Sunday, 27 June 2010

After the adivce from some of you, coupled with the fact that I find it hard to go back on an idea I have, I went ahead with the red/gold these for the cushion. Whilst I get carried away with an idea and find it difficult to do a U-turn once, I've started, I'm the first to admit I may have made a mistake and will happily start again from scratch.

However, as the log cabin took shape, I was liking the combination more and more. The inclusion of the limited edition Liberty really pulled together the whole piece. And bringing in a touch of green with it made the contrast with the 2 colours less stark.

I'm not entirely sure that there would be a place in my house for such a combination, but I am more than happy about the end result and think the couple (hopefully) will be more than happy with it.

In the meantime, I've already cut out a fun combo of fabrics that I am rather excited to see how they piece together. Watch this space...

Thursday, 24 June 2010

I've been asked to make a cushion for a Sikh couple who have just got married. I have absolutely no idea what their taste is, how their house is decorated, what colours they like.

All I do know is that the wedding day colours are reds and golds, so I have used this as my starting point. However, this isn't a colour scheme that I would readily put together so I'm not overly sure on this one.

Should I carrying on with this line of thinking? Or go back to the drawing board? What do you reckon?

Tuesday, 22 June 2010

I can't believe it's Tuesday already...and I haven't blogged since last Wednesday. And I was on such a roll!

Being away for the weekend is partly to blame. As is the amazing summer we are having. I'm almost beginning to feel how you peeps that live in warmer climes must have it... knowing what to put on in the morning...enjoying coffee breaks in the sun...a general feel of merriment going on.

It has meant that I'm not doing as much sewing as usual. Quite frankly, even though it's one of my most favourite things in the whole wide world, I'm more than happy to give up hibernating in my attic studio for a bit of sunshine.

And that's why the boys' version of my quilt-cum-playmat has taken a little longer to produce. But, just as long as I'm continuing to produce things, albeit at a slower pace, I'm more than happy to take a step back and enjoy the summer we are being blessed with. Long may it continue.

Wednesday, 16 June 2010

I'm sure like lots of you, I get asked to do things sometimes that you could never see coming. My friend Roz works on the Leeds Owl Trail and asked if I would make a T-Shirt for their little mascot. I could never have anticipated that in my career I would be making T-Shirts for stuffed toys. But never say never is my motto.

So I set to work and made this rather snug fitting garment that Roz then added the Owl Trail Logo to. Rather fetching, I think you'll agree.

I can't even imagine what I'll be making next.

Tuesday, 15 June 2010

I've been lucky to get a fair few commissions recently for already designed pieces, but with an individual touch. It's great to have a twist in the process. The general theme remains the same, so no design time needed to work it out, but just a little different detail to make it not seem repetitive.

On this occasion, the quilt for the new born baby in question was requested with a heart theme. Whilst I wanted to stick to the simplistic style, I decided on embroidering a row of hearts across a linen strip.

Add Image
Newborn quilts aren't too big so any fussy design doesn't do it for me. So to do a second row of hearts didn't seem to quite fit in. And repeating any fabrics didn't work for me either. So, here we have Grazia's quilt (that's Grace to you and me), a simplistic, pretty, snuggly baby quilt, that hopefully she will have for years to come.

Monday, 14 June 2010

So if orange isn't your thing, perhaps you'd like them in blues...with the addition of those cheeky birds...

Or perhaps you like the orange, but would prefer it with a mix of red...

Whichever way you like them (and hopefully you do) they can be found right here

Friday, 11 June 2010

As you can tell, I've had a very productive week in the studio...and you are only getting to see half of it! Life is back to how it used to be. Time to work...there's something novel! No doubt something else will crop up to get in the way soon (yeah, like the long school summer holidays), but in the meantime I'm really enjoying getting creative.

I've been making a few of these pot holders as gifts lately and yesterday decided they'd be great for my Etsy shop. Obviously I still had my lovely Junecraft fabric on the work table from yesterday and whilst I was cutting for the "A Stroll in the Garden" picture, I already had in mind that I was going to use the pear and flower panel for some of these. Actually, I have a zillion projects in my head that these panels will be perfect for. I just love the repeating pattern of seeing a whole linear row of them. It pleases my mathematical brain ;-)

I backed the holders with a couple of fabrics that tied in the orange but gave more of a contrast too. I love the Ikea one on the right, with the sprinkling of orange spots.

They come as a pair and are available here. And if next week continues in the same vein, there'll be lots more by then in there too.