Fun in the Tropical Sun

New 'Lionfish Party' colour palettes now available
- let the fun in the tropical sun begin :)

Lionfish Party Pink : Shown with companion design French Stripe

Lionfish Party Aqua : Shown with companion design French Stripe

Lionfish Party Sunshine : Shown with companion designs: 

(From Top:) Shabby Stripe - Petite and Shabby Yellow Grande :)

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Paris je t'aime: desktop calendar May 2010

... looking towards the Grand Palais Paris, France.
Can you believe it's almost the first of May?
To celebrate I've made another photo calendar for my desktop.
... Please feel free to use this image on your desktop if you would like to :)
I took this image, on a lovely hot summers day in Paris ... from a beautiful bridge that crosses over the Seine River.
Looking ahead I could see the amazing Grand Palais (my destination :) 
and looking behind, I caught a distant view of the Tour Eiffel, while below a plethora of tourist boats made their way up and down the Seine River.
(I won't tell you how long I stood there admiring the view: waiting for the boats to clear, so I could get the shot below - lol - the things we do :)
... Ahhh .... Paris, je t'aime! 
Wishing you all a: Wonderfully Marvelous May :)

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'Easy As' Headboard Slipcover

I have been procrastinating, for days now, trying to decide how to sew my new quilt / So this weekend, with a little help from my Facebook Friends (You know who you are ;) I decided to just start sewing.

... as I wanted to update the look of our guest bedroom, I decided to start with a simple "easy as" headboard slip cover.

This fabric slip-cover, is fabulously easy to make, and can transform the look of an existing headboard (be it modern, antique, painted or stained, timber or chipboard ;) in a matter of hours.

Featuring 'Kristopher K' Fabric Designs from Top:
Marie's Garden
Lucky Four
Rustic Floral
Rustic Stripes
and
Marie's Garden - Square


... And at least now I know where the quilt will live once it is made ;)




'Easy As' Headboard Fabric Slipcover:
Make your own pattern:


- To measure the required length of your headboard: simply measure from the top of the headboard / to the middle of the top mattress / times this length by two / and add your seam allowance.

- Then measure the width of your headboard: (This single headboard was 12.5 " wide) and add your side seam allowance to each side (if making from one piece of fabric) you have the required pattern size.

- Or you can feature strips of fabric: As shown: 2 strips of plain linen either side of a strip of patchwork fabric (made from sewing small strips of fabric together) Or design your own featuring as many strips as you want: just remember to allow for the extra seam allowances when working out your required widths.

- Sew all strips together (if using more than one piece of fabric ;)

- Hem around all sides.

- Fold slip cover in half (along the width line) front side up.

- Cut 12 ribbon ties and pin into place as shown:

- 3 on left (inside front) and 3 on right (inside front) then directly behind

- 3 on left (inside back) and 3 on right (inside back) and sew into place.

- Iron (you know you want to ;)

- Slip over existing headboard.

- Tie ribbons and Voila

.... it could then be time to pop the kettle on!

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Saturday Sunshine

Today on an overcast Saturday I'm sure the sunshine appeared, from behind the clouds, just so I could photograph Spoonflowers new Organic Cotton Sateen: For as soon as I'd clicked the following photos it disappeared again.

This is the first time I've sampled the new bright white, Organic Cotton Sateen - and I can describe it in one word: LOVE

This 100% organic cotton fabric, is beautifully soft, with a lovely silky lustre and is Certified organic cotton by: Global Organic Textile Standards (GOTS)

Designs shown above are from the Shabby Chic Collection and include: From Top:
Shabby Rose
Shabby Check Petite
Shabby Stripe Petite
Shabby Yellow Petite
and
Shabby Diamond Petite

Shabby Chic Collection: Detail



Colour Inspiration for: Shabby Chic Yellow
Walking through the picturesque, Tamborine Mountain Village,
I stumbled upon this lovely and overgrown shabby yellow fence :)
This went onto become the colour inspiration behind Shabby Chic Yellow :)

Wishing you all happiness and sunshine ... cheers Kris

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Put on your dancing shoes :)

Did someone say shoes?
Kristopher K Design meets the Iconic Classic Keds Shoe.
Warning - This could be addictive - lol :)
Can be customised with your choice of stitching, laces, lining etc

