Chapter 4

"Not all who wander are lost" - Tolkien

Today has been a day surrounded by my best friends, even though each and every one of them are far away right now. Each and every one of them also being rather creative, whether with words, imagination or artistic ability.

Firstly, I want to congratulate Emily who finished her degree today, I couldn't be more proud and excited for her next chapter and to see her!!! (And party!!!) I learn so much from her everyday, and am always inspired by her creativity. She has shown me so many beautiful things in this world, and we both share the same love of music and have pretty much identical life stories! Fate. She has inspired so many of my makes over the years. My particular favourite, has to be when I screen printed her a fabric piece dedicated to "Gone with the Wind" and "Casablanca" in New York. I then used this particular piece (which turned out rather well if I may say so), to make a lovely cushion for her 21st birthday!

I also want to congratulate Katie who finished her second year of University today, I should imagine I shall be talking about her incredible Graphics on here in the near future!!! We also went quilt shopping the other day just outside of Falmouth, in the most amazing shop! I have attached the website too :) However the point was, all my crazy quilting may have encouraged Katie to start quilting too! She bought a beautiful selection of blue fabrics! Below is a snapchat of her patchwork Cornwall-esque quilt idea :) I hope you have fun!!! - www.coastandcountrycrafts.co.uk/

Last, but by no means least!!! I want to say a big thank you to Alice Edwards, my sister from another mister!! We also have a case of crazy identical lives (both stemming from twin brothers, who both have the same rare classic car...oh and I guess because we both have the same name!!) I am very much missing living with this lovely lady, however she has been providing me with wonderful pins for an idea I poached her wonderful eye for :) The idea in the picture below has to be a particular fave of mine! Come winter, you will all get to see how much of a lover of wool I am!! (Maybe that's why I am so excited to go to New Zealand so much ...2 winters!!! WITH WOOL!!) 

I also heard from an old friend today. Maybe old friends are like old quilts - they can be stitched back together if you make that choice :)  

In the midst of all this happy news, I have just about managed to sit down to my sewing table! However... I have had a slight problem. After a long while searching, I appear to have misplaced my rotary cutter...can I steal mums pizza cutter? I don't think so!! Alas, one has to resort to the good ol' pinking sheers! 

HEAD OVER HEELS IN LOVE - STARTS NOW!! WATCH THIS SPACE :)

Chapter 3

Today my 100 x 5 x 5 inch liberty fabric squares arrived ready to make the head over heels quilt :)

All packaged beautifully - I got these from a lovely shop on ebay - based in Norwich (I will see if I can find the details as I've bought several times from them and they are amazing!! Such quick delivery too and free!) 

 My personal favourite from the pack :)

And the runner up...

The excitement to start this quilt is unreal!!!

An additional excitement today was a visit to see my lovely friend Cat, who made me this very yummy cappuccino...before I spilt it everywhere...

So...with a coffee inside of me...and the news that I got a first in one of my law assignments (ECSTATIC!!!) I believe that the picture below is of some worth :)

And the torrential rain has potentially stopped too... Happy Thursday people!

Crafting and past projects

Arty Farty

A summer at French Woods

Double knitting with one of my best students - This was her first experience knitting!

Greenwich Village Weaving Studios, New York

Making friends with the George the Alpaca - then using the amazing wool!

For the love of liberty

Quilted Handbag 

Laptop case in Strawberry Thief print - William Morris design

Liberty brick quilt

You can never deny oneself a liberty grandmothers garden quilt

Love is in the air...

Patchwork Purple

My crafting friends 

Sandrine the singer

The most beautiful box of thread one could ever imagine

And can't forget this one... Maddy loves a good crafty project! 

Chapter 2

Today I spent a considerable amount of time looking for hand quilting patterns for a long summer project. Pinterest provided me with great company...it is still however a runner up to Ben and Jerry's.

     Queen of Diamonds

This heart of mine was made to travel

The Cathedral Window Quilt

Liberty Lines

Liberty Rubix Cubes 

But the winner of my summer quilting challenge has to go to.....

Head over Heels in Love - by sewfrench

Tutorial for this quilt can be found at - http://sewfrench.com/2013/10/24/head-over-heels-quilt-tutorial/

I think this pattern is amazing, I'm so looking forward to making it and bought lots of swatches today from liberty! Thank you sewfrench for your inspiration :)

Chapter 1

My love of art stems from a childhood surrounded by an abundance of the arts. I have been brought up in a family where appreciation of the arts has been encouraged, stimulating a passion to be a part of the arts sector. I have been very lucky to have grown up in an arty family that loves to travel. This opened my eyes to different cultures from a very young age. Galavanting all over the world showed me designs beyond my imagination. Stemming from mosaics at the Alhambra Palace - which fuelled my creativity with regard to patchwork, The Kunst House in Vienna - expressing design, and modern art - at the Moma in New York. 

In the summer of 2013, I worked as a Visual Arts teacher at French Woods Festival for the Arts in New York. I taught with unique skills that I acquired from experts in the field, particularly in the fibre arts department. This experience enhanced my awareness of the extensive range of Art available and furthered my skills, as well as fuelling my creativity. This experience allowed me to witness the application of the arts in different aspects of society and enabled me to bring back ideas, and new projects that I have been able to pass on to students in Wales.. 

My desire to ensure that a creative culture prevails motivates me to write this blog, and to encourage others to get involved in art.

A new chapter

I'm Alice and today I decided to start a blog. I want to fill it with my hobbies, particularly sewing, knitting, crochet, photography, quotes and design.

So, I finished my law degree over a week ago. After 3 years of reading law books, I feel that it is about time I organised the books that I truly love reading, and start to create things again!

                                                    Where to begin you may ask? 

When it comes to buying fabric for crafty projects...it always has to be Liberty Tana Lawn and nothing else! So here is a picture of my liberty den...I adore quilting, scrapbooking, and collecting vintage and contemporary liberty pieces. I may have accidentally bought all of the liberty vans range... whoops!

You can buy it here:- http://www.liberty.co.uk/fcp/departmenthome/dept/fabrics 

This is what my life has looked like for the past 3 years... and I'm sure you will agree, it's time that all changed.  

In this blog I hope to provide tutorials, inspiration and fun for all you crafty souls out there. As after all being creative is a way of life, not just a hobby!