seaside all round...

 this post is quite apt today or then again maybe my children have more of an influence on me than i give them credit for.

mum and her sister have taken all the grand kids to the seaside today to give me and my cousin a good long work day. thanks mum and auntie p!

maybe with them and their lovely day in mind it sub-consciously influenced my colour palette while printing last night.

it certainly looks very beachy and summery don't you think?!

i am really pleased with my new scallop design and as ever it's in my etsy shop now!

a fabric kinda week...

it's been one of those weeks...

a fabric kinda week...

the best kinda weeks ;-)

first up, i had a delivery of delicious green konas from the village haberdashery (more on what they are for another time...unless you follow me on IG...and then you will know)

second up, some scrumptious oakshotts that have been made into something for a commission - again more about that another time.

also this week i had delivery of several fabrics from 2 new collections that i think rate as 2 of my all time favourites. they are so beautiful.

firstly i ordered a couple from the much (by me) awaited new Cloud 9 collection - Tsuru by Rashida Coleman-Hale. boy is it beautiful. 

the bottom one is to make some pj bottoms for moi and the top is a little extra sneaky peak. i think i am going to be needing a lot more of these as well as the others in the collection.

finally but by no means least, by sheer quantity, let alone sheer beauty are these little bolts (there really isn't a lot of fabric on a bolt...ahem) of beyond stunning Architextures by Carolyn Friedlander. if i could have done i would have taken these to bed with me last night...

i know this appears like a lot of fabric, but it is necessary, all has a purpose, all is already cut into...as i said...all necessities.

the process...

it goes from this...

 and this...

to this...

and then this...

 to finally this...

and a bit of this...

all in less than 24 hours.

i love the process of design to screen to printing and it's been quite a while since i did it.

happy days.

printing...an update...

a very quick printing session this morning to give my new colours a try out and to get it out of my system.

I would only have been thinking about them all day if I hadn't...

you know me...you know I would.

some adjustments need making...

the one I am most pleased with, surprisingly as it isn't a colour I normally use, is the lilac. it is really soft but has enough personality to not be over powering.

 the green is okay. I would like it a tad lighter and more of a yellowy green.

as for the yellow, it is a lot brighter than I was aiming for. I must remember than colours always come out brighter on the fabric. much more white needed in the mix in this one.

it is all a big trial and error exercise.

although there is really no error as I can always make use of the fabrics...

and...

my tester sheet is looking pretty in the process.

 UPDATING an update:

just thought i would do a little show and tell of my playing around with these new shades in my repertoire...

dumpling pouches seemed a quick and easy and fun way to try them out...

what do you reckon?

(fantastic dumpling pouch pattern courtesy of Michelle Patterns)

wordless wednesday...almost...

   mixing colours...

   thinking of spring...

   pale and delicate...

   floral fresh...

   wonder how they will look when printed up?

Thangles...

 Have you come across the wonders of Thangles yet?

If you have, I'm guessing I'm preaching to the converted.

My lovely sponsor Kate of M is for Make sent me a pack to try. Kate is well aware of my love for HSTs and having recently got into these herself knew I would love them.

And how right was she! Have you tried them? Have you??

 To be honest, I wasn't wholly sure that they'd offer me something that I needed. 

How wrong was I???

I absolutely love making HST quilts and to be honest they aren't the most complicated block on the block (see what I did there?!) but what Thangles do do is make a relatively easy block downright pips, cutting out all that boring mindless trimming after you have pieced them all. I mean, how tedious is that stage? 

 Thangles work by cutting the right strip pieces to begin with and then simply sewing along the dotted line and cutting along the solid lines.

THAT IS IT...perfect HSTs every time.

Honestly, to do just these 8 little HSTs trimmed in all their perfection would take unnecessary and tedious trimming time.

With Thangles there is none of that. 

The trickiest thing about working with Thangles is stopping! I've been at it for 2 minutes and already got 2 projects on the go. I started with piecing some LV with reds and secondly with greens. Greens? I don't do greens, but am rather finding that I do.

Anyway enough from me and the wonders of Thangles. Go see them for yourself. In fact go check out Kate's beautiful HST quilt she made for a wedding gift. Not only is it stunning, but I'm betting Kate enjoyed every second of creating it, thanks to Thangles.

Kate has packs to make HSTs from anything from 1" up to 4".

 I'm using 2.5" for these 2 projects but am thinking I'd like to make a larger quilt with 4" HSTs...

**pops off to purchase a couple of packs before Kate sells out...**

Oh and did I mention Kate is very kindly offering 10% off all purchases of Thangles before the end of November. Simply quote "thangle" at the checkout.

And one final thing...if you aren't signed up to Kate's Newsletter, then you must. She regularly has things you need to know about...including announcing her Black Friday Sale this weekend...you don't want to miss out on hearing about that! 
Go sign up at the bottom here!

