Mom's Bluebird and Teapot Collection

I have always been in love with texture and patterns.

I especially love to mix them together.  My sister Lynne has introduced me to the world of quilting.

When I left Hong Kong, my friend Elizabeth gave me this gorgeous teapot.  It is my most cherished possession.  Filled with memories of a wonderful chapter in my life.

The teapot has two spouts.  Inside there are two separate pots, one for hot water and one for tea.

Several years ago I painted an oil painting for my mother of the teapot and I added a little bluejay.

On a recent trip to my mom's, I was staring at a gorgeous quilt that Lynne had made for my mother.  I glanced over at the painting and had a whirlwind of inspiration.

When I got home I designed over thirty different coordinating designs using the same colors.  My fabric collection is called Mom's Bluebird and Teapot Collection

I am still trying to find a great way to photograph these designs for my shop.

When my fabric arrived yesterday, I was so excited that I had to share it with you today.

Never in a million years did I believe that I would someday be able to convert my paintings into fabric. More importantly, that I would be able to pour out my heart into my designs.

When I lived in Hong Kong I fell in love with Canto Pop music.  This song is sung by Vivan Chow and it is called Prettiest Tears.  Prettiest tears makes me think of the heartfelt memories of that chapter which are captured in these designs.

A Book for Baby

One of the things I love about Spoonflower is their weekly contest.

It gives me an opportunity to design something theme inspired for their contest.

This week's theme was to design a sew pattern for a baby book.

I designed A BOOK FOR BABY on one fat quarter of fabric, as required with instructions.  It includes six pages including the covers with a binding strip to make sure the pages open properly.  One fat quarter is for one book, one yard gives you four books.

Instructions are included on the fat quarter.  I also designed some other fabric to coordinate in my Baby and Nursery Collection.

I ordered a sample, and am waiting for the fabric to arrive.

When my daughters were little, I loved creating storybook rooms with murals on the walls and teddy bears on the shelves.  It is so nice to be able to repurpose my designs into fabric for new mothers.


A good book always needs to say goodnight to baby.

I have been having fun taking my watercolor paintings and turning them into fabric designs.  I call this one French Script, Butterflies and Roses.

 A customer asked me to design the repeat so that she could create crib shoes.

I created a small repeat design with a Blush border.

One Beginnings and Borders, which measures 7 x 6 inches in a repeat.

The other design is called French Script Butterflies and Roses small.  It measures 5.26 inches by 4.50 inches in a repeat.










I am going to use this larger one printed on Quilting Cotton fabric for a pillow.

Of course, it's always a good idea to have an inspiration board to go with the designs.

SAMPLE BOARD

My watercolor painting was one of my first paintings, which I created while I was pregnant with my first daughter in 1988.







The original hangs in my in-laws home.  The little one is a print of the original.

Spoonflower will be having another contest. The next contest will be tea towels created for 2012.

 I created this one to be reminiscent of those old Victorian Valentine's.

As you can see, I used my French Script, Butterflies and Roses to create the design.

This design has been submitted for the contest.  I call it A VICTORIAN TEA TOWEL CALENDAR.

If you can use a calendar for 2012, please take  this one home as my gift for stopping by.

Just click on the image of the calendar and it will lead you to my flickr gallery.  Click on the photo again and click on VIEW ALL SIZES at the top righthand corner.  Then choose what size that you would like to download.

The cute black and white Victorian sewing images are from the lovely Karen, from The Graphics Fairy.



Have a lovely day.

Chinese Grandmas on French Script

Once upon a time we lived in Hong Kong.

Our home faced the Tai Tam Reservoir in the steep hills of Tai Tam.

One day as I was walking along the reservoir, coming towards me were about twenty Chinese Grandmas.

 Each one wearing the customary pajama style outfits in vivid colors.

They each carried a colorful umbrella to shield them from the sun.


I  stopped in my tracks as I watched this beautiful scene. I had no camera, just my ability to memorize the moment.

Years later I sat down and painted two large paintings in watercolor.   I used Asian papers to recreate the vivid patterns. I had them framed. I still have one in my home, and the other one I gave to my best friend Judy.

The name of this fabric is called Chinese Grandmas on French Script, and is available for sale on my Spoonflower Shop.

When I saw that Spoonflower was offering a Cotton Silk fabric, I was able to make another dream come true. To make a silk scarf using my Chinese Grandma design. I reworked the design into two panels on French Script. It can be used as one large piece of fabric or cut into two panels.

  I am in the process of making a scarf, which I will share soon.

Now I can't wait to see other designs printed on this lovely fabric.