Blinking Flights.

2012-01-07T20:16:00.000+11:00

Wow! And today Elka/Elks/Emae/Little E is 11 months old! The sun is out, Daddy is on holidays, and I have some time. I've actually had a lot of time to myself over the last few weeks and I'm sooo thoroughly thankful that Joe gets 5 and a half weeks of holidays over summer, the pace of things has slowed right down.

- the fabrics I received from the fabric swap- in order they are from Madeleine, Lisa, Cassie and Suzie
- the felt mobile I made while still pregnant that needed to be rehung
- coasters I made after a pinterest burst of inspiration
- felt flower hair clips made from Purl Bee tutorial
- E's room- complete with the first thing I've made from an Ottobre pattern! :)
- embracing renting and blu-tack by filling up the walls
- patchwork the easy way- paint charts + blu-tack
- finally finished the cushions covers I started so many months ago! although it looks like a Fisher Price show room...
- my little E, 11 months and cheeky as ever!

Happy New Year!
B.

2011-12-02T15:35:00.000+11:00

And so Elka is almost 10 months old. It seems so hard to believe, in some ways it feels like she has been here with us forever, and in some ways, I guess she has, but in other ways, we are both still coming to terms with her and with each other, and her with us. I suppose it's all a bit of a cliche just because it's been going on since the beginning of time.

The sleeping has gotten better and then at times worse, we mastered controlled crying for a little while and then she got sick and mastered uncontrolled crying... But I am no longer feeding her every 2 hours at night which was the case at times so overall I think things have gotten better. I'm still mystified to hear that babies sleep through the night all on their own from a couple of months old! It suits me to think it's a myth.

She is walking, babbling, laughing, dancing, opening everything, emptying everything, into everything. I'm at a point where if she can't slam her fingers in it, can't choke on it, can't smear whatever it is all over the walls, floors, etc., I'm perfectly happy, and so is she.

She kisses me on the lips, she rocks out, rhythmically kicking her legs while I'm breastfeeding her, she holds onto me for dear life sometimes. And it always amazes me that she can hate me and love me again so quickly.

And we have changed so much. The alarm clock is set to 6am so that the morning isn't such a squeeze, I leave the house most days of the week, I seem to have given up my hermit ways, we cook enormous meals and freeze them. We stopped watching the news, in fact we stopped watching TV almost altogether unless there is something specific on. We are so freaking busy, we never stop, we wake up tired every morning, but the strangest thing has happened... we are happy! Everything before seems so silly and meaningless, and the human race seems to make a little more sense to us. Even our parents make a little more sense- who'd have thought!?

B.

2011-11-16T21:13:00.000+11:00

I did it! And not a moment too soon either. I managed to get my fat quarters printed and in the post before close of business on Monday. Phew! I have received everyone else's fabric from my swap group, which makes me the official slow poke, but it took me three tries to get something I was comfortable handing over to someone else, and even then I was a little unsure, but the deadline decided for me! I'm quite happy with what my swap partners sent and I will take some photos and share soon.

For now, this is what I managed:

This is about 2/3rds of the way through the red printing on off white, I did some white and some off white depending on what my partner's colour preferences were.

And for my one partner who said 'any' as her colour, I got a little more colouful.

It's funny how much neater it looks from a distance, up close it is soooo far from perfect. I really admire people who are able to make very accurate prints, I just don't have the patience (or the time right now!).

I'm really happy I did it though! Yay for getting a little crafty around here! :)
B.

2011-10-31T14:39:00.001+11:00

Well... I managed to get something started on the weekend! Finally. Elka has some pretty intense moments of separation anxiety these days and the prospect of being able to see me but not be in my arms makes for a pretty noisy afternoon, but we all struggled on.

It's been a very long time since I printed anything, not that I really knew what I was doing when I did, but this first attempt is just that. I cut the image out and moved it around, and made quite a mess in places, I either didn't get enough paint or had a little too much, and I used cardboard so too much paint came out and it's a little darker and thicker than I like, but anyhoo... I will finish it and probably use it for myself, and I'm going to redo the same design using a photo emulsion screen, I know that there is more mucking around at the beginning of this process, but I've always found it so much easier to print that way. I've got to fill in the white bits with the same red stars and then I'm going to do a second layer of smaller stars over the top. I'm a bit worried about how the pattern will repeat... that's never been my forte!

And I've also been mucking around with some stamp ideas too... elephants, I love elephants! It's the first stamp that I've ever made and it's a little rough (well, probably quite rough), but it's using some very good Japanese rubber that my friend Riyo gave me ages ago and I've been too afraid to use it. I have one block left and I really want to re-carve a better version of the design, neater, but I'm still a little apprehensive because I only have one piece and once it's gone, it's gone, I don't know if I can buy it here in Australia.

I'd also like to do some line drawings of elephants on a photo emulsion screen, but this may have to go on my 'wish list' of things to do which is growing longer and longer by the day! Especially with Elka taking her first steps last weekend- she isn't even 9 months... oh boy, it sounds very impressive I'm sure, but it's hard to keep up with her and there are lots of bruises, tears and dangerous, dangerous moments at our house right now!

B.

Simple Prints.

2011-10-25T08:28:00.001+11:00

I've been scouring the web for cool printing inspiration because of the fabric swap, and I've borrowed some great books from the local library. I've been busy, busy, busy in a million ways, so while I have a small amount of time this morning I though I'd share some of my faves from pinterest, and hopefully I'll get some time to take some photos of the designs I've been mucking around with here at home, and post about them in the next little while.

Source: lenacorwin.com via Rebecca on Pinterest

Source: abeautifulmess.typepad.com via Rebecca on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Rebecca on Pinterest

Source: robinandmould.blogspot.com via Rebecca on Pinterest

Source: sfgirlbybay.com via Rebecca on Pinterest

Source: pinterest.com via Rebecca on Pinterest

I'm thinking simple designs are the best, and I don't want to get too carried away with design and fail in the execution! I'm also determined not to open photoshop, illustrator etc., I don't want to spend hours and hours being finicky, and looking through Lotta Jansdotter and Lena Corwin books makes me think that I don't really need to... Fingers crossed!

And Leslie started a flickr group for the swap if you want to have a look :)

B.

Something to blog about!

2011-10-13T13:37:00.000+11:00

I'm still here, I still have a lot happening and a lot to say, but at last I found something creative and exciting to share, and it's the handprinted fabric swap that I've signed up for over at Leslie's blog. You should too!

I bought some fabric today, I've been trawling pinterest, etsy and flickr, and going through my Lena Corwin book, I've gotten some rubber out of the cupboard and found all the screen printing gear in the garage. Sign up by Oct 21.

6 months.

2011-08-21T19:04:00.001+10:00

Elka is a bit over 6 months now, and I'm happy to say that I made something! Finally! I actually made it a couple of weeks ago, but the time to blog, the time to sew, you know...

I also managed to make 2 out of 4 cushion covers for the lounge, and I've 95% finished the 3rd one, and it's been sitting there for about 5 weeks now. All I need to do is run the machine around the front and back to sew it together, trim the corners and turn it out, and the fourth one is about 50% finished, but in the midst of a full steam ahead crafty-motivation attack-- which happened on the school holidays, with the awesome baby-sitting power of Joe, I noticed that I was sooooooooooooooo tired, and that rather than force myself up and down from machine to iron to scissors, etc., I'd be happier sitting on the lounge, or in bed, or maybe going for a walk with my little family... and so that's what I did. The cushions will happen when they happen, and they will be grand. Sewing just isn't so important right now.

