We couldn’t be more excited to introduce today’s featured designer, Lucie Summers (@lusummers) from “a very flat part of England”.  Lu (as she’s known to her friends, which now include all of you) is a surface pattern designer who blogs at summersville and sells some amazing things (including her original artwork, fabric, mugs, and notebooks) in her Etsy shop.

Lu’s appearance on our blog couldn’t have come at a better time as, just this week, she shared the exciting news that she’s the newest designer for Moda Fabrics!  Yes, you heard that right.  Before too long, you’ll be able to get your hands on Lucie’s debut fabric line for Moda, “summersville“.  The colors and prints are brilliant, and so perfectly Lucie.  We couldn’t be happier for her.  And we hope she’ll remember little ol’ us when it comes time to pass around some early samples of the line.   ; )

But enough about summersville (for now).  Let’s see what Lucie created with her scrap bag of Daisy Janie‘s Shades of Grey …

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I was so excited when my package of scraps arrived from over the pond – a little package of deliciousness! in with Jan’s beautiful Shades of Grey pieces were some hand dyes in perfect colours for me – teal and light turquoise – just lovely. I’m also a fan of chartreuse with grey and found some suitable hand printed pieces I had hoarded away by the equally lovely Shannon Lamden of Aunty Cookie, just right for adding extra flashes of saturated colour. I decided I really wanted a scrappy look to my cushion with lots of texture so chose one of my own fabrics, Scratch, to complement my selection so far.

Then I got to work! I knew I wanted to have a play with Seminole patchwork, so I cracked open some books, learnt the basic technique, then threw the rule book out of the window. I didn’t want any matching points, so had a great time chopping and sewing my strips so create a very loose zig zag. I lined the cushion with chartreuse green felt – this gives the cushion a little more body, and makes a nice stable yet soft surface for the simple quilting. Plus, if you happen to look inside, it’s a nice little surprise – such small things make me happy!

Shades of Grey was super easy to work with – crisp and soft, and the abundance of grey tones made it a pleasure to mix with other prints and colours. I’m thrilled to bits with the resulting cushion which lives pride of place on an old leather chair – the perfect place to curl up in comfort with a book and a cuppa!