Jelly Roll Quilt Class with Christine

Last Thursday, 9 ladies &  1 teacher all gathered in a little shop in Chichester.  The results were these:

Schoolhouse mark 2

It's hard really to know where to start talking about such a big day.  With such a huuuuge undertaking it seems tricky to boil it down to one point, to begin.  But here goes:

95 ladies, 10 teachers, 1 primary school, and an infinite amount of fun and creativity.  Those are the basic facts.

Here were the teachers: 

Amanda Fowler - Using shrink plastics, chain, beads, inks, stamps, & cord, some lovely jewellery was made - 

Debs Winrow from Delish Designs - another great Delish mini album

Mandy Shaw's gorgeous linen, red gingham & ribbon scissor keep - matching the lovely pincushion from last July 

Sue Allan's funny felt buttoned up bears..

Jane Gill's living floral punch craft flowers...

Jane Randall's layer cake delight - using a moda layer cake, some quick cutting & stitching, et voila! It's a cushion, or a table runner or the start of a quilt!

Corinne Amos made some fab fimo millefiore beads

Kim Reygate was stamping with chalks...

Sandy Bower was making folded boxes - an ever popular class!

and last but not least, Carolyn Forster made these fabby - let's see if I can get this right: 'poor man's biscorneau' and a project bag - all in one hour!!

Add to that lunch, cakes, afternoon tea, goody bags and all the usual excitement and kerfuffle and that is school house!

So all that remains to be said is thank you for everyone coming - I hope you enjoyed it!

And thank you once again to all those who helped on the day, and in the run up and wind down too, it was greatly appreciated and much needed!

 I would post more pictures but silly blogger won't let me...

A x

the Bubble Bag Pattern Tutorial at last

Bubble Bag Pattern

ages ago - and i mean aaagggessss ago, I promised a pattern on the bubble bag.  Finally I have had the time (and patience) to figure out how to add a pdf here.  phew, my head hurts just thinking about it.

I hope it works, if it doesn't bear with me...

I'm going to ignore the fact that I haven't posted anything up here for at least a month and just go headfirst into all the squillions of things that need saying.  Or showing.  Whatever.

First up was Alexandra Palace Knit & Stitch show.  We had a massive delivery of Japanese fabrics in literally the day before and decided what the heck - lets take it.  So for the first time we had a little open area for cutting, and all the fabrics on the bolt.  Whew!  At one point my arms were seizing up with so much over use.  I guess you could say it seemed to go down well.  We didn't bring back quite as much as we took, lets say.

But of course I did my fair share of fabric buying too, some lovely liberty prints & others from Fabrics Galore (we seemed to just be swopping fabrics at one point).  

I also met the lovely Manda, from the amazing new magazine Sew Hip which if you haven't seen yet you should definitely check out.  Finally a magazine for people like me!  I am going to get a shop subscription - so if you want to know where to buy it, hopefully soon I'll be able to help you out.  I am especially excited about the next issue, but I won't tell you why - you'll understand when you see it...

The stand next to us was Clothkits, who we have come to know fairly well as she too is Chichester based and has popped into the shop on more than one occasion.  There are very few times I wish I worked somewhere else (I do love my job) but I do secretly want to work for Clothkits, they are doing such exciting things, really bringing the company up to date and then some.  After much umming and ahhing (is that how you spell that, I don't think I have ever written it before) I forgoed  (?) the purchase for me for now, (which would have been this) and I purchased for my fake neice (she isn't related but I think she should be) this cute little dress, 

which I sewed up last night and have thus created my first item of clothing from scratch.  (Unless you count a big skirt I made when I was 17, and it really shouldn't be counted.)

Anyhow, straight after that little dressmaking fire was in me and I just had to spew out another, this time with the new Sandi Henderson Farmer's Market range from Michael miller.  mmmm....  too cute...

 

Look at the cute cherries fabric with the gorgeous stripe lining....   oooh i like. 

and the frills.... aahhh...

So next step is to utilise some of that green liberty fabric I just showed you and make the Amy Butler Lotus tunic.  This is very nerve wracking for me, but I will do it.  If only big cat will get off the pattern pieces:

Oh, and lastly, I just wanted to show you the pics of my 3D card class we did on Saturday.  I was pretty pleased with the results, although it was fiddly and frustrating so I'm not sure how everyone enjoyed it.  I sometimes like to really keep my cards simple, and other times like to overwork them ridiculously.  This was one of the latter times.  So here is one using a paper artsy bauble, stamped onto acetate, embossed, cut out, slotted together, hanging in a little triangular box... you get it.

and then a diorama using Just Johanna's three french hens stamp... I love this stamp.  Seriously.  This whole range is just very funny and cute.

