Lynette Anderson Designs

Special Tilda magazine...

Months ago I was asked to be a contributing designer for a magazine showcasing Tilda's new fabric collection and related products....I was a bit hesitant as the colours that Tilda uses are not entirely my ususal choice! However its good to have a challenge occasionally and I have to admit I did enjoy working with these vibrant fabrics, threads and ribbons.

The magazine arrived in my letterbox today which was a lovely surprie as I had forgotten when it was coming out. The magazine is as vibrant as the fabrics (I scanned the magazine in and so the colour is a bit washed out, sorry). Its filled with 30+ gorgoeus projects all using the new seasons fabrics, papers and accesories, there is even a free little kit to make the sweetest purse and a sheet of printed tags to cut out and use.

I am a bit dissapointed as there is little recognition for the deisgners of the projects (we all like to see our names in lights!).... the photography is wonderful throughout and I am sure that everytime you pick this magazine up you will find something new to read and of course you will want to make every project in the book (I know I do). Heres the photo of me from months ago working on the embrodiery for my project.

Birds....

I am having a bird thing today...everywhere I look I am seeing birds so I am wondering if thats the next spark of inspiration for some drawings! This gorgoeus wool felted bird perched on a twig came home with me in April from France, he was made by a very talented French artist Odile  http://www.odilebailloeul.com/

This sweet hen is from the 'Nora'collection which is one of my favourite pillow series. I love the stitched fence which was done doing a long and short stitch, a bit fiddly but very effective. If your looking for a quicker result then the fence would look great done in felt.

The girls have been busy painting these cute little bird buttons and I cant decide if I like the blue ones or the red ones best. I named these birds Erin's birds after one of my daughter in laws.

There is a large selection of  handpainted buttons in the range now, to see them all visit here

This sweet little blue bird is perched on top of the button from Fernhill (month 4).....can you guess what the button is? Leave us a message to win a package containing three of my new release patterns.

Congratulations to Christine M, you are the winner of "Guess the Button". Be watching your inbox for my email and thank you to everyone that left me a comment...lots of you guessed correctly so we had to pick a winner at random. Christine has won one of my new Christmas patterns 'Gingerbread Man quilt', a new Halloween pattern 'Spooky Table Centrepiece' and a new Hollyhock Cottage pattern "Robin Cottage Bag".

These new patterns are all available now in my online store.

 

Best friend...

This is the face of my best friend, my constant companion, always half a step behind me and always willing to join in everything... its impossible to shut the bathroom door leaving him on the 'otherside' far easier to leave the door open after all I may vanish and never be seen again. I dont think he realises that there is only one door in and out of the bathroom! 

Today my best friend and I have been trying to organise my home studio, having moved the bulk of things to the new office/studio 7 mins down the road its time to re organise what I have left at home so I can still create when I want and if thats at the crack of dawn then thats fine too. I need a carpet on the floor as at this time of the year the tiles are freezing cold and in any case a carpet/rug looks friendlier and I also need to choose a quilt to go up on the wall behind my sewing table......which one will I choose?

There are still shelves in my home studio that look like this or worse...maybe I need mum to come and help too after all Hugo's not that good at colour coordination and tidying fat quarters is not his favourite occupation!

I did manage to unearth my favourite clock ( I see it needs batteries as its 1.35pm here now) and did a sweet arrangement using a collection of things including a rather lovely little nest that we found on the ground when we were out walking a while ago that I had forgotten about.

I still have the birds in my mind from yesterdays post and now seeing the nest and the little tin blackbird in this arrangement I think its almost time to find my paper and pencils out.......inspiration is here....yipee...

catching up on market..

I always find an empty booth a bit daunting....

After taking a look at our empty booth we poppped next door to say hello to the Lecien folks x

We hadnt got much started when my twitter friend and fabric designer Thomas Knauer popped by to say hello.

Two isles down from us were D&C (F&W Media), my publishers. It was a big thrill to see a big poster with my book 'Country Cottage Quilting' featured on it.

After a few hours of getting hot and sticky becasue the air con is never turned on on set up day plus by the time this picture was taken I had done both my Schoolhouse presentations....the booth is looking pretty nice. The three huge boxes you can see on the floor are filled with fat quarter bundles ready for sample spree night which runs for 8pm to 10pm....

To get to where sample spree was held the eager participants had to line up at the bottom of the escalator!

We managed to catch up with so many people and its hard to remember to take photos, here I am with Pam and Nicki Lintott for The Quilt Room in Dorking, UK.

with the wonderful Pam Kitty Morning

The lovely Wenche and her husband from Norway, Wenche and I have become good friends over the years and its such a thrill to see her at the show with her own booth. 

At the end of a busy three days what better thing to do than enjoy a cup of tea in the bar (the boys weere all drinking beer) with a group of Austalian friends..... Leonie and Deidre from The Quilted Crow Girls, Karen from Somerset Patchwork, Sue from Patchwork with Busyfingers.

