chaussettes, calzini, socken, calcetines, носки

I'm off to buy sock yarn for my monkey sock swap pal tonight - hoorah! And as the site I will be buying it from has a £19 minimum for free postage, I will just have to buy myself something too!

Beautiful site, marvellous ideas

Have just found the following site: Purl Bee - its the blog a shop in New York (on the list if we ever make a shopping trip there) and has the most beautiful ideas for using up fabric. I particularly love the swatch portraits - definitely an idea for decorating my sewing space. The round frames make the fabrics look so much more exciting than square ones.

I have been reading the following post from Tree Fall - it's a really useful post, with lots of US fabric sites. I was wary of ordering from a random shop in the states, so it is nice to see another blogger recommending sites. Unfortunately, Manda has also disabused me of the notion that you can spend up to £18 on fabric without paying duty and VAT. Apparently (and this does appear on the Customs and Excise website, albeit in very very small print) the £18 limit has to include postage and packaging.

All of which means that my bargain from reprodepot that should be winging its way to me as we speak, might not be such a bargain after all - and now I have to wait for the cusstoms letter from the Post Office. Sigh.

Still, I'll know next time, and the gorgeous fabric I'm waiting for will be reward enough for the hassle.

And another exciting thing

Oh dear, I should save these things up so that my blog looks more active, but my memory is terrible so I just have to enthuse about my latest foray into fabric collection. Last night I ordered 5 yards of fabric from reprodepot. And most of it was on sale, which makes it even more exciting!

I have a metre of Sternt fabric from Westfalenstoffe with a white background and blue sleepwalkers

A yard of Westfalenstoffe Sonne, Monde & Sterne fabric with navy background and white stars

A yard of some gorgeous Noah's ark fabric

A yard of blue Petit paisley, which has mini paisles in bright primary colours all over it.

And a yard of lovely japanese taupe fabric, called 'Blossoms on water'

Ok, so the last one doesn't really match the other 4, but those are primarily for the patchwork quilt I am contributing to for the new Mayou baby. Having said that, they almost look too beautiful for baby-use. At least reprotdepot have a minimum 1 yard order so I should have lots left over.

Unfortunately, there is a nasty tendency of some mail firms to charge huge fees for customs and excise matters, so I have to be a good girl and only buy up to £18 worth of stuff in one go, otherwise there are all sorts of hassle. I hope it makes it through ok.