I’ve had a very productive morning, printing strips of fabric to make into lampshades. These are for a gallery in Leeds called The Bowery who asked me to supply them with some of my handmade lampshades. I’m really excited about this opportunity to see some of my lampshades and gilhoolie patterns in a gallery. I decided to go for a deep pink for the tulips, a dusky purple for the butterflies and a bright turquoise for the windmills. The only problem is I never seem to be able to screen-print without holding my breath in case I mess up! I’m sure there must be some breathing techniques I should practice… All done now, just the lampshades themselves to make. And breathe….
Okay, this might have to be the last drawing for a week or so because I really need to get back to screenprinting and then make some lampshades now that all the kit has arrived. There seems to be a bit of a kitchen/retro theme going on here don’t you think?! The only problem is I don’t have a retro looking salt mill but I found this one on etsy, shame it’s sold already.
This fabric is from Heather Moore’s Cut Out and Keep collection and is called ‘Avenues in Straw’. I love the yellow and the simplicity of the design is so clever.
I’m posting this as my first update from my new gilhoolie Facebook page so I hope someone reads it, I need some ‘Likes’!!
I’m easing myself in gradually so this will be a very quick post just to say Happy New Year everyone! It’s my first day on my own and I’m straight into gilhoolie, with a break to meet a friend for coffee thrown in of course! I must admit it’s a bit too quiet but at least we ended the holiday with a great day indoors building Lego and making cookies while the storm raged outside…
I’m back to drawing again because I really enjoy it and want to practice more while I book my next craft fairs for the months ahead. After the Christmas order rush it’s nice to sit back and have a play with things like this cutlery drawing, using Heather Moore fabric again, because I love it so much.
Heather Moore cutlery
It’s funny, this time last year I was a month away from finishing work and just had plans to decorate the house, finish my Interior Design course and learn how to screen print (oh yes, and learn how to make a lampshade). Now it’s January again and I feel a lot closer to knowing what I want to do when I grow up 🙂 hehe!
I have lampshades to print and make for a gallery in Leeds, lampshade workshops to look forward to in February and March. I just need to find a regular local craft fair I like, if anyone knows any near Maidenhead please let me know!
Well, the Christmas holidays are whizzing by but there’s been plenty of time for nice cups of tea, along with far too many mince pies and choccies. It was so nice to have a bit of ‘me time’ yesterday and do a bit of drawing while the boys played with their new toys and bothered their Dad while he’s at home!
Retro teapot and cup
I really like the shape of my teapot and teacup (see my previous blog post ‘All nice and cosy’) and thought they would be fun to draw. Again, I added some detail with fabric; this time just stuck on and not machine embroidered so even easier. The fabric has a small pattern which worked really well and is in keeping with the simple ink drawing. One of my favourite Christmas presents was a bundle of fabrics from my Mum and this one is called ‘Chards’ from the Cut Out and Keep collection by Heather Moore. I’ve got a feeling I’ll be using more of her fabric in my pictures as the print is nice and small and quite retro too, plus the colours are lovely. Not sure what I’ll draw next but I know I want to do another armchair and lampshade one; maybe more traditional this time but I might have to go on the hunt for more fabric to add to my collection first…
Well that was a bit of ‘me time’ in the morning, then it was a pretend family gun battle round the house before dinner and a tombola after dinner (a sneaky way to earn pocket money from us parents, funny boys!)
I know I said I’d written my last blog post for 2011 but when you feel like being creative it can’t be helped and this is just a really quick one! Besides, all the Christmas shopping is done, presents wrapped, cards posted, just some mince pies to make (and mulled wine to drink!)
I’ve been wanting to do some drawing for a while but the Christmas orders meant I had to wait. This is just the first attempt; a pen and ink drawing of a Scandinavian style armchair and lampshade. The cushion and lampshade are machine embroidered which was a bit tricky as you can’t sew too much in case the picture falls apart! Just about did it but more practice definitely needed.
I’m going to do some more traditional ones too as I enjoyed it so much. This one will look nice in our living room, just the right colours…
My last post before Christmas – another order for beanbags, but this time for two boys. They have chosen union jack pockets which were fiddly to make but look really good. Again, it’s made from indigo blue denim and the stitching is a pale blue (the other one is red so that they can tell them apart). The photo isn’t brilliant I’m afraid; I should’ve asked my boys to be models but they’re out at the moment. I’ll have to get some better ones and put them on my folksy shop in the New Year.
Well, merry Christmas everyone! Thanks for stopping by and thank you to anyone who has ordered from me over the last few months since I started gilhoolie. I’ve got a really good feeling about 2012 and nine screen-printed lampshades to make already for a gallery in Leeds, more on that another time… For now all I want to do is turn on the Christmas tree lights, make mince pies and drink mulled wine… ho ho ho!
Well, I’ve been so busy these last two weeks, almost too busy to write blog posts, but not quite…Â These are two beanbags I made for a mum at school who ordered them as Christmas presents for her girls. The fabric on the pockets is a gorgeous floral pattern, one in blue and one in white. It was so nice to make something a bit girly. I really hope they get a nice surprise on Christmas day and spend many happy hours lazing on them!
Not long until Christmas and I’m so relieved I have finished all my orders…. (that was me taking a deep breath and sighing!) I’m looking forward to slowing down, and spending a lovely festive break with the family. All things gilhoolie will be a bit quiet for the next few weeks but I have so many ideas for the new year, can’t wait!
I’m not a natural runner, but I used to run every week, without fail, round the streets where I live. And I have to say I didn’t enjoy it much. The only things that kept me going were 1. knowing I would feel good about it afterwards and 2. Looking at all the houses as I ran past (I’d always make sure my route was down the streets with the nice houses!) Well, now I’ve given up running, (I decided life’s too short to do something you don’t enjoy and I get to walk to and from school twice a day now). But I still get to look at lovely houses, and in even more detail as I draw personalised house pictures for people. Not only that, I love doing it, I really do.
Here are some of my latest ones. Firstly, a gorgeous house with lots of windows, with my embroidered sky (including a pretty pink butterfly), in a white frame. This was for a lady who wanted to give it to a friend as a thank you gift.
Embroidered sky house
And secondly, another of my favourites, a Victorian semi for a friend who lives down our old road, with my original blue collage sky, in a white frame. I’ve got some ideas for developing these more in the New Year, but first I have beanbags to make. At least my orders for Christmas are nearly done now and I can relax a bit, but I’ll miss looking at houses for a couple of weeks… Maybe I should go back to running? Or maybe not!…
I don’t know about you, but our postman is delivering parcels daily from Amazon at the moment, so when the he rings on the doorbell it’s really good to know the Christmas gift shopping is going well. But today… my gilhoolie business cards from moo arrived too! Very exciting indeed.
I chose the mini business cards that look a bit more designery (I know that’s not a real word, but you know what I mean) and are very dinky and smooth. I’d definitely recommend them if you need business cards and want something a bit different.
I have four designs; two gilhoolie tulip pattern ones; one with my logo and one with a close-up of one of my labels on a pouffe. They all come in a rather lovely box too. Okay, so you already know I get excited by silly things… and this is definitely one of them. Only problem is, they’re a bit too special to give away!
I’ve been making union jacks this week, amongst other things. Better not tell you what they’re for as it’s a Christmas order but I’ll put a proper photo of the finished item on here soon. It’s just a shame I’m a bit late for the Royal wedding! As I don’t have time to tell you how I did it, here’s a link to the instructions I used and a lovely blog by Cherry Menlove.
Must get on, lots of orders to get on with… back soon…