I have been home for a couple of days now and can say I dont have jet lag but I do have an awful head cold! I am heading off to the studio now as there are lots of parcels to pack and send to stores around the world after what was a very busy show.

bye for now

Forest Floor...

Well it is time to show you month two of the Fernhill Mystery Button Club project and, as you can see, it is a very sweet block.

It has a cheeky looking squirrel, and a very cute stitched hedgehog...aren't the bluebells pretty?

If you would like to join the club...the stores listed below still have some places available

Country Pieces - Australia, NSW

Daisy Cottage Quilting - USA

Dragonfly Quilt Studio - Canada

Esmes - Australia, TAS

Europe Quilt - Belgium

Fobbles - UK

Hettie's Patch - Australia, SA

Marcelle's Patchwork Cottage - Australia, NSW

Patch & Quilt - New Zealand

Quilt Fabric Delights - Australia, SA

Red Rooster Quilts - USA

Sew Bright Alpine Quilting - Australia, VIC

Simply Stitches - Australia, NSW

The Christmas Shoppe - USA

The Oz Material Girls - Australia, NSW

The Patchwork Teahouse - Australia, VIC

The Rabbit's Lair - USA

The Stitching Post - Australia, NSW

Tranquility Crafts 'n' Supplies - Australia, VIC

I would also like to share with you this beautiful photo that Maria has emailed to us all the way from Germany. We just love how Maria has artistically photographed her completed month 1 and 2 blocks.

A fun little game...

Today I have a fun little game for you...I have made a word search which you can download using the link at the bottom of this post. There is a secret word that needs to be found which is not on the word list. The fisrt person to find the correct word, leaving a comment with the secret word, will win a yummy prize of one of Lynette's brand new quilt patterns. Congratulations to Angela who found the missing word "PATCHWORK" first...you have won one of Lynette's new Christmas patterns, be watching your inbox for my email. Thank you to everyone that left me a comment.

Download Patchwork Puzzle

Happy word finding...

Hugo's Sleepover...

Well it looks like Hugo is being spoilt while Lynette is away at Spring Market... just look at him making himself at home at Gran's where he is staying for a few days... definitely taking to heart the idea of a "sleepover"... do you think he looks a tiny bit guilty resting on all those lovely bedclothes?

Hugo the helper...

Hugo thought the tape measure was the best game in the world....he happily helped Lynette and Sae make tablecloths from the new Hollyhock Cottage fabrics for Lynette's tables at Spring Market in Kansas City, USA.

Hugo soon had enough and thought that a nap was needed after all the playing and the Secret Garden tablecloths which were used for the last Market, looked liked the perfect spot to crash for a doggy nap.

Baskets and Logs..

Thank you for the kind words about my lovely studio/office, it certainly is a happy place. Sometimes we are all laughing so much we forget we are at work! A large number of you have asked about the quilt that you could see on the wall near my desk (where I am sat at the moment typing to you). Here is a full view of the quilt whihc is called Baskets and Logs and is approx. 44" square. In fact it would look very nice made up in my next fabric collection 'Hollyhock Cottage'.

Anyhow it is one of my patterns and it is available to buy as a downloadable pdf pattern.

Download the pattern here

My Studio...

Many of you have asked 'whats your new studio like'...for those of you who missed the news we moved from our home office/studio at the end of January to a super cute little building thats just 7 mins from home.

Here is my desk space.... I would show you my design table but its such a huge mess that I am ashamed to show it to you so you will have to wait until next time!

This is one of the office rooms that I am using as a walk in cupboard, we have fitted it on three walls with shelves to hold all the quilts, the plastic tubs filled with fabrics and other totally necessary items.

This sweet display is at the bottom of the stairs, I pass it a million times a day when I go up to visit the girls in the office. Its a bit messy at the moment as we are packing my suitcases with samples to take to Spring Market and many of the samples on the old meat safe (which my mum painted the chickens on) are from my new book 'Stitch It For Christmas'.

This is the huge oin board above Emmas computer desk, she loves to have lots of the projects she and I are working on pinned up so we can admire our handly work!

If I peek over the top of Emmas desk I can see Lyn who is hard at work answering emails, typing out invoices and packing parcels. 

Finally here is Emma, she is busy setting up a file on the computer we use in conjunction with the laser wood cutter, the wonderful machine on which we cut all our wooden buttons. 

If Lyn and Emma look from the mezzanine floor down to my studio they can check to see if Sae and I are busy working. Today, we were busy cutting and folding the fabrics for the lucky winners.... you can see the lovely huge windows in the studio which is so nice you really cant beat natural light.

Well I hope you enjoyed the mini tour of the Lynette Anderson Designs Studio and who knows maybe one day soon we will have an open day so you can come and visit us at work.