:: the big one ::

i hinted last week that there was more good news to come.

after a week of being in various publications and hitting you from all sides this week has ended with being able to reveal the big one.

the week started with me getting very excited, possibly a little bit too, over a couple of new designs i have been working on and getting them onto screen sand printing up.

let me introduce to you flowerbeds and hexie plus...

i am really giddily pleased with these and can't wait to eek out some time to sew with them and print more colours and get them in the shop.

will keep you posted on that.

in the meantime the big one happened...

those of you that follow me regularly will know i have been harping on about a secret project for some time. 

the time has come to reveal...

MY BOOK!!

i am an author!!!

it feels completely and utterly surreal for me to say those words and even more to search screen printing at home on amazon and find this there! (altho please don't search 'karen lewis'...you will find some quite dodgy fiction that i swear isn't written by me!)

it is quite a giddy time at the moment...lots happening and i have a feeling the giddiness isn't going to go away just yet.

the book is due to be published at the end of July but you can pre-order it now on Amazon (a huge appreciative thank you for those who have done already x). Here's the link for UK and it is also available here on the US website.

more to come on it soon...i don't think you have heard the last of me!

umbrella prints trimmings competition

it's that time of year for the lovely peeps at umbrella prints to run their competition making something with a pack of their trimmings.

i wasn't going to enter this year as i have so much going on and i was just going to admire from afar everyone's fabulous makes from the delicious fabrics.

my resolve lasted for approximately a week when i was chatting with a friend about the competition and whether we were entering. i was adamant i wasn't. she was sure i would be and would be that one of my patchwork lampshades would be perfect.

it seems i am beginning to get a reputation for these, hey helen?

once nicky had planted the seed that this is what i should do it seemed rude to not head straight over to umbrella prints' etsy shop, order a pack, wait for it to arrive and set to make within 20 minutes of the pack landing on the doormat.

it actually felt good to be time efficient with this and still make something i am pleased with. i will take better pictures of the finished article for the competition real but in the meantime here tells the story of my umbrella prints trimmings competition 2013 entry.

are you entering? if not why not? i am sure nicky will be able to make a perfect suggestion of what you should make.

friday workshop take 2

 friday came around mightily speedily this week. 

it seems only 2 minutes ago that lizzie came over for a one-one workshop and here i was this week with jess, her mum wendy, vicky and chrissy round for their workshop.

 in my former life i used to be a teacher and doing these workshops has made me realise that it's not the teaching i grew to dislike, but the being in a classroom teaching unmotivated kids.

 teaching screen printing on the other hand has given me my passion back. 

when you have keen, star students in front of you and you get to pass on the wisdom of something you are passionate about, well quite frankly life doesn't get much better.

it is a privilege to have such lovely people come and want to learn something new and to show as much passion as i have.

 it was quite an intense day, in the best possible way. everyone was full of ideas and creative juices were running high.

i never saw such looks of concentration in the classroom.

 when all stencils had been cut we headed down to the print room (the basement) and after a quick session on how to actually pull a screen everyone set to work on their own screens.

 

i don't know about them but i was beyond excited at this point! i couldn't wait to see how their designs were going to turn out.

seriously, i needed to give myself a pep talk at this point.

and what star students they turned out to be...

after the printing and the cleaning up came the magic...

 seeing their designs transformed...

how cool are all of these?

i just love how different each and everyone's work is...

vicky brought her fab bird and birdhouses design printed out and ready to cut...

chrissy punched holes a crazy to make her striking design...

wendy did 2 - she used cat post-it-notes as silhouettes to cut out - and also took inspiration from melissa bombardiere's wonderful belbird design (i love melissa's work)...

and jess produced a wonderful piece that looks  tribal.

 the next workshop isn't until march 15..i'm not quite sure how i'll get my fix until then, but it's certainly something to look forward to.

if you fancy joining me for a fun passion  filled friday (does that sound wrong?) there are still a couple of places left for march 15. 

please do join us (mother's day is march 10 so put in your request for a great gift)...you can book a place here.

 I have been wanting to improve the labelling on my packaging for a while now but it has been a case, as ever, of whenever will I get the time?

As usual, changes around here tend to happen as a result of something needing to be done, rather than me actively setting time aside to get on with it. 

Are you like that? (please tell me you are!)

 The pull factor (or is it the push?) this time was a request from a new stockist (from Seoul, South Korea, very exciting!) wanting a label to show her customers that the fabric was not only hand printed but made by me in England. 

