My 2016 Calendar Design - various and sundry items adorned with, and links to such!

I recently created my 2016 Calendar design for this years Spoonflower Tea Towel Competition - thank you to all the lovelies who voted for me there :)

 and now it's live and ready to be purchased on items big and small.

At Spoonflower you can buy a fat quarter of Linen (27" x 18") for a wonderfully large sized Tea Towel - you will have to sew the edges yourself but then you have a great 'homemade' gift for the coming gift giving season - click HERE to go to my shop.

At Etsy shop you can purchase my Calendar on

SHOWER CURTAINS - a witty way to know the day and date first thing in the morning - a WALL HANGING - up to 88" x 104" - a wonderful and attractive gift for a business, dorm room or home office!

A blank inside small, neat NOTEBOOK journal (5.2" x 7.3")

Calendar on the front cover - Blue Rhapsody textile design on the back. 

And as framed and unframed PRINTS:

Thanks for stopping by - as always I can customize, to a certain extent, many of my products so just be in touch via FACEBOOK - or there's a message form/box in the right sidebar of this log, and I'll see what I can do!

PATRICIASHEADESIGNS

Holiday Recipe Round Up - because some need to be made early, some need practice and some could be for Thanksgiving too!

Making a traditional Christmas Fruit Cake is quite the undertaking - you have to round up all those lovely ingredients, which could include making your own candied/glaceed citrus peel then you have to bake it nice and early - like right now - and store it in a nice tight cake tin to develop it's lovely favours then a few days before the day itself you need to cover it in marzipan and ice it with Royal Icing - so thus the post at this time of the year. Click on the name below to go to the recipe in my blog archives:

IRISH CHRISTMAS CAKE - CISTE NOLLAG

Here's a recipe for one you could bake much closer to Christmas if you don't have time to do it now:

LAST MINUTE GOLDEN CRIMBLY CAKE

...and then there's the Christmas Pudding - which should traditionally be made on Stir-Up Sunday - this year it falls on November 22nd - again this is a recipe that really improves with aging.

The hearty ingredients for a very traditional Christmas Pudding

CHRISTMAS PUDDING OR PLUM PUDDING?

My personal favourite:

NEW ENGLAND CHRISTMAS PUDDING

Full of wonderful New England ingredients like cranberries and pumpkin and with a good dash of tea soaked raisins - yum!!!

 An unusual pudding:

STEAMED APRICOT HOLIDAY PUDDING 

This could become a Thanksgiving holiday tradition?

Here's is a play on Christmas Puddings and is a quick and easy make for anytime over the holiday season:

MINI CHRISTMAS PUDDING DRIED FRUIT BALLS

 This little delight might need some practice to make perfect but is always an impressive site when brought ceremonially to the after dinner table:

YULE LOG or BUCHE de NOEL

 And last but certainly not least the wonderful anytime of the year but especially on Christmas Day or New Year's Eve - a luscious confection of jelly (I made mine vegetarian) English custard, homemade Ladyfingers and lashings of whipped cream:

 CHERRY AND GINGER TRIFLE

'Tis the season to enjoy baking and cooking and cosy toes cups of tea by the fire - so please have fun!!

PATRICIA SHEA DESIGNS

Spoonflower 2 for 1 fat quarters and Sprout Patterns!

 Hooray - it's the most wonderful time of the year over at Spoonflower where until Tuesday Nov. 12th you can buy 2 fat quarters of any of my fabric for the price of one - and you don't have to limit yourself to how many fat quarters you buy to avail yourself of this fine offer - buy 4 for the price of 2 - buy 8 for the price of 4. PLUS you no longer have to create an account or log in to my SPOONFLOWER SHOP - you can now purchase as a guest!

The two collections picture here are some of my recent design additions to my SPOONFLOWER SHOP

Not all of these designs pictured above are yet available for sale but if you drop me a line I can make sure they are for sale before the Tuesday deadline. Thanks!

