rose hip

playtime!...

...that's what this photo's all about for me: figuring out how to trim all the cases... So much fun! With some, my first try at a trim makes me happy right away, while with others, it takes several trials of different yarns and motifs before the finished look feels just right to me.

 

Now, this colorful pile is a bit different than the previous pillowcase piles I've shared with you in that it is part of a bigger idea of mine, which is to put together a little bedding collection made up of a pillowcases, cushions, and blankets. I've been inspired by a sweet, girlie fabric print which I'm using as a starting point for this little bedding scheme and which I will eventually show you...

 

In recent years, I have put together a few collections for my friend's shop, Molly's Furniture Salad  (which she has since sold and I no longer deal with, as I prefer to spend the little time I always seem to have on my online venture...), and have always had so much fun at it that I thought I would put another one together and try my hand at selling it in my Etsy shop. Initially, I was simply inspired by the sweet fabric I mentioned earlier and thought it would work nicely in Nico's room (who just turned 11 last week and really likes the fabric in question...), but then the idea grew and, as her room could use a bit of a facelift, why not design and make a little bedding collection around it, and then, well, why not just make a few more and list it all in my shop!?

 

 

So, in the next little while, I plan on sharing with you my progress with this bedding project as I go along; I have already started cutting some woolly fabrics to make a blanket which I will post about next.... Thanks for the visit and I hope you'll come back soon to see how my little bedding adventure is coming along!

ladies-in-waiting...

  

...that's what I think of these pillowcases which are sitting nicely right by all my cotton yarn reserves... I found them all stashed and forgotten in a basket during my basement cleanup and decided to pile them up somewhere I can see them better. So, what are they all?...




I guess they may be called my "samples" or pillowcase styles that I have already replicated and sold or, in some cases, decided not to sell, at least not yet, for different reasons...

 

Some, I haven't replicated because I haven't been able to do so as I've simply ran out of the fabric or yarn needed to do so, often because I used it up making something else or a different pillowcase style; so these styles are as if "on hold" or my "ladies-in-waiting" as I try to figure out what to substitute the missing fabric or yarn with...

 

 

Others, however are ones that I'm simply not sure about the fabric, yarn, or trim motif combinations, and perhaps need to be tweaked a bit more, or simply discarded into the "what was I thinking?" category! I do find myself (quite often!) putting together certain combinations of patterns and colors, thinking that they are great at the moment, and then, when looking at them again down the road, thinking that they are, without any doubt, very "off".

 

 

In fact, over the years, I have found that my hormones and monthly cycle can definitely play a part in how I put together patterns and colors; because my moods have always been hugely affected by my cycle, I think there is a difference in how I view colors and patterns depending on where I'm at in my cycle, at times being more conservative in how I match these and, at times, definitely edgier... Do you see that in yourself as well?

Whatever the case, experience has taught me that trial and error is essential in my design process, so if something looks good one day even though I may feel like I'm pushing my personal "envelope", I go for it and try it out and, if it looks totally off the next time I look at it, that's fine because I know my brain has picked something up from this trial despite it being not quite right, something perhaps very subtle but which will undoubtedly help me in a future design exercise. I'm convinced of this because, as much as I love putting colors and patterns together these days, I remember being in my 20's and finding it very difficult to help my then-boyfriend now-husband match a tie to a shirt when he was shopping for some office clothes! So whenever I hear my children or other children, or even adults for that matter, saying things like "I'm not good with colors!", I quickly tell them that you'll amaze yourself at how good you may actually be once you start playing around with colors and patterns, as well as making a point of staying open to your surroundings and looking out for and noticing color and pattern combinations; whenever I see a combination that appeals to me nowadays, I often take a photo of it and store it away for the days when I'm in need of inspiration.

I do hope spring has hit your neck of the woods and, if it has, have you noticed how incredible, bright, and varied all the "greens" are at this time of the year?... I will be back soon, well, with probably more color and pattern... Thanks for the visit!