 I kind of knew what I had in mind, which made me wonder why it took me so long to get around to doing it, especially as I already had the Scruffy Daisies screen printed onto the card. It really wasn't rocket science and it really didn't take all that long to finish off. A win-win.

 I wanted to produce something that could easily be used on all my products and I think this sleeve is just the thing. At first I thought I would screen print the whole label, which actually was what was slowing me down. I didn't want to have to do a different screen for every product and I couldn't quite get my head around that. This works perfectly...

 It incorporates the screen printed element I wanted, along with the adaptability for using with different products, as this detail is just printed over the top and on the back. I know that isn't very genius, but quite honestly it feels it.

This little lot is all ready to travel on it's journey to South Korea, where hopefully they

 will be well received.

I think they look rather smart.

As promised I'm drawing the giveaway winner for the Simpatico bundle later, so pop back in a bit. I know it's after 6 and I promised to do it at 6, but hey, what can I say, the kids are demanding tea...again...

Some days my postie gets a nice surprise...he doesn't have a mail bag weighed down with fabrics.

Most days however he does and today all these yummies arrived at once. It's a good job he's so lovely.

These bottom 3 are beautiful vintage pieces I bought from Peachy Vintage. Whilst I was buying more of the gorgeous pink floral from Jess, I snuck in these other 2 into the shopping basket.

This one below is going to be used for the quilt for my bed. I haven't quite decided whether it's going to be part of the quilt or the binding. Will see how it all comes together...WHEN I get around to doing it.

I have no particular plans for this fresh blue and green floral. It just seemed rude not to buy it while I was shopping.

I'm having a bit of a thing for vintage fabric at the moment, so I think you will see quite a lot more pieces making their way into my collection.

Kei dots are one of my favourite ever dots and I chose this one to bind the quilt I'm doing for Noah and hopefully make it a little less girlie than he currently think it looks (I know...I don't think it does either, but thank you for your comments confirming it). Kate's speedy service meant that I didn't have to wait more than a day for it.

So guess what I'll be doing tonight??

The final fabric purchase that arrived today was 2 yards of Heath in metal. Due to my penchant for grey, I can never have enough basic grey fabric in my stash. I'm also going to use it for my screen printing designs. I think (hope) it will work well.

And here's where the good news for you comes in...

Here below is just a section of my fabric stash.

I've been through various phases and tastes over the years and whilst I have no doubts that this isn't going to stop in any hurry, there are a lot of fabrics in here that I no longer need or can envisage using. There are some fantastic fabrics in here that I have decided to part with. I'm going to be listing a lot of it in my Etsy shop very soon. There will be some yardage, some FQs and some great scrap packs.

So keep an eye out for a heads up as to when it will arrive as you will hear it here first. If you want a very special "tell me before anyone else" then just leave me a comment of how I can reach you. There's plenty here for everyone!

Today was the last day of my Screen Printing Course. Ordinarily it would be sad at the thought of a course being over, but not this one. Having completed the course I am now able to screen print whenever I want. You can not believe how much joy this is giving me (although if you've been reading my posts on screen printing over the last few weeks, you've probably got a pretty good idea).

I was a little bit nervous about this week's lesson. Remember my disasters of last week? And then everyone was telling me how much harder it is to print on fabric. Printing on fabric is obviously my main raison d'être for screen printing and if I'm having problems before I even get to the fabric stage, what chances do I have of succeeding?

Needless to say, all worries and concerns immediately evaporated as soon as I got going. Maybe it was the anticipation of disaster. Maybe it was the fact that I knew i needed full concentration today. Maybe it was the fact that some of the processes (making screen, printing technique) were becoming a bit more natural, leaving me able to concentrate on today's new aspect.

I'm not going to worry too much about what made it feel right, but enjoy the fact that it did.

I brought with a variety of fabrics to get a feel for how printing worked on the different textures. I wasn't sure I'd make a good print on linen, being causer and less smooth than cotton, but the linen I'm using at the moment is fairly close weaved, so this didn't seem to be as problematic as I'd envisaged.

The shirting worked a treat. It's very smooth and takes the ink beautifully. I'll be using these fabrics quite a bit.

The Klona cottons worked a treat too. I'm going to need to play around with colours however as even thought the pale blue took beautifully on the brown, the pink came out a little bit murky. Whereas on the white the pink was lovely and vivid.

I chose designs today that I could experiment various styles to see how they come out on the fabric. I wanted to play around with the font stamps I have, so included both of those. I also wanted to see how intricate detailing would show.

