Dreaming of Spring

Some poetic musings, on a dreary winter's day in Seattle.

In preparation for my participation in an up coming artist studio tour for North Seattle, I am washing and drying fabrics before sewing them up into pillows, scarves, aprons and napkins!

The public will be touring my studio, and subsequently my dining room too, which one must pass through in order to reach the studio.
They get to see my master bedroom along the way.
So all 3 rooms will be getting make over.

I can't help photographing a few of my fabrics with the bouquet of tulips I brought home yesterday.

Oh, and here's the link to my artist studio tour, scheduled for September:

Arts North Studio Tour

"Caroline" in blueberry blue, on heavy weight cotton canvas

"Lake Maria Summer Roses" in peony pink, on cotton poplin

"Summer Garden" in peony pink, on cotton poplin

"Watercolor Roses" in blueberry blue, on linen cotton canvas

New Spring Fabrics

Heading into spring, I am beginning work on my new fabrics for 2013/Summer.

Here are my latest offerings, which can be found and purchased in fabrics, wallpaper and wall decals at Spoonflower.

I am continuing to fuel my own passion for blue & white by offering up my designs in fabrics, decals and wallpaper!

Let me know what you think of my line!  Comments are very welcome.

I would also love to hear about any ideas YOU would like to see me do in blue & white.

Coming soon:  blue & white china prints featuring my very own acrylic and watercolor paintings of china from my own extensive collection.

And many more classic English & Swedish florals, and summery stripes and plaids.

 Copenhagen Blue Summer Tartan

 Swedish Rose Trellis in Blue

 Rose Basket in Sapphire Blue

Summerhouse Rose Blue

Custom Fabric!

Have you heard of Spoonflower.com? If not, check them out! Here's what they offer: your own custom designed and printed fabric!
YES, using your own design and colorways - choosing from several fabric types ranging from simple quilting cotton to linen & voile!
I hated the plain white curtains I ordered for my living room last week so sent them back for a refund. I thought they'd be OK but they were too plain Jane for me.
So instead I am considering having my own fabric printed in a pattern I love and a colorway that will work for my taste. I prefer a more purplish blue - like a denim shade, only lighter. It's hard to find and when I do, it's usually out of my price range.
But being a professional graphic designer, I was able to create my own RL-inspired blue rose pattern by scanning in an old cotton hankie from my Mom's vintage collection, cleaning up the roses from the background and colorizing them from red to monotone blues, then putting them through a couple watercolor filters in Photoshop to achieve the look I wanted.

The image I present to you now is the result - it will be repeated over and over to create an all-over rose pattern. You have choices in how to repeat the printed pattern and also how much yardage - from a swatch, to any yardage you want.
You can make the pattern private, for your own use, OR make it public so you keep the copyright but it allows anyone else to order the fabric too, giving you, the designer, a 10% commission!
There are several fabrics from other designers you can choose from as well.
Yesterday I sent for a sample square to see how the colors come out - everyone's computer and printer is working on it's own calibration. If the blues come back too teal or turquoise, I will tweak it and make it more purplish - when the color sample comes back right, I'll order my first 3 yards for my first living room curtain panel! (probably the cotton/linen blend)

Check them out and tell me what you think of it! I'm anxious to see how the fabric looks/quality, etc.

So many yards, so little time...

OK, I know I'm not the only one who goes a little crazy when they walk into a fabric store. Even though I may not have a specific project I'm working on that needs fabric, or even have the room in my budget at that time to buy some yardage, if I somehow find my truck veering off the road into the parking lot of a fabric store, I will not leave that store unless I have yard or two of (usually blue and white) fabric for some future project.

There was a time when I loved to sew aprons - kept a few of them which I wear all the time. I used to buy a yard of every cute fabric I saw. Usually little flowers, old-fashioned - or stripes and toiles.

I have a Jane Austen era-style dress which I "grew out of" a few years back and ever since I have had it in my mind to sew up a larger sized dress so I can join the Jane Austen Society here in Seattle and go in costume. I have several yards of a particular pattern that would work well for that dress. Never got it done.

I have always dreamed of sewing up a quilt of simple, old-fashioned squares in a myriad of blue tones and patterns - so I have many single yards for that. Haven't gotten to it yet. I dream of a sofa or window seat scattered with a myriad of throw pillows - have tons of fabrics for those too. Yet to sew them up...

Any who - point is, I (we?) end up with storage bins full of fabrics that I love so much I refuse to get rid of and am determined to keep for those future projects. But they are like art - and when you stack them up in front of you, they seem even more appealing. If I had to clean house, I'd rather toss half my clothes then get rid of these fabrics!

So, confession time - here is a small portion of the yardage I have collected. Most of it is deep inside the storage closet under the eaves off my bedroom - it was too hot upstairs to go digging for it this past week so I photographed what I could easily get at. What kind of fabrics do you usually collect? What future projects are they in storage waiting for?