a little lime

O.k., wow. Another year done and dusted! Can you believe it's 2017? Me? I'm still reeling. So, where did 2016 go? I had so much that I wanted to get done here on the website, but, life takes some interesting turns and my return to full-time study in 2016 though not planned, was so interesting - I loved it! Since term ended for our long summer break, I've been periodically working on tidying up my files and found some unpublished patterns that I hadn't got around to posting. I'll put them up over the next few weeks. Today I'm sharing a pattern called Puffy 8's - it's another spin off of 2/8's (love that base pattern!) You could stop at step 5 above, or keep going to fill all the spaces. Here's a freeform version: Wishing everyone a happy, productive 2017! hx

Still having fun playing with this pattern :) Variation idea for Double 8's which I shared a few weeks ago. For this first variation, leave space between the 8's to create an even flower grid, in the second sample add connecting strokes. Here's a freehand example of version 2: I think it's pretty cute. Like a flower ribbon :) Have a great weekend! hx

I've had a wonderful time during the term break - I've been getting lots of drawing done and have a bit of a stockpile of fun things to share with you over the next term :) I'm back at school again from next Monday, 4 days a week! I'm equal parts excited and dreading the amount of time I'll have to spend studying. A while back I posted a pattern 2/8's  - this week I've been revisiting the concept and have developed a couple of spin off patterns. Here's one of them: Double 8's: And, just for fun - here they are as individual "off grid" flowers: And with some colour for a change :) Around the farm not much is happening - we're in the middle of Winter, it's cold but not too bad. We haven't had any frozen pipes or much snow on the nearby mountains. Still the wood heater is running 24/7 :) Our two mama sheep have given birth to their lambs - they're healthy and adorable! I love seeing them run around the paddock...

A while ago I was playing around with Beth Snoderly's pattern Plop  - lots of fun. In my play I kept going back to a more minimalist floral design with no diagonal line. Using the dots on the grid really helps to keep track of where you are in the pattern as these provide a centre point for the flowers.  I approach it by drawing it in alternating blocks as shown below and ended up with a Plop Flower = Plower. On a wonky grid..... Interested in the experimentation process I use when playing with patterns? Check out my e-book Tangle Transformation. Have a great day! hx

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...