a little lime

Hearts have been a pretty frequent theme on the blog over the past few years (see all the heart posts here ) - there's just something wonderful about the shape. Love, love. During February I try to come up with one or two new patterns featuring hearts, but I have to admit it is getting harder to do - there's only so many approaches you can take with this basic shape. This year's offering isn't particularly ground-breaking and has a similar base to Heartstrings.  Half of the heart is drawn continuously along one side of the line (this is how I draw Heartstrings - you can see a demo in this  video ), then the second half is drawn offset on the other side of the line. This pattern really comes into it's own when alternately coloured - an interesting zig-zag pattern appears. Here's the step out: A red and black sample on some wonky lines. On the farm we've had some long awaited rain - 75mm last week! The paddocks are greening up and we're headed i...

A week or so ago the   Square One Facebook group  pattern focus was my pattern Steps (thrilling) - my experimentation took me in a bit of a different direction and I ended up with this tile: I was asked to do a step-out showing how I did the tile above, but ended up getting distracted (as usual) with a spin-off idea and ended up with this which I like way better: Here are the step-outs, it can also be done as a continuous pattern: This pattern did not make it in time for the 2015 edition of the Pattern Folio which, by the way, will be going out in a few days, if you're not signed up please make sure to do it right away - you can read more about it here . Note to email subscribers: you should have gotten an email today with a discount book offer. There's actually a couple of reasons for me sending this out: 1. I wanted to send it to you :) 2. The 2015 Pattern Folio will be going out in the next few days - if you did not receive today's em...

Hey all, long time no "see". So much has been happening around here, but more about that later........first, onto the new pattern. I've barely picked up a pencil for over a month and once I got back to my desk this week I had a whole heap of scribbles to work my way through. I didn't get very far into it when I found a piece of paper where I had experimented with the tangle pattern Swells by Jennifer Hohensteiner  - it started me thinking about how the aura-ing technique would work with the  Heartstrings  framework to create a kind of inside out version of it. By the way - I have no idea what it is with me and heart shapes but I just love, love them :) This pattern starts off much like Heartstrings , see below for some tips: Drawing tips Leave enough distance between the lines to draw hearts with space around them - unlike Heartstrings you do not want the hearts to touch Starting lines will give you a framework to work within Change up the size o...

Here's the new pattern mentioned in my previous post, Scribble Daisies A couple of notes: A dot grid helps to keep it straight/regulated if that's the look you want. Note 1: shows the initial strokes done in a different order. Note 2: keep adding more lines to fill if you want - really changes the pattern appearance. Here's a couple of freeform versions: I'm currently working on a video for this one :) Have fun! hx

A while back I did a post showing a technique using some dots - and it was dubbed "tumbleweed" by several readers (I had mentioned tumbleweeds in my post). So, since it's a great name that works with the pattern AND I'm a very lazy pattern-namer, I've just gone with it. I played around recently with putting this pattern into a grid - the dots in the original were a device to help randomise the pattern so they're not needed in the grid version, but you could try it that way if it works better for you :) It's got a bit of a curvy "Steps" feel without the central line. hx

 I've been in the process for ages of curating, and redrawing my pattern reference folder - it's something I do on and off  when I'm in the mood (more off than on - I'm only up to the D's). I initially drew out patterns that I liked quickly and in basic format, now I'm going back and being a bit more adventurous with them, randomising, adding shading, etc, etc. It's a great way to revisit ones I have forgotten, put my brain in neutral, and get the odd idea, too. When drawing out Dawn's lovely pattern Blossom  - the zig zag grid got me thinking, the end result was this pattern: I had some fun experimenting with the fill options: If filling with black as above, you could ditch the initial horizontal lines and just do rows of zig zags. hx

So, I've got all these pattern ideas on scraps of paper strewn around my desk - I've been avoiding them as I wasn't planning on posting any more this year as the 2014 Pattern Folio is completed, ready  to go and I'm not adding to it............but, I just couldn't help myself from playing with one, and then I loved it so much I wanted to post now. .....so, here it is, an early 2015 pattern. I've called it Sails. Now,  you may have guessed that I don't really think all that much about pattern names......pretty much the first thing that pops into my head when I get to that stage is "it". This pattern in it's basic format reminded me of windsurfer sails. The basic pattern: What I've found particularly fun about this one is the seemingly endless permutations using straight, curved or s strokes to form the grid, changing the direction of the curved fill strokes or shading choices - I could have done quite a few more, but decided to stop ...