A use for remnants

Now the weather has cleared up and we have a stretch of warm dry days ahead, Ive decided to clear out the mountain of remnant fabric cut-offs from my print runs. I decided to start with the lino pattern remnants - most of which I havent printed as main items such as tea towels or scarves for a long while due to my workload.

Most I have to be honest were too scrappy or odd in size to do much with, but a handful will be perfect to make more fabric baskets and mini organizers with.
I sat on my living room floor surrounded by small piles of useful and useless. after a while I decided I needed coffee and cake. Then more cake....the task at hand was more than a single sugar hit could fix first time round.

patterns

Some of my tjaps lined up in the studio ready for the next batch of printing.

Linen Totes

So these are the completed totes - Foo dog and ornate lobster which I showed as printed panels before - I loved putting the rivets into the leather - a good bash and expletive session really does do the stress levels wonders....

Now I need to focus on the ten or so other lino patterns I have archived for so long which will be featured on totes and maybe carve something thats been on my mind for a while...clouds and rain and birds. hmmmm

Springtime..

After a bitter, long, cold and unrelenting winter - and a drab cold wet spring, things might be turning the corner.. (or maybe Im being a tad optimistic, its May and Im still freezing)
Finally the garden starts to awaken and my tree ferns unfurl. The wisteria is in bloom (it took seven years for my cutting to flower, just as they say).
Its been four years since I created this garden from scratch, it was a flat lawn without a single plant and barbed wire for fencing.
Theres still  fair amount of work to do - tear up the horrible old concrete path cutting the garden in two and lay more of the slabs we started the patio with, plant more seasonal flowers, and maybe veg again this year, weather permitting.
But still it makes me happy.. I need to be surrounded by green and tropical lushness, even in cold wet London!

finally!

A handful of completed fabric baskets - Im looking to add another 5 patterns or so, but Im bogged down a bit by having to finish off some large linen tote bags which Im printing up at the moment.

Probably more exciting though for me is finally being able to move onto printing some of my lino patterns, most of which have dropped out of my Etsy shop simply because Im struggling to keep up with the tjap patterns.
So now previously  retired patterns such as my Foo dog, giant owl, cherry blossom, hawkmoth  will feature on extra large fabric bins. Here are some panels Ive printed of  the Foo dog on olive green linen prior to sewing them up. My two year old merrily trampled all over the first batch........

A couple of mini trugs sewn up awaiting handles. I love the bottom of the yellow Raja having an unexpected grey base - but it has to be as beautiful on the bottom as it is on the sides or it would irk me! The cherry blossom pattern wraps all around as well.

Im printing the magnificent lobster on panels that will also become fabric buckets - medium sized - so you get more of an impact with the scale of pattern.

Fabric trugs or mini buckets as I like to call them...

Im expanding my basic range, and its stretching my sewing and organisation skills......alot.
Hours spent printing batches of fabric then cutting, marking out templates - then finding my measurements werent quite right (I blame lack of caffeine at the crucial moment) etc etc - the trials and tribulations of  creating something new.

So here`s a look at some fabric trugs Im in the process of making. This is the first basic mock up of the outer layer which I block printed with my burrows  pattern on indigo blue linen. Im still printing some contrasting linen for the inner lining with another pattern and then the leather handles will go on.

Its already stuffed full of another batch of printed linen ready to be sewn into mini trugs - smaller than this one but along the same lines.
Peek inside and you`ll see a couple of the patterns...........

Oh my.......

If you know anything about tjaps (batik stamps) you will know that the vintage, solid, complex patterned tjaps are the most difficult to source (versus the more simplistic, made-for-the-tourist-market versions easily available) and often only become available when an ardent collector dies and their estate is sold off.

So you will probably understand if you do know something about tjaps that these new additions to my collection are something special.
The giant lobster alone  is museum quality. I cant wait to print with them. The lobster will also be displayed.