It's been a hellava week this week. One that can be basically be described as a bit of a post celebration blur.

I'll post about the amazing weekend we had at another time, when I can put into words what we all went through and when I've picked myself up off the floor from exhaustion. 

I don't remember Sam's flooring me quite so much, but I think that's a lot to do with us being out of routine this week with the extra Bank Holidays and Half Term. If we had been back to routine the next day we would have had no choice but to get on with it.

We spent most of this week sleeping late, saying farewell to visiting family and friends and generally living in the moment.

By the time Matthew went back to work yesterday we were finding it tricky to get out of our slump.

I dived into the cellar to get some printing done for some orders that were piling up and as is my normal trick started playing around with an idea that had been forming in amongst the blur.

As you know i normally print in colour on white fabric but wanted to give printing on some colours a go.

This ended up with me printing on a fair few of my solids and rather liking where it was going. The main reason behind this was the need to order more magnets and deciding that perhaps they would look better with more colour.

I've put up a couple of pics here to get a feel of the difference.

What do you reckon? Printing on solids or printing on white?

I'm rather liking how the solids look coupled with other fabrics. The design seems to stand out better, particularly with the blues, but on the other hand the postage stamp block seems to work with the print on white.

Maybe I'm too tired this week to make a decision or maybe there is a place for both.

Do you have an opinion? Would you like to see more designs on a coloured background?

Would love to know what you think. You are probably less tired than I am...unless of course you are recuperating from FQR...

So, it's still half term round these parts, which equates to lots of people getting rather impatient with me and my enforced 2 week break from schedule.

I've been working on an order for almost 3 weeks now and all that was finally left was the labelling. When I was screen printing with Ruby last week I resisted doing it. It was her time.

I bloody well wish I had done it then tho!

I wouldn't have run into the problems I had today if I had at least started.

I turned up today with my prepared hand stamped signage all ready to quickly photocopy and get the screen prepared...a quick squidgee and hey, presto...

...or rather no!

The photocopier was broken.

Bad, bad timing.

I spent the next hour manually drawing out the necessary image, which had to then be done on acetate with the spottage added on top in order that the stamped labels didn't cause a blow out like this little detail on the flower below.

This was a surprise little extra for a certain someone who had hinted that perhaps I wanted to do something for her, (you know who you are...) but unfortunately that didn't work. Hopefully next time.

Because of the rather crude way of making my image ready for printing, it wasn't wholly successful. The dots came out rather patchy and I wasn't totally sure I'd be able to use any of them.

I carried on regardless because, quite frankly I have to get this order off this week and this may be an occasion where something is better than nothing.

And then, when I added them to my pieces, I actually quite liked how they looked.

A certain handmade quirkiness perhaps? Maybe?

I'm not entirely sure why I choose the end of this busy time to start playing around with new ideas.

It has probably got something to do with being on the roller-coaster treadmill of fulfilling orders and not having time to be creative.

Maybe it was a need to stop and do something creative for a moment.

Whatever the reason, I came home late Saturday night from being at We Make London, which by the way was fab, and felt the need to DO something.

It was fantastic to finally meet fellow exhibitor Louise from EdwynUK and Nicky from Mrs Sew and Sow. Thank you so much for making the trip, Nicky.

I also had a visit from a dear friend that I hadn't seen for 7 years...crazy but true.

All that aside the Fair was fantastic, a hall full of brilliant talent. I just wish I'd had time to do some of my own Christmas shopping! Thankfully Nicky has done a great post on the fair and snapped the essence of it, so head over here to take a look around.

Maybe it was being surrounded by so much talent that got me wanting to stop and do something. So I hadn't been home long and an idea that had been burning in my head on the 4 hour journey home, just had to be executed. I wouldn't have slept if I hadn't!

The polka dot pouch was the prototype for a pleated pouch that I wanted to try, but it actually turned out really pretty. I wanted to see if the shape worked before I cut into some precious woollen felt that I had been hoarding for some time - since last winter I think!

A few pouches later, including obviously one of the screen printed variety, and I could relax.

Although there are a couple of variations spinning in my head, which if I don't try some time very soon, I may just explode...

(new pouches can be found right here...)

I seem to have kick started myself back into action. First the blog post, next doing something with the cut out squares for Ruby's quilt that have been lying on the studio floor for several weeks.

Maybe it's the weather. Maybe it's waking up from my little hibernation.

Maybe it's not having to make any more paint/wallpaper choices (don't mention the carpet/curtains/rugs/wardrobes...)

Whatever it is, hopefully it will hang around a while as this quilt still has a long way to go.

If one thing all this building work is allowing me, it's an excuse to make some accessories to go with all the rooms. We've lived with the revolting inherited decor for so long now, I'm just gagging to get going on making things. I'd avoided making much to fit in with the existing schemes. They obviously weren't staying, so it seemed a waste of time and fabric to make things to go with them.

Now it's all systems go! As you know I've been collecting fabrics for a while to use for these projects and last night I started playing with some of them, thinking of them for a throw for the living room. I am a little bit nervous, it is safe to say, that what is in my head may not quite come out right in a throw. I am fairly confident that the fabrics work well together. And I am even more confident that I like them. But will it have that snuggly wow factor that I want to achieve?