Available now in a variety of 'Kristopher K' patterns in styles to suit:
Men, Women and Children: See the 'Kristopher K' store at Zazzle





White Wild Rose: Women's Champion Lace Up




Paper Daisy Pink: Kids Champion Lace Up




Shabby Rose: Women's Champion Slip On





Wild Grey: Men's PRO-Keds Royal Lo

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Shabby Rose Collection

I feel like a child at Christmas time :)
Yesterday along with the new fabric proofs, my quilt fabric arrived (YAY!!! I can hardly wait to start quilting) 
And the new Cotton Lawn fabric, from Spoonflower, in my opinion, couldn't be more lovely: The only way I can describe it is, soft, breezy, and as light as air :)
Then later in the day, when I'd finished arranging and photographing yesterdays proofs, more arrived ... 
Here are some of them:



(From Left)
Shabby Rose
Shabby Stripe Grande
Shabby Diamond Grande
and
Shabby Check Grande

Finally, just to round out a totally fun, fabric filled day, I made another little dress.
(using the same New Look Pattern #6195 - that I now know I can sew - lol ;) with my fabric design:
White Wild Rose

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Photo shoot!

What a beautiful day it has been today.
The sun shone brightly and a gentle sea breeze kept everything nice and cool - I couldn't have asked for a better day to photograph the following new Kristopher K Designs - All available now on a variety of natural fabrics exclusively at Spoonflower :)

Daisy Garden Blue 

and
Ink Check Blue

Daisy Garden Green 
and

Ink Check Green


Daisy Garden Plum
and

Ink Check Plum

Vintage Stripe Pink

- Features aged vintage stripes in antique pink and white.

and

Bokeh Gradation 

- Designed as a 2 yard panel - featuring an urban bokeh glow, that sparkles and falls down 2 yards of fabric, in a subtle gradation of colour from the lightest pretty pink to a gritty city plum - with long flowing dresses in mind :)

City Floral

- Printed on the new Cotton Lawn - Features tiny bokeh flowers that dance till dawn under the city's sparkling lights.

 Country Garden 

- Little white flowers bloom within the negative spaces of this earthy country garden.

Stitching 

- features little cross stitches, sewn into rows of multi coloured fun :)

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Floral Chintz Dress

Let me start this post by saying:
At the end of a full days sewing, I was very glad I decided to sew my niece an EASY sew 1 hour dress - lol - 

But now that it's finished, I'm so happy with the final result (as is my niece :) that I can't wait to make her another one :)


I started with a New Look Pattern #6195 
- making dress B
And I followed the pattern exactly - with the exception of a little bit of ribbon to decorate the front panel, (as shown) - which I added before sewing the side seams.


Here is the finished dress (in Linen-Cotton Canvas) featuring my original fabric design: Floral Chintz



...................................................................

Also today, the proofs for several of my new fabric designs arrived - including a sample of the lovely new Spoonflower fabric option: cotton lawn
... I can't wait till tomorrow, so I can photograph the fabrics and post the photos ... stay tuned :)

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Sunshine Award

Yesterday Mermaid from the blog: Buttons and Bows sent me some sunshine all the way from the UK, in the form of a "Sunshine Award" ~ Thank-you :)

This is the very first award the 'Kristopher K Design' Blog has received, so it came as a lovely and very special surprise indeed.

In accepting this award, I will follow along with the spirit of the award and pass the sunshine on to 12 inspiring blogs that represent just a few of the many wonderful blogs that I regularly love to read.

1.    Brandi Girl

2.    Chair Up

3.    Covered by Design

4.    Fabric Fascination

5.    Fabric of Living

6.    Lily G ~ the things I love

7.    My Sweet Prints

8.    Sasha and Max

9.    Selvage Blog

10.  Simply Stated Aesthetics

11.  The Fabric Shopper

12.  Town and Country Mom

I'll soon be sending you all a comment to let you know :)

Where does the time go?

I can hardly believe it's the middle of the week already.

