguin & Fish Day!

2011-08-04T17:10:00.005+01:00

Just have a looky at these lovely things! Rachael has been busy making up the samples for upcoming Hand embroidery day - "Penguin & Fish Day" and aren't they scrummy!
Inspired by the people at "Penguin & Fish" Rachael's blown up the embroidery patterns to humungous size to create a beautiful hedgehog wall hanging (framed in a quilt hoop) and a fantastically, seventies-esque, frolicking, fox cushion.Penguin & Fish Day is running on Saturday 3rd September - and you will have the chance to make up your own giant embroideries or work on a smaller scale - what ever takes you fancy. so get in touch to reserve your kit and your class space. Or just pop by during the day for make and take projects.
Check out the special events section of our lovely new website for a sneaky preview of classes running this September - just drop us a line to book up!

For People without Pockets!

2011-07-20T09:55:00.026+01:00

It's that time of year again - when we up sticks and take half our shop and half our staff up to the NEC, Birmingham for the first major show of the season "Festival Of Quilts".With the show running from 11th -14th August, preparations are in full swing, and as a treat to ourselves we thought we all needed new money belts, partly to keep our pennies safe but mainly because we are always looking for excuses to make up things in the lovely "Melody Miller" and "Echino" ranges!

Now with all you wheeler dealers out there (and you gardeners /crafters /painters /decorators/people-without-pockets, out there) we often get asked how to make up our mini aprons...... So with our brilliant work experience girl Emily on hand to do all the stitching we've decided to do a quick "how-to" for you all....

All you'll need is half a metre of fabric (112cm/44" wide), enough tape to tie around you, a sewing machine, thread and a couple of pins.

Step 1

Cut the half metre of fabric into two pieces of approximately 50cm x 55cm each. (If your fabric was originally folded on a bolt when you bought it just cut down that centre crease.) Trim off the selvedge edges.

Step 2

You now need to re-join the two pieces of fabric along the 55cm side. Place the two fabric pieces with the right sides facing each other and stitch along one of the 55cm sides. You need to make sure that when they are joined together the direction of the pattern will go the same way on both portions of your apron.

Step 3

Keeping the right sides of the fabrics facing for the moment - sew along both 50cm edges joining the fabric to make a pocket with one of the 55cm side left open. Clip the excess fabric from the corners of your stitching and turn the pocket right side out.

Step 4

Give the pocket of fabric a quick iron. Now it's time to think about the pocket front - fold the stitched bottom edge of your pocket of fabric up to create what will become the pocketed section of your apron.

If you want to add a secret pocket to the reverse of your apron, mark the bottom fold and the top edge of this folded fabric with a couple of pins and unfold and then follow step 5. (If you don't want a secret pocket skip to step 6)

Step 5 (secret pocket)

Use a scrap of fabric and cut it to the size you want your pocket to be. Iron around all the edges of your secret pocket folding in the raw edges as you go. Stitch along the top edge of your secret pocket to make a hem (this is the top of your secret pocket). Now pin your secret pocket in place on the reverse side of your apron and stitch around the other three sides (left, bottom and right side edges) to form your pocket. (Remember to check your positioning - You don't want it to be positioned above the top edge of your front pocket compartments as you will see your stitching on the front, and you don't want it positioned below the fold line (marked with pins) of your main pocket compartments or else it will show on the front of your apron.)

Step 6

Now stitch up the sides of the folded pocket section to join them to the back of the apron. To divide your pocket into different compartments stitch a couple of lines of stitching that run vertically up the pocket section dividing the compartments.

Step 7

Now it's time to attach your tape. Fold it in half to find the centre and mark this with a pin. Take your apron front and lay it on a table with the main pocket compartments facing down onto the table. You will have some raw edge of your fabric at the top of your apron. Fold the raw edges over towards the back side of the apron (The side with the secret pocket if you have made one) make this fold slightly less wide than the tape you are going to use - and then iron the fold in place.

Step 8

Your tape is then sewn onto the back of the apron (use your pin marker to centre the tape) - stitch along both edges of the tape enclosing the raw edges of the apron under the tape.

Fold in and sew along the two ends of your tape to stop the ends fraying and you're all finished!

Time to get gardening, crafting, or wheeler dealering!

Focus On Organic Fabrics Day -23rd July 2011

2011-07-14T10:00:00.000+01:00

Focus on Organic fabrics Day (or FOOF day as we now call it in store!) is fast approaching so I just had to show you these gorgeous coasters that are going to be one of our make and take projects. Using the "Pots and Jugs" print from Cloud 9's "Cut Out & Keep" range these really are lovely - great for presents or a mini kitchen make-over - and so easy to make!

So make sure you come along on Saturday 23rd of July between 10am and 4pm for the chance to have a go at making all sorts from stitching to glueing and sticking - there will be projects suitable for all the family and even children's skirt, short and bib making - so something for all the little ones as well as the big ones!

Have fun learning how to get the best from these gorgeous fabrics - how exciting!
--

2011-07-13T11:01:00.010+01:00

Hi Rachael here - I know that maybe the weather isn't up to much as yet, but don't you just love summer! And my favourite thing about summer?..... It's all the day's out. Whether it's off to the beach, school fete or festival, weekends in the summer just seem to have so much more potential.

This Sunday I went off to Hampton Court Flower Show with my Mum and had a fabulous time wandering around the stands - coming up with fanciful ideas for my pitifully ignored back garden. It was all just so inspiring.

These were my two favourite gardens. I don't think I fancy mowing the lawn in the first garden - a bit tricky perhaps and may involve waders or even a boat! But how about the second one with it's checkerboard heather hedge - apparently this is "easily" done with wall mounted modules which I find quite exciting.

There was definitely a trend for planting in vertical spaces, and I guess with a lot of us living in more compact spaces, this really does make sense. As I was admiring another beautifully planted wall mounted display (this time made with fabric made from recycled plastic bottles) who should I meet but one of our lovely papercraft tutors Debs Winrow!

Now I had known that the reason we hadn't seen Debs in store for a while was because she was off doing something incredibly interesting, but I didn't quite know exactly what she was up to, so it was so exciting to see all the products, designers and artists she was promoting as part of her company Garden House Design. (www.gardenhousedesign.co.uk)

Other highlights of the day included the Sixties themed floral display. It was great to see Chichester College flying the flag for West Sussex - check out their yellow submarine garden complete with octopus below!

And of course I couldn't complete the day with out taking lots and lots of random vegetable pictures in the Edible Garden section. I'll spare you the whole album and just show you my finest cabbage patch pic!

So yes, there's all sorts going on out there. From major shows to small events - get out and about and I can guarantee you'll come away in awe and itching to get started on something.

And while we're talking about days out....... the next event at The Eternal Maker to add to your diary (if I'm allowed to pop a tiny plug in here) is Focus On Organic Fabrics Day on Saturday 23rd July. Pop along any time between 10am and 4pm for drop in make and take sessions using our lovely Organic fabrics from "Cloud 9" and "Birch". There will be projects suitable for all the family so come along and be inspired!

Promenade Sunday at Petworth House

2011-07-04T15:27:00.003+01:00

So how are you this fine sunny monday morning? I hope its as lovely where you are as here. Did you have a good weekend? Over at the eternal maker we had an official working sunday - but if only all work was as fun as this... We headed on over to Petworth House's Promenade Sunday, a day they had organised to celebrate all things vintage. You could buy vintage clothes, get your hair and make up done, listen to the band, eat a cream tea and drink Pimms. Yum. That's me and Rachael in our finery up there. We're modelling some vintage specs that had lenses that were just a little bit too thick, and made us feel like we had partaken of a little too much Pimms.

Here's our stall. Yeah, okay, we're not vintage. But I like to think of what we do as creating future vintage. The stuff that will last - not the disposable items you can buy in the shops today. This is the stuff that is created with love, given with love, kept with love, and handed down to future generations with love. Future vintage.

The man on the left hand side fiddling with buttons is someone you may have heard me talk about, or may have met in store. But as an official introduction, meet Paul. He works in the shop Monday - Wednesday, and packs orders and answers the phone and is generally a very helpful individual. And fun to have around, too!

On to other things. This is a present for a friend. Made with the new echino London fabric - oh my, how gorgeous is this? So gorgeous, in fact, that I couldn't bear to cut it up and made my first whole cloth quilt. Maybe a little less extravagant than some of the other whole cloth quilts that I have seen in my time.

Backed in a lovely lime essex linen, and bound in the echino natural purple. So simple, it took about 3 hours from start to finish.

I left the selvedge on, partly because I love a good echino selvedge, and partly because it says London on it, and I liked that it sort of named the quilt too, that way.

And I did my favourite sort of quilting too - hand sewn big stitches, bold colours. Simple.

Anyway, that's all on this lovely Monday. See you soon!

a x

And the winners are...

2011-06-27T21:26:00.003+01:00

Sorry this isn't last week like I promised, but I had totally forgotten I had planned to go visit one of my best mates over in Tetbury to help her celebrate her 30th and get to know her little girl Hester (now 4 months). I remembered I was supposed to do this in the middle of a barbecue, eating homemade burgers and homemade ginger beer (which makes it sound a little like an Enid Blyton book), and it I thought you wouldn't mind if it waited a couple of days...

But back to business.

The comment number that wins the layer cake is:

who by my reckoning is: sorbetsurprise

and the winner of the jelly roll is number 29 who is: orlaworld

So if you email me with your addresses I'll get those sent out for you.

Thanks for everyone who entered - I really enjoyed reading your comments about your favourite childhood outings. It made me feel all nostalgic, some of them were really evocative.

For those who are wondering about the status of our new website - it's still coming, but I don't have a final date yet. It's taking forever, as I'm sure you know all these things do. But I am beavering away behind the scenes and I'm soooo happy with what we've got so far and can't wait for the final reveal. It will be soon, it has to be, especially as I haven't been updating the old one recently, and we have so many exciting new things to show you.

And when we do the final reveal? Watch out for a BIG giveaway. More details soon!

Oliver + S Day!

2011-06-20T12:01:00.005+01:00

In case you missed it (and really, if you did, how could you? I was harping on about it enough!) Saturday was Oliver + S Day at the Eternal Maker. And what a great day it was!

We had an all day class making the Ice Cream Dress...

And look at some of these finished dresses - cute, huh?

No, Emily - I don't think its going to fit you. Nice try though.

And while all that was going on, we had some drop-in make and takes going on throughout the day. Here is Rachael doing some paper craft projects - we had fridge magnets with the oliver + s paper dolls, brooches, and of course, as Father's Day was on Sunday-

some sweet fathers day cards. Hmm. What clothes are they on the line? Oliver + s ones?

And while Rachael was doing that, Millie was making necklaces and earrings...

cute, huh?

oh, and check out the sweet spool dog. We were making them, too.

And while all THAT was going on, Paul and I were guiding people through making wash bags using lovely coated cotton from the Modern Workshop fabric range, and the Lazy Days Skirt.

I lost track of how many skirts we made through the day, but I'm pretty sure it has to be some sort of record. What I liked most was we had a lot of little girls in, and this skirt is so super easy that we were able to guide them through making them - for some of them it was their first time on a sewing machine!

Although the skirt pattern uses ribbon, it seemed that pompoms were the trim of the day, so with a slight adjustment of the pattern we pom-pommed everything!

Thanks everyone who came along and joined us on this great day, and thanks to oliver + s for making such good products!

Remember you still have time to enter our oliver + s giveaway - we will be drawing the winner at the end of the week, so enter now for this great prize!

Our next big day is on Saturday 23rd July, and is a celebration of organic fabrics - using fabrics from companies such as Birch Fabrics, and Cloud 9 Fabrics. More information on this nearer the time - but put the date in your diary!

Cape Ann Giveaway!!

2011-06-14T18:08:00.003+01:00

So, in honour of Oliver + S day on Saturday 18th June, we have a couple of giveaways! The lovely people at Moda have sent us a layer cake and a jelly roll from the gorgeous new range from designer Liesl Gibson of Oliver + S. Now, it's not out in the UK (or even the US!) yet, but will be by the end of the year, so this is a super special sneak peek, if you win one of these, you will be one of the FIRST people to get this. Get you. Amazing. The best thing about this fabric range is that it has all the cute Oliver + S clothes printed on it. And it also has loads of super cute mini mixer prints too. Ah, I can't wait.

So, I hear you say, what do you have to do to get a chance to win this awesomeness?

You have a couple of ways to win this.

First one is to leave a comment on the blog, telling us your favourite outing you had as a child. Was it something you did often, or just one special time? And then tell us what Oliver + S outfit you think you would like to have worn there. You can see the full lines here and here. We do have all the patterns in stock here even if they're not on our website, (which we haven't updated while we are working on the new website.)

The second way you can win is by tweeting or blogging about this. So leave a comment to let me know that you've done this and you'll get a second entry!

So in the spirit of finding out information from you, I though I should share about us. Rachael says her favourite childhood outing was Marwell Zoo (and I think it still might be too) and she would have liked to have worn the school photo dress (because of its great muff pocket) made in echino fabric as is shown on our facebook page here.

I find it hard to pick my favourite childhood outing, but one of my faves was Black Gang Chine on the Isle of Wight. We seemed to go a lot but it probably wasn't as much as it seemed. I would probably actually have worn one of the boys clothes, like the sailboat top and pants, but would have secretly wanted to wear the bubble dress in something very very pink. (I was a tomboy who had a not-so-secret passion for pink.)

Anyhow. Let me know and you could win either a Layer Cake or a Jelly Roll. 2 winners will be picked at random sometime at the end of next week, which gives you about 10 days to enter.

Ruby Star Rising Giveaway!

2011-05-26T09:54:00.003+01:00

Over on Pings and Needles we are giving away four fat quarters of your choice of the fabulous Ruby Star Rising range from Melody Miller. Could it get better than that? Well, yes, because the lovely Sarah is doing a big interview with Melody herself too in a few days - and having met Melody, it will be a good interview.

Have you checked out her blog? Melody has written some super inspiring posts over the past few months - I think my favourite must be this one - it made me think about all the things we have done even here at the eternal maker that haven't worked out. My favourite part is where Melody says: "I have to do work that honestly inspires me, and not get caught up in the trap of what-I-think-will-sell.". This is so true.

