Horses and girls

I've never been a horse girl. Never. I've ridden horses a couple of times in my life and I would be happy to again. As a girl, however, I never played with plastic horses (except for a few My Little Ponies, if that counts). It just wasn't my thing. I was more into other things (and I'll post on those next week).

So why I bought this fabric from Spoonflower, I will never know. But it's gorgeous. I splurged and chose the voile. It is soft and lovely. I was bummed at first when I saw that Heather Ross' Far Far Away III line included some of these same prints but they are on totally different fabric so it's all good. I am loving, loving, loving the ochre and browns. This palette reminds me of my early childhood before the '80s got all bright.

Interview with Andrea Courchene

I am please to introduce Andrea Lauren Courchene of Paper Sparrow for today's interview. I first "discovered" Andrea's work while shopping for fabric on Spoonflower. I decided to impulse buy some gnomes that were super cute and in the process, looked for more of her work.  Andrea has a very unique style that combines whimsical imagery with a touch of humor.

You grew up in England. How has that impacted you as an artist?

My fondest memories from my childhood are of walks in the New Forest with my grandparents. My sister and I spent several weeks at their house throughout the year, and as avid bird-watchers, they took us on many hikes, picnics and adventures in different parts of the forest. The New Forest is the largest unpopulated area in South-East England and dates back to the Bronze Age. It's mostly rivers and trails and walks but there are a few towns and historic sites too. My Grandfather told wonderful stories which let our imaginations run wild. I have the most vivid memories of picnics on tree logs, seeing deer, birds and other wildlife, building little dams in rivers and hopping on stones across streams. These memories have a huge impact on my art today.

You currently live in Florida, a place that is magical to me because of the amazing state parks and wildlife opportunities there. Do you see the Florida landscape in your backgrounds? A manatee perhaps?

Absolutely! Florida has some fantastic parks. I've lived in a few different areas of Florida, the panhandle has beautiful beaches with white sand and emerald waters, as well as those most picturesque old oak trees with spanish moss. I was fortunate to live in a house that was a short walk to Pensacola Bay in one direction and to a state park in the other. At the moment, I live in Central Florida which boasts beautiful springs and I get to visit my mum who lives on the Banana River on the Space Coast. You've reminded me of a Manatee series I did in High School, perhaps it is time to re-invent those pieces!

I read that you play cello. Does music influence your work at all?

I started playing cello when I was three and actually went to college for a performance degree. It has influenced my life in so many ways and given me many opportunities to travel and connect with people who have made who I am today. I've been lucky to spend a summer in Maine, a summer in North Carolina, as well as in Texas attending music festivals, which has given me a chance to see different parts of the States as well as some great road trips along the way. And I got to live in Chicago for two years during grad school which was one of the best cities to live in! A lot of my paintings feature animals playing music. Collaborating with musicians is a wonderfully creative experience, and something I've been doing all my life, so I like to imagine a world in which animals would do this too!

Your work reminds me of Wes Anderson’s films. Are you a fan?

Of course! Several of his films would make my top ten. Royal Tenenbaums is one of my favorite films and my boyfriend Paul loves Bottle Rocket. Most recently I've been hugely influenced by Fantastic Mr. Fox. My "Fox Jam" painting was directly inspired by this movie. Being from England, I grew up reading Roald Dahl's books, The Witches, Matilda and the BFG were some of my favorites books as a child so I was particularly drawn to Fantastic Mr. Fox. In addition to Wes Anderson films I love stop-motion animation like Fantastic Mr. Fox, the British series Wallace and Gromit as well as Tim Burton's classics The Nightmare before Christmas and Corpse Bride.

So you’ve recently quit your day job. What does that mean for Paper Sparrow?

It's funny - I ask myself this same question all the time. A couple of years ago, I would never have imagined that Paper Sparrow would be a real business or that anybody would even like or buy my work, so Paper Sparrow has been a complete dream for me so far. I'm leaving my options open and seeing where the road takes me, I'm hopeful that I'll be lucky enough to continue doing Paper Sparrow full-time in ten years time.