Elka's sleeping is still as interesting as ever, and I can't say how good it feels to read comments about similar babies, especially the ones that give me the glimmer of hope that it will end in all of us sleeping the night through eventually. She is developing a sense of humour though, she laughs her little head off at some things and the playing is getting much more fun for me, and the crawling has started, and it's taking us all by suprise, I turned my back the other day to find her with her hands in Joe's backpack ripping apart a tea bag that had fallen out of his lunchbox, and like everything it was headed for her mouth... eeep!

We think she's pretty hilarious!
B.

Every quilt I ever wanted to make...

2011-07-27T10:16:00.000+10:00

Source: flickr.com via Rebecca on Pinterest

Source: thelittleredhen.typepad.com via Rebecca on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Rebecca on Pinterest

Source: havenworkroom.blogspot.com via Rebecca on Pinterest

Source: 1stdibs.com via Rebecca on Pinterest

Source: purlbee.com via Rebecca on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Rebecca on Pinterest

Well, maybe not every quilt, but this is a good selection to dream about for now. And maybe one day, Elka and I will co-oridnate ourselves well enough to get some patchwork happening! For now, I've discovered Pinterest, and I'm loving it, I used to love my flickr faves, but this is even better because you can select images from all over the web and IT SAVES THE SOURCE!! Yay.

And the strangest thing happened, I wrote that post last week, and her sleeping has improved a little in the daytime... *touch wood* Night times are still interesting to say the least, but I can live with that. This week's immediate concern is keeping her away from the cat, apparently pulling whiskers is all the rage... Eeek! Poor Henry!

B.

My Resignation.

2011-07-19T21:29:00.001+10:00

So I don't blog much anymore, I'd like to do it more often, but I guess that's just how things are for me at the moment. I keep hearing about babies who sleep through the night, who play happily on the floor on their own, who amuse themselves, who don't roll or tummy crawl, who don't try and lever themselves out of their bouncers. Who don't need to be standing up to be content, who don't suck on their Mummy's face (leaving her looking like a victim of domestic violence), I've even heard that some babies have reasonably long naps in the daytime, and that when you take them to visit with people, they just kind of hang out and go with the flow. And I used to read this blog called While She Naps, which led me to believe that I would have a little time to sew pretty things and get housework done when the baby arrived.

But I don't.

I have a firecracker of a baby, and at 5 months she's still waking up 3 times a night, she seemed to be improving before we moved house, but as nice as the new place is, it's new, with new sounds and sights, and noisy kids who jump on our roof (they live upstairs) well into the night, and things go bump, and babies wake up, and it's taken me a bit of time to get used to the new temperature here and to bundle her up a little more as winter progresses, and so on and so forth.

And there was a time there where I was feeling pretty darn strung out. I was watching other people's chilled out babies, and listening to all these 'sleeping through' stories, and reading and re-reading books about how to make it happen. And I'd be lying if I said that I wouldn't be forever thankful to the universe if she just calmed down, chilled out and started to enjoy sleep a bit more, but it occurred to me one day a little while ago, that I don't really have a lot else to do besides look after her. And this time is going quickly- like really quickly- and rather than wish it away for the sake of convenience and getting stuff done, I could just be the one to calm down and go with the flow... and I think I have, and life has gotten so much better.

So she's high maintenance, you definitely know when she's in the room, and sometimes I worry that friends and strangers think I'm mean to her because she really lets fly when she's unhappy or tired, but she laughs and smiles all the time. And right now I'm the person who can make most things better for her, and who knows how long that will last, so I'm just going to try and soak it up while I can.

And yes, her shrug is on upside down, but I assure you she moves very quickly!

B.

playing tetris...

2011-06-15T08:59:00.001+10:00

We've been here for two full weeks now- these pictures were from the first few hours- and it's now starting to resemble a home. Our old place was cramped and cold, and it was stuck in between a railway line and a highway, it was close to uni, which used to be a good thing, but it was starting to become a bad thing. There was no window in the bathroom, and no bathtub, we were the first flat you'd see as you drove in the driveway, and everyone could see straight into our loungeroom which made breastfeeding interesting at times. We only ever meant to stay there for a year, but life conspired around us, and we kind of got stuck there, and then when I fell pregnant I couldn't stand the thought of having to pack everything up and then unpack it and rearrange it somewhere else.

And if it wasn't for the neighbours from hell, we may still be there, listening to the coal trains shake the building, turning the heater way up, and attempting to cover up and close up the windows and doors and block the draughts, and hoping that those neighbours would turn their stupid music down, and that they would stop ringing the wrong door bell at three in the morning because they are drunk again, and god only knows what else.

But lots of important things happened there too, and we met more good people than just that one bad lot. It was sad to leave the place where Elka first came into our lives, and where so many important things happened, but it was liberating to be able to leave the bad stuff behind. Now we have a bathtub, and a window in the bathroom, no one can see me feeding the baby, and we have a garage which has quickly become a special man-cave type place, we are very close to the beach and to town, and soon all the tetris-ing will be done, and it will be our home.

B.

big and small...

2011-05-18T06:09:00.001+10:00

The small things:

I've realised that I know the beginning of a lot of nursery rhymes, but I don't really know the middle or the end of very many.

Luckily I have a grandmother who keeps things for 50 years!

I'm learning to try and live in the moment and what that actually means. I've given up on TV, on checking the news, on spending hours online, I'm just trying to do one thing at once, and I'm finding that when I do, it's all so much easier. Babies can detect multitasking and they don't appreciate it, at least mine doesn't.

I'm living in a routine and finding my zen, and it's pretty nice for it all to be so predicable after those crazy first weeks that were scary-unpredictable.

I've started cooking dinner in the day and freezing it so that our evenings are our own, and I'm washing up in little spurts so there isn't a million things after dinner. And I'm doing laundry in the same way- small batches, often.

The big things:

She laughs all the time!
She rolls sometimes!

And the really really really big news for us is that we are moving to the other side of town, closer to the beach... with a 3 month old who is just settling into a smooth pattern... and we are happy but a little terrified, but it really is time to get out of this ugly little flat!

And we will need to find a new place for every little thing...

B.

Elka's blankets

2011-05-04T21:32:00.000+10:00

I love quilts, but I'm not a very diligent quilter. I have trouble with the repetitiveness of making matching blocks, I'm a bit impatient with my measurements, and I generally loose interest three quarters of the way through, which results in things sitting around for years and years, or in much smaller quilts than I originally intended... but I did manage to finish 2 quilts for Elka to play on while I was pregnant, one is this scrap quilt that I started yonks ago, and the other one I started 4 years ago when I was still at uni and so I could only find time on during breaks, and it got pushed aside time and time again...

But they are finished, and sewn together in that wonky, lazy way that would scare true-blue quilting types.

I also managed to start two new quilts along the way, both of which have come to a stand-still, the one below was just a way using up my left-over screen prints, and I decided to sew it together by hand, but considering how hot is was last summer and how enormous and impatient I became, it's still waiting for me to get back to it. I also managed to make 17 blocks of a 20 block quilt. I think they are lovely and I made them in a mad, obsessive rush, and then one day (in September) I stopped, and I don't even know where I stored them... but I'm sure they will make a lovely quilt some day...

Lucky I have a grandmother who takes quilting seriously, who can sew triangles perfectly and who takes orders.

Lucky me, and Lucky Elka!

B.

Time...

2011-04-28T12:25:00.000+10:00

Now that I'm getting my head together, I can laugh at my naivety. I can laugh at all the times I complained about being tired and about being exhausted. In fact I can laugh at lots of things that I never knew about at all. I had no idea are the words that keep coming to mind. I can laugh about the way I spent all of my twenties figuring out what I wanted to do or be, as if there was some magical occupation that would provide food, intellectual fulfillment and be 100% painless. I can say that my desire to have a baby was biological- I didn't think for one minute of the crying, the lack of sleep, the worry. I just pictured the beautiful baby.

