Paula Ozier Designs

time flies

2010-11-04T03:47:00.000-07:00

Eep! Where did the last month go? I have spent it mainly working and swapping...I signed up with a few supply (teaching) agencies in September and didn't get anywhere but I have had a fair bit of work during October and then I've had 2 interviews this week for long term supply. It's kind of fun being back in school and I think it is definitely good to keep my teaching up to date and rust free but I also still feel sad that my luxurious year off to get POD up and running is over. I think my time management skills will be well honed once I have a couple of terms of teaching alongside running the business under my belt!

On to cheerier topics............I am doing two year long block swaps on flickr at the moment -Bee (A Little Bit) Japanese and Tag Square Bee. This is the first time I have participated in this type of virtual Bee (or any type of Bee for that matter!) as apposed to monthly quilt swaps of the miniature or doll persuasion. These two work differently from each other - for the Japanese one we have each been assigned a month - when it is your month you send out fabric and block requirements to each of the other members and they all make for you then for the rest of the year you are making one or two blocks for someone different each month. As the name of the group implies we are all including Japanese fabrics for our blocks but that is the only theme. I am finding this really fun as you get to try out different styles + I love Japanese fabric! So far we have done scrappy spiderwebs, square in squares, wonky houses (mine all mine mwahahaha) and improvised forests. We just found out that for November we will be doing wonky log cabins and I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of this month's fabrics. It is serious fun this swap and it is full of fab people with fun ideas.

My month was September so I have now got all of my blocks from everyone, my next task is to chose some fabric for sashing. I am after something ugly, multicoloured and floral. I really should stop describing it that way because when I find it I am going to be scared of showing people for fear of insulting anyone who either designed it or finds it pretty! I don't technically mean it needs to be ugly I just um..well..don't know how else to express what I mean. I suppose it needs to be kind of 'grandma'ish but I am probably just digging myself a deeper hole so I'll shut up now!

I will leave you with a rather rubbish picture of some but not all of the gorgeous and inspirational blocks that the group made for me.

I am going off to start pressing and trimming them all in preparation for a little photo shoot that does them justice and includes all of them................that is if I don't get called to do supply this afternoon (sigh)

I simply remember

2010-09-29T07:07:00.000-07:00

One of my favourite things to play with at the moment. Sorry, if this is a bit blurry! I am in the midst of experimenting with making a scark from my new Tattoo range. I recently bought a quilted scarf that was made from old worn saris and it got me thinking! I will get back to you!

London calling

2010-09-25T11:30:00.000-07:00

For those of you who haven't seen them yet here is my new London range - It was launched at the Festival of Quilts and I am delighted to say that it sold out! Not to worry though, it is now reprinted and back in stock.

A bit of fun

2010-09-19T16:06:00.000-07:00

My Gran moved to France last weekend so today I made this little quilty to hang by her door welcoming visitors, it was fun to make, a little piecing, a little quilting, a little embroidery and a little whimsy. Nice and neat and small, ready to pop in the post tomorrow!

Lovely things!

2010-09-17T14:36:00.000-07:00

I was lucky enough that two lovely ladies came up to me at the FoQ to show me what they had made with my fabric. Quite honestly I think this is one of the best things that happens to me, I love seeing how people have used the fabric they bought.

At the top we have a quilt top that has really inspired me to do something similar with solids. I wish I could tell you this ladies name but to my shame I didn't ask....if you happen to read my blog please do let me know in the comments! I believe you were a Shirley Quilter?

Underneath we have a cushion that Maureen Flower of the Icknield Quilters made for a friend's daughter who was having a peacock theme for her wedding (how fab?!). Isn't it gorgeous?

Festival of Quilts

2010-09-16T15:50:00.000-07:00

Better late than never! Here's the stand....you might even be able to spot two quiltys that I have been waiting to show you!

2010-07-22T15:38:00.000-07:00

I have had lots of fun over the last couple of weeks getting out there and meeting lots of lovely quilters as I make my way around doing talks at the different groups. It never fails to be a great evening and even thouh I feel like I am just babbling on people do manage to stay awake!

I have a small confession......my wild goose quilt.....I decided not to do the outer two borders (yes, that means I left out an entire border of flying geese!). I just did one white border then called it done. I would feel guilty but I am too busy feeling happy about having finished it! I wish I could show you a picture but it is currently at The Wandering Line being long armed by the fab Debbie. In fact - to fully explain how fab she is - it is finished and waiting for me to collect and I only dropped it off on Tuesday afternoon, the woman is a quilting machine! While I am on the topic of The Wandering Line I should let you know that they have an amazing sale on at the moment so if you are able to get there over the next week you should!

I finally finished my yellow/green quilt and will take a picture tomorrow because it is currently in my car. hmm.

I can show you a picture of a cute little (actually BIG) pouch that I made using Lynne's union jack tutorial, how sweet! I made it as a gift and am having a hard time convinsing myself to give it away!

Ok, I apologise, for whatever reason, I don't seem to be able to move the pictures.......I'm going to bed now!

Quilts 1700-2010

2010-06-23T14:25:00.000-07:00

I finally made it to the V&A today - it was getting to the point where I knew if I didn't just get myself there today then before I knew it the exhibition would close and I would be left feeling incredibly stupid that there had been an exhibition about what I do just 30 minutes away in my favourite museum and I HADN'T GONE! Eeep!

