Catch up, needle cases and new website

As June draws to a close and it should feel like the height of summer it seems to have been overcast for most of the time although that could also sum up my mood! You know that feeling when your head is so full of ideas that it feels like you're going to explode and what happens to me is I start to feel overwhelmed with what to do first in the limited hours of the day. 
Because of the problems I have in winter, cold house and poor light, I want to be going hell for leather with projects in summer but that's the time it's also nice to get out a bit for some fresh air and only so many hours in the day!

At the start of June I scribbled a huge to do list which I've since added to and not ticked many things off, it's satisfying ticking things off but then I ground to a halt a fortnight ago with a gardening related incident which immobilised my arm for some days and I couldn't drive either. That got me so mad with this stupid garden that I hate and having to keep up appearances with it incase the landlady complains again.  

Anyway I'm getting back on track and have just about finished a batch of caravan needle cases for an order.

I thought the colours were a little bit like the beach hut doors in Bridlington.

Other projects in the pipeline and just arrived back from fabric printing are cut and sew doll kits and some of my Brid photos which will turn into something, not sure what yet.

And talking of Brid I did manage a bit of an early morning stroll last weekend to take in some fresh air which was nice and there was the previous days evidence of families on the beach digging big holes and making pebble sculptures.

In recent weeks I've been trying to create a new website / blog just for my Fabric Mountain stuff. It's mainly because I have some more magazine work coming out soon (can't reveal yet) and I felt I needed a specific site to send readers to regarding Fabric Mountain rather than visiting here with all my ranting and moaning!

There will be very little new to any early readers of this blog as I am trying to back track some of my relevant textile blog posts from here onto the new site but eventually it will feature new work.

http://fabricmountain.co.uk/

Oh dear it's raining, looks like the start of the grim weather weekend, hope it's better where you are :)

Textile work for Le Tour Yorkshire

What an odd week, started off with 3 days of downpours and you should see the mud and puddles it brought down here. By Wednesday thankfully better weather as I had a day at the seaside with my sister and nephew over from Belgium. Then today a heat wave and a plague of ants on the patio.

I've been very busy with projects the last couple of weeks, some fairly secret and some just coming out into the open like these.

In just 49 days the Grand Depart for the Tour de France will start in Yorkshire and I imagine it will be a crazy few days. The nearest it comes to me is a brief flirt with York but I'm already thinking it will be too busy and too hot to attempt to go and see it.

Instead I have opted to get involved in a more calm and creative way. My 'souvenirs' for this event are some tiny little textile artworks which have evolved into brooches.

They are made from Harris Tweed with some needle felting, stitching and embellishing.

I have made little linen machine embroidered bags to go with them.

Once I had found some tiny buttons for the wheels they started to take shape.

Adding the riders was the tricky bit.

Only made the very small amount shown here and a couple will go to Gallery 49 and the other few are going to The Attic in York.

Enjoy the sunny weekend everyone, could be as good as it gets for a while :)

Design a fabric competition for Making magazine

Phew! am I pleased I stayed inside working today and didn't go to the Driffield Show as it was the hottest day of the year and I know it would be way too hot and tiring for me, tough for the livestock too.

I've decided to post about a fabric design for a competition I entered in May and was holding off with posting my ideas until I knew the outcome. However I think it's safe to say I wasn't successful as the notify winners date was end of June.

The subject matter was nature.

I created one of my mixed media collages with newsprint and stitch.

Started by painting some newspaper.

I wanted to create some butterflies, pods and flowers so I made some scribbles to base my shapes on and then I ripped & snipped bits and built up layers for the shapes.

Then it's time for a bit of stitching, using machine stitching to go around my shapes and add detail

They start to look more interesting when the definition is added

With all my hand made elements complete they were scanned in and worked up in Photoshop. I then started to create a repeat pattern which went through many phases before the result you see below. It had been on a white background but it looked too new and I wanted a more antiquey looking fabric so I did some rubber stamping in the background and built in a few more layers.

Here is my fabric repeat and shown in more detail below.

The competition was quite thorough and even wanted a mood board sending so this was my inspiration.

Not sure which forthcoming issue of Making will reveal the winner but I can't wait to see what the winning design looks like.

A design which has evolved into a skirt

Way back in 2009 or '10 when I was on the textile course, I doodled some plant like ideas using Honesty Pods as the theme. These became a stitched piece of textile imagery using threads, sheer fabrics and solufleece, see below

From here I then turned the work into a digital format which I made into a repeating pattern, see below

I'm not convinced that the repeating pattern was terribly easy on the eye and therefore I didn't develop it further but I did still like the overall feel of the Honesty Pod imagery.

So, last autumn I approached Skye Batiks with a slightly simplified version and said they could use it if they thought it would work printed in the batik style. 
To my delight they said yes and hoped it would turn into something for this years collection.

And here we are, only about 6 months later since the batik artists got hold of it and worked their magic, my design has evolved into a range of wrapover skirts in many colours. Last week I was over the moon to receive the purple and blue skirt you see in the photo.

Beautiful quality as always, thanks Skye Batiks.

http://www.skyebatiks.com/

My postcard for Gardening For The Disabled auction

A while back I had an email calling for art submissions for a great cause, it is a silent auction to raise funds for Gardening for the disabled.

They were wanting postcard sized artworks in any media. I should've posted about this sooner incase anyone else was interested in submitting but the deadline is today.

http://gardeningfordisabledtrust.org.uk/events-and-news/artists-wanted/

The auction will be held in June, I can't wait to see the other postcards and how much things go for.

I submitted 2 designs, one was a print from my collection of graphic faces but the one with the most effort was this little stitched textile card.

I hope they raise lots of money, it's a great idea.

Vintage camping fabric samples

This week I received the printed fabric samples of my vintage camping design and they have come out quite nicely, although I would say that wouldn't I???!!!

See what you think, there are 5 colour options and all are now for sale in the Spoonflower Marketplace,  bit pricey though, I think a FQ is $11.

The design is quite a big repeat, to give an idea, the tent you can see measures 9cm across.

http://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/peppermintpatty

NOTE: I just wanted to mention this, incase anyone buys fabric of any sort from Spoonflower. Once you hit the limit of £15 worth of goods (which can easily be a yard of fabric + postage, about $25), there is a duty charge and Royal Mail admin fee to bring your parcel into the country. I have been stung with this charge on one occasion and the Royal Mail admin fee was a horrendous £8 to collect my parcel. Please be aware of that, if buying fat quarters then there's no problem.

Handmade, textile ring pillow

I've had a few textile projects on the go which I will start to reveal as I've dispatched them to people.


This one is a wedding gift for a friend, it is a ring bearers pillow, or could be used afterwards for a pin cushion.


I started with another embroidered bird motif as the main design for the front.

I then gathered some bits and pieces to embellish with, lace, beads and the backing fabric is one of my own fabrics.

Here it is all stitched up and stuffed.

And finally the back.

Textile art birthday collage

I've nearly finished a textile collage which is a pressie for my friends 50th birthday at the weekend. The reason a beer pump is fairly prominent in the design is because she has hired a brewery for her party.
The other bits n pieces I've stitiched on are all things which mean something to her. I've even popped on Francis, her lovely black and white pussy cat!