Blueberry Park Fabric

It has been a long time since I last bought quilting fabric.

My tiny sewing fund has been limited to materials for my City and Guilds.

That all changed when I found out the lovely Karen Lewis of Blueberrry Park had her first fabric line coming out. It started a bit of an obsessive searching to find the prints and the things that people have been sewing with it!

I have a few scrap pieces of Karen's screen printed fabric which I am treasuring until I have the perfect plan for them, so I knew I HAD to have the collection of fabric.... but how to afford it?

Having just a few fat quarters wasn't going to cut it, I NEED to have the whole collection...

That's when the amazing UK shop that is Simply Solids came to the rescue. They have a wonderful monthly Blueberry Park club. Seven fabrics from the collection each month, over ten months. So I can get the whole range and spread the payments - what's not to love?!?!?

This week the first bundle from Simply Solids arrived and I am in love! Seriously in love!

The first seven are from the selection above and they are gorgeous!

I have a plan for them already. I missed a very dear friends 40th birthday last year. I had planned to give her a quilt, but I just didn't manage it. I want to design and make a medallion quilt for her and these fabrics are just perfect. Maybe I didn't manage it last year because I knew Karen was going to bring me inspiration with her fabulous fabric line!

Scouring

At the moment I am having a bit of trouble sleeping and I am not able to just lie in bed... once I am awake there is no hope!

But waking at 4.30am ish has some advantages...

the house is super quiet,

I get to listen to my boys sleeping and dreaming,

a mug of tea with no pestering is bliss,

I can work through my course work,

I can make plans for what I want to try next....

Trying to put the time to good use is important me, otherwise I feel frustrated that I am just sitting there!

So this morning I was up at 4.15am and lay in bed for a while, then started planning my day.

After out textile trail day I have been researching natural dyes and how to prepare fabric to dye with leaves and flowers. The effects are really stunning.

One of the things I have discovered is that shop bought cotton needs to scoured before it can be used for dyeing. Even when it has been machine washed it still has chemicals and additives in the cloth that stop the dyes from fixing permanently to the fibres. I have been using Prepared For Dyeing (PFD) fabrics, but having run out I picked up some cheap cotton from Ikea to have a dyeing session.

I wanted to dye some black and charcoal for my course work, which needs to be worked in black, white and grey only.

As you can see the results were varied:

The fabrics are top left to right: Hessian, PFD cotton organdie, Ikea calico. Bottom Left to right: cotton scrim, Ikea cotton and PDF natural cotton.

They were all placed in the same dye bag and the hessian and organdie have absorbed the most black dye. The others came out grey and the Ikea cotton was variegated. Even those these are pretty cool I want more black!

The charcoal came out much better:

The Ikea cotton, which is quiet thickly woven came out blotchy again.

So at 6am I decided it was time to try scouring my fabric form Ikea and some cotton organdie. I know 6am is totally crazy!

It is a interesting process that requires Soda Ash, Metapex, water and time to simmer the fabric for at least an hour!

This is the second pot full this morning and is the Ikea calico. I am hoping this works because this is cheerfully cheap and took the colour well last time, just want to see if I can improve it!

The other Ikea cotton and organdie are drying on the line...

Fingers crossed this works!

Can I also say that I am expecially proud of my dyeing book?

Lots of experiments and colours! Need a new book soon!

Also mixed some Manutex dye thickening paste this morning which is currently being stored in clean margarine tubs... best label them before the boys put some on their toast!

An Afternoon of Colour!

I am lucky enough to live in area rich in textiles heritage.

Stroud is 10 miles away and has a wonderful International Textiles Festival every May.

They have exhibitions, talks and 2 Open Studio weekends!

Last Saturday I was able to get a ticket to a talk by my favourite fabric dyer, Ruth Issett.

Her work is inspirational and so bright!

I have managed to buy all her books over the last few months and I use her book Colour on Cloth whenever I am dyeing fabric. It is full of dye recipes, methods and inspiration!

During her talk she explained some of her processes and her inspiration. She is very passionate about colour and exploring it's uses. I really enjoyed the talk and learning how an experienced textile artist works.

I love being able to explore how other artists work. Midi and I are off the on textile trail together on Sunday. We have a list of artist we want to visit and places to stop off for yummy cake... it is going to be so much fun!!!

A Colourful Journey

The Easter holidays have flown by in a flurry of days out, painting the boys bedroom and completing my City and Guilds module.

Before the Easter madness started, I sneaked off to Bath for a bit of time to myself. Whenever I am in Bath I have to visit Country Threads. It is my favourite local quilt shop and is a MUST if you visit Bath.

After a little shop I headed off to The American Museum to visit the Kaffe Fassett exhibition.

