cutting + folding

It was all about fabric cutting and folding here this morning, with orders for a number of lovely customers and stockists to fill. It's one of my favourite jobs! I took a few minutes to take some photo's ...

This set of fabrics will be at the lovely, crafty Onabee shop in Kensington tomorrow. I hope you are enjoying a sunny afternoon wherever you are!

matchy matchy

My little project this week was to make a small cushion to go with the bed runner I made a few weeks ago for my friend. I was really happy with how it turned out, and I love the rectangle shape. I think it will look good with the bedrunner ...

There are still some sale-priced pre-cut fat quarters of this Agapanthus fabric (and others) available in the shop.
More creative spaces over here. Have a great Thursday!

P.S. The Yardage Design online shop will be closed from this weekend until sometime in July. It's time for a break. I'll still be blogging a bit here and you might find me on facebook too. I'm looking forward to designing and releasing some fresh, new, lovely things soon.

quilt two ~ a bedrunner ...

My second quilt project has been a surprise gift for a friend ... a simple bedrunner (a purely decorative item for the foot of the bed - totally useless, but pretty!) ...

I sketched out my design idea after googling bedrunners for some standard dimensions (this one is 60cm x 230cm for a queen bed). I matched Yardage Design Agapanthus fabric (in purple) with two shades of plain purple fabric from Patchwork on Central Park. It's a basic block and stripe configuration, not too densely quilted.

I made my own bias binding and backed the bedrunner in the dark purple fabric.

So, once it was finished, I wrapped it up a little bit fancy ...

... and gifted it to my friend who already has an Agapanthus cushion on her bed ...

It's lovely to make things for other people for no reason, don't you think?
More creativity over at Kootoyoo.

progress ...

My second quilt is progressing. Today, I am quilting the layers together with the help of a quilting bar. I've never used one of these before, but it's been a brilliant guide, and it's been sitting in my accessories box this whole time!

Hope your day is productive too!

quilt number two

I've started my second quilt ...

I'm using Yardage Design Agapanthus in purple, and as this one will be a gift, this is a just a sneaky peek of progress so far. I am currently sewing all of the pieces I cut yesterday together. I'm also still playing with my new DSLR ....

For more creative spaces, join in with the gang over at Kootoyoo!

P.S. Don't forget to enter my showbag giveaway - you won't want to miss this one!

agapanthus floor cushions by mookah

I've been meaning to tell you for you a while that the lovely ladies at Mookah are making floor cushions with my white agapanthus fabric ...

Floor Cushion and pic by Mookah

You might remember that I asked Mookah to make me a floor cushion last year from my {exclaim} fabric in ocean blue. Our floor cushion gets used everyday, and is holding up well to the demands of a 4 year old (it's a seat, a launching pad, a missile, you name it!).

Mookah have a lovely new online store where you can buy the agapanthus floor cushion along with lots of other beautiful things for your home. Check it out here: Mookah Shop

Have a lovely Wednesday!

agapanthus

"Agapanthus" (white on natural linen) is now back in stock after selling out. This is the third bolt of this design I've had printed - it is one of my most popular designs, and it's been lovely seeing what people have made with it - take a squizz here if you're interested. I'm not sure why it's so popular - I love white on natural linen in almost any design, but I know lots of people who don't. Is it the flower itself or the simplicity of the hand drawing? I'd be interested in what you think.

I have just reorganised my fabric - I'm now storing it standing up rather than lying down - to save space, mainly, but also so that I can see it and enjoy it more. However, as the rolls are rolled print side inwards, it's not as pretty as I would like! Still, it's very satisfying to see a whole bunch of bolts of my very own fabric - having a reflective moment here ...

That's probably enough fabric rambling for today! Don't forget to take advantage of free postage for all Australian orders until Monday. Have a lovely Wednesday!

cushion making

By me ... custom ARTichoke print in white on natural ...

By Jane ... Agapanthus white on natural ... thanks Jane! I love to see what people make with my fabric - some other people have made lovely things here.

More cushions for your place here!

pear shaped!

A few weeks ago, I had an idea for something a bit different to take to The Finders Keepers Market. I have admired Brenda's work for some time now, and wondered if she would make her gorgeous pears with my linen. She (thankfully) agreed and this was the result ...

