show & tell - leslie keating

I first came to Leslie Keating's work through her beautiful scrappy quilts a few years ago. She has a great eye for putting fabrics together and I love her often eclectic mixes and the random piecing style she uses. They are still some of my favourite quilts.

I started following her blog (formerly onegirl but now maze and vale) way back then and have followed it avidly ever since. Leslie loves fabric and it shows. Her creative experiments over that time have included many forms of printing, dying and sewing with fabrics. She is also well known for her beautiful soft toy designs, the much loved Oobees and Fleurs.

On top of that she's run two handprinted fabric swaps in the last year or so that have motivated loads of people to print their own fabric, inspiring them to try out techniques and designs on material and swap them with new friends around the world. I've joined up both times, and both times I've loved playing with a block printing technique that I might not have tried without her motivation. Her swaps gave me the incentive to put ink to fabric and have given me some favourite patterns, and I was gifted with many beautiful handmade fabrics in return.

Generous with her process, Leslie shares a lot about her experiments, her equipment which is often inexpensive and homemade, and her methods. Her blog and pinterest is full of handprinting inspiration and technique.

Leslie changed directions creatively a bit last year, her blog and business became Maze and Vale to reflect this new venture, screenprinting her own fabrics in small sruns. Since then she has been producing beautiful and distinctive prints in favourite colours in her small home studio.

Read on to find out what she's going to do next! Thank you Leslie for being part of Show & Tell today.

Name
Leslie Keating
Location
Melbourne, Australia
Blog
http://www.lesliekeating.com
Shops
http://www.etsy.com/shop/mazeandvale
Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lesliekeating
Instagram
lesliekeating
Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/mazeandvale
Pinterest
http://pinterest.com/lesliekeating

1. Can you give us a short description of your blog/style/work
I'll tackle my blog in the second question and focus on the style/work part here: I'm a graphic designer turned textile designer, avid sewer and mother of two little girls. I'm drawn to muted colours, interesting angles, asymmetry, disarray in patterns, simplifying the most compelling forms of nature and screen printing it all by hand in my wee tiny studio (ahem, the third bedroom).

2. Why blog? How did you start?
I started my blog when I first moved to Melbourne in 2005. It was great to let my family and friends back home in Canada know what I was up and turned out to be a brilliant way to meet people in a new city. I've gone through varying stages with it over the years, where my writing is more personal than others and lately it is mostly about my creative pursuits. There are oh-so many things I want to actually write about, I compose meaningful blog posts in my head daily but entertaining a 2 and 4 year old all day takes it toll on my brain power and usually by the time they go to bed, I can barely string a sentence together, let alone find the energy to type it out. I find the time to share what I'm designing and printing to help build my little hand printed fabric business, Maze & Vale, and just hope that some magical day I'll find the way to string all those other sentences together.

3. Family taught/Self-taught/Trained?
My mom sewed a ton when I was young, making most of my clothes, halloween costumes, Christmas stockings, etc but I would say I'm basically self taught. I was too stubborn to learn from my mother and thought Home Ec was pretty boring in junior high. I used my mom's sewing machine a bit in my teens to hem jeans and turn pj bottoms into shorts (ah, the grunge years) but it wasn't until I moved to Melbourne and bought my own machine that I really started figuring it all out. As for printing, I studied Graphic Design & Illustration in college and did a short and very impractical screen printing course right after I graduated. It was fairly technical and didn't use any materials/equipment that you could easily use at home and so all these years later I taught myself how to do that, too. There are so many amazing books available and clear video tutorials online, I seriously believe you could teach yourself anything you could ever want to learn.

4. Workspace - studio or kitchen table?
I use a spare bedroom as my studio and luckily have a carpenter husband who can outfit it to suit my needs. He's made me a huge tabletop for printing and a narrow desk for sewing (I can always move my sewing machine to my printing table when I need to do quilts or other large projects) and built an amazing amount of storage shelving into the closet.

5. Blog/Shop name, where does it come from?
Maze & Vale is my oldest daughter's nickname and my youngest daughter's middle name.

6. Favourite media to work in?
Can I just say fabric? I loooooooooove fabric. LOVE. Always have really. Sewing is the first craft (and I've done/tried pretty much all of them) that I've been inspired to keep learning and continue to be thrilled by, because it lets me work with fabric and create things that are both beautiful and useful. And now that I can design and print my own textiles, in whatever colours I want, I'm pretty much in heaven.

7. Ambitions/future directions/future projects/medium you'd like to try?
I'd like to get back into making custom quilts, improvisational and unique, using mainly my own fabric. I have dreams about designing a commercial fabric line with Kokka, Yuwa or Cloud 9. I'd love to do some collaborations with quilters and designers that I admire and someday I'll dream up an idea for an exhibition and try to get that happening. For the next couple of years I'm going to stay small and enjoy hanging out with my two kids, printing when time allows and sewing in the evenings.

