Tag Archives: Derry
Some more good news just in time for St. Patrick’s day! I can now announce that the new spring issue of The Irish Quilting Magazine is offering one lucky winner a selection of 4 fat quarters of my Derry Heritage fabrics in their competition give-away !!! How exciting is that?
And this is what you could win! A selection of 4 fat Quarters including: 2 x ‘City of Derry Shamrocks’ and 2 x ‘Walled City Street Names’ fabrics. (Actual colour selection shown below). So what are you waiting for? Go and buy your copy now, and good luck in the competition!!!
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5 comments | tags: competition, Derry, fabrics, irish, magazine, quilt, shamrocks, street signs | posted in Crafts, Fabric design
I’ve been mainly working on Irish themed projects this week, and with it being St Patrick’s day on Saturday this is unusually festive of me 
I hand stitched these little pincushions as gifts. They 3 inches square and made using my ‘City of Derry Shamrock’ fabrics. I’m tempted to make a little batch of these for my Etsy shop as I have a few different colour ways and it’s a nice way to use the fabric samples.
I think this would be a cute addition to any Celtic quilter’s sewing kit
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Leave a comment | tags: City of Culture, Derry, irish, Sewing notions, shamrocks, St Patrick's Day | posted in Crafts, Design, Textile Project
Did you miss me? I had my own little mini strike in protest about SOPA/PIPA and I had a black out on Twitter, Facebook and here. I was pleased to see lots of other sites I share work on like Flickr and Etsy joining in too. You can learn more about it here. And if you are state side then I urge you to kick up as much fuss about this as possible. The internet is the home of freedom of speech and a facilitator for sharing ideas. Don’t let it be crippled by this bill.
While I was away from the screen I had a little bit of a making frenzy. Mostly items for friends like this little hexie-place mat for Louise, (paper pieced and hand quilted from some of her favourite scraps), and a good luck card for one of my best mates, Clare, who’s gone into hospital for a back operation today. I wish her all the very best of luck and a speedy recovery! (The speediest!)
I’ve had lots of ideas for future projects too. I’d like to make a tote bag and cushion covers from my Derry Shamrocks and Derry Street Signs Fabrics. I’m planning a Trad Irish themed range to hopefully be ready in time for St Patricks day (that’s the 17th of March). I’m working on a custom Cherry Pie fabric to work with my Twin Peaks range and I’m thinking about more mini embroideries too. There just aren’t enough hours in the day! Happy Friday everyone!
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Leave a comment | tags: Derry, good luck card, hexagons, irish, quilt, Twin peaks, Walled City | posted in Crafts, Textile Project
More Christmas notebook commissions –These are the first notebooks I’ve ever created using my own fabric designs. The burgundy one features my “Derry City Street signs” fabric, and the green is my “City of Derry Shamrock”. Ideal gifts for those with a sense of local heritage.
Derry City Street Names and Derry City Shamrock notebooks
Gentlemen's Derry City Street Signs notebook
Lady's City of Derry Shamrock notebook, with felt heart
You can see all of the co-ordinating fabrics I designed in this range by clicking the links below, they are also available to order:
City of Derry Shamrocks
Walled City Street Names
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Leave a comment | tags: custom, Derry, irish, Notebooks, Walled City | posted in Crafts, Design, Fabric design
I’ve been a bit preoccupied lately with compiling work for a print portfolio. It’s been time consuming and self editing can be the hardest part. Knowing what to include and what not to can take the longest time and you’ll always second guess yourself no matter what you decide in the end.
In lieu of some new work here on the blog I thought I might share these digital sketches I worked on last year, when I became obsessed with local architectural features, (some of which I might include in the folio). During this time I bought the ‘If Stone’s could Speak’ treasure hunt book, and it really made me look again at all the older buildings in Derry/Londonderry. I was seeing my home town in a new light and it was a lot more interesting. I’ve always liked these kinds of historical oddities and now I couldn’t stop looking, all the time, everywhere, especially up. You miss a lot if you never look up.
I took lots of photos of my own in an attempt to appreciate the over looked. Here are some of the studies I made, for a possible future fabric design using my own photographs as a basis for the digital sketches.
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You can see some of my photos and larger versions of the sketches here : Derry Buildings on Flickr
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Leave a comment | tags: Buildings, culture, Derry, digital, irish, Walled City | posted in Design, illustration, Photographs
So while I wait anxiously to find out if I’ve made it into the top ten ditsy fabrics on Spoonflower’s fabric of the week contest, here’s the latest on what I’ve been making…I’ve had some fun designing some Hallowe’en fabric for my own amusement. Sometimes you have an idea in your head and you just need to get it out! So I made some vampy blood red tear drops, and a wee ghostie pattern using an illustration I’d done a while ago. I’ve also designed some cutesy badges (button pins), that will be printed on fabric. Can’t wait to see how they turn out. No preview for now but I promise a photo as soon as they are back from the printers!
