Vintage Christmas Collection.

Thanks to all those who took part in my giveaway and thanks especially for all your kind words of encouragement throughout the year. It really does make a difference and although I don't always have time to respond I do read and appreciate every word.

The winners are Alexa, Nan, Milly, Heidi, Elizabeth and Michelle. I hope you enjoy your app this Christmas.

The illustrations above and below are part of a new quilters Christmas Collection that I have designed for Makower. Hopefully it will be available in a quilt shop near you in the next few months, just in time to do all your Christmas 2011 projects!

In the meantime I would like to wish you all a very warm, safe and Happy Christmas. Take care x

Grand days out.

I thought I would share with you some images from Shrewsbury, we went there recently to look for an art shop. I needed some large sheets of water colour paper for a dream commission which I am very excited about, (I hope to share more details about this soon). Sadly the art shop that I remembered has closed; this seems to be something of a theme, bookshops and art shops are disappearing from our high streets at an alarming rate. We did however have a lovely day out and took some photographs before my battery gave up the ghost.

It is impossible not to fall in love with Shrewsbury, with its black and white timbered buildings, some of which lean at impossible angles. If you click on the picture you will make out Grope Lane, I will leave you to decide how that one got its name!



Counteracting the tendency to rid the world of smaller independent traders are farmers markets. One such event is held monthly here at Rode Hall. When we visited on Sunday morning the gardens and parkland were bathed in glorious golden light. There was local produce and crafts in abundance, we even spotted some of my fabric from "Buttercup Farm Collection" sewn into lavender bags. After chatting with friends and neighbours and sampling this and that, we eventually came away with some very posh nosh indeed; two of Neil Broomfield’s hand made individual pies from “The Great Northern Pie Company” made from cheese, cauliflower, caramelized onions, star anise, nutmeg and carnaroli rice…. Delish!

Do you like butter?

I have spent the morning walking my dog and taking lots of photographs of buttercups in the meadow so I will have lots of reference material at the ready when the occasion demands. I hope to incorporate some of these yellow beauties in my ongoing illustration project.

There is something very innocent and child like about this flower. When you were a child did you ever hold a buttercup flower under your chin? If the petals reflected yellow onto your chin that meant that you liked butter. I never met anyone who answered no, did you?

I tried very hard to photograph some bumblebees, to no avail but they did seem to be quite a few around. Having said that I am never too sure what is a bumblebee and what is a solitary bee, according to the Bumblee Conservation Trust “there are 250 species of bee in the UK. This is made up of only one species of honey bee, 25 species of bumblebee and 225 solitary bees species which rarely get a mention.” The trust are looking for volunteers at the moment to record bees and to give talks etc. If you want to learn more you can follow this link.

Everyone knows that buttercups are yellow so imagine my surprise when I saw a red colourway of my buttercup design! It seems that it made more sense economically to switch the screens around from yellow to red rather than print a similar poppy design in the “Buttercup Farm” series by Makower.

The Joys of Spring!

This weekend brought sunshine, family and great joy into my life.
The sun shone, the skies were blue, the birdies sang and flowers opened. What more could a person want? I hope your days are joyous too.


Grandson George played on his "Nestled in Springtime" quilt. The days were bright and clear, perfect pram pushing weather and in the garden the crocus bloomed.

And the winners are ....

The waiting is over; the names have been put into my dog-walking hat. Ted has overseen the whole event to make sure that no cheating took place! Two lucky winners have been drawn, they are…. Eli and Jane Moxey. Congratulations to Eli from Italy and Jane from the USA. Your parcels will be on their way as soon as you email me your postal address and a big "Thank you" to all who took part.

Several of you have asked how to obtain the fabrics, you can of course visit your nearest quilt shop and ask for “Buttercup farm”, in the UK and Europe this will be distributed by Makower UK

For your nearest stockiest contact Makoweruk on+44(0)1491 579727+44(0)1491 579727 email or visit the Makower website.

In the USA the distributor is Andover, you can also try the on-line shop links in my sidebar.

Retail therapy.