 

so, it's stamped seperately, I just used a tiny bit of red and blue colour on their berets, I stamped and embossed on acetate at the back, using a Amuse stamp, and my little letters stamps which I love (but didn't go down too well in the class, too fiddly, but I love that I can stampe ANYTHING with them on ANYTHING) saying ooh la la on the acetate and the greeting on the front. Here's a close up:

 they are Claude, Michel et Henri Hen.  It's great that the classes have more space, even though they are staying with the same amount of people.  I get frazzled enough with tiny classes so I'm not sure how I would do teaching a big one!  And now at least we don't have to worry about the fabric getting ruined in the tiny fabric room and we have natural daylight.  Great stuff.

Soon the last room should be ready and I can move some of my stuff in - finally!

So next it's off to Houston again for quilt market - is it that time of year already???  Hopefully I'll have lots of lovely things to show you when we're back.

A present story

My brother is so difficult to buy presents for. I know loads of men are, but he won't even tell me what he wants for his birthday or christmas, he says things like, whatever I need I can buy myself (but what can I buy you?!), I don't really need anything (ok, but what do you want?), something for the flat (uh, ok, but what does the flat want?), and finally after mucho pestering he fobs me off with either 'write me a story' or 'paint me a picture'. And I'm never sure if he actually wants either of those things, but he says it cause he can't think of anything else. And once you give him the things you watch him carefully to judge what he thinks and you cannot tell at all. Once I wrote him a story, and a few weeks later after not hearing anything about it, I emailed him to ask if he actually received it. The email I got back read 'yep. read it. liked it. thanks.' My brother is a man of few words. (nb. I thought it was a great story, all about mining socks - mine were miners, his were stinkers...)
Anyway, these days I tend to anticipate his request, and this year decided to combine the 2 - well, it was a decade birthday, after all. So for the big 30 my bro got the following little story book:


meet james

james is trying very hard to think of a way to make some money.




phew!! its hot with all this thinking.



Better give my brain some air...


better drain it so it doesn't make a mess.

there. That'll do for the moment.

all these acrobatics are thirsty work...



mmmm...

brainwave!

james' amazing brain juice: £1000

I write these little stories to entertain myself, more than anything else... but I did catch a glimpse of a smile I think...

The grand unveiling.

I have been very lax about my photos of all the building works, I can only say that things have been stopping and starting and stopping and starting and my camera only remembered to take pictures during the stopping moments.. which weren't so interesting really.
So here now, for the upstairs at least, is the grand unveiling. Seeing as there have already been about 6 classes in the paper salon (posh name for papercraft room) I think it's a bit overreaching to call it a 'grand' unveiling but here goes anyway: The Fabric Room (excuse the wire hanging from the ceiling, that's my fault for leaving it there)

And the paper room (sorry, salon)


(notice the lovely floors, ooh I had fights over those floors...)

D'you like the pink walls? I just had to, I did. Although I abstained from all the walls being pink, and instead went for a lovely selection of the following colours: soft khaki (pastel green), icelandic blue (light blue) stepping stone (aqua) cocoa (mmmm lovely mushroomy brown) and I think the pink is called hard candy. Oh yeah, and the lovely fail safe that is magnolia. There was a darker pink too, but I just did NOT like it, so it went on the chairs instead. Notice how all the chairs match the colours of the walls?
Now, I am actually a darker and bolder colour lover, so this was tricky for me, introducing colour to a space that needed to be light, airy, warm, cosy, conducive to creativity and friendly. And not put anyone off (even those who don't like pink) Whew! I'll be happy if I made it half way through that list of requirements, I'm not sure all is possible.
And our lovely shelves, painted in stepping stone, constructed from scaffold boards, waiting to be instroduced to lots of lovely things...
So, my precious classrooms... consider yourselves officially unveiled.

ooohhh ribbons ooooh ooooh oooh

So, who doesn't get excited by ribbons, especially when they look like these beauties that recently came in from east of india..

oh, and these too, my job is sooo good, some of these are going in my hair I think, red on blonde, i like it.

