I have been having a little fun playing around with a few things this week all in the name of "product design and development". That makes it sound much more important than "having a play and see what happens".

A few weeks ago I started experimenting with 2 colour prints, the results of which were the orange and grey below.

I loved the effect but knew that the 2 colours I had picked were too bold together. I hadn't really planned to use these 2 colours together...it was a result of the newsprint testing pieces for the colours I happened to be using at the time and I was merely overlaying on a whim.

It did make me discover however that there was potential for a 2 colour print with my designs, particular with the stripe and scruffy daisy.

Again inspiration triggered by my old newsprint tester sheets, I set to print in pale blue and turquoise and here are the results below...

...and I'm really rather pleased with it!

Is it wrong to be excited by ones own work? It has such a fresh summery (ha!...there's that strange word again) feel to it and think it would work on so many things. I'm planning on making some pretty summery wash-bags to start with and also incorporate into a quilt I'm doing. I printed up a few to start with, so if you want to grab a piece go here.

I'm planning to try it in a light pink/dark pink combo so watch out for that.

My other "product design and development" this week involved printing onto some Quilter's Linen swatches I had received with the view to creating my winter (that's more familiar...) range. It's hard to get a feel for how a fabric is going to look when it is printed on so doing it this way is great.

Quilter's linen is really lovely. It is 100% cotton but has a look of linen due to it's texture markings. I find linen to sometimes be a little stretchy so this is a perfect alternative as it looks great and sews up beautifully.

I now have rather big decisions to be made as actually I like how so many of them have turned out. So a little help please...which colours would you like to see in the collection??

It's a 3 day weekend in the UK this weekend.

That's cause for celebration don't you think?

It doesn't look like we are going to be celebrating too much on the weather front, which quite honestly for my eldest off on a 2 day Duke of Edinburgh Expedition, isn't the greatest news.

In an attempt to have something to celebrate, I'm offering 3 for 2 on my screen printed fabrics until the end of the Bank Holiday on Monday.

And if that isn't cause to celebrate, quite frankly I don't know what is.

I'm under no illusions that this may not soften the blow for Sam, but hey, if we're happy, right?

Have a great weekend however you may be spending it.

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!

I just love printing at home!

Sorry have I said that before?

I had a few Euro wash bags on order that needed printing up, so while I was at it and whilst my printing space is virtually outdoors, it seemed a good idea to have a play around and print a few more things.

Do you like my new World Class Shopper?!

I printed the Euro Sites onto the totes first, let them have a bask in the sunshine and minutes later they were dry and ready for my paper cut stencil "world class shopping" to be printed on.

This is officially my first 2 colour print!

Cheating a little I know as there is no alignment involved, but hey, there are 2 colours, there's no smudging and it's complete!

Screen printing in the sunshine is even more of a blast - super quick drying times so time to quickly print up Framed Flowers onto totes too.

They are dried, heat set and up in the shop now...

I think I'll be playing in the sun a bit more tomorrow too...and all week by the looks of the weather forecast here in ol' Blighty!

I am utterly in love with the light at this time of year.

Opening the front door and seeing the hazy spring sunshine after long dark winter days makes me very happy.

I think it is this spring haze that was responsible for my latest printing.

Some of that pale pinky glow must have worked its way into my sub-conscience and when ordering new paints this week, pale pink appeared on the order form.

Who'd have thought?

So here we have Framed Flower and Triangle Mania in Pale Pink.

They say everything I've been feeling this week seeing this sunshine.

If you're feeling all hazy and pinky glowy go right here to grab yourself some...

Maybe it's because I am sad - I like to think of it as being easily pleased - but these images make me very, very happy.

I mean, we have sunshine...

we have screen printed fabric blowing in the breeze...

...all done from the comfort of my own home...

...as I said, sad, but very happy.

Fabric has taken on a whole new meaning since I have been screen printing.

I'm trying to steer away from all the beautiful patterns that once sucked me in and spat my bank cards out. I'm obviously working towards using mostly my fabrics. There is however always a need for all sorts of fabrics, so I'm in little doubt that my shopping days are over...just possibly curbed at the moment.

One thing I am in need of is good base fabrics...good textured, varying coloured fabrics that will work well in taking the ink, as well as being the right weight for different projects.

I have quite a thing for organic fabrics too, so when Rachel announced arrival of all her different organic fabrics, i was pretty sure I'd find some that would work for screen printing.

It's obviously hard to tell by just looking at them. How they take the ink is one of the important factors. So armed with my swatches today, I spray mounted them onto paper and set out to print.

It's quite interesting to see how the different fabrics take the ink and the different colours too. I used a dark ink because if they work well with this then they are going to work well with any.

As well as the coloured fabrics, I tried a good range of white ones. I'm going to need a real good look at these to narrow down my choices, but I was really pleased how they worked out and am pretty sure I have found some good dependable base fabrics for screen printing.

And organic too...

Forgive me for harping on about screen printing as much as I am.

It's partly because I am so loving it and partly as my own diary and record of what I am printing and where my journey is going.

My journey is moving at quite a pace and if I don't keep a note of it then, like anything, it's so easy to forget how it has been developing.

Today I went into the workshop for 4 hours - 4 whole fantastic productive hours. I produced so much stuff today and just about all of it I'm very excited about.

I experimented with some new card designs - more about those another day - and I also worked on a new stitch design, as well as trying out Framed Flowers in different colours, all with the idea of turning into napkins.

What do you reckon?

I have to say, I'm loving this green ink. It's so zingy and fresh. At the moment there isn't a place that is calling out for green in this house, but I'm racking my brains as to where it might fit in, because I sure do have to have me some.

Tonight I will mostly be sewing up some of each into napkins...can't wait to see how they will turn out.