Of course the fat quarter sale works best for my 2016 Tea Towel competition entry (thanks to everyone who voted for my design) so you get 2 tea towels for the price of one - you do still have to cut out and sew the edges of the towel but then you have two homemade gifts for this coming holiday season.

And here's a fun new way for the sewers amongst you to use my Spoonflower textile designs - SPROUT PATTERNS!

Here is a mock up of a Sprout Pattern for a short Anna dress with my Elizabethan Quartrefoil design.....

 and here's how Sprout Patterns works:

So you create an account at Sprout, or, if you already have a Spoonflower account you can log in with that e-mail and password, then select a clothing pattern and chose a textile design from Spoonflower - hopefully one of mine, and to find the number of one of my designs you would have to go to my SPOONFLOWER SHOP  first - chose the design you want to use then locate the number at the end of the pattern url address - for instance the pattern above is http://www.spoonflower.com/fabric/4584531 - so the pattern number you need to plug in at Sprout would be 458431 and ta dah my Elizabethan Quartrefoil shows up and you buy my design already laid out on the fabric in the pattern pieces ready to cut and sew - no messing about with paper patterns! How amazing is that?

"With Sprout, simply choose your sewing pattern from our curated collection of indie patterns, then fill the pattern with your fabric design of choice from Spoonflower’s marketplace. Select your size, features and fabric, then relax while your order is printed by Spoonflower and shipped to you. You will receive a package that includes a digitally printed custom sewing pattern—all you need to do is cut and sew!" Sprout Patterns

 Here is a lay out in 2 of my designs for the Lined Zipper Pouch at Sprout - one pattern inside, one pattern outside:

I recently purchased this layout - I'll make up the pouch and post here for you to see!

The way the world of print on demand is going is so very exciting for an indie surface designer like myself - the tools available to me today to create my own items from my own hand painted designs to sell to an appreciative buying public is astonishing and things are being added so often it makes me smile from ear to ear!!

**I love to create my textile designs at rather a large scale - I do have a fondness for oversized designs but I am more than happy to rescale a design for you if you wish to see any of my designs smaller - just drop a line or post to my Facebook page HERE** Thanks!!

CHRISTMAS ORDERING DEADLINES
for Spoonflower 
 - of course always order as soon as you can but this is the guide for 2015:

 

Thanks for taking a look - PATRICIA SHEA DESIGNS

A vote for my 2016 Tea Towel Calendar would be most appreciated!

Here is my entry for this years Tea Towel Competition at Spoonflower - there are quite the number of entries this year but if you have a couple of minutes may I ask you ever so nicely to vote for me, here is the link:

VOTE HERE 

There are some very pretty and clever entries - shame more people can't win first place! 

My 2016 calendar design is also available at REDBUBBLE and SOCIETY6 on a limited number of items

I composed my entry from an allover textile pattern called Blue Rhapsody and a watercolour illustration of the ever so pretty Old World Swallowtail Butterfly. I wasn't sure what direction I was going in in the beginning but suddenly the design started to take shape and I ended up with what I am calling an ode to The Farmers Almanac style of graphic poster layout.

I have both the blue floral and the butterfly designs for sale in a number of my online shops separately and combined:

Blue Rhapsody is available in my SPOONFLOWER shop as fabric, wallpaper and wrapping paper, and in both my REDBUBBLE and SOCIETY6 shops on all manner of goodies. 

Here are the links to my Swallowtail illustration in REDBUBBLE and SOCIETY6 

 and last but not least the Swallowtail  Butterfly atop Blue Rhapsody in REDBUBBLE and SOCIETY6 

and most recently as a Slouch Beanie HERE 

Thanks ever so much for your vote - I really appreciate it!

Patricia Shea Designs

Wild Maine Blueberry designs abound!

Wild Maine Blueberries are quite the joy to behold as well as eat! I just happen to live a short walk away from a barren and this year was the harvest year - it happens every other year, and I thought it was high time I created some designs for my online shops with an illustration of these colourful, bloomed beauties. Luckily my desire to finally illustrate these berries of delight coincided with a competition at Spoonflower for a botanical design and thus my blueberries finally came into being. 