Anyway, I am rambling. So head on over to Pings and Needles and get yourself in the giveaway!

A x

P.S. Did you read how Melody describes me? Must be someone else she's thinking of ;)

Oliver + S Day, Saturday 18th June

2011-05-24T12:06:00.008+01:00

oliver + s day!

Saturday 18th June 2011

Come and join us for our very first oliver + s day, a day full of oliver + s themed fun and frolics.

First up on the schedule is a dressmaking class from 10.30am-4.30pm. Taught by Amanda (the clever lady who makes many of our oliver + s samples you can see in store), you will make the gorgeous Ice Cream Dress. How cute is this? Cost of this class is £35, included is your oliver + s pattern and your lunch! We only have a couple of places left on this course so sign up quickly.

Next up are make and takes by the eternal maker team - all inspired by oliver + s patterns, fabrics and their aesthetic, these make and takes are suitable for children so bring them along too! The make and takes are running from 10.30am - 4pm, and although I can't tell you what they are (oh okay, there's a skirt, paper doll jewellery & more), I can tell you they are exciting, and we've had a lot of help from the lovely people behind oliver + s to make sure they are truly authentic! Make and takes from £3

If you do a make and take during the day you will automatically be entered into a draw to win the amazing new oliver + s book, 'Little Things To Sew'. That is, if it's still here and hasn't been nicked by one of the eternal maker team (seriously, there have been some very covetous looks being cast in it's direction..). If you don't do a make and take, you can enter the draw in the shop by giving a pound towards our favourite charity, Help for Heroes.

And if that wasn't enough, there will be other prizes and competitions throughout the day too!

If you want any more information about anything to do with the oliver + s day, just let us know and we'll try and give you more information (without spilling all the secrets, of course!)

Hopefully we'll see you then!

Barcelona... where the streets are paved with hexagons

2011-05-07T22:44:00.004+01:00

Hello folks, how are you all doing this fine day? I feel like I should apologise because I was getting pretty good at updating and then I let it go for a little while again. But I'm back, and only 2 weeks, which for my records isn't that bad!

I do have an excuse, what with Easter, and then all the bank holidays. And I went to Barcelona for a long weekend and when I came back I didn't feel 100%, and couldn't face doing pretty much anything, let alone this. So sorry.

Has anyone been to Barcelona? It was my second trip there, the first being about 5 years ago now, and I had forgotten what a beautiful city it is. And I'd forgotten (or maybe I never noticed before) that many of the streets are paved with these beautiful paving stones. I never thought I'd use the phrase 'beautiful paving stones'. Ha.

But it's got me all inspired for hexagons. I've done a couple of hexagon projects before, but they've all been pretty small (cushions are the biggest). But maybe now I'm inspired now to maybe try something bigger. Hmmm. The grey of this also re-inspires me for my often-thought-about-never-yet-got-around-to grey and yellow quilt. This has been in my head for literally ages - but I haven't even started collecting fabrics for it, which for me is weird, it's usually any excuse. I think it's my 'one day' quilt. Anyone else got one of those?

Bank Holidays...

2011-04-23T19:55:00.004+01:00

So I found my bluebell woods, thanks for the suggestions. In the end I went with one close to home, just outside Chichester, near Funtington.

I'll have to ask if I can show you the pics with the children in, but I was super pleased with how they came out. It felt like everything was working in my favour. The camera, the light, the children, everything. These are just the throwaway snaps I was taking to check the lighting.

the sunlight dappled through the trees made for *perfect* light. Oh my goodness.

and after the bluebells, what better than to go on to the beach?

fish and chips tastes better when eaten out of paper on the beach, surely.

this is the beach I was brought up on - just down the road from my Grandma's house.

it's pretty seaweedy today, but it's not always.

Look at the colour of that water.

So how are you spending your bank holiday weekend?

Ah, April, how sweet you've been thus far...

2011-04-18T22:12:00.003+01:00

A weekend away in Wales with some of my favourite people in the whole world. Despite a weather forecast of rain, we had blue blue skies, and a hot gorgeous sun. (Although we had all packed for the cold and wet..) We were in the middle of nowhere, being shown around by a wise old sage of a dog. Bliss. This was one dog that knew what he was about. You could ask him anything and he would tell you the answer, like a magic 8 ball. And I'm not even a dog person.

It was like the land that time forgot. Nothing and no one for miles. We stumbled across this old car at one point, what a perfect set for some photos.

With bluebells starting to appear out of the depths, a week later and this lush green will be all blue, I would love to go back with my camera, but it is a little far for a few photos. I will have to hunt out a place near me. A friend has asked me to take pics of her kids in a bluebell wood somewhere so I will have to find a good spot. Anyone have any ideas in the West Sussex area?

Staying in a converted barn on a lovely smallholding with a host of friendly animals. Hello piggies, it was good to meet you. You may have been a little smelly and fussy with your food (who knew?) but you made for some good company.

And a good chance to see the baby quilt I made a month or so back put to use. I only have really bad photos of it but I was proud of it, so you'll have to put up with the badness of the pic and only being able to see one close up detail. Most of the fabric is My Happy Nursery by Cloud 9, and the appliques were hand drawn based on this print.

And quick note to self: Everything is funnier when done with a fake moustache. I'm not sure how much my friend would appreciate this photo being posted, but you can't tell who she is, can you? I have other, funnier photos, but I'm not sure how everyone would feel with their odd facial hair being posted on the world wide web. I will have to ask for future reference. [side note: one thing you may not know about me, I love moustaches. The jauntier the better. The mexican birthday surprise for my friend was merely a reason for me to fulfil my moustache fantasies. Ahh...]

Oh, and Harrysmum, I'm still waiting for you to claim your version of the below.

And the winners are...

2011-04-11T18:09:00.005+01:00

Before I announce the winners I thought I would share with you my favourites (it's only fair, I made you do it, now I should take my own medicine too, no?).I tried to narrow it down, honestly I did. But there are so many that I have had my eye on for specific projects, and so many that have always been firm favourites (thank heavens we sell out of things, if I was to go back into the archives I would never be able to pick.)

But I have narrowed it down to 2: The current echino range in the lightweight linen, the Rondo Stripe. This is the perfect width for pillowcases, which is my current easy sew quick fix item. Who wouldn't want to open their eyes in the morning and see some echino? yup. Just to prove I do actually make some things, here it is:

(not a great pic, but you get the gist..)

The other favourite at the moment is the Melody Miller Ruby Star Rising range - I love the teacups and have a skirt made out of the grey (mustard pockets, gotta love it), I have plans to make a lampshade out of the vintage ladies in ochre, and also have plans to make an ipod case from the transistors. Seriously, they are just a touch smaller than an ipod or iphone, so with a little border it will totally do. And how many would you get out of a fat quarter? Now that's value for money... if only I had a business selling ipod cases.

I realise that that is not one fabric, but a complete range, but I don't care. It's my favourite.

Also, and I have to totally apologise to all of you for this, but I realised how much we have that isn't actually online. Oops. I guess I didn't get around to a whole chunk of them. Well, when the new website (nearly there...) is done I will endeavour to get every fabric online. For real. I have already begun with the photos.

And now, (will she ever stop babbling, I hear you say, and announce the winners?)

The winners are Dearest Jackdaw, Fruity Loops, and Harrysmum - email me (sales@eternalmaker.com) with your addresses and I'll send out your scrap bags!

some of your words of wisdom please..

2011-04-09T12:37:00.005+01:00

I made this card (please excuse the poor quality scan, I don't have my camera with me today), and as you can see it has a big box at the bottom for a greeting/ saying/ quote something. And we have tried but we just can't think of anything. Maybe we are all too lethargic in this heat. It needs to be a sentence rather than a 2 word job because the box is about 8" wide. Something funny, or punny, even. It's for display purposes, so not for any particular event, which leaves the field wide open.
Any ideas? If necessary I can add other button birds - I could add one on it's lonesome, or one flying away, or anything really. But please help with your genious birdy one-liners, I would be very very grateful.
thanks x

a pretty good birthday present...

2011-04-07T21:11:00.006+01:00

I want to say the best ever, but I don't want to upset anyone else who bought me a present for my recent birthday (it was a decade one, so I did have some pretty good presents). This is something I've had my eye on for about 2 years, didn't actually think I would ever get it but ohmygoodnesssme look at this:

now this photo doesn't do it justice, I was getting a lot of glare from the hot hot sun, and the wind was blowing, and I was trying not to get it on the ground (and it's huuuge).

Aren't you jealous? I am jealous of me and it's mine. (That makes no sense, I realise).

This is also a well traveled quilt, having been all over the world in it's former life as a runway model (maybe not runway, maybe just exhibitions). But now it comes home to rest here in Chichester, many miles away from where it was born. It's going up in the shop on a giant hanger for a little bit until I move (hopefully soon, fingers crossed) so I can still look at it every day. Ah. So thankyouthankyouthankyou: best. present. ever.

Oh, and I haven't forgotten about the giveaway, I was thinking I would give it until Monday and then pick the winners. And I was thinking maybe I would head on over to our website and choose my favourite to share with you all. Although how on earth I'll pick I don't know. I'm liking your responses though, they are giving me lots of good ideas!

It's a lovely day for a giveaway!

2011-04-06T13:55:00.004+01:00

It's such a lovely day, see, look how the sun is shining.

We've spread out a bit outside, packing some bits to go off to Cologne for the Handerbeit & Hobby Show (we're not exhibiting, but we're helping out 7 Islands as we are a little closer to Cologne than they are, being all the way over in California), although it is as nice indoors with our high ceilings as it is outdoors.

Anyway, in honour of it being a lovely day, here's a little giveaway: I have 3 of our Japanese Fabric Scrap Bags to give away - all you have to do is tell me what your favourite fabric is in our Japanese section on our website. And tell me what you would do with it, if it was yours.

And then I will pick 3 winners.

So, tell me what you think!

Anna x

A perfect half

2011-03-30T16:49:00.006+01:00

An aerial photo of our newly sorted half metres. Don't get me wrong, we do sort them more often than my excitement would suggest, but this time my camera was to hand and I actually took photos. Whoop!!

We think they look like those aerial photos of fields. If only fields were made of fabric. (although then it would be like a fabric conditioner advert)
Now, no one come and mess them up!
Oh, ok, you can if you want...

A Half-finished Christmas

2010-12-23T10:54:00.000Z

Well guys and girls, Christmas is again very nearly upon us. I hope all your hand-made cards are in their envelopes, all your hand-made mince pies are in the oven and all your hand-made parcels are wrapped and under the tree? No? Well never mind – it’s time to take some time for yourself, relax and put your feet up. Take pleasure in the small things – I myself am particularly proud of the fact all my unmade and half finished presents are now organised into a box, labelled up and ready to come out next year to be finished (who am I kidding? – only myself - I’m sure this box of half loved parcels will haunt me for at least four more years). This cycle of un-finished presents has obviously been going for a while without me even noticing - I told my other half I was making my Mum a table cloth for Christmas this year and he responded with “but you always make and give your mother a tablecloth” – see, what he hasn’t actually noticed that it even though every year I say I will make a tablecloth and every year I find out the fabric I bought for the tablecloth, each year I run out of time or get distracted, by Jamie’s latest must do recipe or Kirstie’s latest must do make, and the sad tablecloth fabric gets silently put back in the cupboard through a cloud of shame.

So what does this tell us apart from you can take solace in the fact that there are definitely people out there (namely myself) with more unfinished present than yourselves? I think what it reminds us is that sometimes creative people can get caught up with the production line of making and forget about the fun. Making with deadlines in mind always has an underlying pressure. So for my New Year’s resolution I am going to alleviate this pressure – no more deadlines for me! I fact I have gone so far to resolved to make more things for myself and only for people who I really know will appreciate my love and time. What I resolved not to do under any circumstances is to say “yes I can whip one of those one for you!” to anyone rashly. I will make what I fancy, when I fancy and take time to enjoy the making........and if that box of half made parcels is still there next year and the year after so be it!

It only leaves me to thank all you guys out there for your support in the past year and to wish you all a cosy and creative Christmas and New Year, with lots of love from the whole team at The Eternal Maker

Rachael xx

Apologies for the delay folks!

2010-12-09T15:15:00.002Z

But I forgot to say we would be at the clothes show last week and therefore unable to do the draw for the echino giveaway. So, (a little later than expected), the winner is...

...Nikki from http://sewquine.blogspot.com/

Nikki, if you want to send me your address I will send out a little present for you just in time for christmas!

And for the rest of you, the fabrics are arriving in store next week so we will be getting them online as soon as they come in!

It's going to be a Hoot this Christmas

2010-12-01T16:41:00.003Z

I've just been updating the members of our swatch clubs with some of the new fabric coming into the store this month and felt I really couldn't leave out all you guys as well. So here goes.....

Flying into the shop this month is “It’s a Hoot” by Momo for Moda. With its yummy candy colours and bold ornithological prints we can wait to feather our beds (or at least cover our beds) with this one. All our Moda fabrics are still only £10 per metre so it’s definitely one to get your claws into.

Please excuse all the owly puns - it is almost panto season after all!)

You'll find them all online just search "It's a Hoot"

Quilt Market part too-whit too-whoo

2010-11-04T21:42:00.015Z

This is how fast we had to move to make sure we saw everything. ok, maybe it's just camera blur..

Anna: I don't know why I wrote this post's title like that. I reckon it may just be because one of the images that kept cropping up over the next few days at Quilt Market was Owls. Now, you probably all know we like owls - we have the ghost owl in our tree, we had a huge ricrac owl (before he got unwound) and we have at least 2 other owls that I can think of in the shop. So now they've all caught on, and owls are everywhere!

Anyway, back to the important business that was Quilt Market.

The days usually started off with a class. We fabric shops need to learn too, you know. My classes were more 'lecture' like (when will I ever be old enough to sit in a lecture and not want a snooze???), whereas Rachael and Mum seemed to be able to pick classes where they actually made things, so I will let them do the talking (well, Rachael probably, Mum probably not).