I really enjoyed it, I would highly recommend the audio guide if you haven't been yet. They give it to you on an ipod touch so it's very easy to navigate back and forth and it has video clips and close ups as well as commentary. It really made me pay attention to things that I might otherwise have overlooked. It also made me cry at one point....don't worry, it was a 'hold back the tears with a gulp' rather than 'huge blubbery sobs'.

I enjoyed a little retail therapy afterwards although I have to say I was rather disappointed with the liberty designs. I came through to the shop with plans to buy a selection and make a hanging to remind me of the exhibition but I could only find one fabric that I liked and, well, one fabric does not a quilt make (I know, I know, apart from whole cloth!).

So, that was my day :) I am ashamed to say that my little yellow quilty is still in progress, although it has progressed a little. I need to push on with it tomorrow because I am off for a girly weekend in Bath starting early Friday morning and I REALLY don't want it to go into another week!

A week on

2010-06-17T07:48:00.000-07:00

Here we are a week after I posted my half square triangles top and it still isn't finished! Yesterday I got around to extending it - I added 4 more rows in the end, and I pieced a back for it - mainly all the yellow but with a stripe of blocks of the three fabrics about 2/3s of the way down, sorry, I'll take a picture once it's off the machine. For now this is how it looks, 3 hours into quilting.

I decided to do pebbling (I'm kind of winging it!) instead of stippling and I have been amazed at how much longer it is taking, also, how much thread it is eating! I decided I wanted a variegated thread and I found one at the evil hobby store chain down the road. As an absolute precaution I decided to buy 2 reels and I am really (reel - y, snigger) glad I did because I have filled my bobbin 3 times already. I am hoping that it will soften a lot when I wash it though because the dense stitching is making it feel quite cardboardy at present.

The Quilter

2010-06-15T02:32:00.000-07:00

You may recall me telling you that Anne Williams had been over to interview me for The Quilter back in February?

The issue arrived in my post box last Friday and I am delighted; it astounds me that she made all my babbling into a coherent article!

For those of you who are not members The Quilter is the quarterly membership publication of The Quilters' Guild of the British Isles. You can find out all about them at www.quiltersguild.org.uk

2010-06-10T16:41:00.000-07:00

I took another day off from the big quilt today as I am still suffering mightily from the sniffles. Most of the day was spent dozing but then by 4pm I needed to sew. I decided to play around with half square triangles. I've had this idea to experiment with using the reverse of the fabric for a while. I limited myself to three fabrics and used them in all combinations.

It measures 20x30" at the moment so tomorrow I will add two more columns and two more rows to bring it to a usable baby quilt size. I think I'll quilt it using a yellow thread, probably stippling.

2010-06-09T14:55:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning feeling really grotty, yesterday I wasn't sure if I had hay fever or the start of a cold, today I know it is a cold! I decided to take a day off from the quilt because I am missing finishing things! I have only done one other large size quilt before and I do find it challenges my need for immediate gratification. I decided to look though my UFOs and pulled out a top I had pieced and appliqued for a table runner. I managed to get it all quilted this afternoon then got the binding finished this evening. Wow, it feels good to have a finished product!

This evening was my local quilt group (connecting threads) meet up and we had Wendy Lowes as our guest speaker. She does amazing things with fabric origami and brought loads of work in for us to see as well as physically demonstrating some of the folding. It was very interesting and I would highly recommend going to one of her talks.

Here is one of her pieces - called rose garden that was done from a brief given by the quilters guild

2010-06-08T09:17:00.000-07:00

I have finished the sashing and put all the blocks together - now it is coming time for the moment of truth as I find out whether I need to make anymore geese for the border. I think I will sew the three borders together then sew each side to the blocks so that I am only scrunching the whole top up once rather than three times as I stitch around it.

woohoo

2010-06-07T02:16:00.000-07:00

I have finished the blocks! I will trim them all later (I am a bit scared at how much I will lose of some of them, fingers crossed!) then I need to work out the sashing and discover whether I have enough left over geese for the border...I do hope so!

Block Seven

Block Eight

Block Nine

DQS 9

2010-06-06T12:48:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed a certain (ahem) button on my sidebar? Yes, dear reader, you are correct, I am one of the lucky ones to make it into Doll Quilt Swap 9. As a relative Flickr swap newbie I was very pleased to be accepted and I am really looking forward to finding out who my partner is and stalking away!

