Screen printing catch up

Last week I started back at my screen printing on fabric course. This term is only six weeks, so I need to think quite carefully what I want to achieve.

But first a catch up on last term when I designed some simple patterns that I could print out to make patchwork or to sew with. When I went to London recently to visit the Kaffe Fassett exhibition I bought some lovely linen at The Cloth House, so in the last few sessions I printed out one of the patterns onto this new linen and some cotton and have used it to make a little clip purse.

This was me trying different combinations and colours and material with the designs to see what worked well together.

Then printing the flower design onto my new linen - which had a line running through it - looks quite neat!

I've made quite a few of these purses now using the pattern from here.  Here I am just machining the lining and outer fabric together, and you can see the interlining and interfacing.

Now turned the right way out, and I'm about to glue the frame onto the bag. I forgot to take any photos as I was too busy concentrating on not getting glue everywhere!

Finished purse...

... and with lining showing.

It is quite exciting to use my own fabric design that I have hand printed to make something! I think I will make another purse using the yellow flower sometime.

This term I am planning to print some slightly larger images, so that I can make some cushion covers for the garden seats.

Nature Walk

It was such a beautiful day here yesterday so, after doing the chores around the house and planting up  some seeds in the greenhouse, I took Beanie on a glorious walk in the sunshine. The photos follow our path from the house in a circular walk back home again - a bit of a nature trail.

First of all, a little lamb sleeping on our back doorstep. I'm supposing the step was nice and warm from the sun!

Then past the goose, which usually makes great hissing noises when Beanie and me walk by....

.... and on past the old railway bridge with the horses, ....

...past the ducks in the stream ...

... and the hens in the field....

.... through the wood....

..... along the lane, with primroses in the banks ....

... then past lots of sheep and lambs in the fields.

This slightly older lamb exploring the hay rack 'who me?'

This adorable lamb asleep in the sun.....

....and this one sunning itself.

I stopped to look at the view from the lane ....

...and then turned along another lane and looked to the view of our local fell ....

... and Beanie stopped for a drink in the stream.

More chickens at my friend A's farm...

.... then back to our garden with cherry blossom (and blue sky!)....

daffodils....

and bright daisy blooms by the front door.

The sun was so warm on my face, it was lovely - I really think spring has arrived now. 

Kaffe Fassett Exhibition "A life in colour'

I'm finally reunited with my lap top again after its little accident with a cup of tea! It is so nice to get it back again, and I will be so careful in future. I therefore have quite a lot to report, where to start?

Well, I think it will be my trip to London, a week or so ago now, combined with visits to my good friends in London and Bedfordshire. London was great, I love to visit and managed to pack quite a bit in. I arrived on Thursday afternoon and spent a little time at the shops, particularly The Cloth House in Berwick Street. What a fantastic fabric shop, full of beautiful and unusual cloth. I was looking for some linen that I could use with my latest screen printing design and found some lovely linen with a stripe running through it. (more on that another time) I stayed overnight with a very dear friend K and we had a lovely meal and a good catch up.
The next day I was back into central London, and off to the Fashion and Textile Museum to the opening day of the Kaffe Fassett 'A life in Colour' retrospective exhibition. The exhibition closely follows his autobiography;  it was an explosion of colour and it was fascinating to see the very wide range of paintings, tapestries, knitting, mosaics and fabrics that Kaffe has worked on over the years.
Below are just a few photos from the exhibition. Quite a few of the quilts I recognised from the book 'Kaffe Quilts Again' so it was lovely to see them up close.

If you are a fan of Kaffe and are in the area, it is well worth a visit.

I then went on to the Selvedge Craft Fair at the Chelsea Old Town Hall, and enjoyed a wonderful couple of hours looking at all the fabulous work by some very talented makers.

Then off to stay with another very good friend J who lives in Bedfordshire. I had a fab, very packed (and snowy) weekend with her - Saturday saw us back in London at the 'Country Living Spring Fair' The fair was very busy and very crowded, but again there were some beautiful things for sale. This was my first time at a Spring Fair, having only been to the Christmas Fairs in Glasgow and Harrogate in the past. 

I had quite an eventful trip home on the train - with trains being cancelled due to the snowy weather, but all in all a brilliant few days away.

View from my window - March

I know we are now just into April and I haven't yet added my March photo's from my kitchen window! One reason for this is that my laptop and a mug of tea had an unfortunate meeting, so said laptop has been away for some much needed tlc, and I've just heard it is now recovered, phew :)

The photos are just my record of the changing seasons throughout the year in my little area of England. In January and February I just added pictures here and there in different posts, but I think I will keep them together now and post at the end of the month. We started the month with a little winter sunshine, but the sunshine soon went and the weather turned to snow.

Spring still seems just around the corner, but just can't make it round yet! The grass outside in the fields is not showing much sign of growth and I'm sure the sheep and horses (and also the farmers) are getting a bit fed up with the snow, which seems to have been with us off and on all month.   However, we have been very lucky here not to have had the really deep snow that some parts of Cumbria and North Yorkshire have seen.

 It has been a bitterly cold March with the snow and strong winds. Lets hope April is a little better.