Nanette Regan's Adventures

Cuckoo Clocks

noreply@blogger.com (Net) — Mon, 17 Feb 2014 18:06:00 +0000

Here's a few bits I've been working on lately.

First some drawings of cuckoo clocks (with an increasingly insane amount of details):

Then some vectored versions:

Then some patterns grew out of those:

and then, before you know it, there's goats:

Last week was a lot of fun. Looking forward to this week!

Illustration Friday: Underwater

noreply@blogger.com (Net Regan) — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 11:07:00 +0000

The Illustration Friday prompt for this week is "Underwater" which is great as I've been meaning to create a mermaid image for a couple of weeks. Ever since some friends and I spent an afternoon with our kids in an ornamental garden.

Three mums and our assorted children met up at Samares Manor to let the kids blow off some steam after school. They went crazy running through a maze made of willow, shouted as they climbed giant pine trees, and thought they were hilarious for hiding from us down 'Jungle Paths'. As the kids started to calm down, we arrived at the Koi Carp pond and sat down to catch our breath.

The surface of the pond was almost completely covered with a beautiful green algae and the youngest child in our group, quite understandably, mistook the green surface for grass and disappeared underwater. The pond was very shallow and she was able to regain her footing very quickly and her mum had lightening quick reactions, pulling the child from the water almost immediately. From standing on the pond surface to being back on dry land was only a matter of seconds.

All of us mums gathered round, producing enough bits of spare clothing for the little girl to be able to able to change out of her wet clothes. As her own mother hugged her and comforted her, all of us mums spoke in cheery, lighthearted voices about what a mermaid she was and hadn't that been a surprise. Then we all went home to our various houses, fed and bathed our children and tucked them up safely in their beds. Then every one of us mums quietly, by ourselves, fell to pieces over all the might-have-beens of the afternoon.

But none of the might-have-beens did happen, the little mermaid is fine. So deep breath, and on to another day of parenting.

Tattoo influenced work in Jèrriais

noreply@blogger.com (Net Regan) — Thu, 03 Oct 2013 11:35:00 +0000

A few months back I had the opportunity to show some work in a local National Trust building, check out how beautiful the building is:

It's proper name is Le Don Hilton, but is known locally as "The White House". It's a pretty special building simply because everyone has a real affection for it. It doesn't have a massively glamorous history, but it is such a part of our landscape and is a distinctive marker on a long stretch of beach, it's not unusual to say "meet you at St Ouens, near The White House", in the same way you might say "meet you by the old tree," it's just a marker that's always been there, for generations.

The building is hardly ever open to the public, so it was extra special to be allowed to show work inside it. I was one of a group of three, including my lovely friends Lisa Le Brocq and Beverley Speck.

"Homeward Bound" by Nanette Regan

The building has been used as a navigational aid by sailors for hundreds of years. Today it is one of the first distinctive glimpses of home that you can see from a plane as you fly into the island's airport. So I created three large prints, informed by traditional maritime tattoo imagery and incorporating phrases in Jèrriais, the indigenous language of the island.

"Hold Fast" by Nanette Regan

Visible from The White House is Corbiere Lighthouse, another local landmark. Once a boat passes the lighthouse the sea suddenly calms, which gave rise to an expression that translates as "We've passed Corbiere" meaning the most difficult times are behind you. I love this phrase, so bound up in local landscape and the maritime history of the island.

"We've passed Corbiere, the worst is over" by Nanette Regan

The show lasted three days and had a great reaction, I've never seen so many people flow through such a small space before! So many people stopped to tell us their own stories of the White House and their memories of spending time on the beach in the shadow of this lovely building. Thanks so much for the opportunity National Trust!

Pearl Knits

noreply@blogger.com (Net) — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 14:02:00 +0000

This was meant to be for Illustration Friday, but I missed the deadline by about two weeks. In my defence, I've had a lot of balls in the air over the last couple of weeks, so I was bound to drop one of them,

and if you're going to drop a ball, it might as well be the one made of wool.

Illustration Friday: Snow

noreply@blogger.com (Net) — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 19:00:00 +0000

This week's Illustration Friday prompt is "Snow"

We hardly ever get snow where I live, so it's really nice to draw some, it's so magical!

