A New Idea

well I was looking at my designs for Cocktail napkins / serviettes and a thought struck me. Thwack! :^D
I can make them even more personal to each and every person who would like a yard or two. HOW?
Like this:

The Wedding / Anniversary Napkin

The collection of all the napkins I've designed can be seen in a previous post or click HERE to go to them on Spoonflower.

Each customer could request whatever they liked to be printed onto the napkins. I'd upload a revised design, they'd place the order and in a few days it arrives on their doorstep. I don't think you could ask for more! They would have to have a hem sewn around the edges or cut with crimping scissors, to stop them from fraying. 

There is also a product called Fray Check that can be bought from almost every sewing shop and some Wallmarts. What you'd do is with a ruler draw a line of Fray Check along the thin outline edge on the fabric, then with your roller cutter slice the napkins out. The Fray Check will hold through many washes. 

Another thing that can be done is a simple line of sewing, straight or decorative, along the dark edge of the napkin, then cut along the thin line and allow the edges of the napkin to fray... That would be rather pretty I think. 

Whatever you can think of, to have written on one of these, it can be done.. just let me know :^D.

I've recently WON an AWARD!

Whoohoo I was recently sent an award for my blog!

Apparently, I've been checked out and deemed a great author of a great blog that is above all TRUSTWORTHY. 

I'm really pleased about this and have dutifully pasted the award onto the side bars of this blog.
This is what it looks like : 

Sweet hey!

Holiday Cocktail Napkins / Serviettes

There is this contest on Spoonflower at the moment, for the nicest cocktail napkin design 5 by 5 inches in size. Rather small I thought but then I said to myself.. why not, it doesn't need to be large when you're standing holding a glass of bubbly and a canapé.
I could only enter one, but that didn't stop me from designing a whole collection. :^D
This is the one I entered :

Christmas Cocktail Serviette.

I wanted to create something that was smart and hopefully with a touch of class, that would attract a customer of discerning taste...
The choice of fabric for this should be Cotton Silk at $27 a yard.. you'd get 42 Cocktail serviettes from each yard.
Here are the others  in the collection:

An alternative Christmas Cocktail Napkin.

A Hanukkah Cocktail Serviette.

Cocktail Serviette for Easter.

St Patrick's Day Cocktail Napkin

Halloween Cocktail Napkins.

Thanksgiving Cocktail Napkins.

Frangipani for Any Special Party you may have in mind.

To make that special day perfect. Wedding / Anniversary Cocktail serviettes.

So there they are.. I'd love to hear your comments on them.. 

A friend is a precious thing indeed!

I have this friend. Her name is Evi Nemeth and she did me a HUGE favour earlier this year. I racked my brains to try and think of something I could give her to say thank you and finally I came up with this.

It's a Quilted Table Topper. :^D

The centre piece was created by me. I dyed the fabric and painted the bird. There are some other strips of the yellow that I cut and added to the design. The strips of fabric that look like Batik crackle are exactly that. I made those too. 

The quilting was fun too and I learned a lot while I was stitching away.. lots of unpicking was done in the process. My Mum says she never feels that the job has been done correctly when she hasn't done any unpicking during it.. ha ha 

The backing fabric was hand dyed by me too and I also designed and actually printed the label out on my regular printer! I ironed it well before I sewed it onto the quilt. It's washable, believe it or not. 

It was fun and I'm happy the way it turned out. It's been a while since I did any creative sewing and Evi was really pleased with her gift..whew :^D 

Father and Mother Christmas in Fiji.

Father and Mother Christmas in Fiji.

This is breaking news... Father Christmas and Mother Christmas are on holiday in Fiji.

We spotted them one day as we drove past their houseboat. Even while on holiday Father Christmas is at work. At this time he was making some really great looking fishing lures that, he says, "are guaranteed to catch you a great meal". Well, who can fault that! 

A Lure...He makes all different colours, but we liked this one.

