Featured Crafter

Really exciting news! I have been chosen as The Crafty Network's featured crafter this week! 
This is a great step for The Peartree Boutique, to build my online presence and look to move the business forward. 


If you've ever wondered about the face behind the Peartree and how it came about, you can read all about me! 

You can check out the article by following the link below:

http://thecraftynetwork.wordpress.com/2012/03/08/the-crafty-network-featured-crafter-the-peartree-boutique/

The Crafty Network is a fantastic crafting community that offers small crafting businesses a platform to promote their work, build links with other businesses and stay in touch with what is going on in the crafting world. 


Check out the facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TheCraftyNetwork?ref=ts

Little Critters.....

In between custom orders for duvet covers and blinds, cushions and bags, I've been quietly working away on a little project inspired by nature. 


I started off by re-visiting my drawing skills and did some studies on mini beasts

Then I got to thinking about how I could translate these to fabrics. I was really inspired by some of the fabrics I've seen lately and decided to try to work patterns and colour into the designs to work them to full effect. These are some of the first attempts with the fabric shapes.  

I've decided to try to work them into a small quilt, either to be used as a wall hanging or a cot sized duvet, so I sewed them onto squares of soft white cotton to make the designs stand out on the white background. 

I'm really pleased with how my stitching is improving and the detail I was able to bring through from the sketches into the fabric version. 

Now I have to decide on the perfect fabric for the sashing between the squares and what it's going to be! 

Pass it on....

When my twins and I were outside the other day, we found some badly tarnished copper coins on the floor. The boys picked them up and I taught them the rhyme 'Find a penny, pick it up and all day long, you'll have good luck'. They thought this was great so to take their interest a little further, when we got back home I showed them how to make their pennies shiny again by using a secret ingredient... tomato ketchup! They thought this was hilarious and magical - lots of oohs and ahhs when we washed it off and saw the shiny coin restored. I love passing on things like this to my kids. 


It made my heart swell today when Mr Peartree played me a recording he made of Zakk repeating the rhyme to his Dad. 
'Find a penny, and pick it up and then you will have a good luck!' so cute!!
Zakk 'Find a Penny' 2 yrs 11 months 01-03-12

Tactile Textures

I've been playing around with a little project in my spare time, exploring textures. 

Knitted Rabbit

Corduroy Telephone

I made this!

Today I finished a rather large project I've been working on for my twins' bedroom. They needed somewhere to sit that encourages them to be still and quiet so I made this:

As you can see, it's already a bit of a hit! 

I followed the fabulous tutorial on Moda Bakeshop by val@pinkplease http://www.modabakeshop.com/2011/07/jelly-roll-floor-pillows.html

Exciting news!

It's been a little while since I posted a blog and I have some exciting news!!
Firstly, I won a competition run by The Crafty Network http://thecraftynetwork.wordpress.com/ with my Autumnal quilt

The prize was for my logo and a link to my Facebook page to be posted on their blog for a week (great publicity).


The second bit of news is that Linda, who runs The Crafty Network, has invited me to be a featured crafter! How exciting!?!
It's certainly lifted my spirits this week.

Procrastination is the road to nowhere....

I admit I am a bit guilty of procrastinating any time there is something I should be doing. 
In the past, I've told myself that it's ok as I work well under pressure so pulling 'it' off at the last minute isn't a huge problem. But it's actually not great. 


I read some really interesting posts on Facebook today about copying handmade work, which I have very recently been a victim of. Having the designs that you've pored over and tried out a billion times, stolen, really hurts. It feels awful. 
However, it got me thinking that actually there are also a whole pile of designs and ideas that I've not launched, simply because they came about at the wrong time. These are designs that I've been working on for some time, not sneaked previews or hinted at what I'm designing and just as I was getting ready to upload my pictures onto Facebook, I realise that someone else has had the same idea or at least, a really similar one! 
Generally what happens is that I get cross, kick myself for having not been quicker off the mark and had a bit of a grouch about it for a week or so. Then I get over it, have a laugh at how small the world is and give myself a kick up the bum to get things moving quicker next time. 


So with this in mind, I have installed a large clock on this blog. To remind me that the clock is ticking, I should apply my creativity to designing in a timely manner and also that if I miss the boat on the first time round, time is cyclical and there will always be another opportunity!