Wednesday 28 October 2009

Goodies!

There is a lovely shop near to where I live with the cute name of Thistle. It used to belong to a chain of wool and fabric shops, but was taken over a couple of years ago as a private venture and it's far better now, with all kinds of wonderful little goodies that suddenly I can't live without! It's a tiny unassuming shop that is a little let down by it's outward appearance and surroundings on a busy main road in a little place called Cowplain. But once you walk through the door you are transported to an oasis of craft and charm. The owner is so helpful and friendly and if you are ever passing, please drop in. They will mail order goods, but as yet have no website.

The walls are stacked almost to the ceiling with wool.



There are racks of yarn and bolts of gorgeous fabrics,



and buttons galore. I had to write about this little shop because these small businesses are in danger and they cannot easily compete with the big shops like Hobbycraft and some of the larger department stores, and they really struggle compared to on line shops, having overheads eating into their profits. If you have a little shop like this near you, please support it, or maybe pay a visit to Cowplain and look for Thistle :)



More goodies today. I went to a couple of Charity shops and found these gorgeous pure wool sweaters. Along with a library book called New Clothes from Old, I plan to turn these into something a little more stylish. I was inspired by a couple of posts on Fairysteps blog, and decided to have a go :) I have heaps of clothes that I was going to donate to the Charity shops, but I may well be recycling them for myself.

At the moment these sweaters are in the washing machine on a boil wash! Who knows what will happen next :)


Some homemade goodies now. A couple of felted friperies for the Etsy shop.


I'm just waiting for a delivery of charms to finish these off, but as you know, the posties are a little unreliable at the moment!!!


Finally, a pumpkin pincushion waiting to be finished and turned into something ghoulish :)

4 comments:

Bovey Belle said...

We have a little shop in town, but not half so well-stocked as your one, and not at ALL helpful about stock. When I wanted some black DMC (well, you know how rare a commodity that is) a couple of years ago, it transpired they had run out, but wouldn't be making an order for another month so wouldn't have any in . . . Needless to say I went elsewhere and that sort of attitude won't help them stay open either.

Ruthie Redden said...

OOh i could get lost in a shop like that! we took atrip to the craft fair in glasgow at the weekend & i came back with a big bag of beautiful ribbon offcuts, i am going to take a leaf out of fairy steps book too. watch out old clothes. love the pin cushion idea. ps i have a wonderful image in my head of a wee pony squished into your suitcase lol

Yarrow said...

Thankfully this shop isn't like that,BB :)

Two, Ruthie :)

Tammie Lee said...

oh my, that shop would just be too tempting. Lovely find on the wool sweaters and right as we lean into winter! I get real excited when the find is cashmere! Your homemade goodies are charming~