Crafting at the Cottage: Fetes, finds and designs

One of the things I really missed when we visited Canada a couple of years ago were traditional English summer fetes. This weekend being the August bank holiday saw the last of the fetes until next year. They are a lovely mix of tea and cakes, bric a brac stalls, rides for the children, second hand book stalls (always lethal for a girl like me who can not resist a good read especially if it costs 50p!) And, at this particular fete I got to hold a baby crocodile and stroke a beautiful barn owl! To complete the day's delights, on a rack of clothes, I found a lovely Boden dress for a fiver that was just my colours and, more importantly my size and a cashmere jumper for 50p, sadly this doesn't fit me but looks great on my daughter - I do love an unexpected find especially when it ticks all the boxes.

I was also offered a space at this particular fete, in the Art and Craft hall so Crafting at the Cottage went on show, and I met some very interesting people and handed out cards and schedules so fingers crossed for the workshops!

In between cups of tea and chatting, I did some doodling and finally committed my ideas for my next quilt to paper. Based on an eight by eight block, but not in a traditional way, I linked squares quite randomly whilst keeping a strong central design. I won't do any further paper work, as for me the real joy of patch working is playing with the actual fabrics and improvising as I go along. It's an organic process but one that I love. The finished item I am imagining will have interesting textures and combinations of plains, stripes and chintzes, so quite different from anything I have done before. I love velvet, crushed and plain, and although it is a challenge to work with, the results are always stunning and with my new favourite gizmo, my rotary cutter, slicing through the pile will be much easier and more accurate than ever before.

So here are some photos of the Art and Craft show and the design for my new quilt.