New design for Spoonflower

I've been doing a new design for a Spoonflower contest which will run later this week. The subject matter was Gourds.

I have photographed an acorn squash before it ends up in a soup or stew and then worked with it in photoshop to give some colour and texture to the main image.

Recycled gift tags

I've been recycling to make some more things for the christmas craft fair. This time I've been making parcel gift tags and I have made them from small scraps of fabric stuck onto card, old maps, wallpaper scraps, newsprint with rubber stamping, magazines & brochures.
I am going to bag them up into packs of about 20.

Skye Batiks new website - my design is on

Skye Batiks have launched a new website where you can buy lots of their groovy clothes and gifts online.
I was surprised and pleased to find the flowery poppy design I did them featuring in the skirts section of the site.


Here is the link to the poppy skirts but the rest of the site is well worth a look for those seeking something a bit out of the ordinary.
They have tonnes more clothes than they can feature on the website and they are happy to email photos if you can't find what you want on the site.

http://www.skyebatiks.com/ViewCategory.aspx?ID=60

Sandsend - near Whitby

Yesterday I visited a lovely little place just about 4 miles north of Whitby called Sandsend. Hadn't been before but it was a lovely bright and blustery day and the ideal place for a walk along the seafront.


The thing I liked about the place, no horrible amusements or rowdiness, it is very unspoilt with about 3 cafes and a village store. There is also the Turnstone Gallery which has a good selection of affordable art in the form of paintings, ceramics and some wrought iron work. I also found a shop in an old saw mill called Wild Hart and I knew the name as they have a place in York on Stonegate, lots of nice arty crafty gifts but a bit pricey.


Had a coffee at the Wits End Cafe which looked slightly better than the 2 seafront cafes I saw which would probably serve you a Nescafe for a coffee, however even though I had a reasonable espresso the place was very pricey. My single espresso was £1.95 were normally you'd pay in the region £1.55 - £1.70 and a double espresso was listed as £3.50 which is outrageous as I've never come across a double for more than £2. Scones were just over £2 and toasted teacakes £2.50 and I never have to pay over £2 for either of those in the cafes I visit in York, Scarborough or Brid.


Still, it was a very pleasant place to visit, lots of walking on the beach, you can go up on the cliffs on part of the Cleveland Way and I didn't find any but I believe it is good for finding fossils.


Finished off the day back down the coast, called into Burniston where the lady has the bakehouse in her shed. Was surprised to see a for sale board, she's planning on moving somewhere bigger to set up maybe a cafe or B&B. Got some lovely bread and muffins. Then went to Scarborough for a coffee at Roasters and bought a couple of bags of new El Salvador single estate beans.


The photos are all Sandsend, the bottom picture is the view looking back to Whitby with Whitby Abbey on top of the cliff in the distance.

Unicorn spotted in York!

This post is a bit out of sequence but the unicorn made me smile so I had to show him.
Last Saturday in York a bunch of Morris Dancers were on the loose and they had a unicorn with them. The unicorn seemed to be doing his own thing and sneaking up on unsuspecting passers by, quite fun to watch from a distance!

Art in the garden - 2010, Sledmere

I did Art in the garden at Sledmere this year and the deadline is approaching, end of month, to have your work done and submitted for the exhibition in October. The exhibition is at Bainton again, dates will be mentioned when I have my artwork done and submitted as I'm a little way off at the moment.


I've got a good start being as I am still stuck in the house with painting going on, which I think fingers crossed with the weather should be done today or tomorrow.

Soya milk & oil art

When I'm baking and using a mix of oil into soya milk, it always intrigues me with the patterns and globules that form under the surface of the oil.  I often think I'll take a picture and use the image in something or as a background.


I finally took that picture the other day, so here's the 'raw' image of the soya milk and oil and then I'll mess about with it in Photoshop and get some sort of lunar landscape to use in some art or textile design.

Rubber stamping on bags

Various bags, paper & cello arrived this morning, ready to put my stock into for the next craft show.
As I had my rubber stamps close to hand and a bit of time to faff about I decided to jazz up some of the paper bags.
Rubber stamping is very versatile, I love the way you get a hand done result but with the ability to reproduce and repeat quickly.

