Free Swatch

From 12pm EST on Thursday, June 5th until 12pm EST on Friday, June 6th, you can get a free, custom-printed swatch of  Spoonflowers new Faux Suede fabric, along with free shipping. (One free swatch per household. This is an international offer) there's more information on their blog http://blog.spoonflower.com/2014/06/get-a-free-swatch-of-faux-suede-for-24-hours.html

You can get your own design printed (or photo, kids drawings)  or choose from the 1000's of designs available


The swatch is 8" X 8" (20cm X 20cm) 
I ordered mine and will make a small purse from it like these ones I blogged about a few years ago:)

My spoonflower shop is http://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/nezumiworld for the prints in the photo and lots more :)
 
 

Blooming Marvellous Design Contest

I just entered the Blooming Marvellous Design Contest over at the Bags of Love website. That's my entry with the giant bee :)
Here's a little about it from from there site "
With summer on its way and the beautiful flower shows on the horizon, Blooming Marvellous is a new, unique competition, which celebrates gorgeous flowers and their impact on the design and creative worlds."

Pop over to there site to have a look at the great floral designs, clicking below

http://www.bagsoflove.co.uk/contest/2?designid=204#contestentry

Tote bag granny hexagon fabric arrived

My tote bag (Lined Tote Bag featuring a Crochet Print) fabric arrived today. I am so happy with the results of the printing. I will cut out and make the bag later this week and post the results :)

CRAFTSY'S 3RD BIRTHDAY

Craftsy is turning 3 and to celebrate this weekend, they are having a Birthday Flash Sale!
Starting on the 10th May selected classes are available with up to 50% off, Hurry, offer expires on the May 11th at 11:59pm MT. 

Mom's Soda Bread Tea Towel

 

I had planned on doing all the competitions Spoonflower set for the month of April. For two reasons, because it was the Easter break and I had time off from my teaching work and two my mom would have been 70 this month she died this year at the start of January, so it is an upsetting month for us, she believed you should do positive things to be happy, so that's the main reason I set myself this task. I though there was 4 competitions set for April one each week but there was 5 and it is very apt that the last competition from Spoonflower this month is "Moms recipe tea towels" the brief was "No matter where you live in the world, nothing spells comfort like a home cooked meal from your mom or grandmother. Celebrate the important culinary women in your life this Mother's Day by designing a lovely recipe just like mom used to make. Recipes should fit a fat quarter-yard of our Linen-Cotton Canvas fabric. Entries will be previewed at the scale of a fat quarter (27" x 18")"
So the image up top is my entry "Mom's recipes - soda bread tea towel" with yes my moms soda bread recipe. is on it. She made this all the time often making extra to give to friends.  I have this recipe also on my foodie blog if you fancy making it :) My mom liked her fancy tea towels I am sure she would have been so happy to see the recipe on one.
To vote or just look at any of the entries in this week competition click on the link below, please remember to make sure you go all the way down to the bottom of the page and hit submit when you do vote so it is counted (you don't need to sign up to vote)
http://www.spoonflower.com/contest_voters_temp/new?contest_id=245

Custom wallpaper contest

This weeks spoonflower contest is not for fabric, but for wallpaper.
Spoonflower print custom fabric, wallpaper, gift wrap and decals, I know they have done a gift wrap contest before but I think this is their first wallpaper contest.

The brief this weeks was "Floral coloring book wallpaper - At Spoonflower, we like to keep our childlike creativity and curiosity alive. That's why we're oh so excited about this week's contest: floral coloring book wallpaper. Create a black and white design that is ready for crayons, pencils, and markers to go wild. Designs are intended for wallpaper, but previews will be sized as a quarter yard of fabric (21" x 18")"


So I got the pencils, pens and paper out and started drawing flowers. I then scanned the rough images into photoshop, cleaned them up and experimented moving them around and I came up with this design. I enjoyed this contest.

To have a look at all this weeks entries and vote for the ones you like go to
http://www.spoonflower.com/contest_voters_temp/new?contest_id=244 
just make sure you go all the way down to the bottom of the page and hit submit when you do vote so it is counted, you don't need to sign up to vote

