Here are the themes for our design challenges for the next few months.  The first date is the launch date, when, as usual, I'll give you the full details.  The second date is the closing date. Theme Date 1 Date 2   Butterflies & Dragonflies 06-Jun 18-June Beautiful flying creatures, gorgeous designs, amazing colours. Picnic time 04-July 16-Jul Outdoor eating at its best - or worst! Stately homes 08-Aug 20-Aug Buildings

  It's time to sign up for our June Fabric Fun Craft Club box! In June, we're going to be trying applique, using a sewing machine. You'll be able to decorate a beach bag and make personalised luggage labels, all using your new applique skills. Your box will include everything you need: a partly made beach bag with a snap fastener, fabrics, bondaweb, thread,  extra fabric, bias binding and wadding to make luggage labels, templates

What a month the past one has been!  I have been so busy with work and family commitments, that I'm afraid the blog has suffered badly.   I especially apologise that the design challenge entries haven't been shown. I thought there were two, but I can only find one, so if you entered last month's challenge and it isn't here, please get in touch and I'll put it right. The one entry I

  At our May Fabric Fun Craft Club we are going to dye fabric using natural dyes. There's something very satisfying about dying fabric with natural dyes, especially as many of them are readily available for little or no cost.  And there's plenty of scope for experimentation with colours! Although there's not a great deal of work involved in dying, the whole process takes a long time (days) so we won't be able to complete

April is the birthday month of our greatest playwright, William Shakespeare, so this month, our Design Challenge will be based on one of his best-loved plays, A Midsummer Night's Dream.  Even if you haven't seen or read the play, you can still join in the challenge, because the play is all about true love (and not-so-true love!), fairies and comic donkeys.  Your fabric design might feature characters from the play, the fairy protagonists

We had two competitions running this month, but sadly only had one entry for one and two for the other. The Spring Cushion entry was Spring Flowers and Cute Bunny: The drill bag entries were Abstract Shapes and Doodles: and Rainbow Flash:   Thanks to the two designers who entered. The entries will also be on our Facebook page; you can comment there or below if you like the designs. Our next design challenge will launch on April 4th

  Are you a fan of craft fairs?  If so, do you like the big national ones, or small local ones? I actually like both - they're very different.   A good local fair can showcase local small businesses, many of which include local products - local honey, paintings of local scenes, etc.  They tend to be smaller, so it's easier to talk to the stall holders.  I've paid several enjoyable, productive visits to The

It's time to start thinking about our April Fabric Fun Craft Club. This month we are going to try English Paper Piecing, otherwise known as patchwork! There are two ways of sewing scraps of fabric together to make a larger piece. You can use a sewing machine or stitch by hand. We're going to do the hand version this month. It's not as difficult as it might seem and is very satisfying. It's also very portable

  You may remember that I said we were adding a cotton drill to our list of fabrics - lots of you have asked for a heavier fabric, and here it is! From this afternoon, drill will be available as one of the options in the Market Place. To celebrate the arrival of this new fabric, just in time for our 5th birthday, there will be a quick, extra design competition.  Two in one month!! For this competition, you need

  Diggers - and other working vehicles - are the theme of this month's design challenge. We had three entries: Diggers by Heckadoodledo Suzanne went with an accurate depiction of diggers.  You could play spot the difference with this design, because the diggers aren't all the same, although you might think that at first glance! Diggers and Flowers by Kostolom, aka Anna Alekseeva Anna chose an interesting combination of flowers and diggers. Digger Tracks by Polly Dextrous Helen

Did you see the post on our main Facebook page last Thursday, about our design challenge? Details are here if you missed it: https://www.printmepretty.co.uk/20447/Design-Challenge---Diggers   If you didn't see it, that may be because FB have made more changes to their algorithm (what a surprise!) which means that you're less likely to see PmP posts. Before, group posts were usually shown to most people. We regularly had 80% or

  Diggers on fabric - that's the challenge for this month! Diggers, cranes, dumper trucks - anything construction-related.  Of course, if you're a Terry Pratchett fan, Diggers might mean something slightly different to you, and that's fine, too.   As usual, designs will be shown on Facebook and the blog at fat quarter size (and, if appropriate,  also at swatch size).  The closing date will be February 19th.   The entries will be displayed