Rachael: Yes Anna is right I was lucky enough to accidently choose courses that were more practical than many. One of the highlights was attending a class in Sashiko quilting. We were supposed to be learning to quilt the "Zen" way. We had to relax, we had to learn Sashiko history, we had to be calm and concentrate on nothing but the cloth, the needle and the thread...... it took an hour before our tutor would even let us start stitching! Needless to say when I did finally get started I was so excitied my stitching was anything but Zen! I'd love to pretend the photo above is my finished work but I just about managed three lines of stitching. As always it was a really friendly class and I expect you can tell it was also Halloween - I've never seen so many grown women in orange - I love an excuse for fancy dress!
Interesting Sashiko fact number one: Fireman used to be hailed as rock stars in ancient Japan due to their protection of the paper lined houses - their coats were made of many layers of cloth and stored in barrels of water for protection from the heat. Sashiko stitching was used to hold all the layers of cloth together and even today firemen parade at ceremonies flashing their coats open and shut to show off the decorative (yet very practical) stitching.

Anna: One of my best bits of the whole show was finally seeing in the flesh the Melody Miller range for Kokka, Ruby Star Rising. It is as fantabulous as I had hoped. I had a total star struck moment during a class when two ladies wearing lots of this lovely range came and stood beside me. As I knew it wasn't available yet I knew one of them must be Melody Miller herself. How excited was I?

the lovely Melody Miller and me

Ruby Star Rising by Melody Miller for Kokka - check out the viewfinder print- how could you not want that?

And of course very very very exciting is the new Echino Autumn 2010 range - how could we not love this?

Bird's featured again in the designs - and much of the colour palette is the same as we have already seen from previous echino ranges - so it will mix and match well with what you and we already have!

I'm thinking about an echino giveaway - how about being one of the first people in the UK to own an echino 2010 fat eighth pack? To win one of these just write a comment about how much you love echino below and we'll randomly select a winner in 2 weeks time!

The very talented Cynthia Mann from Birch Fabrics

I was super excited to meet Cynthia Mann from Birch fabrics - I have been admiring her fabric for a while but never actually managed to sort out an order (would have wanted it all, I need to cut down somewhere!) - but seeing it all in the flesh and meeting Cynthia sold me on it - expect it in the new year - but I'll definitely let you know when it gets here!

Trish Preston from Two Peas in a Pod and Me

Anna: I first came across Trish Preston when I commissioned some of her work for Sew Hip - how funny that I kept coming back to this little pattern stand and thinking "there's something familiar about these" and only putting 2 and 2 together when we got talking! It's great to put a face to a name I emailed so many times! Trish's patterns are in store now - we will be putting them online soon I promise!

And lastly one final note about Hoppy, the cutest bunny who lived on our hotel patio.

I ♥ Hoppy

Quilt Market Part 1 (of how many I don't know...)

2010-11-04T21:17:00.012Z

Anna: So I seem to only write this blog when we have just got back from somewhere. So, this time it's back from Quilt Market in Houston. So with my brain overflowing I will try to put it all in some order to give you the scoops!

The day before the market started, there was an organised quilt shop tour for us. Well, I guess it was a busman's holiday, but we totally all enjoyed it. First up was Painted Pony & Quilts, then Sew Contempo, and then Quakertown. It's interesting to see how other people do it. These were all great shops, but a lot more traditional than we are, which was definitely interesting to see. Quilt stores in America seem to have a lot more space than most over here, and although we have more space than many, it was good to see how people use the space, and learn some lessons from it. I'm frustrated I don't have any photos to show you - they are all closeups - I will ask Rachael to see if she took any.

Lovely sales lady from Painted Pony n' Quilts

Rachael: Ah ha! The reason (not an excuse) that we have no photos of the quilt shops is that they all had big "NO PHOTOS" signs (the meanies!) and I didn't want break the rules and get deported on my first day in the States! I did however ask really nicely if I could take a piccy of the lovely sales assistant in "Painted Pony" cutting my "Cat in The Hat" fabric. The shop was divided in to separate rooms for different themes and types of fabric (there was even a whole room of sale fabric). I think you can get a little bit of an idea from the photo how neatly and lovingly everything was displayed. (Lucky for me I bought the "Cat in the Hat" fabric when I saw it as it's not licensed for sale in the UK otherwise we would have stocked up for the shop - sorry guys!)

I definitely took lots of photos at the lunch stop that day - we were lucky enough to go to the Space Center, and because I was easily the most excitied of all of us about that, Anna says she would feel mean if she didn't let me tell you all about it!

Ok I admit it - NASA was the highlight of my day (don't get me wrong I loved the quilt shops - but it's not everyday you can touch things from outer space!!) The inner geek that I try and hide every other day just couldn't be contained. We looked inside a training mock up of the shuttle (so claustrophobic) and we were able to touch Moon rock, the actual Apollo 17 landing capsule and a Saturn rocket. (The inner geek also got to try on space helmets - how exciting!)

Rachael & Anna trying on the spacemen outfits... just kidding

this is really us trying on the helmets and not looking quite so cool..

Rachael's best day ever?

All in all it was an amazing day, with all around great shopping opportunities - I came away with a real mix of all my favourite things - lots of fabric, space food and a rubber ducky driving a space shuttle - I know!

Anna: Next day was a day of learning about new products, fabrics & patterns that will be available in the upcoming year. There was a huge emphasis on getting 'young' people into sewing, and some bits definitely held more relevance than others. I don't know. It's hard to say what I felt at this, but I know when we opened the shop it was very easy to buy fabric for an older generation, but much harder to find things to create a shop that I (still in my twenties, just!) would want to shop in. And I knew that we had to have the items in place for when people like me came in, otherwise they wouldn't come in again, even if it wasn't understood by an older generation. What I didn't realise but I quickly learnt, was that the older generation loved them too - when you mix good design with quality manufacturing, you get things which span generations, and so the emphasis at quilt market seemed positive, but yet somehow missing the mark on a lot of occasions. Despite this, there were many younger companies, young designers, and some of the authors being previewed were people famous in quilting circles not through their decades of quilting, but through their not-so-many years of blogging, and with the feedback that bloggers can receive, I have high hopes that these books will, as well as looking good, be more useable and sewer friendly.

One of the most exciting things I saw was a talk by Elizabeth Hartman of Oh Fransson! fame - inspiring quilts that I could actually have in my home. It was great to hear that she started with the same sort of unrealistic goals that many of us have, but turned it around to where she is today. We ordered her book - the Practical Guide to Patchwork - and it's already en route, yay! And, even better, the first (I think 3, but it may only be 2, sorry) books ordered will get a FREE template for this quilt that is in the book!

image courtesy of ohfransson.com

Rachael: While Anna went to more of the quilt designers talks, I went to a lot of talks by suppliers and fabric designers. I was great to listen to the fabric designers talking about their ideas and how they develop their designs. Highlights including listening to Rosalie Quinlan (whose new range is already in-store and makes up part of our "Japanese Swatch" club this month) and our lovely friend Marianne Byrne-Goran of Cinnamon Patch talking about her new Victorian Christmas line launching soon. I also had the opportunity to see Liesl Gibson talking about how she developed her new range of accessories into the soon to be launched "Oliver & S" book. The mass of new things coming out is overwhelming and there are some lovely things on their way - so watch this space . We both finished the day truly inspired and are really looking forward to passing that all on to you guys out there, who share our passion for yummy fabrics and brilliant design. Keep watching the blog as we've only managed to bring you highlights from the first couple of days so far and there is LOTS more to come!

Dear Father Christmas...

2010-10-13T17:52:00.005+01:00

So it's coming up to Christmas right? Granted, it's still a little early, but if you want to make sure that you get something you like, you've gotta make sure that you let your family and friends know in advance that they need to buy you some stuff from the eternal maker!

But how will they know what to buy you?

Well, it's simple, because we've come up with a cunning plan to make sure that on Christmas morning you are all waking up to lovely crafting goodies.

And this is all you need to do:

1. Either come in, email, or phone up and tell us what you really really want for christmas. Make sure to make it a good sized list!

2. We will keep your list on file (ready to send to Father Christmas, of course!)

3. You tell your loved ones that they can either come in, call, or email us, and we can then tell them what you want, guide them in the right choices, and make it as generally pain free as we can for them to buy you what you want.

4. You wake up on Christmas morning to lovely scrummy presents!!

How does that sound?

If you are interested, contact us for a wish list form, and either fill it in using our website, or better still, come in store and fill it in yourself!

Just call me Santa x

Alexandra Palace Knit & Stitch & more more more

2010-10-12T08:19:00.001+01:00

Just back from the Alexandra Palace Knit & Stitch show - sorry, I don't have any photos as I forgot to take my camera. As usual the show was full to the brim of craftiness, not that we got much of a chance to look around, being busy from Thursday morning 'til sunday evening pack up! Some of our new fabrics came and went so fast that we hardly saw them ourselves! We do still have some left though, so they will be on our website before too long - we will try and get them all up next week - there's Kokka of course, some Alexander Henry, some beautiful organic cloud 9, some super cute Michael Miller, and of course while we were away we had more deliveries back home, so have more Robert Kaufman and the newest Moda range 'Bliss' in store, to get up on that dang web page too.

But really the reason for this quick post was that I just wanted to say a humungously huuuuuuuuge thank you to all of you who came to visit us and were so super nice about us, our stand, and our products, it always makes the hard work feel worthwhile.

Now, just in case you haven't seen it yourselves I wanted to point you in the direction of a fab eZine called Fat Quarterly. I have seen a few copies, and I'm not sure that there is anything quite like it out there at the moment for modern quilters - it's totally worth a look, I promise!

Also, the lovely team at Fat Quarterly have featured us on their blog, and if you go take a look, we are also giving them a couple of echino fat eighth stacks to give away - so make sure to leave a comment and you could be the lucky winner!!

Finally a moment to catch my breath

2010-08-23T22:33:00.005+01:00

Wow. Can I just say what a busy few weeks this has been - we've all been running around the country like mad things what with one thing and another, but it's been times like this - and meeting some of you who can't make it to the shop - that make it all seem worthwhile.

First up was our third birthday party - can you believe it's been three years? And a whole year in the new shop? Madness. Thanks to Corinne & Kim (who now has a blog, you can see more of her here), Jane, Debs, Amanda and all the lovely peeps who came to share the day with us, it was lots of fun.

No sooner had we caught our breath from that, Vintage was upon us. For those of you who haven't heard about it, Vintage is the new festival at Goodwood. Organised by Wayne Hemingway, Goodwood is a celebration of British art, design, music & fashion from the '40s to the '80s. This was the first, but I'm sure it won't be the last. Even though we were working, it was great fun, and everyone who came by our stand was in great spirits despite the dampness of the weather.

me, with my victory roll...

our stand - we were really pleased with the way it turned out.

Rachael and Millie, sporting looks from appropriate decades.

I guess we are really lucky that this is such a local event - being just down the road from us, it was great we could go home and sleep in our own beds - rather than join the camping masses on site. I have nothing against camping - in fact I enjoy it - but i have no desire to enjoy it whilst working at a show!

Especially not when I knew what would follow Vintage.

Yup - Festival of Quilts.

There are a few shows each year that you need your full energy up for. And Festival of Quilts is one of them. Can I just say, despite the fact that we were all pretty tired by then, there was such a great vibe at Festival this year that it didn't matter. It was great meeting so many people, some old friends, some new - and as usual for festival it was busy busy busy. I managed to get out to see a couple of other stands on Saturday morning before opening time, but as usual planned my own shopping for the Sunday. Which didn't quite happen, due to me having a car accident on Saturday night which involved me ending up in London, rather than Birmingham on Sunday. Don't worry, I am fine (at least, finer than the car) but am still gutted about my shopping time at Festival. Luckily I totally scored a great piece of Liberty fabric from Fabrics Galore - I will let you know at a later date what I do with it.

So as you can see it was a busy few weeks, and weeks in which I can only say I am totally proud of my team and how they all pulled together and didn't moan at me working them so hard and took everything on board without so much as a blink of an eye. We totally could not do anything without our great team.

But finally now, a time to catch my breath... Until tomorrow at least.

Amberley day trip!

2010-04-27T12:24:00.001+01:00

It's quite rare to get time off from this lark, well, for me anyway. But sometimes an excuse to take time comes up that you just can't say no to!

One of our regulars, Anne, is a volunteer in the print shop at Amberley Museum & Heritage Centre, and offered me and Rachael a chance for a behind the scenes tour of all the print machines and the workshop...

Of course I had to take a lot of pictures to take home, although it would have been nice to lug some of the machines home too..

As it was the easter holidays, Anne had to keep stopping to help the visiting children with their printing - it was really good to see them getting enthused by such an old process.

Printing posters for Amberley print workshop - check out the amazing print blocks below - and they had roomfuls of different fonts and typefaces.

A slightly newer machine - Anne said she had to print all the museum's paper bags with this one - and it took a fair bit of muscle no doubt

would you believe that this was created by laying out all the blocks and plates, creating a plasticised paper mache mould, then casting these cylinders, which then printed our national newspapers - and this was still happening in the mid '80's? The process was recyclable too, as both the paper moulds and the metal casts could be reused for the next edition!

I'm not sure what it says about me - but this was one of my favourite bits - beautiful drawerfuls of fonts - I just want this in my living room...

Beginner's Cot Quilt

2010-04-22T12:55:00.000+01:00

We get asked all the time for beginner's quilts. And more often than not it is a young mum, her first quilt for her newborn, or unborn child. We've always guided people through this process as helpfully as we can, but never have we had a kit.

The other week, one of my best friends decided she wanted to make a quilt for her unborn baby - and asked me for a kit. She didn't know what sex the baby was going to be (we do now, it's a boy!), and therefore the colours had to be neutral. But she also wanted something - well, not so pastel, not so sweet, more muted and soft. Oh, and she lives 5 hours away, so I had to find things she would like, without her input.

Well, this is not exactly what I came up with, as she now has that (and now the baby to go with!), but this is sort of how I remember it. And how we have kitted it up, for all those out there who want a Beginner's Cot Quilt!

We are selling the kit in 2 ways -

1. Just the quilt top and binding (well, you have to have the binding to match, don't you?)

2. With the backing included - and the backing is a supersoft minkee (which is a horrible word for a lovely quilt backing). Minkee is soft, durable, light, yet warm. And most important, it's snuggly.

and did you notice my binding? This was an accident that it ended up on the back only, not the front of the quilt, but I LOVE it, like this. Really. And it was super easy with mitred corners and all. Wow, I love an accidental technique.

New bundles online!