Earth Day Cut & Sew Bag

 This weeks spoonflower competition is for an Earth Day Cut & Sew Bag, the brief was "To honor earth day 2014, we're asking you to create a cut & sew pattern for a reusable shopping bag. The design should be set up to be centered. Preview will be sized at a single yard of (42" X 36") kona cotton."
This fabric design had two stages, the designing of the bag/ pattern and then the design to go on the bag. Spoonflower did supply a file for a bag if people could not make their own, but I felt it had a lot of wasted fabric space and I also wanted to put lining in my bag.
For me when designing the bag I tried to use as much of the yard as I could, I think there should be very little wastage if something is for earth day. The bag is lined for strength and has no seams on the bottom again for strength. The straps are wider so they don't cut into your shoulders when been used, I may even add a light-weight wadding/ batting to them give them extra support and comfort.
For the design on the bag, I used the crocheted hexagon I had been playing with recently (I posted about last month) and decided to scan them into photoshop. I had to do this many thing as what looks like a good hexagon when scanned for some reason does not always look like a hexagon or the stitches do not show nicely. I played with the scanned hexagons for several hours and created a few different fabric prints I was happy with to use on the bag. I also played with the colour a little, keeping with earth day theme I wanted a "green bag" that was green!
I have ordered the fabric and I am waiting for it to arrive to see how it looks when printed. I will make the bag and post a "how to" when it comes.
To vote for my bag or to see/ vote for the other bags in the competition click the link below http://www.spoonflower.com/contest_voters_temp/new?contest_id=243 there are some really nice designs. You can vote for as many as you like (only 1 vote per person) just make sure you go all the way down to the bottom of the page and hit submit when you do vote so it is counted (you don't need to sign up to vote)

Lilies

This weeks contest at Spoonflower is "Lilies". The brief for the contest was "Since ancient Grecian times, lilies have been a symbol of virtue and beauty. We're welcoming Easter and the spring season with a contest celebrating one of our favorite flowers. Previews will be sized as a quarter yards (21" x 18") To vote in this weeks contest go to http://www.spoonflower.com/contest_voters_temp/new?contest_id=242http://www.spoonflower.com/contest_voters_temp/new?contest_id=242    You can vote for as many as you like no need to sign in

This is my entry just called "Lilies" they are tiger lilies, to be honest I could not remember what type of lily they were when I was naming the fabric, I just really like these orange lilies with the dark spots. They were drawn using a pen and tablet in photoshop, I really enjoyed drawing the spots  I have not forgotten about my hexagons I am trying to find a way of using them in next weeks contest.

Since ancient Grecian times, lilies have been a symbol of virtue and beauty. We're welcoming Easter and the spring season with a contest celebrating one of our favorite flowers. Previews will be sized as quarter yards (21" x 18"). - See more at: http://blog.spoonflower.com/upcoming-spoonflower-contests.html#sthash.UqLjonZf.dpuf

Since ancient Grecian times, lilies have been a symbol of virtue and beauty. We're welcoming Easter and the spring season with a contest celebrating one of our favorite flowers. Previews will be sized as quarter yards (21" x 18"). - See more at: http://blog.spoonflower.com/upcoming-spoonflower-contests.html#sthash.UqLjonZf.dpuf

Since ancient Grecian times, lilies have been a symbol of virtue and beauty. We're welcoming Easter and the spring season with a contest celebrating one of our favorite flowers. Previews will be sized as quarter yards (21" x 18"). - See more at: http://blog.spoonflower.com/upcoming-spoonflower-contests.html#sthash.UqLjonZf.dpuf

Since ancient Grecian times, lilies have been a symbol of virtue and beauty. We're welcoming Easter and the spring season with a contest celebrating one of our favorite flowers. Previews will be sized as quarter yards (21" x 18"). - See more at: http://blog.spoonflower.com/upcoming-spoonflower-contests.html#sthash.UqLjonZf.dpuf

Since ancient Grecian times, lilies have been a symbol of virtue and beauty. We're welcoming Easter and the spring season with a contest celebrating one of our favorite flowers. Previews will be sized as quarter yards (21" x 18"). - See more at: http://blog.spoonflower.com/upcoming-spoonflower-contests.html#sthash.UqLjonZf.dpuf

We're welcoming Easter and the spring season with a contest celebrating one of our favorite flowers. Previews will be sized as quarter yards (21" x 18") - See more at: http://blog.spoonflower.com/upcoming-spoonflower-contests.html#sthash.UqLjonZf.dpuf

We're welcoming Easter and the spring season with a contest celebrating one of our favorite flowers. Previews will be sized as quarter yards (21" x 18") - See more at: http://blog.spoonflower.com/upcoming-spoonflower-contests.html#sthash.UqLjonZf.dpuf

Fabric Design Challenges

Restricted Palette for Whales Contest

In my last post I said I was not teaching this month as its the Easter break (a long break....), so I am concentrating on designing/ making and finishing items, plus having some fun by doing some challenges. So I am trying to enter the 4 challenges/ contests this month (1 each week) that spoonflower.com set on their site. The theme of this weeks contest is fabrics celebrating "whales" Here are the the instructions - All designs submitted have to use a restricted palette chosen by spoonflower (the pic shows the 4 colours and white), designs may include white but not black and will be displayed at 21" X 18" (a fat quarter)

