charm{ed}...

You know this strange old internet based world of ours and all the friends we meet on the way but only communicate through the screens and keyboard in front of us? Well, I'm very excited to be meeting one of my cyber friends at the weekend. 

I have been following Nancy on Instagram for a while now, having fallen in love with her quilting style and she was following me back, having been quite smitten with my fabrics. One of those online friendships developed. You know the type...I live in UK...Nancy lives in USA...never the twain shall meet...

but no! Nancy is over in the UK at the mo on holiday and is planning a stop over at mine on Saturday to pick up some fabrics she has ordered! I can't wait! Nancy has such a fantastic eye for colour (she put together the charm pack above and below) and I can't wait to meet her!

Building the charm packs for Nancy whilst chatting over IG was such a pleasure...seeing the colour mixes she was after was pure delight. I am very excited to hand them over to her and can't wait to see what magic she produces with them.

I really do get a kick of our cyber world and all the friends we make on the way. And if we actually get to meet in the flesh...well that's a real added bonus.

The yellows above and a blue-substituted-for-purple pack below are more charm packs that have been custom built for more cyber buddies that who knows maybe I will meet one day too. 

One thing I have learnt is never say never and keep those friendships blossoming for the day that it actually happens. x

London bound...

 Last week I had one of those rare pure escapism days. No work...no tutoring (that's work too)...no children...no cooking...just pure escapism.

My niece has been doing a year's art foundation course in London so my sister and I hopped on down on the train for the day to see her end of year show. Now being an arty type this obviously appealed to me but so did spending 2 1/2 hours each way having the luxury of nattering to my sis. That in itself was a rarity.



First stop when we arrived in London was to head straight to Camberwell to the London School of Art where we met Ella. At this point I will brag about my talented niece...I think it is okay to brag about nieces and nephews in a way that you can't necessarily about your own children...her weave top left was for me the star of the show before I even knew it was hers. It is actually hard to get a real feel for it here, but Ella had dipped dyed all the threads so there was a natural irregularity through the whole piece.

There was some other beautiful textile work that I was also particularly drawn to. As a child I would have loved to have done what Ella has done, even if I had then returned to a more traditional path, but to have had that opportunity at that age. I wasn't allowed to do art...only Latin...which I failed on purpose just to prove a point. Ella meanwhile is going on to do Medicine next year (yup, the girl has brains too) and I really admire my sister for supporting her choice of having this year to indulge in her creative side.

After looking around the college we sauntered around sunny London and found a nice cafe to have refuel before we headed to the Matisse Cut Outs exhibition at the Tate Modern. Wow what an incredible exhibition! I think it is on until some time in September so if you have the opportunity to go see it you really must. It is quite incredible. The talent of that man is even more evident with this almost accidental technique. 

(There's me and my sis in complete awe in that bottom right pic and my niece taking forbidden photos...tut tut...not such a good girl after all.)

Just time enough after that to bid farewell to Ella, hop on the train back home and get our minds in gear for heading back to reality the next day.

One thing for sure is, a day of pure escapism in London is a real tonic for all ails and stresses of life. They don't disappear and they are there when you return, but to disappear for a day does the world of good. I am definitely planning on doing it more regularly. And besides I am refuelled with inspiration...I think there will be some Cut Outs influenced screen printing coming soon...

default setting...

 at the beginning of april i declared that i had 4 quilts to complete by the end of the month. since it is still not quite the end of the month i can live in false comfort that i can still achieve this.

reality is...

not a hope in hell!!

having said that, I am 2 1/2 down and 1 1/2 to go...but even at my crazy rate, that's neigh on impossible.

so what has been holding me back i hear you ask?

well there has been the little thing of "the book". there were a few nips n tucks and tweaks that needed attending to but a couple of weeks ago it went off to the printers so all we can do now is wait!

i am beyond excited and beyond nervous about it in equal measure. it's my baby...and everyone wants their baby to be loved and adored, right? criticism is so hard to take...so be kind!

the publishers have been brilliant. it has all been such a journey and such a steep learning curve but i think they got me down to a T...they most certainly have with the front cover anyway. i only saw this complete for the first time today on Amazon and coincidentally i posted this picture below earlier today on Instagram talking about my default colour setting. i think there is little arguing now about this...one and the same! i do try to work in something fresh and different, but no matter how hard it always comes back to this. i guess i just shouldn't fight it. it's not such a bad default setting after all.