Mother Christmas is a lovely lady, she's just as I imagined her, kind , cheerful and generous. 
Of course they do have names other than what the world calls them, but they asked me to keep those a secret. They said that they'd like to be able to avoid junk mail as much as possible. They get a huge amount of mail every year and they didn't want to add to that. "Thank heavens," they told me, "that we have such a great team of Elves helping out back home otherwise we'd never be able to sneak off like this and enjoy a bit of sun."
I asked them when the Elves go on holiday. I was informed that that too was a secret or the Elves would get no peace from all the children in the world. 

To prove that this isn't a hoax, They agreed to a photograph, so here they are in their casual relaxed mode. 

I think they look very happy together. don't you?

PS: If you'd like one of those lures, send an email to Sylvie at artonfabric@gmail.com and I'll arrange for him to contact you.

Wallpaper and Decals

The very latest and hottest news is that Spoonflower are now able to print your favourite designs onto WALLPAPER  24" by 144" and a DECAL that is either 5 in, 15in or 30 inches square.
These you can cut up and stick into tray's , on the backs of chairs, inside your bathroom door or on any side of any door come to think of it. lol. Also stick it on the wall, onto a piece of wood and hang it or frame it, you can also cover that special book with it. The mind boggles at it all.

This is the size of the Decal on this design..15 inches by 15 inches.

I have wallpaper in this design and in this :

On the Spoonflower site, when you look at the Wallpaper design it shows it to you with a chair and table in front of it to give you perspective as to the size of the print. Sooooooo Coooolllll!! :^D 

The designs are set at the sizes you see them on the site... BUT I can change them to pretty much any size repeat you'd like.  All you have to do is send me a message... the box can be found on THIS PAGE on the left hand side of the page.

Happy perusing folks! I have 70 something designs up and more in the works lol.

Design Contest, Typewriters (Black and White)

I must admit that this Contest caused it to be rather difficult to create a design. :p I started with one idea in my head... a typewriter with pages spewing out of it but decided that I didn't have time to first paint it and then scan it and then set it up for repeat. The time span for this was only a week or so for me 'cos I'd seen it later rather than earlier. :p
Anyway this is what I eventually came up with:

Typewriter (Black and White) Spoonflower Contest

So if you feel inclined, I'd appreciate a vote   :D  http://www.spoonflower.com/contests/154  That's the link.. it shows the top winner and the other Nine Runners up of the Cheater contest, of which I am NOT one :( and the typewriter contest is on the right just click on the heading, Typewriters (Black and White)  and you'll go right to it.

Thanks everyone!

Fabric Design Contest on Spoonflower 'Zigzag Cheater'

Hello everyone! :) I have entered a quilt design into the latest spoonflower contest.

The Contest is called Zigzag Cheater Quilt.

When I first read this I thought that it had to be a design that was full of zigzags and Cheaters..you know the animal from Africa... How weird I thought... but then I read on.. and I learned something new :) 

A 'Cheater' Quilt design is actually a fully laid out design to work as a completed Quilt Top! Yeah, so if you're unsure about how to quilt you can go and buy one of these and put it together with batting and a backing fabric, quilt all over it and bind it and There You Are.. :) What a Cheat :) But that's the idea isn't it. ha ha.

This is what my design looks like. :-)

So now I need all of you to rush off and VOTE for me. I really need the exposure you know. I do a heck of a lot for the folks in the QQQ Team, and I'm hoping that they will want to do something for me in return :) AND to pass it onto all their friends and they to their friends etc. etc. 

This of course is not just for the QQQ Team.. it's for everyone and anyone who likes the design and would like my work to become recognised :-)

This is the LINK to my shop on Spoonflower.

30 BRAND NEW Fabric Designs

As of yesterday I have 30 Brand New Designs go 'live' on Spoonflower. :D They are now all available for purchase! There is no minimum length, so you can even order a fat quarter!

Have a look at a few of them here :) Some of them are what you'd call a 'cheater' design. This is a design that when printed out looks like a finished quilt :) All you have to do is buy a yard or two and then you can sew / quilt it directly onto your batting and backing. Nice and quick :)

Indonesian Batik Fabrics

I recently heard about Indonesian Batik Fabrics when I was in New Zealand. I visited with a local quilt group in my area and there was a lady giving a talk about them. I went a little crazy, spending a tad more than I should have but I just couldn't resist them. :-p Typical of a fabric addict I suppose.