A million thanks to Andrea for the interview! She has some awesome Christmas fabric on Spoonflower right now that you should check out. I bought a nice little series to hoard for future projects (I'm thinking stockings for next year!). If you follow the main link to her blog, you'll find links to all of the places where you can buy her stuff. She has set it up so that you can buy her images on iPhone sleeves, pillows, and even shoes. Very cool. But you won't be able to buy the original painting of Pandas in Canoes 'cause that's mine (well, on Christmas it will be mine).


All photos courtesy of Andrea Lauren Courchene.

Happy Birthday to me

While we were out of town, my long-awaited birthday gift arrived from Spoonflower. I told Mr. Lemon that I wanted fabric for my birthday so I picked it out and ordered it. It's much easier that way. These are from Heather Ross' new collection for Spoonflower called Macaroni Love Story. I decided to go with the organic cotton sateen. I have some of her cotton voile, some of the linen, and some regular quilting weight cotton, and of course this, so why not keep mixing it up? The sateen is very soft but feels hearty.

I love this design. When I go to pick out fabrics for a project, however, they are rarely like this. So I went with a test swatch of the two colorways that I was having trouble deciding between. I like having just a little bit -- enough for a pocket or some trim. As you can see for the aqua, I adjusted the scale from 300 to 375 dpi. It's not very noticeable but I just wanted to experiment. It made the people a little bit smaller.

These three are my little impulse buys. The Snow White is by Heidi Kenney of My Paper Crane, the yellow school buses are, of course, by Anda, and the awesome gnomes are by Paper Sparrow. I only remembered after I ordered the Snow White that I changed up the colors for the cross-stitch I am working on; it's not going to match. I'll have to figure something else out.

Thank you awesome computer for saving this entire post when Blogger didn't. Oh, and soon Andrea from Paper Sparrow will be doing an interview. Yay!

Interview with Constance Kaiser

I spend a lot of time on flickr. I love looking at the stuff that other people make and their inspiration. One day I somehow came across these super cute robot dolls and superheroes. After some clicking, I discovered that the artist, Constance Kaiser, uses Spoonflower to print panels so that people can make their own. It's a wonderful project for people who are new to sewing or who want to make something quick; you don't even need a sewing machine. I was so taken by these little guys that I asked Connie, of Connie Lou Fabrics, if she would do an interview so we could learn more about her process. She has some really amazing items. I love the Little Red Riding Hood tote panel that has everything to make a little bag and all the characters from the story. She also has some holiday designs (like the Gingerbread Man below and a matching hand puppet panel) that can work throughout the year.

Can you tell us a little bit about your background?

I’m a stay-at-home-grandmother, with a husband, two grown sons and an 8 year old grandson. Most of my work experience was in the public sector: Director of a Head Start program, Legislative Aide at the Virginia General Assembly, etc. I have no formal art training or graphic art experience. But I am one of those obsessive artists, who sees everything as a blank canvas needing some decoration.

My mother loved to sew and I was the artist, so we combined to become sort of a craft-conspiracy. She would sew darling dresses for my nieces, then I would hand paint or applique on them. Though I consider myself a non-sewer, I learned to love fabric from my mother. I also have a beautiful collection of antique quilts done by family members (one of which won a first prize at the Ohio State Fair in 1932).

I like that you offer a basic print to coordinate with your more whimsical images. That’s not something that I see a lot on Spoonflower. Why did you decide to do that?

So I had been doodling, painting and crafting for sometime when I tripped across Spoonflower last year. I thought the idea of short-run, original design fabrics would be an extraordinary tool for crafters and seamstresses. What fun it would be to make a clutch from an original design and line it with a coordinating print, make a unique fabric baby bib and back it with a matching plaid, or add coordinating original design fabrics to a quilt. The possibilities are endless! I rarely work on a print that in my imagination when I’m not designing the matching plaid or stripe or print.