There was however, a lovely surprise in my inbox yesterday:

The fabric for my new quilt has been printed and has shipped from Spoonflower ... I can hardly wait ;)

... also included in this order are the proofs for my new Daisy Garden collection: 

Daisy Garden - Green

Daisy Garden - Blue
Daisy Garden - Plum

Ink Check - Green

Ink Check - Blue

Ink Check - Plum

I look forward to posting photos of the fabrics next week :)

Also this week I started reading a new book:

"Driving over Lemons" by Chris Stewart

... and only a few pages in, I was already laughing out loud (LOL)

I purchased my copy from Borders books ... after reading the following synopsis:

"Driving Over Lemonsis that rare thing: a funny, insightful book that charms you from the first page to the last... and one that makes running a peasant farm in Spain seem like a distinctly good move. Chris transports us to Las Alpujarras, an oddball region south of Granada, and into a series of misadventures with an engaging mix of peasant farmers and shepherds, New Age travellers and ex-pats. The hero of the piece, however, is the farm that he and Ana bought, El Valero - a patch of mountain studded with olive, almond and lemon groves, sited on the wrong side of a river, with no access road, water supply or electricity. Could life offer much better than that? 'An idyllic life in a remote, sunny part of Europe is a fantasy normally punctured by harsh realities, and abandoned. Chris is made of sterner stuff. Driving Over Lemonsis a wonderful account of his Andalucian adventure.' Peter Gabriel, former Genesis band mate"

And the really good bit (as I'm soooo enjoying this book) is that this is Book One of The Driving Over Lemons trilogy - so I guess I have my reading list set for some time :)

If you know of any other "must read" books about living in France, Italy or Spain, please let me know ...!!!

Cheers Kris


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Feels like Summer :)

Just a quick note to say THANK-YOU :)

I really appreciate all your lovely comments, and continued support of my original textile designs :)

We have enjoyed a wonderful break over Easter
- enjoying beautiful blue sky's and warm sunny days.
I'm happy to say after all the rain, it finally feels like Summer - Yay! 
I look forward to reading all your holiday adventures, and catching up with the latest news on your inspiring blogs soon :)
Take care, Kris


Paper Daisy - Summer Yellow 
- White organic daisy in a variety of sizes, repeating on a sunny yellow background 

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Vintage Floral

Vintage Floral is now available at Spoonflower, on a wide variety of natural and organic fabrics :)
- inspired by antique lace, Vintage Floral features little flower stars that twinkle in soft faded colour palettes.

(From top)
Vintage Floral - Denim

Vintage Floral - Mist
Vintage Floral - Mauve

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Dot - The Disco Frog

Just a quick post to show you all Dot - The Disco Frog!

A big thank-you to The Purl Bee Blog for providing this fun and easy to sew pattern :)
Dot loves to dance to the hip buzzing sounds of the lilly pond - lol -

I am really enjoying the holidays, and using the time to practice my sewing skills 

- prior to my new Quilt fabric arriving :)

Dot is made from my fabric design: Disco Dots - Night
and the background fabric is: Lofty Linen Leaves 

Happy Easter for tomorrow,
Cheers Kris :)

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Happy Easter :)

Wishing everyone a Happy Easter and all the best for the holidays :)

Today I'm thrilled to be able to show you all samples of Spoonflower's new 100% Cotton Quilting Weight Fabric - and Yay! it's so lovely and soft.

- As a result, I have finally ordered enough quilting weight fabric, for my new quilt ... (now I only have to wait a few more sleeps, for my new fabric to arrive at my door :)

So anyway, without further ado, here are to-days photos:

Blueberry Ice

Coconut Ice

(from top)
Deco Floral - Apple Pie

Deco Floral - Fairy Floss

Deco Floral - Plum Jam

.....................................................................

Also this week Gardens are Blooming in Spoonflower's fabric of the week contest. Thre are so many amazing and inspiring entries this week ... It's a good thing you can vote for more than one :) 
I have entered my new design:

Daisy Garden - Blue

You can vote for all your favourite "Garden Themed" fabrics from now, until Wednesday, April 7, 2010 - here

Happy 1st April :)

Can you believe it's already the 1st?
To celebrate ... 

I have uploaded a new desktop calendar for April ;)

Please feel free to use this image on your desktop if you would like to :)

I took these photo's while wandering around some of the beautiful villages of Provence eg: 

Cucuron

Bonnieux

Lourmarin 

and with my passion for Antique and bric-a-brac shopping my absolute favourite would have to be the amazing:
L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue 

... now I have these images on my desktop, I'm not sure I'll be able to get any work done at all - as I while away the hours dreaming of France - lol