The Strawberry Thief and other birds...

I try to complete one pattern every day. Even if this means it's not a particularly sophisticated pattern I still do it. And if I really, really can't for some reason or other I will make up for it by doing two the next day.

I started doing this at the beginning of last month when I lost all my work in attempt to rebuild my portfolio. I also do it because I love making patterns and sometimes the pattern making can get left until the end of the day because there are so many other things to do when you are self employed and work from home. So I decided that no matter how brief the time spent and how clumsy the result, I would just get on and do this. And then each day I might go back over previous patterns and work with them in the hope that from these daily patterns I might be able to make a collection at the end of the month. And that's the plan.

So, on Sunday after all my learning over the weekend, I thought I would try making my first half drop using Laura Coyle's automatic pattern template. I started off with a strawberry doodle and ended up with this. It's not the best thought out thing I ever did but it's a start. And when I looked at it the next day...

...it made me think of this:

Image from Morris & Co

So then I decided that my January collection would be based around the strawberry and song thrush motifs as featured in this classic pattern The Strawberry Thief by William Morris and since then I've been hunting around on Pinterest for some more ideas and inspiration and here's a few things that I found...


This lovely bird/floral by Gennine D. Zlatkis called Walkabout available from Cloud9 Fabrics. It's such a cheerful print!

Image from Cloud9 Fabrics

This gorgeously minimal painting by Natasha Newton called Nest Number One which has inspired me to try using eggs and nests as motifs...

Image from The Blackbird Sings

And I do love this 1850's Scandinavian print which is currently available to buy on eBay

eBay

This strawberry print is so cute!

Amyisla Mccombie

You can see my full January Pinterest board here and please do check back as I will be continuing to add to it over the course of the month. Or you could follow me!

As ever, thank you so much for reading and have a fun weekend!
Frankie x