smalltown is here

I have just put my new Smalltown and Townplanning cushions into my shop. Both designs are handprinted onto smooth white linen with a charcoal grey reverse. Smalltown available in trendy black, pink, yellow and mint. Townplanning in black/pink, black/yellow and black/mint.

And here's a chance to win one of the first cushions off the production line, check out littlegreenshed where Lou has hosted a little interview and celebratory giveaway with me on her lovely blog!

This weekend 6th-7th July I will be having an open studio event here as part of the Sydenham Arts Festival. If you can find my details on their website you are cleverer than me but you can download the venue broadsheet here or contact me for details. Open from 11am to 5pm and there will be bargains!

rock on

It's the second weekend of open studio and I found time this week between drawing lions and designing puddings to make a new screen inspired by my mid-century rocking horse. This one is a little more plump and is sporting a fine Welsh blanket. I will see how it goes over this weekend it should appear in my shop next week.

We are open today from 11am to 6pm details on the Open House website we are number 157 on the venue map.

spring cushions

Some samples cushions made up in the slinky design, the colours are a spring palette of grey, olive, dirty pink and smokey blue. We will sit on them for a while and I hope to have a batch in my shop sometime after Easter.

Will they sell? I don't know, it is so difficult to predict what will be popular. I am very fortunate that I can print and make up a small run of cushions to test the water. Unlike wallpaper where we gambled on a serious print run, luckily sales are doing amazingly well. Silver birch is the most popular (we are into the second print run with this one) followed by moss yellow and then woodsmoke, exactly as predicted in my mini-poll last summer, you know your stuff!

up and away

I have just put some ballooning cushions into my shops. These are printed onto white linen in navy, smokey blue and olivey yellow with a navy linen backing. The colours are really lovely though I am not sure these pictures do them justice. I will have another go when the sun comes back out. These are really fun to print as the registration is easy, nothing needs to be too accurate - clever! Available in my etsy and online shop. A 40x50cm screenprint will be following shortly.

the lucky winners!

I had a fantastic response to my giveaway - 70 entries! I really enjoyed reading the comments and felt quite embarrassed at times as they were so lovely. So I decided to select two winners, all the entries were folded and placed into roddy's Auntie Dill and the winners were picked out by the lovely Lucy.
And here they are - congratulations to Evita and Littlemithi!

fabrics galore

Every now and then our house is used as a location for photo shoots (well, we do have two hungry teenagers to feed!). As we have an abundance of props it is often used for vintage and retro pieces. Just lately it was used by BBC Homes magazine for a feature on vintage fabrics and our house was filled with a heady selection of glorious textiles from the '50s and '60s. Our ercol sofa was elevated from it's normal use of dumping ground to glamourous prop, festooned with beautiful vintage fabric cushions from Jane Foster . A couple of roddy&ginger cushions crept in so I have put them back into my shop.

new images

Two exciting parcels in the post today, one beautiful Poole casserole dish that I won on ebay and a disc of images from photographer Heather Lewin. Heather and I spent a very busy day last Friday photographing roddy&ginger products for my website and publicity. Heather was brilliant to work with and the shots are lovely, I can't wait to use them. 

open house

It's going to be a busy weekend, I have been getting things together for our open studio event happening this weekend and the next. Prints, products, mishaps and samples for sale. I haven't been very efficient about spreading the word so if you are in the Dulwich area please come!! The details are on the festival website click on Open House for a guide, we are entry no. 134. The downside of running it for two weekends is that I won't be able to get out and see other studios. If I could I would make for Sally Nencini (no.56) my sister Clare Youngs (no. 115) Schneider (no. 100) and Havelock Mews (no.127) for a fine selection of local talent.

mermaid romance

Mermaid has found a boyfriend! She is a bit of an uptown girl but has fallen for a handsome pirate (oh dear, I am making up stories about cushions, I must be working too hard, should get out more!) I have been printing an edition of this pirate print to go with the cushions already in my etsy shop. 

work in progress

I have been printing a new design today, this was inspired by some vintage fabric that I made into cushions. They were very popular and soon sold out, so this is my version.  I am still choosing colours, can't help being drawn to the bold and bright, I like them vibrant! 

These are printed onto unbleached linen but I am also going to print onto natural linen, they should be in my shop soon.

the nautical look is back!

Finally some new designs! This well dressed mermaid is the first of a few that I have been working on. These cushions are printed onto natural or unbleached white linen. They are for sale in my Etsy shop for now, updating my website is more complicated! I'll also be making this into a 400x500mm print.

folkdance

More snow today so I spent the morning printing up some Folkdance cushion panels. The design is inspired by the traditional art of Polish paper cutting. There was a lovely exhibition of paper cuts at our local museum last year and I took a one day course run by an amazing Polish lady who used sheep shears to cut the most intricate designs, I ended up with a lot of tiny snips of paper and blisters on my thumbs, will stick to printing I think. The cushions are available from my website or my Etsy shop.

new cushion

I found this pretty vintage fabric at our local flea market this week, it's called Toccata designed in the 50's by Robert Tierney for David Whitehead. Its a lovely soft palette of greys, yellow, pink and pale blue and a bit faded around the edges. There's enough make a few cushions backed in grey linen which I am trying out in my etsy shop. 

siesta

I have been busy printing and making lately for a number of wholesale orders and Christmas stock for my shop - these Siesta cushions remind me of Spain where I'd like to be! They can be found on etsy and in my shop.

sunny day

The sun's out in my small back garden - a great day for drying, so I'm printing today. Cushion covers and aprons for a wholesale order. All available in my shop.