Blogger's Quilt Festival 2013...

 it's that time of year again.

the time when Amy inspires us all by running the blogger's quilt festival and when i get to catch up on all the amazing quilting that has been going on around blogland.

i love taking part in the festival, not because i have any delusions of winning, but to be a part of it.

to be honest i wasn't really sure which quilt to enter and then i realised i was actually impeded by the fact that this year i have started many quilts and finished very few so it was  more a case of what i actually could enter.

i have decided to enter my elephants love water in the baby quilt category.

as soon as i saw this fabric at the beginning of the year i knew i had to quilt something out of it (i am having the same feeling about the talented duo's new collection).

it is one of those collections that speaks volumes by itself s doesn't really need too much complicated piecing to make it look good.

i decided to make a wonky windmill kinda block pairing the umbrella prints with coordinating kona solids. i backed it in a simple solid red, again less was more.

i didn't have the right fabric in my stash for the binding. nothing was singing to me when i held fabrics up against the quilt top so it was down to the cellar to print a stripe.

perfect!

it is a simple quilt. it is a small quilt but i absolutely loved working with the umbrella prints fabric and was delighted when a reader loved it so much that they wanted to buy it. i wasn't so pleased to part with it, so i guess i will just have to purchase some floating world and make a substitution.

thanks for stopping by and don't forget to check out what else is going on at the festival. x

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.

countdown...

I am 10 days away from having a stand at my biggest fair to date...and I am bricking it!

I have absolutely no idea what to expect.

In just 10 days Blueberry Park will be at Country Living Christmas Fair, which is in Harrogate for the first time. 

This is the first time too that I will have done a retail event that consists of more than just a table top display.

I have a stand that is 3m x1m, no great shakes in CL terms but since I normally have a single 1.5m at most table, this is one hellava space to fill.

In an attempt to make it as eye-catching as possible, both in decor and items to sell and have some more larger "in your face" pieces I have designed my Pompom Cushion range of Gerry and Steve, to hopefully catch people's attention as they sidle by.

I am also aware that people will be after little stocking fillers and little extras while they are at it, so have also come up with another new item - a trio of xmas tree decos, screen printed on warm fluffy felt.

I am still none-the-wiser how I am going to display everything and still have a vast amount of stock still to make, but hopefully I am there in terms of which items I am going to take.

And to be quite honest with just over a week to go, let's hope so!

If you live in the vicinity and fancy a little excursion, the fair runs from Thursday November 29 until Sunday December 1. I am on stand C60 and would love to see you there!

ps don't forget about the fab Green Bee Pattern giveaway from The Village Haberdashery that I am running until next Weds...enter before it's too late!

As you have seen from all the printing I have been doing recently for BCTF last week, there has been a lot of new work going on. Most of it was for actual items, but some has been for a couple of new kits I've been developing.

I have 2 new kits that I launched last week - 'Gerry' and 'Steve'. Who's Steve you may ask? Well, he's an elephant of course. (A very good friend of mine put me straight on the over obviousness of Ellie the Elephant. Steve was the next natural choice...) And Gerry? Well, he's so a 'Gerry'.

That aside, Gerry and Steve went down a storm at BCTF and they are now wending their way across the country from Lavender Lakes up in the North, down to Hawthorn Gallery down in Dorset.

I'm just waiting for the new labelling for these kits to be back from the printers. I just love how they are looking though. And that side is all thanks to my brilliantly talented designer friend who is the brains behind all my Kit labelling.

I'm very excited about these kits and already have plans for similar ones that hopefully I'll have time to develop very soon.

Off to sunnier climes

Thanks to the lovely Christina and the Giveaway she hosted, this little guy is off to LA. Well done to Janelle and hope you'll both be very happy :-)

A very big thank you to Christina for hosting the Giveaway and an even bigger thank you to all of you for taking the time to enter AND for all the amazing things you have said.

And if you didn't win and you meant what you said, you can always buy one from here :-)

Cushion Developments

It's been half-term this week, which is always a juggling act between doing work thet must be done, work that I'd like to get done and looking after and being with the children. Basically, nothing really gets done on any of the scores and if we get through the week all still friends then it's been a successful one.

Today was penned in to be a definite work day. Matthew has taken the day off and taken the children to Newby Hall, which is one of their favourite places. If only I'd clicked on the website today to check directions, openning times, anything, I would have seen they were having a Craft & Food Fair today. How could I miss that??

So, I'm back home and they are off in the sunshine. The least I can do is make sure it is a productive one.
I haven't done much work this week, but what I have done is finish the 3 boys' cushions. What do you think? They are going to be for sale as is, but also be available in a kit form for you to have a go yourself. All contents (except pad) and instructions to make exactly what you see. What d'ya reckon? Fancy having a go?

I can't decide which is my favourite. I'm quite partial to the Giraffe. He's rather cute.

I really must tackle my To Do list now, but next week I'll be cracking on with making the girls' versions. They are all ready in my head, just have to have the time to get them done.

Elephantum

It appears that the cushion obsession has lasted another day. I had in my head what I wanted to do for a children's range and for once what has been produced is exactly what I had envisaged. I wanted to use simple imagery and colours. After all this is a children's range. I didn't want it to get over-powering and busy.

I'm very into my linen at the moment (in case you hadn't noticed) and wanted to incorporate the freshness of that. I am producing 3 boys designs and 3 for the girls, all coordinating with each other for those that feel 1 is just not enough. There will also be 2 or 3 colourways within the series. After all, we all like a choice.

Another thing I am loving at the moment is this rectangular shape. It really lends itself to a bit more detail. As does the stitching, that also seems to feature quite heavily in what I am doing at the moment.

Hopefully I'll have the full range to show you very soon.

Visitors

We've had some new visitors to Blueberry Park today. As much as we love them, we hope they are only temporary because it means you love them too :-)

Clever Alice, from Alice Apple makes these fabulous Sausage Dogs and Elephants. She always gives me a choice of the most amazing fabrics from which to choose. It's so difficult because they are all gorgeous. In the end I just give her an idea of the ones I like and I know that whatever she chooses will be great.

We've added a new little missy to the collection and she is just so sweet. I think I've already lost one to Ruby.

Taken over

We've had a big arrival in the office this week...

It feels a bit like we are being taken over...

And then there were more...

I for one am very excited about these new additions. The very clever Alice, from Alice Apple, has created these gorgeous creatures that we are delighted to have at Blueberry Park. They aren't quite available online yet (they will be soon). Until then, please feel free to get in touch to reserve your personal favourite now.

New cards

I've been busily creating new children's card designs. I had a request for some for wholesale and they wanted more designs than I currently do. So thinking cap on and I've come up with these...

And then off course I had to come up with some for the boys...

And then these little fellas were itching to be released...

I'm hoping to come up with an even bigger range and take them 'out there'. I'm not sure if my confidence is up to that, though. Every time someone makes an enquiry about them and then actually orders, I can't quite believe that they are taking my 'hobby' out there into the serious world of retail. Maybe I'll just sit back and wait for people to contact me. Or just maybe, I might go forth and be proactive. We shall see. In the meantime, all will be available to buy here and here, just as soon as I have time to post them