Illustration Friday - Lost

noreply@blogger.com (Net) — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 12:26:00 +0000

I remember this feeling so well - a whole forest of legs and none of them seem to belong to your mum!

More Illustration Friday here.

Pink Elephant Fabric Designs

noreply@blogger.com (Net) — Fri, 11 May 2012 13:15:00 +0000

Spent the morning working on some patterns of pink elephants and umbrellas:

Just elephants:

Tiny elephants dancing on umbrellas:

A co-ordinating stripe because sometimes you just need to chill out and forget the elephants:

Just umbrellas (think I like this one best):

Hope you have a good weekend, and that you see some pink elephants - if that's your kind of thing :)

Illustration Friday: Jump

noreply@blogger.com (Net) — Tue, 01 May 2012 19:58:00 +0000

For this weeks Illustration Friday, the prompt was "Jump".

While working on this I've been calling this guy "Rabbit Macchio", which kind of reveals my age!

Illustration Friday: Heights

noreply@blogger.com (Net) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 10:41:00 +0000

For this weeks Illustration Friday, the prompt was "Heights", and what's higher than a giraffe on a trapeze?

Sunny Lion

noreply@blogger.com (Net) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 20:21:00 +0000

This sunny lion was designed for a custom flag. The project has been shelved, unfortunately, but he can still have a home on my blog.

Live to Sew Fabric

noreply@blogger.com (Net) — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 13:22:00 +0000

Fabric design for a Spoonflower contest. The prompt was "Sewing Celebration" and what better way to celebrate your love for something than with tattoos? I made an image of Sewing paraphenalia with a Sailor Jerry influence. And, as it's fabric, it can be changed whenever you change your mind!

Reading Tree Fabric

noreply@blogger.com (Net) — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 17:30:00 +0000

Fabric design for a Spoonflower contest. The prompt was "Books".

I think these guys would look great as library curtains or as the endpapers in a childrens book.

Bonnes Vacances

noreply@blogger.com (Net) — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 17:27:00 +0000

Here's another print, there is a little train in our town that takes tourists on a guided tour along the coast.

It's a nice thing to do on a holiday.

Red Balloon

noreply@blogger.com (Net) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 21:47:00 +0000

I've worked on a few illustrations with Phil. Here's one of them:

Hello Stranger

noreply@blogger.com (Net) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 12:38:00 +0000

It's been a while, hasn't it?
But it wasn't you, it was me.

I've been ignoring my blog because:
I got very busy
Then I got a bit forgetful and a bit lazy
Then I got locked out of this blog
Then I messed about with some other blogging platforms.

But nothing was quite the same.
So here I am again.

Can you forgive me? Can we start up where we left off?
I'll try harder this time.
Promise.

I've got lots of projects to catch you up on! Also, think I need to dust and tidy around here...
So, big hugs all round, now let's crack on...

British Craft Trade Fair

noreply@blogger.com (Net) — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 08:45:00 +0000

This afternoon I'm flying to Yorkshire for the British Craft Trade Fair. It's the first time I've done a trade fair and I'm so excited, nervous, excited, nervous and even more excited!

This is such a great opportunity to meet some of Britain's finest designer makers as well as getting my products seen.

You can find out more about the fair here: http://www.bctf.co.uk/ It's open to trade only and runs from Sunday 11 to Tuesday 13 April at the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate. I'll blog about my adventures when I get back. If all goes to plan, I'll tweet some adventures while I'm there too. (you can follow me here: http://twitter.com/nanetteregan)

See you soon!

Boxes

noreply@blogger.com (Net) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:38:00 +0000

The ideal box is very hard to find. There's a set of magic dimensions for the perfect box, when you see them the box calls to you. You just want to pick it up, you want to see if it feels as right as it looks. Then when you pick it up, it has to have just the right texture, a very slight roughness, it has to feel functional, serious, like it means business. Then if you wrap it in gift wrap it has to give off an air of slight mystery and the promise of glorious treasure. It's a lot to ask from a piece of cardboard...

I've been looking for the perfect box for my newest range of sewing kits. The old packaging was fine, it was based around a nicely sized plastic ziploc bag. It kept the fabric clean and dry, it was fine. Fine - but not perfect. I spent a lot of evenings measuring boxes and researching boxes. I'd find box suppliers online and draw out the dimensions of their boxes to see how they would look. It was a long long search... but then I found them! They are beautiful, not too big, not too small, the perfect gentle grey colour. Now my whole work room is covered in boxes and they are so perfect - I love them!