Anyway also recently I joined Craftsy.com where I presently sell my first and so far, only Easy Peasy Nine Patch quilt pattern for beginners.
The kick back is I get news letters from them telling me what deals they are having and today I got an email telling me about some Indonesian Batik Fabrics selling at a reduced 20% off rate. !!! Whoohoo

The process of dye resistant designs, similar to batiks, have been traced back 1500 years to Egypt and the Middle East. In Indonesia, this process evolved into batik. To produce these intricate patterns a copper stamp is created. The cap is then dipped in wax and stamped on to the fabric. The fabric is dyed numerous times to achieve a unique coloration and crumpled by hand to create a textured look. The fabrics are then placed in the sun to dry where the colors become increasingly vibrant. Finally, the fabric is dipped into a vat of hot water and the wax melts away leaving you with an amazing look.

Batiks by Mirah, I love them!!

You have to visit the site and see close-ups of the designs... yummy!

I WISH I had some cash because the fabrics are incredible and are going for a really great price. Much Cheaper than what I paid in New Zealand.

I thought I'd tell you all about it, so that you wouldn't miss out. :-) 

African Safari

I've taken the plunge and entered a competition on Spoonflower.com.  The contest still has some time to go before people can start voting  but it will probably be found HERE

The one I've entered is the Zigzag / Chevron cheater Contest. What it is, is a Cheat Quilt. What? you may ask.. lol....
Well we were invited to design, in a yard of fabric36 inches by the width of the fabric 42 inches, a Quilt Top. You would buy the yard and receive a piece of fabric printed to look like a finished quilt. All you'd have to do is put Batting and Backing fabric with it and sew / quilt it all together.

This is 42 inches wide and 36 inches long.. my African Safari Quilt Top Designed for the Zigzag Spoonflower Contest.

I'm quite excited about this. It took me ages and ages to put it together. I really do hope it was worth the effort; :-D 

Please Please Tweet and Fb and Google+ this post... Especially if you like it :-) Thanks.

Latest Madness with Mermaids

A few years ago I was asked by someone to paint a picture of a mermaid for their bathroom. This I duly did and my customer, I'm happy to say, was really happy with it. Last week I had another customer on the boat and she asked me if I'd do a Mermaid for her... so I did and this is what I've come up with :

The Mermaid.

I've uploaded it to my Fine Art America Site, where you can buy it for as little as $22 :-)

Then I got a WILD idea and worked on it to be able to make it into a fabric design.... I've done it in two ways ONE AS A LARGE PANEL 42 inches by 28 inches with some extra dyed fabric added to the side to make up the yard... and one yard starts at about $18 depending on the type of fabric you'd like it to be printed on... :

The Yard of Fabric

So on Spoonflower.com you'll see Mermaid at Home :-) by the YARD... I don't earn much from this as the company (Spoonflower) takes most of it...they have large overheads I guess... But I'm hoping that some of my designs may become popular :-)

Then I also did it to fit into a FAT QUARTER :

Fat Quarter of Mermaid at Home

So there you have it :-) More Mermaid Madness :-)

An African Quilt

In 2001 I hand dyed and painted some fabric. Then I cut it up and designed a quilt. My Mum sewed it for me. ( I was away on a sailing course so she decided to surprise me and WOW she really did!) This quilt is my favourite that I have ever had, designed or made.

In our Cabin

Laid out on the front deck..please excuse the shadows :-)

I've been thinking on how to pass on the pleasure. Often people who have seen this quilt have said..Sylvie why aren't you making more of these and selling them... well I can't do that here on the yacht.. no space to do all that dyeing! 
So I've come up with a plan.


If you go HERE you'll be able to see the different pieces, carefully laid out in 1 yard lengths with 1/2 an inch between every piece, so that you can now buy the fabric and make your own :-)  I have not included backing or binding but I have some batik dyed crackled fabric that I'll upload as a 'Sixth Section' this can be used as backing if you like.. or just use black, gold, maroon.. etc.. If you like I can upload those colours in Batik Crackle....I can also give you the colour numbers so that you can take your spoonflower colour chart down to a local store and buy something that will match, for your backing.


