The weekend brought a trip to the Craft, Hobby and Stitch International trade show. We have been looking forward to this for some time but we almost didn't make it. Hoping to get there early, we left Leeds at 7am but it turned out that we had got out of bed before the gritter gang. The M1 was like a beautiful, foggy, snowy ice rink and the accident rate at one point peaked around the '4 prangs per mile' mark. All good fun. We decided to stop for a coffee and wait for things to improve, which they did. And we were so pleased we persevered- the show was great. One of the highlights was seeing a world exclusive- the brand new 2010 range from the fabulous Echino fabrics. Even the stand itself was almost worth the trip- a riot of colour, but so stylishly done. I think I want to live in Echinoville.

I was at a playgroup this week and got talking to one of the mums there about sewing matters. She has a lovely idea for recycling old babygrows. Most mums have lent these out, only to receive them back (eventually!) in a somewhat worse for wear state. Yet it just doesn't seem right to throw them out- there are always at least a couple that you have fond memories of.... So here is Jenny's great idea: Simply cut a large square (or several smaller ones) out of each patterned babygrow and stitch these together to form a patchwork quilt. You could finish your quilt off with a cotton lawn lining and a trim of bias binding or tape. I think this would make a cute cover for a dolls bed, but I particularly like the idea of putting it away until your babies have babies of their own! Thanks Jenny for letting me share your idea!

Well – a belated Happy New Year to kotorikits followers. I hope you all had a happy Christmas and I am sure you have all been as busy as us. I can’t believe it's February already, and before we know it it will be school holidays again. Find great things to make and keep the children happy with our new kits.

Our new year started well- we had some good publicity last week as we had our own radio super star! Did anyone hear Katie on BBC Radio Leeds??!! If so you will know we are forging ahead with plans for our evening classes – more on that later. We are also getting ready to launch a new Easter product so keep checking the web site and following the blog.

My new year's resolution is....you've guessed it- to update our blog more often. Watch this space...!!

Happy sewing

B