Are you playing along with Umbrella Prints Trimmings Competition?

 I am a big fan of Amy's designs so didn't need asking twice when I saw details of the competition.

My fabric pack arrived quite a few weeks ago now and has been sitting on my desk begging to be played with.

 The fabrics sat there teasing me for far too long and this week when stress levels were beyond high, it seemed a perfect time to take a little break and do some therapeutic sewing.

 To be honest when I starting cutting them I had no idea what I was going to make. 

Before I knew it HSTs had been cut (actually this was a couple of weeks ago) and sewn and still I had no idea what they were going to turn into.

 Today it became a little more obvious and now we have the set of Umbrella Coasters, matched with linen and vintage braid detail and, irrespective of the fact that in my book you can never have enough mustard and grey and linen hanging around the house, I'm rather chuffed with the results.

 I think it's fair to say a little amount of beautiful prints goes a long way. The itty bitty scrap bits were even turned into details on the backs (I knew there was a reason I didn't throw them away).

I don't care too much if I don't win as making these today was just what the doctor ordered.

Actually I do care if I don't win...have you seen the prizes???!!

I would like to introduce you to my friend Tara...

You have probably heard me wax lyrical about Tara and her wonderful art before and seen some of the pieces I have previously bought from her...(here and here)

 I love Tara's use of wording in her work and I also love the texture her work has with all the layering she incorporates.

 Tara generally uses acrylic paints but has just recently started working with oils and as her first pieces show (as below and here) I think we'll be seeing her using oils a lot more....love this little piece below.

And now for the really good bit...

Tara has kindly offered you, my lovely readers, a special 20% off her work in either her Etsy shop or on her website. All you need to do is quote HAPPY20 at the checkout.

Go check out her work...I'm sure you won't have trouble finding something you can't live without.

Also read more about this lovely lady here.

I've built up quite a collection of screens now and it's fab to have my designs on them to make printing to order nice and speedy.

I have however kept one blank.

 I've done this so that I can still try out new designs and ideas at home, without the time and expense of transferring them more permanently to screens if the designs don't work.

Working with stencils means it is relatively easy to do just that.

So today, in a spare 5 minutes - literally - I started working on refining a previous design and started cutting out a stencil from newsprint paper. 

I'm always amazed how much detail the paper gives you when you print. It's such flimsy paper, but with a flood of paint over the screen, it sticks like magic and works as well as a photo exposed screen.

The only drawback really is the temporary-ness of a stencil, but the flexibility that it gives far outweighs this and is definitely a worthy method in it's own right and one I'll be repeating I'm sure.

In the meantime I think I'll be getting this design up onto a screen some time very soon.

I have so many projects on the go at the moment...

...you know the ones...a quilt here, a cushion there and a big pile of picked out fabrics that haven't even made it to being anything specific yet...

...and now it seems I have added to that list...

...but I just couldn't resist Anna aka Noodlehead's Go Anywhere Bag Pattern.

Even thought winter has re-descended on the UK this week, I have faith that summer will return...

...and I intend to be ready.

 It's always a good Saturday when you can get a bit of sewing time in as well as hanging out with the family.

I'd had this cushion commission for a new baby that I was supposed to have had done all week but it didn't quite happen.

I bribed Ruby with choosing some of my fabric and having a play on my machine while I was working on it so I didn't feel quite as guilty working on the weekend.

I've done a fair few of these cushions but this one is a little different. 

It's made entirely from my own fabrics.

I feel I've come a long way in a relatively short time being able to use just my own designs in my work.

I'm going to have to rethink things a little for the boys' version however as looking at this made me realise that most of my designs are definitely geared towards being more suitable for girls.

The Kite Strings would work well, but a couple more neutral designs are needed I think. Perhaps miniaturising my Euro Wonders and using that would be good.

Another new little detail is putting my screen printed name as a label on the back. 

At the moment I have just printed these as a selvedge strip on my fabric pieces but I'm definitely going to print up a whole load of them.

So a fun Saturday was had by all...well by Ruby and me anyway ;-)

I had been starting to think about the quilt I want to make for the Siblings Together project and then a lovely fabric fairy came along and offered me a very generous proposition.

Kate really wanted to be involved but knew that she personally wouldn't be able to manage to make a quilt at this time and asked if she could donate me a bundle to make mine from...well, duh!

I felt like a kid in a sweetie shop...given full reign to choose whatever I fancied. After being completely overwhelmed by choice (aka that kid in that sweetie shop) I narrowed it down to 2 selections and finally decided on this one.

What do you think?

I'm still not a hundred percentage sure on the design of the quilt that I will do, but when I have these beauties in front of me I will probably have more of an idea.

A couple of these fabrics aren't here in the UK yet (ooh I can not wait for Summersville and FMF) so that gives me time to ponder and dwell, by which time I'll be itching to get going and sew all these lovelies together.

It seems like there is a lot of activity and enthusiasm going on with quilts for Siblings Together and I know Kate and myself are thrilled to be able to do our bit.

Go check out the group to see what's going on...

Red, white and blue!

I got distracted by the sun again today.

With the weather about to dip in the UK from tomorrow I made the most of catching some rays with a little outdoor printing.

As a consequence I'm a little ahead of the game (for once) and printed up some special fabric packs...

Enter the Jubilee packs!

I've put together a navy and a red piece in the same design, perfect for all those Jubilee crafting projects.

At the moment they are available in Kite Strings or Framed Flower but if you'd like a set in one of my other designs, just give me a shout!