I've had a lovely day today, my best chum and I were planning on taking her son to the seaside but when we woke up the weather looked a little iffy so we decided to go to Camden instead. I've had a little snooze and a looong catch up chat with my sister on the phone (must've been, ooh, at least 24 hours since we last spoke) and now I'm going to watch the end of One Fine Day (George Clooney...rrrrowr) while working on those last few blocks - I will try not to drool on them.

six down, three to go

2010-06-05T04:28:00.000-07:00

Here's block number 6 - I am about half way through cutting the pieces for the last three blocks. I haven't been cutting in bulk all the way through, I have been cutting then piecing but now that the end is in sight it is much easier to think through the fabric options and much more bearable to cut it all at once - having said that, all that is left is to cut all the small white blocks and that is when I suddenly though 'well, I really must update my blog'. Mmmm, cutting those 2 7/8" squares is not my favourite part.

fun finds

2010-06-04T13:03:00.000-07:00

I was out for lunch with my Gran today (a weekly occurrence; I take her to the supermarket, she takes me to lunch or a variation on the theme, e.g. I take her to the doctors, she takes me to breakfast, I insist on paying, she then buys me a gift. You get the idea!) anyway, we had gone somewhere different than usual and I remembered that last time we had popped into Oxfam in search of hidden treasures and I had hit the jackpot in several packets of bias binding. Ok, I admit, this might not be EVERYONE'S idea of a jackpot but I imagine that if you are reading my blog then either you share my fondness of things of the haberdashery persuasion or you know me personally and my excitement will not surprise you. So, back to today, of course, I suggested we return to this source of textile goodies and here is what I gleefully took off with.

the black roll is satin binding....not what I would normally use but impossible to resist and how much room can it take up? There is 20m on that baby! Then there are 3 30cm zips and 1 20cm, 3.6m of white bias binding (drool) and 10m of a flat tape - somewhat like a shoelace, I think it will be perfect for drawstring cord. I was very happy to part with just under £10 for this little stash :D

spot the mistake!

2010-06-03T04:24:00.001-07:00

I just had to post this before correcting it because I didn't notice what I had done until I looked at the picture on my pc! How on earth I didn't notice while I was pressing it I will never know....anyway....here is block 5...kinda!

Fourth Block

2010-06-03T01:16:00.000-07:00

One yard update

2010-05-27T03:19:00.000-07:00

One yard wonders decided against using my fabric for the bag I designed and sent me some instead. I do love it though and I spent yesterday morning putting a bag together in it to send to them.

Cute? You can only just tell in the picture below but I used a silver bell instead of a bead to keep the toggle on this time. I keep imagining it jingling all the way to the states!

I also just finished my third block for the quiltalong - I have been pleasantly surprised at how quickly these are going together - the bulk of the time is taken cutting but I cut all the pieces for this block while watching Junior Apprentice last night so when I woke up this morning I could get stuck straight into sewing. As I make each block I am also making up 12-20 extra geese depending on how many I can squeeze out of the piece of fabric - these will be the border + I will have extras to add to the back and other projects. It works for me to do lots at the same time so I can string piece them.

geese with beaks!

2010-05-25T12:24:00.000-07:00

I have just finished my second block and am pleased to report that my flying geese making skills have improved to the degree that they all have sharp beaks!

The same; but different

2010-05-25T04:18:00.000-07:00

As frequently happens, I have been inspired by Katy over at I'm a ginger monkey who is participating in this quiltalong, set up by the fabulous Anita.

I am quite late in starting so I have a bit of catching up to do and, well, I've changed it about a wee bit

I have taken out the geese in the sashing - a) because I am skeeered of how many geese I would need to make and b) because I wanted a 'whiter' quilt.

I have replaced the two centre geese with a solid 4 1/2 inch square because I knew I would obsess about which direction the geese should be facing and this way I can have them all pointing in centrally instead.

I have added extra white sashing either side of the geese border, again for that extra bit of white.

Finally, I have reduced it to 3 blocks by 3 blocks from Anita's 4x4 - this is just so that I get it finished! Depending on how quickly I progress I may reconsider that change.

I have just finished my first block

Oh yes and another change I have made is that each block will use 3 different fabrics + white. I

haven't planned out which fabrics I will use where yet, I just grabbed the first 3 that came to hand last night but 3 blocks by 3 blocks x 3 colours in each block = 27 so there is scope for using each of my current designs once if I leave out the ones that are very white like the large maneki and the peacock range.

My goal is to get it finished in time to use as a wall display at the Festival of Quilts - I will send it away for long arm quilting so I need to decide where it is going and find out what their deadline would be in order for me to get it back in time!

2010-05-24T03:38:00.000-07:00

I have just spent an exhausting weekend at Wimbledon International Quilt Show - only really so tiring because of the 'toing and froing' though! I had a lovely time meeting and chatting with like minded people. I mainly spent my time figuring out a simple method to drop a zip in a small coin purse (Hi Rose!).......this took the majority of Saturday and Sunday, hand sewing is not my friend! I am going to play around now I am joyfully reunited with my bernina and then I might do a little tute cos it's quite cute! The quilt show itself was gorgeous, they are a very talented bunch, stupidly I didn't take any pictures, hmm.

Last weekend was my first camping weekend of the year because, yippee!, it is kite festival season once more! It was bitter sweet as we took time to mark the passing of our dear friend/father/husband/ex partner (that's where I come in)/team mate/flying buddy Steve who sadly passed away in January.

Since my last post I have also managed to squeeze in a little trip to France to gaze lovingly at this nose......

....well, wouldn't you? given the opportunity?

Yay!

2010-04-29T08:07:00.000-07:00

I just got an e-mail from the lovely ladies at One Yard Wonders to say that my project submission has been accepted and will be in their next book! I am so excited! I only found out that they were looking for submissions two days before the deadline and just tried it as a long shot but I got in! Here's a pic of the 'Drawstring tidy caddy' that I designed for them.