I have been feeling inspired to sew again after indulging in a bit of retail therapy after visiting this delightful blog. The exquisite hand embroidered pincushion is the work of Mouse whose shop I have been raiding recently. Mouse makes the most beautiful bags and adds lovely hand embroidered details, making each one into a little work of art. My excuse was an attempt to make a head start on Christmas shopping but I have found that I cannot bear to part with all of my purchases!

The fabrics were bought here at Clothaholics. Helen Smith is a self confessed clothaholic, who writes candidly about her addiction on her website-

“My addiction to cloth began in Canada with an old LeClerc table loom that I came across in a second hand shop. I bought it and taught myself to weave with the aid of a few books. I began to collect cloth: embroidered linens, damask, crochet lace, tapestry fragments, hand-woven coverlets, old American hooked rugs - everything that had been formed by a maker's hands. 

Then I saw some small bolts of indigo blue and white fabric at an antique fair. I began some research and discovered that the fabrics were Japanese and were for making kimono. A few months later I managed to acquire some kimono silks. I had never handled such exquisite fabric in my life. I couldn't get enough of these scrumptious fabrics or the kimono that they were made into, and that's how clothaholics.com was born.”

Helen sells Japanese Kimono, jackets, (great for Christmas parties) bags and fabrics, all of which are very reasonably priced. She also puts together little bags of fabrics for people who do patchwork. If you decide to visit, beware, the addiction is catching!

Black and White

Somebody once said to me, “I know where you live, the cows are the same colour as the architecture”. Well, this is not entirely true but there are rather a lot of timbered buildings around these parts and a great many cows of the black and white variety.


The book illustration shows a typical Cheshire scene, this is taken from my book “Animals at Home”. This book was intended for babies, I know I got carried away with the very decorative border but people tell me that their babies enjoy the book and I certainly had fun. Many of the churches and farmhouses have black and white timber framed sections mixed with brick. Some are entirely timber framed and date back to the Elizabethan period.


The design on my desk is part of a new “farm collection” which was intended for fabrics for Makower. The final version does however look very different to my original. It has been changed quite drastically, the over scale daisies have been removed and a bright green background has taken over from the cream ground shown here. You can see the whole finished collection here; I will leave it up to you to decide which version you prefer!


copyright RobertG click on here for more information.

The black and white crooked house is Little Moreton Hall, our nearest National Trust property, it is said to be one of the finest examples of timber framed domestic buildings in Europe and dates back to 1450. It has been added to by various generations of the Moreton family until 1580. The thing I really love about this house is its Elizabethan knot garden and enclosed cobbled courtyard.

You can see some lovely photographs, like the one below by (copyright owner John Beres) by clicking this link.

Nature and Nurture.

This post is a bit of a hotch potch of things that have happened here in no particular order. The first picture is of a recently completed baby quilt, (I am resisting the temptation of turning this into a grandma boasting blog!) but I suppose this is sort of work related. I used bits and pieces mainly from my “Nestled in Springtime” collection, plus a few bits salvaged from the new grandfather’s shirts, and a bit of “Herb Garden” thrown in for good measure. I did all of the piecing on my sewing machine but had help with the quilting part, my excuse was lack of time but lack of skill and courage also played a part.


As we have spent so much time away from home recently, we have become increasingly dependant on a good friend of ours who minds Ted, our dog. This friend is a country man born and bred and despite the fact that he is now in his seventies, spends most of his days dog walking and making walking sticks. He was given this fallow dear antler by another dog walker who thought it might be of use for stick making, our friend however had other ideas, he thought it would be nice to have the name “Badger” painted on it and had the idea to present this to Badger’s owner to hang above his kennel. I should explain that Badger the spaniel, sleeps in a kennel inside a barn. It was for this reason that it came in my possession, I was asked to help with the lettering. Painting on an antler was a new experience for me, it was a bit daunting using acrylic paint, and I was definitely out of my comfort zone, as was the poor deer that lost his antler no doubt! I was reassured to hear that this is a natural process and no deers were harmed in any way. I have not heard what Badger thinks of his new nameplate, Ted looked rather disdainful when he found out that it was not for him.