This week, contestants used a restricted jewel-toned color palette to celebrate the most fascinating and magnificent sea creatures - See more at: http://blog.spoonflower.com/#sthash.dXz9lSNq.dpuf

This week, contestants used a restricted jewel-toned color palette to celebrate the most fascinating and magnificent sea creatures - See more at: http://blog.spoonflower.com/#sthash.dXz9lSNq.dpuf

Spoonflower cofounder Stephen Fraser is predicting that whales are going to be huge in 2014. - See more at: http://blog.spoonflower.com/upcoming-spoonflower-contests.html#sthash.MmlO5a6J.dpuf

Spoonflower cofounder Stephen Fraser is predicting that whales are going to be huge in 2014. - See more at: http://blog.spoonflower.com/upcoming-spoonflower-contests.html#sthash.MmlO5a6J.dpuf

Spoonflower cofounder Stephen Fraser is predicting that whales are going to be huge in 2014. - See more at: http://blog.spoonflower.com/upcoming-spoonflower-contests.html#sthash.MmlO5a6J.dpuf

Spoonflower cofounder Stephen Fraser is predicting that whales are going to be huge in 2014. - See more at: http://blog.spoonflower.com/upcoming-spoonflower-contests.html#sthash.MmlO5a6J.dpuf

Spoonflower cofounder Stephen Fraser is predicting that whales are going to be huge in 2014. - See more at: http://blog.spoonflower.com/upcoming-spoonflower-contests.html#sthash.MmlO5a6J.dpuf

Spoonflower cofounder Stephen Fraser is predicting that whales are going to be huge in 2014. All designs submitted must use a restricted palette, visible below. Previews will be shown at (21" x 18"). Deadline for entry is April 1st, 2014. Designs may include white, but should not include black. - See more at: http://blog.spoonflower.com/upcoming-spoonflower-contests.html#sthash.MmlO5a6J.dpuf

Spoonflower cofounder Stephen Fraser is predicting that whales are going to be huge in 2014. All designs submitted must use a restricted palette, visible below. Previews will be shown at (21" x 18"). Deadline for entry is April 1st, 2014. Designs may include white, but should not include black. - See more at: http://blog.spoonflower.com/upcoming-spoonflower-contests.html#sthash.MmlO5a6J.dpuf

Spoonflower cofounder Stephen Fraser is predicting that whales are going to be huge in 2014. All designs submitted must use a restricted palette, visible below. Previews will be shown at (21" x 18"). Deadline for entry is April 1st, 2014. Designs may include white, but should not include black. - See more at: http://blog.spoonflower.com/upcoming-spoonflower-contests.html#sthash.MmlO5a6J.dpuf

Spoonflower cofounder Stephen Fraser is predicting that whales are going to be huge in 2014. All designs submitted must use a restricted palette, visible below. Previews will be shown at (21" x 18"). Deadline for entry is April 1st, 2014. Designs may include white, but should not include black. - See more at: http://blog.spoonflower.com/upcoming-spoonflower-contests.html#sthash.MmlO5a6J.dpuf

This is my entry called "Going Down" these whales are narwhals also known as the unicorn of the sea. The palette was a definitely a challenge but I enjoyed doing this design and got to use my pen and tablet, I drew the whales in photoshop (its not just for photo editing) I normally outline using real pens and paper and scan into photoshop, to tidy the drawings and colour them, but as I said I decided to have fun/ challenges and work in a different way. In fact this way was much quicker.
You can see this and the other designs entered into this weeks contest at http://www.spoonflower.com/contest_voters_temp/new?contest_id=241

You can vote for as many or as few entries as you like (you can even vote for me) or just have a look, no need to sign in or join to vote. Note: you have to go all the way down to the end entry to confirm your vote/ s, there are lots of great entries this week. It so interesting to see how using the same theme and colours so many different ideas are produced.
Now I have voted and are onto next weeks challenge "lilies"

Hexagon Crazy

So this time last week I was teaching the hexagon taster class (it's the start of the Easter break today so no teaching work for about 4 weeks!) and my mind is still in hexagon mode. I bought a couple of packs of reduced price cotton recently (very cheap 3 balls of £2.50) and decided to play with them and make different types/ patterns of crocheted hexagons the only restriction been they must be the same size as my fabric hexagon patchwork pieces.Maybe I will mix and match them?
Maybe I will create a new fabric design print using the crocheted hexagons?
Or maybe I will do both ideas?
I have decided to blog my progress regularly to keep me focused on this project, I have far to many on going projects, several 95% finished so this year I plan to complete as many of them as I can. And yes I know I will still start new stuff but that's how my brain works! :)
Ok now I need to make another dozen crocheted hexagon experiments

Patchwork Hexagons

On Monday I was teaching a taster patchwork class (just 3 hours long). The first photo is my prep.for the class

The rest of the photos are the students work, I though everyone did really well.