They want me to make it in a different fabric so I am crossing my fingers that they might consider one of my other designs but that might just be asking too much!

swapping fun

2010-04-21T01:25:00.000-07:00

Dena, my spring fling swap partner who sent me the lovely pink bouquet of flowers last month finally received my mini quilt last week (I am so not impressed at it taking 4 weeks to arrive!). I posted a sneak peek earlier but here is the whole thing.

I am participating in 3 swaps this month - a mini coin, an anything goes mini and a placemat swap. I heard from Karen this morning that the wonky mini coin I sent her has arrived so here it is! I had lots of fun making it, I can't remember where I saw a wonky coin quilt but it was at least a year ago and I have been hankering after making one ever since.

non fabric crafting!

2010-04-19T10:45:00.000-07:00

I have been practising icing biscuits today and all I can say is it is harder than it looks!

Cerys is moving this summer and she is planning a party for her daughters to say their farewells, the party is going to have a garden theme and Cerys and I have been having a lovely time of late dreaming up the food and decorations.

One thing that we have decided to do is biscuits in the shapes of snails, caterpillars, butterflies, bees and flowers iced in lovely bright and glossy royal icing.

I have searched the blogosphere for hints and tips and inspiration and today purchased a packet of rich tea biscuits on which to practise (waaaaay easier than making biscuits to practise on!)

Here are the results, I certainly hope I improve and I am SO glad I did a practise run!

Goodies from Shanghai

2010-04-07T15:03:00.000-07:00

I have just been out for yummy Thai food with my parents who are over from France, even more exciting though - they came laden down with goodies passed on from Michelle who has just arrived in France from Shanghai!

Samples of beach huts so I can check the colours and scale - I have been longing to get my hands on these!

And presents! Lovely linens and pretty prints from Laurie - thank you so much Laurie (and Mark and Stella!) I love them all! So, so, pretty!

And even more gorgeousness from Michelle! Thank you sis! I can't believe you gave them all to me in the end!

I have just spent the last hour drooling over them all and planning how I will use them (who am I kidding? I will just stroke them, far too precious to cut into! although who could resist making a handbag with turnips or pigs?!)

2010-03-25T03:07:00.000-07:00

Time really seems to be flying at the moment! I have just got off the phone to Michelle, she has been with the printers today checking on a new batch of Bugs. They also ran off samples of my newest range...I just finished designing it on Sunday and here's a sneak preview just for my lovely blog followers!

I'd love to know what you think! Also, I don't have a name for the range yet, or the designs within it, I've just been calling it beach huts, pinwheels, bunting, pink spots etc but I don't know whether to call the range seaside or maybe even name it after a British seaside town? Ideas please!

I had a lovely day last Saturday, I joined the Castle Quilters in Farnham for their International Quilt Day. If anyone is local to that area I would highly recommend joining them at one of their evening meetings or popping along to one of their shows as they are hugely welcoming and fantastic company, I wish they were closer as I would definitely become a regular!

Cerys and I still have spaces available for our workshop this Sunday so please contact me if you are interested in spending a lovely day creating your own set of nesting baskets.

spring has sprung

2010-03-15T07:34:00.000-07:00

I am really enjoying the lovely weather we are having at the moment, it still feels like a real novelty to be able to go out for a walk!

Another springy thing (boing) that is happening is that I have participated in my first Flickr swap - the 6-12" mini quilt group's Spring Fling. I received my quilt this morning, all the way from Virginia,

I just sent mine off today so I will only post a teaser pic of it in case my lovely swap partner Dena happens to look ;)

My laptop project is now out in Sew Hip, I am pretty pleased with it although, annoyingly they have got my website address wrong again, not sure why that has happened twice now. I also managed to get hold of a copy of Selvedge today with a small feature on us and another small feature in Popular Patchwork.

My current project is working on my new ranges, this, I have to say, is the most fun part!

I am also running 3 workshops over the next few months along with the aforementioned super talented Cerys!

We are doing Reversible Nesting Baskets on the 28th March, Covered Books on the 17th April and Appliqued Woodland Panels on the 15th May. The workshops are £30 each and run from 10-4 at the Old School House in Ashley Green, Buckinghamshire.

Here's an example of the nesting baskets for the first workshop

2010-02-24T14:02:00.000-08:00

I've had a busy couple of weeks, I am currently making a commissioned piece for my synagogue - a cover for the Torah - I will post pictures when it is in situ, it should finally be finished tomorrow - in fact it HAS to be as someone is coming to collect it! I am still doing the rounds of retailers which is in equal parts loads of fun because I get to talk to lots of people about my fabric and see lots of lovely shops and frustrating because I get lots of rejection purely on price. I can understand it from the retailer's perspective because we ARE more expensive than mass produced fabric but it is something we can't actually do anything about, it is really expensive to produce fabric on a small scale and surely it is evident that two sisters working on their own can't compete on price with huge multinational companies? I guess the thing is that the right retailers get that it is like comparing Marks and Spencers with an independent boutique - yes, you are paying more but you are also getting something DIFFERENT!

sorry, vent over! I don't expect (or want) my fabric to be mainstream staples, it's just hard to fight over the price when we've actually dropped it as far as we can without actually paying people to buy it!

