Christmas Markets and Sunsets

Just as I sit down to write a few lines and I have been distracted by the most beautiful sky!  

The sun is setting and is turning the sky a beautiful range of pinks and purples.  Its just too gorgeous and as it lasts for only a few seconds, I'm not feeling too guilty about watching it.

Getting Ready for the Christmas Market

It is a busy time for me at the moment as I am getting ready for my first venture into the world of  Christmas Markets!!  


And its not all about creating there are so many questions to ask first............
  

What to make........? 
How many to make........? 
Will anyone but me, like what I make..........? 

Shoreline Wall Art

Wave Journal

AND........

too many ideas (though that's such a bad thing, until its time to go the sleep!!!)

BUT..........


The fabric is out, the needles are threaded and the first bits and pieces are completed. 


These are just a small taster of what will be available on my stall!!

Batik Cushions

As well as getting ready for the Fayre, I  am brushing up on my teaching skills, as I am off to Coast & Country Crafts & Quilts next Thursday (9th November) to run my Journal Cover workshop. 

It promises to be a super day using Photo Fabric, different fabric textures and raw edges!!!!  

Journal Cover Workshop

I must remember to pick up the double chocolate chip cookies on the way down though, otherwise I will be shown the door, before the day even starts!







I am looking forward to doing some more workshops in 2018, and will include details and dates once they have been confirmed.


In the meantime its back to the fabric, the threads and the needles......  

Thanks for reading, see you next time!

Lazy of Leisure??

Well, I never quite got around to uploading the photos from Germany!  

Instead we got a puppy (who has transformed our lives and is just so cute), I also changed jobs and just got busy doing the odd Quilting workshop!

One of my favourites was 'Angus' and it turned out to be a popular one too. 

It's good to mix it up a little bit and add different textures to work and 'Angus' is a mixture of linen, wool and cottons.

Another popular workshop was 'Cityscapes', which is made as a single sized quilt.  It is not for the faint-hearted as there is  a lot of cutting and piecing, so of course many seams to match. 

Saying that,one of the loveliest ones was made by a student who hadn't even picked up a rotary cutter prior to  booking onto the workshop.

It has been an eventful 2017 as we welcomed safely into the world a beautiful new Granddaughter in January.  She is a joy (of course) and it feels like a 'gift' to have her.  

Added to that we have had a couple of family weddings!  

In fact not just 'family' weddings but both our eldest Daughter and youngest Son decided that 2017 was the year to get married.  Bless them!

Both were fabulous days and as with any special occasion over far too quickly.  

Thankfully we have over 3500 photos (between the two) to help us remember!

Oh and best I don't forget.....just recently another little puppy to the family.  Not ours this time but our daughters.  

So many additions and all rather lovely!

Anyway two years since my last post and the 50 minute drive to work was becoming tiring, and being in an environment when you are breathing in fabric dust all day, meant it was time to change again.   

So........now I am, what my husband calls 'a lazy of leisure'. I really don't think so!!  I left work nearly 2 months ago and I am not really sure where the time has gone!

Once I finished work and to get into the 'lazy of leisure' mode we had a sailing holiday in Greece.  

To get me to agree to go, I was told it would be flat calm (I'm not a sailor) with beautiful sunshine! 

Well, the first day saw 1.5 metre swells (according to my husband), 5 metre swells (according to me) and a mini hurricane and thunder storm!  Too late by then as I was already there ( but a note to self - never listen to my husband again!).  

It was though, a fabulous week, beautiful scenery, warm seas, nicely hot, good food and even better drink! 

We sailed around the Greek Islands including Kefalonia , which was a trip down memory lane as that was our first holiday abroad with the children too many years ago.

So now we are settling ourselves into a routine of being home, and I'm pleased to say we are still speaking!!

Exciting news today as we saw the launch of my new website Younique Textiles.  We have been working on it for a little while so it is good to see it go live.  

A really big 'thank you' to my husband who has done a great deal of the background 'stuff', and my daughter who has been quietly giving me bits of advice as I've gone along.  I'm also very lucky to have friends who will happily photograph my work, so a big thank you Chris and Amy. 

Thank you for reading and hopefully I will be back soon.
Carolyn