It all started with an Ikea coffee cup...

I just put my Hibernating Bear pattern in the shop. It's very lovely and versatile: you can use it on pillows, pj cases, quiltblocks or simply on it's own, it cleans your windows, puts the garbage outside, and peels your potatoes. Ok maybe not those last 3 things but it's really cute and here ends the shameless self promotion bit...

What I wanted to share is how I came to make this pattern. First there was the bear. I've drawn him many times, made watercolour paintings of him and then put the image mentally 'aside' until I could think of good way to put him in an embroidery pattern. The other thing is the woodgrain bit. Lately I developed a passion for the luscious woodgrain fabrics by Joel Dewberry. I haven't actually got any of them (yet, there's some on it's way) because the online quiltshop where I bought several fq's (or was it yards?) couldn't handle all the orders they had when they had a serious sale going on and they canceled my order. Anyway, the woodgrain was on my mind too. And one morning while I was drawing I thought about putting the bear in a circle shape and the nearest circle shaped thing was my Ikea Coffee cup! For the Under the Ivy pattern I used a yoghurt pot...No need for expensive drawing tools at all!