introducing...

Maisie!
Who finally made her debut into the big wide world on 11th August - a few days later than expected but well worth the wait.

We'll no doubt have our hands very full over the coming months so I'm not promising any frequent blog posts and my work will be on the back burner for a while whilst we adjust to our new way of life too. We're going to be spending as much time as possible soaking up every ounce of this new little life we have created - our finest design project to date.
I will still be twittering away (very likely to be baby centric!) if you'd like to follow me there

MONSTER SALE

I must apologise for the radio silence here. So much is happening. We're on the home straight now with only 4 weeks left until Baby Boo is due (how did that happen?) and much is being done in preparation of this, as well as plenty of work being done before it's time to give it all up for a while.
I have quite typically gone into a bit of a tidying, sorting and cleaning frenzy and have decided to clear the decks a little when it comes to my wooly stuff etsy shop, so I'm having a MONSTER SALE

Well actually, not just monsters, but everything in my shop is now 50% off - owls, kitties, phone cosies, cards and scrap bags, until further notice or until everything has sold - whichever comes first
Pop over here and have a nosy. I'm sure there will be a bargain to tickle your fancy.
***Edited to add  - you need to use the code Monda50 at the checkout to activate the discount***

Extinct

I've been working on a little collection called 'Extinct' which features dinosaurs and florals (and floral dinosaurs) in a couple of different colour ways:

You can see the entire collection here
They will be available to purchase as fabrics soon. I think I'll order some jersey cotton in the pinky colour ways and make a few baby bits with them, although on that score time is fast running out. I have only 7 weeks left until Boo arrives (all being well).
Business wise, I seem to be busier than I have been in a long time and part of me doesn't want that  momentum to stop but then part of me is just looking forward to the new challenges ahead. I'm mostly excited about meeting this little bundle that seems to have the strength of a kick boxer sometimes (oof!) and then there is a little bit of me that wonders what the heck I am supposed to do with a baby - all normal stuff for a first time mum I suspect (?).

I DO, ME TOO

My personalised framed wedding prints have been selling really well in my NOTHS shop of late, indicating that wedding season is well and truly under way. In particular my papercut style heart print seems to be really well received:

so with this in mind the last couple of days have been spent designing a new print, for the sake of a bit of variety, but still with the same papercut feel (and of course featuring birds!):

I kind of like the matt black frame and charcoal print (although it's not quite as cheery as the other colours). This print comes in 4 colours and 3 frame choices and can be purchased via NOTHS if you live in the UK.

Umbrella Prints Competition

I entered the Umbrella Prints Competition this year. I wanted to enter last year but left it too late to buy my trimmings pack. I almost left it too late to enter this year too - I had my trimmings in good time, but then other things took priority, and well, you know how it gets.
Anyway, this last week I've been spending a bit of time here and there getting my entry together and just managed to finish it in time (deadline is 30th May).
This is my trimmings pack (I went for girly colours again, with the idea that I would make something for Boo):

and this is what I made - a little stitched piece of wall art for the nursery, which I will (eventually) put in a box frame:

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

Fingers crossed that it will be well received in the competition - and if I don't win, then I'm just happy to have made something for Boo anyway.

little dresses

picture via The Lily Bird Studio

I really want to make some little dresses for Boo. I have fabric a plenty in the stash and have found a really cute A-line reversible dress pattern on etsy which is apparently easy to sew (perfect!) but I feel quite daunted by it nonetheless. I've never made any clothing before and I'm sure it's just a case of messing it up and wasting fabric that is putting me off.
I recently asked Amy Neal of CoCo crafts - who makes the sweetest little reversible dresses, if she could make me a couple of dresses from some of the fabric from my stash. I meet Amy a few times a year at local craft events we both sell at and I always love looking at her dresses but have never really had occassion to buy them, until now. I picked out a couple of needle cords and co-ordinating cotton fabrics and Amy made me these little dresses:

I love them. I wish I had made them myself honestly but there is still a bit of time before Boo comes along for me to conquer my fear. I'd love to make some dresses in my own fabric designs too.

Boo's quilt

Here is (finally!) is, my first ever make for Boo - a baby quilt using the cheater panel that I designed.

The last time I made a quilt for a person was in GCSE design (so over 20 years ago) and it was pretty naff, and I had quite a lot of help with it.
I am secretly a bit pleased with myself that I've actually managed to pull this off. I know it's a cheater (so less sewing all round) but I did quilt it and bind it, and the binding looks really professional - much to my amazement and thanks in large part to a video tutorial I watched on YouTube.
This finished quilt is by no means perfect, it's a bit wonky in places, which I suppose you could say adds a bit of character.
It's currently in the washing machine and I'm petrified that I'm going to ruin it. I used natural wool batting and I'm washing it on a cool wool wash with wool detergent in the hope that It doesn't come out all lumpy. eek!

too many teaspoons

Actually, in my experience, there is no such thing as too many teaspoons. They seem to be the most frequently used piece of cutlery in our house - despite the fact that we don't drink that much tea or coffee.

