Tabletopper Cloths

One way I have learned to show off some of my fabric designs and sell it, is to order an entire yard on the linen cotton canvas and hem it all around to make a simple decorative cloth I call a "tabletopper".

Its an easy way to add color and pattern to a table without committing to a full table cloth.
Its easy to change and launder and can be laid down the center, off to the side or on an end of a table as an accent.

With my studio tour looming close, I decided to wash up sample yards of my precious linen cotton canvas and make them available as tabletoppers.  I sold most of them at my last 2 studio tours so its time for new ones!

Picnic at Tilbury Beach in aqua

Saint Elfswythe Tartan in sorbet pink

Rose d'ete Trellis in sorbet pink

Picnic at Lake Slottsskogan in blueberry

Emma Toile in sorbet pink

Experimenting with Pillows

Pillows seem to be the perfect way to change out the look of a room instantly without spending too much money or too much effort.

You can use the same filler but change out the covers by season (or not - mine are year-round!).

Its also a great way to live with a new look for awhile before plunging headlong into a decor flip.

For instance, I am experimenting adding some pale pink to my all pale blue and white interiors, to add color and warmth.
So far its working really well and I achieved the look just by using pink floral pillows from my own line of fabrics,available on Spoonflower:  LilyOake on Spoonflower

With the studio tour a few weeks away, I have had to make some realistically-based decisions on which projects I can get done and which will have to be in the fall tour.
I'm not going to kill myself to get most of the painted furniture done - if I was at home everyday, that wouldn't be a problem.  But I work outside my home for someone else, 40 hours a week, which leaves creative time limited, on top of housework, kitty care, a large yard, significant other care, laundry, cooking....and freelance design work too, besides sewing.

One thing I will try to get done is the dollhouse donated to me by a neighborhood family who were cleaning out their garage and decided it needed to go!  It sat for years, unloved and ignored and I seemed the best person who could bring it to life again.
Its getting a new paint job on the outside, with blue and pink WP inside, in every room!
(I'll blog about that later)

Meantime, pillows have dominated my world these past 2 weeks.  I completed the six heart-shaped pillows and do they look CUTE!
With Mother's Day the weekend after my art studio tour, I do hope they sell out (what a spectacular gift for Mom!!).
But I also did some larger throw pillows for sofas and chairs.
I added two more 20" square pillows and three 16" x 26" rectangle pillows.
All in cotton linen canvas, which is my favorite Spoonflower fabric!

So here they are, in all their glory!
I have more yardage on order so I can take commissioned orders and also to stock my ETSY shop.

Rosewitha Stripe on aqua linen cotton canvas

May Day Summer Roses on basil stripe linen cotton canvas

Rosewitha on peony stripe linen cotton canvas

16" x 26" linen cotton canvas pillows

Picnic at St Hubert Priory Gardens in sorbet pink

Cathleen's Heart in blueberry blue, on linen cotton canvas 20" pillow

Picnic at St Hubert Priory Gardens and Cathleen's Heart

Gift Cones

   The old fashioned holiday craft fair season is upon us!
I have always looked forward to hitting up church bazaars and community center fairs for hand made, home made and one of a kind for gifts for family and friends.
In particular, I love the baked goods!

   I decided to enter a few craft fairs as a seller this year to help further my introduction of fabrics and wallpaper designs to the public.
I look forward to meeting all those folks and talking shop (decorating with fabrics and wallpapers)!

   To compliment my linen cotton tea towels, cotton pillows and lavender sachets, I am adding decoupaged gift cones and serving trays to my assortment of goodies on my sales table!

   The trays aren't completed yet but the cones were mostly completed last weekend (except for the four tartan ones).
Not a big fan of a lot of drippy, faux-Victorian ornament, I wanted to keep these simple yet festive, with the possibility they could be used to give a gift other then just at Christmas time too!

   I used inexpensive pastel colored hem tape as ribbon (something I have done for 20-odd years), along with thin silk embroidery ribbons and some special sparkly lace trims, pompom ribbons and velvets.
  The interiors of the cones are painted with chalk paints and the bases are paper mache so these cones are made to last!
   The outsides are covered in paper gift wrap from my fabric and wallpaper lines.

...of wildflowers and wings...

   Playing around with spring lilacs from my garden and my fabrics...

Blue Rose Wreaths and Sommarhus Tartan

May Day Summer Roses in peony pink on white

May Day Summer Roses on basil green stripe

Rosewitha on peony pink stripes

Saint Colette in blueberry

Sommarhus Tartan in blueberry

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

Looking Ahead to a Flower-Filled New Year

One thing constant in my life: flowers!
Whether they enliven my breakfast table, turn their sweet faces to the sun in my own garden, flow from the tip of my paint brush or grace my fabric and wallpaper designs, I have decided I cannot live without them, and I am in good company!

Happy New Year, all!
And here's to a year filled with wonderful, happy, colorful flowers!

"I must have flowers, always, and always."  - Claude Monet

"People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us."  - Iris Murdoch

"Perfumes are the feelings of flowers." - Heinrich Heine

Looking Glass Art

I've had this vision in my mind for quite awhile now, of a slightly distressed, ancient-looking mirror, with beautiful flowers showing through in the rubbed off sections.

So today I decided to go about creating that vision, using a really gorgeous, ornate brass frame I bought from a neighbor's garage sale, years ago!

After getting glass cut to size at Lowes, I returned home and used decoupage glue to attach a piece of patterned paper (in this case, I used my own design, which can be purchased through my shop, Lilyoake, on Spoonflower, here)

After it dried, I waited still longer for a dry moment outside (this is, after all Seattle) and ran outside to put on 5 light coats of Krylon's Looking Glass spray paint.
I have seen it used on many DIY blogs for homemade mercury glass effects.
I'm not even sure I used it on the correct side of the glass - as this was a first time experiment!
But in between each coat, I spritzed it with vinegar water and blotted off the paint in areas where I wanted my roses pattern to show through.

After it dried, I put it into the frame and lit the candles - its rather ghostly, and very romantic!

I will try a second time with new glass and try a different technique.
But I thought my first try was worth sharing!