glazed

Hoorah! After a long wait I finally got a phone call the other day to say my glazed ceramic pieces had been fired. (I can't wait till I have my own kiln wired in so I don't have to wait so long for firings, but its also nice to know my pieces are in safe hands being fired by the nice people at Pottery Supplies.)

Its so exciting and nerve wracking driving out to see how they had fared!

These are the first pots I've made completely at home and fired twice to completion. 

There are a million options for decoration in ceramics which is one of the really inspiring things about it. I've been trying to experiment with different techniques and materials. I've been a bit like a kid in a candy shop.

I've posted some before and after shots for those who are interested. Previous blog posts tell more of the history and show photos of my ceramics journey so far if you're interested, like this one and this one and this one. Looking back I see some of these pieces were thrown back in March. Sigh. It feels like that long.

I'm still a newbie. Its only been about six months that I've been making with clay. These pieces were the first I made with my new/old wheel way back when. Hopefully I am slowly learning more and improving slowly.

Oh, and can I ask a favour, if you have time can you leave a comment and tell me which piece or pieces you like. I'm so interested to know which shapes/designs/colours you like. Including any I haven't shown here, I have a limited palette of underglazes but hope to keep expanding my collection.
I'd like to make more pots and maybe offer some for sale down the track, so it would be great to hear from you guys who have such great ideas.

Thanks :-)

muted

I promised exciting making news last week, and here it is - I bought a kiln! 

I've been stalking Ebay for ages now, waiting to find a secondhand kiln that didn't cost very much and could work on domestic power. I love the idea of being able to experiment at home with my ceramics, which is why I accidentally got that pottery wheel too.

The less exciting news is that it will take time to get our wiring adjusted and put in a dedicated circuit so that I can finally plug the kiln in. So in the meantime I will still have to fire my work at the local ceramics shop which means a long drive and a wait until they have a full load for firing.

That first batch of bisque pieces have had their final glaze applied and gone back for a last firing. Luckily batch two, the newer pieces that just needed bisque firing came back in a few days.

For those of you that don't know, bisque firing is the preliminary firing that sets the clay hard. A second, hotter glaze firing is needed to really set the clay and the glazes and give the piece its finish. So its quite a looong process. Hopefully it will all be quicker when I have a working kiln and hopefully I can show some finished pieces soon!

I made up some rough test tiles to use in my kiln when its ready, for a first test firing. These sample my stock of underglazes (I got a few colours for mothers day!) at different strengths and with different finishes.

Actually I quite like these as little pendants or decorative tiles. I must make some more.

Recently I also caught up with the ABCD social girls at the Etsy Craft party. We had fun gossiping while we embroidered and modified old photos. Its always fun to see everyone, craft people are nice people, so if you are local and haven't been I recommend it. Its always nice to be among like minded craft addicts!

scatter bricks

I got the idea for this fabric design one afternoon while cutting orders of my ever popular Bricks print fabric. I imagined a pattern depicting that ever familiar scatter of Lego bricks across the floor. A graphic pattern made up of all the wonderful different colours and sizes of bricks just waiting to be stepped on! I'm sure most families are very familiar with this scene, and many mothers have a lot of experience picking up all those scattered bricks!

I loved the idea of having a coordinating print for my existing Bricks fabrics and can see myself using the different prints together for contrast, as I already do with my different scale Bricks fabrics.

The design came together really quickly just as I imagined it, and I am delighted to see how well it translates to fabric on this crisp white 100% Kona cotton. Graphic and colourful.

I only have a couple of yards of this print for now, a sample size helping! So if you want some of this design to sew with, something for your Lego Lovers or yourself get in quick. Maybe a pencil case, a pillowcase or a cushion cover, get in quick. I'll be keeping a smidgeon to play with myself. I have a little project idea that has been on the drawing board way too long!

The fat quarters are here or email me for other sizes.

As you can see the Scatter Bricks mixes and matches perfectly with the other prints which are all in stock now.

I am hearing great things about the Lego Movie and it is on our school holiday list. Have you seen it? Check out my lego love pinterest board for more Lego mania.

tool kit print

If you are a long time reader you may remember this design which I first made as a t-shirt design.

Its always been a favourite of mine, I love the bright primary colours, and I'm not too sure why it has taken so long for me to make it into a print. Here it is at last, and I'm so pleased with how beautifully it has printed on the wonderful specialised thick matte card I use for my prints.

The primary colour scheme of blue and red and yellow would look great on a little boy's wall, or girl's. Especially those junior Bob the Builders amongst us!