This was my competition entry replete with the flowers and early white berries, for indeed not all stages of the blueberries are blue.

.....and following are the ways I have used the sprig to create a number of blueberry patterns for my multiple and sundry online shops. 
(To go directly to the items pictured please click on the bold shop name in the descriptions - thanks!)

The simple Blueberry Single Sprig in my SOCIETY6 shop

Dynamic Maine Blueberry leggings also in my SOCIETY6 shop

My wonderful 55" square chiffon scarf at my REDBUBBLE shop

As wallpaper, many different fabrics and wrapping paper in my SPOONFLOWER shop

The single sprig twirled into a wreath, lattice allover design

SOCIETY6

and another Chiffon Scarf at REDBUBBLE

A hardbound journal at REDBUBBLE - this can be customized with your name, be in touch via my Facebook page

Most assuredly a dynamic pair of leggings also in my REDBUBBLE shop

To all my Blueberry Collection at SOCIETY6 - home decor, apparel, techcessories etc - and new THROW BLANKETS

Finally here's a link to all my Maine Blueberry Designs at my SPOONFLOWER shop in fabric, wallpaper and wrapping paper - all design can be custom sized to your needs - just give a holler!

Oh no wait - hold the presses - just in - beanies - lined beanies!!
At my ArtofWhere shop - yea!!!

Thanks so much for taking a look at my Maine Blueberries!
#PatriciaSheaDesigns

A round up of wild Maine blueberry recipes

From the blog archives I give you my round up of Wild Maine BlueBerry recipes - I haven't done a new recipe yet this year as I have been painting blueberries for the last couple of weeks and am in the middle of uploading them to my Print on Demand online shops - so that will be rolled out in the next blogpost here at PatternPatisserie.

***Please click on the name of the dessert to go to the recipe***

WILD MAINE BLUEBERRIES

Last years lovelieness - Summer into Autumn Pudding with apples and blueberries instead of the usual strawberry/blackberry/raspberry combination. 

Blueberry Cream Cheese Tart - buttery crust, cream cream cheese filling, blueberry jelly atop - sigh!!
 

Wild Maine Blueberry Spongecake with Sticky Toffee Pudding Sauce!

I don't know of many desserts/puddings that wouldn't be enhanced by the addition of sticky toffee pudding sauce!
 

 

Blueberry and Apple Charlotte made with solar baked bread!

Blueberry Pavlova - Blueberry curd in a meringue nest with whipped cream - swoon

  

BLUEBERRY PAVLOVA: Blueberry curd in a meringue nest - See more at: http://patternpatisserie.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html#sthash.xsKdDNwv.dpuf

BLUEBERRY PAVLOVA: Blueberry curd in a meringue nest - See more at: http://patternpatisserie.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html#sthash.xsKdDNwv.dpuf

The Maine Blueberry Harvest is drawing to a close and hopefully I'll get around to a new blueberry recipe before they are all gone - too short a season methinks! Here are some lovely pics from this years crop in the field:

 Such a pretty fruit that goes through many colour stages before the final beauteous blue bloom.

"The blue’s but a mist from the breath of the wind"

Robert Frost

Happy Baking, Patricia

May I ask you to vote for my Twirling Pink Cupcakes design?

Hello Friends! This week I entered my "Twirling Pink Cupcakes" textile design into this week's Spoonflower challenge called "After School Snacks"

Would you please do me the honour of voting for me?

It may take a minute or two - the images are shuffled for each voter so I can't say where the image will be when you click through - no logging in involved!

Thanks so much in advance for your vote - most humbly appreciated by yours truly :)

VOTE HERE!

Here's a LINK to my blogpost, ever so long ago, about the creation of my Pink Cupcake illustration

******
Here's a pic of the start of my next Spoonflower competition entry for the Fabric8 contest this year - Wild Maine Blueberries - which, by the way, are being harvested right now - YUM!!