Other stuff that is going on....I have started working with my fabulously talented cousin, Cerys Gasson, we are going to start offering workshops....soon! In fact we are looking at venues this week. We are having Friday morning meetings and it is so much fun!

Last week Anne Williams (the editor of The Quilter) came to interview me, she is lovely and made it so easy that I just nattered on and on...at this point anyone who knows me in real life is laughing at the idea that anyone needed to encourage me to natter on and on, I am not known for meaningful silences. The interview will feature in their summer edition.

I am looking forward to three magazines coming out soon - I have a project in Sew Hip - a laptop sleeve using my new 'Bugs' range, I'll be included in the snippets page of Popular Patchwork and I'll be in a textile design/quilters advertorial in Selvedge. I expect people will start asking me for my autograph in the street soon ;)

Joanna from Things [Hand Made] blogged about this cool site to play with your photos, here's my first attempt, it's my stall at Northwood last Saturday.

2010-02-10T17:30:00.000-08:00

tonight (last night? it is past midnight) I went to my most local quilting group for the first time, I have been wanting to go for ages but then I've been away so much I keep missing the meetings. Anyway, it lived up to my expectations, everyone was lovely and we had a mini workshop - tesselated stars

- mine was a bit messed up because I hand sewed it and made my seam allowances too big (even though I measured them out, grr), anyway, it's quite a pretty pattern and if you make 4 of them you end up with a magical 5th star appearing.

The workshop was run by Sheila Wilkinson, I liked her, she had the right mix of tell you how to do it then let you get on with it without you feeling as if you were abandoned.

On the road again

2010-02-03T09:59:00.000-08:00

I am in Devon this week, Michelle and I have rented a holiday cottage just outside Launceston to use as a base while we go around all of the retailer that we can find in Devon and Cornwall. We had planned to visit the Eden Project and perhaps take photos of products on the beach but the weather is GROTTY and even grottier I have developed a lovely rash on one side of my face which has necessitated trips to pharmacists then doctors then more pharmacists, we can only conclude that I am allergic to the detergent they use to wash the bedding. Other than that things are moving along well, just this afternoon I found two gorgeous shops that I hope will go ahead and stock my fabric. I will go back and see them tomorrow as the owners were out at both of them, after that I hope we will manage to get to the Eden Project, I have been before but Michelle hasn't and I think it is a shame to be all the way down here and not go. We will head slowly home on Friday and visit some retailers in Dorset along the way.
Last week we went to lots of lovely shops in Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Surrey. It has taken a LOT of self control to go into them and not shop! Out of all of them so far my favourite has to be in The Wandering Line in Purley (www.thewanderingline.co.uk). If you are anywhere near and haven't visited then you must, I was blown away by the size of the shop. It is lovely to have space to stand back and look at all the colours.
I am off now to watch a film in front of the log burner while I sew the binding to the back of little Stella's quilt (pics soon!).

Happy New Year

2010-01-14T05:29:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's been a long time since I have posted! I am currently 'stuck' in France. I came over on the 24th December and had a ticket booked to return on the 9th but then on the evening of the 8th it started snowing here. My Dad and Grandmother already had their flights cancelled on the 5th because of the snow in the UK and they had rebooked to come home on the same flight as me but when we woke up we saw there was no chance of that happening! Our flight wasn't cancelled in the end but we couldn't get out onto the main road let alone over an hour to Toulouse. Fortunately BA were offering to change tickets for flights between the 8th and 11th free of charge. Dad and Gran have left today (well, they will have in another hour hopefully!) and I am leaving on Saturday. Let's hope this is it for the snow for this year.

I have managed to get quite a lot of making done while I've been here at least. I have been working on a project to be published in Sew Hip (March issue) so I have been making up a couple of examples and taking photos of stages. I am just finishing up writing out all of the instructions to e-mail over for my deadline tomorrow.

My sister gave me a couple of balls of Bamboo yarn that she bought on a recent trip to the states so I have knitted that up into a wide ribbed cushion cover. I will have to post pics of that when I get home because I have a cushion pad there for it and I need to find some nice big wooden buttons too.

I have been doing a bit of crochet too, I bought 4 balls of yarn and two crochet hooks with the intention of teaching Michelle how to crochet, thinking we could make a garland of crochet hearts. Trouble is, Michelle didn't really like crocheting, she found it just as frustrating as I did the first (10..15?) times that I tried to learn. Oh well, I had lots of fun crocheting lots of hearts to string together,a little ball that Lucky decided was for him, a little flower just to see if I could make one then finally a cushion cover front for the flower to live on.

I have finished the quilt top for baby Stella, it just need embroidering with her birth details before I quilt and bind it.

I quilted and bound a top that I have been working on over my last 3 trips to France, I don't think I had even finished sewing in the last thread before my Dad claimed it to put on a wall here. I guess that is only fair seeing as it was made entirely from my Mum's stash!

Yesterday I started making heart shaped lavender bags to use up the last of the lavender harvested in 2009 - I ended up making 10 but I think I might be able to scrape together enough for another 3 this evening.

Oh and I made a little drawstring bag with pockets inside from a book that was another gift from Michelle, it is just the right size to fit my make up in and the mascara and other tubey shaped things all fit into the pockets. I think it would be a good idea for a crochet project bag if I drafted a pattern that would fit a few balls of yarn in the main pouch then the hooks in the pockets.