If you've made it this far through a blog post about boxes I am seriously impressed. I can't quite believe that my obsession has lead me to write an entire post just about boxes, but I'm not alone. The best ever description of box-obsession comes from Jerry Seinfeld. I couldn't find a youtube clip but follow this link and scroll to the bottom of the page where it says "Jerry Stand Up" and you can read the whole routine. Here's an excerpt:

"That's all you think about is boxes. Boxes, where are there boxes? You just wander down the street going in and out of stores. Are there boxes here? Have you seen any boxes? I mean it's all you think about. You can't even talk to people because you can't concentrate. Shut up I'm looking
for boxes. Just after a while you become like really into it you can smell them. You walk into a store. There's boxes here. Don't tell me you don't have boxes. Dammit, I can SMELL them."
Seinfeld "The Boyfriend" episode, Season 3.

Name That Mouse

noreply@blogger.com (Net) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:56:00 +0000

In my last post I mentioned some new mice that I've been working on. This dude is my personal favourite:

He doesn't have a name yet though. I wanted to find a name with a haberdashery vibe, like Mr. Petersham or Buckram or Bodkin.

There's a Dr Seuss poem called Too Many Daves, about Mrs McCave who "had twenty-three sons, and she named them all Dave", amongst the hilarious list of names she wishes she had used are the genius names "Paris Garters" and "Harris Tweed" those are exactly the kind of names I'm wanting to emulate for this mouse, I think he deserves an awesome name.... any ideas? What's your favourite haberdashery word?

Textile Showcase 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Net) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:25:00 +0000

If you're at a loose end this weekend and you're in the area, you could pop down to the Harbour Gallery in St Aubin, Jersey and catch the last two days of the Textile Showcase 2010. There's some amazing work by Bianca Padidar, Beverley Speck, Lisa MacDonald and lots of other textile artists and makers...

... and you might just bump into some of my guys there, too (on the second floor), the dinosaurs, rabbits and horses have been joined by some mice. There's also an early preview of some of the new sewing kits that's I'll be fully launching at the British Craft Trade Fair in April.

Events in 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Net) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:47:00 +0000

Here's all the places I'll be popping up in 2010, come and say hello if you're passing by:

March
Monday 8 - Sunday 14
Jersey Textile Showcase Harbour Gallery Jersey (more info)

April
Sunday 11 - Tuesday 13 April
Stand 372 British Craft Trade Fair Harrogate N.Yorkshire (more info)
Saturday 24 - St Aubins Market Jersey 10am-2pm
Thursday 29 - Craft Market Weighbridge Place Jersey 5-8pm

May
Saturday 8 - St Aubins Market Jersey 9am - 2pm
Sunday 9 - Liberation Day Market Weighbridge Place Jersey 9.30 - 5pm
Thursday 13 - Craft Market Weighbridge Place Jersey 5-8pm
Saturday 22 - St Aubins Market Jersey 9am - 2pm
Thursday 27 - Craft Market Weighbridge Place Jersey 5-8pm
Saturday 29 - St Aubins Market Jersey 9am - 2pm

June
Saturday 5 - St Aubins Market Jersey 9am - 2pm
Thursday 10 - Craft Market Weighbridge Place Jersey 5-8pm
Thursday 24 - Craft Market Weighbridge Place Jersey 5-8pm
Saturday 26 - St Aubins Market Jersey 9am - 2pm

July
Thursday 1 - Craft Market Weighbridge Place Jersey 5-8pm
Saturday 3 - St Aubins Market Jersey 9am - 2pm
Thursday 15 - Craft Market Weighbridge Place Jersey 5-8pm
Saturday 24 - St Aubins Market Jersey 9am - 2pm
Thursday 29 - Craft Market Weighbridge Place Jersey 5-8pm
Saturday 31 - St Aubins Market Jersey 9am - 2pm