2010-04-17T13:47:00.007+01:00

Grandmother's Flower Garden, Rosalie Quinlan for Lecien

Feedsack Fabric by Windham - Red Selection

Boutique by Chez Moi for Moda

Blush by Basic Grey for Moda

I do love a bundle. And not just in the way we did it at school, where someone yells 'bundle!' and we all, well, bundle. But a bundle or a lovely stack of fabric. Yum.

So we have put a selection of lovely bundles and stacks online, all available in half metres and fat quarters. And of course there are savings to be had by buying bundles, naturally!

Finally on FACEBOOK!

2009-11-21T14:40:00.002Z

For all of you out there that can't get enough of social networking, and want all their family and friends to know exactly what they like, when they like it, we have some good news: we are FINALLY on Facebook!

Come and join the group, join in the discussion and generally get yourself in on the action.

See you at the The Eternal Maker Facebook page!

Charlotte

The Trunk Show

2009-11-21T14:22:00.003Z

We are very excited to tell you all about The Eternal Maker Trunk Sale.

Happening next Thursday, Friday and Saturday [26th, 27th & 28th November!], the excellent line up of local makers and lovers of all things vintage, are selling their crafty and inspiring wares at our shop! Sellers are displaying their goods in gorgeous vintage trunks dotted about the shop itself. All in all it sounds like a festive and creative excuse to shop!

So if you are around in Chichester on Thursday 26th 5.30pm - 9pm, Friday 27th 10am - 5pm and Saturday the 28th 10am - 5pm, then pop in for some handmade and vintage finds!

See you then!

Charlotte

24th October 2009

2009-10-14T16:24:00.003+01:00

I always seem to post things after the fact, especially when it comes to our 'schoolhouse' event days. So for once I am going to do things the right way around (although, my tummy is rumbling and i may have to pop to the kitchen for a slice of toast first.)

Ok, done that (am feeling much better for it, thank you for asking, my tummy isn't disturbing the street anymore.)

So where was I? Oh yes, schoolhouse: A day of classes, yummy food, meeting new friends and old, cakes, goodie bags... I think I haven't left anyone out. And it's all right here in Chichester.

Yes, Chichester. Ha ha.

Teachers include - Debs Winrow of the fabulous Delish Designs, Carolyn Forster - she of Quilting on the Go fame, Amanda Fowler (that's her in the pic above, doesn't she look nice? And she's pretty clever too), & the funtastic (i can't believe i just made up such a nerdy word) Sue Allan (go look at her clever stuff she makes under the name Sew Sister). And there are more besides. You can choose 4 classes out of 8, and it's all, everything included, for £65.

There you go.

Oh, and this last pic is because i promised Amanda I would blog her needle felting class, which was a couple of weeks ago now (sorry about that, been a little busy, and my blogger has turned itself onto Russian which makes it hard to log onto). But, here is one of the things made on that class - and how, how fun and cute are all of them?

My personal favourite I think is the psychedelic one at the back, although the rest of you, don't get jealous, I think you are all equally special.

The cutest overlay to grace our shelves - ever.

2009-08-31T12:28:00.008+01:00

I love this overlay. I know I'm not alone, because Rachael has threatened that one day I'm going to come in to find all the hippos and elephants cut out:

Anyway - this card is made with Bazzill Dark Taupe (one of my new favourite colours), the overlay, alphabet stamps, detail white embossing powder, and scraps of blue or pink (depending on whether it's a boy or girl, of course)

The cardstock is cut 6"x 12" and folded in half, the overlay is cut 3 babygro's high (this is a highly technical measurement, but I will leave you to work it out.) Fold that in half too.

Sew down the centre of the card, joining the two together. Use an old needle, as seewing through card will blunt your needles, so you may as well start off with a blunt one.

Pull your threads through to the inside of the card, and tie off. Do this by pulling on the bobbin thread (see here the darker one) until a loop comes through from the front. Pull this loop out the whole way, then tie in a knot, and trim.

Cut a scrap of pink or blue, the size of one of the babygros. Put a tiny bit of double sided tape in the centre of the back (this will hold it in place while you stitch) and position it behind one of the babygros. Stitch all around, and tie off the ends as before.

On a scrap of the dark taupe cardstock, spell out congratulations, or whatever word you like, in Versamark. Then emboss with detail white embossing powder.

position on the top left corner, about half a centimetre from the top and right hand edges. Use a thicker sticky pad, to create a little depth.

And that's it...

A x

The Eternal Maker Trunk Show

2009-08-29T12:16:00.003+01:00

What is this, I hear you ask? A trunk show?

Well, on 26-28 November 2009 (thursday night, friday day & saturday day) we are holding our very first handmade and vintage trunk show.

Come and celebrate handmade, and do your christmas shopping all at the same time (it feels pretty early to be saying that but I know how some of you - and I most definitely do not include myself here - like to be organised and buy early, so I'd best tell you!)

Local makers (and many of the staff of the eternal maker) will be filling a suitcase (a la the ones above)of their handmade and vintage pretties and offering them to you - yes, you - for sale.

We still have some spaces left for these suitcases and the prices are pretty reasonable (in fact, very reasonable!) so if you are interested please let me know!

I for one am pretty excited about seeing what Chichester has to offer in crafty talent, I know many of you are super talented so come and get involved!

x A

5 weeks, 4 days, 4 lorry bays, 1500 bolts of fabric

2009-08-10T14:01:00.029+01:00

When we were told we had to move, it took a while to sink in. Despite the pure terror of the actual move, we were initially optimistic, this could be a good thing, we thought.

And then we started looking.

Apparently, our criteria is a pretty tricky list to fulfill in this area. Parking, space, light, easy access. We soon discovered that although we could tick one, maybe two boxes on our list, to tick all was seemingly impossible.

We spent days driving up and down each road leading into town, trying to find THE place. It had to exist. Mum pointed out each potential place while I mentally tried to convince myself that this could work yet all the while it's negatives helped to confirm an image of the place that couldn't possibly exist, yet would be perfect.

Finally Mum pulled in at one end of Terminus Road. I was just thinking to myself, this is it, we either shut up shop, or go to one of the places that was wrong,and move again in a year. This was not what I wanted. Mum lost patience with me (obviously this happens a lot, but this time was pretty bad). "What is it exactly you want?" she asked.

"A cross between an old brick warehouse and an old fire station" I said, having seen a cool fire station conversion online recently.

I can't remember her answer, and quite possibly it's not something I want to repeat here, I must keep her image as a respectable lady. The point was, there was NOTHING like that to be found in the vicinity.

We drove on. And 2 minutes later, there it was.

Now, unfortunately, I don't have any before photos of the building as a whole from outside, but I have some closeups. As you can see, it needed a little bit of work.

It was an old lorry depot. The walls and ceiling were covered in diesel, grime, and goodness knows what else. The fittings were dated from a time long before regulations, and the windows were cracked and peeling.

It's a shame not to be able to show you better pictures of this stage. You'll just have to take my word for it. It was bad, but it was great. It was awful, but it was PERFECT.

After a few weeks of back and forthing with agents and solicitors, it was ours.

First thing was a clean. Armed with boiler suits and sprays and all sorts of cleaners, the workmen went in. Ian, John & Jan were our workforce, and they worked and they worked. Here it is during and after the clean:

and then came the painting. 800 litres of white paint later, and suddenly things were taking shape. Flooring got laid, window panes replaced.

then, as false walls and shelves were being built, we could get on with the decorative parts: I made my friend lizzie (an illustrator, if anyone needs any great illustrations done, she can do small scale too) draw the biggest pair of scissors I think that maybe has ever been seen on the south coast of england (do you think?)

and lizzie and Rachael our shop manager and I painted some signs...

mum multi tasking- taking phone calls and dredging a pit...

And then came the move. As we had to move out of the old place, and the work wasn't finished yet, suddenly there was a big pile of boxes we had to work around.

and then trees started sprouting in odd places...

we ate a lot... (to keep our energies up of course) and look how many people turned up to chip in towards the end!

literally last minute cleaning before the doors open

and here it is, finally, the eternal maker and the button company craft warehouse, incorporating just sew sewing machines, wholesale & retail supply of fabric, paper, buttons, threads, and all round lovely stuff.

finally space to get out all those jars of buttons, and look at the fabrics and threads, it's like rainbows.

workshop space, fully equipped with big tables, sewing machines, & everything else necessary to make beautiful things...

view from the door looking left

my lovely trees, trimmed to perfection by foxearth tree surgery, I'm pretty sure it's the first job they've had where they had to trim dead branches to someone's specifications- a little off here, please, you've missed a bit. A bit shorter, yes perfect. Chainsawed to perfection.

sofa, bought at a car boot sale for £20, re-covered in Momo's wonderland fabric, in home decor weight, by the very clever Rachael (look out for her in next month's sew hip!)

the view to the right from the centre.

giant coat hangers, perfect for hanging your quilts on, or for giant's clothes.

we used some old wardrobes on their sides for shelving, perfect for fabric bolts

and cut slat board to size to fit in old drawers, to put in hooks and hang things from.

an old dressmakers dummy from a car boot sale, I wish I could reduce or increase my size with knobs and dials in my middle.

our old kitchen table from when I was growing up - now a handy cutting table.

I think they like our new home, we certainly do!

Jelly Roll Quilt Class with Christine

2009-06-09T21:17:00.008+01:00

Last Thursday, 9 ladies & 1 teacher all gathered in a little shop in Chichester. The results were these:

Schoolhouse mark 2

2009-02-02T20:41:00.016Z

It's hard really to know where to start talking about such a big day. With such a huuuuge undertaking it seems tricky to boil it down to one point, to begin. But here goes:

95 ladies, 10 teachers, 1 primary school, and an infinite amount of fun and creativity. Those are the basic facts.

Here were the teachers:

Amanda Fowler - Using shrink plastics, chain, beads, inks, stamps, & cord, some lovely jewellery was made -

Debs Winrow from Delish Designs - another great Delish mini album

Mandy Shaw's gorgeous linen, red gingham & ribbon scissor keep - matching the lovely pincushion from last July

Sue Allan's funny felt buttoned up bears..

Jane Gill's living floral punch craft flowers...

Jane Randall's layer cake delight - using a moda layer cake, some quick cutting & stitching, et voila! It's a cushion, or a table runner or the start of a quilt!

Corinne Amos made some fab fimo millefiore beads

Kim Reygate was stamping with chalks...

Sandy Bower was making folded boxes - an ever popular class!

and last but not least, Carolyn Forster made these fabby - let's see if I can get this right: 'poor man's biscorneau' and a project bag - all in one hour!!

Add to that lunch, cakes, afternoon tea, goody bags and all the usual excitement and kerfuffle and that is school house!

So all that remains to be said is thank you for everyone coming - I hope you enjoyed it!

And thank you once again to all those who helped on the day, and in the run up and wind down too, it was greatly appreciated and much needed!

I would post more pictures but silly blogger won't let me...

A x

the Bubble Bag Pattern Tutorial at last

2008-12-16T23:16:00.001Z

Bubble Bag Pattern

ages ago - and i mean aaagggessss ago, I promised a pattern on the bubble bag. Finally I have had the time (and patience) to figure out how to add a pdf here. phew, my head hurts just thinking about it.

I hope it works, if it doesn't bear with me...

2008-10-20T19:32:00.009+01:00

I'm going to ignore the fact that I haven't posted anything up here for at least a month and just go headfirst into all the squillions of things that need saying. Or showing. Whatever.

First up was Alexandra Palace Knit & Stitch show. We had a massive delivery of Japanese fabrics in literally the day before and decided what the heck - lets take it. So for the first time we had a little open area for cutting, and all the fabrics on the bolt. Whew! At one point my arms were seizing up with so much over use. I guess you could say it seemed to go down well. We didn't bring back quite as much as we took, lets say.

But of course I did my fair share of fabric buying too, some lovely liberty prints & others from Fabrics Galore (we seemed to just be swopping fabrics at one point).

I also met the lovely Manda, from the amazing new magazine Sew Hip which if you haven't seen yet you should definitely check out. Finally a magazine for people like me! I am going to get a shop subscription - so if you want to know where to buy it, hopefully soon I'll be able to help you out. I am especially excited about the next issue, but I won't tell you why - you'll understand when you see it...

The stand next to us was Clothkits, who we have come to know fairly well as she too is Chichester based and has popped into the shop on more than one occasion. There are very few times I wish I worked somewhere else (I do love my job) but I do secretly want to work for Clothkits, they are doing such exciting things, really bringing the company up to date and then some. After much umming and ahhing (is that how you spell that, I don't think I have ever written it before) I forgoed (?) the purchase for me for now, (which would have been this) and I purchased for my fake neice (she isn't related but I think she should be) this cute little dress,

which I sewed up last night and have thus created my first item of clothing from scratch. (Unless you count a big skirt I made when I was 17, and it really shouldn't be counted.)

Anyhow, straight after that little dressmaking fire was in me and I just had to spew out another, this time with the new Sandi Henderson Farmer's Market range from Michael miller. mmmm.... too cute...

Look at the cute cherries fabric with the gorgeous stripe lining.... oooh i like.

and the frills.... aahhh...

So next step is to utilise some of that green liberty fabric I just showed you and make the Amy Butler Lotus tunic. This is very nerve wracking for me, but I will do it. If only big cat will get off the pattern pieces:

Oh, and lastly, I just wanted to show you the pics of my 3D card class we did on Saturday. I was pretty pleased with the results, although it was fiddly and frustrating so I'm not sure how everyone enjoyed it. I sometimes like to really keep my cards simple, and other times like to overwork them ridiculously. This was one of the latter times. So here is one using a paper artsy bauble, stamped onto acetate, embossed, cut out, slotted together, hanging in a little triangular box... you get it.

and then a diorama using Just Johanna's three french hens stamp... I love this stamp. Seriously. This whole range is just very funny and cute.

so, it's stamped seperately, I just used a tiny bit of red and blue colour on their berets, I stamped and embossed on acetate at the back, using a Amuse stamp, and my little letters stamps which I love (but didn't go down too well in the class, too fiddly, but I love that I can stampe ANYTHING with them on ANYTHING) saying ooh la la on the acetate and the greeting on the front. Here's a close up:

they are Claude, Michel et Henri Hen. It's great that the classes have more space, even though they are staying with the same amount of people. I get frazzled enough with tiny classes so I'm not sure how I would do teaching a big one! And now at least we don't have to worry about the fabric getting ruined in the tiny fabric room and we have natural daylight. Great stuff.

