Happy All Hallows

It's the start of the pagan new year and I'm deciding on a year of change, well that is my plan at least. I feel like I may be coming out of a somewhat dark hole and I have to assert some changes and positivity into my life in the coming year to make a difference and make things happen in moving forward with new projects and goals.


I am looking forward to a Halloween buffet of spooky food at my friends later and so I have made this little Halloween pixie for sitting on their buffet table. Got a few sweeties to take too and made some scary orange & dark choc buns.

Waterloo concert

Last night I went to the theatre to see Waterloo, billed as the UK & Europe's biggest & best live Abba concert show. I don't normally go to the theatre as I'm not into musicals and the like but this was pleasantly different. It was basically a concert of Abba songs and the performers and costumes were very good so it made for a pleasant evening out with my mum & sis.
Don't worry we didn't show ourselves up in silver platform boots and shiny lycra but plenty of people had got togged up in the gear.

Sorting out fabric stash

When I was at Ikea I bought these large blue zip up bags which fit onto a trolley for storage. I have decided to sort my material stash out into them. Don't think it will all fit but I'm putting the best stuff in and I have taken this photo to record how tidy it looks before I start using it!

Gallery on the Wolds, Bainton

I did my one day stint manning the gallery yesterday for the Art in the Garden exhibition. I was disappointed to see I haven't sold either of my Sledmere pictures but then only 6 pictures in total have sold and it finishes at the weekend. My friend has sold her lovely picture Pans Green Peace which is to the right of my 2 pieces on the top photo. 


The bottom photo is an Art Challenge piece of work. Basically numerous artists each painted an individual square canvas without knowing what the final painting was. They were given a colour photocopy of the bit they had to reproduce and this is the result, it's quite impressive and a fascinating project.

Ikea fabric

I was at Ikea the other day and couldn't resist buying a few bits of their fabric.
They had some great new designs but with a lot of them the design is so big that to appreciate it you would need to be making curtains or something large to see the pattern. Most of the designs are not suitable for the small craft things I make.

Spoonflower contest - nature items, result

The results are in and thanks to anyone who voted for my design as I've had my best result to date in the Spoonflower contests. I came 14th with my Velvet Leaves design which was over 300 votes so I'm happy with that.


I love the winning fabric, its very clever.

http://blog.spoonflower.com/2010/10/leaf-critter-fabric-jenimp-wins-our-contest-to-design-fabric-from-scanned-objects-found-in-nature.html#more

Seaside poster competition - reveal

Back in June I entered a competition to design a seaside poster for Coast magazine. The idea was to take inspiration from the travel posters of the past and create your modern day version of a coastal spot which means something to you.


This is exactly the type of design work I enjoy so I had to enter, even though it cost me a bit as they wanted  a print outputting at 70cm x 50cm so having only got an A4 printer I had to pay for a large one off print.
I did one of my digital collages of Spurn Point, some bits hand drawn and used some of my photos, see below.
Of course you get no confirmation that they receive your work so you just live in hope until they announce the winner (and hopefully they are sending the artwork back).


So, it's 4 months later and the 3 winners have been revealed in the current Nov issue of Coast, and guess what, I wasn't one of them!  Damn & drat, curses!!!
However, it's not all doom and gloom because on their website they have uploaded a gallery of the top 10 and I'm delighted to say I came in the top 10. I have to say that I actually prefer some of the runners up to the winning 3, no sour grapes intended, just my personal opinion, probably cause I'm a fan of the traditional style of travel poster.

Spoonflower contest - latest entry

I have entered another Spoonflower fabric design contest. This current one was to design a fabric with the theme of a scanned nature item, I used some fern like, velvety leaves I found growing in amongst the patio and up walls. 
Here is my design. If you like it and fancy voting for me then here is the link, all votes are much appreciated.


I should say that there are about 9 pages of designs to click through, you can choose more than one and you submit your choices on the last page.

http://www.spoonflower.com/contests

York - Vintage Fair & Coffee

It's not been the best fortnight ever what with work & stress levels running high, health issues and generally feeling miserable as the weather turns cold and there's the prospect of a long 6 months before spring is on the horizon again.

So with that in mind I ended this week on a good note by visiting the Vintage Fair in York today. I found the most amazing fabric / haberdashery stall where a lady had some rolls of fabric in excellent condition and reasonably priced. I bought the very groovy 1960's floral barkcloths and the 1970's blue & green fabric is a thick cotton, all these were £5 a metre. The 1940's fabric is more of a sateen and it cost £6 a metre.

This lady is going to be at a vintage fair in Ilkley towards the end of the month, well worth going if you like vintage fabric.

Finished off the day by purchasing a bag of Has Beans new espresso Kicker blend at the wonderful Harlequin Coffee house. I can't wait to try this blend as I follow the antics of Steve who runs Has Bean on his website and blog and Kicker is supposed to be quite special.

Skye Batiks - half price shirts, hurry!

If you are seeking something a little offbeat, original & ethically produced by hand, check out Skye Batiks as they currently have shirts at half price (approx £17).
I was in touch with my good friends at Skye Batiks the other week and was delighted with the 2 shirts which came winging their way down to Yorkshire.


These are the 3 button smock style of shirt and they wash so well and get better with age.