I was very pleased to tick a Bar Mitzvah job off the list today.

Part of the celebrations include a party at home and no party is complete without bunting.

 Despite having several buntings that I have made over the years I had in my head that I wanted rows of them high up criss crossing across the driveway, rather than simply strewn across the fence or hedge or the like, which is what I usually do.

 

 I wanted impact... 

I wanted bunting with attitude...

and I also wanted rectangular bunting flags, not triangles.

 So there was obviously only one thing to do...

make some!

I decided to be frugal and look through my larger scrap pieces and screen printed pieces that were slight seconds and began cutting into random sized rectangle. 

I'm definitely not a neat and tidy and orderly person so random sizes suits me perfectly.

 So having now got piles of random coloured and shaped rectangles the question was what was I going to do with them?

I wasn't sure whether to do completely ad hoc or have some kind of order.

If order was involved was it going to be one red row, one orange row, one green row etc?

Having laid them all out over my studio floor, I eventually decided on each one being a rainbow so the depth of colours could be seen in rows.

I hooked them up on the deck to see if it gave the impact I was looking for and I'm so pleased with them and can't wait to get them in their proper spot on the day.

The only thing left is do I have enough?

I'm thinking maybe a couple more rows...

...on a cushion roll...

...this one is now in the shop...

...it's the end of the week...i'm very tired...have a great weekend one and all. x

It was my first trip to the screen printing workshop today since the summer hols began, so I was filled with anticipation and excitement to get in there and try out a couple of new designs that I've been working...

~ hexie and leaf ~

~ waves ~

But it didn't all go according to plan...

There was...

...the good...

...the bad...

...and the downright ugly...

I learnt 2 things today...

...first was to make sure the squeegee is securely at the back of the screen so that when you actually print a good piece you don't go and ruin it by the squeegee flying off the back when you raise the bed;-(

...second, use a little masking tape to secure lightweight fabric in place and prevent blurring.

One thing I have been struggling with when printing on fabric is this blurring and I haven't been able to work out how to prevent it. Today Gina (remember my guru who knows everything?) was about so I asked her how I could stop it. I don't have this problem with paper or heavier fabric, so I knew it was all about the fabric moving, but my brain wasn't engaging as to how I could stop it happening.

All it took was a secret ingredient - masking tape - and my blurring days were behind me (I hope).

Quite frankly, I'm disappointed with all you screen printing aficionados for not sharing this little secret with me.

The sewing into napkins is now complete and what a lovely activity it turned out to be. To be honest I anticipated making them to be rather fiddly, but was more than pleasantly surprised to find this was not the case.

I'm not sure why I should have expected otherwise, as I have had this revelation with almost all, if not all, sewing activities I have done. I always envisage something to be more complicated and thus annoying than it turns out to be. I am self taught and consequently forget I am quite competent.

Because this was so enjoyable, I sewed away making quite a few sets of these...all of which are now sold and gone on to their new homes where I hope they will be enjoyed by their new owners. I desperately need to get into the workshop this week to print more.

I have put a couple of sets of the not quite perfects into my Etsy shop if anyone fancies a bargain set.

Forgive me for harping on about screen printing as much as I am.

It's partly because I am so loving it and partly as my own diary and record of what I am printing and where my journey is going.

My journey is moving at quite a pace and if I don't keep a note of it then, like anything, it's so easy to forget how it has been developing.

Today I went into the workshop for 4 hours - 4 whole fantastic productive hours. I produced so much stuff today and just about all of it I'm very excited about.

I experimented with some new card designs - more about those another day - and I also worked on a new stitch design, as well as trying out Framed Flowers in different colours, all with the idea of turning into napkins.

What do you reckon?

I have to say, I'm loving this green ink. It's so zingy and fresh. At the moment there isn't a place that is calling out for green in this house, but I'm racking my brains as to where it might fit in, because I sure do have to have me some.

Tonight I will mostly be sewing up some of each into napkins...can't wait to see how they will turn out.

I've just had a birthday.

It wasn't the best, but wasn't the worst.

I've been feeling a tad strange recently, which is hardly surprising with all the goings on lately and my birthday seemed to come and go without me getting overly excited.

Or maybe that's just age.

It hardly seems a year ago that I bought this book with my birthday book money. I always ask my In Laws for an Amazon voucher (it's safer that way), so I can purchase all those books (well some of them anyway) that have made their way onto the wish-list over the year.

Seeing as though this book has been in my possession for a year now, I thought I'd better dip into it before the new batch arrive.

There are quite a few patterns in here that I've marked that I want to make, but it's this fab Everything Tote that I most wanted to do.

I'm in holiday mode at the moment, having just booked our summer holiday last night, so this seemed perfect for that.

I love this bag already. The handles are very comfortable and it's so roomy - it will no doubt be filled with everything-but-the-kitchen-sink all summer long.

Ok, summer is still a long way off, but at least I'm prepared, hey?