Soon the last room should be ready and I can move some of my stuff in - finally!

So next it's off to Houston again for quilt market - is it that time of year already??? Hopefully I'll have lots of lovely things to show you when we're back.

A present story

2008-09-25T17:57:00.005+01:00

My brother is so difficult to buy presents for. I know loads of men are, but he won't even tell me what he wants for his birthday or christmas, he says things like, whatever I need I can buy myself (but what can I buy you?!), I don't really need anything (ok, but what do you want?), something for the flat (uh, ok, but what does the flat want?), and finally after mucho pestering he fobs me off with either 'write me a story' or 'paint me a picture'. And I'm never sure if he actually wants either of those things, but he says it cause he can't think of anything else. And once you give him the things you watch him carefully to judge what he thinks and you cannot tell at all. Once I wrote him a story, and a few weeks later after not hearing anything about it, I emailed him to ask if he actually received it. The email I got back read 'yep. read it. liked it. thanks.' My brother is a man of few words. (nb. I thought it was a great story, all about mining socks - mine were miners, his were stinkers...)
Anyway, these days I tend to anticipate his request, and this year decided to combine the 2 - well, it was a decade birthday, after all. So for the big 30 my bro got the following little story book:

meet james

james is trying very hard to think of a way to make some money.

phew!! its hot with all this thinking.

Better give my brain some air...

better drain it so it doesn't make a mess.

there. That'll do for the moment.

all these acrobatics are thirsty work...

mmmm...

brainwave!

james' amazing brain juice: £1000

I write these little stories to entertain myself, more than anything else... but I did catch a glimpse of a smile I think...

The grand unveiling.

2008-09-22T17:40:00.006+01:00

I have been very lax about my photos of all the building works, I can only say that things have been stopping and starting and stopping and starting and my camera only remembered to take pictures during the stopping moments.. which weren't so interesting really.
So here now, for the upstairs at least, is the grand unveiling. Seeing as there have already been about 6 classes in the paper salon (posh name for papercraft room) I think it's a bit overreaching to call it a 'grand' unveiling but here goes anyway: The Fabric Room (excuse the wire hanging from the ceiling, that's my fault for leaving it there)

And the paper room (sorry, salon)

(notice the lovely floors, ooh I had fights over those floors...)

D'you like the pink walls? I just had to, I did. Although I abstained from all the walls being pink, and instead went for a lovely selection of the following colours: soft khaki (pastel green), icelandic blue (light blue) stepping stone (aqua) cocoa (mmmm lovely mushroomy brown) and I think the pink is called hard candy. Oh yeah, and the lovely fail safe that is magnolia. There was a darker pink too, but I just did NOT like it, so it went on the chairs instead. Notice how all the chairs match the colours of the walls?
Now, I am actually a darker and bolder colour lover, so this was tricky for me, introducing colour to a space that needed to be light, airy, warm, cosy, conducive to creativity and friendly. And not put anyone off (even those who don't like pink) Whew! I'll be happy if I made it half way through that list of requirements, I'm not sure all is possible.
And our lovely shelves, painted in stepping stone, constructed from scaffold boards, waiting to be instroduced to lots of lovely things...
So, my precious classrooms... consider yourselves officially unveiled.

ooohhh ribbons ooooh ooooh oooh

2008-08-28T19:19:00.001+01:00

So, who doesn't get excited by ribbons, especially when they look like these beauties that recently came in from east of india..

oh, and these too, my job is sooo good, some of these are going in my hair I think, red on blonde, i like it.

ah, so pretty.. i love this, it's so fresh looking, kinda scandinavian. I love that look.

oh, and these love birds, - imagine all the things you could make based around these tweets.

no, don't laugh at me. I just love ribbon, ok? I have saved ribbons from things all my life. I often wear in my hair a flourescent pink liberty ribbon from a present a friend gave - not even to me. I used to cry when I cut the ribbon scraps at my saturday job in a fabric shop in town as a teenager *why do they have to be cut short, i cried, keep them long, and free...* Maybe those tears weren't running down my face, but they should have been (what with that and some of the fabric monstrosities they had there) (and the fact that back then I seemed to buy anything with sequins. I wanted to be some kind of disco queen. This was the NINETIES, too.)
I love ribbon. I should stop here, before I disclose anything too embarrassing.

A momentary derailing

2008-08-26T19:42:00.000+01:00

So here is the promised update on the flat above the shop.
hahahahahhaaaahaaaahhahahahaha. Excuse me while I laugh hysterically. Everything was going smoothly, floors were coming up. walls were being stripped, smell was (mostly) being dispersed. And then, on that fateful day we packed up and left for Festival of Quilts, our man who does, did one, and decided to go on a bender.
And then nothing...

Nothing. I want you to be hearing the wind whistling, the birds are silent, the children have gone away, all is quiet...

I want you to be hearing the sound of tumbleweed rolling through a wild west town just minutes before a shoot-out.
Nothing.

But don't worry - ha - I panicked you there, didn't I? It's ok - we got another man who can and all is back on schedule, IT WILL ALL BE OKAY

If I tell myself that enough times it'll be true...

The sinister penguins

2008-08-22T19:04:00.002+01:00

It seemed like I told so many people at the Festival of Quilts that these Kokka penguins were somewhat sinister, that I thought I should make a card to celebrate the fact. Ok, so I was bored after work, that weird boredom where you really should just go home, but to motivate yourself to lock up and turn out the lights, get yourself home.. well, just a little too much without a little relaxation with fabric.
I do think these penguins look sinister. Many people at the show looked at me strangely when I said that, but I hold to my words. It's all in the eyes. Despite this, however, it doesn't stop me loving them far more than you should love fabric. I would love to upholster some stools in this for a kitchen - mind you, I say that about most Kokka fabrics.
Someone at the show said they looked like penguin books, with the orange. I thought about making a card that was somehow inspired by that, but decided that was someone elses inspiration, not mine. So this is mine. I know who I'm going to give it to, and no matter what any of you say about this card, I know she'll love it.

The Bubble Bag

2008-08-18T15:55:00.001+01:00

The other day I finally found time to get into town - you know what it's like, life passes you by, you find time to go visiting in other towns - hey, even countries - but getting into your own town centre, well, you just never really find the time. But get in I did. Boy has Chichester changed. All the high street shops are represented, and there are a lot of nice boutiquey shops too. When I was growing up all it had was building societies and old ladies shoe shops - you know the kind where not even old ladies like them? It was great for a teenager trying to express herself through fashion. Charity shops weren't a fashion choice, they were a necessity (however that brown safari jacket I wore to my record of achievement evening was maybe not a necessity, maybe just a bad choice)
I am rapidly veering off point here, as tends to happen, so bringing myself back to the point I will tell you my discoveries and hence my thought processes:
1. I don't like high street fashion
2. I can't afford boutiquey fashion
3. I should make my own clothes more... from scratch rather than the usual buying/cutting/sewing/cutting again/ sewing/ wearing holey/people laughing look.
4. Where shll I start...
5. Hmmm, time...
6. okay, a bag. That'll take less time until I have my office/studio upstairs where I can lay it all out and do it properly, rather than ending up with something that looks like a straitjacket.
7. nope.. can't think of a seven.

So I went into accessorize, and saw this cute little clutch bag, or rather I thought it was a clutch, until I opened it and saw it's cool chain handle... lightbulb moment. Our jewellery making chain doesn't have to be just jewellery... hmmm. So I rushed home (or rather, walked slowly, it was one of those rare sunny days) and dug out this lovely Michael Miller fabric which has just been itching to be used, and made the bubble bag. so named for it's puffy tendency, like all the bubble skirts that are around at the moment (which I am NOT a fan of, by the way). I could call it the eighties puffball I guess, but the bubble bag it is.
I embellished the fabric with black beads and sequins, subtle, but twinkly.

Overall, I am pretty pleased. Now I just need to find somewhere to use it.

The Eternal Maker Class List - Autumn Term 2008

2008-08-15T12:00:00.001+01:00

For all those on our mailing list, the class list should either be winging it's way to you as I write, or you should (if I am organised) already have it. For those not on our mailing list, here it is:

AUGUST 2008
Saturday, 23rd August Cards for Men 10 – 12.30 Amanda Fowler £12
You will make 3 cards to amaze those special men in your life.

Saturday, 23rd August Cards for Children 1.30 – 4pm Amanda Fowler £12.50
4 cards to wow and amaze. A magic card that colours the image before your very eyes, a squashy water filled card, a never ending card and even an elephant! Fantastic fun!

SEPTEMBER 2008
Saturday, 6th September Mini Album 10 – 12.30pm Debs Winrow £16
Join Debs for a morning of scrapping to create this fabulous mini-album.

Monday 8th Sept 10.30 – 1pm Felt flower embellishments with Amanda Fowler £15
2 – 4.30 pm Felt flower embellishments with Amanda £15 (Repeat of the morning class)

Thursday 11th September 10.30 – 1pm Introduction to Floral Punch Jane Gill £15
2 – 4.30pm Introduction to Floral Punch Craft Jane Gill £15 (repeat of morning class)

Saturday 13th September 10.30 – 1pm Embroidered Covered Buttons with Sue Allan £15
2 – 4.30pm Covered buttons with Sue Allan £15 (repeat of the morning class)

Saturday 20th September Bag of Cards 10 – 12.30pm Amanda Fowler £12.50
make 6 quick & stylish cards with a card ‘handbag’ to store them in
Bag of Cards 1.30 – 4pm Amanda Fowler £12.50 (A repeat of this morning’s class)

Saturday 20th September 2pm onwards Make and Take Button Bracelet £3

Monday 22nd September 10.30 – 4pm ‘Real’ Decoupage Amanda Fowler £25
Rediscover the art of decoupage. You will decorate a beautiful wooden box. Lunch included.

STOP PRESS! NEW! SPECIAL DAYS – NOT CLASSES – JUST AN OPPORTUNITY TO CRAFT WITH LIKE-MINDED PEOPLE - FOURTH TUESDAYS! PAPERCRAFT DAYS!
4th Tuesday in September, October, November but NOT December 10 – 5pm
Come and use our new Papercraft Classroom. Cost : £2.50 per session (morning or afternoon) to include coffee. No need to book, just turn up. Use our equipment or bring your own.

Wednesday 24th September 10 .30 – 1pm More Floral Punch with Jane £15
You’ve learnt the basics, now learn more complicated techniques.
2 – 4.30pm More Floral Punch Craft with Jane Gill £15 (A repeat of this morning’s class)

Thursday 25th September Block of the Month – a 9-block lap quilt created especially for us.
Part 1 - Tumbling Blocks
Parts 2 – 23rd October - Basket weave
Part 3 - 20th November - Log cabin
Parts 4 – 9 in 2009.
Each class runs from 10.30 – 4pm and includes lunch. Machines are provided but if you prefer to bring your own machine please do. Fabrics for the blocks, sashing, binding and backing, wadding, etc are all included in the class price of £240. Deposit: £80 to cover all Materials and Part 1. £20 per session thereafter.
To provide your own materials – Deposit £20 and £20 per session thereafter (total £180)
Part 1. Material choosing time! Choose 10 fat quarters, sashing, binding and backing from any of the shop fabrics
Friday 26th September 10 – 1pm Button Jewellery with Anna £10
Button necklace, bracelet & brooch from a ButtonCompany theme bag. A basic skills session - repeat of the class in Spring.
Saturday 27th September 10.30 – 4pm Create a Sock Monkey with Sue Allan £22

Saturday 27th September 10 – 1pm Beginner’s beading with Gwen Ryan £14
Learn basic skills to create a simple necklace and earrings.
OCTOBER 2008
Thursday 2nd October 10 – 2pm Circle Album with Anna £12.50
Thursday evenings 2nd & 9th October: 2 – part class Christmas Gifts 6 – 8.30 with Amanda Fowler £25
start work on a card keeper to be completed in Part 2. In Part 2 you will make a stamped candle, Christmas bags and complete your card keeper.
Friday 3rd October 10 – Is it a card holder or cake frill or both? Anne Rice £12

STOP PRESS! NEW! SPECIAL DAYS – NOT CLASSES – JUST AN OPPORTUNITY TO CRAFT WITH LIKE-MINDED PEOPLE - FIRST FRIDAYS ARE BEADING DAYS!
1st Friday in October, November and December 10 – 5pm
Come and use our new Beading Room. Cost £2.50 per session (morning or afternoon) to include coffee. No need to book, just turn up. Use our equipment or bring your own.

Saturday 4th October 10 – 12.30: 4 Christmas cards with Amanda Fowler £12.50
1.30 – 4.00: 4 Christmas Cards with Amanda Fowler £12.50 (A repeat of this morning’s class)
Monday 6th October 10.00-4.30pm Quilter’s Pail with Mandy Shaw £30
Saturday 11th October 10 – 12.30 Christmas Cards Stamping Caz £14
1.30 – 4pm Christmas Cards Stamping Caz £14 (A repeat of this morning’s class)
Saturday 11th October 10 – 2pm Part 1 of 3 part class Beginner’s Quilting with Sandy Bower £40 for whole course Parts 2 and 3 , 8th November and 13th December
Monday, 13th October 10.30 – 4pm Stationery Box with Amanda Fowler £24
a Stationery Box that can store cards, tags, stamps, a pen and a note book. You will also make the cards, tags and note book to store inside

STOP PRESS! NEW! SPECIAL DAYS – NOT CLASSES – JUST AN OPPORTUNITY TO CRAFT WITH LIKE-MINDED PEOPLE - SECOND TUESDAYS ARE FABRIC DAYS!
2nd Tuesday in October, November and December 10 – 5pm. Come and use our new Fabric Classroom. Cost : £2.50 per session (morning or afternoon) to include coffee. No need to book, just turn up. Use our equipment or bring your own.

