All nice and cosy…

December 1, 2011February 8, 2025 Julie Gardner1 Comment

I know not many people use egg cosies these days but my six year old wanted me to make him one and how could I refuse? It gave me a chance to have more of a practice at machine embroidery and was pretty simple to make, thanks to my lovely Poppy Treffry book. I look forward to seeing him use it when he has a boiled egg for breakfast this weekend! 🙂 It’s not as big as it looks in the photo by the way and just fits an egg nicely.

Oh yes, I asked his friend if he would like me to make him one and he said “Yes please, can I have a lego brick on mine?!” Now there’s a challenge!

Events

Make a lampshade, drink tea and eat cake!

November 29, 2011February 9, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

Just to let you know I will be running lampshade workshops in the New Year for Sophie from Arts and Laughs. You’ll be able to make your very own 20cm diameter drum lampshade to take home with you. Oh yes, as well as chat, drink tea and eat cake, all in Maidenhead.

All you have to do is bring 0.5m of your own fabric (check out the links on the right-hand-side of my blog if you need ideas or get in touch with me if you need help choosing).

Click on the Arts and Laughs link for more details on dates and times.

Email sophie@artsandlaughs.co.uk or ring 07837 449 319 to book a place, it’ll be such fun!

Sewing projects

Just messing around…

November 28, 2011February 8, 2025 Julie Gardner1 Comment

Embroidered sky house picture — Do you like the butterfly?!

I had a go at embroidering the sky for one of my house pictures today as a bit of an experiment. Choosing the fabrics was fun and sewing them on wasn’t too bad, once I got the hang of it. I need to put it in a frame to get a better idea before I can say I’m entirely happy with it though. I must admit, sewing the clouds and sun onto the sky background was a bit strange as the needle had a mind of it’s own and straight lines are very difficult, but then clouds aren’t supposed to be nice and neat, so that’s okay (am I rambling?) What I’m trying to say is it was quite hard for a perfectionist, but I think the experience (!) was good for me too.

I had a lovely time at the school fair on Saturday by the way. Much more relaxed than last time and nice to just chat to people about what I’ve been up to. I’m looking forward to the Christmas Artisan Fair at Norden Farm (Altwood Road, Maidenhead) next Saturday, 3rd December (11 – 4pm). You might see this house picture on my stall if I can find the right size frame! It’ll be nice to meet more craft people in the area that’s for sure. On Saturday I found out an old friend from junior school makes adorable sock monkeys and peg bags – check out Rachael’s work on Monkey and Squidge. I definitely left the fair with even more ideas buzzing round my head, more about those another day…

Sewing projects

I’m so excited!…

November 23, 2011February 8, 2025 Julie Gardner2 Comments

The joys of machine embroidery! — Machine embroidery book and a lovely picture by Lucy Anne Harding

It’s funny what makes me happy these days, you wouldn’t believe… Last Sunday was my birthday and I opened a small package from my husband containing an embroidery foot for my sewing machine, then proceeded to cry with joy. Mad I know, but that’s how much I love what I’m doing right now and want to learn more. I was so excited I ordered a book by Poppy Treffry straight away and thanks to good old Amazon it arrived today, yippee! I’m hoping to develop my personalised house portraits by designing a machine embroidered sky for the background. Hopefully I’ll be able to get one done before my stall at Norden Farm on Saturday 3rd December, no pressure then!

I must say too that I was inspired last weekend when we visited a craft fair at South Hill Park in Bracknell where I met a young artist called Lucy Anne Harding. She works with her Dad on his milk round and sketches him and the doors they see on their way. Then she puts her drawings onto ceramics and machine embroiders them onto fabric to make the most gorgeous pictures. I love her style and the colours she uses; there’s a lot of talented people out there… better start reading that book!

Events

Have you done your Christmas shopping yet?…

November 23, 2011February 8, 2025 Julie Gardner1 Comment

Lots of Christmas trees for your Christmas tree!

I don’t know how organised you are but I can’t start thinking about Christmas until around now so I thought I’d let you know about some forthcoming events where you can find me.

