{ Mu'Mu }

Work from a sick bed

I've been feeling a little bit ill recently - kind of run down and in need of rest - my body has commanded sleeeeep and my family have been very patient masha'allah. I've even had a couple of little companions in my sick bed - you know, 'helping'.

Bored and tired I've been trying to do bits of work when I can; the inspiration board has been updated and the colours that I am working with are at hand for reference. Some sketches and an itching to get back to the sewing machine has surfaced...

After a mammoth few weeks all about knitting it will be nice to get back to sewing.

And needless to say I am excited about working on new ideas and seeing what these sketches will emerge as when they are beefed up with fabric!

Simple Pleasures :: Colour in my Life

Sew Quick

Yeah new blog but puns just as lame...

My son, my eldest son who is seven, is intense. Spirited, if you will. Hyperactive if you like labels. Nuts, if you're on the edge of a nervous breakdown and just happen to be his mother. Whatever label you give him the fact is he goes through pants like you and I go through teabags. Clothing to him is disposable.

I have seen clothes in charity shops that are better quality than the stuff he wears, and not because we don't TRY to civilise him - oh no; clothing just doesn't stand up to his requirements. He doesn't need denim pants - he needs body armour.

I have lost count of the amount of holes in knees. I just wave the white flag on that battle.

The amount of trousers in the recycling bin? Oy! The amount of trousers turned into shorts? Well, put it this way - if he ever needs to goto Hawaii he's got the wardrobe covered.

But fed up of binning his stuff I managed to repurpose some cut offs this week.

Having cut below the knee the cut offs were begging to be used. So a quick inside-out to sew the bottom together, some webbing and a snap closure? You just happen to have a cool bag in under five minutes. Yes five minutes.

Small and compact, slings over the shoulder ready for any impromptu walk - and the bonus? Mother gets a handbag to herself without little people shoving their nature treasure in!

Their own bag for the must-haves in midget accessories. You know, pine cones, seeds, feathers....

...the important stuff.

Simple Pleasures :: Colours in my life

Stash Building

Illness has stopped play in this little house; kids and Mama under the weather, but brightening our day? Well, a little love from the mailman. He rushes sweetness from the other side of the Atlantic to me as fast as he can (be bothered). Observe:

A couple of 'whatthehellwasithinking's and some scores. Altogether a nice bundle for the shelves.

Now if you'll excuse me I need to go lie down... blergh.

Fabric Love

Sometimes I just sit and stare at colour and texture and contrast. I can't explain it. It makes me happy...

This indie fabric is making my very happy - giddy, in fact. I know I say that a lot, but just check out some of these prints by Laurie Wisbrun over at Scarlet Fig.

I tracked her down (hm, that sounds quite sinister...) after seeing her prints in the Spoonflower Flickr Group, 'Spoonflower Fabric Designs'.

I think I actually *gasped* when I saw this one::

And this one might be coming to live with me::

In fact, they are all so gorgeous in such clever retro designs and beautifully modern colours that my biggest headache this week might be just how much to order...

She's a clever girl, no? People like this inspire me and crush me at the same time. On the one hand I am psyched and want to log onto spoonflower myself and start making things just as amazing. And at the same time I feel like I am already beaten by genius whilst all I can do is stand and watch.

But lucky for me, I can never get tired of looking at fabric, nor the legal high it gives me. And this little lot? I'd say it should be making me smile for a while yet...

New Collection :: Sneak Peaks - the one where I waffle...

Yeah. So. Sneaky peaks. Here you are. Some new shots of my new stuff. Just so you know, I'm tired, afflicted with hayfever, and a bit mardy today. I am also going to waffle and drone incessantly about this new collection, so if you don't want to listen about new designs and fabric and colour then, well, tough.

So. Here we are halfway through 2009. Did I say 'halfway through'? Can I just stop there and tell you that for me I feel like it should be the middle of March and omigodwhereismylifegoing and the end is neigh, the end is neigh etc. etc

Somewhere in Spring of 2009 I sat down and started messing around with designing some new things on paper - I played with colour, I dreamt of form and I found my groove with these shapes and colours you are about to see.

 

You know by now my love of mustards, honeys, golds and greys. It is a colour combination I love with a passion right now and it was only natural that I started there; also, because I envisaged an Autumn start to the new stuff and these colours scream Autumn.

I was drawn, after a few weeks' scribbling, to the hexagon shape, or rather the way I see it - the cube shape. There is something very Jungian about the cube; something very complete and satisfying {read "The Metapsychology of the Cube of Space: The Dimensions of Consciousness & the Structure of Human Experience" here if that tickles your fancy}.

Of course, this resonates with me on a spiritual level as a Muslim - 'cube' in Arabic is of course 'kaba' and the Kaba in Islam is, for those of you who have been living on Mars since the last ice age, the sacred centre in Makkah.

I've always been drawn to this image even before Islam; it is deeply embedded in me. In an abstract way, as Form, the symbol archetype is deeply meaningful. It is not surprising, then, that it made it's way into my work at some point.

What I find absolutely thrilling about this interchanging of the hexagon to the cube is the transcendence from a two dimensional shape to a three dimensional one, simply in way the object is viewed. Without any change in the object reality the inner landscape can transmute the information depending on viewpoint and willingness to see beyond the two dimensional limitations.

The black hexagon, or black cube, at the centre of the work is therefore no mistake or coincidence.

Being at the centre also invites the mind to repeat the pattern; patterns are integral to the way we as human beings function. We are pattern-seekers; we make sense of the world in patterns, and we form our mind out of the patterns we either believe to be there or invent.

Repeating the hexagon/cube around the black centre made the work dance, and spin, encircling, just like bees to honey. That is the notion that immediately sprang to my mind. A honeycombe pattern effect is therefore pleasingly reinforcing of this notion of bees encircling, and I have further reinforced this by adding a 'bee line' in hand embroidered stitches on some of the work.

 

Starting with cubes as the theme of this collection, I have worked the design into many of the pieces I aim to offer. It is something that I hope brings a coherence.

As well as being (hopefully) stylish and beautiful, another concern of mine is to make the pieces highly practical as well. User friendly - child (boy!) orientated - beautiful and practical. These are the things I am working on, bit by bit, day by day, up in my work space to be hopefully ready very very soon.

Did you read all the way to the end of that?

Aw, you're so nice...

Work Space cont'd

I've been trying to tart up the work space as it was looking a bit uninspiring in there. Still haven't received the work table and chair so contented myself with just adding pretty things to look at. And some of my favourite pretty things just happen to be a bunch of vintage sewing patterns from when prices were in old money (what does 4' 6 mean??)

And after covering the faces I decided to just stick the patterns up to see what they looked like before committing to buying frames. And I actually like it just like that. Still with the patterns inside! Maybe I'll get frames at some point but right now quite like the funkiness of the rough-n-ready approach.

My inspiration board is now back up and I've added a rail too. Being surrounded by pretty things and colours really does help me in many ways.

And some sneaky peaks tomorrow insha'allah!
xx