Wednesday 15th October 10.30-4.00pm Silk Paper Making with Jackie Brown £23
Thursday 16th October 10 – 12.30pm Introduction to ATC's with Rosie Morgan £12.50

Friday 17th October 2 – 4.30: 3-D Cards with Anna diorama cards and more £7
Saturday 18th October 10 – 1pm Beading with Gwen £15
Saturday 18th October 2 – 4.30pm 3-D Cards with Anna £7 diorama cards and more
Wednesday 22nd October 10.30 – 4pm Basic Felt Making with Jackie Brown £23

Sat 25th October 10.00 – 12.30pm ‘Black & White with a touch of colour’ stamping with Kim Reygate £14
1.30 – 4pm ‘Black & White with a touch of colour’ Kim Reygate £14 (rpt of the morning class)
Saturday 25th October . 10.30 – 4pm Felted Fabric Panel Part 1 of a 2 part class with Sue Allan. £48 for both parts

Part 2 Saturday 1st November . Use the felted panel to create an exquisite clasp purse.
Saturday 25th October 10.30 – 12 Cricut Demo with Corinne Amos.
Saturday 25th October 2 – 4pm A repeat demo
NOVEMBER 2008
Saturday 1st November 10 – 12.30pm Introduction to ATCs with Rosie Morgan £12.50
Monday 3rd November 10.00-4.30pm Sewing Roll with Mandy Shaw £30
Wednesday 5th November 10 – 2.30pm Tag and Pocket Album with Anna £12

Thurs 6th Nov 10.30 –4pm Fabric & Card Christmas Decorations with Christine Reynolds £20
Thurs 6th Nov 10.30 – 4pm Winter Wonderland Fabric Postcards Rosemarie McLavy £20
Saturday 8th November Acetate Cards Demo 2.30 – 5pm with Anna
Monday 10th Nov 10.30-4.00pm Making your own materials with Jackie Brown £18 per part

Part 1 of a 2 part course (part 2 - 17th Nov) Use new & recycled papers & fabrics to create something entirely unique – turn your useless scraps into useful textured fabrics.
Wednesday 12th November 10 – 12.30pm Shell Button jewellery with Anna £12
Friday 14th November 10 – 4.30pm Christmas Table Centre with Anne Rice £20

Saturday 15th November 10.30 – 4pm Stamping on Candles Stamping Caz £22
Saturday 15th Nov 10.30 – 12.30pm Silk Ribbon Embroidery with Corinne Amos £10
Saturday 15th Nov 2 – 4pm Cross Stitch cards for Christmas with Corinne Amos £10
Thursday 20th Nov 10.30 –1pm Floral Punch Craft for the Festive Season with Jane Gill £15
2 – 4.30pm Festive Floral Punch Craft with Jane Gill £15 (repeat of morning class)
Friday 21st November 2 – 5pm Scrap with Charlynne Boddie £3.50
Saturday 22nd November 10 – 12.30pm Christmas Decorations with Amanda Fowler £12.50
1.30 – 4pm Christmas Decorations with Amanda Fowler £12.50 (repeat of this morning class)
Monday 24th November 10-4.30pm Christmas with Mandy £30
Friday 28th Nov 10 – 4.30pm Crazy Quilt Christmas Tree Wall Hanging with Anne Rice £20
Saturday 29th November 10 – 12.30pm More stamping with Kim Reygate £12.50
1.30 – 4pm More stamping with Kim Reygate £12.50 (Repeat of the morning’s class)
Saturday 29th November 10.30 – 12 , 2-4pm Christmas Decorations using Metal, Wire & Buttons Demo with Corinne Amos
DECEMBER 2008
Tuesday 2nd December 2 – 5pm Scrap with Charlynne Boddie £3.50
Saturday 6th December 10 – 12.30, 1.30-4pm Last Minute Christmas Ideas Make & Take with Debs Winrow (Price to be advised but less than £5 per item)
JANUARY 2009
We are already almost fully booked for Schoolhouse January 31st 2009. £50 for a day of lessons, gorgeous food and friendship, with exoert tutors in cardmaking, stamping, patchwork & quilting, small fabric projects, floral punchcraft, felting, scrapbooking, and more!
ONLY 20 PLACES LEFT!!!
Tutors booked so far: Jane Gill, Paula Pasquale, Corinne Amos, Carolyn Forster, Sue Allan, Mandy Shaw, Kim Reygate, Stamping Caz...
To book a place on any of these classes email: sales@eternalmaker.com
If I have time I will try to post pictures of what'll be made... but you know what I'm like, time is not a concept I know about, it slips through my fingers like water.

Expansion

2008-08-10T23:32:00.000+01:00

If you have been into the shop over the last year you may have noticed that there has been a little noise from the flat above in the form of some kind of euro trash music, which has varied from some frenetic beats which send your eyes jumping in your skull to the dulcet tones of someone singing along to Eye of the Tiger (not eurotrash I know but the voice singing it may have been.)
I am pleased to announce that from now on, (unless I feel a bit of Rocky coming on) those days are over. A new reign is beginning, the new kids are in town. Yup, the flat is finally ours.
Don't get too excited, it's still a little premature, the old regime have left things in a bit of a mess. When I say mess, imagine you had 12 people living in a 5 bed flat, with damp mouldy walls, all smokers, all dart players ( a LOT of holes). Imagine these people live on a diet of super noodles, coffee & vodka (judging by the leftovers in the cupboards). Imagine the smell. So it's going to take a while, definitely, to get rid of the smell, to get rid of the mould (didn't anyone learn the value of ventilation?), to knock down a few walls, to give it a lick or 2 of paint, and to open it up for business. It will add 2 extra rooms for the shop, a bead room, 2 permanent classrooms, an office for mum, and - how excited am I - an office for ME!!!
I will post pictures of the progress, it's going to be a long haul.

Festival of Quilts

2008-08-09T18:43:00.002+01:00

Just a quickie to let you know that Sarah will be up at Festival of quilts from 14th - 17th August with ButtonCompany, and she will be taking many of our lovely fabrics, including the Japanese ones, Amy Butler, & the BRAND NEW 100% WOOLFELT THAT IS YUMMY (sorry I just had to shout that one)
That's all!

Where am I?

2008-08-05T23:18:00.003+01:00

So you may have noticed I've not been around for a while. Don't worry, I'm ok, schoolhouse didn't do me in entirely. During the month of July I have been recovering from an op - nothing too serious, mind, don't worry, it's just kept me from doing the things I need to do, like run the shop, keep up to date with this blog (although I am sporadic at the best of times), post new products on the website, all that jazz. We've had pretty good help in the shop though, I think you'd agree if you've been in the last few weeks. We've enticed Becky back for some weekdays, as she's now in summer holiday time, we've got maggie, Charlotte, who has helped out from time to time has now joined us as permanent Saturday staff, Hermione & Sally have been brilliantly wonderful helping out when no one else could (I have the BEST customers, I defy any one to disagree with me) and my poor mum. What can I say, I think I have run her ragged. She's looked after the shop & run the wholesale side of things while me & Fiona have both been off, AND she's looked after me very well too (although her bedside manner might need some work, as the day after I got back from hospital she woke me up with a "Good, you're not dead then.") She's the one who needs a month's holiday now, but show season is coming up and she has to don her button company hat and drive around the country for the next few months. So take it easy on her will you? And if she looks a little tired, go get her a cup of coffee and next time you see me I'll give you the money for it.
And as for me, I am officially starting back, so over the next few weeks I will be seeping slowly back into your lives, like tea from a teabag, give me a little time and I'll be up to full strength. Did I really just describe myself as a teabag?
Oh dear...

The first ever Schoolhouse day that we did. And I think it may have worked...

2008-07-06T21:33:00.013+01:00

So Saturday July 5th was our first schoolhouse event and I think I can safely say it was a BIG success. So what that now my back is bent in two, and I'm going to be eating salmon and salad for the next month, so what we tripped the electricity in the school 3 times with too much sewing? Who knew moving our WHOLE shop to the school and back in one weekend was actually possible? When I say WHOLE shop I seriously do mean that I think nothing was left behind... oh no, actually we have these little wooden cotton reels which hang around because no one wants them, I left those behind. Who knew we had so much fabric. Mum said to me before we got there: we can line up the bolts down one side of the corridor, there'll be plenty of space. Ha ha, no way - it went up both sides of the corridor and only just. I'm gonna count them as I put them back, just out of interest, last time I (well, Shanice, on behalf of me) counted it was 400 bolts, and obviously we've used some and bought a LOT but I think it'll be interesting. Just as I finish counting there'll be another delivery to add to it. Actually, I bet there will, we're expecting Kokka and Lecien in any time soon...oh help, it never ends...
Anyway, rather than just rambling I will try and put this in some kind of order so it may make sense!
Friday night: 5 o'clock and we have access to the school. Van loads of fabric arrives, as well as everything else in the shop, stacks of paper, loads of fiddly bits, and practically every button in our range...whew! I bet I have more buttons than anyone else you know, I am willing to place serious money on this bet.
So my first job, while Fiona is starting to unpack buttons and Lizzie is laying out fabric, is to figure out what class is happening in which class room, layout the tables, set up the classes as much as possible to be ready for the teachers to arrive. First classroom fine, second fine, third yes, fourth... oh. The tables are kind of mini. What? This is a juniour school right? Small, but not mini.. Ok, small I can cope with, a bit of jiggling about, yes, fourth classroom, tick. Classroom fine.
Meanwhile, Fiona is still unpacking buttons, Lizzie is laying out fabric..
Fifth classroom, wait- these tables are mini-er than mini, they are teeny weeny and the chairs come up to my ankle. Hmmm.... Back to classroom number one, squeeze in a second class in the space. This carried on until I found space for all nine classes, phew, for a moment there I was panicking. Oh yes, all this while remembering to draw ultra specific maps as to how the classrooms were laid out when I got there and where each table, chair, piece of paper, book, pen pot, shoe bag etc went.While all this is going on the tutors who are staying overnight, Kim Reygate and Jane Gill arrive with Corinne. Fiona is STILL unpacking buttons, Lizzie is STILL laying out fabric.
Hours - HOURS later the job is done and it's time to go home for bed with a pit stop for fish and chips. Mum took the going home for fish part a bit literally and spent a further few hours cooking salmon.Saturday morning: 5am, I wake, mind buzzing about all the things I still need to do. Wait until 6, get up, dressed, head on down to school.
Now, I said to mum a few weeks ago that my lovely friend Lizzie had offered to help us out for the day and that she would be good in the kitchen, you could just tell her what to do and she'd get on and do it. Somewhere in the intervening weeks mum translated this as 'Lizzie is a caterer' and put her in charge. Obviously there was a lot of helpers about, but it is very typical of mum that you say 'oh, I like making this' and suddenly you are teaching a class in it, or in Amanda Fowlers case, 'look what I made for the first time today' and suddenly she's teaching it at Schoolhouse! Anyway, with brilliant help from the likes of Bobbie, Sue, Corinne, Charlotte and anyone else I may have accidentally forgotten (it is sunday night and my brain is frazzled) the cooking was brilliantly sorted by someone other than me or mum because at that point we would have been no help at all!Anyway, while all this was going on, Schoolhouse was beginning! People started turning up at about 9am, and at 9.30 we had assembly in the hall, where we met the teachers and what they were teaching, which was as follows (at this point I would dearly love to say I took a picture of finished projects but I forgot, so if anyone has pictures of what they made, please post them here cos I would love to see them)
1. Mandy Shaw, made a lovely heart shaped pincushion out of linen and beautiful red ribbons, from her new book, Quilt Yourself Gorgeous, available here
2. Jane Randall, our Moda fabric rep, teaching her first ever class (and taking to it like a duck to water) made a quilt block using 5" charm squares3. Sue Allan, a textile artist who makes FANTABULOUS things was embroidering covered buttons with liberty fabrics. (By the way she will be coming in later in the year to make sock monkeys and also a luverly purse that I am definitely sitting in on - this is not just fabric craft this is ART)
4. Debs from Delish Designs making a cute little scrapbook album with cd covers and the new Delish Bistro range of papers (bistro is delish naturally)
5. Kim Reygate doing her thing with stamps and a resist method which I would describe if I could only get my head round it, all I can say is that EVERYONE's finished product (at least those I saw) looked incredible.

6. Jane Gill making lifelike flowers out of paper - she is a floral punchcraft expert and I don't know how she does it but the results are spookily realistic.7. Amanda Fowler - making the felted flower brooch she showed us one day in February (see above comment re mum)

8. Sandy Bower - another one mum took out of her comfort zone - usually she does folded paper things or quilts - today she beaded little card toppers in the shape of bees, butterflies and damselflies

9. Noonie Fleming using our very own mini buttons making the cutest little button and bead dangly earrings.

People could pick 5 of the above to do throughout the day, and certainly if it were me deciding which to do I wouldn't have a clue, I'd want to do them all (obviously I want doesn't get, I couldn't do any of them).We also had grandma running a tombola - she used to do this at my infant school fetes - every ticket won a prize, people had donated a lot of prizes too -

and it all went to the aim of the day - an oxfam unwrapped schoolhouse!
After lesson 1 we had breaktime, with coffee and biscuits, mainly for me as by then I needed sustenance, but I think maybe other people appreciated it too. Class 2 followed, and then the amazing feat (which I claim no praise for) which was the lunch. Salmon, quiche, cold meats, boiled new potatoes, many many salads, followed by strawberries and cream and lem

on cheesecake. Actually I will claim credit for the cheesecake, although the recipe was my old flatmate Chris', which if you know him you'll find hilarious.Then the long haul through classes 3 and 4, which was deservedly followed by afternoon tea: cakes and tea, what crafter doesn't love a lovely cuppa? Especially out of my great grandma's teacups? Well, not all of them were my great grandmas (some of them were my grandmas).
Then class 5 and it's all over. Except for taking bookings for the next one, on 31st January 2009, of course!
Actually, not all over for us, we have to pack up. Thanks to Helen and Susi for staying after to help us!
Sunday morning, we still have the bulk of the clearing to do but we have promised ourselves a little lie in until 9. At 8 we get a call from Fiona - she's left the coffee pots she borrowed from church at the school, and they need them for before their sunday morning service! So the lie in is cancelled, and we head off to school again.
And this is almost the biggest thanks - it's obviously not, but it feels HUGE - it was supposed to be just me and mum clearing up today, but one by one we had Grandma, John, Nick, Charlotte, and Fiona and Mark all turn up to help. A tear comes to my eye with gratitude for this - my bones ache and mum looks a wee bit tired ( I am being nice because she has just come sat beside me) and the help was ENORMOUS - I wasn't going to be able to lift boxes of fabric today. Even with all that help we didn't finish until 7pm.
So that's it - apart from here I am now when I should be in bed but I am writing to you all...
So one last time thanks to Grandma, Corinne, Lizzie, Charlotte, Becky, Sue, Bobbie, Fiona, Hannah, Michael, Mandy, Noonie, Sue, Sandy, Debs, Jane G, Jane R, Amanda, Kim, John G, John C, Nick, Pete & Mark we wouldn't have managed without you

And thanks to all of you for coming, we really wouldn't have managed without you either...

washing line cushion...