8. Are you neat and organised or, ahem, creatively messy?
Hmmm, maybe both? When I'm working to a deadline or on a large project, I am messy. I throw scraps of fabric and thread on the floor, make piles of stuff everywhere, shove things on shelves or into boxes, wherever they will fit. But I regularly tidy and organise my studio, especially if I'm about to start something new. I like to know where to find things and remind myself of supplies I'd forgotten I had, projects I'd forgotten I started. I get super inspired when my studio is neat and tidy, all set to get messy again.

9. Favourite handmade, handcrafted item you own not made by you.
Oh man, I have so many... I'll pick three that stand out: a small, dark grey rake vase, resembling a wasp's nest, that a dear friend brought me from Japan, an amazingly beautifully made doll from Sara of A Little Sprout that I purchased while pregnant with my first daughter and more recently, the stunning simplicity of the pod vase and mug from Melbourne local, Shiko.

10. Favourite food/recipe?
It's a bit boring but truly, popcorn. Tried and true, I will choose homemade popcorn over almost anything. I make it on the stovetop with rice bran oil and cracked rock salt and it is AMAZING.

11. Favourite colour?
Grey has been a long time favourite but a muted, smokey teal would be a close second these days. A quick look at my colour board on Pinterest reveals many examples of each!

12. Star sign?
Scorpio. Yep.

13. Favourite place, landscape (not necessarily Australian)?
I have a special connection with Vancouver and always feel immediately at home there. Something in the air, maybe. I enjoyed every minute of the two years I lived there, near Commercial Drive and then right in the West End with great restaurants and shopping, Granville Island, Stanley Park, the beach, the seawall and pretty much anything else you could ever wish for just a hop, skip and a jump away. The whole city, made up of all its varied neighbourhoods, is just amazing, I think plus I met my Aussie husband there so its got a million great memories tied to it.

14. Any tricks for juggling life/work/family with creative pursuits?
Having my own space is hugely important, I think. Being able to just shut the studio door and then go back to what I was working on, untouched, when I have the time. Right now I keep my Maze & Vale work pretty separate from its namesakes. Aside from trips to the post office and checking my email while they eat lunch, when I'm with my kids, I like to be focussed on them. As they get older I hope to involve them more in my creative life, if they're interested. I have daydreams of the girls hanging out in my future, larger, outside-of-the-house studio, doing their own printing or sewing or homework while I do my thing.

15. Favourite artists, artisans, crafters etc?
Again, there are so many... here are the ones that popped into my head first: Ink & Spindle, Skinny Laminx, Leah Duncan, Naomi Ito, Cloth.

16. Your favourite thing you've made/written/done.
Probably the quilt we use in our living room. The front is pieced with different shades of grey, using cloth that I hand dyed, and it's really heavily quilted. I think the quilting alone took me about nine hours but the texture is so beautiful.

17. What do you like to do besides creating?
I'm a huge treasure hunter so I love op shops and those antique warehouse type of places but it also extends into nature. Be it the beach or a walk through the forest, I just can't help coming home with pockets of beauty - shells, feathers, stones, seedpods, leaves… Sometimes if I have my camera, it's enough to just capture the treasures that way instead. I've always loved photography and that has only expanded since having my kids, documenting them as they grow is so important to me.

handprinted swap II

I loved Leslie's second handprinted fabric swap as much as the first, and I'm sure if and when she does it next time I'll put my hand up again!

Swaps are so inspiring. If you've never done one they take you out of your comfort zone a bit the first time but make you produce good, careful and creative work to deadline, which is always good, and often make you experiment with mediums and techniques you've never tried, as it did with my pincushion, brooch and handprint I swaps.

This time was no different and I had lots of fun with my blockprinted design again, (tutorial here) but even better I got to send pieces off to other swappers both near and far and received treasures in the mail in return.

A million thanks to my fellow swappers Rebecca, Anna, Jane and Sheila, and thanks to Leslie for organising. I've provided their blog links along with pictures of their beautiful fabrics below.

Rebecca Dunn

Anna Harlan

Jane Kohlenstein

Sheila Mathies

I'm hoping to pop in over the weekend, but if time gets away from me don't forget to come back Tuesday for this month's Show & Tell! You may not all know the blogger I'm featuring this month but I'm sure you will love her work and her blog.

2011

Looking back at 2011 I'm quite surprised to see all I crammed into the year! Big achievements included organising a huge swap, designing loads of new fabrics, knitting a cardigan, some fun tutorials, some new recipes, joining the pinterest and instagram communities and being part of a couple of inspiring swaps.

This was the year I hosted the Big Brooch Swap, an idea that had been percolating in my mind for a while. It was fun, it was exhausting and it was inspiring! I met lots of new, wonderful makers (88 swappers in all) and got to experiment with the medium of brooch making for the first time, sewing my little blue wren brooch.

Project Selvage inspired me to design my Marble fabric and my Lego Bricks prints followed. Both have proved wonderfully popular. 2011 also saw me selling these full colour fabric designs for the first time which was great fun. I can't wait to see what you've all been sewing with the fabrics. I'll share them here soon. Here's to even more designs in 2012 including some more screenprinted fabrics.

