Finished Bags

This bag was made by my daughter (with a little stitching advice), she chose the design and fabric and here is a detail of the embroidery she added.

I think she has done really well.

Also here is the beach bag completed with the fabric bought recently. It has just enough space for a towel, book and a few other things needed for a day on the beach.

Swatch Swop - work in progress

Thinking about a design for Jesse's Swatch Swop was relatively easy as I already had a design based on a Venetian window that I could use and I thought this would look good as a repeated pattern on fabric. My first attempt at this pattern was a while ago and the 'block' made with press print and in this prussian blue colour on paper.

I decided that the block should be made more substantial for fabric printing and started drawing my design on the lino and carving it out

I thought about using two colours in the design: grey and dark turquoise which are colours I like and also reminicent of Venice. I am hoping that the two colours will be layered with the grey on the bottom and dark turquoise offset over the top. After finishing carving the block I decided to print with the grey and this is the result:

I am pretty pleased with this first printing session and will let it dry and then go over the top with the second colour. Not sure if I need to fix this first layer by ironing it now or if I should fix after I have printed both layers. Can anyone please help with the answer to this?

Artist's Apron

A few weeks ago I decided I needed an apron for when I do my artwork and I decided to buy this Artist's Apron from Alicia. Her sewing skills are wonderful and this apron is really handy as it has pockets in the front (I mustn't fill them too much!) for my artist's tools. It is so lovely I don't want to spoil it by getting paint on it!

Creations link

After making these cushions which were a dream to sew, I was contacted by Caitlin whoose fabric I used to make them. She has very kindly posted a photo of them on her web page which you can see here. It is really great to see all the different fabrics made up into such good things. I think we have fallen in love with the elephant!

Swatch Swop

This lovely fabric swatch came in the post for me which is part of a Swatch Swap that the very talented Jesse of Jezzeblog has set up. As this is part of a Swatch Swop that now means that I have to print a piece of fabric to send to Jesse; therefore new project coming up - watch this space.

Fabric for Beach bag

New fabric purchased for a beach bag - love the colour and design. Will post results when finished.