 'Too Many Teaspoons' in the name of my retro themed kitchen design which I entered into this weeks spoonflower contest. The palette was restricted to the 4 colours I've used here, plus white.

It's been a busy week here in Mondaland. There has been some making for Henley Arts Trail, Boo's Quilt (all sewn up now - just need to bind it, when I can find a couple of hours to spare) and some freelance work on the go, plus a few orders from my shops keeping me on my toes.
Today being 8th May means that in 3 months time (if the dates are more of less right, and everything goes according to plan) we'll have a little baby Boo to look after. I still find it hard to believe to be honest - despite the frequent and somewhat hefty kicks I keep getting in my tummy!

miaow miaow

Owls have been big business in the design world now for quite a few years. One of the latest spoonflower contests is called 'what's the new owl?' so I entered with a design based on my work 'colleagues' (my cats obviously):

These ones seem to look a bit smug and happy with themselves don't they.
I've noticed I am having a tendency towards girly colours at the moment. I'm clearly feeling influenced by all things baby girl right now.

baby bears

My new nursery fabric collection called 'baby bears' is now available for sale in my fabric shop here
There are colour variations on all of the designs shown here, plus 2 cheater panels to make easy lap/cot quilts (shown below), one each in a boyish and girlish colour way:

 

My 'I see creatures' cheater panel also arrived a week or so ago. I love the way it turned out and can't wait to sew it up. 

Stupidly I forgot to order some backing fabric for it (baby brain perhaps?) so I've ordered some sherbet pips skipping dots in bubble gum which should arrive soon and hopefully will co-ordinate well. I'm planing to sew it up by the end of this week and will post pictures once it's complete. It will be the first thing I've made for baby Boo - who at 24 weeks is kicking away like a gymnast at the moment. A really weird and nice feeling all at the same time.

Awarded

Amy King of Shiny Orange Dreams awarded me a Leibster award a little while ago, which I have yet to get around to passing on (eep). I love Amy's quirky and cute designs so was super flatttered that she chose me for an award. As I've just passed on one award I need to have a little think about who I'll be passing this one along to, so in the meantime, if you are not familiar with Amy's work go and have a look at her lovely blog

Many of Amy's designs can be purchased as fabric here The designs below are just a few of my personal favourites:

Copyright Amy King

Copyright Amy King

Copyright Amy King

and I'm also quite tempted by the iphone covers/cases Amy has designed too, available to buy here

Copyright Amy King

Copyright Amy King 

Copyright Amy King

All images used in this post are copyright of Amy King

apples and flowers and hearts

I've been working on a few prints for Children (small and big) in the last week, featuring apples and flowers and hearts:

There is also a whale, giraffe and flower in the set.
I plan to screen print some of these, and will likely sell the whole set as framed digital prints in my brand spanking new Not on the High Street Shop where you can also find some personalised wedding prints, new baby prints and of course my printed softies and bear kit.
My shop has been open a few weeks now and you will find most of my Mondaland products are available for sale (many products are available with different colour options - you just have to click on the images and choose options in the drop down menus).
Most recently I've added a new framed print featuring my love birds - which I thought would make a nice wedding/anniversary gift:

I see creatures - now available

Proofs have been received, tweaks have been made and my 'I see creatures' fabric range is now available to purchase in my fabric shop here

I think I'm quite partial to the pinky colour way, but maybe that has something to do with Boo (who is a girl!). In general, I'm not offended by pink at all, but do find that pink is everywhere when it comes to choice of colours in baby girls clothes/accessories.
I've ordered a yard panel of the cheater fabric in the pinky colour way so I can make a cheater quilt/playmat for Boo. The first of many makes for Boo that will probably happen over the next few months.

Let the Sun Shine

my own little bit of sunshine

Recently, Rebecca from littletree designs gave me a sunshine award. I'm not normally one for awards on blogs (I'm not ungrateful, I just find them a little bit like chain letters, and I'm a bit rubbish at passing them on too). That said, I do like the idea of spreading a bit of sunshine so I'll pass this one along. Before I can do this I need to answer a few questions about myself, so here goes:

Colour  - my fave colour would have to be blue - most shades of in fact.

Animal - my lovely cats of course, who just make my day so much better by being there. They're sweet and funny and much more intelligent than people give them credit for, and they love you unconditionally - even when you have yelled at them for being sick on your bed.

