We discovered these Counted Cross-Stitch Kits by Floss and Mischief at "Thread... a festival of Textiles" in Farnham last month and instantly knew they'd make a great addition to our range of stitch kits.

These contemporary kits, designed by Genevieve Brading, bring the art of counted cross-stitch right up to date with their modern designs. Her concept for the brand was born out of an argument about taxidermy of all things! Her boyfriend, wanted to fill their home with on-trend stuffed and mounted insects and, understandably, she had to put her foot down. And who can blame her!!

As a piece offering, Genevieve, designed and stitched some beetles for him, and that's how the idea behind Floss and Mischief was conceived!

We've selected four of their designs, choose from Aqua Moth Trio, Flutter, Mint Butterfly or Purple Beetle.

These stitch kits retail at just £15 which we think makes the perfect gift... for the modern maker

We loved these beautiful stitch calendar kits by Heather Lins the moment we saw them and simply had to have them for our launch collection last year! Judging from the reaction we got to them then, you loved them too, so we couldn't not re-order them for this year!

Firstly we have "Stitch the Stars" each month is screen printed using "glow in the dark" ink with the corresponding constellation from the zodiac, so January is Capricorn for example. The embroidery thread glows too!

The "Year in Stitches" is a modern take on the cross stitch sampler, the letters of each month are artistically arranged for you to cross stitch, as you can see above!

Both kits are really easy to do, no sewing skills are necessary making them the perfect gift for both experienced "sewists" and those new to sewing.

Whichever kit you decide on we hope you enjoy stitching your way into 2016!!

We've just received our latest delivery from Merchant and Mills topping up all your favourite lines including Workbook, The Camber Set, The Trapeze Dress and other sewing accessories; and we've also added to our range!

Firstly, for the modern maker, hot off the press we've got Portfolio, a 144 page sketchbook which comes with a 1cm deep kraft envelope with a string and eyelet fastening, perfect for keeping everything to do with your works in progress in! Fabric swatches, notes, postcards, trims, all the bits and pieces relating to your latest projects.

We've also added their latest sewing pattern The Fielder to our range, which consists of a dress and top, both based on the traditional sweatshirt styling. It has three quarter length raglan sleeves and in-seam pockets.

It's been designed with linens in mind, but would look equally good in other fabrics, we've recently seen a version in a denim chambray with solid coloured cuffs which looked fantastic.

 And then last but by no means least we couldn't resist these lovely chocolate Copper Farthings, we think they'll make the perfect stocking filler for "sewists" and "non-sewists" alike!

These Tote Bags are not only useful but really easy to make too! For a neat and professional finish we've used french seams, these might sound complicated but they're actually really straightforward.

You will need:

• 50cm of a medium-weight fabric, for ours we used Robert Kaufman's Railroad Denim, Nani Iro for Kokka's Water Window and Echino's Samber in Natural
• 25mm Cotton Webbing Tape, we've used a 100cm length, cut in half to create 2 X 50cm lengths
• Matching Cotton Thread, we've used Organic Cotton Thread in Beige
• Dressmakers Scissors
• Tape Measure
• Sewing Pins
• Sewing Gauge (not essential, but it makes turning a hem so much easier and quicker!)
• Bamboo Point Turner

To Make:

Stitch the two sides and the base together with a 1cm seam allowance.

Trim the seam to 3mm. Press the fabric with the seam allowance to one side.

Next turn your bag out so that the wrong side is now on the outside. Press on the wrong side to ensure that the seam is flat.

Then pin the layers together along the three pressed edges and stitch with a 5mm seam allowance. And there you have it, that's all there is to sewing a french seam!

Next press the seams.

For the top edge of the bag, turn a 2cm hem, still on the wrong side of the bag, as above, and press.

Then turn the hem again, this time by 2.5cm pinning as you go. Press again. Insert the webbing handles 10.5cm in from the side seams, taking care to ensure that the straps aren't twisted.

We're got a busy few months ahead of us and are really looking forward to meeting our lovely customers in person at the various events that we'll be taking part in during the run up to Christmas! We're also doing quite a lot locally to us, in the south, so worth liking our page on Facebook to see details of those events as they crop up.

Thread... a festival of textiles

We're thrilled to have a stand at this years "Thread Festival at Farnham Maltings, Surrey. The show's on for two days on Friday 25th September from 12noon to 6pm; and Saturday 26th September, from 10am to 5pm.

At this event you'll find lots of small businesses selling artisan and designer fabrics, haberdashery and all things 'sewing' alongside artists and textile artists selling handcrafted textiles. There are also a number of workshops taking place too.

Tickets are cheaper if you book in advance, to do so simply click on the image above.

Selvedge Winter Fair

We really enjoyed exhibiting at the Selvedge Spring Fair in Stroud earlier this year, so much so, that we couldn't resist signing up to exhibit at their Winter Fair in London this December on Thursday 3rd from 11am to 6pm & Friday 4th from 10am to 5pm.

Selvedge have a selected over a hundred designers and small companies to bring you a mix of contemporary and vintage haberdashery, handcrafted textiles and gifts. Again, tickets are cheaper if you by them in advance, simply click on the image above to take you through to their website.

We'll be at both of these events with a selection of our lovely Merchant & Mills sewing accessories, patterns, and gift items, sewing and stitch kits including Heather Lins Stitch Calendars, Kiriki, Nancy Nicholson, What Delilah Did and other gifts.