A different point of view...

A few nights ago, Abigail and I were having fun playing around with different shapes cut from our fabric to come up with new and exciting patterns for our (soon to be launched!) Patchwork cushions.

It was great, but we only had time to sew up a few before we had to dismantle the kitchen to have our new floor laid, so we quickly snapped some pics of our favourites to make sure we could replicate them. On taking the photos a strange thing happened...this block, which we both saw as a star as it lay on the table, suddenly became a very definite cross! It seemed so strange, and so interesting, that changing how we viewed the block, completely changed how we saw it... Have you ever had any experiences like this? We'd love to hear about them :)

The funny thing is we like it even better as a cross and it's been very inspirational. Now i'm really looking forward to taking the time to play around with our fabric shapes to come up with the perfect representation of a "nought" for a "Noughts and Crosses" or, even better, a "Hugs and Kisses" quilt!

I'll make sure to keep you all posted on how it turns out :)

ryan@abigail*ryan

Rocking Friday Night...

Friday night for a lot of people equals drinks out, fancy dinner maybe... celebrating the week behind you, and beginning the weekend with a bang. What are we doing, you may ask...?

Quilting! Oh yeah, baby, that's right ... working late on a Friday night is just how we roll... ;)

Bowls of wheetabix with banana, the pup on the floor at our feet (of course, finding something to snuggle on he shouldn't... but doesn't he have great taste!) and making a jolly-good mess on the kitchen table designing some new patchwork blocks...

I know you're thinking: is that an angel-fish I can see!?

Why yes, it is...!! Awesome to the max, right? ;)

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend to come. Hope you're having as a nice a Friday night as us, however you happen to be spending it!

x A@a*r

Scrappy Log-Cabin...

Running a good three hours behind, today - it's been a slow burn kind of day... breakfast at noon, lunch at 4 ish... chicken just put in the oven at 8pm... I guess we will eat dinner around 9.30?

We both felt a little inspired to head to the workshop (i.e. the kitchen) around 6...Ryan working on some gorgeous scrappy log cabin with some mixed sycamore scatter and linen bits, and me, picking up my elderflower leaf embroideries again... I got some new floss threads, and they are taking a little bit of getting used to as they are not quite as silky as my previous brand! Enjoying playing with my stitches again, anyway...

Nice way to spend a Saturday! Tomorrow is a birthday lunch for Ryan's Mum. Cannot quite believe that it was a year ago we were throwing a party (weekend party for weekday bday), and had just finished this cake! Wow - time flies when you're happy and busy, egh? ;)

What are you doing this weekend?? Hope it's a happy one!

A@a*r x

p.s. i love the back of patchwork, so much! Don't you?

Chock a block!

A week of quilting will be commencing here at chez a*r from tomorrow... yeah, I know today is Monday, so we really should have started this week already, but we had a day out and about today running errands so we figure Tuesday is as good a day to start the week as any ;)

Above is my first ever quilt block completed...(what to make it into now?!) and number two, which is now almost complete as well.

Can't wait for the morning, now! ;)

Abigail@abigail*ryan

p.s. don't forget to enter our facebook competition to win a tea-towel!

Piecing together...

We got stuck in to making some pieced patchwork last night... now I have overcome my slight fear of the sewing machine, I am whizzing away, too. Having a lot of fun combining our fabrics in to new combinations and making beautiful arrangements...

Today will be a whole day of this. So good.

Angus will look out the window and wish he was running around... he knows we will take him later ;)

Abigail @ abigail*ryan

(Patch)Working...

As explanation for the little silence here on a*r blog, we've been working our little fingers to the bone on all sorts of fantastic projects recently!

One we're delighted to share with you today are the one off patch-worked floor cushions we are creating from Irish linen and our exclusive cottons! We're so excited about these, and I am loving the patterns and juxtapositions of bold colour Ryan is creating here - so dreamy.

Each floor cushion we create will be a unique one off piece, never to be created quite the same again... we can't wait to see what homes these will go to!

It's a great job to LITERALLY be creating the fabric of people's lives and homes ;))

More on these soon!

Abigail@abigail*ryan