Aufweidesen pet...

Now I bid you farewell...as I shut up shop and depart for colder and wilder lands! First up to Leeds and Manchester to source supplies, then to Scotland on Saturday to visit a mill I hope to work with and a have a birthday treat for mum and I at a loch-side oasis of peace and solitude...where my imagination will run wild and my sketchbook will be filled with new ideas, designs and inspiration...on which I will report on my return.

See you in a week.xx

Yarns a go go!

New editions to the studio!! I am now fully stocked up with a luxurious selection of yarns...

Tref and I collected these yarns last night from a lovely lady in north London...and I've had a glorious morning picturing the creations that will come from them! I am now due in a matter of hours to head up to Leeds, where I am sourcing yarns for some Morse-code double cloth scarves (coming soon!) and some special secret fabrics for my 'Free as a bird' collection!

Despite the forecast for the 'hottest summer ever' I feel that I will be spending many hours in blissful woven solitude, and cannot wait to deliver my designs! Planning an open studio sales event at the end of summer, so you can come and see how I've got on and have a glass of wine with me!

street art in the RAW

Found on the pavement...my boyfriend backwards.

Constructing a new world.

Patchwork quilt inspiration coming your way soon...

Text for posters, magazines and journals...

This is going strait into our new boutique! Multi-purpose for fashion, products, books, exhibitions and even cake sales!

DE STYL

Theo Van Doesburg. 'Girl with buttercups' 1914

So on my visit to the Tate modern yesterday..I found myself wondering into the 'Van Doesburg and the international avant-garde'... The best I've seen there since their similar 'Consturctivists' exhibition last year...and similarly connected.

This is one of my favourite eras of art and design...and one where the worlds or art and design cross over and share a form of language. Never decorative for the sake of it, and with considered placements of colour, shale and the spaces in between, even lettering designs all fitting into the same shaped boxes and rectangles. So pleasing to my hungry eyes.

I left this exhibition so full of inspiration! Ideas for black and white patchwork blankets, visual display units for the art-design and community-cafe' I am working on opening with my boyfriend later this year and the idea of magazines, artists communities and representing and promoting a circle and network of creative friends who share values, loves and styles... the way of life for this artist and designer has soaked into me...and when our design space is up and running...when I'm not weaving, sewing or patch-working...I shall be making a special little hand-printed magazine to celebrate of my creative genius friends!

This exhibition is on at the Tate Modern, London untill 16th May, so pop along while you still can to soak it all up! http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/vandoesburg/default.shtm

Arshile Gorky

Tomorrow will see my monthly pilgrimage to the Tate Modern, this time to see the works of Arshile Gorky. I am anticipating to be stirred by the stories in colour, the mystical shapes and form representations... I may have a new project coming up, so am on the look out for a colour pallet for new fabrics and textiles work. It might even find itself bleeding into new woven works etc...

I am ready to be hit with inspiration, let the sun shine!!

Paper Dolls discover....

I knew it would only be a matter of time before the paper dolls discovered my hand-woven samples for the new woven blankets I'm working on!

I'm visiting the Mill later this month, and am so excited to get these beautiful pieces into production for you!

Or do they?

This public message recently struck a cord with me... I am sick to death of the pantomime between political parties at the moment, the embarrassing public slagging match between the people who are supposed to be looking after the country. Who's taking care of business?

There are so many negative words, statements and slander... not a good mood for starting a better future! I don't want to see my politicians and government going gray, shouting over each other and making fancy add campaigns, I want to see them building positive campaigns, movements and local revolutions! Taking action.

The above graffiti made me feel like everyone has stopped thinking about what matters, 'nobody cares', we've been abandoned in favour of a school playground popularity contest! Who's going to be the bigger and better man (or woman) and just be honest and show us with actions and kindness what is possible for this country and this world!

On a positive note, I did see some graffiti on the Old Kent road on Friday, someones tag I think...simply saying 'C'est Bon'!

Icy exchange..

Glagierical geometric grey collage...tribute.

Saucy sourcing!

I am excited to be tying in a trip to a warehouse stocking pre-consumer waste in the North, with a visit to a yarn suppliers to hunt down the perfect cashmere-lambs-wool mix for my hand-woven blankets and a tour of the mill I am hoping to work with...all mixed in with a highland retreat for a week in the wilderness, to restore my energy, walking, drawing, sleeping and sewing...bliss!!

All in order to get back to the studio and work on final samples for the 'Free as a bird project' in some exciting new fabrics!!!

Beauty cometh with age..

Did you know that by2033- 25% of the population will be aged over 65?

This is a group who are widely being neglected in terms of exciting design; and only seem to be targeted in add campaigns when it comes to 'anti-wrinkle creams' or incontinence pads. We are all heading the same way, and with better health care and more opportunities available to us later in life, why is this section of society still being over-looked and not a whole new party?! Don't women of a sexily gray nature deserve to be empowered, beautified, celebrated and cherished! The experience, stories and years of accumulated style must count for something more than beige twinsets and pleated skirts! Where's the colour and the luxury?!

Surely after a life of building up careers/homes/children/communities...women can eventually let their hair down, have fun and feel confident in their dress! Anna Piaggi (above) certainly is not afraid to continually express her colourful and experimental nature through her dress! An inspiration to teenagers and pensioners alike.

I feel a responsibility as a designer to provide for this age group, why, they are the most beautiful of all! Gray= GLAMOUR!!

If you're looking for a 'gray model' look no further than the Gray Model Agency.

Hand-woven Jacket...

Oooooooooo eeer!

Just uncovered the drawing of the woven jacket I made on Mastercrafts, as I've been going through my stacks of papers and sketches this Easter...

Really looking forward to wearing this one this summer!!