1. Custom blinky: Jacqui from Mee a bee/ Japan in Bloom
2. Free blinky at Mathilda's: Sophie Her Heart My Hands
3. Me- cause I'm keeping this one, can't part with her... I love this $1 tea towel I found in an op shop on the Central Coast a couple of weeks ago.
Congratulations ladies, I'll be in touch via email, and thanks for all the lovely comments-- I will post photos of those notorious birds very soon!
B.
I have indeed. I was looking at the stats for my blog this morning when I noticed a funny googly-search address, so I clicked on it... and so should you... it's here.
Did you see the search? 'an ugly sketched doll'... Meh!
To be honest, it actually made me laugh a little-- how funny! And I know that all the words 'ugly', 'sketched' and 'doll' are written in that post, so I guess that's how google images works, but not the most flattering thing to wake up this morning!
I'll announce the giveaway winners around 5ish this afternoon, so get your comments down if you want to be in it, and thanks to everyone who entered and spread the word-- I really do appreciate it. Happy Friday, I have tags ready, and toys mostly ready, so today is all about attaching names, ironing tablecloths and double checking 'to do' lists.
B.
I have been trying really hard to come up with some variety for my market stall at Mathilda's this Sunday. I'm a little nervous about a big fancy market like this, and am stressing that my humble Glebe set up just won't cut it... so in a bid to calm my nerves and add some spice to my table, I decided to make some of my 'flighty birds'... a pattern I came up with a while ago & which was really popular... After making up one bird, I was thinking to myself, why don't I do more of these... so I made up a second and it was all good. Then I decided to speed things up, I'd make some bodies, some faces, some wings, some legs and put them all together... I spent all of Tuesday working on 7 of these birds, and I mean ALL DAY... at 8pm I was finally sewing together the first bird, and feeling relieved that I would something to show for my work...
This is it... it's still sitting where I threw it when I realised that I had sewn the back side facing out, after having double stitched and trimmed the corners. I took deep breaths and tried to unpick but in severe frustration it was abandoned...
And I was thinking about it, I do things like this all the time when I'm making these birds, and I still have about 5 in the cupboard from several months ago that are all ready for their backs and legs and they'd be completely finished, but I cringe at the thought of all the little fiddly bits and pieces, the changing of cotton colours, oh, it sounds trivial I know, but I'm getting tense just thinking about having to sew these birds! Something always goes wrong when I make them, usually because I get really frustrated and mess something simple up... which is funny (and not ha ha funny!), since some of the other toys I make are way more complicated...
And so, around my creative space right now, you'll find various birds at various stages of completion...
Oh my goodness, some are actually finished!
I hope your creative space has been more rewarding than mine, pop over to Kirsty's to check out everyone else's space, and don't forget to scroll down and enter my giveaway-- just need to leave a comment there.
Happy stress-free Thursday to you all!
B.
How this works:
I will be giving away 2 blinkies-- not the ones pictured above, but as follows:
1. a lucky blog reader will win a custom blinky. You will be able to pick a general theme/colour/fabric style, a sub species-- cat, bunny, sheep, dog, the gender and the face features (eyes opened, happy, sleepy), and select the name, age and likes and dislikes. International entries welcome! :)
2. an even luckier reader who is attending Mathilda' Market on Sunday will also have the chance to select a blinky of their choice from my stall... and therefore could potentially win both prizes since they will be separate draws. For 1 extra entry, facebook, twitter etc, but I need you to tell me so I know.
To enter, just make a comment below, make sure to leave an email address so I can contact you. If you are attending Mathilda's, be sure to tell me so that I can pop you into the second draw. I will announce the winners on Friday evening, and will email the Mathilda's winner a special code so as to claim your prize on Sunday.
Good luck-- pass on the message, especially to Sydney siders and I'll love you more!
B.
I'm still here. I've been up at 6 most days and still at it until very late. Housework has been neglected, blog has been neglected... but still checking emails and reading everyone else's blogs.
Going to be announcing a giveaway very soon-- in relation to Mathilda's Market, which will be on this Sunday... these are some of the toys I'll be taking along!
B.
I'm getting very good at posting this Tuesday meme on a Wednesday... I don't mean to, Tuesdays just seem to be hectic around here... Anyhow, here it is, a wish list of awesome relaxing things that I could be doing or appreciating such as watching videos, reading books, cooking food, practicing painting pretty dolls, or at least looking them up on the web... but I am not. I am sewing. I have taken over the lounge room, including one of the lounges. I have a table, my machine, my embroidery thread strewn all over the coffee table, pattern pieces falling off the ironing board and floating around various crevices... since there is no dinning table, it makes eating a rather interesting time!