August
Saturday 7 - St Aubins Market Jersey 9am - 2pm
Thursday 12 - Craft Market Weighbridge Place Jersey 5-8pm
Saturday 21 - St Aubins Market Jersey 9am - 2pm
Thursday 26 - Battle of Flowers Market Weighbridge Place Jersey
Saturday 28 - St Aubins Market Jersey 9am - 2pm

September
Saturday 4 - St Aubins Market Jersey 9am - 2pm
Thursday 9 - Craft Market Weighbridge Place Jersey 5-8pm
Saturday 18 - St Aubins Market Jersey 9am - 2pm
Thursday 23 - International Air Display Market Weighbridge Place Jersey 5-8pm
Saturday 25 - St Aubins Market Jersey 9am - 2pm

October
Saturday 2 - St Aubins Market Jersey 9am - 2pm
Saturday 9 - St Aubins Market Jersey 9am - 2pm
Saturday 30 - St Aubins Market Jersey 9am - 2pm

November
Saturday 6 - St Aubins Market Jersey 10am - 2pm
Saturday 20 - St Aubins Market Jersey 10am - 2pm

December
Thursday 2 - Sunday 12 - Spirit of Christmas Market Weighbridge Place Jersey
Saturday 18 - St Aubins Market Jersey 10am - 2pm

New Fabric Designs

noreply@blogger.com (Net) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 13:28:00 +0000

My new fabric came back from Spoonflower and I am so happy! The print quality is better than ever and these designs are printed on linen/cotton blend which is a beautiful weight fabric, and it washed so well as well - what more could you ask for?

The design is a patchwork cheater print in hexagons. It has a really nice retro, childlike look so it feels slightly familiar, as though it were part of a favourite, half-remembered quilt.

There are three colourways, green, orange and blue. These photos have been taken very close up because I had already dived into making with this fabric, before I remembered to take pics!

This fabric also makes great rabbit clothes, here's how it looks when modeled:

Adrift in 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Net) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 10:30:00 +0000

Hello again! There's nothing worse than arriving at a blog and seeing a Christmas post when it's nearly Valentine's Day is there? 2010 seems to be starting pretty quietly round here, mostly because my sewing room looks like this:

and all my sewing stuff looks like this:

So that's why I've been quiet and my sites are mostly empty. Anyhoo, I've been filling my time by trying to understand Adobe Illustrator, and overcoming the massive surge of panic that comes over me every time I open it. There are some fantastic, and clear and simple, online tutorials that have helped me enormously:

Spoon Graphics is filled with excellent tutorials to kick start the Illustrator-timid and this one in particular really helped me understand how to use some of the basic tools.

How to make a Perfect Seamless Vector Pattern at BittBox was the most easy to follow tutorial I found about pattern making and how to make sure everything lines up just right.

Jess Volinski's tutorial for creating repeat pattern swatches on Digital Arts was very thorough. It really focused my thoughts on making repeats and was very helpful when creating patterns for Spoonflower.

My swatches are on their way to me, I'll show you when they arrive!

Spirit of Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Net) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 21:20:00 +0000

This is my cosy little cabin at the Spirit of Christmas Market, Royal Square, Jersey:

here are some Christmas shoppers and you can see some other cabins in the background:

and this is me:
I'll be here all week!

Christmas Craft Fairs 09

noreply@blogger.com (Net) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:31:00 +0000

If you'd like to catch up over Christmas, this is where I'll be:

28 November - 6 December
Spirit of Christmas Market, Royal Square, Jersey
10am-5pm everyday, except Thursday which will be 10am-9pm

3 December - 6 December
Fete de Noue, Harbour Gallery, Jersey
10am-5pm everyday.

19 December
StAubin Christmas Craft Market.
9am-1pm.

Come by and say hello!
x

17 Days...

noreply@blogger.com (Net) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:22:00 +0000

... to go until my biggest Christmas event! Finally finished my pile of zipper pouches/coin purses/pencil cases so now it's on with the softies.

When I'm making a big batch of rabbits or cats or dolls, I seem to spend a lot of time with a basket of limbs next to me. I save all the stuffing and turning bits throughout the day, then I can spend the evening simultaneously chilling out and being productive. Tonight I think I'll stuff rabbit legs while watching Demetri Martin which is a more innocent evening than it sounds.

Monda loves is getting ready for two big Christmas craft fairs so why not pop by and check out her lovely birds.