the patchwork dress

been makin'

...some eco xmas tags from 'second use' magazines, for a little charity craft sale at someone's home this weekend.

Here they are, sorting them into piles of 6 before their ties go on..

I really don't know where the time goes, in between my plan for world domination (thinking up suitable careers for myself) I seem to spend too long on some things (like these). But you know what? I really enjoyed making these!

I really like these (my favourite)...

Here they all are, in their packs (which I also named things like 'come all ye faithful' and 'deck the halls'...I really do have too much time on my hands)... but looking kinda patchworky.

In true Blue Peter style, something I made a little earlier...

...more Christmas style recycled cards, which I've done singly as it's harder to get a whole pack together. Some of my Christmas cards already went to Entrading, so I've just used what I had magazine wise from last year. To be honest, I still can't get my head quite into making for Christmas this early. Perhaps I should think of them as winter makes.

...and the backs...the envelopes.

A Quilt of Christmas Winter Cards.

new photocards!

Phew!...I don't know why, but feel like I've just given birth... to my new photocard range, which I have been putting in the shop.

The idea is to have a range of cards which can vary and change as I go along, but that can suit a variety of occasions. I've often found it hard to find cards that I like, just simple and unfussy but uplifting - and you can't beat nature for that.

The small cards are suitable for everyday, birthdays etc - even note writing or artist's dates! - while the bigger ones are good for big occasions like weddings, births, important birthdays, or when you just want someone to KNOW you are thinking of them! They are quite heavy duty quality cards. I hope people like them...

In the meantime I am going to see how I get on offering free p&p/shipping on them - as it's too fiddly to work out, and then what you see is what you get.

I am also doing bundles of cards, so if you buy 4 in the same size you get the 5th free - with the option to chose the cards you would like... they can even be all 5 the same. The bundles are attractively tied with a ribbon (at the moment reclaimed ribbon too!).

..this photo shows a 'naked' bundle, (to omit flare) as cards will be individually wrapped in clear bags unless requested without.

As anyone who has loaded Etsy photos knows... it was quite a session!

a trip to ikea...

As I have been recovering from a recurring flu virus - third time lucky fingers crossed! artist's dates have been a bit thin on the ground, so last week I took myself out to Ikea...

Not perhaps what some people would think of as fun, but I've had many an epiphany sitting in the café people watching and thinking about "things".

Maybe it's the Ikea ethos of making design-led furniture and accessories simple and affordable for people, but I always feel a wave of potential - all these people trying to improve their spaces, although some, like one couple I encountered see it as more of a supermarket sweep, shouting across the aisles 99p!! and then the Ikea chorus of "but do we really need it?"

No, I didn't really need fabric... but I got some

I have long been a fan of Ian Mankin's fabric ads/features in interiors magazines, so decided to treat myself to this little pile of lookalikes. I'm not sure yet exactly what I might do with them. They may enter the stash slushpile, but at the moment I'm enjoying their jolly stripeyness... and it makes me feel better.

I also managed to complete a card order and put some more recycled cards in the shop (which sold immediately - thank you!)

these were for the order - themes were 'coast' and 'driftwood garden'.

some news...

diddlydeepdeedeep...here is a (rather long) news flash

recycled cards:
I recently had a serendipitous sale of what remained of my stock of cards in my Etsy shop to Jane at Snapdragon flowers who wrote a very nice account on her blog here. Whenever I need to blow my own trumpet I shall direct people to this!

All very serendipitous, because in the whole wide world Jane lives not far from me at all, yet found my blog through cyberspace via the flourloft, so thanks to Ginny there.

Jane was also the featured stallholder at the Country Living Spring Fair - so I was excited to hear from her as I loved her stall with it's bright green French delivery van, flowers and textile gifts everywhere. She also has some interesting and similar thought processes to myself about running a sustainable 'business'. Although daily I think about moving away from the label of 'business' and letting the whole thing evolve... rather as it's doing, actually...

I also completed and delivered a big fat pile of cards to Entrading
with about half of them Christmas themed. In my excitement to deliver, I totally forgot to take any photos of them, so you'll just have to go along if you are in Glasgow and check out the shop. They are such lovely people and pioneering an eco design ethic in Glasgow, with a great café too.

(Best way to find them - either from the front of the old Odeon cinema in Renfield Street, look up West Regent st to your left and they are up the hill at the lights...from Sauchiehall Street, turn up Hope Street at Watts department store, and they are a little further on the left, by the lights at West Regent Street.)

**I'll be doing some more cards to put in Etsy this week.**

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book and fabric stash:

I got some great new books recently... guess what I'll be doing over the next while. The Kaffe Patchwork book was a gift from my friend Suzanne who is back blogging with abandon!

