My 'research' trip to London

Never one to pass up an opportunity to visit the big smoke, I tagged along with the other half to London for a few days this week to get some business research done while he had to go to the office.

I think its really useful when starting a new business to see what else is going on out there and London is defiantly not short of haberdasheries, fabric stores, creative venues and generally cool funky places that have put thought and planning into their appearance, look and branding. So off I set to do some mystery shopping and some.....well.....just regular shopping too...and some amazing coffee drinking and delicious cupcake eating - it would be rude not to!

This coffee is seriously good stuff - Monmouth Coffee! Not to be missed if your in the Covent Garden area, in fact not to be missed at all - I went out my way twice to go here!  

Ahhh...the classic vanilla cupcake from the Hummingbird Bakery. I might have had a chocolate and mint one too - it was there daily special - like I said, rude not too! 

The colourful buildings on Portobello Road - gorgeous and bright in the sunshine! 

I love browsing a bit of the old stuff - I mean vintage..retro! 

So this is where all the old sewing machines go when they die - sewing machine heaven in All Saints, Notting hill. 

So other than eating, drinking and browsing, I did manage to find a few goodies to bring home. I went to the Stitch and Craft show too at the Olympia yesterday as well which was fun and picked up some things....and so my project list grows even longer (blog post to come on that next week!)

I found these gorgeous soft smooth leather off cuts....

 Which will turn into little snap frame purses with this little purse frame I also picked up. 

Ahhh...a girl can never have enough Liberty print. This will turn into a little summer top before too long. 

 I also topped up my stack of prints with this Liberty scrap pack from Ray Stitch, the plans for these little bits.....possibly some hexagon paper piecing. 

I've been looking forward to getting this Colette dress pattern for ages now and plan is to get started this weekend now that I have my fabric and buttons (both from Cloth House).

At the Stitch and Craft show I picked up two of these up cycled selvage yarns made from jersey fabric. There are pretty hefty and chunky and they will be turned into a crochet storage basket. 

 I can never pass by a bargain and these four colours of mini ric rac went together so lovely so I could't resist! 

Another bargain...7 little packets of buttons - all shapes and sizes which will be transformed into a bouquet of flowers as soon as I find some florist wire! 

So I'm going to be pretty busy this weekend then with all of this...and I've got a birthday to celebrate (not mine - the hubbys). Would love you to stay tuned for how all the projects turn out....