Happy Creative New Year

Wishing you all a happy and creative 2012. The new year has brought with it some inspiring ideas here at Coulter and Coulter home base. Watch this space in the next couple of weeks to see what we have come up with.

Holidays over nose back to the grind stone

Well that's the silly season over for another year, and its nose back to grind stone at Coulter and Coulter. The break has sparked lots of new ideas which will be appearing soon.
Chief block producer, Peter, got involved with the printing. Something he has been keen to do for a while. He insisted that I printed some html tags on his old painting t-shirt. I think this year he might be letting out his inner geek. Be prepared.
The printing results are looking pretty good. Lots of new blankets will be available on my Felt shop in the next couple of weeks.

Merry Christmas from us

This morning was the last Craft and Design market of the year at Hawthorne's Coffee Shop in Havelock North. All the Coulter and Coulter orders are in the post. Time for me to put up the Christmas tree and settle down ready for the festive season. Our online shop over at Felt will be open over the holidays, if you need any retail therapy.

Merry Christmas to all our customers and readers, have a happy and peaceful new year.

Organic Cotton Bedding

The first of I hope a wide range of Organic Bedding. This organic cotton duvet cover and pillowcases is hand printed with the Paisley Fern design.

The organic cotton percale used is the softest ever cotton I have worked with.

Its bound to induce sweet dreams. If you would like to buy this set you can over here.

And more Coulter & Coulter in print.......

In my excitement to see my cushions in print I totally missed my Christmas tree decorations, in glorious glossy print. Great to see. If you would like one or two or even twenty they are available on Felt.

Coulter and Coulter in Glossy Print

If you buy a copy of the January edition of Your Home and Garden, and turn to pages 65 and 66 you will find my beautiful rose cushions. Don't they look good. If you would like one for your house this Christmas, you can find them over here at Felt.

Out on the road.

After weeks of preparation in the sewing room, the printing table(kitchen table) and out in Peter's work nest in the garage, Coulter and Coulter have been out on the road.
Well one half of Coulter and Coulter was out on the road. While the other Coulter stayed at home to watch a six film Star Wars marathon with one of the young Coulter. Along with our good friend Keriann from Sweet Mary, we had a stand at Cross Hills garden fair. A wonderful day out. A wonderful venue. But very, very cold.

Some Christmas Trinkets

Yes, that time of year is fast approaching, a time of excesses of food and wrapping paper. Alleviate the guilt and feel good by decorating your tree with these cute vintage blanket star decorations. Each star is hand printed and hand stitched, using vintage buttons, ribbon and thread. Available in three colours. Traditional red, cool blue and green green. Buttons and ribbons may vary with availability.

Also available in garlands.

You can purchase them from out Felt shop.

Lavender

I have done some Lavender block prints for my friend Keriann over at Sweet Mary. I am very pleased with the results, especially when she gave me one of the lavender bags. Hopefully I should have some of the fabric available for sale some time soon.

Roses and Hats

At the moment here at Coulter and Coulter, I have been busy playing about with some ideas I had for Napier Rose fabrics. As usual what started out as an attempt to be subtle, turned out to be something quite different, and I love it.
I have also been getting more hats completed and ready to be listed for sale on Felt. The hat below has been made from a beautiful vintage french fabric.
The other half of Coulter and Coulter has been busy in the garage making a display stand for my Christmas items. I will have pictures very soon, I hope.

Talking about Christmas

Since I mentioned Christmas in my last post I thought you might like a sneak peak at what we are planning for the festive season.

Still busy

Its been a while since our last post. We have been kept really busy, preparing for the Craft Market, getting new ideas off the ground and thinking about Christmas. Yes the big X is on its way again.

