My First 100 Likes on NelWhatmoreArt Winner and Chance to Chelsea Flower Show tickets!

I've just reached my first 100 likes on  my new facebook page for NelWhatmoreArt, so as promised the winner of the giveaway is

Kim Williams
Congratulations Kim please can you send me an email so that you can choose which 45 Collection limited edition you would like.

If you haven't already liked the page then here's the link NelWhatmoreArt
There will be lots more news as we approach the show and also other lovely things to win.

Next up I have two tickets for Tatton RHS show to giveaway for when I reach 200 'likes' so look forward to seeing who wins those.
Well it's not long until Chelsea Flower Show now although I keep telling people not to say that to me!
I can feel a rising panic, there is always so much to do, this year even more so as it is the 100th anniversary of the show, which means we have to be in period dress each day, I have chosen the 1950's.
PLEASE NOTE IF YOU WOULD LIKE TICKETS FOR CHELSEA I CAN STILL BUY A CERTAIN NUMBER OF TICKETS EVEN THOUGH IT MAY E SOLD OUT ON THE WEBSITE SO PLEASE EMAIL ME AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
I have just been ordering carpet, plinths, lights, paint and all sorts of things it's like being in the apprentice! Coupled with the fact that Polly has her AS levels and the entire contents of the lounge is in the hall and other rooms, as we are decorating the living room, all this is code word for bedlam. I keep having to go to other friends houses to find a bit of calm.

Very excitingly though on Saturday I went to Bella Figura in Matlock to try on 1950's dresses , as they're kindly going to make vintage dresses out of my eden fabric. About Bella Figura I have to say that the dresses look fantastic on, and with a full petticoat underneath , well you just feel so like a girlie. I LOVE IT!!
Here are Theresa and Suzie Whittaker from the shop and me. Thanks to Gilly for being such a good friend and coming with me we had such a laugh and managed a lovely lunch too so it was all good.

You Can't Beat a Giant Pomegranate FREE Kitty and Cat Pattern too!

Right on this very cold snowy day lets have a bit of colour shall we.
 I have spent most of my day trying to combat drafts in our freezing hall! Don't you love DIY! Actually if I'm honest, I do, but crawling along by an open door drilling holes in the frame, for a bolt, wasn't perhaps on my top ten of things to do today. So rather late in the month is the March Cat Club giveaway (yeh!) I hear you cry.
I know I'm late again posting it but honestly if you'd had the month I'd had you would think I was actually doing quite well. To make up for it I've made it a good one and am going to give away a Sleeping Beauty Bag called Swag Bag ( not such a beautiful title actually). It's on the bag page at Nel Patterns, you can see the Eden version of the bag. It's lovely anyway and the top opens  in a starfish shape.

Have I mentioned I've just had a big roast dinner? Why is it about 15 mins after you've finished you feel as though you've eaten twice the amount. I feel as fat as this Pomegranate in Professor Plum and Miss Pomegranate a large pastel that will be on my originals site www.nelwhatmore.com this week.









Fabricwise what's knew? Well, Secret Garden is being printed...VERY EXCITED. Memory Lane that comes after  Secret Garden has had a few teething problems, hence also being late with this pos,t but sometimes the best things come to those who wait, as my Grandma used to say, so now I am really pleased with it.
In the meantime I am painting  for  Chelsea Flower Showas it's just around the corner, so I've been painting in full flow. Here is one of one I am particularly pleased with, 'Cherish', an oil that just turned out exactly how I wanted it, which is a rare things.
Please could everyone keep their fingers crossed as I am off to Norfolk mid week to go on a painting course to learn the techniques of the old masters and I am hoping that I get there as I have been looking forward to it for months. My Mum in Wolverhampton has called to say they have two foot of snow...groan, sad face.So happy sewing and painting until next timexx

Ooops nearly forgot don't forget to get your FREE Kitty and Cat Cushion

'Eden' My NEW Fabric Collection from Freespirit

For those of you who are not aware if you join the The Cat Club with every fabric collection I design, there is a collectable Cat Pattern and the chance to win a monthly gorgeous giveaway. This month there is a fat qtr bundle of Eden and also the pattern of the NEW Eden Cats, 'Benny and Blossom' that will be available soon. There will also be a NEW FREE pattern to download called ' Kitty and Cat Cushion'. So there are lots of goodies all the time and lots of nice things to make.