I will be at the Alwyn and Courthouse PTA Christmas Fair this Saturday, 26th November, from midday until 3pm and then at Norden Farm’s Christmas Artisan Fair on Saturday, 3rd December from 11am until 4pm (free entry).

Please come along and say hello and take the opportunity to catch up on some Christmas shopping. I’ll be taking orders for lampshades, soft furnishings and personalised house portraits as well as selling handmade Christmas tree decorations. Must get on, lots of sewing to do, hope to see you there!…

Textile Design

Is this cheating?…

November 16, 2011February 8, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

A friend of mine told me about this amazing website called Spoonflower recently and as they are offering free postage tomorrow I thought I should have a go at uploading some of my gilhoolie patterns. Spoonflower allows you to come up with fabric designs which they will then digitally print onto a choice of fabrics, how amazing is that?! Okay, so maybe it’s cheating a bit as the fabric won’t be ‘lovingly screen-printed by hand’ but I’m very excited about it. It means you can print large runs of fabric and play as much as you like with lots of colours and patterns, no exposing screens and getting messy! (That’s fun too but I’m all for making life a bit easier you know!)

I’m going to order some swatches of these gilhoolie patterns, then other people will be able to access and buy my designs (you won’t be able to see them until then). Fabric lovers should have a look, there’s lots of gorgeous designs; I especially like Holli Zollinger’s work, that’s someone to aspire to!

I’ve added links to some other fabric websites I like on the right hand side of my blog page, just so you know.

Events

gilhoolie has joined the Craft Coop!

November 15, 2011February 8, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

Craft Coop

Just a quick post to let you know I have joined the Craft Coop. Their website describes the Craft Coop as: “A virtual home for crafters; an informal co-operative of like minded local craftspeople; a great way to buy and sell locally produced, hand-made items.” I’m hoping it will be a good way of finding out about events and meeting other people making crafts in the Maidenhead area.

gilhoolie is on their Members and Friends section, you just have to scroll down a bit to find me. I didn’t realise how many craftspeople there were round here!

Sewing projects

Bobbing along…

November 10, 2011February 8, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

Today I’ve been thinking about what other things I can stock on my stall at forthcoming Christmas events and I was inspired by Ella Johnston’s beautiful Fab Four Robin stationery. Have a look at her wonderful products in her shop: http://folksy.com/shops/ellajohnstonart.

I came up with two designs for robins, one cheating a bit and using the same template as my birds but adding a red breast, the other a bit more childish. I’m not sure which one I prefer, but I do love robins. These ones are definitely not bobbing along though!

I also made a Christmas stocking decoration and ordered some gorgeous Scandinavian Christmas fabric so that I can have more of a play next week when it arrives… very happy…

Interior Design

Whizzy stuff…

November 9, 2011February 8, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

Just to let you know, thanks to my lovely husband James who is very good at whizzy stuff, you can now access this blog by going to gilhoolie.co.uk and you can email me at julieg@gilhoolie.co.uk.

Not sure if you’ve noticed already but you can now go straight to my folksy shop via the ‘Shop’ tab and send me an email via the ‘contact me’ tab at the top of this blog page.

Impressive eh?! Well, I was impressed, thank you James!

Interior Design · Sewing projects · Soft Furnishings

Dreaming of spring…

November 9, 2011February 8, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

My favourite seasons are definitely Autumn and Spring but if I had to choose between the two I guess it would have to be Spring, with the last remnants of Winter fading away as the days gradually get longer and the sun’s rays get warmer. My favourite flowers are tulips too; I love their sleek curves, simple lines and bright, cheery colours. So it’s no surprise my first designs included tulips; at least I can dream of Spring…

And while I’m dreaming, here are some of the things I have made from my gilhoolie tulip screen-printed fabric. The large turquoise tulip lampshade and the pouffe are for an order I took at the shopping evening last month. They’re a Christmas gift for a little girl’s bedroom, I hope she likes Spring and tulips as much as I do!