Vintage fabric Hats

To make our lovely recycled bags, which are given away with purchase instead of brown paper bags, I have been collecting a lot of beautiful vintage fabrics. Trawling the internet and fossicking through op shops - I know, its hard work but somebody has to do it. I have found some really lovely bits and pieces. While sewing up another batch of bags ready for the next craft market I suddenly had an idea. Summer hats, we all need them down here in the Southern hemisphere and what a fantastic use of the oddments of vintage fabrics I have been collecting. Keep an eye on our Felt shop, I will be listing them there in the next couple of days.

Another sucessful Craft and Design Market

After a busy week of preparation it was another fun and successful Saturday morning at the Craft and Design Market. My stall still needs a bit of tweaking before I will be happy with its layout, but I think we are getting there. I was really happy to be beside Keriann from Sweet Mary and Perry with his wonderfully creative bird houses. If you missed us we will be back again outside Hawthorn Coffee Shop, Havelock North, on Saturday 22 October.

Busy, busy, busy again.

Tomorrow the Craft and Design market is being held, outside Hawthorne's Coffee Shop in Havelock North. As usual I have been busy, busy, busy. Sewing, printing, ironing, organising and tweaking my products ready for the day. I would love to see you there, please drop by and say hi. I will be the frazzled person in the corner.

Vintage Bargains

Here at Coulter and Coulter we like to do our bit of re-cycling. Every blanket or cushion we sell gets its own vintage fabric bag. I really enjoy searching out the vintage fabrics and giving them a new lease of life.

Blossom, blossom everywhere

Hawkes Bay is full of beautiful blossom at the moment. Very, inspiring. Keriann from over at Sweet Mary asked me if I could do some blossom on a lampshade for her. What a great idea, I thought. But first I needed to try it out to see how it would work.


I liked the results so much that I got a bit carried away and did a couple for myself. If you would like one too they are available in our shop on Felt.

More weekend printing

This week Peter finished off another couple of printing blocks for me. A final version of the Napier Rose, inspired by a lead light window I found in Napier. And a bit of a side track, which has worked really, really well, spring blossom. I think there might be a bit of a theme starting on Peter's side track blocks. The first was the lovely ginkgo leaf that was inspired by Autumn leaves and now we have Spring blossom. I am looking forward to find out how Summer will inspire him.

Spring is here

Spring is officially here in Hawkes Bay and the weather is perfect. The sun is out, warm but not hot and there is a mild breeze bringing the sound of distant birdsong with it. 

Impossible to resist really so  I have moved my workspace outside today - and accompanied by a cup of tea and an inspiring talk via the interweb at this moment my life is complete.

I could get used to this . . . 

peter

Side Tracked #2

Inspired by a jug of branches, in the hall, which are about to blossom. Peter has been side tracked again. There is a long list of blocks I would like cut. But, muttering something about a notice board he would like for above his desk, he has produced the blocks below. Shush, don't tell him, but I am really looking forward to trying them out this weekend. Watch this space to see the results.

Things don't always go to plan at Coulter & Coulter. Instead of setting the ink on these lampshades in the heat of the airing cupboard, I thought I would speed things up using the oven. Does anyone out there need any polka dot witches hats!

Latest printing hot off the Coulter and Coulter presses

When I say hot of the presses, I really mean hot of the kitchen table. The latest cold snap which has brought snow to much of New Zealand has perhaps influenced my latest batch of printing. Prompting me to select this warm cherry red to print with. This particular design is called "Imperfect Daisy", like reality it has lumps and bumps.

The print below is "Fern Paisley" looking very much like a french Provencal fabric. This fabric is a heavy organic cotton duck.

The design below looking forward to warmer days is "Wandering Summer', printed on a lovely piece of organic linen.

Blanket Cushions

When I got hold of the lovely blue checked blanket I knew immediately what I wanted to do with it. Its always good when the idea you have in your head comes out as you expected. The pink stripes came from a blanket that I dropped the block print on and smudged. Nothing is ever wasted by Coulter and Coulter.
I have also made up some plain green cushions from another lovely vintage checked blanket.