But all of this aside, all of the tears, the sleeplessness, confusion, worry, loneliness during the long long days, bewilderment and at times, resentment, everything they say is true, it is the best thing I've ever been involved in. Joe and I are amazed that having a little family is so so nice, so cozy, so lovely, so warm, so beautiful.

B.

Eight weeks:

2011-04-04T18:41:00.000+10:00

I had some vague idea of how hard this whole thing would be, but I never in a million years realised the amount of attention, love and very, very hard work that goes into all the human beings in the world! And I had no idea how much my priorities would change.

Elka was eight weeks old this morning, and whilst the pregnancy and the labour ran about as smoothly and painlessly as I could have hoped for, the baby has been another story. And doing it all with Joe at work from 3 days old, and Mum living so far away has been a real downer, thank goodness Joe has shortish hours and using airplanes isn't as expensive as it used to be.

She is worth it though, and she has one kooky personality emerging. She is bright and alert, and playful and strong.

B.

A bit more from Elka's room:

2011-02-22T14:50:00.000+11:00

Well, I have been busy! Busier than I ever thought possible, and I have no idea whether much blogging will be happening in the near future, but while I have a few spare moments, I wanted to share these 2 pictures from Kil Sook with you all, they are hanging on Elka's wall and they make it all come together and look so nice...

There has always been a special branch on our family tree just for you.

The very best night light.

And while I'm talking pretty pictures, I thought I'd add in this one extra one for good measure!

I like you.

B.

A new little person

2011-02-18T09:00:00.000+11:00

She arrived in a hurry two hours after she was due, and it's all been a blur since then!
Elka Mae we love you!

B.

Some very nice dolls

2011-01-29T20:51:00.015+11:00

I was reading this post by Katie the other day, and it really started me missing all the doll making now that the house is clean and tidy. I have some fabrics and sewing gear out, but to make dolls, I really need to spread my mess all around the flat, and I'm not game to start that up right now... I'm 39 weeks tomorrow, and I'd like to keep things neat for as long as I can. To console myself, I went on a flickr bender this afternoon searching for dolls...

Mim by Happy Find

Mermaids by Misako Mimoko

Printed dolls by Blossom 'n' Bird

One of the sweetest dolls I've ever seen by A Little Sprout

Papoila by Pink Nounou

Red by Idle Doll

Look at all the detail and attention in those dolls. They make me a little restless, & the blogs are pretty amazing too. Hope you like them as much as I do! :)

The Baby's Room

2011-01-27T15:22:00.012+11:00

I have spent the last couple of months getting acquainted with Ohdeedoh, and whilst I think it's a great blog, I think it affected my sanity a little for a while there. It's a bit like constantly looking at home renovation shows or interior design magazines... you start to think that everything has to be perfect... and you start to feel that your rented, 30 year old, 2 bedroom flat isn't good enough, and that neither is any of the stuff in it. Having said that, Ohdeedoh do show lots of thrifty, secondhand, crafty type rooms too, and I started to chill out a little about the whole thing eventually, and went with that thrifty, handmade type of vibe, which due to severe budget restrictions, was the only option open to me!

Whilst it's actually a really bright, sunny room, in this super hot weather, I had to close the blinds so that the photo wasn't overexposed.

Jane, it's nice to have a different kind of doll in there.

All the dolls I put aside for whatever reason- it turns out there is a dew drop girl for every season in this stash.

The lambs are up and flying about above the change table.

And I finally managed to finish a quilt I started 3 years ago- it doesn't fit the super sized cot I bought, but it will do for other things. I have almost finished a quilt top based on this fabulous quilt I feel in love with months and months ago, I'm just worried it will take me another 3 years to complete it!

And this is me in the middle of it all. We still have the spare bed set up so that people can stay, but once she starts sleeping in there, it'll have to go.

It's all getting very close to being finished!

B.

Baby Link Love:

2011-01-23T08:16:00.022+11:00

I'm 38 weeks now, and it's all getting very real. We have almost transformed our tiny little flat into a baby-friendly environment in a way I never thought we could or would. This has meant that I haven't used my sewing machine in weeks and weeks, and I've reduced craft-stash/hoarding by a whopping amount-- and despite one op shop slip up where I bought two old school chairs even though we only needed/wanted one, and had to give it back a couple of days later when I admitted this to myself, we have stopped accumulating! Joe has even thrown out lots of old half finished sketches, and finally done away with undergrad uni assignments from 1999!

In this spirit of organisation, I thought I'd share some of the free online tutorials and patterns that I have come across over the past little while. Some of which I have used, some of which I have used from books and then found free online, and some which I hope to use as soon as I get the chance, and as soon as I figure out what this baby will actually use- I'm a little scared to use up awesome fabrics only to discover that what I made with it is redundant.

Anyhoo, this is the link list:

baby snuggler by Lotta Jansdotter

hot air balloon mobile by Brown Accents

snap wrap dress by Prudent Baby

knitted leg warmers by Patti Ghetti

knitted pixie hat by Vintage Baby Knits

knitted frog suit from Wacky Baby Knits

stenciled drawers by Lena Corwin

cot quilt cover by Aranzi Aronzo

fabric dollhouse by UK Lass in US

fabric beach balls from The Purl Bee

knitted toadstool baby rattles from The Purl Bee

swaddling blankets from The Purl Bee

cloth nappy by Ottobre

baby bib by Chickpea Sewing Studio

changing pad & wallet by Chickpea Sewing Studio

baby bib by Nested

baby shoes by Stardust Shoes

kimono baby shoes by Homespun Threads

baby kimono cardi by Clementine's Shoes

baby tights by Made By Rae

baby sunsuit by Made By Rae

kidlet pants by One Girl Design

stroller liner by Floating World

cot sheets by Made

nappy covers/bloomers by Made

kimono wrap dress by Betsy Kingston

pea pod baby carrier by Piccoli Piselli

sun hat by Merriment

fruit salad baby hats by Luvinthemommyhood

And I'm also loving this free online art project which I've been admiring for years, but finally got around to using- it's called Feed Your Soul and it's put together by Indie Fixx. It is a great way to find exciting new illustrators with Etsy Shops too, and coincidentally Indie Fixx and Crafty Pod are having a big discussion about 'free' right this very moment on both their blogs.

I hope you find something you can use, and email or leave a comment if you have some good baby links!

More for baby...

2011-01-12T18:55:00.001+11:00

A basket to hold the blocks I picked up at the op shop (before my op shop swearing off of course!), which I made from lots of my red/pink scraps of fabric, I think I got a bit inspired while I was making the patchwork horse from the Softies book. I loosely used this pattern/tutorial from The Stitchin' Chicken.

And finally something for the baby from the Softies book, this is Mama Bear and she was designed by Nest Studio.

And cupcake booties, which my Mum crocheted for me after I gave her this US pattern, which she had to translate into her Australian crocheting knowledge.

And another pinafore, which is a bigger size than the others I made. I made it well before Christmas but I didn't have any nice buttons for it, so after looking everywhere I knew to look from Spotlight, Lincraft & HobbySew, to all the op shops in the area, as well as a few vintage clothes shops, and then to Etsy, I started to give up on the idea of really nice buttons... and instead started bemoaning this to everyone I know, which resulted in my Nanna sitting me down with ALL her buttons at Christmas time, and allowing me to pick out the ones I wanted. And I must have winged quite loudly, because when I got home, Joe's Mum had sent me a little parcel full of her old buttons as well. So now I can only complain that I have too much choice...

The old ones are sooo much nicer!

how to find new flickr faves and...