I just love them!! Two sets of pears in each colourway (on natural linen) will be available at The Finders Keepers Market in about 10 days time. I also couldn't resist showing you how beautifully Brenda packaged up her pears to send to me. What a great idea to use old sewing patterns - looks brilliant with the red and white string - my kind of packaging!

Have a great day!

buckets

Yesterday I was testing out a fabric bucket pattern I adapted from the Zakka Sewing book and then enlarged. I made two - one smaller one in my red circa fabric  (perfect for cotton reels and other little things) and one larger one in my white agapanthus fabric (perfect for pattern envelopes or whatever really!) ...

I'm thinking of making a few of these for the Finders Keepers Market in a few weeks. I still want to refine the handles - especially for the smaller one - I think they are a bit too big. I think I may even make the smaller one a little bit bigger. I'm glad I remembered to try out one of my new labels this time! Let me know what you think of these. I'd like to make at least a couple in each fabric colourway. They would look great in a set too - I like nice storage!

P.S. I'm accumulating lots of fabric offcuts that are too beautiful to waste - do you think I should put some small remnants packs in the shop?

P.P.S. After selling out again, a big stack of Vintage Tram Roll Menu Market Bags are back in the shop.

playing catchup

Hello! It's been a while between decent blog posts, so I thought I should catch you up on some news. First off, I was lucky enough to be accepted to be a stallholder at the Melbourne Finders Keepers Market! It's on the weekend of 9-10 October. Check out the list of other stallholders - it's going to be a treasure trove! Christmas shopping ... check!

I can't wait - I am madly preparing a whole lot of new products including a new fabric design. More on that in a couple of weeks. Speaking of fabric, Annabel from Earthgirl Fabrics sent me this pic of a Kristen Doran sling bag pattern made with my Agapanthus fabric (purple on white linen) ... love it! I have added it to the "Things people have made with Yardage Design fabric" page too, here.

My Black Vintage Tram Roll Menu Tea Towel was featured on a lovely Etsy Treasury this week - loving the monochrome theme ... here. Have a lovely weekend!

chair makeover

Fabric has been flying off the bolt around here lately, so it's always nice to see where it ends up. Fabulously clever Brenda has been busy making over a vintage chair (which she bought for $5 - bargain!) with some of my Agapanthus fabric ...

See Brenda's whole post about this project here. I'm thinking of creating a new page under this blog for photo's of all the clever things people do with Yardage Design textiles. I would love to hear from you if you'd like to share your creations - my email address is in the sidebar. Have a lovely Friday.

P.S. Brenda's having a giveaway of some of her gorgeous handmade pears - it closes today, so pop over here to check it out!

handbag love ...

This morning, lovely Tanya from Teek left me a comment to let me know that she had made this from my Agapanthus fabric ...

Isn't it gorgeous?! I absolutely love it and got such a kick out of seeing something so beautifully made with my fabric. It was well and truly the highlight of my day - thanks so much, Tanya. Pop over to Tanya's blog and see how cleverly she made the inside of the bag ... here.

meet my fabric: agapanthus

Hello again - I'd like to introduce you to my third and final yardage design, "Agapanthus" ...

I really enjoyed the design process involved in creating this pattern. I started with a photo I took in summer of an agapanthus flower that hadn't quite bloomed. I took the photo in the first place becuase I was interested in the shapes of the buds and stems, so I started drawing ... both on a print out of the photo to get an idea of the shapes, and then freehand in my trusty sketchbook ...

After quite a bit of trial and error, I came up with a flower design that I was happy with - I wanted it to be structural, but organic. This design is the largest of all three ...

This design comes in two colourways: deep purple on off white and white on natural - both linen/cotton basecloths.

Both colourways of this design will be available in fat quarters (approx 70cm x 50cm) at the Melbourne Stitches & Craft Show. You will be able to buy this fabric in my online shop after the show.

So there you have it - my first yardage designs, all ready to be sewn into lovely things! I can't wait to see what others make with the fabric - if you make something, please send me a photo - it would really make my day!

I have really enjoyed sharing my designs and design process with you. No time to spare - so many things to do before next week. Have a lovely day!