The crochet book came from the recent Quilt Fair at Ingliston showground. There were 2 really good creative and textile orientated book stalls, this one, and of course Kaleidoscope of Milngavie, who have more quilting books than I can look at in one afternoon.

I recently ordered Simple Sewing by Lotta Jansdotter from Amazon, as have seen it around a lot but not inside it, to inspire me to do something with this lot

of secondhand or clearance fabric in a heavier weight that I have been stockpiling for some householdy projects I think...

I particularly like

and

I think coming across this fabric on Saturday has inspired me to do something with this stash

there are 4 small curtains worth of this fabric- I just love it!

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where to find it all:
Lastly, I also picked up this great map called 'dear green place' which you can order here of all the 'reuse' organisations and shops in Glasgow...

... it's a very well produced little leaflet with the map scaled in walking and cycling minutes.

Part of a much bigger scheme, you can check out here to see if a local map exists of your area in the world.

making...

I have been making...

...more recycled card packs. Some for a customer and some to go in the shop.

They are a labour of love, and I've agonised over what's the right price for them - from "but they are just cut up magazines" to the fact they take me 3 good sessions - first of all the image hunt, theme-ing and making, then pressing them to get them nice and flat, and packaging - then the photography and posting them on Etsy!

Etsy run a great system, taking care of a lot of factors - I can't wait until they have a currency converter! Meanwhile if you are in the UK and would like some cards, email me directly via thepatchworkdress@gmail.com and we can sort it out.

this was one of my favourites - apples and pears - which was one of the packs that got sold.

unbroken circle

Today I finished up an order of some cards for Intouch therapy centre

which Jill has asked for her reception area to use with her gift tokens. The card stand is an intermediate solution until I find a better one - at least it's made from recycled card and keeps them tidy & visible.

These catalogues arrived in the post this last week from Barbara, who had a friend pick them up at the Birmingham quilt show.

Both are written by Eli Leon about the African-American quilting tradition, and most specifically in "Something Pertaining to God" about the quilt artist Rosie Lee Tompkins also known as Effie Mae Howard.

I've been meaning to post about them all this week, and just got round to it, when I also received the latest copy of Quiltmania (a condition I think I'm slowly developing). Another little circle in my head closed when I noticed p16 featured an article by Eli Leon on this same artist, which had appeared at the Shelburne Museum in Vermont. In this funny little Typepad world, I've been visiting this blog this week, (one of last week's featured Typepad blogs) - and thinking how idyllic that little village looked with it's Quilting museum...and it's the same one.

What I love about these quilts is that they embrace irregularity and don't overplan. I'm sometimes torn between the thought of starting a quilt or a piece of work, and the impatience of seeing it come together or that I will lack the technical skill. One quilter, Laverne Brackens "can cut out the pieces for three quilt tops in a day and 'go back the next day and maybe do two of them'. If she feels like it, she can do all three, but it will take her until midnight." I stand in awe of this, and would like a little bit of that technique!

I suppose the difference is between the planning and arranging of a formal quilt, and a more intuitive responsive, almost sculpting or sketching process which is immediate - organic?

I am particularly fond of this by Rosie Lee Tompkins..

which is a wallhanging, but would make a great skirt! The 'punk appliqué style could be Vivien Westwood...

I find these works and those by the Gee's Bend quilters inspiring and energetic. Artwork critic Alison Bling wrote of Tompkins "These quilts are works of such distinction and devotion, ...they supersede established art-historical categories, forcing reviewers to retreat to that dumbfounded admiration that attracted us to art in the first place."

some new cards...

...and envelopes...in the Etsy shop today!

inspiration through the post...

Another thing that arrived in the post in the last week is my new subscription to Selvedge magazine.

..a double whammy as the new issue must have just come out too..

I love their photography, articles and styling. Rich with texture, ethnic history and colour.

I have also been catching up on card orders this weekend...

this is one of my favourite images.

green cards

This Friday and weekend was a bit of a mammoth card making session.

I had an order to complete for Joss Graham Oriental Textiles in London who are going to take some cards for their gallery.

Unfortunately they don't have a website, but I can tell you from my visit last summer, they do the most gorgeous contemporary and antique ethnic textiles - the kind I would like to fill my house with.

So thanks to friend Barbara for introducing me there...these are for you Barbara, so you can see what I've done!
front (cards)

back (envelopes)

I tried to keep the themes textural and colourful, as I think that will fit in with the gallery, also with an ethnographic feel, blended with interior and colourway images.

front

backs

I used a mix of second hand National Geographics and interior styling magazines. The National Geo cards are interesting, because the pages aren't quite wide enough (I cover the cards front and back, so they look good opened out) it means I 'infill' with a scrap of image on the back. I got quite into playing with parts of the same image, or using one that compliments or adds to it - kind of like split screen on a tv!

front

backs