Where does all the time go! That's what I like to know. It goes slowly when you're little and positively races as you get older. I am currently 'racing' to finish all the new patterns for Eden, my new fabric collection by the time we go to Stitches the trade show at the NEC next week.
We had the photo shoot when it was freezing in the snow!! Not that you can tell from the photos but here is a sneak peak of what it was really like.

I have just been selected for Chelsea Flower Show again which is great as it's their centenary year. Evidently we all have to get dressed up in vintage costumes. So we're going to make dresses out of Eden , I can't wait! Hard to think of summer right now though as it is sooooo cold in my studio where I paint in Leeds. I have to keep jumping around and playing very loud music, well that's my excuse anyway. I think this will have to be short but sweet as I know Polly my daughter will be calling to be picked up from school in about  10 minutes and I promised myself that I would update my blog before I went to fetch her. So hope to post again soon when there will be more news of how the show went and the very exciting Little Designer Guides, which are little project based books that again will come out with each collection the first one of which 'Eden' will be published soon. Hope you're all well and not too cold xx

The November Cat Club Winner , News About 'Eden'

The Winner of the November Cat Club Giveaway is...Denise Pearsey

CONGRATULATIONS

Denise said

"What an amazing surprise – I cannot tell you how thrilled I am, thank you so much.   I thought you might like to know that I am planning to make the pattern I downloaded recently with my two granddaughters when they come to stay over the New Year.  They both would love to have a cat of their own, but unfortunately this is not possible, so I thought this would be the next best thing."

Well I am thrilled to report that my third range of fabric for Freespirit, Katharine's Wheel has done REALLY WELL, doing a small dance now, good job you can't see me! So a huge thank you, to all of you for your support, it means a great deal. Also I would just like to say another big thank you, (I promise this won't  turn into the Oscars!) to all of you who I have met at the Festival of Quilts and/or at the Knitting and Stitching Show in London and Harrogate, it was lovely to see so many of you again and meet others for the first time. Every time I go to the shows I learn more about sewing and quilting and also see so many inspiring things.
What's new? Well Eden my next collection has arrived yeh!

Which means I am busily making things with it as it comes out in February in the States and March in the UK. I'm doing lots of new projects some of which will be on the website and others will be going into my first book.

 

I have been sent a Sissix machine, which is such a revelation, as if you're like me and know you'd like to make a quilt but the thought of cutting out all those pieces of fabric very accurately is ging to be virtually impossible, then you will LOVVVVVE having a Sissix. I'm just a bit of a jazz sewer really. I love sewing but always want it to be fun and am not so keen on the boring bits. So I am making my first quilt!! Perhaps I shouldn't have admitted to that!
Oh well everyone has to start somewhere  and previously what with painting, designing fabric and sewing samples for each collection I haven't had the time. So I will share my first efforts with you probably a little later. No laughing allowed! For now, thanks again for joining the Cat Club and do feel free to share things and let me know what you're using my fabric for, I would love to hear or see pictures. Just send them to nelwhatmore@tiscali.co.uk

Love Nel
http://www.nelpatterns.com/patterns/quilts/

SEPTEMBER THE CAT CLUB FREE GIVEAWAY ONLY 10 DAYS LEFT HURRY!!

 Hi All,
Well it seems as though my computer is playing up a little as this is the third time I have written this! Third time lucky hopefully if not it's going out the window or I shall go in search of chocolate, actually may do that anyway.
Well October is shaping up to being very very busy, if anyone thinks they could paint a picture or two for me or has discovered how to clone themselves then please shout out now as there just needs to be more time or more of me! Our son Dave has gone off to Univeristy last week. I managed not to howl like a lost soul on the way home, mainly because Polly our daughter was doing that anyway. Anyway so far so good, he's been to four parties and isn't getting enough sleep so fairly normal student first week really.

For those of you who haven't already seen it here is the lovely The Cat Club September Giveaway. It includes a table runner using my first collection for Freespirit " Happy Go Lucky", and then the other items are from a french company we have been working with who produce very high quality bags and stationery items. I think who ever wins it will love it. For those that haven't already joined all you need to do is join The Cat Club, which is entirely free and then we pick one lucky winner a month and I let you know when the next cat pattern is uploaded, as I do one per collection.