I’m all about the ‘small print’ this week, as the other design I’ve been working on is my business card. These little things, like badges and business cards, always take longer than you think to get right, so I’ve been agonising over them. Can’t wait to send these off to the printers too so that I won’t be tempted to make any last minute changes!!!
Preview of my business card
Autumn seems to be the time for thinking about conventions and events, and this year I’ll be taking a break from comic events to check out some crafty events instead. I’m currently looking into booking a stall at the Derry Playhouse Christmas Craft fair, with my quilting friends. They’ll be there to promote their next round of classes, while I show off some of my sample fabrics and maybe sell a few bits and bobs like badges and fabric covered books. More word on this when the details are confirmed. I’m also planning on visiting the Country Living Fair in London, to scope out the high end crafts on the market and see what kind of textile trends are popular right now. This show comes highly recommended and there should be lots to see, so expect lots of photos from that one!!!
Right back to work now …..b.x
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Leave a comment | tags: crafts, custom, Derry, fabrics, irish, Walled City | posted in Design, Fabric design, illustration, Textile Project
A while back I accepted the challenge to design some Irish, if not Derry, specific fabric. I work digitally and created this shamrock design from my own photographs of a small shamrock detail on the gates of St Columb’s Cathedral, within the historic Derry/Londonderry city walls.
My original reference photo for the design
It’s a uniquely Irish symbol and one that resonates to both sides of the community here. The little hearts in the pattern are made from the leaves of the shamrock and symbolise love. I’ve devised some green and yellow versions, but also some striking versions using black and white. The green and reds are the same colour across all the shamrock designs so that they can be easily mixed and matched together. You can see the whole range of them here on Spoonflower where they are also available to buy : Irish Fabrics Collection
Just a selection of the Shamrock designs available
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Leave a comment | tags: Derry, fabrics, irish, photography, shamrocks | posted in Fabric design, Photographs, Textile Project
I’ve been working on making all of my Derry/Irish designs available to buy online through the website that printed my original samples.The Derry/Londonderry street signs come in two sizes, 4in & 8in repeats, and in a choice of cream, yellow or burgundy background.
Also available are the Green on Green ,and Green on Yellow Shamrock design in 2 sizes (2.5 and 5 inc repeats). And I will soon be releasing some striking new colour ways of this design in the very near future.
The link below should take you to my profile on Spoonflower where any one who wants to will be able to place an order for any of the fabrics in the ‘Fabric for Sale’ section, and view my other designs too. The fabric ordered will be printed and sent directly to the buyer.
Spoonflower Fabrics for Sale link: DERRY STREET SIGNS & SHAMROCKS FABRICS
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4 comments | tags: Derry, fabrics, irish, photography, shamrocks, street signs, Walled City | posted in Fabric design, Textile Project
Some local Comics friends Kevin Logue and Danny McLaughlin are furiously working away on their follow up to their hugely successful first publication ‘Zombies Hi!’ The are doing some really fun marketing over on their facebook page ‘Uproar Comics’ and doing spot prizes of ‘zombie-ing’ lucky fans. I don’t do much comic stuff these days but when they asked if I wanted to get involved I couldn’t pass up the chance. I love zombies. So I designed a pattern for the inlay pages of the book, and in the spirit of their zombification of Derry Locals I turned my friend Dave into a Gamer Zombie! I hope he’ll forgive me You can see a taster of it below -
Derry Gamer Zombie
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Leave a comment | tags: Derry, fabrics, photography, zombies | posted in illustration
Now that Mission Hall Quilts has drawn to a close, I’m looking back fondly at all the creative work I’ve done over the last year and a half. I never did take up quilting, but I had a lot of fun developing my writing, photography and design skills. I’ve designed loyalty cards, and postcards, even a Christmas card for the shop, I mocked up a prototype calendar, created appliqué designs for Lou’s ‘Tea and Cake’ quilt, and devised an appliqué wall hanging of the cottage with Anne, I’ve made fabric badges, photo-badges and designed an enamel logo pin, and written articles for quilting magazines and
supplied them with photographs, as well as developing some Irish/Derry specific fabric designs. Now the shop is closed the ownership of these designs reverts to me, and I’m pleased to be able to show you the Irish/Derry fabric at last. I’m addicted to fabric design and have so many more ideas fabrics in this range! (I’ve lots of ideas for what I’d like to see happening with them too.) Here’s a sneak peek for now:
Shamrock and Street Names fabric by Ms B.x
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Leave a comment | tags: Derry, fabrics, irish, photography, shamrocks, street signs, Walled City | posted in Fabric design, Textile Project