2008-04-20T13:49:00.008+01:00

as i'm sure you've guessed by now, me and my sewing machine have become best friends. the sad fact of it is that it's not even mine, it's on loan from my sewing machine man - i just hope no one buys it out from under me (don't you dare). I'm sure that most of the work is done by the machine and not me... it's lurvely, honestly. an old bernina, nothing fancy, just good quality basic stitching, and that's all i seem to need - a straight stitch and a zig zag. mum bought herself an electronic one at christmas and i just can't seem to get on with it. i use it a lot but i'm never completely happy with the projects i make on it. but my bernina, ooh, my bernina...
so it was on my bernina that i made this little pattern up. i bondawebbed random scraps of fabric first, and thenfree hand cut (free-cut?) (free-snip?) random clothes shapes and the wooden poles. Then ironed on and got sewing. I just did it onto a fat quarter and then trimmed to size when it came to putting the cushion together. And then - i have never done this before so thought i was pretty clever, sewed a 1/4" seam around the edge to make it sort of piped. Pretty pleased with the results I must say, looks ALMOSt professionale...
and guess what - even my grandma likes it. I don't think i've told you abut my grandma before. she is eminently practical, no nonsense, and most of all NOT crafty in the slightest. She doesn't get it. She is forever saying, but it looks messy, couldn't you have left it in one piece, it's got funny ears, I don't like this, I don't like that... but this cushion recieved the signed sealed delivered grandma seal of approval. Ah, what bliss, I bask in the glow of her approbation. And then I show her something else and it's back to square one. Oh well...

oh yeah, i meant to say, sorry the picture is so washed out, I had put the setting on the camera whilst the sky was cloudy and just as I started taking the pictures the sun started mega shining. And I didn't notice until I had put everything away and started uploading.

Silly Bunny has been a Silly Bunny

2008-04-15T17:38:00.002+01:00

I made melly & me's silly bunny. This has been the pattern that hasn't been selling as well as some of the others so I thought if I made it up then it might entice people more - I always like the things I can actually see rather than just a picture, so maybe other people do too!
So I was picking out all these funky fabrics, a bit of Alexander Henry Stars for one leg, an Amy butler stripe for another leg (I have a thing for long stripy socks) a moda hot pink essential dots.... and then my eye strayed to this new blue fabric we have in from Westfalenstoffe and I put back all the brights and went for this:

I have put a fabric kit for him including the pattern but not the stuffing on the website here

3D Cards, dioramas, & other stuff I dont know the name of...

2008-04-14T17:31:00.010+01:00

Just a quick post of the 3D card making demo I did last week - I meant to do it before now but as usual time literally - and I mean literally - ran away from me.
So, here is what I made - I think this type of card is called a diorama. I was waiting for these gorgeous stamps to come in from Just Johanna for the demo, I hads it all planned out in my head, but wouldn't you know it, the demo was on Saturday, the stamps arrived Monday. Grrr. But they were lovely when they did arrive, and I made the original idea anyway:

I don't emboss much, but just wanted something autumnal as the tree's branches were bare. So brown & gold, I loved how it turned out although it's a little flimsy what with me trimming SO much ( I got a little carried away, it was quite therapeutic actually!)
To take a look at the rest of Just Johanna's lovely stamps we got in, look here they are very cool.

And here are 2 others I made on the day:

the little tag slides in at the back of the card for your message. Its a mini diorama I guess...

If I made this one again I would check the size of the stamp or whatever I was using in the middle, as it looks a little bit dwarfed by the size of the rest of the card! But it was the first time I had made it, so for an experiment it's not too bad I guess.

This is not a plastic bag

2008-03-19T21:30:00.005Z

We at the Eternal Maker think we are better placed than most people to encourage the use of bags for life and getting rid of plastic bags, as we have so much bag inspiration instore. Unfortunately we do still provide plastic - boo - but we try to put as many as possible of our sales into paper. Now I've decided it's time to encourage you even further to make your own bag - what better way to show off your makes than whilst saving the planet?
So for a little help - because, let's face it, we all like a little help:
A standard canvas bag from Morsbag.com
The brilliant Lotta Jansdotter's tote bag from her book Simple Sewing, would look great with some of the fab new Kaffe Fassett fabric we've just got in..
'Hobo Bag' from J Caroline Creative - this one I might have to make myself, in some of my fave Amy Butler fabric...
And of course Amy Butler herself has a free download for a lovely yoga bag
A bag based on the bag that started the problems - the cheap plastic bag - here from allfreecrafts.com.
And if you need any extra inspiration - take a look at this lovely tape from Kokka, perfect for bag handles...

aahhh once more blogger frustrates my attempts at pictures, so here you are, take a look at them here instead

The Class List is finally on the website!

2008-03-14T09:24:00.003Z

Click on the blog title to see the great classes on the Eternal Maker website!

some quick pics to show you I haven't been idle...

2008-02-09T23:32:00.000Z

I just thought, while I have a little bit of time (which could be otherwise spent sleeping, but I like to prioritize) that it would be nice to show you some of the things I have been doing lately. Some of the buttoncompany work that is taking up my every waking and sleeping moment.

So this is the new picture for the baby girl theme bag...

this is bright eyes...
we have new one too, called peacock feather, which is all teals and hot pinks and greens but I am once again having problems uploading pictures to blogger. grrr... blogger, I am shaking my fist at you, if you can see me.

Anyway, its only 1 week to go before the big trade show. I have a couple of shipments of the stuff we don't make probably not going to make it in time, or if they do they will get here the day before - and then I still have to dye all the new colours. Anybody got any ideas about how to stretch my day? I'm sure there's a drug out there that'll keep me awake 24/7. I'm nearly at that point, seriously. But it's one week and counting. One week until I can climb into my bed (scooting all the buttons to one side - I have been using my bedroom as the photographic studio and my bed ends up as button storage!) and not have to worry about all the work I have still to do. Cos if it ain't done then, it ain't gonna get done. (Don't tell mum that yet, she is still optimistic about the amount of hours in my day).

On the shop front, everything has really picked up since christmas. I think word has finally got around and we are starting to if not yet break even then show signs that one day we will. The spring class list went out too, last week, and a lot of classes are already full up! Last time I think everyone was a little dubious about our ability to teach them anything, now they are embracing it wholeheartedly! I will put the class list up on the website if I have a moment, but it's not looking likely until after the show.

ooh look, I think blogger heard me, look what just turned up - this is peacock feather. I had to doctor the image somewhat to get the colours right - they still aren't as vibrant as they are in real life. And in doctoring the colours I lost some of the nice composition that the original had.
I just did it again didn't I? - Lots of my customers in the shop keep pointing out that whenever anyone looks at any of my work I have a bad habit of pointing out the faults in it. So I apologise, ignore what I just said about the photo.

PS I thought I'd draw a little picture about how I am feeling right now. The black under my eyes are the bags - huuuuge, my hair is misbehaving and on that note I am now going to bed.
night night x

Some new stamps I've been thinking about...

2008-01-23T01:08:00.000Z

So, there I was, surfin' the net, as they say, (i think mum calls it procrastinating; I call it 'research') when I accidentally stumbled upon these cute stamps (ah ha! See, research, I told you...) Actually it happened a while ago, right at the beginning of this whole shop melarkey, and I thought, I just don't know enough about rubber stamps. I mean, I know what I like and what I don't like, but who knows if anyone else would like them? I still don't know the answer to that, apart from the fact that me and Becky and then me and Mum went through the images from the website on Saturday and were giggling and 'aww-ing' so much that Shanice was looking at us like there was no hope left. So I decided that that was good enough. And the fact is, I LOVE THEM!!
You have probably all heard of her, she is Just Johanna, and her little birds and trees and owls are just aahh... so arty, kitschy, aahh. have a look at them here here I already have in mind a diorama card with the submarine and maybe an owl and some watercolours - if it comes out anything like what is in my head, it'll be a goodie. I will show you when I finally get around to it - after all, this is me we are talking about, with my time scale and the fact that the stamps haven't even been ordered yet.. we'll be lucky if I manage before next year - although mum has put me down for a 3D card making demo sometime in April and it sounds purrr-fect for then.
The catalogue is winging it's way across the atlantic to me and I will be placing my order hopefully at the end of this week! Hurrah!

Please Mr Bank Manager...

2008-01-10T14:18:00.000Z

I just wanted to prove big cats vanity from the last entry. I wasn't making it up, honest...

This morning we went to the Bank Manager (deserves Capitalising, that one) to see if we can get funding to bring in this amazing new machine embroidery thread into the UK - Hemingworth Polyselect. It is gorgeous, if nice Mr Bank Manager says yes we will launch it at our trade show.

It has this dust proof protective cap which stops tangling & breakage, and is available in 300 colours.... now all I need to do is get a machine that'll cope with it....

Righto, back to work...

Happy New Year and all that goes with it...

2008-01-08T16:53:00.000Z

I suppose it's about time I said Happy New Year - 'Happy New Year' - otherwise it'll be too long to be appropriate. I guess I could still wish you a 'Happy Year', but I guess you would all think i'd gone daft if I started doing that in march, which if I don't make time to do this entry now, may have been the first time I would have got to wish it you. Because it is that time of year again. The time of year I take a deep breath and then start moaning and groaning for the next 6 weeks until it is all over. What? I hear you ask... It's our trade show in the middle of February. The big one where we have to get all our buttons in order, nice and neatly presented, reject old ones (don't worry, they go to a nice farm somewhere where they can play until they die a peaceful death in their sleep at a ripe old age) and bring in some funky new ones. Now, imagine, how long does it take you all to sort out your stash? Well, try multiplying that by... well - a lot. That is the job we have to do over the coming weeks. All the nice fun projects I had in mind have to be put back on the shelf for now (and I waited so long for that Amy Butler fabric to come in so I could make a quilt for our shop window and then for me...) and it's down to boring work.
My main job is sorting out what goes in the range - all the buttons come and audition before me and I pass or fail them. Kind of like X Factor, really (kind of like, as in not at all..). Then I decide what card to put them on to show them off to their best advantage. Not greeting card type card, but an A4 layout.
Anyway, the reason I decided to stop this flurry of activity was because big cat decided she was getting bored with the lack of attention, jumped up on the desk, sat on the keyboard and started taking pictures of herself with my webcam. Really. Heres the proof.
*a long while later*
no word of a lie, the pics that big cat took took so long to upload that I stopped them. I will try putting them up again when I have time, or when blogger is feeling a little quicker. In the meantime, it's good to talk, but I gotta go!

Back from Bath and ready for Christmas... well, the first bit is true.

2007-12-14T13:35:00.000Z

Hello my lovelies I hope you haven't missed me too much! I am back from my shed in Bath - and loving the warmth and dryness that we all associate with having 4 walls and a roof over your head. And a heater.
Actually I had 4 walls and a roof. Although they were all wooden and one of the walls had a great big hole in it through which to sell my wares. And to see out of. To see the rain, the hail, the gale force winds... I kid you not, Bath was enjoying particularly seasonal weather for the 2 weeks I was there. The day I left, the day after the market finished, you can probably guess that the weather was beautiful - blue skies, sun, a crisp winter's day.
But loads of you hardy folk came out prepared for the weather and to buy buttons, for which I thank you all muchly, without you it would have been cold, wet, and....boring. And while I'm thanking people, I'd better say a quick thanks to my mates in Bath - for lizzie for bringing me lunch every day, minding the stand while I went to the loo and for nikki and chris for putting me up for the whole time (and putting up with me)and cooking me lovely meals and being my personal taxi service on a lot of occasions, also minding the stand and putting up with my moans about the weather and being cold and my sick foot (see pic). Ahhh, I lurrve my friends... (no vomit sounds please, it'd ruin a lovely moment.) On the subject of my sick foot (ok, I know we weren't talking about it but I like to go on about small injuries to make them feel more important...) it's not that bad really, I just pulled a muscle or something in the sole and couldn't walk. It was like an injury that you'd get from wearing nice high heeled party shoes, but no, I got it from a pair of flat boots and a march home in the rain. But thanks to the St Johns Ambulance man who was passing by and agreed to strap it up for me. (and thanks to chris for the strong painkillers, such a bonus to be staying with doctors)
Thanks too for Kate, the lovely customer who gave me my first christmas present of the year and cheered me up no end on a miserable day. Who made me think how nice people can be and therefore I phoned up my mum to apologise for being mean to her on the phone a couple of hours earlier.
On the whole it got me into a lovely christmassy feeling, all the little chalets (the correct term apparently for garden shed) with their twinkly christmas lights. The smell of gluwein and mince pies and hot dogs and other lovely things drifting up fromonce side, lavender from the other. People wrapped up warm with bags full of lovely presents.. I sold a whole load of my button brooches for christmas presents - they do make good presents, I wish my family and friends didn't associate me so much with buttons - it's a little too much of a cliche for me to give them button related presents.
Anyhow, I am back now, to lots of exciting new things, - a shipment of Japanese Fabrics this morning - very exciting I am going to make a melly & me little kitty I will show you when it's done - and at long last the Amy Butler fabrics will be delivered hopefully sometime next week. Hurrah!
Now I need to concentrate on finding more lush papers - I'm going to have a stack where the christmas papers used to be to fill up so I'd better get cracking. Any ideas?

10 days in a shed in Bath. Wish you were me?

