chirpy workshops...

 you may or may not remember that recently the most lovely design-led gift shop, chirpy, in chapel a in leeds became one of my nearest and dearest stockists.

well not only is it now one of my lovely stockists but it is now one of my workshop venues.

i am very excited to be teaching a zipper pouch workshop and a screen printing, the embroidery hoop way, in november.

harriet, the delightful owner of chirpy has put together a fab mix of workshops throughout october and november, the perfect time to sign up and make some handmade presents this christmas.

you can find out about all the workshops harriet has arranged here and read more about mine and the others (note tho that my zipper pouch workshop is £25 not £35...bargain!)

i personally am very tempted by Mr Yen's paper cutting workshop...love his work.

patchy update...

apparently there was only one way to see how white ink on solids would look...go right ahead and try it...

and i'd say, from that same modest standpoint, rather darn lovely!

a few panels have been added to the shop with more colours coming just as soon as i get all those other things done...

well some of them anyway...

patchy...

 hello!

i'm back!

at some point - before it becomes so last year - I will post you some pics of my lovely relaxing trip to Portugal but right now life has moved on way too speedily to stop still to even reminisce for a second.

i have a list a mile long, as ever, which i won't bore you with, and if i don't get my head down immediately i'm going to be severely reprimanded from all corners.

first to be ticked off (and possibly the most enjoyable) was finishing off this design i started a while ago.

i scootled off to the workshop to burn my screen, zipped home, tested it out and spent the rest of the day mesmerised by it.

it's probably wrong to love it quite as much as i do, being overly modest and all, but i really really do!

i love it's potential...

to be used randomly across the patches or cut up in its 3" squares.

actually seeing them cut up is probably what i love about it most.

unfortunately i haven't got time to actually do anything with it as yet, apart from staring at it lustfully and contemplate what colours i should print it in next.

i also can't decide if it would look good reversed...you know, printing in white on coloured background.

i guess there's only one way to find out.

it will be in the shop very soon - when i've done all i need to do and kept the growlers at bay - so be thinking what colours you'd like to buy see it in.

y seams - the tutorial

 due to popular requests from those following my hexie megathon on instagram this week here is a tutorial to demystify and hopefully simplify y seams. like anything it's easy when you know how!

the key thing with y seams, like any precision sewing is accuracy of cutting and measuring.

first up cut out hexies of whatever size you want to use. i've cut just 3 here to show how to join 3 together. it goes without saying that you can join as many as you like and this is simply for illustrating the y seam.

now, as they say, the sciency bit...

draw lines on the reverse of your fabrics 1/4" from the edge and mark where they cross with a dot. this is really the key to sewing y seams. you always want to leave this 1/4" edge free when joining together with y seams.

once you get more proficient you can do without drawing the lines in and simply mark where the dot goes. that's the really important bit.

these dots mark the beginning and the end of the row of stitches to give room to turn your y seam and for the seams to lay flat.

start with 2 hexies right sides facing and sew along the line (1/4" allowance) between the dots. at the beginning and the end do a couple of reverse stitches to secure. this is another important tip for keeping your hexies in place.

now let's put that 3rd hexie in, the one that makes you feel super clever!

put the 3rd hexie, right sides together at the top of the pair already sewn together as you are going to do 2 seams one after the other.

firstly sew along the first side as you did previously, remembering to reverse stitch at the beginning and end.

next, keeping the needle down - another important tip to keep the hexies in place, twist the top hexie round to sew the second side on the second hexie.

align the 2 seams together and sew along the line, as previously, between the 2 dots.

and there...you are done...1 perfect y seam!

iron your seams flat and you are ready to add more hexies in the same way!

add as many hexies as you want in exactly the same way.

i hope this has helped and demystified the dreaded y seam. 

and it isn't just hexies you can sew together in this way. any shapes that meet together in a y seam can be tackled in this way.

have fun and i'd love to see what you make!

in familiar territory...

 this may look a little familiar...

giant hexie quilt in blues and greys...with yellow binding...

a customer was so taken with the original that she wanted me to make a replica.

fine by me...i'm a bit partial to this colour combo.

this is a replica with a difference however, as who has the exact same fabrics in their stash 2 years later?

evidently not me.

