Merry Christmas

Sitting here with a glass of Baileys, christmas songs in the background and snow outside, I just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas (it's been quite merry already so maybe just a Happy Christmas!).

On behalf of both of us I just want to say a huge thanks to all of our customers and students who have supported us this year. It's been a fantastic year for us and we're really looking forward to next year, getting our act together and putting on more classes, as requested, so watch this space.

In the mean time, here's a few of our Christmas pics to get you in the festive spirit too (though Baileys helps!).

Maisie's quilt.....

Well I have finally finished this play quilt for Maisie. It is a sample quilt, when I started to make it we didn’t know whether the baby was a girl or a boy so I picked more neutral colours.

I was born in 1955 (yes I know I don’t look it ha ha) so I went for these 1950's style prints. The colours really remind me of the 50's as well as my mum loved wearing green because she had auburn hair.

It's really special as it is our first family heirloom for our first granddaughter. We have already had some good times playing on it and i've even had to wash it as she has already christened it!!








Here she is on her first Christmas card that Kirsten made looking as cute as ever....

Christmas market low down....

Here are some of the photo's from the E17 Designers Christmas market. Better late than never!!

If you still haven't got all of your presents here are a few more great events happening before christmas......

Felt bowls...

Just because i'm really proud and think they look great here are the felt bowls we made...
We've only got a few left so you must love them just as much as us!

Catch us at the E17 Designers Market.....

Hello,

Just a reminder about the upcoming E17 Designers market. Starts at 7pm on Friday night at the Asian Centre in Walthamstow Village. It's a great night with a free festive drink, scrummy cakes and good music. It has a real community atmosphere where you can also get some handmade and unusual christmas gifts that aren't on the High Street. With your £1 entry you get entered into the raffle for great little goodie bags, donated from the stall holders.

We've got some lovely new felt bowls that I am very impressed with, even if I do say so myself! Some colourful felt necklaces and some cute little stocking fillers.

A firm favourite is Vintage Frillseekers where you are guaranteed to find a great little vintage number.


Make sure to get there early as it gets really packed......(from last year)

Printing bug....

Hello,

In October we went along to Inky Cuttlefish Studios for their 'Introduction to Printing' workshop. I loved it so much, i've now got the printing bug and want my very own studio and equipment but that won't happen anytime soon so i'm making do with my coffee table!
It was taught by Nick Morley who was great, I think he knows everything there is to know about printing and was very patient with all of our questions!! Check out his work and if you get the chance go to the V&A Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green for the Wonderland exhibition which he is part of.

Back to the printing - there were only 6 of us on the course which made it nice and intimate and we covered silk screen printing, fabric printing, etching and lino cuts. My favourite was the etching but you end up with a tiny piece from so much effort so I might just stick to silk screen printing.

Here's a few pieces of our handiwork....

Catch us at the E17 Designers Christmas Market...

Hello,
We've been pretty busy making lots of new bits and pieces for the upcoming Christmas Market. Including some great new prints so make sure you pop along. There is always a great selection of work and new faces popping up so its always worth coming along if you're in the area. It's only £1 and you get a free festive drink - which is always good at Christmas time.
Hope to see you there.
Kirsten

Where has all the time gone.....???

Well it was just over a year ago that we started this blog. Kirsten and I was just talking about how much we have enjoyed the website and blog, looking back over what we have done, but we have only had two comments! This made us laugh thinking whether anyone was actually looking at it so we checked out our statics and were amazed that in one month we had over two thousand hits, well thank you for looking at us but please leave a comment as we would love to here from you.

It has gone from strength to strength and looking back its surprising how busy and productive we’ve been even after my long and blissful holiday.

I spent the summer in France again this year; we drove down to the west of France and spent five glorious weeks by the sea. This year we bought bikes and cycled around discovering new places, having fresh sea food in little sea side restaurants, watching the sun go down over the sea it seems like a lifetime ago......

Just as well, as its back to work with a vengeance.

I have some good classes this year with lovely students. Our mixed media class is full with a waiting list, I am sorry if you didn’t get on it! I have been asked to put on another class but I cant mange it this time I’m afraid so I will post when the next classes come around. The City and Guilds weekends have been popular too and we just had the first one which was fun but hard work.

I am still working on the William Morris theme in my own work and have decided to keep working on and developing it for a year. I still get inspired by the whole movement and am still excited about the work.

There is a new exhibition on at the house. I haven’t been to it as I missed the private view on Friday but am hoping to pop along soon so I will tell you more later. I have been cutting stencils and using car spray paint with them.

Experiments In Colour: Thomas Wardle, William Morris and the Textiles of India’

10 October - 24 January

This exhibition explores the remarkable collaboration between William Morris and the Victorian textile entrepreneur, Thomas Wardle (1831-1909). Together they experimented with natural dyes and printing techniques and their interest in colour led them to a joint fascination with the textiles of India. This exhibition explores the fruits of this partnership, a unique moment in British textile history. ‘Experiments in Colour’ is curated by Dr Brenda King and forms part of a series of exhibitions celebrating Wardle’s centenary.

Design Show Inspiration.....

It was a while ago now but I popped along to 100% Design and i've only just got round to downloading my images. I was quite amazed at the quality of design this year. It seems to be in abundance all around which is great to get the creativity flowing. I really loved the 100% inspired section which had these great paper & card board lighting and furniture pieces.



I also popped along to Tent - a design show in the Truman Brewery on Brick Lane. It was a great little space showcasing new and upcoming designers. There were lots of great design especially retro and 50's inspired prints.






I really loved the textile stand - the work was beautiful.....