proof

More fabric in the mail - but this time its my own design :-) Do you remember the Spoonflower cheater quilt contest I entered. I ordered these proofs at the same time (in fact all the fabric I've received this week has been a long time in the coming, I'm not sure why they all arrived at the same time - though I'm certainly not complaining!)

I've had Spoonflower designs printed once before and I was curious to see the quality of the product since it came out of Beta, and also I was curious too to see how my designs printed up. So I ordered proofs of both my cheater design and the floral print I used in some of the squares.

I'm really pleased with the quality of the printing, which to my mind has improved noticeably since last time. The finish on the dyes is much smoother and the colour match is excellent. All my colours look very close to how they did onscreen. Which also means happily that my artwork and colour specification were correct. If you look here you can compare it for yourself with the artwork I sent. In fact if you are a regular here you have seen most of the steps involved as I worked toward the repeats.

The quilting cotton is quite light and thin, I think I'd prefer it a slightly heavier weight, but it has a lovely fine texture. (I'm tempted to order enough of my floral print to make pillowcases because this fabric is really smooth against my skin and I love fine cotton against my face.)

I love all the different repeats, the green spots, the love hearts, the chicken spots! I also really love the colour palette. The limey green is especially fantastic but I also love the deep pink and the orange. And the fine detail in the numbers design is wonderful. Yay!

in the mail

I think you will be starting by now to get an idea of why the parcel guy and I are such firm friends, and why he waves to me when he sees me down the street :-)
Here are two parcels I received yesterday, a selection of my booty from the Vintage Sheet Swap (yay, don't you love them!) and a little fabric scrap pack that I couldn't resist when I stumbled across it on Etsy. Dangerous place that!

I have grand plans of making a quilt with my red rick rack and I've been collecting red and white, and now pink and red fabrics to match.

inleaf

From the first time I saw Lotta Helleberg's work I was in love with her graphic botanic prints. The amazing detail she gets in her leaf and flower prints and the beautiful contrast of white and black ink on fabulous coloured linens is just beautiful.

If you haven't seen her work you are in for a treat, her inleaf shop is full of beautiful handcrafted pieces made with the most wonderful attention to detail.

Lotta is a keen gardener like me and shares beautiful photos of her garden on the other side of the world in her garden blog. I like that our seasons are so opposite, I get to savour spring in her patch while the leaves are turning here and she can taste a bit of my blowsy midsummer in the depths of her icy winter and vice versa.

Quite a long time ago we decided to do a swap. And while its taken us this long to get organised (busy lives!) its been definitely worth the wait! Last week my precious parcel from Lotta arrived in the post, two cushion panels and backs cut from the most beautiful green and grey linen. Lotta was generous enough to let me choose the colours and leaves I wanted and printed them up especially for me.

I do love them. Thank you so much Lotta :-) It will be so special to have a piece of your work in my home! There is something so wonderful about having a friend's work around. It gives things another layer of preciousness. Here are some other pics of Lotta's lovely work.