I think because I had such little expectations today, the results have thrilled me even more. I'm learning what works and what needs changing. I've booked to go in again on Monday and looking forward to playing around and experimenting some more and then, my friends, I'll start to get my mind ordered as to producing pieces that will actually be used.

This is just the beginning...

Since BCTF I'm back to making kits in abundance.

It's funny because the fabrics I have generally been using with my other work is very different from what I call my "kit fabric". Since the kits are children's kits the fabrics I tend to use are a lot brighter and zingier than I use with my accessories. So I had to put my kit-making hat on and make selections. It's not always clear quite how these fabrics look in the flesh but the lovely ladies at Saints & Pinners are more than happy to send out samples of fabrics making it much easier to make the right decisions. After all it's costly making mistakes. And I have made some right clangers in my time.

Today I received my samples (I only ordered them yesterday) and I'm really pleased with all of them and as well as wanting them for the kits I am also liking the bottom two, Genie by Annette Tatum for summer clothing for Ruby and possibly they may even sneak into the accessories range.

The top fabric, a gorgeous teal Mod Flower, also by Annette Tatum, will work perfectly in the kits and the 2 bright flower designs in the middle there from the Weekends collection by Erin McMorris are just great. Their brightness stands out perfectly.

So, if you are unsure about whether fabrics you see online will work for you, I strongly recommend you see whether samples are available. I know M is for Make will also send samples and I'm pretty sure most of the lovely online fabric stores will offer this service.

It's not surprising I'm dog tired at the moment. I went out last night with some girlfriends and literally could have fallen asleep at the table. In fact, I wouldn't have been surprised if one of them texted me this morning to say I had nodded off for a bit.

A lot of us are struggling with not enough hours in the day at this time of year, keeping up with and packing orders off for Christmas shoppers.

So why oh why I let myself get distracted by things that can undoubtedly wait until the New Year, I have no idea. I ordered this fabric from Seamstar, along with a couple of other beauties, this week and any sensible person would have put it to one side to enjoy at a quieter time. But then I guess I'm not that sensible.

And not only can I not put a good fabric down, I can not put a good plan down either...

That exciting development that I hinted at yesterday has been at the forefront of my mind and would not be put to one side for a day, let alone a couple of weeks, until after the holidays.

I am embarking on a collaboration with Lu Summers of Summersville fame. Very VERY exciting!

Once I got the pencil pouch just the way I wanted it (right length, right height, right bottom..so to speak) I knew at once that Lu's fabrics would be perfect for them. If you've ever seen Lu's fabrics you'll know exactly what I mean.

The weight of the fabric is perfect. The designs are so well suited to children's (or adults) pencil cases and the colours are so vivid any child (or adult) will be delighted to have one. We hope...

The pouches will come in 5 different patterns and colours and will be available through the usual channels as well as being available for trade. So if there are any stores out there that would like more info about the pouches and be the first to stock them, just give me a shout.

And here's to me now slowing down just a little...

I know what your thinking..."not more blinkin' zipper pouches."

And I'd like to be able to tell you that these are the last ones.

But I'm afraid i can't.

There are about to be some very exciting developments in the land of zipper pouches and I hope you'll be as excited about them as I am.

But that's all I can say right now...

So all that is left is for me to leave you with pretty pictures of the latest style of zipper pouch - the Mini Pouch - perfect for little hands to keep their pocket money and bits of change in.

And of course they are right here...

Which room do you prefer?

This one?...

Or this one?...

Exactly! This is the only room in the house that has not been done and still possesses the characteristics of the family we inherited the house from. The stencilling - urghhh, the painted woodwork - puke... Maroon? Aaaghhhh!

One day we'll have saved up enough to make this room worthy of the rest of the house, but in the meantime it relies on the addition of some pretty soft furnishings.

There are a lot of things I love about this room. It's a great size. I love the fireplace, although the surround has to go. And the bay window has such a lovely aspect and cries out for pretty seating.

The pretty seating is a long way off but until then a couple of new brickwork cushions, a la Treefall Design will have to do. I love the design of these cushions. To me they work in a similar way to Log Cabins. They give the possibility of using an array of favourite fabrics in a simplistic design, letting the fabrics speak for themselves.

To be honest, when I look at this room, I struggle to see it's good qualities. All I see is the grotty decor, the dark receding colours, but at least now there is something in here that can make me smile and give me optimism that one day this room will be fit to sit next door to the one at the top.