Happy Autumn Equinox

I'm sorry to see the end of summer as I don't feel like I've had a summer this year but at least the sun has appeared today and the cute google squirrel made an appearance!

The light is rather nice at this time of day and I just spotted this leaf with dew drops on the step.

This week I've been putting together some fabric kits for my Etsy shop. The orange and brown patchwork kit below went quite quickly which was brilliant. The packs feature a large centre panel of my Scandi Birds and Flowers fabric.

I'm also preparing some vintage caravan kits which can be used for embroidering or embellishing to create a mixed media work.

Some recent creations and vintage books

It seems I finally got the cooler weather I wanted which has made it a bit easier for working again. I have to say though that it is noticeable the nights drawing in, I'm sure it's dark half an hour earlier than mid July, lets leave the grim thoughts right there!

I ordered myself some of the mini cards from Moo which lead to some little handmade business card holders to house them. All are in the style of string tie envelopes.

We have a bright pink floral felt one

Green Harris Tweed

This one is some handloomed fabric from Skye Batiks

On the subject of fabric I have my ditsy floral butterfly fabric samples back from print and they are now listed in the Spoonflower marketplace. I need to order myself some for making things.

Did a couple of designs in Regency style, chintzy stripes.

Also popped a new colour of camping fabric into the mix as it seems to be selling quite well following the caravan cushion tutorial in Mollie Makes.

Something else I have recently completed was this embellished linen shirt.
This was inspired by a wonderful blouse my friend the textile artist Corinne Young had made. The last time I saw Corinne she was wearing an amazing creation made from upcycled vintage table cloths, it really did look lovely. I'm not very good at dressmaking so wouldn't even attempt a blouse, my quickie version was to take an old shirt and embellish the bits of tablecloth on to. This linen shirt worked well as most of my tablecloths were linen.

I quite like it but I have had the comment it looks a bit country and western, hey ho, brings out my inner Dolly Parton!!

This brings me round to some lovely old vintage childrens books of mine which I picked up last time I was at my parents. A bit fusty and musty now and with a few scribbles on the pages but there are some fond memories when I look at the illustrations.

One last vintage item, my mum dug this out for me, it was my very first craft apron as a child. Some friends brought it back from Wales for me. I might give it a new life and turn it into something.

Time to go and as this picture says.......

Reworked fabric designs

Not much blogging going on here at the moment. January blues and all that sort of thing, cold hands & feet, wet grey days and lacking in inspiration.
So pleased January is nearly over, my car scraped through the MOT but I've been advised to get new tyres and have the brakes looked at soon, more expense and hassle but hopefully I can wing it until slightly better weather and when I feel like sorting it.

I've been trying to crack on with some Valentine brooches but the day I collected my car something twanged on one of my fingers and a finger on my sewing hand went blue and hot and tingly but calmed down a day later and just looked bruised but it seems to have faded now, it did slow me down though, very odd as I hadn't trapped it.

I've been updating some of my Spoonflower fabrics. There is a new shade in the camping fabric, dusky lilac and a lady has already bought 3 yards to make curtains which I was delighted to hear.

I've also created a yard of camping fabric where you get 4 different coloured fat quarters on the one yard which would be quite good for making a cushion panel, quilting or small projects.

I'm currently researching a couple of fabric printing places in the UK to see if it possible to have the designs printed here and whether that would be cheaper than the expense of Spoonflower in the US. I'd love to have more of my fabric printed so that I could sell bigger than just fat quarters in my shop.

Another design I've reworked is my butterfly waltz below

I liked the lilac of the camping fabric and have updated the above to a slightly more gothic design called Butterfly Skull Waltz, I'm currently waiting for a printed sample.

Camping fabric of many colours!

I finished my camping fabric the other day, although once I'd done the initial one with a cream background...

I started to try different coloured backgrounds and then it became difficult knowing which one I preferred!

There were even more options but anyway I had to choose one to enter in next weeks Spoonflower contest so I applied some logic and chose a green one which can be grass green the caravans are pitched on!
Here is my entry.