The wait is over for my William Morris fabric!

Today I finally received my new fabrics from Jason Yenter via our good friends Tim and Jim at Lloyd Curzon! Thanks guys! xx It is so nice to finally see and touch them and still so surreal to see some of my drawings on fabric! 

 I have a feeling these three prints below might even end up as shirts very soon…….a girl can never have too many shirts!!

Jason had asked me to put a few words together before the range came out so here they are…..

"I am thrilled to announce the Arts and Crafts collection of fabrics and accompanying quilt from Jason Yenter of In the Beginning fabrics and myself.  This new collection weaves elements of Morris’s Strawberry Thief design (1883) and his Bullerswood carpet pattern (1889) and all with a modern colour twist.  The border print has a distinctly Persian influence where it is thought Morris derived a lot of his pattern for the final carpet.

One of William Morris’s greatest legacies was the spectacular carpets he produced. He spent many hours researching designs and gathering knowledge from the old Persian pieces he had collected. His knowledge was so highly respected that he became an exert advisor to the then South Kensington Museum (now the V&A) in London. In 1893 Morris urged the Museum to purchase a spectacular Islamic carpet– the now famous Ardabil Carpet 1540 that is the largest (13ft x 25ft!), and finest Islamic carpet in existence.  Earlier in 1889 Morris had already created a carpet Bullerswood that is heavily inspired by elements of the Ardabil and other ancient Persian carpets.

Another of Morris’s most recognised designs is Strawberry Thief 1883  - a printed cotton reflecting the pesky thrushes that were stealing fruit from his very own garden at Kelmscott Manor.

Jason has interweaved these two spectacular designs to create a special feature fabric and blenders. The ‘Bullerswood Quilt’ also reflects elements of the original Morris ‘Bullerswood’ carpet and the colours have a contemporary twist. The quilt design will suit devotees of applique and piecing– enjoy!"

These are some of the shirts I made some months ago from previous ranges. They were perfect for the UK tours and the cotton is just so nice to wear. Jason uses a high thread count and on a hot day they feel amazingly cool……..

 As I write this I can see out into the garden where we have a bird bath full of bird life. First the family of starlings appear and by the time six of them have finished bathing there is hardly any water left! 

We've had honeyeaters and finches and this afternoon I finally captured the gorgeous blue wren that you can just see peering over the stone wall and in the pot…….

 So with a little bit of this mixed in it makes for a wonderful life…...(And Larry is amongst this good life somewhere!)