I got back into the screen printing workshop yesterday, having missed a week and boy was I chomping at the bit to get there.

One of the wonderful things about study of any description is the fantastic new possibilities that arise as a consequence. It sounds obvious, but having not formally studied for many years I had forgotten that and started the Screen Printing Course thinking I knew what the sole end result of doing it would be - to be able to print fabric.

But by the end of Lesson 1 this thought had been shattered and so many more possibilities had already started filling up space in my head.

I knew that screen printing was widely done on paper, it just hadn't entered my psyche that that would be something I would be doing with it.

I think I have mentioned before (just the once or twice) the excitement of discovering new skills and the potential of what to do with them, so when I went in yesterday I wanted to spend some time seeing where this would take me.

I was playing around with my Tweet design on paper and am really pleased with the end result. As I said, this has really taken me by surprise, the fact that I'm interested in doing this, and am thoroughly enjoying trying new things and taking skills I have learnt to a different place.

The trouble is, life often feels too short and it's hard enough to fit in all that we need and want to do without adding to it. But, let's face it, I've never been one to put ideas and projects to one side.

This will consequently mean that my shop will have a new section to it...paper goods...of which there is one item currently in it, but hopefully it won't be too long being it is filling up nicely. In the meantime, this sole item can be found right here...

You know when some weeks start off mental and continue at that pace well into the end of the weekend? This week has been one of those.

Starting with the photo shoot on Monday, it was swiftly followed by a trip to Wimbledon on Tuesday. An overnight stopover (would have been rude not to) meant not being back home til Wednesday and back at "the office" til Thursday, which in itself meant 2 days to fit a week's work in. Not surprising that didn't happen.

The busy week itself was sandwiched between 2 crazy weekends. It's all been good crazy. it's all been fantastic things, but I'm far too old for this racy lifestyle quite frankly.

Because the week was so mad I didn't get time to go to the screen printing workshop, which obviously made me quite sad and yearning to get there. Consequently I've booked to go in tomorrow. I've still got a back log of work from last week but if I don't get in on Monday I've a feeling the week will get crazier and I'm not going to miss another week. As it is we are nearing the school holidays (the boys break up on Thursday - more madness) and it's going to be hard to get in much then.

Last time I was in I was trying out my Bubbles design and one thing I have had time for was making up some pouches in it. I'm really pleased with how it's come out, especially with it combined with the vintage fabric I recently bought and tomorrow am going to be printing in other colours as well as trying out another design.

Crazy it may be, but hopefully productive too. This latest little pouch is in my Etsy store, along with more made in the fab Sumemrsville fabrics and hopefully after tomorrow it will be joined by even more Blueberry Park screen printed designs...

Today was one of the hottest, most exhausting, most enjoyable days ever.

My lovely Twitter and now real life friend, Sophie is an interior stylist and we've been plotting and planning to have my house featured in a magazine for quite some time. So much so that it was hard to believe that his day had come.

Today was Shoot Day.

Originally the house was to be featured in Ideal Home Magazine, but since then they have launched a new magazine, Style at Home and that's where it's being used for.

I spent most of last week getting ship shape (hence the big studio and Ruby room tidy up) and doing all those finishing touches to the house that had been needing to be done for months. I wasn't entirely sure even then that the house was ready, and I was incredibly worried about today.

All the negative feelings and worries were very swiftly dissipated when Sophie and her fab photographer, Oli turned up this morning.

Whilst Sophie spread her magic touch around my house, moving things here there and everywhere with her clever eye for detail, Oli and I were enjoying Hampton talk - it transpired that Oli lives a stone's throw from where we lived in London.

Whilst today was incredibly hard work, the most of it obviously done by Sophie and Oli, it was also, as I said, one of the most enjoyable. The sunshine made it incredibly exhausting, but also shed a beautiful light on the rooms (at least it looked like it from the sneaky glimpses I got from Oli's amazing shots.)

The house is due to be featured in September's edition of Style at Home, due out at the beginning of August. I know...so soon! I was nervous about today and am equally nervous about that, despite being very confident that Sophie and Oli have done an amazing job.

Having tidied my studio this week and cleared out and sorted through all my fabrics, the scrap buckets were crying out to me.

Coupled with being in a manic sewing mood to accessorise all the clean freshly sorted rooms, I couldn't rest until I'd played with some of the scraps.

Some of my scraps are so diddy that at the time, I'm not actually sure why I keep them, but when projects like this come to mind, it reminds me why I never, and I mean NEVER throw away any fabrics. Even the teeniest inch square piece of loveliness has a use.

This was the easiest, quickest, prettiest quilt I have ever made. I simply laid scraps onto wadding until I'd filled all the gaps. Then it was a matter of sewing every edge in place. There's no front-to-front sewing going on here. This one is all about the raw edges.

A quick one piece plain backing was sewn on and then I whipped up some green stripy binding (oh, I'm such a pro at binding now) and before you knew it even the dollies had a new quilt.

As predicted, Ruby wants a full size version for her bed.

Not sure that will be quite so quick to whip up...

The girlie quilt is finished...

I seriously can't understand how Noah thinks this is girlie.

If you asked a girl what colours she wanted her quilt to be made in, I'm pretty sure grey, black and red would hardly be mentioned.

And there isn't a flower or heart in sight.

I lined up various fabrics for the binding - (btw that's the first time I have bound a quilt, so I have been doing a little celebratory dance having accomplished that) - and decided to use the black Kei dots to just be sure it was as far from girlie as possible.

Still too girlie.

My friend Tara put the nail on the head. Maybe quilts in general are more girlie, being snuggly and cosy and all that. I think she has a point.

I'm pretty sure that anything I did for Noah, even quilting his beloved Arsenal badge on it, would be too girlie for this boy wonder.

ps Noah...that poster so has to go...

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!

I've spent a lot of time on my machine these last few days.

Whether it's been sewing up some of my screen prints, or creating a new quilt for Noah (how he can say this is girlie, I have no idea), or sewing up some sweet softies that I've been wanting to try out since buying Kajsa's fab book Scandinavian Stitches.

These dolls are based on her angels and I've put my own slant on them making them patchwork dresses. I love a project that is quick and easy to make up and has instant appeal and impact. In fact these are just 2 so far of a long line of patchy dolls that I'm planning to make.

If you don't know Kajsa's book you really should seek it out as it's full of fab projects that are so depictive of her unique style.