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Sunday 2 September 2012

Fabric

Fabric is just so horrible expensive in this adopted country of mine but sometimes you have to weigh out how much the postage is going to cost you from the States for the fabric you want and if you think it will slip by the British Post Office people who have this horrible charge they put on top of charging you the VAT.  Now please don't get me wrong I pay the VAT, prices in England are inclusive of 20% VAT (Value Addded Tax) but it's the £8.00 ($12-$13) handling fee I have the problem with.  I mean the VAT can come to like £3.00 or £4.00 but the handling fee bumps it right up.

Anyway last week I decided to join in Lori's Bee In My Bonnett Row Along and I needed some fabric like NOW - yeah I know like a hole in the head I needed it.  Lori said that for the first row the fabric needed to be small prints and I really don't buy small pints as I generally like larger prints and plains.  And anyway, most of my stash is just too good - okay it's not really but I have this horrible thing of having to SAVE things.  What am I saving them for?  I don't know!!!  No idea!!  Anyway I bought 4 fat quarters of fabric from Celtic Fusion here in England and here is what I got:

Anthology fabrics Flying tree bird menagerie with trees


Anthology fabrics Flying tree tiny flower in red

I actually bought both of these
The one on the right is 

Riley Blake Happier birds

and the one on the left is

Riley blake happier Scandinavian flowers


Now why couldn't I wait I hear you ask yourselves.  Well Celtic Fusion were having a sort of sale and I desperately needed two yards of Anna Maria Horner's fabric for a charm swap I'm in that I didn't know I was in.  So it wasn't that expensive in the scheme of things but more than I would have had to have paid from my favorite fabric stores in the States which are on Etsy and are:

1.  Spice Berry Cottage and Dina, the owner, is just such a delight.
2.  The Intrepid Thread which is owned by Julie who is just charming
and finally the first shop I ever bought anything from:
3.  Swell Cloth which is owned by the very lovely Sarah who I love to pieces

All three stores have given me such excellent service in the past, and will continue to in the future I'm sure.  These women are just THE NICEST ever.

Anyway I do hope you have enjoyed this post but I have to tell you that I have looked at loads of British blogs and still can't find out who posted that darn quilt top using both fabric and linen.  If you guys can't find it I'll just have to keep on looking.


Until next time ...
Lots of Love Patti xxx
American by birth and MOUTH but British in every other way

4 comments:

  1. I brought all the fabric I could carry back with me as I moved from USA to UK ... it's all been unpacked a while now, except this weekend I got out an oven mit that I brought back and guess what I found stashed inside the mit! Yep, a couple of fat quarters! :) ... I agree though, the VAT is one thing but that handling charge is just ridiculous! Maybe we should try and get some press interest to pose questions about what exactly that charge is supposed to be covering!

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  2. Thanks for explaining the VAT. It's interesting the different postage between the UK and US. I bought fabric from over there one time because I couldn't find it here in the states and it was so worth the shipping. I just have to ask the price because I can't figure out the money. I'm looking forward to your blocks. Have fun Patti.

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  3. love the fabrics you bought patti - gorgeous - looking fwd to seeing the results.

    we don't have vat in oz, but we have gst (goods and services tax) - we don't get slugged by anyone though when someone sends us stuff from overseas....unless customs thinks it's not a 'gift' - hmmm - i have to be very careful when i send stuff to my sisters in the uk :(

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  4. So you have to pay the VAT and postage and handling fees? Seems a bit odd. Makes me want to send you fabric as a gift just do you don't have to deal with all that :) And I save fabric as well. For a higher purpose? To pet? Not quite sure. Am using some of my favorites in a quilt for someone else and have to keep telling myself its ok, they're only semi-precious ( a la My Precious quilt along).

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I absolutely LOVE it when you leave a comment and I read each and every comment and try to reply to you all.
Patti xxx