I think that's everything, here's the quilt that Dad nabbed.

2009-12-18T07:56:00.000-08:00

I have been laminating felt today, I made my cousin a holder for his Oyster card for Christmas, I'm pleased with the way it turned out, I couldn't find any patterns or tutorials for one that I liked for him so I played around until I worked out what I wanted. I hope he likes it, making things for men is soooo much harder than making things for women!

I like that it is grey and masculine but still has a secret hit of colour in the edges and hidden behind the card.

My street is covered in a thick blanket of snow today, it snowed through the night last night and has just started again, it's pretty but I hope it rains soon, I am a complete wuss about driving on snow or ice and I need to go out tomorrow!

2009-12-01T05:09:00.000-08:00

My wait is finally over, I've been desperately trying to get hold of issue 12 of Sew Hip to see my interview in print ever since I got an e-mail from someone saying they had seen it on Friday morning! I guess I should subscribe because it seems subscribers get it ahead and it only reached the shelves today! I am really happy with the way it looks....slightly miffed that my website address is wrong (.co.uk instead of .com) but on the whole it is fab and very exciting. It is especially fun that it is a magazine I loved anyway.

oh...and I had to share this with you.....look what I made a couple of days ago.....

....and just because I think he is extra'specially super cute, here's another pic!
you can make one too, the tute is here --->http://matsutakeblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/if-marie-antoinette-had-been-hedgehog.html

2009-11-25T04:29:00.000-08:00

An extra special sneak preview for my extra special blog readers! Here are some snippets of my new range, the three designs will also be available in another colourway but I have to keep you in suspense about something! The new range will be available from January

2009-11-18T15:05:00.000-08:00

I went along to a meeting of the Mead Quilters last night. Janet Cook was speaking about her gorgeous quilts and it was very interesting, if you get the chance to see any of her work take a close look because they become more beautiful the closer you get.

They were also running an open sewing day today so I went along and had a lovely time putting together a christmas table runner which may or may not be heading towards a close family member the December. Um, Michelle...don't get excited, it isn't for you!

2009-11-12T16:00:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe a week has gone by since I last posted, I have had a birthday since then and have been spoiled to high heaven. My parents came over for the weekend and we went to the theatre and out to dinner then lunch the following day with Gran and three separate birthday dinners with friends! I am very lucky and have had a lovely week.

That being said Ilford 'craft' Market was a complete wash out and certainly does not live up to its name but you live and learn. I have the second of the three fairs being held in Bishops Stortford on Saturday. It is free to get in and there were lots of good vendors last time so I would recommend popping in if you are local.

I have been busy getting together images of my designs for an article going into Sew Hip next month so that has been a lot of fun and I am really excited about seeing the outcome!

Other exciting news is that I am launching a new range, it will be available in January.....I may put a sneaky preview up over the next week or so :)

I am still loving piecing onto paper and have tried out a wonky log cabin block for a baby quilt that I am working on for Laurie. If you haven't seen pictures of her nursery go and check out Michelle's photo gallery - there is a link on my website. Mark and Laurie commissioned a custom range of fabrics when they were designing their nursery and it looks fab, now we just have to wait for their daughter to arrive!

2009-11-05T08:51:00.000-08:00

just a really quick one as I am snowed under getting ready for Ilford Craft Market tomorrow...I thought it was only fair to announce that my camera and tripod have arrived (actually they arrived on Tuesday so the 9th working day). I am very relieved as I had started reading all these awful reviews of the company and had started wondering whether I would ever see my camera or my money again, yes, a little over dramatic! I still think it was a REALLY long time to wait for something that is in stock to be sent from the Isle of Wight to Watford and it irked me to see them state 'fast delivery'! on their site but I am super delighted with my camera! Of course, the first thing I did was make it a case with a snuggly fleece lining :)

If it looks a little wonky that because, well, it's a little wonky! Ooooh, speaking of my inability to make unwonky things (totally not true BTW if you're thinking of buying anything I make!) I have been having a go at string piecing using paper, wow, it's so much fun and everything comes out so neatly! In fact I am in two minds as to whether I will ever use the blocks I have made so far because that will mean taking the paper off the back and then it won't look so beautifully neat anymore! I followed a link to a tutorial from http://imagingermonkey.blogspot.com/ after seeing the gorgeous spiders web blocks she was putting together and now I have

and

'scuse my toes in the first pic! I have tried out two different blocks, I'm not sure what I will do with them except maybe keep making them whenever I have a spare couple of hours. I highly recommend trying it if, like me, you have a box full of strippy shaped scraps!

Right, wish me luck, Ilford needs to be a good one!

2009-10-29T08:01:00.000-07:00

Isn't the world beautiful at the moment? I love autumn and all the changing colours, particularly on a day like today when the sun is shining, although the shining sun is highlighting how dirty my windows are right now!

I got a call from one of the organisers of Northwood Craft Market yesterday evening to say that they had a cancellation for this Saturday, I am very excited because-

a) Northwood is only 10 minutes away!
b)They have a Craft Market once a month all year 'round.
c) They had been fully booked until January

Other exciting news......I have just finished an interview for Sew Hip magazine, so much fun! I will let you know when it will be out, there might even be a sneak preview of a new range!