Non-Alcoholic Drink - As boring as it sounds, it's water. I don't really drink tea of coffee, so a cold drink is always my preference.

Facebook or Twitter  - Twitter. I just can't get along with Facebook for some reason.

Getting or Giving Presents - Giving. I love choosing something that I think the recipient would really like, and then of course there is the lovely wrapping paper and ribbon choices.

Flower - Fresias - they smell and look so good.

Pattern - I cannot possibly narrow this down to one type of pattern, but I can say I like bold graphic prints - think 60's and 70's and you're about there.

Passion - aside from designing and making, which I tend to think of as my job, I enjoy cooking and gardening (I sound old).

Number - I don't really have one, although having said that, I have had the same lottery numbers since I started doing the lottery years and years ago

So now I need to spread the sunshine around and pick five blogs to share this award with. I read a lot of blogs, but have picked a handful of talented folks that you probably already know, but just in case you don't, they are:

Cupcakes for Clara
Ellen Giggenbach
'Lil Sonny Sky
Orange You Lucky
Designer Jots

If you want to take part (no pressure though), just answer the questions above and forward the sunshine award on to 5 more lovely bloggers.

Boo

Today I have some news to share of the totally amazing kind. Meet Boo:

As of today, Boo (as we've affectionately been calling our little baby) is 20 weeks old - we had a scan this morning and everything appears to be normal. Such a massive relief, and as I'm sure any first time mum will attest, you have no idea what is going on inside you and it's quite scary going for an 'anomaly scan'.
Aside from having a growing tummy (which sometimes just looks like I've eaten a big dinner) I have really felt the first little kicks and movement in the last few days - again, quite a relief.

Baby's and birth in general are are amazing little feats of nature, but we're especially happy as we've been waiting for Boo for about 7 years and have had countless trips to the hospital to try and find out why Boo hadn't materialised before now. I'm sure I've mentioned it on here before but the reason why this was such a problem was that I have PCOS. Having had treatment to manage the PCOS and several exploratory operations, examinations, scans, x-rays and courses of pills, the only conclusion the doctors could come up with was that I had 'unexplained sub-fertility'. I was also told by a male doctor with no bedside manner whatsoever that 'you know you're not eligible for IVF, don't you'. Basically there are a number of factors that govern this in the county I live in, but age and weight are the two biggest ones. At 35 I am considered 'too old' which automatically rules me out on the NHS.

It was all becoming at bit disheartening to be honest. We'd gone from saying 'when we have a baby' to 'if we have a baby' and we were really starting to think it would never happen.
I was taking pregnancy tests regularly which were always negative and had become somewhat routine, so imagine how shocked I was when it appeared that (back in December) one of my tests looked positive. I say 'looked' as I really wasn't sure, so of course had to do another one, which also wasn't conclusive. I was physically shaking when my boy came home from work that day, and my first words to him were 'I don't want to alarm you, but I think I might be pregnant'.
After drinking what seemed like pints of water, I went to the shops and bought another pack of tests. The third test showed a negative result (agh!) so I had to do the fourth test which looked like a feint cross but again I wasn't sure. The following day, I was back at the chemist buying a digital test, one of the ones that actually said the words 'pregnant' and 'not pregnant' - conclusive proof. The test said 'pregnant +3' which meant that I was more than 3 weeks pregnant.
I've been lucky enough not to suffer from morning sickness at all (much to my huge relief) but have had problems sleeping for more than 2 hours at a time and waking for hours at a time during the night, not to mention frequent trips to the loo for a wee. More recently I have had mild SPD - which is basically pelvic pain - all of which I'm sure are normal pregnancy side effects, but on the whole, I feel well and extremely happy to be carrying a little Boo around inside my tummy.

Boo should make an appearance to the world in early August. We can't wait to meet our little baby for the first time in the real world. Exciting times ahead.

Cheater

I thought I'd put a couple of cheater/sampler designs together using the palettes of my 'I see creatures' fabrics, for the lazy quilter out there (I include myself in this):

This is designed in a yard size repeat and will be available for sale once I've seen and proofed the swatches. I'm actually looking forward to doing a bit of lazy quilting with these. I haven't quilted for the longest time. I have good intentions to do it, and plenty of fabric in the old stash but to be honest I'm a bit scared of cutting things up and then cocking them up (which is a bit daft I know!), so for now this lazy method is perfect for me.

baby bears

I made a start on drawing these baby bears a few weeks ago but for some reason they weren't working for me. Having revisited them a few weeks later with different eyes it seems they were working for me, so I've designed a pattern featuring them - along with a couple of co-ordinating designs:

I plan to make them available as fabrics in my shop soon too, I'm just deciding which co-ordinating designs to go best with them and I have a few more in mind too which I need to work up first.