Happy New Year! A chance to start fresh and new, who doesn’t need that from time to time? Now that the house is back to normal (mostly) and the hubs is back to work and the kids are back to school my mind has begun to think about next steps. To start off the year I’m excited to be taking an online course from Lisa Congdon this weekend about developing and building your career as an artist. Should be good! I’ve been working through a few titles on her book list this week, my girls will be glad when I’m finally done that audio book in the van….I’m just a mamma maximizing time 😉

Today I’d like to share with you the process for making my most favourited item in my etsy shop. The Union Jack pillow. This project was originally prompted by Michelle at Diamonds and Toads, our local Annie Sloan chalk paint stockist. Michelle is a FABULOUS interior designer, just standing in her store makes me happy! It’s a fairly long process so hold on, it’s really fun. 🙂

I started with a basic natural muslin and died it using Annie Sloan chalk paint. (mixing paint and water together and letting the material sit in it till it’s the right shade.) A quick squeeze then to dry. Since I liked the wrinkled look I scrunched them up again before laying all the pieces out to sew.

This was a great opportunity to try my hand at some batch sewing since I was making eight at once this time. It really did go much faster to lay them all out and make the same seam on each one before moving on to the next step. I was my own little factory! Haha. Some I filled with a feather insert and some acrylic stuffing. I think I like the feather the best personally. More shape and personality. Hand sewed up the ends and, voila! Done.

And here they are in Michelle’s store! She has the best displays. Dying fabric really was a great experiment, it has the best colour and variation by far. Definitely worth it. In the coming months I’ll be trying my hand at another new thing – pottery. Wish me luck! Have any of you done it? I’m a bit nervous already. I bought a pottery wheel and kiln on a whim last fall (couldn’t pass up the awesome kijiji deal…) and it’s been sitting downstairs waiting for me to stop and give it some attention. Here’s to trying new things!!