As you can see I'm also offering personalisation of the print for a special custom gift, some special nursery art for a new baby perhaps?! I think they would make a lovely birthday or christmas gift too. Contact me if you have any requests for that wrench toting youngster in your life.

In the shop now!

I've also uploaded this design to my Flower Press shop on Society 6. You may remember last year I ordered a range of products and I was so pleased and impressed with the quality. Even better I ordered with one of their regular free shipping offers, so the prices were great!
So if you want a tool kit phone case, tote, cushion or canvas head over there.

stitched blooms blog tour and giveaway!

I am really excited to be today's stop on Carina's blog tour for her wonderful new embroidery book Stitched Blooms!

I met Carina Envoldsen-Harris back in 2008, just six months into this blogging lark! We both joined up to a handprinted swatch swap on Jesse's blog, exchanged handprinted swatches and have been friends ever since.

Since then we have stayed in touch and continued to cheer each other on in all our crafty pursuits, despite the many miles between us - she lives in the UK and I'm in Australia.

Carina is talented in more than a few areas, but I've always especially admired her original embroidery and her distinctive colour sense. Carina's unique embroidery designs are somehow both modern and traditional, and showcase her Scandinavian roots. 

I posted way back in 2009 about my love for embroidery (and featured Carina's work amongst others in that post) and have a jampacked embroidery board on my pinterest page, but somehow I've never really got that far at doing some myself!

So not only is it a real honour to share this book with you, it has also been just the nudge I needed to really make a start at embroidering, to make a finished project.

Stitched Blooms is the perfect book to take you from early baby steps to more complex designs. It's very accessible and the great thing is that Carina gives you not only detailed instructions for some wonderful projects in the book, but also provides an extra 237 motifs on CD, for you to mix and match, size up and down depending on your project. All those lovely blooms to inspire!

To practice I started with two of these motifs, lovely leaf patterns, which I sized and positioned together. I used back stitch to outline these and found quickly I love the meditation of the stitching, its one of those perfect projects that you can do with half an eye while life spins around you.

Gaining confidence from my little leaves, but resolving to make my stitches smaller and more consistent, I moved on to the simple Pom-Pom Luminarie project from the book. Luckily I had all the embroidery threads and some white cotton fabric in my stash. Sadly no pompom trim (must change that!) but I used this cute mini rickrack I've been saving. It fits my little jar of quilting pins perfectly and looks so cute on the shelf. Switch it for a little battery tea light and you have a beautiful light source.

I love that embroidery is so quick and easy and inexpensive, yet it gives items a really unique and handmade quality which would be perfect for gifting. I'll definitely be doing more, in fact I'm starting to see the world in embroidery patterns this week. I can't wait to experiment, and try my hand at some other projects from the book. I can see some hand stitched Christmas presents in my future.

Carina's colours are always distinctive - clean and bright, without being overwhelming. I was so pleased to see the section on colour in the book where she explains colour theory in simple and interesting terms. Even better - for today's giveaway you get the chance to win a set of seven embroidery flosses in one of her beautiful colour palettes.

All you have to do to win is leave a comment below, international entries welcome. If you have time I'd love to know if you have embroidered before or whether you're a newbie or wannabee like me! I'll leave it open till Wednesday next week. Please leave a contact email address in your entry.

And if you have been wanting to get into embroidery, but something has always stopped you, this book could be the spark to start you on those first baby steps to making handsewn items to keep or give away. Hmmm, I'm just thinkin how sweet one of Carina's stitched blooms would look on a little white onesie for a new baby!

p.s. So happy my spotty fabric makes a little appearance in Carina's sewing pouch project above!

playing around

On an impulse a few weeks ago I joined up for the Lilla Rogers Global Talent Search. One of the attractions was the chance to receive a professional illustration brief and have it judged by a range of amazing judges. The brief was a vintage playground image for a journal cover.

Time has been a bit scarce since I signed up, so it took a bit of a mad scramble to get an entry ready to submit. I'm glad I made the effort though, I taught myself some new Illustrator techniques and it was fun to get my illustration brain working again. Here are a couple of snippets of the final design.

Did anyone else enter? I notice the facebook group has 2300 likers, so I'm figuring I'm not alone!

basecloth

Did I tell you my ambition this year is to make more fabric!!

I want to design and produce more Flower Press fabric designs. In particular I want to screenprint more designs, and if I've been a bit absent, a bit distracted that's why. I've been working behind the scenes to make this happen.

As you know from my recent Sewing with Flower Press post I get a big kick out of seeing what people make with my fabric. Up till now that has mostly meant digital quilting cottons. I love the way with digital I can create multicolour quilting fabrics like my Bricks and Marble prints and print them on quality Kona cotton. What fun! With digital design you can do anything - if you want to combine a hundred colours into one design you can. Swatch or yardage? No problem. Its a designer's dream.