Less exciting and rather annoying news is that my new camera still hasn't arrived, hmmmm. In fact, when I checked it's status today it hadn't even been sent yet. I am not impressed seeing as I ordered it a week ago yesterday and they said it was in stock. Their quoted delivery times are 3-10 working days, we are now on working day number 6 so they haven't failed that yet but I just can't see why they can't get it moving already. It frustrates me that when they say 'in stock' they obviously mean it is 'in stock' with their supplier rather than with them. It feels dishonest and I will not buy through them in future.

Sorry, moan over!

2009-10-23T03:33:00.000-07:00

I have just had an exciting delivery; it's my birthday in a couple of weeks so decided to treat myself to a new camera, tripod and light tent. The light tent arrived this morning and it's fab!

It came with white, red, black and blue back drops and it has hooks and loops so you can hang your own fabric as a backdrop and/or suspend a product. It is big enough for all the products I make (save quilts!) yet it packs down to fit in this bag.

I will be busy gradually updating photos of my fabric and products once my new camera and the tripod arrive, I ordered them on the same day but the light tent arrived super fast (thank you Steve's Photo Shop!)

This is the camera I have chosen, it's a Panasonic DMC ZX1 - it has 12.1 Megapixels and 8x optical zoom and lots of lovely extras to stop your photos blurring and face recognition so your chosen people always have the best pictures!

I am upgrading from my old Pentax Option 750Z that I got about 4 years ago, I LOVED this camera when I got it, LOVED the retro styling that concealed 7MP and 5x optical zoom (top spec in those days for a compact!) I still love it but the picture quality is not making the mark anymore and the lens cover doesn't retract properly :( poor old friend, I will try and remember to miss you when your replacement comes!

2009-10-17T14:13:00.000-07:00

So sorry I have been absent this week..Michelle and I decided to do our post show wind down in the Cotswolds....we stayed at a lovely hotel called the Lygham Arms in Broadway. I love the Cotswolds, it's so pretty and peaceful there and we were lucky with the weather, glorious bright sunshine until the last day (Thursday) when it was drizzly but it was assigned as a shopping day anyway, Michelle wanted to go to Bicester Village. Our stay was nicely topped off with dinner at my cousin's where it took me almost to the end of dinner to notice that her step dad was wearing a cravat made from two of my fabrics! He looked styling and I will add a pic as soon as I retrieve it from my cousin's camera.

I have been busy booking myself into small, local craft fairs over the last couple of days and so far I can confirm that I will be at -

Bishops Stortford - 22nd October, 14th November and 12th December

Ilford - 6th November

Much Hadham - 22 November

I am also very excited to have made 2 more Etsy sales this evening - both to the same person in Spain!

I am off to bed now, I have an early start tomorrow morning...I am doing a car boot sale to try and offload some of my books - I have a terrible supermarket paperback habit and I've decided I need to cull my collection!

2009-10-12T04:55:00.000-07:00

One more day to go

2009-10-10T23:07:00.000-07:00

It's the last day of the show today, I am having mixed feelings because on the one hand I am tired but on the other hand I don't want the show to be over, I love the buzz of being there and meeting people, hearing their response to my designs and seeing the same faces in different places. On the familiar faces note it has become increasingly apparant that I am rubbish at recognising and remembering faces and that my sister has a freakish photographic memory. We have had several conversations that are a variation of;

Michelle - "they were at the festival of quilts"
Paula - blank expression

Michelle - "she was looking at our stand this morning, she must've waited to do her spending in the afternoon"
Paula - blank expression

Michelle - "Paula, you just asked that girl if she had a card when you gave her one yourself an hour ago"
Paula - "ohhh"

I sincerely apologise if I have failed to recognise you when we have already met!

We are having a sale today on my handmade products, I have sold about half of the stock and some items are sold out. I was going to keep any left for Etsy or for following shows but then I wouldn't get to make so many new ones!

I also made my first Etsy sale yesterday and it was a lovely lady who had already bought fabric at the show on Thursday (Hi Marion, if you are reading!). I am very, very happy to be having repeat customers already.

Knitting and Stitching Show Day One

2009-10-08T13:43:00.000-07:00

Day one went well, it was a lot of fun again to get people's reactions to my designs and products. I particularly enjoyed the fact that there were a lot of school trips there....I don't think a single 15 year old girl walked past my stand without pointing at this fabric and squeaking!

It also made me smile a lot that GCSE and A Level students were taking photos and (lots of) business cards to add to their coursework. I even saw a student from my old school (Hi Lucy!) who did a huge double take to see 'Miss' there!

The most exciting part of the day was being approached by a couple of buyers for stores (one of which will remain nameless but its name begins with an 'L' and it is on a street that begins with an 'R').

More from the show to follow over the next couple of days, I will try to remember to take a picture of my stand to post too.

If you are visiting the show, come by stand K33 and mention the blog to get a free lavender bag!

photos finally!

2009-10-03T04:35:00.000-07:00

Covered diaries and address books, they have loops at the side that hold the book closed when you slide a pen through.

Here are the covered notebooks, I bought more this morning so this collection may grow if I have time!

Sorry it is on it's side....this is the baby quilt. I put the top together while I was in France and I quilted it on Thursday - it's backed with baby blue fleece and I used the cheaty sew and flip method instead of binding it.