2011-01-12T03:41:00.002+11:00

1. world metro map PILLOW, 2. his rose garden is immaculate, 3. 1976 Ondori Simple Cross Stitch 4, 4. for miss ethel..., 5. needlefelted peach rainy cloud, 6. Art Wall, 7. ♡heart, 8. It's true., 9. Gnome And Mushroom Bee Modern Two

Sometimes when I'm bored on the internet, I like to go to flickr, and click on my 'favourites' in the 'you' menu. I pick a picture I love, and then I go to that person's flickrstream and click on their 'favourites'. And I pick a favourite photo of theirs and look at that person's flickrstream, and check out their 'faves', and keep searching and looking and I always end up with a whole bunch of awesome new faves in my stash.

This is exactly what I did yesterday afternoon, and even though I've had a tummy bug, a terrifying antenatal class and an emergency visit to the midwife (everything is a-ok, and was more panic related than anything physiological!), I ended my afternoon on the lounge with a bunch of felt, and a needle and thread sewing some stuff which had been in my head for a very long time, and which had gotten there via one such flickr expedition a few weeks ago...

These are my lazy, soft, freehand, but satisfying tributes to my following flickr faves:

Mobile by The Future Project, picture by Maayanpearl.

And to this awesome picture by Maggie & Sparrow which isn't sharable but it is cool- and it's the word that I like so much, but I've come up with my own...

etsy dreaming... and my anti-opping new years stance!

2011-01-05T05:07:00.001+11:00

1. Fox and Owl 2. Mooshoopork 3. Robin and Mould 4. Made by Mosey

After spending 3 really full on, intense days cleaning the loungeroom in the most serious way we have ever cleaned, and I mean serious- we got all the light shades down and washed them up, and scrubbed the walls, and managed to remove 4 boxes of books and knick knacks from the cupboard, and reduced our art making clutter by half- I have somehow managed to end my afternoon looking on Etsy, at more stuff... but at least it isn't half made, half hearted, 'maybe-I-could-use-that-one-day', or 'maybe-I'll-read-that-one-day' stuff, like all the stuff that was removed from our tiny abode today! I'm feeling like I can breathe easier in here now, and I've made the pledge to myself and to Joe, that I am completely over op shopping. I don't need the clutter and I certainly don't want it. Unless it's something I'm actually looking for that I'd buy in a regular shop, there will be no opping around here. Kooky, vintage stuff is not as cool as space, glorious space, and this is the only way that I can comprehend the baby fitting into the flat...

P.S. Happy New Year!

And the winner was...

2010-12-29T01:18:00.001+11:00

picture via

The winner of my Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day prize was Bella, which is kind of nice because she's a reader and she's left some comments in the past, so it kinds of warms my heart to have sent Etta off to live at her house!

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas, mine was nice, but a little too rainy and humid for my pregnant self, I'm happy to be home in Wollongong where it's reached a max of 18 degrees so far today! :)

Sharing something awesome:

2010-12-17T21:21:00.001+11:00

It seems that lots of people already knew about this book before me, but for those of you who don't, you NEED to check this out! Emma-Lee gave me the most lovely baby present I've gotten so far, and although she explained that she buys this book for any remotely appropriate situation, I'm so glad she did! It's called 'An Awesome Book' by Dallas Clayton, and I recommend it to anyone who loves dreaming, thinking, making, pretty pictures, big ideas and lovely stories- and it isn't just for little ones, although it has been written especially for them.

It's about thinking outside boringness and blandness and thinking big, and it's been done in such a beautiful way.

You can read the whole thing here, and then I think you should buy it, and then buy one for everyone you know! I love it.

Thank-you Emma-Lee!! :)

December Giveaway Day:

2010-12-14T19:43:00.001+11:00

I know that I just did a little giveaway, but today I'm having another one- I realised a little while ago that it had been over a year since my last act of generosity, and so when I saw that Sew Mama Sew were having their giveaway day just prior to Christmas, I decided to sign up, and so did lots of other folks- there are 3 master lists of giveaway peeps!!

So, this is what I'm giving away:

Her name is Etta and she is 10 years old, she is a summer dew drop girl, and like all my ddgs, she comes with a personality tag, hers reads:

Likes: honey sandwiches, climbing trees, and practicing French.
Dislikes: broken umbrellas, long trips in the car, and rainy days.

She normally sells for $80 in the shops, and she could be all yours if you just leave a comment on this post. You have until the 17th of December- 18th if you are in Australia like I am, and I will post her anywhere in the world.

Until then, she'll just be waiting and wondering what her new family will be like...

Good luck!

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GIVEAWAY CLOSED

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GIveaway Winners:

2010-12-12T03:22:00.001+11:00

Thank you to everyone who entered! I picked two winners using the random number generator thingo, but I'm not sure how you do a screen shot of that without downloading a bunch of screen shot software, so you'll just have to take my word that I'm relaying the truth!

The winners are:
1. Sohpie
2. Suzy

I will contact you both soon and get some postal details!

And I'm feeling like a bit of a winner too because I finally managed to finish this horse I've been going on about. He isn't perfect, but if you look at him without looking at the picture in the book, he looks quite alright, even if I do say so myself!

I actually decided to make another one to keep, but this time I get to pick the colours, I had very specific instructions on the colours for the first one!

Happy Weekend!

Getting Busy!

2010-12-09T22:55:00.001+11:00

I'm not good at sitting still at the best of times, and I'm starting to get pretty excited about the baby, so I think that's what all the sewing is about, and this isn't everything... I do need to stop and sort her room out though because it is a mess- everything has been placed in there and left for arranging at a later date!

The pencilcase is for someone else, but you can get the pattern here. And the kokeshi doll is from 'Simple Softies' which is by the same people as 'Softies', but it's all completely kid friendly and hand sewing, and I made her up in a couple of hours- and added a rattle! And the burp cloths and bandana are from the Aranzi Aronzo book I'm loving at the moment.

And I've been doing the Christmas sewing that I promised some little people in my life that I would do, I just need to attach some legs to a certain patchwork horse and I'm all done. I'm really happy with how well this kangaroo turned out, but it was my second attempt- the first one just didn't look right. She is from the Softies book too, and the pattern is by My Little Mochi, and the joey is harder than it looks!!

And I'm going to draw the winner to my giveaway tomorrow night- and yes twitter entries count! :)

A giveaway and a freebie!

2010-12-07T20:58:00.001+11:00

Well it's nearly Christmas and I can no longer ignore that fact! To celebrate, I have decided to giveaway 2 of my screen prints- they're both the same, and I'll give one each to 2 readers who leave a comment below, just make sure you leave an email address or some way of obtaining your details. I will pick the winners on Friday night (Dec 10th) Australian time, which is probably Thursday night-ish for US folks.

There are only 4 of them in the world and they would look great framed, or hanging free on the wall like they do at my house.

And a freebie- I turned the doll picture that I made for my baby's room into a pdf so that you can print it out yourself. The page size is A4, and there is quite a sizable boarder so that you can either cut it down or use a large matt- it will print fine from a home ink jet printer. This is the link, and it's also in my sidebar under 'freebies'. I hope you enjoy!

And I hope you're not tearing your hair out at the impending festive season- I've discovered that Christmas shopping at 31 weeks pregnant is not my cup of tea, and that this year it all seems somewhat irrelevant compared with getting ready for the baby- but it will be nice to spend some time with my Mum and Dad before everything gets super hectic!

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GIVEAWAY CLOSED!

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flickr love

2010-12-01T01:09:00.001+11:00

1. toys on wheels, 2. Blue children decoration, 3. Girl on a Swing, 4. Kanga, 5. sprinkled pluses baby quilt, 6. Circle of Friends, 7. A happy place, 8. A happy place, 9. alleluja

1. Untitled, 2. Triangles, 3. handmade folk art magnets, 4. Blossom baby mobile - by PukaPuka, 5. Awesome mobile not just for babies, 6. Golden Sunset Mobile, 7. The Blanket, 8. Scandinavian Tomte, 9. edit

Check out all these lovely flickrstreams!! :)

a shop update!!