Whilst we are on the subject of nature, I thought that I would show you this most gruesome spectacle that happened in my garden earlier today. I was sitting at my desk painting away, when all of a sudden I heard screeching and alarm sounds outside. A sparrow hawk had swooped down on an unsuspecting sparrow and clasped it between its claws. I managed to grab my camera but the shot is very poor I am afraid. I tried to take a closer shot but the bird flew off still clutching its prey, leaving a pile of feathers in its wake. I suppose the hawk has hungry mouths to feed too but I am feeling very guilty now for keeping a bird bath in front of my window. I love to see the sparrows splashing about in the water, I think they were having so much fun they forgot to keep watch. Click on the photo for all the gory details.

Work in progress.

I started this new collection of farm animal designs for Makower ages ago, well about ten months to be precise. The collection includes chickens, sheep, cows and pigs and an assortment of flowers such as poppies and buttercups. (definitely no giant hogweed!) I am told that this particular fabric design pictured here on my desk, has now been printed so I guess it is safe to show you.

The first photo shows the design in its early stages, that is the creative, fun part. Next comes the more challenging part, that of working out the repeat. The artwork also has to translate into eighteen colours, that may sound like a lot but they soon get used up trying to achieve shaded effects, for example, a leaf with four shades of green counts as four colours.

I am really looking forward to seeing what people do with the fabric, maybe I will even see some of it made up into a quilt on someone's blog one day soon!

Sew be it!

I have been feeling very inspired to sew after reading some wonderful crafty sewing blogs, many of which have free tutorials. If you haven’t already visited Tiny Happy then you are missing a treat. Not only does this lady make the most adorable things for her shop, she also has excellent easy to follow sewing patterns for bags and home accents.

Ever since I started designing fabric for Makower I have begun to accumulate a growing selection of fabric samples, my only obstacle is finding the time to sew. The thought of making a full size bed quilt is still very daunting so I have been concentrating on smaller projects. I bought a large quantity of linen in France a few years ago and have been wondering what to do with it, so after much deliberation I finally got around to making some extra large table mats, two of which act as a table runner. I thought I might be able to use them singly for picnics in the summer if the opportunity arose. I made each one about 18 inches by 30 inches and started by neatening the edges with a zig zag stitch, then I cut some borders from my "Herb Garden" fabric and simply top stitched them along the side edges, hey presto, it was as easy as that!

The little baby shoes were also made using fabric from the same "Herb Garden" collection. We are having something of a baby boom in our family at the moment starting with the imminent arrival of a great niece in May. If you would like to make some of these reversible baby shoes there is a great tutorial here by Rhiannon Vining.

The little baby bib was my first attempt at this style of free machine quilting using a darning foot. I got the idea from reading Crazy Mom Quilts, she has some very easy to follow tutorials and lots of other inspirational projects. I used my “Nestled in Springtime” fabrics for this bib and I was pleased with the result even though the underside turned out a bit wonky! I found that a project of this size is a good way to start as it takes a while to get the hang of freehand quilting or stippling. At first my tension was all wrong and so had practice first on a few scraps, I found that I had to increase the tension because I kept on getting loops on the underside.

If you feel inspired to have a go yourself you can use any fabric that you have in your stash, or you can find “Herb Garden” and “Nestled in Springtime” here at The Tabby Cat online shop.

So thank you to Tiny Happy, Crazy Mom Quilts and Rhiannon Vining and for taking the time to post inspirational tutorials.

Little quilt

Last Easter, Tony, Ted and I stayed in a lovely seaside cottage in Portpatrick, Scotland. The weather was bracing to say the least but the cottage was cosy and warm and I started to make a little quilt out of my Hedgerow samples plus a few plains from my stash. I used a simple hexagon template and started to assemble the quilt piece by piece using the “English method” which involves tacking each piece to a paper template. (A good way to recycle junk mail!) The first photograph shows how the work looks before the paper is removed.

I made good progress whilst on holiday but inevitably the sewing had to take a back seat when I returned home. I hate to leave anything unfinished so little by little I eventually managed to complete a tiny quilt. It was very satisfying doing the actual quilting by hand, although it looks a bit wonky if you look too closely.

