The view from my studio space

The view from our front gardenhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/24780416@N06/2443064232/, originally uploaded by Phatsheep Textiles.

I thought it was time I let you see a bit about where I live.
After what seems like an endless winter of wind and rain Spring has finally arrived and I am so glad!
This is the view from the garden of our house and its the view I see when I look out the window of the studio. I feel very lucky to be able to see all this everyday - although unfortunately for the past few months its mostly looked pretty stormy but thats great too when you are nice and warm and indoors :)

All this spring sunshine has set me off on a spring clean of my workshop I bought a new desk and some shelves from ikea so the rest of the day is going to be spent assembling flat pack, not much fun.
I'll post up some pics of my new improved workspace once its done.

Exciting Parcels

The other day I received a lovely parcel in the mail, I'd signed up to take part in the melly and me Fabric swap and was paired with a lovely lady in Australia who sent me all of this fabric (and lots more that didn't fit in the photo!):

It was great to get all these fabrics from so far away and they are very different from the fabrics I have collected myself so very inspirational, I am really looking forward to having the time to sit down and make a start on a patchwork blanket using all these lovely scraps.

All this is really well timed because a day later my new sewing machine was delivered. It took a while to decide on what model to buy but I settled for the Brother ES 2400 because my previous sewing machine and knitting mahine are both brothers and have served me well.

So now I have no excuse not to get on and be creative!

Loads of Zips

Loads of Zipshttp://www.flickr.com/photos/24780416@N06/2399279992/, originally uploaded by Phatsheep Textiles.

My local haberdashery store had a zip bargain bin - 30p each so I did a bit of shopping, some great colours don't you think!

News Update

Ooops another long time between posts,hope everybody had a lovely Easter, its been busy here again but thats no excuse!

I've been busy working on some new bag and purse designs:

Linen Coin Purse made with some lovely new linen I've managed to buy and some Fabric Scraps, I like the shape and wil try it again with some PhatSheep Fabric soon.

Completely new bag design again using the new linen and some cute Alexander Henry Fabric I bought from America, I've put this for sale in the Etsy shop, was very tempted to keep it for myself though:)

New shape and size of Linen tote with PhatSheep Fair Isle Jumper Print Fabric panel, the bag is squarer than the previous shopper bag design with longer handles and an inside pocket to fit a mobile phone. I've put this one up in the Etsy shop today and I'll be making more of them in both this Fair Isle Jumper design and the Croft design over the next few weeks.

Also I've been playing around on the sewing machine and these are some of the new applique designs I've been experimenting with:

For a pencil case


Mug of Tea

Boat


Seagull and Oyster Catcher


Thats all for just now but I promise I won't leave it a month before I post again!