In the garden leading up to the exhibition space there is a huge tree that has hanging lanterns and pompoms in a riot of colour:

 It really made me smile and is a great way to start the exhibition!

Once inside, nothing can prepared you for the riot of colour! 

When I started patchwork many moons, Kaffe's book Patchwork was one of the first books I bought. It was a real treat to be within breathing distance of some his amazing designs and be able to see the detail of his fabrics up close.

The exhibition is organised into colour sections with pieces of ceramics, paintings, knit wear, tapestry and quilts in each section. 

My favourites were the quilts, which were so beautiful.

This room was so calm and relaxing, with gorgeous greens and pinks. The designs are simply amazing and the wall hanging at the end of the room took my breath away!

Inside the museum proper they have his original fabric design sheets framed and hung. It is fascinating to see how he went from a painting to a full fabric range. Also the bold colours are just gorgeous!

I took LOADS of photos, but these are the ones I love the most!

If you get a chance to go, you must! The exhibition runs until the 2nd November at The American Museum in Bath.

Fabric Sunday: Reds

Following on from yesterdays post about the colour, I thought we would look at the wonderful red fabric around at the moment!

Flurry - Poppy Dashwood Studios

Starting at the Village Haberdashery, this Flurry in Poppy is my favourite! Just look at all those lovely irregular spots! The Village Haberdashery has a wonderful range of red fabrics - all totally yummy!

Birds and Blossoms in Paprika

This is simply divine from the Eiko collection at M is for Make. I love the fact that red comes in so many different shades and each one is so lovely!

Gone Fishing in Red

This fabric from Brandon Mably at Eclectic Maker is so bright and fun! I love the fish on the red background!

Up in the Air: Dark Red

Up in the Air by Heather Moore at Backstitch shows how red can be used against a background to create a striking print. I love the complex design of the birds on the background. It is so lovely!

Hope you like my choices.

I would love to see any fabulous red fabrics you have found recently!

Colour: Red

Module 3 of the City and Guilds is all about Colour.

I love colour and I am fascinated by the development of the colours we now take for granted today. How did the colour lilac develop? Where does Cerulean Blue come from?

So I thought I would start a series investigating colour, working from the 3 primary colours of red, yellow and blue, then looking at secondary and tertiary colours...

It will help me build colour ideas and palettes for my design work, a kind of online mood board...

So starting with red...

Red is the colour of blood, strawberries and ladybirds. It is a sign of danger - think of stop signs - all over the world. It is vibrant and represents passion, desire and energy.

When you think of the first world war it the red poppies that spring to mind and rivers of bed blood that flowed through France.

In Eastern cultures it represents happiness. My youngest came home from school yesterday with a red Chinese packet with sweets for the Chinese New Year. The red envelope symbolizes good luck and is to ward off evil.

Red is my favourite colour and used to be my mums. When she passed away she had a red coffin and everyone had to wear red to the funeral... that would have made her smile!

Gotta love a pair of red shoes!

New Stash Club

Over the last few weeks I haven't been fabric shopping in the traditional quilters sense. I have been buying prepared for dyeing fabric - loads of cotton velvet, cotton organdie, silk and cotton lawn!

So yes, technically still fabric, but not my usual shopping habits of gorgeous quilters weight, designer fabric... starting to drool now!

I need patterned fabric for my classes, so I can't afford to let my stash run low whilst I am concentrating on my City and Guild Course. This is where stash clubs like the wonderful Sew Solids Crew comes in!

Simply Solids is my favourite place to buy Kona Solids. Justine is super fast at getting fabric goodies to my door and she is lovely! Need I say more?

Last year I was part of the Sew Solids Crew for solid colour and I now have a wonderful stash of colours, some of which I would not have bought for myself but have come very handy. This year Justine has launched a mixed club - a mix of solid colour and textures basics, which is a wonderful combination at a great price.

It also means my stash will stay topped up even if I am off experimenting with Procion Dyes!

Go check out the new clubs, they are great value for money and the best way to build a quilters stash.

Christmas Spinning Stars!

Earlier this year I responded to a request from the Fat Quarterly team for contributors to the magazine.... and my design was accepted!

I did a lot of dancing around the studio and then had a minor panic attack about how I was going to transfer the idea from my iPad to fabric....

Luckily my idea worked!

The lovely fabrics came from Makower and the Modern Christmas line by Henley Studio. I matched it with a white back ground so the stars would float and spin. It is backed with grey Klona.

The quilting is with Tula Pink variegated 50wt Aurifil thread in the spinning stars - I will post a close up of the quilting later in the week. I quilted stars and swirl with white Aurifil 50wt into the background.

My lovely friend Liz helped me sort out the photos and then posed for me!

I hope you like my first pattern for Fat Quarterly -go buy a copy, it is a fabulous e-zine!