Spoonflower - Carousel contest results

Spoonflower announced the winner of the Carousel fabric contest last night and it was actually a design I voted for so I wasn't surprised it won, it is rather lovely.
I didn't expect to come in the top ten but I was delighted with my placing. Out of 95 entries I came 16th and was only about 30 votes off the top ten, ok the winner had 100's of votes but I'm pleased. I've entered 3 contests so far and my best placing to date had been a 29th for the surrealist fruit.


There look to be some interesting categories coming up, gourds, vampires, so if I've got time I'll be at it again!


Raining today so painters not coming, this unfortunately drags it on into next week.

Doing bits of this 'n that

I'm having an unsettled week because the landlords have got the painters here doing the exterior windows, doors, drainpipes and they've even got them painting a plant trough. Very bizarre, its a bit of a patch up job to make it look good on the outside even though I know the windows are rubbish single glazing, badly fitting, wood is rotten, and basically if it was your own house the best thing you could do would be replace them! Landlords being landlords means they obviously don't want to part with that much money so I guess as long as I'm stuck here I have the ongoing delights of draughty windows and doors!!


So its a bit like surviving in a goldfish bowl as I haven't really got anywhere to hide in the house without a window. I am going between spending a few minutes in my office when there's no man on a ladder at the window to disappearing downstairs to my sewing machine and doing some craft work. I really hope the weather holds as they have a fair bit still to do and they seem to be saving the most horrible and huge windows while last so I hope this doesn't drag on into next week.


Been crocheting flowers for brooches and trying to do very small ones for necklace or bracelets using the lace thread and a 1.5mm hook but its a bit fiddly.

Lots of coffee today

After a full day cleaning inner windows yesterday, due to the landlord sending exterior painters round next week, today was designated a rest and recuperation day. What better way than brunch at Ambiente in Malton where I had my favourite Mexican breakfast, followed by a nice Americano which was then followed by a white Macchiato (bit bland).

I went on to Scarborough after this for a stroll to walk off brunch and also to buy some coffee at Roasters, and maybe have a drink if it was quiet. Well it certainly was quiet and on this occasion Barry who owns Roasters was serving so I decided to have a drink as you are guaranteed a good cup with Barry who is a northern barista champion. I had a red eye latte which was very good and as the cafe was  quiet (it's their last Sunday opening of the summer season) even got to chat coffee with Barry. It turns out that Barry's beans are supplied by Steve at Has Bean which I didn't know but I enjoy reading Steves very informative coffee blog. Barry was also kind enough to give me a flat white on the house which was lovely.
I bought a bag of Brazil Fazenda Cachoeira to take home as I've not sampled this before.
It turned out to be a really nice afternoon and I was buzzing with all that caffeine!!

Dog & cat brooches

A friend had been asking if I made felt dog brooches so I had a go creating these this week. I haven't managed to get a really good result with the felt version and there are plenty of people making the felt Scottie dog type brooches better than me so I went for a more pictoral type brooch which are the versions you see here.


I think my friend liked them as she bought all the ones I'd made so I'm going to do a few cat & dog ones for my next craft fair.

Spoonflower - new design contest

I've posted a new fabric design into this weeks Spoonflower contest. The theme is Carousels and my idea was a Swedish theme carousel using Dala horses instead of the merry-go-round type horse.


If any of my lovely readers fancy a look or even fancy voting for mine then her is the link to the contest. You can vote for as many designs as you like, you have to go through all the contest pages and then click vote at the end. I usually vote for a few, there look to be some hot contenders in the carousel contest.

http://www.spoonflower.com/contests

Bridlington - art installation & pastel boats

Whilst in Brid this week I noticed the new glass art installations have appeared outside the Spa. I don't know anything much about this project, just that its part of the upgrade to the Spa area. Interesting, but I'm not sure if they will weather too well. The film over the glass with the image on has already had a bit of graffiti with what looks like people picking at it and peeling it. 
That's the trouble with this sort of thing, it always seems to get spoilt by a small minority as soon as it appears, a bit like those frogs in Hull.


Just as the light was fading I got this pretty shot of the pastel coloured pleasure boats.