Bag no.2

I've finished printing up the fabrics for my bags and now the sewing and construction work begins. I don't think I've shown you this fabric design... it's kind of a bubble and squeak really. I was having some fun with different screen printing patterns I had from previous endeavours. The colour choice was 'egg-ed' on by my Big Girl's love for aqua blue.

For a long while there I really didn't think it would all work, but then suddenly, it did. That's the funny thing about these bag panels, a normal fabric design can work but then a funny little put-together can too ;) The bag is lined with another Atomic colour combination I printed a while ago and never really found the right use for it. I think it works just fine as lining.

Hope you're having a lovely weekend :)

My Creative Space - Atomic Green

I love this green. It's so fresh and vibrant. More bag panels are being printed. Happy Creative Space day! See more spaces at Kirsty's.

Atomic variation

I'm working on a new fabric design for a handbag panel...

... but I haven't been able to stop adding to it...

... the colour just kept spreading...

I kind of liked the creative anarchy of leaving a white patch, but I had to see what it looked like all 'finished'...

I like them both actually. Looking forward to playing with this design a bit more... spreading it out a bit maybe.

Have a lovely weekend :)

My Creative Space - Atomic Bag

I've been working on some bags in my Atomic design. This one is for a friend's Christmas Shopping list.

Find more creative spaces at Kirsty's over at Kootoyoo.

Inspiration: Erin Endicott

I was having a long leisurely look through the beautiful Blue Sky Butterfly Tumblr the other day and came across the breathtaking embroidery of Erin Endicott. These pieces are from her Healing Sutras collection. Erin has applied contemporary embroidery to antique fabrics "as a canvas to explore the common threads that bind countless generations of women". I like this idea... and I especially like that a growing number of people are once again embroidering these days. It makes me want to start a new embroidery project... :)

My Creative Space - Coral Tees

I've been doing some more screenprinting of childrens' t-shirts... this time in a coral colour and handpainting some more detail into the designs. It's quite intriguing how the Atomic design parts can be tweaked to look quite folksy :)

More creative spaces can be found via Kirsty's at Kootoyoo.

Collections: Queens of France

More photo collections :) This time, the Queen statues of Luxembourg Gardens in Paris. I took these photos a couple of years ago now but I still find myself looking at them frequently. It's the hands that fascinate me - it makes the women come alive for me. I love their strength - inspiring female role models in stature... I really should research their history. My favourite is Valentine de Milan (the first two photos).

My Creative Space - Hex Blanket (finished!)

I'm sure all and sundry are heartily sick of the continuing saga of this hexagon crochet blanket, but finally... it's totally and utterly finished! My Big Girl is most pleased and has been enjoying the rainy snap here curled under her finished blanket.

More creative spaces over at Kirsty's.

Collections: Wood in the cathedral

More photo collections... this time my attention was arrested by all of the amazing wood carvings you see in cathedrals. The time and energy and detail of these pieces (which I presume largely go unnoticed) is just breathtaking for me. I'm becoming the mad lady taking macro shots of wood while everyone else is pointing their lens at the stars. He he :)

Collections: Marys

Do you find yourself taking sets of photos of certain things while travelling? While we were in Belgium I couldn't help but notice the large number of Mary statues scattered throughout the cities and began snapping them whenever I came across a new one :)

Okay, so one of them is Saint Elisabeth, but still - they are fascinating, aren't they? A friend of mine told me you can tell if it's Mary by whether she is standing on a snake or not... I'm sure each one is loaded with symbolism. So, am I the only Mary statue devotee or are there others out there? Do you have any 'visual' collections?

Postcard from Paris

Our four days in Paris were mostly work but it was still so lovely just being there. Note we look really pale and exhausted by this stage ;) Of course, there is the favourite window display photo...

There were a lot of 'work' functions like this cruise on the Seine...

...and mostly, of course, our trip to Paris was the inside of the trade fair buildings choosing frames for our shop with the Australian rep (Hi Patrice!)

Hope this hasn't been too boring. We had a wonderful trip and it's been lovely relaxing at home again and hanging out with our girls. Back to crafting very soon :)

Postcard from London

We had a couple of days in London and this was pure pleasure – no work, just seeing friends and taking in my favourite place in the world. We caught up with friends and my hand-printed t-shirt gifts thankfully went down a treat :)

Saw some fabulous window displays and had an amazing experience on our last night there... We were fortunate to be invited to the Oswald Boateng fashion show in London Fashion Week. Wow - what a hoot :) I don't think I'd ever appreciated before the fashion machine and being a direct witness to the spectacle was just incredible.

Last postcard tomorrow... Paris :)