Thursday, September 08, 2016

Autumn Farmers Markets + Creative Things

Tuesdays I do the Northampton Farmers Market behind Thornes Marketplace. Commerce was incredibly slow in July and August but Tuesday it picked up a bit. I guess folks are back from vacation and getting back into the routine. Thank goodness because I find it incredibly demoralizing to stand in a hot booth for hours barely selling a thing. I think about all I could be doing that I'm not. It is frustrating. I try to bring some stitching with me. I'm almost done with the piece below. 


Folks tend to start eating a bit more lamb in the autumn. Fingers crossed both the Amherst and Northampton Markets pick up some. I guess it is time for some more recipe development. I'm working on a Lamb Korma now. Made it for dinner on Sunday and it was delicious but I'm going to tweak it a bit more to make it a bit easier for my customers. 

This month I've really got to start cranking out the projects for the upcoming book. Here is a photo of a fabric design I am trying out on Spoonflower. If I like it, it will be the backing for a pieced quilt style duvet cover in my new book. 


I carved a lino-cut block with the design. Then I printed it in black and white. After the design dried, I scanned it. Then I brought it into Adobe Illustrator and turned it into a vector image. Next I colored it with the LivePaint option. It is a process. After the first flower was LivePainted, I set it into a simple repeat and recolored it 3 different ways on each of the different colored colored backgrounds. It was lots of fun to do. 

Because I have trouble stopping any designing, I re-colored it one more time in some muted tones. Not sure I am in love yet. We will see when the samples come in, hopefully this week. This is all a learning process for me and I love this challenge of learning to design fabric and putting it into repeats. 

Here are a few other lino-cut prints I have been fooling with. Oh, the possibilities! 


As you can see, I am flower obsessed but that probably doesn't surprise you. 

7 comments:

Sally said...

Gasp! Beautiful!!!

Auntie Shan said...

Actually, I'm really loving the lino STAMP! That purplely colour is cool! -- Have you considered doing a MONO-colouring? - [yeah, I know. How DARKSIDE of me!] - I'd love to see that stamp used to do an INDIGO on white... Or, just even BLACK..? - [and then, Folks could embroidery/crewel some colour into it like the "Adult Colouring Books"..?]

Meanwhile, hope those markets improve for you! - I know the feeling! I've done many a craft show, where you can almost smell the "fresh meat" walking into place! Or, worse, great crowds, but they either just "touch" your stuff and go [if I got a nickle for every time my stuff gets "petted" almost into FELT, I'd be rich!], or, ignore you altogether! -- Just being able to "make *table*" is usually the loftiest of goals! Hope market-people don't charge too much for the "space"!

nuts. Now I have a craving for kabobs!
;-}
x

Margo said...

I don't suppose you would consider bringing some lamb to Michigan. None of the grocery stores or meat markets in my area are carrying lamb. One told me check back in the spring.:(

Beth in Maryland said...

I LOVE that design. And I'm hungry!

Leigh in Portland (we are not burning down) said...

It would be really interesting to do a panel of fabric that has more basic shapes/designs on it, that is meant to be embroidered or otherwise embellished. Many fabric designs are a "finished" design that doesn't leave room for the embroidery. Of course, most fabric is meant for quilting or home dec, but it would be nice to have a more 'unfinished' design with blocks of color, a basic flower that could be embellished, etc.

Jules Means said...

Oh now this is a great post. I love tutorials and this post really grabs me because of the process information! I love to carve blocks (using the pink stuff) and then hand print onto fabric. I have never learned how to get it all into the computer in a way that's useful for trying out colors. I still have no clue, but this feels like a start. Thank you Kristin!!
;) Jules

tjf said...

Gosh, I really love the lino cut fabric - both color schemes. I love all the lino cuts! You always inspire me so much. Thank you.
Tricia

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