Screenprinted fabric comes with more design limitations. There's more preparation in producing it. But handprinted fabric has its own quality which make us love it. Personally I love the vibrancy and texture and the graphic quality of screenprinting. I love the feel of it, the strong printed designs and the way they sit on the basecloth.

To me basecloth is all important to screenprinted textiles so part of my journey towards producing more has been finding the perfect basecloths. 

I'm always on the lookout for good fabric, and over the years have amassed samples from all over the place. My first criteria is they must be natural fibres which narrows the search to linen, cotton and hemp.

I love 100% linen for tea towels, its hard wearing qualities and substantial feel make this sustainable fibre a star.

For fabric panels that are going to be sewn I prefer linen/cotton blends to straight linen. I think they combine the great strength and character of linen with the better drape and usability of cotton. I find them easier to iron and a finer texture.

Cotton in all its guises is another favourite. There's something about the feel of freshly laundered cotton, its strength and durability and ease of care that make this versatile fabric so very popular. No wonder that quilts are made almost exclusively with cotton.

I was so happy when I sourced the perfect white cotton fabric recently. I love the weight and drape and feel of it. I also found some fabulous coloured cottons to play around with. I can't wait to print some of these neutrals.

And lastly, hemp is a new fibre to me. While I've seen this fabric around I hadn't had much to do with it up close until recently when I got some unused yardage when buying some secondhand screens. 

Wow, I was really impressed. Its a really nice fibre and it has a real radiance to it. It sort of glows. Its also smooth and strong and has great eco credentials. I snapped up a big batch of different weight hemp fabrics a couple of months ago when a local wholesaler had a sale, some of it a hemp/organic cotton mix. This will be fun to print on too.

As for the printing, I'm getting there. It is taking a while to get my setup perfect. The good news is that with my such a great range of fabrics bought I am a few steps closer to my goal. Expect some scrap packs made up of test prints to go up soon. I'm a big fan of the scrap pack myself (remind me to show you my collection some time!) so it will be fun to share some of my own.

p.s. yes, I know, I've messed up my blog template recently experimenting with tabs! I need to restore my saved template but life has been too busy. Time for a complete overhaul methinks!

Bloom cheater quilt fabrics

A million years ago now I designed a Cheater print for a Spoonflower competition. I was delighted when the resulting Bloom Cheater Quilt design made the top ten. Since then though it has sat in my Spoonflower design library, getting no no attention from me, but prompting quite regular emails asking me to release it for sale.

I love the idea of a cheater print, for the less quiltily inclined of us. This one was made with great care and I had such fun designing each of the repeats which go into it. A couple of these I have printed - Chicken Spots and Bloom, both of which are favourites in my stash. Such clean crisp girl patterns that aren't too pink, for me the colour palette is another success of this design.

Anyway, at last, after a few tweaks to the repeat, I am proud to say the Bloom Cheater panels are (finally) for sale in my Spoonflower shop. The repeat is designed to sit perfectly across the generous 42 inch width of the cotton quilting fabrics. A yard would make a lovely baby size quilt. I love the Kona cotton for its weight and quality, but the basic cotton is a nice fabric too. Match it with some yardage of the coordinating prints and you have a quick and easy baby project.

There are some other of my prints available in the shop too so why not visit.

pattern friday - weave

Thanks to all you lovelies who commented yesterday and wished me well in my new craft workshops. How lucky I am to have all of you to cheer me on! Very lucky.

I was reading Melissa's tiny happy blog today and she posted a beautiful pattern, I do love her work! And she intends to post one each week for 'pattern friday'.

What lovely inspiration to make and share more patterns. I'm inspired and I'm going to try playing along. I have quite a few patterns tucked away that I've been working on and haven't done anything with yet. I see patterns everywhere and often sketch them up while they're still fresh in my mind. I'm going to share some of those here. And the new ones that come to me too, in fact I was making one just today!

And I'm going to share some colour inspiration with them too.

To start with here's one I prepared earlier! I call it Weave. I have such a fascination with simple geometric repeats and tiled patterns, and while this is a simple one I love how graphic it is. It's a design I made intending one day to print it using the stencil screenprint technique I shared in this tutorial. In fact it would be a good one for Leslie's handprinted swap.

Are you swapping? This is my third time and while its alway a challenge I find it so inspiring!

Happy Weekend everyone, I hope you have a good one planned. Mine will be quiet, and I can't wait! And next week there's a new Show & Tell on Tuesday so I'll see you back here then.