1. Big 'ol moon head Kokeshi, 2. chocolate biscotti, 3. viking art by sandra monat, 4. jane austen love
I do enjoy it though, and when I'm ironing the toys out just before the stuffing, I often catch myself smiling and even grinning-- I make cute stuff sometimes! With Mathilda's coming up in one and a half weeks, I'm getting a little stressed about having enough stuff. I sold out of blinkies on the weekend, which was not expected... eek! I have made 28 in the couple of days, but have no idea what to expect as I've never even attended a Mathilda's before... I figure it's better to be over prepared than underprepared!
Anyhoo, enough about me, pop over to Mitsy's to check out all the other mosaics, I really love the clouds that she used in her picture-- fabulous!! And I feel her 'no reading time' pain!
Ok, well once I find my camera under all this fabric I'll take some photos of what I've been up to! (I'm serious... I saw it a few days ago, so I know it's here... but where?!?).
B.
Both of these prints are available here. I haven't actually bought anything from this shop yet, but I'm loving so many of their fabrics that I'm sure it won't be long...
At the markets people ask me non-stop all day about where I buy my fabric... I think they are hoping that I will say 'they all come from this nice store just down the road'... I would like it if that was the answer too, but alas!
I buy bits and pieces all over the place. Seriously! This is a little list of some Etsy shops that I can recommend:
KarakuAnd if you're in Sydney The Remant Warehouse is the raddest of rad quilting/cool toy making fabric shop that I know of... not to mention Riyo's stall at Glebe-- although she is back in Japan right now stocking up on fabulous things. She'll be back there first week of November.
And Jodie also has awesome little online shop which stocks really nice fabrics-- Kokka too! One of my fave companies!
Aside from actual shops, op shops are also an awesome place to find unwanted gems... and not just fabrics, you have to think of sheets, tea towels, pillow cases, blankets, napkins, dresses, pants... so much unwanted fabric, and clothes can be especially cheap because you'll find that whilst one part will be worn threw, other parts will be in mint condition... and moving into summer means that lots of places will be getting rid of winter clothes, which make great fluffy, fleecy softies...
And grandmothers, mothers, aunts and vigilant friends should be incorporated in your hunt for awesome fabrics at all times! Mine are...
Feel free to add faves no matter where you live, I'd love to find some new places!
Hope Monday isn't too painful for everyone...
B.
EDIT: These are shops mentioned in the comments. Thanks guys! :)
Fabric Worm
Miss Matatabi
Duckcloth
From Japan with Love
Sew Deerly Loved
Sweet Flavor
x.
Print available here.
I love babushka dolls, I really honestly do... I have loved them ever since I was a little girl-- I remember quite vividly when my Grandfather got back from Russia when I was about 7 and he gave my cousin and aunty babushka dolls, and I got some other funny doll that my cousin eventually broke (before tearing up the wonderful Russian wrapping paper they all came in... ) I think that that's when I first decided they were truly awesome, and I wanted one SO MUCH! And my heart sank yesterday when I accidently vacuumed up my 2 smallest babushka babies due to a lazy dusting incident, and I was super relieved when Joe pulled the vacuum bag to pieces to rescue them...
Despite my strange adoration for a funny little doll which doesn't really seem make sense to me, the fact that they seem to be EVERYWHERE right now, and that all I have to do to sell a doll is add some babushka fabric (and it's gone in like 2 minutes!) my rebellious nature is urging me to boycott them... to move onto some other awesome thing... like when I dyed my hair black with red streaks because everyone had red with black streaks, or the time I decided to get wire frame glasses again because plastic where becoming too passée... but I love them and I don't want to boycott them.
Oh dear. What a dilemma...
B.
Well, I'm back after having missed the last 2 weeks of this fun post... which means that I must be slightly more organised, and/or slightly less busy than I have been. This is what I've been up to:
Screen printing-- nice people tell me all the time that I must be so talented and creative to do what I do, I tell them that I'm just patient, and I believe it. No one is an ace at anything when they first begin, some people might be better than others, but it's all down to sticking at it... keeping calm when things stuff up (as they inevitably do sometimes), and persevering... here's some proof that I can be patient... using this one small screen (a little smaller than A4)...
+ a pot of red paint
+ a squeegee
+ only a minimal amount of bad language and deep breathing
= a whole lot of hand-holders!
Happy Thursday! Hope you get to use your creative space where ever you are, and don't forget to check out everyone else's space at and via Kootoyoo.
B.
1. fox head, 2. sneaky fox, 3. Little Fox, 4. You Swim Like Fox
Cute! I'm designing a new screen for printing and I have foxes on the brain...
So many great ideas on Flickr!
B.
