Something New

I haven’t done any crochet today!! First day that’s happened in weeks!!

Today I went out with my mother-in-law for most of the day, which was bad as it meant I missed my gym session, but it was also good as it meant I got a few things done at the bank that were becoming quite urgent, followed by a quick look at some lovely fabric in the market, and a trip to Hobbycraft.

We were in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, for our little jaunt. Not necessarily where I would normally have thought of to go for shops, but it was the first place I discovered that had the right combination of shops and banks that we needed between us.

Wondering through the town to find the bank, we discovered the large market area in the centre. I think I will be going back there! The market contained a huuuuge stall with a gorgeous selection of fabrics, some beautiful upholstery tweeds, and lots of gorgeous 100% cotton fabrics by Clarke & Clarke. I bought a metre of their lovely ‘Rosebud’ fabric in the sage colour, but I think I will be going back for more another time! I do have a plan for this fabric, so hopefully that will work out nicely. But more about that another time :)

We had lunch in a lovely independent tea room, Number 10 The Tea Room, which is family run and serves a selection of sandwiches, paninis, jacket potatoes, salads, and – most importantly – cakes! Along with nice coffee, tea, and herbal teas. If you find yourself in Chesterfield and in want of a light lunch or a cuppa and cake, then I recommend it! 

After lunch we pressed on to Hobbycraft. I don’t often go to Hobbycraft, but the last time I went I had seen that they had sewing machines at ok prices, and I really wanted a sewing machine! They also had the level of sewing machine I was after – not totally basic, that I will outgrow as soon as I learn to sew, but not really high spec and therefore expensive either.

As we were looking at the sewing machines and weighing up which to buy – the Brother that I had originally wanted, or the slightly lower spec but £50 cheaper Singer – a lovely lady came up to us to offer some advice: if you register with Hobbycraft’s club, they send you an email with a code for a 15% discount – not bad when you’re spending around £100!!!

Luckily I have a smartphone, so I was able to sign up for this there and then. I confirmed my registration, that was emailed to me, and then received another email with my discount code. If you’re looking for something big from Hobbycraft then I totally recommend doing this – just be aware that the voucher code is only valid until 2 weeks after you receive it, so if you’re not heading there quite soon then don’t sign up just yet :)

To sign up, go to the website http://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/ and scroll down to the bottom of the screen. There’s a little box to the right-hand side where you can enter your email address to register.

The sewing machine I went for in the end was the Singer, their Simple 3210 for £99 (minus the 15% discount!). They also have a more expensive Simple 3223 at £159, which has more decorative stitches available. The 3210 isn’t showing up on their website for some reason, but they seemed to have plenty in store.

I won’t be able to start sewing just yet though, as tomorrow I head off south again. I’m going to be meeting up with my best friend, who is joining me from our home town in Wales, to see the hugely talented Jessi James again. We will be getting our matching friendship tattoos tomorrow. My friend is the mum of the boys who I got my first Jessi tattoo for, which I blogged about here. This next tattoo is going to be based upon an origami swan design, hopefully something like one of these (both images found on Pinterest, but I can't find the links again as I had saved them on my computer):

We are then making a weekend of it by camping nearby. Hubby is going to the rugby with his dad tomorrow and then they are staying the night in Swindon – the rugby is in Cardiff, but they are driving to Swindon to catch the train from there, then stopping overnight. The place I will be camping with my friend is very near to Swindon, so hubby will be joining us on Sunday so we can spend the rest of the weekend together – finally some time together!!

I very much doubt that I will get the chance for any blogging during the weekend, but I will be back on Monday, hopefully with a finished Glastonbury Blanket to share! Exciting stuff :)

I hope you all have wonderful lovely weekends to look forward to too :)