2010-11-27T19:35:00.001+11:00

Finally, finally, finally I put some things in my shop! This feels like a big accomplishment after having let it sit empty for such a long time. Of course I had the best of intentions, but no energy for the photos and description writing and the like. I've only added the blinkies so far, and I will be adding some Dew Drop Girls within the next week- I only have 2 of them, and hopefully some other bits and pieces like the baby blinkies.

Little Edwin was snapped up almost immediately as I did the update yesterday, but I wanted to show him off because he's the blinky that Riyo made the stamp of (last post), and I think he's pretty darn cute. If you join my facebook page, you'll know about shop updates and the like much quicker than via the blog by the way!

I've used Etsy because I can use Australian currency now and it has more reach, however if you're nervous or haven't joined up, email me and I can set up a transaction in my big cartel shop.

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For now, I'm feeling a huge sense of relief that I won't be doing any markets anymore for a long time, the stress, the repetitiveness, and the fact that I feel like I weigh about a million tones mean that I get to sit around the house and chill for a little bit instead of driving myself, and Joe mad! And it means I get to make my nieces the toys from the Softies books that they've been wanting for a very long time, I have made 'Little Pup' by My Little Mochi, I'm about to attempt to remake her Kangaroo after I completely messed up the pouch and the nose on the one I made yesterday, and I need to make the 'Patchwork Horse' by While She Naps, which is making me a little nervous-- because I love her aesthetic, but I'm not sure I can pull it off... I guess we'll see!

Happy Weekend!

Where to start...

2010-11-24T04:29:00.001+11:00

1. The drawers are actually finished! Yay... Joe spent an entire day last weekend touching up the edges of all the animals and attaching the handles. I will post a photo when it's where it's supposed to be.

2. The flat is so clean that I almost feel awkward. All the fabric is away. We had a house inspection this afternoon.

3. I did the Glebe Street Fair on Sunday, and I think it worked as an antidote for all markets for me, possibly forever. I forgot how rude people can be, don't get me wrong there were some really nice people too, but the 'I could do that' crowd was out in force.

My highlight was hanging out with some people I hadn't seen in a long time, one being Riyo, who spontaneously made me this blinky stamp- a type of portrait, she sat and drew a picture of her fave blinky and whipped this up and presented it to me!

She also gave me some of that great Japanese rubber she uses to carve her stamps from, my mind boggles at all the possibilities, but she's had a lot of practice, and I'm pretty sure my first attempt won't be nearly as impressive as her stuff.

4. Needless to say, I have some extra dolls left over from the weekend, and I will be popping them in my online shop sometime soon- this time I'm using Etsy, the Aus dollar is practically the same anyway.

5. I'm selling the Dew Drop Girl and Meekoo patterns up until Christmas- I've gotten a million emails about them in the last little while, so this is the link to my etsy shop. Please don't make them and sell them though, I've noticed a bit of that going on lately.

6. I've been making some more things for the baby, including some drawings for her walls, and I'm planning on making up some screen prints too. This is what I have so far:

Mine's bigger...

2010-11-14T20:37:00.001+11:00

Ever since I was a little girl, I have known how to make a proper mess. It's just that as an adult, you have more than one room to mistreat... and now that it's getting to be so warm, I can't stand the mess, I think all the sunshine somehow makes the chaos less bearable. So despite the fact I have my first market since June next Sunday, I've had to stop, breathe and organise.

Hopefully the rest of the flat will be this well organised soon. Wish me luck!

P.S. The subway fabric that everyone loves so much is available here! And it is soft and lovely- not quite as soft and lovely as the Heather Ross seahorse fabric you can see in the photo, but still, it's lovely!

A little lamb

2010-11-04T01:47:00.002+11:00

Apparently babies need mobiles, I'm not sure exactly why yet, but they are everywhere and when I saw this pattern in my new Aranzi Aronzo book, I figured that we needed this one in our house just for the sake of cuteness. I need to finish 3 more lambs and attach them, and then I need to figure out how to hang it from the ceiling in this rented flat without leaving too much of a mark, which means I also need to figure out where we are going to put the cot... jeepers!

And babies need drawers, even before they are born, because it turns out that even before they are born they accumulate a lot of clothes, so when we found this abandoned dresser on the street outside our house, we thought it would be perfect to clean up and paint. We used the stencil pattern from this Lena Corwin book that I got ages ago, and so far it's taken us 4 weekends to sand it back, paint with undercoat, paint, and then do the stenciling, and it's STILL not finished, it needs some touching up here and there, and some handles, and probably a hundred other things I haven't thought of yet, but we think it looks pretty funky:

Note: just ignore Joe's sculpture space in the background and imagine a nice white wall!

Edit/P.S. I just found this project as a free online one on the Etsy blog, it provides the template and the instructions from the book here!

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Sydney siders: I will be at the Glebe Street Fair, Sunday November 21- which is held on Glebe Point Rd, so come and get all your Christmas pressies there from me in person, and I will be sharing a space with Riyo from Talk to the Wind and Sun, and Stephanie from Spark Candles.

Look, no toys!

2010-10-28T22:41:00.001+11:00

Well actually I have been steadily making (and stuffing) toys all week long, but I thought I'd share some other crafty endeavours related to the most popular topic at our house at the moment... lots of them I made weeks and weeks ago, they actually helped pull me out of the spotless house syndrome I was going through in the first 14 weeks, where the lounge-room was clean and the fabric was all packed away. That's not the case anymore.

I had been making bibs for my market stall, and they were all from tea-towels and the like, but I've let my opping wane a little over the past couple of months and thought it would be good to use up some of those pieces that were too small for anything much, but too big to bin... and I found this piece of linen that I screen printed way-back-when...

Normally I think kids should stay well away from politics, but I just couldn't help myself with this lovely Propagandhi quote. The bib pattern is from here.

And a snuggler, which looks more like this, it's just that mine is folded in half! It's from my Lotta Jansdotter book. And I made it from summer-weight fabrics rather than snuggly winter ones. And some shoes from this here pattern.

And a doll's quilt. I managed to find a second hand toy cradle which Joe is currently painting up, this is my contribution. Inspired by this amazing full sized baby quilt. I found it through this awesome quilty post by Kelly at My Happy Little Life, and I'm three squares away from finishing a cot sized quilt inspired by the squarey one (second from the top) in that post, but those pictures are for another day!

And I'm sorry if I started too many sentences with the word 'and', now I'm an adult, I know that it's technically okay to do so, but in primary school, it was strongly shunned and I still feel a little pang of 'inappropriateness' whenever I do it!

Life on Mars:

2010-10-22T01:43:00.001+11:00

Joe and I have been talking about how much our lives have changed already, and we still have 4 full months to go until everything changes utterly and completely, forever, or so we keep hearing! It feels a little like being on an alien planet sometimes... I just noticed today how it odd it is to do the washing-up from a distance, that is, I can't get as close to the sink as I used to, and I've started to need to sleep during the day, which I've always detested, and my ability to sew is erratic, some days, I can churn them out, others, nothing happens. There is no routine or rhythm, but this is what it looks like:

Something for the little one, from Simple Sewing for Babies, which is actually full of really easy things to sew, AND I managed to find some rattle inserts for once in my life... here. They sell out a lot, so you need to keep checking back if they don't have any in.

Regular blinkies, and some baby blinkies have emerged too, thanks to Emma-Lee's need for smallness for an ingenious Christmas marketing plan she has coming up!