After finishing the quilt I whipped up some tissue cosies. I didn't have enough packets when I took this but I got more this morning so they are all full now :)

Yesterday's project was cushions - you can see my fabric mountain in the background - the tall boxes are fabric still on the roll and the ones to the right are fat quarters all packaged and ready for sale and the stuff on top is the fabric set aside for me to use.

This little dolly is todays project and she will have some friends coming to join her shortly. The gorgeous boy behind her is my best friend's son Ethan, he's coming to see me tomorrow so I am taking a day off!

2009-10-01T15:20:00.000-07:00

And so to the end of another productive day. I managed to do all of the things I set out to do - write instructions, visit Gran, finish quilt - but I also managed to make 11 tissue cosies! The show feels scarily close now, the countdown has started.

Mum and Michelle were making lavender bags today so they have been busy as well :)

eep!

2009-10-01T03:12:00.000-07:00

I am just a little bit excited...

...and no...it isn't just because the latest edition of Sew Hip is on the newstand, although that is always a cause for minor celebration in my world.

'Why has she bought three copies?' I hear you ask yourself.

eep!

2009-09-30T15:20:00.000-07:00

A productive day today (thank goodness!) I have covered 2 diarys, 2 address books and 6 notebooks. Sorry for the lack of photos, I don't have the energy! I think my plan for tomorrow is to head over to my local starbucks and sit and write, write, write all of the outstanding instructions for kits so that I can e-mail them over to Michelle to 'pretty up' not that she's been nagging me or anything :) Then it is about time I went to visit my Gran before heading home and finishing a quilt for the show.

Back in the UK

2009-09-29T14:34:00.000-07:00

I got back home on Friday, mainly because my car tax, MOT, insurance etc is all due at the end of September so I have been busy getting that all sorted. Today I got settled into getting some work done for the show - I have been making passport covers with a POD style union jack - quite fun, hopefully people will like them! I will take some photos tomorrow.

It is good to be back with my things, I had a joyful reunion with my Bernina but I was sad to leave my family behind, one member in particular.....

2009-09-23T06:56:00.000-07:00

I thought I would share a little experiment with you. I spent a few hours yesterday afternoon figuring this out and making it then once I had finished I realised.....I don't know what it is supposed to be! I just got caught up in the 'how would i do that?' of it all. Oh well.

More succesfully though, I made a cover for my diary. I am going to look out for some 2010 diarys to cover and sell at the show.

2009-09-20T02:42:00.000-07:00

Here we go, sorry for the dark picture, it is very dreary here today and has now started to rain. Hopefully you can make out the creatures embroidered on it though, my favourite has to be the rabbit carrying an umbrella, very apt for today's weather! I have washed it gently with some Woolite since taking the pic and it is now hanging to dry. My first attempt at removing the little rust spots will need to wait for another day as I am going to sprinkle them with salt then lemon juice and leave it in the sun to dry. I want to avoid needing to use a commercial rust stain remover if possible.

I must get started on some work now...I am going to finish my bunting then get started on a baby quilt for another show kit.

2009-09-19T15:44:00.000-07:00

I have been busy over the last week, making products and creating project kits to sell at the Knitting and Stitching show and Michelle has been busy working on the website and setting up listings on Etsy and Dawanda. Today we took a day off to visit a few Brocantes (we are both in France this month, working between her house and my parent's), it was a really fun day and I managed to finally buy Michelle's housewarming and birthday presents - a cute, small bird bath to go out by her pool and a wrought iron outdoor thermometer.
I am most excited though that I found a gorgeous length of embroidered mantle edging, I will post pics tomorrow I promise...I left my camera behind in England so I will have to wait to borrow one. I am going to need to wash it and try and get out a few small rust marks, I am guessing it was pinned up.
I also bought a tiny wire basket in the shape of a heart and I am thinking that I should collect together all of my heart shaped things together on one shelf when I get back, maybe in the kitchen.
Oh, and I bought some ribbon because yesterday I was making bunting then realised Mum had no plain ribbon for it....I keep getting thrown by not being surrounded by my mountains of craft supplies! The lady in the fabric shop laughed because I stopped by and then only spent 1 euro 10 cents :)

2009-09-14T03:38:00.000-07:00

Well, I thought it was about time I started a blog. I have been tempted many times in the past as I do enjoy reading blogs so much but I have always come across the stumbling block of 'what do I blog about?'. Now it is obvious....I blog about my business!

So, by way of an introduction; I have recently given up my paid employment as a teacher in order to start a business designing fabrics and making products, patterns and kits. My sister (Michelle) is working with me and handles all of the business, marketing, financy type stuff and I get to immerse myself in all the yummy creative side, how lucky am I?

We have been working on this since spring, me building up 6 ranges of designs and Michelle writing an enormously detailed business plan, sourcing printers, base fabric, organising samples and getting well and truly up to speed with with the textile and craft industry.

We launched at the Festival of Quilts in August and had fantastic fun hearing what people had to say about our fabric, so much fun in fact that we decided there and then to book a stand (bigger and better!) for the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace 8-11th October. Whoop! I am so excited, this is my favourite show to visit and now I get to have my own stand!