1. sneak 60, 2. Vintage Stash: Ferns + Butterflies, 3. Kinder Doll Restock!, 4. xstitch is hard: an informal poll, 5. And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet, 6. Playing again with Mondrian, 7. hello hello hello, 8. Koala Sleeping, 9. Mots d'Ipomée...
I know! It's late... and I've been missing from my blog for the last little while, but I can assure you that there is a very good reason, and that's that I've been sewing and printing like a mad woman. I've also been taking some time to actually live my life and spend time with my fave people and cat... I was recently informed that I had been missing from my actual life a little too often since starting this toy-selling-caper... and it's true, I get up in the morning and I start sewing, and sometimes I'm still at it at 11pm... even when I'm doing nothing, I'm usually doing something, like hand-sewing faces, making tags, looking for new fabrics, staring into space, thinking up new ideas. Anyhow, I have to try and obsess a little less, and stop being such a darn perfectionist about things that probably won't matter-- lying awake at night doesn't solve problems, it generally creates them!
Anyhow, enjoy my crafty faves, they are inspiring me. I'm very much into the idea of a koala softie at the moment, but still stuck on making my afro girl pattern work-- and I'm in the middle of a sheep dog, which I'm loving-- fingers crossed... these things take time!
And I got my stall number for Mathilda's in Sydney-- I'm right near the door, so hopefully you'll spot me right away-- more on that soon! I'll be doing a giveaway in relation to that market.
Don't foget to head over to Mitsy's blog as always and check out the other flickr faves for this week-- and you can join in if you like. You just need to make a mosaic using Big Huge Labs from your flickr favourites, and then pop your name on the Mr. Linky thingo. Easy!
Happy Wednesday!
B.
P.S. Speaking of favourite people-- Happy Birthday Eleni! You rule! xxx.
Awww... well, when it's good love it is... I think there is such a thing as not so good love too! You can find the print here. Happy Tuesday... I'll be back later with my flickr faves!
B.
I've turned into a machine lately... well, maybe just today... the screen printing began at 7am, and continued well into the afternoon... printing and waiting around for paint to dry, washing screens and testing colours. So many Millicents filling up the lounge room, and a very funky strip of black handholders on 1970s orange curtains that Gran rescued from a rubbish bin recently.
And I had such a super busy day at the markets on the weekend that I have hardly a thing left, and so in between the printing, there was sewing, and lots of it... not that I have a lot to show for it so far... but soon!
Best of all, I arranged my Eftpos machine today, so I'm just waiting for the bank to get back to me with the next step-- so many people ask to pay with a card at the markets, and I think it will make life a lot easier for me and for customers who trek across to the shopping centre's atm.
And for those of you who haven't heard of Parasol Magazine, I bought it today, and I love it-- check it out, $2.50 and so many awesome inspiring things and ideas! And downloads of course! :)
B.
First attempt at my little PJ wearing, afro hair-styled little girl... I've gotten a taste for painting since the wooden dolls, and that's been making me think about my dolls in a whole new way...
Tracing drawings onto fabric to paint, which meant that when 2 young and extremely enthusiastic crafters visited, we ended up with some stunning art work-- which will be sewn up into softies very soon!
2 dolls, a bunny and a puppy!
And I mastered (well really just survived) the art of attaching woollen hair to a fabric doll, which Bella-- who is only 8-- had made herself!
And of course, there has been a little bit of toy making going on too... although it's been a week of trying very hard to get ideas to turn into reality, which did not go hand in hand with productivity...
And I've been working on my Dew Drop Girl pattern which I plan to sell soon-- hopefully in a couple of weeks!
I'm exhausted, but hoping that Glebe will go ahead tomorrow after having been cancelled last week due to atrocious weather... whilst it's looking pretty miserable at the moment, the showers are meant to clear tomorrow, so fingers crossed!
Happy Friday!
B.
Well... this was the mosaic I got ready to post last week, but time ran out and it didn't happen. Weddings are funny things, stressful, expensive and time consuming... and for an anxious recluse such as myself, I'm perfectly happy to live vicariously through friends and relatives on this count. Not that I'm anti-wedding, but I have enough trouble getting my market table ready each week! I picked a photo from the 1950s through to the 2000s. So fun to see all the different fashions!
Don't forget to check Mitsy's blog for a very pretty crafty flickr mosaic this week-- plus check out everyone else's pretty pictures.
B.
Well, I got back late on Sunday night, but couldn't resist the opportunity to continue on holiday mode, esp with Monday being a public holiday and all!
Firstly, here are the dolls... they're not perfect, but they are my first attempt.
One for each member of the family.
Secondly, since I was at my Mum's place for a night, these are her amigurumi snails. I send her a pattern a little while back.
More soon, for now, I'm cleaning up the mess that exploded when I got home full of ideas, and spending some time with a super cuddly, slightly clingy Henry!
B.