meanwhile back to the April Must Dos...no more book excuses, so let's just see quite how much we can do in the next 2 (2?? really?? only 2??) days...

wildwood shots...

 i was thrilled yesterday to see some of the pieces i had made with wildwood, dashwood studios latest fabric range photographed so beautifully.

dashwood had photographer yeshen venema in to take some studio shots of all the items that i and others had made with wildwood.

it was quite an honour to see things i had made photographed so stunningly.

i am thinking i may need to call on yeshen's services to take some shots of my other work.

in the meantime check out all the other lovely work others have made with wildwood here.

they all look amazing.

all in a day's work...

 getting ready for the next edition of the blueberry park fabric club means there is a lot of this going on at the mo...



which means there is lots of this to do afterwards...my favourite kind of washing up.




there is trialling of new colour mixes...the perfect shade of mustard printed onto white...

all followed by hanging out to dry, ironing and folding, with a little caressing thrown in.




all in a day's play work.

4 quilts...

 by the end of the month...not too much to ask is it? 

time will tell and we will just gloss over the fact that 2 of the 4 weeks remaining are school holidays and my time isn't quite my own.

{1} a blueberry park creation...

{2} grey abbey by cloud 9 commission...

{3] oakshott colourshott 

{4} summertime concoction

i have started all 4 in the hope that each one will be that bit closer to finishing as the month progresses.

right, i had better crack on then...

see you on the other side...or part way through for progress reports.

so what have you planned for April?

march...the rest of

surprise!

it's still march (just) and here i am again with a quick round up of the rest of march.

i have started doing a monthly round up on Instagram and i am really enjoying seeing the month as a whole...even though only 9 pics means there are a lot of omissions...still, it's a nice flavour.

march saw the 2 main quilt tops i had been working on finished and quilted. that alone makes it a successful month in my book.

the one on the right is courtesy of my lovely Bee a Brit Stingy Flickr group gals and all the wonderful blocks they made for me. i just love this quilt so much.

the one on the left is the first of a series of "kisses" quilts. i wanted to try pluses on point...i like it...there will be more. in my casting not hoarding resolution of 2014 this one is for sale...or at least it will be when i get it listed in my Etsy shop...email me if you would like to know more.

speaking of Flickr...well i was before i got sidetracked...this month saw me finishing blocks for queen bee Sheila...but you will have to go here to see them as i appear to have lost that pic. Sheila is making 20 mini quilts for her grand daughter for a princess and the pea story...lucky Ava i say. they are going to be so darling.

march was also sending off time for the sewing room swap. i hit the jackpot super big time with these unbelievable makes and generosity from Carmen. i think i put Carmen through the mill with my solids/orange/lack-of-too-much-else requests. i honestly wouldn't have minded if she had deviated but i was floored when my goodies arrived.

i, in the meantime, had been sewing a social tote for my partner. to say i was nervous about sewing for my partner is an understatement. i was sewing for Amy of Badskirt, someone whose work i admire greatly and am a huge fan of. seriously it was scary stuff. i really didn't think i was up to the job. Anyhoooo, the tote and pinnie and a bundle of other goodies that i sent her finally arrived in the land of Aus and Amy said all the right things and wooed more than enough, so hopefully i got away with it this time. nerve-wracking stuff tho sewing for one of your heroes.

march saw edition 2 of Blueberry Park Fabric Club. i can't tell you how much i love the Club. i love picking the fabrics and deciding which prints to use and designing projects for the members to try. i love folding the little pieces of fabric and putting them into neat piles! but most of all i love the feedback from the members themselves (thank you members x) and seeing the delightful posts of things people make with my fabrics. i seriously never tire of that.

for those that don't know about the club, i produce a collection ever other month, which gives me just enough time to order fabric, print it up, design projects and send it out. 

the next month is early May (2 pics above give a taste of what's to come) which means i am now finalising numbers and doing the above. if you would like to know more about it and sign up for the next edition go right here. there are a choice of size bundles...start small with a charm size to try it out...and have fun creating with my hand printed fabrics. 

sign ups for this month finish on april 2, unless of course i print up too many, in which case you have plenty of time!

so that was march. april is already looking chocker with projects and commissions on the To Do List and several exciting things I'm working on too. 

I'll be back sooner rather than later to tell you all about that. 

x