2007-11-26T14:05:00.001Z

The time is fast approaching to get out my long johns, to wrap up warm and get into the Christmas spirit.
Really? In a SHED??!! Yup. Until this year I have never associated christmas with sheds. It's gonna be cold, but I reckon a lot of fun. Look at it, it looks so pretty! It's mainly the buttons that we are taking, but I'm sneaking in a few other things, like some lovely papers, my amy butler patterns, and other lurvely things. I'm going to try making up some button jewellery to sell made up as well as the kits - haha i think i'm gonna need some fingerless gloves!
So Mum'll be looking after the shop in my absence, go in and say hello to her, she likes company. I dont think she'll know what to do not being able to just wander off and see people. Mum spends her days running from one person who needs her to the next, so maybe during this time they'll have to come to her... she may even find time to encourage her fledgling crafty side. This year has been such a learning curve for me - not just with the shop but finding out all about my mum and her secret sewing skills. Who knows what I'll come back to find? (Hopefully the quilt she is making me for christmas!) Just don't expect any entries in here til I get back. I've told mum how to log on to write in this but nothing has appeared so far. Not that I'm one to talk with my few and far between entries... I looked today on my listing in the Crafty Blogs site. I'm LOW! But it's nice to know that there's at least a couple of people out there..... i think.. unless it's my mum trying to log on.
The best thing for me about this whole 10 days in a shed thing is that some of my best friends live in the bath area, so I get to see loads of them! hurrah!
Anyhow, gotta go and pack.. if you are anywhere near the bath vicinity get yourselves down there, say hello, come and make some button jewellery with me.

Stamping Caz

2007-11-17T22:02:00.000Z

Today was a good day at the shop - we had the lovely stamping caz down to do some classes for us using some lovely stampendous stamps. I will show you pics later but they are at the shop and I am at home (yes, I do sometimes make it home..) The classes were both fully booked (a first, hurray!) and I think everyone seemed pretty pleased with themselves at the end. I think we're really lucky to have caz come to the shop as it is a fair distance for her (she fully admits she doesn't do motorways - thank god its all A roads between hers and ours)but she does such beautiful work.. It has inspired me so I think next weeks makings may involve a few cards. It was good to find out that our small workshop area will hold a full papercraft class, too. I'm just a little worried about Mandy Shaw's class on Monday - she has a full house too and it's gonna be sewing christmas stuff using buttons, felt, fabric, all sorts. I want to join in on that one (hell, it's someone else who's crazy enough to try making a living out of button jewellery, I gotta see this!)Oh well. Anyone who is booked in for that class - I suggest a crash diet for tomorrow, monday's gonna be a squeeze!
Hang on a mo, little cat is saying something to me. No, don't worry, she just wants a feed (she's a pig, that one). Ah well, better go do her bidding, she keeps stretching her paws up at me in a way she thinks is cute (well, it is cute, but I'm not going to let her know that).

Some things I have made this week whilst I haven't been writing this blog...

2007-11-16T20:56:00.000Z

well, obviously my aims of writing more regularly were slightly too high - but I say its pretty good going that its not once every couple of months any more. Give me a couple more months and I'll be doing this daily - just you wait...
Anyway, I've not been idle while not writing, I have been a busy bee. Everything else has dfallen to the wayside, because this week I decided I was going to make stuff. It was sewing this week. For those of you who know me you'll know I really can't sew, but this week I was going to give it a try. thank god I have loads of ladies on hand to give me advice, as I am sure I wouldnt have completed a single project without the help of customers, sales reps, my mum, the postman...
so, this is a makeup/ wash bag (made with the expert advice of jane the moda fabric rep)
I used sticky velcro for the fastener and then sewed it on, it was good to get the positioning right with the sticky, and also it didn't move when i sewed it, brilliant, I'm all for the easy way out...
I also made this cushion with a rose thingy on it - it's made of linen so I had to do double the amount of sewing for fear of the fray. But I like the little fraying it's done, it makes it more messy, like something I would have in my house. hang on, I do have one in my house. or at least I will once I move out of my mum's attic, big cat would ruin it otherwise, with her constant plumping up of the cushions with her claws.

Poppies for Remembrance Day

2007-11-12T15:59:00.001Z

On saturday we had our own nod to remembrance day, we made silk poppies all day and gave 10% of all our takings on the day to the British Legion. We were all really pleased with the poppies we made with the gorgeous silk ribbon we brought back from america, and it was good to see lots of new people in the shop - including some really cool kids who came in and put us all to shame with their talents! I can't tell you how much was raised in the end because it all went into the sealed British Legion collection pot. If they let me know at any point, I'll pass on the info!

I made a card!

2007-11-12T15:44:00.000Z

Well, I make lots of cards. But I thought I would post one. I quite liked it. We have these stamps in the shop which I love, stampendous' polka snowman, and I didn't think they were getting the recognition they deserved! I have also - yeah, I guess I'm pretty slow on the uptake - recently started stamping on calico with stazon, and machine sewing my stamps onto paper. I really love the effect of sewing on paper - either fabric to paper or paper to paper, there's so many more options.

Becky The Life Saver

2007-11-01T23:55:00.001Z

I just wanted to say a seperate THANK YOU to Becky who took over running the shop at the last minute so we could still get to Houston. She took it on having never even visited us before but has done a stirling job at keeping all our customers on the straight and narrow. And the good news is that she is coming back to do Saturdays between now and Christmas!
I love having other people around in the shop, it's so much more fun in the down times when we're quieter. Today in the shop there was me, Becky, Mum, Grandma & our friendly neighbourhood teen, Shanice. A full house! Although there's always room for a few of our beloved customers ; )

Stash in Suitcases

2007-11-01T22:36:00.000Z

Aaarrgh i am rubbish at this! I honestly dont know how people can do this everyday - I really wish I could, I totally mean to, but then one thing after another happens and suddenly it is months later and I am sooo behind in updating this. I cant even say I have been working on any cool projects, (the list of things in my head just keeps getting longer) I have just been uploading item after item to our website. But here and now, in the presence of all of you (anybody out there?) I hereby promise to update this blog every day...every other day...ok, at least once a week. Promise. Fingers and toes uncrossed I am not lying I promise.
So, apart from the website I do have a legitimate excuse this week. This week I have been internetless because we (mum, me & the lovely corinne) headed off to houston, texas (yee hah!) to bag me a cowboy. Ahem - sorry - I mean, to learn us some stuff about quilts. and oooh boy did we learn good. I had been warned about the excitement of the quilt market out there, but even so, nothing can quite prepare you for it. And the impact it has on your bank account. We definitely spent a lot of money we didnt have (the shop is still very early days yet and we are still paying off the initial startup costs) but I think we've bought a lot of very cool stuff. And most of it we ALL agreed was lush (if you know us, especially me and mum, you'll know that agreeing on something we like is something not to be taken lightly, when it happens, you know you have to just go for it, to hell with the money!)
So we have some gorgeous fabrics, loads from Japan and Korea (after working there it seems I can sniff them out a mile off and just have to have them) Amy Butler's fabric to go with the patterns (you've all been asking for it so I kinda had to, huh?

I can only find a pic of some ribbon we ordered in the japanese range - we ordered this with fabric to match... aw, it's so kitschy and cute I am gonna be in heaven the day this fabric turns up!

And check these out - perfect for a mix of japanese and Amy Butler fabrics?
These patterns are by Melly & Me and were so fresh and vibrant we all just gravitated towards them. These aussie girls really know how to part a girl with her money! We were sat on the floor of their stand picking out patterns for a fair while, getting totally in the way of everyone else, luckily they didnt seem to mind! Unfortunately we only got there on the last day so we missed out Magoo the Monkey's pattern (have to wait for that one I'm afraid) although we did get most of the others - including mad mozzie (check him out at the back, he's the one with the crazy eyes - ok, the one with the REALLY crazy eyes!)

We also went to classes, overslept for classes, giggled like naughty schoolgirls in classes, nearly fell asleep in classes and learnt some pretty good stuff in classes. On the Saturday 10th Corinne will be in the shop (she hasnt had enough of us yet yay!) showing you all some of what we learnt and some cool new products we brought back. We didn't quite have to pay excess luggage fees (phew!) but let me tell you, on more than one of the cases the weight was exactly on the top of the tip of the scales. And that's a skill worth having. Although i wasnt such a fan of the skill of filling cases to overloading at gatwick where a lovely worker there wrongly told us the bus to the carpark was downstairs when it was on the floor we were on. 5 cases filled with fabric down a large ramp is bad enough - but up???!! Good thing I've been working out and lifting all those boxes of buttons.
So now I have a list of things to make as long as my arm inspired by all I have seen - hopefully in the next couple of weeks I'll have some cool stuff to show you. But I'm sure I've said that before!

Finally open!

2007-08-17T08:47:00.001+01:00

I haven't written for a while - but I guess thats because I have been soooo busy because last tuesday we finally opened the doors to The Eternal Maker. I am so pleased with the response we have had - everybody has been saying that its about time chichester had a shop like this. We have tried to make it feel welcoming, and everyone has said how nice it is. It's nice when you feel you have succeeded.
Well, not succeeded yet. Our main problem is getting people in the shop. We aren't in the centre of town, and when we took flyers to the market in chichester we had a phone call from the council saying we weren't allowed to advertise there (boo, chichester council, boo) and advertising in newspaper (which we have done) is so expensive. And let's face it, we spent all our money filling the shop with lovely things!
Our ethos for the shop was to fill it with abit of everything - enough for people to do things with, not too little, but then when people ask for something else, if enough people ask, well- we'll get it in for you. At the moment we have a lovely range of paper (as you might guess, I love paper) fabric, rubber stamps, inks, cardmaking supplies, BUTTONS!!!, ribbons, haberdashery, silks, stitchery, oooh, lots.
The next step seems to be embroidery as chichester seems to have a large contingent in the embroiderer's guild. So any advice, people, once more we have no idea!!

Oh, and look at our stained glass window - my mum bid and lost against our landlord for this window 15 years ago in an auction at chichester market. Now we have it! I keep telling mum thats it's quite a long way to go to get it, opening a shop just for a window. but it certainly is beautiful.

Papering Up the Store

2007-07-12T17:23:00.000+01:00

Well, I should have guessed that paper buying would be one of my favorite bits... when I was little I absolutely loved stationery products, and let me tell you, when I was little paper didn't look like this!

So as the website is not quite ready yet (it's there, but there are no products!) here's a sneak preview of some paper, at least:

7 Gypsies

This beautiful range of paper completely fulfills my illusions of grandeur.

Basic Grey
I just love Basic Grey's "Fruitcake" range, how's about these for cool snowmen? We've also bought some stamps to match, with little pudgy snowmen, brilliant!

.

I have only just discovered just how cool Cosmo Cricket are: this Storytime range is just soooo cute, - note to friends, I'm expecting one of you to have a baby some time soon, it is urgent that someone has a baby that I can fill in this Itty Bitty Storytime kit. And the cloud paper - imagine the possibilities with such a beautiful blue sky as this.. Check out the rest of the range at www.cosmocricket.com!

Rusty Pickle
If it were up to me, we would have ten times the amount of Rusty Pickle products. Unfortunately the budget only allowed for some, and we have picked carefully. Expect to see more in coming months! But in the meantime, how's about this for a summer blockbuster?? Cap'n Jack paper, the only thing better in my book would be if we had Johnny Depp in the shop....

Help me help me help me... you get the gist...

2007-06-22T12:49:00.000+01:00

Have you ever had a job to do that you just don't know where to start? I've got one of those, it's called The Eternal Maker...
I have spent the last week or so (inbetween my buttoning duties) reading up on crafts. Looking up websites, books, magazines, everything I can think of to try and teach myself. At the same time I am trying to teach my mum what I am learning. This is not quite an impossible job, but it is close. Before you all start thinking I am being rude about my mum, let me set you straight. It's not an impossible job because she is unable to learn it, it is an impossible job because I am unable to learn it or teach it to her. There is just SO much. Because we want to cover a wide range of crafts in the shop, it is not just a matter of learning about scrapbooking, or patchworking (although, each of these is a degree in itself I suspect). And I am being scared off I think, by the mountain that just seems to grow every day. I know once I get started it'll get easier, but figuring out where to start is taking its toll on me, believe me. The worry of it all is invading my dreams. Where once I used to dream about buttons, (sad I know) now I am dreaming about this beautiful shop, with it's beautiful workshop space, and lots of beautiful customers (aren't I nice). But there is nothing to sell, no products to try, nothing. Oh dear I think I am working myself up into a state. And because mum is at a show, and everyone else has Fridays off, there is no one to tell my woes to but Big Cat (even Little Cat has better things to do) and she just looks at me blinking, as if to say, what do you expect me to do about it? Well, Big Cat, at the moment, let's just say that you would probably do a better job than me.
So, the point of this self-pitying rant is that if anyone has any good ideas they would like to help out Big Cat with, let her know, I know she would be very grateful.

the first of many... hopefully

2007-06-08T15:41:00.000+01:00

So, with a background selling buttons to garment makers, and then latterly to craft and haberdashery shops, this has been our only link to the craft world.
The other day my mum (Sarah) was looking for premises in which to run the button business ( www.buttoncompany.co.uk) and came across this shop front in Chichester. It was perfect for a craft shop. I went along a day later to have a look, and you know when you walk into somewhere and think, this just fits? Looking beyond the kitchen showroom that it is now you can see the bright lights and the workroom area, and you can feel the buzz and excitement of walking into it and seeing loads of bright colours and things you want to do.
To explain a little more about us, Sarah is my mum, I am her daughter (Anna). We are not alike at all except in one way: we both enthusiastically embrace a craft for about a week, and then lose patience with all the fiddly bits and put it away to be found a few years later festering in some dark deserting corner. What distresses me about this most is that I'd like to think I was just a little bit original. I mean, the knitting machine I just bought on ebay, that must be a new move, right? No. Not only did my mother go through this faze, but so did my grandmother. They looked at each other and tutted, muttering that after making a few mis-shapen jumpers it too would languish in a dark corner of my grandma's garage. So I guess the trick is this, with this craft shop: as long as it keeps the two of us amused - and lets face it, there are a lot of crafts out there to keep us entertained for quite some time - we will probably make a decent go of it. My fingers are crossed.
Back to the shop front. It's quite obviously another toy for me and my mum to play with for a while. I have quit my job in london and rented out my flat and we will be living a frugal life in her 1930's bungalow in Chichester. Which is, quite literally splitting at the seams with buttons.
We get the lease on 1st July 2007, and hopefully we will open a month later.
This blog is hopefully going to detail our progress... or lack thereof.