New tea towels for January!

Our winter wonderland sale has made way for lots of fun new tea towel designs; there are so many fantastic designers out there, so we're doing our best to bring you the brightest, cheeriest and most unusual designs around!

Without further ado, we bring you...

All Aboard (by Michelle Mason)

A-Z of British Beef (by Sara Mulvanny)

Geometry of Pasta (by Here.)

My Kitchen Shelves (by Ingela Peterson Arrhenius)

Soldier, Sailor... (by Ingela Peterson Arrhenius)

And finally... Wendigo (by Jon Allison)

Ta Da (** jazz hands **)!!! We'll aim to do a new blog post at the end of each month to showcase the most recent designs. We hope you like them!

Starting off 2011 with a bargainous BANG!

Happy New Year! We hope you all had a lovely and relaxing holiday break. Dave and I spent a lot of time watching really bad romantic comedies whilst eating the entire contents of a box of Black Magic and a full tub of Celebrations. Joy!

We're starting off 2011 with a super sale, with numerous beautiful and fun tea towels discounted up to 60% off. Although we'll be sad to see them go, we're making way for tons of new designs that are patiently waiting to be added to the website...

We hope you have a fantastic year and look forward to seeing you soon xxx

When Life Hands You Lemons...

MAKE GIN AND TONIC!! Amazing words of wisdom from the wonderful Dear Colleen.

Cheaper than a bottle of Gordon's, this lemony-yellow 'Lemons' tea towel is priced at £10 and is available here...

Introducing... Gemma Correll

Well, you probably already know that both Dave and I have a big ol’ design crush on Gemma Correll. Her work tickles us pink every time we see it; we love her illustrations of pompous cats and super-cute pooches, and are hooked on her addictive daily diaries (we still feel ridiculously proud to have been featured in one of them).

Gemma recently won a competition to become an ADC Young Gun, a prestigious title that recognises her talent and is certainly an indication of greater things to come! If you fancy finding out a bit more about Gemma and her pug, Mr Norman Pickles, have a gander at our interview below...

Tell us a bit about yourself... Who are you, and what do you do?

I'm Gemma and I am a freelance Illustrator. I draw pictures and I also design and make things like tote bags and greetings cards (and tea towels!) I have a Pug called Mr (Norman) Pickles and I live in Norwich for the time being, although I'll be moving away fairly soon... hopefully.

When did you first realise that you wanted to work as an illustrator for a living?

I knew when I was very young (about five) that I wanted to draw pictures for a living, although I hadn't heard the word "Illustrator" at the time. I used to draw all the time at home and at school. I would always make the posters and flyers etc. for School plays and fêtes and I also, geekily, had my own page in my parent's Church's Newsletter. It was called "Kidz Korner" ....CRINGE. I also made a comic called The Chatterbox while at Primary School. I was most interested in combining illustration and stories - narrative illustration, if you will.

What’s your favourite thing to draw and why?

I'm torn between cats and pugs. I like drawing cats because I've had a lot of practice (I've been drawing them for years and years) so they come quite naturally to me now. But Pugs are fun- they have silly faces and wrinkles and curly tails, which are perfect for drawing. Plus, I have the best muse ever in Mr Norman Pickles.

Which other people working in the same industry do you admire the most?

Oh, there are so many! I never cease to be amazed (and slightly intimidated) at the number of super-talented people out there... But, let's go with: Meg Hunt, Mel Stringer, Jeffrey Brown, Tom Gauld, Harriet Russell and Camilla Engman, to name but a few.

If you weren’t an illustrator, what do you think you’d be doing instead?

I'd probably be a Teacher. I was a special needs TA for two years but in the end, I had to make a choice between that and illustration. It's something that I will probably go back to in the future.

What’s the hardest thing to illustrate, and why?

Anything that I don't draw or look at very much. For example, I had to draw a gun yesterday and my first attempt looked like some kind of malformed banana. I also find cars quite difficult to draw.

What’s been your favourite project to date?

I'm working on a really fun project at the moment, but it's top secret!

I enjoy designing motifs for T-shirts, etc. So my favourite past projects have been designing products for All-Mighty, Monoblock and of course, To Dry For (I'm such a suck-up! But really, I did have a lot of fun designing the Kitty-in-a-teapot.)

If you could be any animal, what would it be?

I'd be a Pug, naturellement.

Can you tell us a joke?

What's brown and sticky?

A stick.

And finally, who does the washing up in your household (and do they use your ‘Tea Time’ tea towel)?

Me and Anthony both do it - but Mr Pickles helps (by snuffling around our feet).

We don't use the Tea Time tea towel (I don't often keep my own products) but I know that my grandmothers both use theirs (they got one each for Christmas last year).

You can find out more about Gemma Correll on her shiny new (and incredibly cool) website: www.gemmacorrell.com

It's a big thumbs up to...

Ooo it was a difficult choice, as there were so many good answers to what was quite a random question! (see our previous post)

The winner of the greatest oven glove in the world (and other fun bits and bobs) is.... drum roll....

Kate!! Combining a lamb dinner, cheese sauce, and Blackpool Illuminations, she had us at hello!

Do get in touch with us Kate, and let us know where to send your goodies!!

Yee Haw! It's a priiiiiizzzzeee giveaway...

To celebrate the opening of ToDryFor's shiny new headquarters*, we've decided to do a prize giveaway this month!

To win a fine selection of goodies from Comma, including the best oven glove in the world (see above), simply comment on this blog post, answering the following question:

What's cookin', good lookin'?

The competition closes on 31st October (at the witching hour - midnight, GMT). We'll pick our favourite comment and announce the winner on the blog on Friday 5th November.

Good Luck!

* and because we've been a bit swamped with DIY this last month, so haven't had chance to organise a blog interview (oops)

Comma Comma Comma Chameleon...

Goodness! The last couple of months have been a little bit manic to say the least! Dave and I made the decision earlier this year to move our ToDryFor headquarters to a new home, and have therefore recently opened a combined office and shop space, called Comma.

We thought people might think it was a bit weird if we only sold tea towels in the shop, so we also stock gifts, homewares, cards, stationery, books, artwork, and vintage items.

We feel very honoured that the supremely-talented illustrator, Ben Javens, painted our shop sign for us (see above), and Gemma Correll (whose work always makes us as giddy as kippers), drew a super-cute mural on our wall (see below)...

There are lots of fun products featuring artwork by Rob Ryan, Sukie, Stuart Kolakovic, Julia Pott, Lizzy Stewart, Lisa Jones Studio, Sanna Annukka, and Yoshitomo Nara, to name but a few!

http://www.oxfordcomma.co.uk/

If you're ever out and about in Oxford, do please pop in and say hello!

PS - if you ever want to collect any tea towels that we stock on ToDryFor.com directly from the shop, just give us a call on 0845 652 9274 and we'll make sure we put them to one side for you!