I got round to block printing with foam and perspex, one of last year's resolutions as part of one of the three swaps I joined (Leslie's great handprinted fabric swap). That's three if you include Cam's Hottie Challenge which wasn't strictly a swap but raised money and brought attention to a great cause. Another wonderful example of this great blogging community coming together to do great things.

I featured another ten wonderful bloggers in my Show & Tell series. I so love highlighting and celebrating our amazing local blogging community with this feature, and I've made some lovely friends through it too, so this will definitely be back in 2012!

I knitted a whole cardigan, an actual knitted garment, which has been a dream of mine for a good while. I haven't knitted much since then (I seem to only be able to cold weather knit?) but my Ravelry wishlist is long so as soon as the weather cools... Also I'm a bit inspired to learn how to crochet at long last so that might be on the 2012 to do list.

I shared my paper pots and pillowcase tutorials this year (see sidebar links). Its been great seeing people share and use these tutes and I'm inspired to make more. Both have been popular on Pinterest where I have been hanging out a bit this year. I'm a bit addicted to my new iPhone and Instagram too and neglecting my SLR. And Flower Press finally got a Facebook page too!

We arrived home today and have a couple of days to unpack and repack (and collapse) before we join the other side of the family for our annual campfest on the Central Coast. But first tomorrow night we have tickets to opening night for Circus Oz and will be catching up with lovely Melbourne friends who are up for that. Can't wait.

I'm starting to slow down and feel inspired again, I always need this break to recharge. I'm slowly starting to think ahead to this new year and make plans... but that's another post! Happy New Year lovelies. Hope you're having fun and rest and frivolity!!

my creative space - gift bags

A bloggy friend emailled me last time I showed my treasure bags to ask if she could order a couple. I was delighted to help out and while I was at it I couldn't resist whipping up a couple extra. I'm not the fastest sewer and have limited stocks of these fabrics, so if you are interested in buying one email me quick and tell me your preference (email in my profile top left). The small blue marbles are spoken for. Just the polka dots left folks :-)

I have a couple more bags to finish which are going to be slightly larger, sewing one from an offcut of my handprint swap, my Starry design.

First a trip to Spotlight is on the cards so I can buy some more calico to line them and some nice cord to secure the rest. Always good to have an excuse to wander the haberdashery aisle!

p.s. I'm still working on that promised tutorial for the foam stamping from last week, I just need some time to take some photos, and maybe print some more fabric while I'm about it.

More crafty types at our creative space.

starry

For the handprinted fabric swap I wanted to use this technique that I saw originally on the Home Sweet blog and through some posts of Jesse's. It involves cutting shapes from sticky foam sheets and attaching them to perspex sheets to block print. The perspex enables you to see through to the fabric for accurate alignment when you move the block. And the sheets give a lovely flat surface for printing, which amazingly stands out from the background material even though its only millimetres thick.

I've cut some shapes out before but not got around to printing. Its quite hard to cut them smoothly with scissors and I'm not adept with a blade. In the back of my mind I've been imagining designs and then the other day this quilt of Sarah's really jumped out at me. I love this graphic star. Obsessed as I am with pattern I straight away started wondering how it would repeat and went into Illustrator to play around. Five minutes later I had the repeat and knew I wanted to print it with the bonus that I knew it would be simple to cut out.

I'll do a mini tutorial on my process next week when I get time but its very easy to print this way once you have the materials. It was fun to be block printing again and I love the result. I've got the panels hanging in my room and I can't stop looking at them. I love the optical illusion. One is printed linen/cotton and the other cotton drill. Miss A has asked for a bag in this fabric so I'll be printing more, I think I might want some for myself too. I want to try white on linen, and maybe red. I would have done it the other day but I crashed my poor computer with one click and had to erase (sharp indrawn breath) and reload all my data (but only after I backed it up twice)! Luckily I could still access the hard drive. Though it was a relief to think I'd done a backup a couple of weeks back. I'm usually a little slack...

Did you manage to take advantage of Spoonflower's free postage day yesterday. I really had to hustle to get my computer back on line, edit my patterns and in between attend an assembly and a music night! Luckily the offer was open till midnight! Can't wait to get my fabrics! I've ordered heaps and some new designs. The lego bricks have gone off!

Happy weekend to all. We're planning a long lunch with friends here tomorrow, my favourite lemon cake is made and in the fridge, it always tastes better the next day!

my creative space - stamp

I'm taking part in the Handprinted Fabric Swap at Leslie's newly rechristened Maze & Vale blog this month. With the deadline fast approaching I've spent today printing and stamping a design that popped into my head yesterday, with a method I've been meaning to experiment with for too long. Its lots of fun and I love the results.

Maddeningly I've also managed to do something bad to my computer today so now I have to back it up and rewrite the hard drive, bleh! I've wasted precious creative time doing that. Trying to look on the bright side at least I haven't lost anything and its good to be backing up again, but its so slow! So more photos later.

Lots more creative types at the home of creativity.