I have started a collection called 'AFRICA' and it will hold designs for quilts with an African theme.


This is just the first of may I hope.. many? ha ha.. I have three in my head as I write this.. one is already on Spoonflower and the other two are being created...


Let me know if you have any problems locating these designs.. I'm still finding my way around spoonflower. :-p

Designing Custom Fabric

I've been hard at it and have come up with more designs that are to say the least..unusual :-) I am also in the process of designing a Christmas / Ocean fabric.. hmm should be interesting :-)

Anyway here are what I've done recently:

Under the Sea Surface.

This is about 8 or 9 inches square in real life.. it goes well with the 7.5 inch blocks I have on Etsy. See HERE for example. The others seen on the print above are also listed on Etsy :-)

I have designed a fabric that can be used in conjunction with this design above and with the others on Etsy as a Sashing or backing fabric for your quilt.

Backing or Shashing fabric

Of course I'm thinking only in terms of quilting :-) there are probably other ways to utilise this fabric.
The site where I sell these designs is found HERE.  If you can only see a few designs then click 'ALL'  next to 'Fabric for sale' and 'designs not for sale'. They are in the process of being proofed and then will be available... so just keep watch. :-) If there is something you like you can click on it to leave a message :-). feel free to Tweet and Like and add to favourites . 

Than I did these : I dyed the fabric, photographed it and then manipulated it on my computer.. it took me quite a while but I think that the result is very interesting!

I started with this.

Developed this.

Stepped it and got this.

Manipulated it to get this ribbon woven effect.

Manipulated it to get this effect called a Fractured Effect.

You should see how these look in a few yards of fabric... rather pretty I think.  Click HERE to go and have a look :-) You'll get to a page with a lot of my designs on.. just scroll down :-)

Etsy 'shop owners' Flea Market: The Best Shop Hop

Etsy 'shop owners' Flea Market: The Best Shop Hop: Silver Pendant with Labdorite made by Theresa Hing Jewellery Studio Pay a visit to Theresa's studio. Her jewellery is really special a...

Slip sliding away! :-)

No we aren't sailing off just yet :-p I'm just having so much fun with the designing. I've sort of gone away from the Christmas theme. I've been busy on things oceanic! I've put two more new designs up and I've fixed an old one.

Birds at Sunset. Click HERE

Starfish ! Have a look at it on Spoonflower.. Click HERE.

Beautiful Pansy's! Revamped with a whiter background.

Going off in a tangent

So I designed that geometric black, blue and white design for the Christmas Snowmen Collection and then was browsing through my art work and my White Rose caught my eye... Hmm I thought.. wonder what I could do with that...
Well this is what came of it :-)

My Snow Roses on the Trellis design.

My Trellis repeated.

So there you have it... I'm going off to Spoonflower.com to upload them now. :-)

Christmas Fabric in the making

So no comments on my last blog.... hmmm you probably all hate the stripe but just don't want to say so... :-p I don't mind if you hate it, or feel indifferent to it.. these are the things I need to know :-) it's great guidance as to which direction to take to be able to create the best design. :-D

So while you've all been avoiding me..I've been working :-)

Here are my latest changes to the collection... Then the stripe..then the red tree balls, the loopy decorations and a geometric....
 These are the new additions:

Christmas in June new work

8 inch block... changes made to the design.

Due to some comments on my last blog post I made some changes to my designs and also created a couple more to add to the collection.

Repeated....

 I wonder if you can notice the changes and WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THEM? :-)

I've also made a couple of other designs that use the same colours. This then enables the quilter to have more latitude when planning the quilt. :-)

Stripy blocks

Two different colourways of the same sort of design...

Now I prefer the blue toned one. To me it would go much better with the rest of the collection.

I may go and design one with balls.. to imitate the decorations on the trees... hmm I wonder what that would look like :-)