Now anybody who owns a Jack Russell will know how they love to sit by a window and guard the house against postmen and cats, Ted is no exception. I found that the little quilt makes a good chair cover, which is easy to wash and looks less unsightly that the old towel which it replaced.

If you have never tried quilting before I hope you might be tempted to try, working by hand, little by little is very satisfying and unlike a larger machine project, is very portable, you can pick it up and set it down again, just like knitting

Herb Garden Quilt

I have learnt recently that Makower have commissioned Anja Townrow to design a patchwork quilt using fabrics from my “Herb Garden” Collection. It is always a great thrill for me to see how others have used my fabric designs to create their own unique works of art. I am not much of a quilter myself, although I have managed to finish a few small projects, so I have been really interested to see how Anja has realized her design.

If you feel inspired to create your own quilt you can have the pattern absolutely free of charge by following the link in my sidebar or by going to the Makower website. There you will find instructions and information about sewing the quilt, if you do not have the time to do the whole quilt it might be nice to make a smaller cushion using part of the pattern?

Anja is a professional quilter with her own website called Dutch Quilts. She was born in Holland and has lived in England since the seventies when she started to make quilts after being inspired by a picture in a magazine. I am sure Anja’s work will in turn inspire others as her work is regularly featured in exhibitions and publications. The website is well worth a visit, there is a gallery of quilts, information about books, workshops and free patterns.

The fabric designs are in the Makower warehouse now and are ready to ship so should be available this month. I have samples here and am delighted by the quality of the printing by the craftsmen in South Korea who have the seemingly impossible task of registering as many as eighteen different screens without loosing definition. I think my favourite design is the blue botanical design, which Anja has used in her teapot appliqué, in fact teapots feature quite a lot in this collection, it must be something to do with living near to Stoke-on-Trent!

Christmas Teddies

It has always seemed inappropriate until now to post a very Christmassy image, however, being mindful of the time needed to plan and sew a Christmas project, here is my Christmas Teddies Collection for Makower UK. The fabrics have been available since January, it seems that it is never too early to start sewing those Christmas projects. I have to confess that the very idea of Christmas preparations induces mild panic, I am always so slow when it comes to putting up decorations and wrapping presents!

                                             Please click on the image to see more clearly.

I had great fun in designing this collection and enjoyed mixing up no less than eighteen pots of gouache including gold. This does not show up too well on screen but when you see the actual fabric it does add a very rich luster and I think adds an extra "Christmassy" glitz.  

Now you may wonder why I am not showing you examples of my home sewn creations using these fabrics? Well, I do have plans but alas time is whizzing by at an alarming rate. I am reminded of the character from "Dad's Army", the one who yells "Don't panic Mr Mannering, don't panic".

I love the idea of wrapping gifts in simple drawstring bags, partly because they look so pretty and partly because unlike expensive wrapping paper, a little bag is more likely to be re-used. 

Maybe I will find time to sew a couple for under my tree this year.

You can see more of these fabrics if you follow the Planet Patchwork link in my side bar.

Herb Garden Collection

At the moment I am busy working on a new collection of fabric designs for Makower UK. Unfortunately I can't show you these designs at the moment because of copyright protection. I can however show you my "Herb Garden" Collection which will make it's debut at the quilt market in Houston this month. It seems ages since I delivered the final artwork to the Makower headquarters in Henley-on-Thames, most people are surprised that a fabric design actually starts life as a painted piece of paper.

Today I saw it for the first time in print, always an anxious moment. Unlike an illustration for a print reproduction on paper, these fabric designs have to be translated into separate screens, one screen per colour. When you consider that some of the designs contain eighteen different colours, you can imagine the skill of the printer who has to perfectly register each and every colour.

Here are two of my favourite designs from the collection, I hope you like them!

I used some of the images from this collection to make my one of my little artist's books. These designs form a decorative panel called a nine square or label design. A term which will be familiar to those of you who quilt. You can see more of these images in my "Herb Garden" miniature book in my Etsy shop.