It does feel rather daunting to use such precious fabrics, only to muck it up. So having done a few strips last night, I think I'm going to take a back seat for a while. It's laying on my studio floor at the moment. I think I'll leave it there a while, walk past it every now and then, move it around a bit and take my time. The living room walls are still bare plaster, so there's really no rush.

Today was supposed to be a productive day. Today was supposed to be a great day. Instead I've been a bit miserable today. And apologies to those of you on Twitter who have born the brunt of it. And thank you for your attempts to keep me upbeat.

The cause of my misery is this...

...and this...

It's fair to say it's been a challenging Half Term. We are 3 weeks in with the building repairs and typically the worst week coincided with Half Term. I've been a little bit stressed. I was however so looking forward to today. Matthew had planned to take today off to give me a much needed work day. The builders had also planned to rub sand down the entire stairwell of the house. This entailed covering the entire place with a layer of dust that you have never seen. it also entailed ladders everywhere and making going from A to B in the house virtually impossible.

Consequently I have got absolutely nothing done and sat amongst a Sahara equivalent of dust in the process.

However all was not completely lost. I decided that I wasn't fit for anything constructive and the only thing taht was going to cheer me up and take my mind off it all was to lock myself in the attic studio, turn the music up loud and play with my new Orla fabric.

So all has not been completely lost.

Not so much a TGIF...TGFO...thank goodness for Orla ;-)

Today has been a very busy one. I've been down in London for a couple of days down at Top Drawer, which was fab. Wonderful to meet up with lots of peeps and also very inspired to give it a go myself very soon. Because of being away for a couple of days, I now had a lot to cram into the remainder of the week.

The biggest thing is getting my tax done. That working-to-deadlines mentality that I seem to frustratingly live by, has kicked in. If I don't want to throw away £100 just because I can't get myself into gear, then it's now or never.

So I spent today processing all the figures and getting ready to input all the data. Actually it really didn't take very long. Which is why I had plenty of time to finish off an order for a stockist. The Cambridge Gallery had ordered, amongst other things, heart cushions. So with tax almost completed (I still have 10 days, for goodness sake, a little more procrastination of the finishing touches is needed), I set out to finish off these.

So now looking back on the day I am feeling good. A big admin project almost completed, an order parcelled up and ready to go...and a big glass of wine to celebrate! And it's still not quite 8pm. I've got a feeling that a bit more might yet still be achieved...

As if I have the time

Honestly. Will someone just shoot me now? I have so much to do for Saturday, but I just can't help myself can I? My 'to do' list is ever expanding, yet, somehow, it's beyond me quite how, I get busy making things. Not things that are for sale you realise. Oh no, that would be far too straight forward. Nope, things to make my stand look pretty. Things that are distracting me from what I really should be doing.

You know I'm a little obsessed with pin cushions at the mo? It seems this has now transferred to needlecases too. I know I know. I did tell someone to shoot me now!

It's irrelevent that I'm pleased with the outcome. It's irrelevent that they are quite pretty. It's irrelevent that I had lots of fun making them.

The point is that I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!

(Off now, sewing machine, fabric and any other distracting items put on a top shelf out of reach so I can try and get on with exactly what must be done...)

Now or...

With Home & Gift being at the end of this week there were a few things that I wanted to do by today or, let's face it, they weren't going to get done until after the show. Or about a week after the show, after I've managed to scrape myself off my floor and am fully recovered.

One of the things on the list was to blog. I've done a couple of pathetic 'hi, I'm pretending to be here' posts over the weekend, but I was aware that I've been keeping a bit of a low profile here. So that needed to be put straight.

The other thing I was determined to do was to finish the cushions my sister had commissioned me. I know she's going away on Saturday and I know I wasn't seeing her until she got back and so that could have been a post show item but, as I mentioned before, by the time I've done the show, recovered from it, there will be so many more pressing things that have built up.

So last night whilst twittering away to some of you lovely people (thanks for keeping me company!) I finished off her second cushion. I'd given her a glimpse of the first. She loved it. She said she'd like the second one to match but not identical. Well, duh.

I'm really pleased with how the second one (below) has come out. I was really pleased with the first, but like anything I seem to do, somehow the second of something seems to progress, in a good way, from what has come first. It's almost as if the first was the experiment.

Matthew, however prefers the first. The fact that his first reaction was 'wow, are they for us' is compliment enough for me. And hopefully my sis will feel the same.

Sunday Stash

I keep reading gorgeous blog entries on a Sunday, showing us all inspirational fabrics. It's one of the highlights of my blogging week, reading everybodies' contributions. So I thought I'd join in.

Yesterday I received an anticipated package, so I thought it appropriate to share the contents with you.

Having recently made my Oh Deer Cushion, using up my much adored Ice Blue Honeycomb by Kei Fabric, I scoured the internet to find more. Frances from Matatabi on Etsy had a brown version (gorgeous, but not what I had in mind). Having contacted her however, she very helpfully set me up a reserved listing for some Ice that she had just got in. While I was at it I decided to buy some in Pink and Blue too.

So, please, sit back and enjoy my Sunday Stash of Honeycomb fabrics. Oh and a glance at the gorgeous tape Frances sent me as a thank you.