 Just to let you know Katharine's Wheel is proving extremely popular and it looks as though it is going to sell out very quickly so if you want to order any I would suggest you do it sooner rather than later.

Paintingwise what's coming up? Well I am working towards my next originals show which is at Chantry House Gallery, Ripley North Yorks starting on Nov 3-18th. I will be there every saturday. I am working on atmospheric landscapes as a bit of a change , although there will be the usual eclectic mix of other things too. So look forward to seeing you there.

How to make these nice funky frames will be on  Nelpatterns.com
by monday. You can make them into mirrors too or photo frames.

Still loving the Katharine's Wheel quilts so much it's the best selling download on nelpatterns.com

WINNER OF AUGUST CAT CLUB GIVEAWAY!

Well thank you to all of you who have already visited www.nelpatterns.com/ and joined /The Cat Club. Every month there is a free giveaway to a lucky member. 
This is our first prize winner and it is ....drum roll...

Barbara Paul from Devon! CONGRATULATIONS! 
Your goodies will be on their way to you tomorrow.

She says 'she never wins anything' so I am really glad she has this time! If you want to join The Cat Club it's Free and you get the Happy Cat Pattern FREE when you become a member. You will then just be told what the giveaway is each month and what the next cat pattern is. It's as simple as that! Don't worry you won't be flooded with emails as I haven't got time to do that. I just want to share what I am up to and giveaway nice things!

September's Giveaway 
I will post tomorrow as I will be away over the weekend. It's going to be really lovely and include some Beautiful French products  I have designed. So watch out for that. Currently the Katharine's Wheel Quilt is the most downloaded item on nelpatterns , and Cottonpatch have all the fabric in stock and have a great kit of it.

 Well it's definitely crawling into Autumn isn't it, the socks are back on and the leggings are out.


I have also finished my new collection which had to be delivered for the 1st of September. So I rushed like a nutter to get it finished, only to come home this afternoon to find that Fedex had failed to pick it up...sigh! It's been rather a juggling act as usual trying to sort what needs sorting in every day life as well as working and preparing for our son leaving home to go to University. It's a whole mixture of emotions isn't it. Glad they got in, going to miss them so much it hurts, less washing and picking things up off the floor, fewer people to carry large heavy pictures to the car! Hey ho life and it's ever rolling wheel! 

Talking of which those of you who don't follow me on facebook may not know, and quite frankly may also not be interested but I have painted my 30 year old bike and stuck it on our garden wall, as I have such fond memories of it, the places I went, the miles I road , that I just couldn't take it to the tip, when eventually the bike shop couldn't fix it any more. So it is now immortalised like ET'S bike upon our wall, where I intend to grow things from the basket on the back. Even when it rained today I took my cup of tea to have another look at it. Thanks to Mike and Dawn Sim by the way for helping fix it to the wall so beautifully!

Well I must go as I have too much to do before bedtime. As promised the Platted Knitting Basket that I showed at the Festival of Quilts will be up available soon . So many people tried to pick it apart to work out how I'd made it but it survived. As usual it will be back to more painting after next week as I always seem to paint most between Sept and April when the kids go back to school. 

NELPATTERNS.COM IS NOW LIVE AND FREE GIVE AWAYS EVERY MONTH!

Very excited to say that MY NEW dedicated pattern and fabric site is now up and running at www.nelpatterns.com! I'm so excited about the quilt as it turned out exactly how I wanted it too.

There's a pattern on the site. Thanks to all of you who have already ordered the fabric or downloaded patterns.
I'll be leaving for the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham tomorrow, where I will be on the Cottonpatch stand until Sunday so come and say hi. I'm looking forward to the designers supper and meeting Tula Pink and seeing Katharine's Wheel on the stand

There are great downloadable patterns  and the lovely Katharine's Wheel Quilt which at the Festival of Quilts as we speak!

JOIN THE CAT CLUB!

Every month there will be a FREE GIVEAWAY when you join the Cat Club it's free to join and you get news of all the collectable Cat Patterns as soon as they come out as well as the chance to win the monthly giveaway. This month it is everything in this picture...

I've been watching the Olympics ( who hasn't and making things for the launch of Katharine's Wheel as well as finishing off all the patterns so it will be nice to see it all finished at the show. Here are some of the things you can see at www.nelpatterns.com

This is the Purple Paddy Shopper