Waiting impatiently…

Tomorrow the results of Ditsy Crickets of the weekly Spoonflower contest will be in and the “Highways and Byways” votes will begin…

Ditsy crickets has so far one “like” from FB, 11 “likes” from Spoonflower and 15 comments (positive). I hope it’s a good sign for me to get closer to the top ten again. I’m so proud of this one!

I’m also very happy about what I submitted for Highways and Byways contest. Even if I submitted my entry 20 minutes before midnight (deadline), I’m proud about the non-traditional approach of the theme. I didn’t want to be an exclusive design of Canadian landscapes and attractions or California state’s witch I did a few years ago. They both have breath taking landscapes but I wanted to be international and funny.

So….. I submitted unrealistic highways, byways, attractions and landscapes all related to the sewing world…. What a feedback and a quick on too. Normally I begin to received comments and likes the day of the contest’s posting. But this one got attention. Already a few hours after it’s entry, I had one and then 4 more kind comments during the day. I sure hope it’s a good sign. You can go vote for it if you want starting tomorrow at noon

http://www.spoonflower.com/contest_voters_temp/new?contest_id=205

Its called Julie’s byways and it looks like this :

Singning crickets…

The results of the “Horses” Spoonflower weekly contest came in yesterday and as predicted I didn’t make top ten. But to my great surprise the top ten was’nt as I expected. I’m really happy that ‘Mulbery tree’ got to be in the 10 firsts with her sea horses it was well deserved. I scored a low 77th place out of 224 around the world contestants. I’m in the first third but I’m impatient to be back closer or in the top ten.

This week the theme was ditsy crickets (ditsy meaning small-scale scattered patterns). I was really happy about my design and hopping  (and it’s been true for each week) that nobody had the same Idea. This week I’m ALONE! Nobody had nearly the same inspiration and color choice. I stand out. I’m really happy about my guts. The response was numerous and fast. I had 12 comments and favourites waiting for me when I got home from work. Normally when I score well I have about half that a day. I’m hopeful again, but still supertitiously crossing my fingers and toes wishing for a good outcome.

Here’s the design I made :

This week-end I’m working on “Highways and Byways” and going to the flea market for inspiration and nic-nacs… I wish a full and inspired weekend to all!

Last minute change…

Last Monday night, I entered my design for the weekly contest “Horses” on Spoonflower. Due date for contests is always tuesday midnight.I was happy to finish 1 day in advance, normally it’s a tuesday last minute due to various reasons (life!). It was very intricate “Escher” influenced and a nightmare of mathematics for repetition. Tuesday morning not that excited about the design itself, I started all over. From scratch! But in 6h I designed a very light carousel with horses, witch I’m very happy and proud of. Here’s the link to it.

http://www.spoonflower.com/fabric/2216812

So tomorrow, thursday at noon, I’ll know my performance at the “picnics” contest and the Horses Contest will be up online for people to vote. 

 

Since the beginning of this journey I’m giving myself challenges every week. Palette restriction (sometimes its required by the contest itself), repetition half-drop and half-brick is harder than basic and mirrors, trying to do parts of a collection, new DIY projects, etc…

So for the next few weeks I’m gonna try more efficiency (enter the contests sooner) and more guts. Go with my heart rather than my brains! I proved myself thatI could design a fabric faster so I’ll work on that!

That’s it for today. I’m starting the design of ditsy crickets, yeh!

P.S. to my follower(s) please accept my apologies for any grammar or spelling mistakes, English isn’t my first language.

Fabric swatches in the Mailbox

Today, I received 15 swatches of my fabric designs. I’m so happy!

It also means that I can now put up for sale those 15 new designs (by logic I need a proof of print before putting my designs up for sale on my shop : http://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/juliesfabrics )

Now I’ll take a picture of each to put it on to my Flickr

 

Recent trends – Spoonflower

Its always fun to be posted on the “Recent Trends” first page of Spoonflower website. I’m hoping it brings people to my Spoonflower shop : http://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/juliesfabrics

 

Since the beginning of this journey, the sales are increasing a little every week (a few cents to a dollar at a time). I can understand why other Spoonflower designers have several hundreds of fabric to sale.

LAST WEEK : All thought i didn’t make it to the top ten “citrus” contest, I still sold as much fabric as if I did. I have to say that I designed 3 patterns in 3 colors (so 9 fabrics) to make a collection out of it. And I have 2 more patterns in mind in 3 colors (6 fabrics) to add to it. Will see the response.

THIS WEEK : I’m currently brainstorming/drawing for the “Horses” weekly contest. Wish me luck 🙂

 

New year’s resolution on Spoonflower

I’ve been freelancing for years, mostly in design and television/artistic direction (stylism and decor). After a few health problems a re-aligned my goals and became a part time sewing teacher. (I’ve been sewing all my life so it wasn’t a big leap). Teaching in an unconventional fabric store I was introduced to the world of textile design. So, in 2013, my resolution was to participate on Spoonflower weekly contest for fabric design… Still being true to my resolution I’m embarquing in the 7th month. So far I’ve been in the top ten 9 times (21 contests so far…) but never closer than the 3rd place… I’m still aiming for the first place every week. I hope i’ll be able to garnish my portfolio as a textile designer over the course of 2013 submitting my weekly designs  (and more) and be ready to knock on some doors in 2014. So you’ll hear about my ups and downs in search of ideas for fabric designs, but also crafts, and sewing projects in between. Welcome to my blog, Julie 😉