And the piles (and piles) of recently sewn, but as yet, unstuffed softies, and this photo doesn't include the new Spring/Summer version of my dew drops... you don't want to know how many there are!

Hopefully more will happen on the stuffing front soon!

Meanwhile...

2010-10-15T03:34:00.000+11:00

So, it's been a lot longer than usual, but you know, some things cannot be helped! And I think I have a reasonably good excuse, I tried to keep up the blogging in the early months, but this little one was just not that interested in me getting up off the couch and participating in anything other than daytime tv and sleeping, and she really let me know about it... but I'm able to stand the smell of coffee again, and able to sit at a sewing machine without intense nausea... so hopefully there won't be any long absences for a while!

We're just over half way, and she already has a pile of sewn goodies as high as the roof... if things continue this way, I might even be able to do an online shop update before Christmas, *fingers crossed*.

A little bit famous...

2010-08-10T18:31:00.000+10:00

This last week has been much, much better than the week before... I actually got some stuff done, including a nice big batch of screen-printed Anne-Sophie dolls which I took up to the Monsterthreads Shop in Newtown, and have just listed in my online shop. I also managed some dew drops, some meekoos-- the first few in a very long time! and of course some blinkies. And the new Monsterthreads Shop in Melbourne is opening as we speak, it's in Collins Street, and they have some of my pandas, alpacas, bunnies, sheep and a large batch of blinkies as well.

I was also lucky enough to be mentioned in the current edition of Inside Out Magazine, well, Anne-Sophie was mentioned, and pictured, and amongst the likes of some other very cute cushion dolls such as kitty by Lisa Max, and Louise by Thomaspaul. Woo hoo for me, I mean for Anne-Sophie!

One of those weeks...

2010-08-02T19:08:00.000+10:00

When everything that could have gone wrong in terms of sewing and time management did go wrong! One of my most popular little critters right now is little lamb, but little lamb requires white chenille... I'm all out of it yet again, and in a bid to find a viable long term solution I found this beautiful feeling baby blanket fabric. I thought 'score'... I made 8... I won't tell you how long that takes... I sat down to stuff the first one and poked a hole through the leg quite close to the seam with the stuffing stick. It happened again and again, but in all different places. And this was not the only sewing related disaster, but with some deep breathes, I'm chalking it up and starting again this week.

Wish me luck!

Couldn't Resist!

2010-07-25T21:08:00.000+10:00

I just came across this post at Blackbird Corner and couldn't help but pass it on... and she made a list of the things she'd prefer to him being PM... I'll just say that I'd rather not have him in charge of anything because it scares me, his politics scare me, and if I start with the criticism, I might not stop!

A Sale...

2010-07-14T01:53:00.000+10:00

Something I forgot to mention yesterday was that I have set up a sale in my little online shop. Everything is half price, and somethings are cheaper than the current wholesale price... when I stock up again things will be matching the new post-markets RRPs... so get in while you can and help me clear out some old boxes! Also, the Russian Dolls will not be continued, just so ya know, and pandas will be made to order since they are generally all the same.

Hope you understand my sale/sail/hot air balloon reference!!

Stop motion at the Finders Keepers

2010-07-12T20:36:00.000+10:00

I've been meaning to show this video for a little while, it's a stop motion animation of the Finders Keepers back in May, and it's pretty awesome. It also happens to show my stall perfectly!

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=12484731&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

The Finders Keepers - Making It Happen from kodamapixel on Vimeo.

If you take your eye to the big vertical finders keepers sign in the middle, move it left and look at the table on the corner with the doll bunting-- that's me, right near the red doors and 2 big polls! It's so cool to see all the hard work condensed into just a couple of minutes.

P.S. I am the girl in the black and white striped top!

Doll Love

2010-07-12T03:48:00.000+10:00

Have you been to the Kase-Faz blog??? The dolls are mind-bendingly-beautiful and detailed! And they take my breathe away everytime I open up my reader and see a new post, and yet I've just realised that I've never posted about them. Enjoy!

Paper Pie & Moda!

2010-07-05T19:29:00.000+10:00

I spent the weekend catching up on blogs that I love, and one of them is Paper Pie... Liz designs lovely fabrics which she prints at Spoonflower and sells in her Etsy shop, Wonderfluff. I was thrilled to stumble upon the news that her Sugar Pop collection was picked up my Moda and will be available in shops in the US in December.

I managed to scoop up a couple of the fabrics a while back when I was still making lots of bugs, and the very first dew drop girls I ever made featured some of Liz's fabulous fabric.

Oh boy! How things have changed!! Both dresses were made from Liz's designs, and you can see how well they mix with Japanese prints... and how much the dew drop girl has evolved over the last 12 months!!

And now, the colours have been worked on and mixed up, the scale of design has been played with, and voila!

I love them! And what a nice story!?

Ya-ikes!

2010-07-04T19:58:00.000+10:00

1. Wool Blanket#0300, 2. Wool Felt Ball or Round Beads, 3. lucy's froggy bonnet & booties, 4. Wool Blanket - Detail

It has been SO SO cold this week! One day was the coldest we've had in 60 years!! I'm sure Europeans would be looking at the temps and laughing, but for Australia it has been freezing... And it's another reason I'm glad that I'm not doing the markets anymore... standing outside in that bone chilling weather is not my idea of fun, although I must say, I'm getting to the stage where I'm really missing seeing all those people every weekend and getting to see all the cool new stuff that was about the place all the time. Mainstream malls and shops just do not compare!

I've been consoling myself with the internet and the op shops down here. I've even been looking on Ebay, where I managed to get this book at a great price. And I've been getting rid of even more stuff, the constant leftovers from having worked at an op shop once-upon-a-time. I made a pile downstairs in my building and a note which said 'free to good home', and bit by bit, it all wondered off, and to my surprise, others started leaving bits and pieces too-- books, kitchen stuff, even a big chair!

And for my Mum,who asked my for crochet links the other day, these are the ones I was talking about!
Purl Bee and Whip Up. I hope they help!

Happy Sunday!

Where have you been?

2010-06-28T19:15:00.000+10:00

Well, I wish the answer was an interesting one, but alas... it wouldn't satisfy Lady Catherine, although I don't know if much would... I've been around. I've been a little bit fluy and gross again and my head has been all over the place, and every time I sat down to write a blog post, I would run out of things to say... and decide to go rejoin the couch, where something fabulous was actually taking place, and that was the third season Mad Men... which is EVEN better than the last two put together... OMG OMG OMG... since it hasn't aired here on Australian television yet I won't spoil anything, but wow! I actually started to like Joan this season, although Peggy is still without a doubt, my favourite character.

And when the fluyness subsided, the sewing had to begin again, and then I didn't have time to do anything else! I took a nice big batch of Japanese fabric blinkies up to Monsterthreads in Newtown on Friday, and they may be my best lot yet. I've used all these awesome fabrics from Matatabi's Etsy Shop.

And... in really big news, I've really stopped doing the markets. I've given up my spot at Glebe, and I'm not going to be making an appearance at any of the village type markets that I've been slogging it out at for so long now... maybe when things warm up and when people have more money to spend I might reconsider, but it's really been a drag on my time lately and on Joe's too. So now, people will have to buy my stuff through stockists or through my online shop, which I will try and update more often!

And thank you to all the people who read this blog! I was just looking at my stats and it's really encouraging to know that people do read my ramblings! And thank you to Abby, whose comment this morning made me feel inspired to sit down and blog!

Hope your Monday Morning isn't too cold!!

foxes, bunnies & bears:

2010-06-10T00:43:00.000+10:00

I've been having lots of fun with scraps the last week. Making little lambs means lots of little tiny pieces of chenille lying around, and they work wonderfully on red foxes. And all the tincy little pieces of blanket and fur make little bunnies and bears... my scrap piles are dwindling again.

