Origin: The London Craft Fair

From the 21st until the end of September I had the MOST amazing time working at Origin!
Origin is a craft fair that takes place once a year, this year, it was in old spitalfields market near Liverpool Street Station and Brick Lane :)
Here's my brochure:


I was working for the most amazing Michelle Griffiths, a textile/shibori artist from South Wales! http://www.shibori.co.uk/
Her stuff is just brilliant and it was SO cool to have the opportunity to learn all about it from the master herself :)
The standard was insanely high and we made good friends with the stall owners around us, meeting them and learning about their work was definitely a highlight for me!

Other London highlights include:
LES MIS AT THE O2!!!!!! I went to see the 25th anniversary concert, fingers crossed I'll get on the DVD :P

Also, my shoes, I went vintage shopping and found these AWESOME shoes :)


Overall, a BRILLIANT two weeks!

New Dress and Fibre Art Wales!

I made this dress a while ago, for the day after the wedding (we had a garden party)
but I just hadn't got round to taking a photo of it until now!
I got the idea from a dress I saw in topshop....
The shoulders were a bit tricky as there was lots of material to fit into a small distance but I think it turned out well :)



I also went on an awesome day out at the 'National Botanic Garden of Wales'!
It was a bit rainy but me and Mum braved it to see the new 'Fibre Art Wales' exhibition!
Fibre Art Wales is a group of textile designers based in Wales who created work inspired by the Gardens to be displayed outdoors within the gardens themselves. Some of the exhibits are made to withstand the Welsh weather but some are meant to change and weather over time :)

Check out this website for more info!
http://www.gardenofwales.org.uk/news/latest-exhibition-%E2%80%98exposed-textiles-in-the-open%E2%80%99-by-fibre-art-wales/

Wedding Favours!

Back in February I was making valentines gifts for my friends when my brother's fiance commented on how nice they would be a favours for a wedding... 6 months, my final uni exams and 89 heart later they took pride of place at every place setting for their wedding meal :)

Here's a picture of lots of hearts!!



And here is the place setting :)

First Stall and I made a skirt :)

My first Newton Rose stall took place on Sunday! Amazingly it was a REALLY sunny day and although I got a little sunburnt, I had a really nice day! And made a bit of money too :P I didn't take many good pictures on the day but this was my 'test stall' I did in the living room the day before :)





I've also been planning on copying a dress I saw in Topshop the other week that was REALLY nice but just completely the wrong proportions on me! It involves an elastic waistband so, since I've never sewn with elastic before, I thought it might be a good idea to try a skirt first! I'm SO pleased with the result:

New Material and a start on a quilt...

I went shopping yesterday to find some nice baby blanket material. For other projects I generally use a lot of offcuts and try to recycle old material where I can but baby blankets definitely need some good, NEW material :)



I've also made a start on a 'colour wheel' quilt which I saw in one of my many books! It requires 52 different material pieces to eventually form a wheel shape, I don't quite have 52 but I've made a start :P

Birds!!!!!!!!

Over the years I have seen SOOO many material birds in different books and shops!
So I decided to give it a go for my friend's birthday!
I scraped together lots of fabric and set about making them, there were some difficult decisions - should I add eyes or not??? - how far up should the wings be?? - how exactly does one get stuffing into the beak???
But I got there in the end :P

Since then I've made LOTS, matching the fabrics together and finding new combinations really is the best bit :)

I made particular effort to be arty with this picture:

Busy making Badges!!

I've been a busy bee lately making lots of awesome badges :)

Buying opportunity!! (and labels)

I am now very much sure that I'll be at the 'Memorial Hall Summer Fete' in Tutshill!

The Fete will be held on August the 15th on the Rec in Tutshill and some of the proceeds will be going to the Memorial Hall fund.

I've started making a few bits and pieces to sell so if you're around and free you should come and check it out!!!! :)

ALSO - I've been working on my 'Newton Rose' labels lately and am pretty sure that keeping it simple is the best plan:

The American Museum in Britain

Today I went to 'The American Museum in Britain' in Bath with the 'Gwent Quilters'!



We had an awesome guided tour of the quilting rooms in the Museum which MAY have inspired me to give quilting a go...I really loved the Hawaiian quilt below so I'd like to do something a bit like that but on a MUCH smaller scale!! Maybe a place mat or something :P



I would also love to give patchwork quilting a go...

I shall post any attempts on here - it might be a while before I start though!

New Material!

I just got some awesome new fabric! At the moment I seem to be getting more and more fabric but not making too much... I should really sort that out!