Can you guess what we've spotted?
That's right - some of our prints are featured in the new Print & Pattern book. The book has a wonderful, eclectic mix of different kinds of prints and designs for fabric, paper and digital use. Lots to look at for anyone who loves colour and design. If you see a copy, check out page 258!
We found our copy locally, so before you order online check in your local bookstore.
Today's the day the Prints Charming book, "Sew Charming" is released in the US! It has the same projects as the UK and Australian editions, but the people at Potter Craft have put it into a beautiful new format. It's very exciting to be able to share the book with readers in America at last, and we can't wait to see the printing and sewing projects that are created!
(and did you know Potter Craft have a CrafterNews email newsletter? You can sign up here)
Here's a video we made to commemorate the book launch, it gives a glimpse into our studio for those of you who can't visit in person.
It feels like a long time ago now, but here are a few photos from Cath and Kirsten's trip to Melbourne.
The beautiful window display at Can Do Books...
... and some shots from the screen printing workshop they held inside.
As usual, everyone was amazed to see just how quickly and simply designs can be transferred to fabric with the screen printing method from the book. Nic from Yardage Design shared a few more photos from the workshop here.
The next day Cath and Kirsten were at the lovely Ballarat Patchwork, for a stitching workshop. They were too busy stitching, talking and enjoying beautiful Ballarat to take many photos, but there were lots of gorgeous embroidered panels created during the day. It's always amazing to see how each person starts off with the same template, but then transforms it into something unique with their choice of colours, threads and stitches.
Thanks so much to everyone who came along to say hello - hopefully it won't be too long before the next visit to Melbourne!
We're heading to Canberra at the start of June, and will be paying a visit to Addicted 2 Fabric to catch up with Jenny and have a Canberra launch for our book. It will be at 9.30am on Saturday 5 June, and will be followed at 10.30 by an embroidery workshop. See the Addicted 2 Fabric website for more details, and how to book for the workshop. We're looking forward to seeing some of our Canberra friends and customers, and meeting some new faces. Jenny, the owner of A2F, has been a wonderful supporter of Prints Charming right from the beginning. We'll never forget our first meeting, when Jenny arrived with Kerry in her bright blue ute and a wonderful passionfruit flan! Not only did Jenny then stock our fabrics but lent us her daughter Sarah who has worked with us for 6 years now, and features on page 132 of our book.
Best Wishes for now,
Cath and Kirsten
What a perfect sunny autumn day to welcome so many friends to our studio
for the Prints Charming book launch. Sun streaming into the studio which we
had set out with vignettes of projects from the book.
Beautiful flowers added to the colour, gifts from well wishers. Thankyou.
Overwhelmed is a word that comes to mind, to be surrounded by so much
joy,
friends and family led to high emotions and tears were flowing, happy
tears mind. It is truly a day that we won't forget.
Sarah, whose been with us from shed to studio, in Italy at the moment we know you're having a wonderful time. Jacqui, thankyou for keeping behind the scenes running smoothly for us, and being our stunt hand model! A big thankyou to Georgina our editor for making sure our ideas can be realised by those that read our book. Suzy for being our roving official photographer and capturing our day for us. Our team that keep all things Prints Charming happening. Sandra, Beverley, Zoe, Sam, Kristy and Varina for all your work in the studio we really value your help.
We think the photos say it all.
Cath and Kirsten.
Thank you so much for your comments about our new book! We are very excited, and it's lovely to be (almost) able to share it with you at last.
You can now pre-order your copy of the book here - they are $45, plus $10 for postage anywhere in Australia. We'll send them out as soon as they arrive here at the start of May.
As you can see in the photo above, the book is spiral bound which makes it easy to browse through and refer to mid-project, and it has a pocket at the back for the pattern sheets. Each chapter comes with a copyright-free motif for you to use for screen printing. You'll be able to create fabric that you can use for the projects included in the book, or for projects from the book ...we can't wait to see what you come up with.
There is a Flickr Group set up all ready for you to share pictures of your projects from the book.
And you can now follow us on Twitter, or become a fan on our Facebook page - come and have a look.
After almost two years of work you can see that Cath and Kirsten are very, very excited to finally have their hands on a copy of the new Prints Charming book.
Published by Murdoch Press "Prints Charming" shows you how to print your own fabrics and use them to make beautiful, unique items for your home and family. You can read a little more about the book here.
The book will be published in Australia in May this year, followed by the UK in June and the US in October. We're holding a book launch at our Sydney studio on May 8, from 10am-12pm, so please put the date in your diaries and come along to see the book and the projects, meet Cath and Kirsten and buy a signed copy.
We are really thrilled with the way the book has turned out, and can't wait to share it with you. We will be writing more about the experience of writing a book over the next few weeks, yes we wrote a book!
Best for now
Cath and Kirsten
The weather is starting to heat up in Sydney along with the workload here in the studio. We're getting ready to do the final count down for Magnolia Square as we madly print and pack goodies for you all to see from Thursday 19th to Saturday 21st Nov. Check out the official site for more info.
We also had the wonderful oportunity of going to Kelly Doust's media launch of 'The Crafty Minx' which has been published by Murdoch Books. Check it out for more inspiration on creative ways to recycle pre-loved items and turn them into gorgeous new creations.
Sofia, Kirsten, Kelly, Cath and Vivien.
Here we are enjoying the yummy cakes!
The media launch was held at Julie Paterson's store - Cloth fabric, which of course is always great to visit. It was really good to catch up with Julie and we're loooking at doing some colaborative projects together next year.
Kirsten, Julie and Cath.
Another exciting bit of news this week was a feature that came out on Prints Charming in Quilts and More which is a US magazine that is part of Better Homes and Gardens Creative Collection. So look out for it at your local newsagent as we have seen it for sale at local places.
There are two Prints Charming projects featured; a quick 'how to screen print the Prints Charming way' and also a quilting project.
Here's a sneak peak at some of the fabo new things we'll have at Magnolia and also our market day in the studio on the 28th November.
Kaleidoscope Napkins
That's all for today,
Happy Crafting.