And Japanese fabric Winter Dew Drop Girls, still my favourite to make!

Be Brave!

2010-06-08T00:58:00.000+10:00

Jeepers! I've had a lot going on around here over the last week, well actually I really only had one thing going on, but it was big and time consuming! I did Eveleigh Artisans' Market yesterday, and I only got the call to confirm on Wednesday afternoon, which I really wasn't expecting, and so I had to make some stuff... a lot of stuff actually, because I had hardly any. Funnily enough I managed to really get a lot done, and funnily enough I still have a lot of stuff, I sold barely anything-- this wasn't so funny to me yesterday, especially since I was standing on a concrete floor in a shady, old shed with only 3 walls, and no way of getting warm, bored out of my mind! Meh... these things happen, and markets are a big fat gamble at the best of times.

People did seem to love this little guy though, not enough to take him home, but he got lots of attention all day long. I'll post more of my fantastic sewing escapade over the next couple of days, including some foxes, a little bear and some bunnies... a little animal kingdom seems to be emerging at my house!

soup time!

2010-06-02T01:53:00.000+10:00

This is one of my favourite recipes, for a soup that I made on the weekend, and some twitter peeps asked me to share, but then I realised, I didn't take a photo of it before it got all eaten up... it does look and smell and taste delicious, I promise! And it's so good in this horrid weather (2 full weeks full of rain!?!?)... so after some umming & arrhing about an appropriate image to accompany the recipe, I remembered that I hadn't shown you all my lovely Paper Boat Press magnets, I bought them at Finders Keepers, and I love them.

And now for the Recipe-- Chilli, Corn and Red Capsicum Soup:

1 coriander sprig (cilantro)
4 corn cobs
30g butter
1 small red onion, finely chopped
1 small red chilli, finely chopped
1 tablespoon plain flour
2 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup cream

1. Trim the leaves off the coriander and finely chop the roots and stem. Cut the kernels off the corn cobs.

2. Heat the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the corn kernels, capsicum, onion and chilli and stir to coat in butter. Cook, covered, over low heat for 10 minutes. Increase heat and add the coriander stem and root, cook for 30 seconds or until fragrant. Sprinkle with flour and cook for another minute. Take saucepan off heat, gradually add the vegetable stock, then add 2 cups of water, and return to the heat. Bring to the boil, reduce to simmer for 30 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

3. Ladle 2 cups of soup into a blender and puree until smooth, return to the saucepan, and add the cream. Season, and sprinkle with coriander leaves.

Yum.

Hi there!

2010-05-30T18:09:00.000+10:00

I have not managed much sewing this week, between a house inspection, which required my house to look like an actual house, and a spot of flu, barely anything got done... on Friday afternoon, I did manage to sit down and sew this little guy together. Joe loves him, and Joe is an integral part of the 'cuteness test', but he also asked me if people will be able to tell what sort of animal he is. I think the long neck gives it away...

Where have all the patterns gone?

2010-05-25T19:24:00.000+10:00

Some of you have noticed that during my latest shop update I removed my PDF patterns for sale, and you want to know why. Well. I'm just sort of over those old designs, and whilst I'll continue making my own blinkies and dew drops for sale, I'm interested in making more elaborate and evolved versions. I'm in the middle of planning some lovely new PDF patterns which I think will be just as loved and popular as the old ones... I think having those old designs about is holding my creative energies back a little. I've also stopped selling through Etsy for now, everything is available in my Big Cartel Shop. For me, it is much easier to deal in Australian dollars, especially since the value of our dollar against the US has been really moving around as of late.

And for those of you busting to make softies, the free patterns are still there in my sidebar, and they aren't going anywhere! I promise.

Shop Update Today

2010-05-25T05:27:00.000+10:00

I updated my online shop today. I've taken the patterns down-- they were getting a bit old and tired, and I will upload a new batch in the coming months... and there will be more dolls to come tomorrow, including the babushkas. I hope to have some more little lambs and pandas made up soon too, but email me if you'd like to pre order them... the lambs have been flying off the tables at the markets!

Goodnight!

Hello Monday!

2010-05-24T18:50:00.000+10:00

1. Hexagon, 2. Something Pretty, 3. Morning Dew, 4. sakura 3, 5. backlit spun frame red ps, 6. bee and honeycomb, 7. Naranjas / Argentina, 8. man v nature, 9. patterned "spread" hex tile fold

I'm feeling good this morning, I have no idea why, I didn't do either Glebe or Bondi on the weekend due to the terrible weather-- although both markets went ahead anyway (market organisers are only selling stall space, so they'll take your cash no matter what the weather is like!).

Instead I went and saw the new Monsterthreads shop in Paddington, and stocked it up with all kinds of dolls and toys, it is overflowing with nearly 3 boxes of my stuff, as well as their cool shirts and some other very lovely handmade items from around Sydney. I like Paddington, I look at all those lovely 3 story terrace houses and the leafiness working alongside all the urbaness, and I start to think of ways to raise copious amounts of cash just so I can afford to rent a place with more than one room. It's so out of my reach though... the queues of people lining up for house inspections, the extra money that gets offered, pushing the rents up higher and higher, the pokey spaces, the shabby bathrooms... but I do miss living in Sydney!

I also got to roam around Newtown, and to visit friends, and to keep looking up at that grey old sky and feel good about not being stuck at the markets without customers whilst everything I owned got really, really wet. It was a strange day, and I was in bed by 9pm, but I woke up this morning to see so many sketches next to my bed, pages and pages and pages of them. Some cute, some pretty, and some slightly sacrilegious! Now I just need to clean up my loungeroom and plan how on earth I'm going to make all of these drawings into something...

But what do alpacas really look like?

2010-05-24T07:24:00.000+10:00

So I sat down and started drawing yesterday, and realised that I didn't know exactly what an alpaca looked like... I had this vague, cute, fluffy idea in my head, but the sketches were looking far too cat like. Their necks are longer than I imagined, and their ears stick out a little bit more than I thought they did. And they have very cute babies!

Panda happiness at last:

2010-05-22T05:19:00.000+10:00

I've been sewing ALL week this week, from Monday morning right up to 5:13 this evening, and it's been full on. I thought that I was going to do both Glebe and Bondi Markets this weekend, but with the completely miserable Sydney weather I've decided to skip Glebe and leave Bondi to be decided sometime tomorrow. So now I have much more stock than I expected to have, and copious amounts of sewing always leads to new ideas, to sketching and to new little critters coming into existence.

I have been on the quest for the perfect panda for soooo long! And finally I'm happy with one. I feel like I've made about a million different types, but they just didn't pass the cuteness test. Some of you may remember the enormous panda I made last year (in the background), when I was busy making lots of Spring Lambs last September, and now I present Little Panda, who is a version of my Little Lamb who was new (and very popular) at Finders Keepers, so my brain definitely links pandas and lambs somehow... well maybe it has more to do with the chenille... ?

And Joe gave me the best idea this morning too, alpacas! And I have some lovely soft and fluffy teddy bear fabric that will work perfectly... And now I have tomorrow to do nothing more than sew, sew, sew!

EDIT: These little critters along with many other Blinking Flights friends, including Dew Drop Girls, Blinkies, Egg Dolls, Meekoos, and the even more can now be found at the Monsterthreads Shop in Paddington. I went there yesterday, and it's very nice, I suggest you check out the fabulous hat wearing bear they have painted behind the counter-- too cute!

Why kids are great!

