Confession

I don’t always tell you about all the fabric I buy. Phew – I’m so relieved to have been able to get that off of my chest. You see, I’ve developed a habit. I suppose as habits go it’s relatively safe, but nonetheless it is a habit. My wise neighbour told me this morning that I need to use before I buy anymore. Of course she is talking about starting to work through the fabric stash that I already have. And she’s probably right. The trouble is this habit of mine keeps taking me to places that I shouldn’t even dream of going to. Most of them are virtual places. And most of them are a long way from home. Most of them are way across the Atlantic. And it’s cheaper, even with post & packing, for me to order from there. Apart from excise duty. As a law abiding citizen I agree wholeheartedly with the principles of paying what’s due, however my objection lies with having to pay Royal Mail £8 for delivering me a card to tell me that I have to pay the duty.

Take the last package (only joking, please don’t take it – I waited three weeks for it to come). The lovely lady at Lola Pink indicated that the value of the packet was $43. The rule is you pay excise duty on anything over £18 (for VAT purposes) or over £40 if it is a gift. This last package cost £5.35 in duty – I don’t have any problem with paying that, however I really, really object to paying Royal Mail for the privilege of telling me. There, rant over. Onwards and upwards! I suppose the moral is to make sure that you don’t order anything worth more that £18!!

So all of this fabric – what am I going to do with it? Well, I might have a little break from quilts for a time and try my hand at bags, remember I made one a few weeks ago with Nicola? Well we’re going to have a day together again in a couple of weeks time, I’m going to be a guinea pig and test out patterns that she’s been working on herself plus I really want to make more of the boxy bags that I made last time.

Here’s a sneaky peek of some of the combinations I’ve been thinking of putting together – that’s the part I probably find the hardest, but it’s still early days so I must give myself some time.

I did plan to make a start in piecing the bags today but instead I did the housework and the ironing – time flies when you’re having fun!!

PS – this isn’t all that I bought, like I said at the beginning, I don’t tell you about all that I buy

Have a good week, enjoy the sun while it lasts!