ah, so pretty.. i love this, it's so fresh looking, kinda scandinavian. I love that look.

oh, and these love birds, - imagine all the things you could make based around these tweets.

no, don't laugh at me. I just love ribbon, ok? I have saved ribbons from things all my life. I often wear in my hair a flourescent pink liberty ribbon from a present a friend gave - not even to me. I used to cry when I cut the ribbon scraps at my saturday job in a fabric shop in town as a teenager *why do they have to be cut short, i cried, keep them long, and free...* Maybe those tears weren't running down my face, but they should have been (what with that and some of the fabric monstrosities they had there) (and the fact that back then I seemed to buy anything with sequins. I wanted to be some kind of disco queen. This was the NINETIES, too.)
I love ribbon. I should stop here, before I disclose anything too embarrassing.

A momentary derailing

So here is the promised update on the flat above the shop.
hahahahahhaaaahaaaahhahahahaha. Excuse me while I laugh hysterically. Everything was going smoothly, floors were coming up. walls were being stripped, smell was (mostly) being dispersed. And then, on that fateful day we packed up and left for Festival of Quilts, our man who does, did one, and decided to go on a bender.
And then nothing...

Nothing. I want you to be hearing the wind whistling, the birds are silent, the children have gone away, all is quiet...

I want you to be hearing the sound of tumbleweed rolling through a wild west town just minutes before a shoot-out.
Nothing.






But don't worry - ha - I panicked you there, didn't I? It's ok - we got another man who can and all is back on schedule, IT WILL ALL BE OKAY

If I tell myself that enough times it'll be true...

The sinister penguins

It seemed like I told so many people at the Festival of Quilts that these Kokka penguins were somewhat sinister, that I thought I should make a card to celebrate the fact. Ok, so I was bored after work, that weird boredom where you really should just go home, but to motivate yourself to lock up and turn out the lights, get yourself home.. well, just a little too much without a little relaxation with fabric.
I do think these penguins look sinister. Many people at the show looked at me strangely when I said that, but I hold to my words. It's all in the eyes. Despite this, however, it doesn't stop me loving them far more than you should love fabric. I would love to upholster some stools in this for a kitchen - mind you, I say that about most Kokka fabrics.
Someone at the show said they looked like penguin books, with the orange. I thought about making a card that was somehow inspired by that, but decided that was someone elses inspiration, not mine. So this is mine. I know who I'm going to give it to, and no matter what any of you say about this card, I know she'll love it.

The Bubble Bag

The other day I finally found time to get into town - you know what it's like, life passes you by, you find time to go visiting in other towns - hey, even countries - but getting into your own town centre, well, you just never really find the time. But get in I did. Boy has Chichester changed. All the high street shops are represented, and there are a lot of nice boutiquey shops too. When I was growing up all it had was building societies and old ladies shoe shops - you know the kind where not even old ladies like them? It was great for a teenager trying to express herself through fashion. Charity shops weren't a fashion choice, they were a necessity (however that brown safari jacket I wore to my record of achievement evening was maybe not a necessity, maybe just a bad choice)
I am rapidly veering off point here, as tends to happen, so bringing myself back to the point I will tell you my discoveries and hence my thought processes:
1. I don't like high street fashion
2. I can't afford boutiquey fashion
3. I should make my own clothes more... from scratch rather than the usual buying/cutting/sewing/cutting again/ sewing/ wearing holey/people laughing look.
4. Where shll I start...
5. Hmmm, time...
6. okay, a bag. That'll take less time until I have my office/studio upstairs where I can lay it all out and do it properly, rather than ending up with something that looks like a straitjacket.
7. nope.. can't think of a seven.

So I went into accessorize, and saw this cute little clutch bag, or rather I thought it was a clutch, until I opened it and saw it's cool chain handle... lightbulb moment. Our jewellery making chain doesn't have to be just jewellery... hmmm. So I rushed home (or rather, walked slowly, it was one of those rare sunny days) and dug out this lovely Michael Miller fabric which has just been itching to be used, and made the bubble bag. so named for it's puffy tendency, like all the bubble skirts that are around at the moment (which I am NOT a fan of, by the way). I could call it the eighties puffball I guess, but the bubble bag it is.
I embellished the fabric with black beads and sequins, subtle, but twinkly.

Overall, I am pretty pleased. Now I just need to find somewhere to use it.