it's a spring giveaway ...

Spring has arrived (I'm still on southern hemisphere time ~ especially as there is no sign of autumn here!) and it seems a perfect excuse to have a spring inspired giveaway ... issue 1, 2 and 3 of Mollie Makes magazine (these babies are collectible!) and a (very) limited edition retro canisters tea towel ...

I've been collecting Mollie Makes from the start ~ I just love this magazine. The projects, style and aesthetic are really perfect and make me want to make stuff! These magazines are new/unused and probably quite collectible by now - especially as they all have their little project kits on the front too.

A few weeks ago I was printing my retro spice canisters tea towel, and felt like changing up the colours. I printed this colour combo of pink and tangerine for the lovely Cam, but kept one (this one) to give away. I think the colours are fun and spring-timey, and go really well with Mollie Makes!

To win this little package of happiness, leave me a comment with you favourite colour combination. Let me know if you are a follower of this blog and/or a facebook liker and/or a twitter follower and you'll get an extra entry for each. Everyone is welcome to enter ~ I'm happy to post internationally. Get your comments in by next Sunday (11 September) and I'll draw a winner soon after.

Have a great week!

P.S. New fabric designs and market bags in the Yardage Design online shop.

new fabric designs ... at last!

I am so pleased to be able to finally share my new fabric designs with you! There are two new designs, each printed in two different colourways, that collectively I'm calling Verano. Verano is a Spanish word meaning "summertime", which I thought was appropriate as I designed both patterns whilst I was here in Spain in July.

The first design is called Petals. It is a large scale print reflecting the ancient architecture and art nouveau that surrounds us in Spain. Petals is printed in ink blue and sea green on off-white linen/cotton fabric (140cm wide).

The second design is called Leaves. It's a pretty little curly leaf that I drew one day after a walk around the town. I really enjoyed devising the repeat for this design ~ it's a six spot repeat for those interested. Leaves is printed in crimson and powder blue on off-white linen/cotton fabric (140cm wide). It's really hard to capture the powder blue colourway with a photograph - it's very pale and delicate.

Each of these fabrics is available in the shop now by the fat quarter (multiple fat quarters are cut as a continuous piece), and incase you can't decide, there is also a Verano Fabric Pack which contains a 35cm x 35cm piece of each fabric.

I would also like to welcome my friend Pam to the Yardage Design team. Pam will be cutting, packing and posting orders for the Yardage Design online shop while I am here in Spain, so it's business as usual!

I can't wait to hear what you think of these new designs. I'm also looking forward to seeing what people make with them. I'm planning to make a summer quilt over the next couple of weeks.

Pop over to our creative spaces to see what everyone else has been up to this week.

making ... jam

Jam making is so relaxing and homey ~ with an abundance of fresh fruit here at the moment, I had the urge to make plum jam ...

Here's my very basic jam recipe that works for most fruit ...

1kg fruit (in this case plums - seeds removed and chopped)
2 cups of water

Simmer water and fruit for an hour in a large saucepan (uncovered).

2-3 cups of sugar (depends how sweet your fruit is - in this case I only used 2 cups)
juice of 1 lemon

Add lemon juice and sugar to the fruit and stir (over a simmer) to dissolve the sugar. Once the sugar has dissolved, bring to the boil. Boil uncovered, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes or until it passes the plate test (put a dollop on a plate, let it cool a bit, then run your finger through it - the jam should stay separated if it's ready).

Ladle the jam into sterilised jars. Fill fill to the top of the jar, put the lid on and then invert the jar for a few minutes. Turn jars upright and cool. Jam will keep unopened in a dark place for up to 12 months. Enjoy!

Have a wonderful Wednesday. I'll see you here tomorrow with my new fabric designs!

what a week ...

This time last week I was in Melbourne, in my house, working in my studio ... and now I'm in Spain. What a contrast! We've recovered (mostly) from the flight, and we're settling back into Spanish life. I thought you might like to see some photographs I took over the weekend in Valladolid, which has a very beautiful and colourful centro ...

Wishing you a wonderful Monday. See you soon for some craftiness and some new fabric designs!

bunting swap!!

As you know, I LOVE BUNTING, so when I saw this swap popping up around the place yesterday, I signed up immediately.

The details and how to sign up are all over at the Squiggly Rainbow blog, but the basic idea is that you make (and then receive) as many individual bunting triangles (or other shapes) as you like. You don't have to make a whole string of them, you could just make one if you like. I've signed up for 5 ~ I'm looking forward to experimenting with some different ideas and seeing what happens!


Happy bunting making!

almost ready

My new fabric designs are almost ready for release next week (just in time for Spring), but I thought you might like a teaser pic to tide you over ...

I really enjoyed photographing my new fabrics over the weekend. I can't wait to share more photo's with you over the coming days.

In other news, we're back in Spain (as of yesterday)! For a few months this time. Luckily, my lovely friend Pam is holding down the fort at Yardage Design HQ by looking after my shop and posting out orders for me. So it's business as usual - thank goodness for the internet! You'll also find me lingering around at strange times of the day and night (we're eight hours behind Australia) over on facebook and twitter.

Many more creative (and less jet-lagged) spaces over here!