Handmade Monday 109

Welcome to Handmade Monday!  Just a quick reminder for everyone: please only leave one link to your blog per week, please visit and comment on some of the other blogs if you can, and please link only to blogs (not shops or Facebook accounts).  More info here.

This week, I've been concentrating on drawing.  I've finally discovered the versatility of Promarkers - I had heard people getting all enthusiastic about these but I hadn't realised how good they were to use.  My daughter has done some gorgeous cute cat illustrations using them and it opened my eyes to the potential of marker pens.  So I had a go...

I love the colours

I'm also working on my line drawings for digital stamps - I expect to be able to have a few of these ready for download in the next few weeks.  I'm trying to make life easier for myself and work on A4 paper so it's easy to scan!

I obviously have a bit of a thing for shed shapes!

There was also good news on the sewing/design front - remember the sofa clock?

sofa clock

They're using it again in another magazine so are paying me again for it.  How lovely!  It isn't as much as the initial fee (it isn't very much at all, actually!) but it does feel rather nice to have a surprise payment for something I've already been paid for once!

So, what have you been doing this week?  As usual, please...

Handmade Monday

Welcome to Handmade Monday - click the link for more info about joining in.

When you design for a magazine - or even when you post tutorials on your own blog -  you don't always get to see what people decide to do with your design.  So it was a lovely surprise to see the Letters page in this month's Craftseller - a reader had written in with a photo of what she'd made using my sofa clock template.

letters page

I designed the sofa clock a while back and it's one of my favourite designs.

felt, pelmet Vilene and sketchy stitches

I like the homey, cosy feel of it and I actually have more ideas for this sofa - not all of them in fabric!  But it was really lovely to see how a reader had developed the idea and made the clock her own by using a canvas and adding some lettering.  It's always really good to see how your idea can be developed in a different direction by someone else (er, as long as it's not something you are trying to sell yourself - copying designs on sale by another designer/maker is a definite no-no - but there are lots of patterns and tutorials about for designs you could make and sell).

the original article in issue 16

I also had an email this week from a lovely lady asking me about the heart-shaped scissor keeper tutorial and whether she could make it to sell at her Guild show.

So, does it make me more organised?

Surprisingly, yes - I can always find my scissors now!

The email reminded me that I really should add information about this to my tutorials.  If people are making from my patterns or tutorials on a small independent basis, I'm more than happy for them to sell their makes (and, although it's not absolutely necessary, a mention for me and my blog on the labelling would make me very happy indeed!).  However, you'd need to contact me about mass production.  All my patterns are developed by me and I do own the copyright - it's all about respect really, this copyright issue, isn't it?

Oh, and before I forget - Happy Mother's Day to those of you who are mums in the UK (I think the rest of the world celebrates this on a different day, doesn't it?).  Enjoy your day - feet up on that sofa, I think!

Anyway, I'd love to have a peek at what's been going on in your world this week.  Feel free to join us for Handmade Monday by