We made pieced patchwork hexagons, tacking fabric to paper and joining the pieces together and for the more advanced an introduction to an origami hexagon.

The next taster is class is for Applique. It's in July and excellent news its free. I will post more details nearer the time.

St Patrick's Day

A Happy St Patrick's Day to all.
To celebrate I made some Irish coffee butterfly cakes, I even managed to find green paper cases for the cakes :)

Mom

Last month my mother Madeleine died after a 16 year battle with early onset Alzheimer's, she forth it to the very end. But she was more than this horrible disease, she enjoyed chatting to people, listening to music, singing, cooking, having her hair & nails done, neck massages, nice food and going to the church and praying (even when the Alzheimer's was in the late stages she enjoyed attending the weekly masses in the nursing home).
Growing up we always had people pop in and visit, my mom would whip up a cake and sandwiches/ tea quick as a flash. She worked in catering getting up at 5.30am most mornings to go to work which was hard in the winter when it was dark and cold outside. Although she was cooking during the day she still enjoyed coming home and cooking a healthy meal made from scratch. Followed by a tasty treat, cake or pie. I don't think there was a cake or tart she could not make. She would often make extra cakes, soda breads and pies to give as presents to friends.
She returned to her hometown in Ireland each year (even several years into the Alzheimer's, we would journey there by coach) and enjoyed meeting up with friends and relatives and going for long walks. She also enjoyed going to France on day trips, we would visit the hypermarkets and stock up on baking products, it was funny coming back through customs everyone had clinking bags with bottles of cheap wine and beers, instead we had bags of flour to make bread, vanilla sugar and spices and yes there was always a visit to the local church to light a candle and a prayer wherever she went :)
She was a very good knitter and would experiment with colours mixing and matching cuffs and sleeves, changing a pattern from a sleeved jumper to a sleeveless cardigan, she would say if it does not work out I can always unpick it and start again. It was the fun of making it and seeing how it would turn out. Later on she started to patchwork and would recycle blouses and shirts to make hexagons, then beautifully hand sew the pieces together to make cushion covers.

Happy New Year 2014

 
Goodbye 2013 and Hello 2014



A Very Happy New Year to everyone :)

Christmas Windows 2013

I was out 'n' about in the Oxford Street which has all its lights and decorations up and looks great this year. Looking at the Christmas windows. Selfridges has always had sparkly windows with some animated I liked the cat slipper (his ears move) and all the little penguins. 

John Lewis had some really good windows this year. They used cups, plates, pots and pans plus many other items you can find in the kitchen to decorate their windows.
Very clever :)

FOG!!!

This morning was freezing cold and there was heavy FOG! OK maybe not as thick as the fogs I remember when I was a small child but I still feel the same about it....a cold damp blanket and better to work from home. So today I am :)

Colourful Winter

I hear so many people complain about winter been dull and without colour. I think winter is full of colour.

The trees may have lost or be losing all their leaves, but now the textured bark is exposed lots browns and greys, branches are now visible and they look strangely beautiful pointing upwards in the sky.

The now colourful leaves yellows, oranges and reds are laying on the floor.

  The evergreens plants like ivy and holly stand out and tiny colourful berries have appeared food for the birds and small animals.

Some flowers are still blooming and appear much brighter :)
What do you think?

The Knitting and Stitching Show 2013

Last week I went to The Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace, filled with lots of yarn, beads, fabrics and crafty thing. I go every year and love to see whats new and stock up on yarn and beads and a few  bargain magazines.
There was an interesting taxi at the entrance covered in knitted and crochet insects, flowers and picnic items..
This year it was really packed with people, good to see so many people doing crafts but also very hard to get to the stands and see the products, even going down isles was difficult as areas were bottle necked with people.
I still managed to buy to much lots of nice beads and crystals from the Southampton Bead Shop and Totally Beads. Plus some nice 100% alpaca and a merino mix yarn from Drops love their yarn and their prices :)
After the shopping there is lots to see at this show. Students have their textile degree work on display, the embroidery and quilting guilds run competitions and have work on show and much more.
I liked the bird embroideries in the corridor leading to the different halls. I love robins.

I always love the stained glass window in the main hall I remembered to photograph it this year.