Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Sketches & Strike Offs : :

Hi there! I hope Summer is treating you well. Today is our last official day of break and after taking a little time for myself once the Sewcial Bee Sampler wrapped, all of us Cracknells are very much ready for the return of a schedule. For me, that means having the time to sew more and to share more right here, which I'm very much looking forward to! August is certainly flying by. It's always such a busy month that I find myself at this computer quite a bit less, which is truly good. However, I miss my daily stop here and I feel like I've missed a lot of news-sharing this Summer. I do try to keep up daily with my Instagram, but it's just not the same. I could never give up blogging!

Botanical Illustration

Love Story Strike Offs

This ending of summer break, a lovely and cool day, has me ready for Fall. I'm so, so glad it's almost here. This morning I've been making plans for the weeks ahead, even writing those plans down in an effort to fit in everything I'd like to get done. One daily practice that I hope to embrace once again is drawing with pencil. For the past few years my fabric designing process has included mostly simple pen & ink line drawings and a few watercolor florals, and I'm excited to explore and experiment with how hand-drawn pencil sketches will translate to fabric design. I decided to begin with a simple study of my favorite August flowers beginning with the Sunflower and Zinnia..

Botanical Illustration Sunflower

Botanical Illustration Zinnia

I'm feeling a bit clumsy still and am hoping as I work may way through my favorite botanicals in the sunflower family I'll rediscover some finesse. Pencil has always been my favorite medium and it feels so good to be making time for this again. I hope you'll follow along on my Instagram, where I plan to share process videos often in my IG Stories!

In other news, my Fall collection Love Story strike offs arrived recently! This collection is so dear to my heart, I love it so much. I will absolutely share more of this range, it's story and my Love Story projects in the weeks ahead. It's a November release and I still have a Soulful blog tour planned for next month, so I don't want to jump too far ahead before I get deep into creating with Soulful. I hope you'll join me!

Love Story Strike Offs

The return of school will always be bittersweet but there's no doubt that this time of year is a beautiful one for new beginnings. Happy to back!

xx Maureen

13 comments:

  1. Your drawings are amazing. The one thing I wish I would have done is drawn all my life. Now I can only admire those who do.

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  2. These are lovely--you have an amazing talent for both art and fabric/sewing!! Several years ago (I think), you posted a photo of an ink drawing of an antique sewing machine that was so beautiful (I think i'm remembering this correctly as your blog, not someone else!). Would you ever consider offering it as a download? (Like a pattern through your shop??). I remember it still!!!

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    1. Yes, I remember that one well. I was drawing it when I got the call that my dad had passed away. I'm not sure what happened to it after that. I would love to see that on fabric or as a print out too, thank you for the reminder!

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  3. Can't wait until November! These (Love Story) are gorgeous!

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  4. This is beautiful Maureen. I love zinnias

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  5. You have an amazing talent! Have you thought about digitizing the designs to match some of the fabrics? Those designs would be so pretty stitched out in embroidery - which I love to do with my machine.

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  6. I've been enjoying the Insta-stories! I'm a very crafty person, but I can't draw what-so-ever! Love to watch the process :)

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  7. Wow! You are extremely talented!

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  8. I remember when my children were young and I would so look forward to the return of school and a routine schedule. Your drawings are just beautiful and your upcoming collection, Love Story, looks like it will be beautiful as well.

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  9. Maureen your drawing is amazing, you should offer them as digital stamps so I an colour them for my handmade cards.

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  10. So beautiful. What a gift you have!

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  11. An excellent congratulations for an excellent subject and an excellent blog !!!

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  12. A heartfelt congratulations on a fantastic topic and a fantastic blog!!! alarmsysteem thuis

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