the lovely thing about doing the same thing again but different is that it gives you chance to try things a little differently that you didn't think of first time round.

like the binding for instance.

not having the same lotta fabric for the binding meant nothing else quite worked for me. 

so instead i opted for scrappy...result!

this was particularly pleasing on the back which was kept more simple with this fab ikea piece.

 and then there was the quilting...

i jumped in rather quickly first time and did a simple tracing of the hexies in zigzag lines. this worked thanks to some additional hand quilting but without that it needed something different.

i remember being bowled over by Laura's concentric circles quilting on her fantabulous scrappy trip along quilt and thought that would work here...fun but not too fussy. (just realised i've used the same backing as laura too!)ikea

so one replica giant hexie quilt with a difference done...

...one customer deciding she wants one bigger!

the good news is that i get to do a take 3...who knows what improvements will be made on that one.

the other good news is that this one is in my etsy shop for one lucky buyer looking for a pretty quilt...go check it out here.

the other good news is that i am so pleased to be back in familiar territory with my giant hexie pattern that i think that is the first thing i am going to make when i get my hands on some of Leah Duncan's tule...can't wait for that.

fickle with fabric

 i don't know about you but every now and then a fabric collection comes out that blows me over and i can't imagine there ever being a more perfect fabric line...ever...

and then a different one comes out.

i know...i'm fickle.

i was blown over by cloud 9's simpatico and more recently rashida coleman-hale's tsuru for cloud 9, not to mention heather moore's cut out and keep. ok so i love cloud 9 fabrics (can't wait for Eloise's bark and branch and heather's up up and away) and it goes without saying that i adore everything lotta lansdotter has produced so far.

did i also mention my love for carolyn friedlander's architextures?

see...fickle.

but i think a collection has finally come along that couldn't possibly be more perfect. i don't think i will ever feel the same about another collection...ever.

have you seen tule by leah duncan? i have always been a fan of leah's and am absolutely wrapped at the thought of this collection and what i will do with it.

not only are the colours spot on but the entire collection is so fresh and contemporary yet classic.

i simply can not wait for it. 

and because i simply can not wait (it's out sometime this month for goodness sake) i had to buy these from a previous line of leah's.

i'm not even sure what i was thinking as i bought these on etsy to be delivered to my aunt's in USA...you know how i let her personally bring me over some fabrics to make her feel like she's being kind and doing me a favour (it's good to make people feel wanted). well that's all very well and good but she isn't coming until the end of october.

all very well and good scratching the leah-duncan-must-buy-fabric-now itch but i will be able to get my hands on tule way before i get the above.

still, you can never have too much of a good thing.

so we've established that i am fickle with fabric but think i may have found the one. do you have a collection that has blown you over way more than another? only to be usurped by the next collection on the block?

do tell.

a house full of lewis'...

 the bristol branch of the lewis's came to play this week...well 5/6 of them and since there are still only 4/5 of us until sam comes home on sunday after 3 1/2 weeks away (counting down the days? i think so!) we were down by 2, which only meant a little more room around the table at meal times.

i love my in laws...i really really do...and feel very lucky that people i would choose as my friends are my in laws.

and since top on their list of things to do whilst up with us was to do some screen printing, i love them even more!

even the boys wanted their turn. how cute are these despicable me characters?!

not only are they so lovely, they are a talented bunch my in laws.

my sis in law is just the best. 

i just wish she lived closer....it might just mean our timing would be better and we wouldn't look quite such unsynchronised non-starters in the photo booth.

imbetween all the over-excited jolliness there was a photo shoot for this thing that shall not be named yet. i packed the family off to bolton abbey for the day and temporarily got down to business.

yesterday was ruby's birthday and her choice of day trips was brimham rocks.

it's our absolute favouritest place ever and surprisingly we hadn't taken the bristol clan there before and so for those that don't have a fear of heights, an exhilerating time was had.

we didn't have to go too far to have fun with this lot...

a trip down to the park and a race on the field would all have ended happily if an over competitive mr leeds lewis hadn't got a little too enthusiastic and pulled a groin muscle all in the name of fun.

thankfully stopping for a swift pint on the way home seemed to make everything ok again.

last night was a tearful farewell after a really special week.

the only thing to cheer me up was a printing sesh today...which in itself was the start of something rather exciting.