Your doll panels are such a great idea. My mom made lots of dolls from these panels for me when I was a kid, even a tote bag that I still have. Is this a nod to vintage?

In my first shop on Etsy I made and sold original design dolls and puppets. So I began thinking that those would be perfect to print up on fabric and then sew. Better yet, I print them and sell the panels to people who sew to make up. I’ve really had fun with the concept of panels or kits. I think that the difference between “Look what I bought for the baby” and “Look what I MADE for the baby,” is incredible. I never thought of it being vintage, but in a way I guess it is. Like when my mother and I worked together. I’ll be the artist and you do the sewing and together we’ll make something unique and original.

I’ve never seen images printed on fleece before. What is that process like?

I believe that fleece is God’s gift to non-sewers. You don’t have to worry about hemming or finishing seams or fraying. And fleece can be cut into all kinds of shapes and patterns; plus fleece is sooo soft for baby and toddler toys. Though I work primarily through Spoonflower for my fabric printing, and I love the Spoonflower community and all the technical bells and whistles that Spoonflower has, I go to another site to have my fleece printed. Spoonflower made it clear early on that they would not be printing fleece; they would only print organic fabric. I go to Fabric on Demand to have my fleece printed and the process is very much the same. I’m amazed at how crisp and bright the colors are, though I do lose some of the fine detail (that’s just due to the fuzziness of fleece). I think that soon all my pocket dolls will be done in fleece. The smaller the object being sewn and turned, the less fabric you want wadded up inside the little nooks and crannies. And with fleece you can work with a much smaller seam allowance and not worry about fraying.

So, what's on the drawing board?

I just can’t stop thinking about all the wonderful possibilities of printing your own fabric. I’m already designing the Christmas presents for my family this year. I’m going to take some traditional family holiday recipes, write them out on recipe cards, then scan them and make a print out of them. I plan to print up the fabric and make tea towels or hot pads for all my brothers and sisters, cousins, and nieces and nephews. How adorable will that be…“Aunt Jean’s Pumpkin Pie” and “Aunt Dorothy’s Creamed Onions” and “Grandpa’s Christmas Fudge”! I’ll also be adding some baby shower gifts panels and children’s apron kits to my shop as soon as the printed fabric arrives.

Thanks so much to Connie for the interview! Come back tomorrow because Connie has offered to give away one of her panels to a reader. Make sure you check out her other shop, Mini Monster, where she sells her finished creations like hand puppets and cool little monsters.

Project: I finally spent my Christmas money

So now that it's March, I finally got around to spending my Christmas money -- and in one fell swoop at that. I went nuts on Spoonflower and bought these rad Heather Ross gnome and mushroom prints that I have been drooling over for ages but could never find. Best of all, I got this fantastic alligator (crocodile) repeat from Anda of boosterseat.

I don't know what I'm going to do with the gnomes but I got a yard of each and a yard of the mushrooms. The mushroom color matches both gnomes so it will be a nice border or trim or cuff or collar and I should have some left over no matter what.

I'm going to make a super cute romper with the alligators. I'm using a vintage pattern that I borrowed from my mother in law who made a few for my husband's sisters when they were Zadie's age. I don't know why but Zadie is crazy for alligators and crocodiles. Do you know how to tell the difference? The crocs have a severe underbite while the gators have an overbite. Chomp! (I once saw a gator fly out of a small pond and eat a sunbathing turtle. I am not lying. I have a witness and I will never forget that sound).

Check out Anda's gallery at the bottom of her spoonflower page. Zadie is nuts for school buses (and thanks to my local BOE closing the historic school we can see from our house [and the number one reason why we moved to our otherwise third-choice neighborhood], she'll be lucky enough to ride one every day grrrrr....).

4 yards of fabric plus shipping was about $79 but I can do whatever I want with my Christmas money and a new living room rug is so boring.