2010-05-20T17:48:00.000+10:00

Well, I'm sure kids are great for lots of reasons, but seeing how I don't have any, this is my rationale behind their being great:

I've had some fabric printed up at Spoonflower from one of my doll drawings, and I've been selling a combo of the fabric panels and simple cushiony-type-dolls made with the print, and they haven't been very popular with adults, who can see over the table, I've had them leaning up against stuff, sort of towards the back... and kids couldn't really get a glimpse.

At Finders Keepers however I had to put them towards the front just because I had a smaller space than normal, and I noticed a strange phenomenon where girls between the age of about 3 and 5 NEEDED them, liked crying, pointing NEEDED them, and I always find situations like this really awkward because I want to sell stuff to people, but I really don't want to bully parents into buying stuff for a million different reasons, and so this kept happening over and over again.

The tantrums weren't great, in fact I'm inclined to say that tantrums are a very strong reason for children not being wonderful, but I'm nearly 30 and I chuck tantrums too from time to time... the greatness came from their ability to consistently understand my illustrations... this happened with my little doll earrings too. I kept hearing parents and grandparents query what things were with Claire up there, and with the earrings, and the little girls would simply explain, 'it's a doll', and many other fascinating things, like when I heard one woman say but what's the red on her face for, and a little girl matter-of-factly explained 'she has rosy cheeks'. It was amazing too see and hear! I'm not sure if it's because kids watch so many cartoons or look at picture books, or if their little minds just haven't been bent out of shape yet like all us adults, but I'm sure many people have written papers about such things, I think maybe it's because they still draw and colour in and are still very connected with these types of representations. I noticed it happened a couple of times at Bondi on Sunday too, which is probably why its still floating around in my mind.

So yay for kids!

Blinking Flights Stockists

2010-05-15T18:24:00.000+10:00

Monsterthreads
9 Centreway Arc
259-263 Collins St,
Melbourne

229 King St, Newtown
10am-9pm

360 Oxford St, Paddington
10am-6pm

The Milk Thieves Art and Design Store
Shop 10A, 157 Crown St, Wollongong-- upstairs from Flight Centre
Open: Monday-Saturday

And don't forget my online store I can always email you photos of current stock if you are looking for a particular gift, everything is sent via registered mail. Email me to enquire: beecah@gmail.com

Bondi Markets this Sunday:

2010-05-14T17:53:00.000+10:00

Now that I'm not booked into Glebe every Saturday, I can play around a little, and I so I decided to book myself into Bondi Markets this Sunday... the problem is that after Finders Keepers, a shop update at Monsterthreads, and a wee little online shop update, I'm running low on all matter of sewed things!

And thanks to a crazed cleaning frenzy yesterday, where I spent 10 or so hours looking for a tiny small plastic box that accompanies my Grandmother's sewing machine, and contains all of the her extra sewing machine feet and the like, and which was completely fruitless, yesterday's planned sewing extraordinaire did not occur... therefore today will be all about sewing, sewing, sewing, and hopefully some stuffing too. And, fingers crossed, it will occur to me where I safely stashed that little plastic box. I have explicit visions of tucking it into a corner, safe and out of the way... I should know that that is the silliest thing a person could do...

The clean did however locate some screen printed fabric panels that I knew were around the place somewhere, and which I am keen clear out, so for the very first time, I'll be selling them at my stall this Sunday. There aren't very many, and they have been notoriously popular with online customers, with friends, and so have the toys made from them... so if you're interested, I expect to see you at Bondi!

Also, whilst on the topic of markets, have you heard about Winterland?? A new wintery-festival put together by the Finders Keepers girls and the Carriage Works this July... ice-skating people! they will have a rink!!

Happy Weekend!

Bitter Sweet.

2010-05-13T18:50:00.000+10:00

Things are good for me right now. I'm a bit of an all over the place, emotionally-rollerly-coasterly type person at the best of times, but it seems at last that things are coming together. When people ask me what I do, I say I make dolls with a little grin on my face, because I know it sounds funny. In the past I've always been in the middle of something that was leading somewhere else, and what I did was either quickly and inaccurately explained, or explained over several hours incorporating quotes and references from the book I was reading at the time. 'The Real World', which I keep hearing about, has never much been my thing.

But anyway, I seem to be making my life as a grown up work. I'm not really ticking any of the boxes that we were brought up to want to tick like marriage, children, career, mortgage, new car, attempt to win lotto and so on and so forth, although I would like to tick some of them eventually... but I'm no longer prone to crippling bouts of depression and/or anxiety, I feel calm, and that's enough for me right now.

The funny thing is, and I don't mean funny 'ha ha', is that some of the most important people aren't here to see me pull it all together, especially since I know they'd be the proudest, the most supportive, and possibly the most useful!

I don't want to make a soppy. morbid post, I just want to say that there are some types of friendship that are so important, and I had one of those. Sometimes I feel ripped off by the universe, and yesterday was one of those days. I just need to remember that some people never make friends with people they really, really click with, and I did.

Oh Nellie! The things I'd tell you if you were here! xxx.

Some inspiration from my weekend:

2010-05-10T23:25:00.000+10:00

Well, I loved lots of things at Finders Keepers, but I think this was my favourite stall, not that I had a lot of time to look, and not that I could get all that close when I broke free from behind my counter... there were lots of people crowded around...

Nikki Catalano: too pretty for words, but just one of a million amazing illustrations! I can remember feeling a little bit dazed by lunch time on Saturday, but seeing all these beautiful pictures calmed me down & lifted my spirits.

I also loved Boniko but I can't seem to find a good picture to plop over here, so you'll have to check it all out on the website. Soft and cuddly and uber quirky!

I got to meet Penny from Pocket Carnival who informed me that she reads my blog, which is funny, cause I've been looking at her designs on Flickr for so long now, they are really inspiring and right down my alley, taste wise! They actually really inspired my little 'I love rain' gal up there in my header (also known as Darla around these parts)... but I'm sure she has no idea! And I now have a whole bag full of Pocket Carnival goodness which I'm sure will make its way on here sooner than later.

And I had a lovely stall neighbour, and lovely stall neighbours are very important as I'm sure you can imagine. Being a completely non-fashiony-type of girl, it was really cool to be next to someone who is, Jen from South for the Summer makes really beautiful headpieces... like really beautiful, and I was amazed as I stood there for so many hours watching women of all sorts and ages try them on, and I can't ever remember thinking 'eeekkk, take it off'... I worked in ladies fashion stores in a former life, and I can remember thinking things like this all the time back then, but seriously, these pretty things were making people prettier by the minute!

Now I get to finish cleaning my house! Oh Yay!

In awe...

2010-05-10T01:08:00.000+10:00

Finders Keepers was seriously amazing! I don't know where to start or finish with the praise... the organisation was impeccable, it looked and felt awesome, it sounded awesome, and when the farmers market was running on Saturday morning, it even tasted awesome... Joe returned with a big grin on his face and some amazing chocolates made with native ingredients like lemon myrtle and wattle seeds... and coffee and passionfruit... so good!

Friday night was particularly fast paced, and whilst Joe managed to get some photos I don't seem to be standing still in any of them... luckily I had Riyo helping out, who described the experience as an intensive language lesson, which I think is good since she's studying to be a Japanese/English translator!

The theme was woodland, and the decorations were fabulous, this was the view from my stall, and I could see little people playing in the mushrooms with the caterpillars and butterflies all day long. Also note the funky knitting decorating the concrete polls in the background. I always naively thought people knitted around the polls and trees and stuff, but it turns out that they knit big squares and sew them together onto the polls and trees and stuff-- of course this makes much more sense now that I know...

For now, I'm exhausted, and I know that I must have looked bleary eyed all day yesterday, but it was just such a big event, and I'm a lounge dwelling, homing pigeon... I'll post more about all the cool people and stuff I saw during the week... so much to tell, and a big thank you to all the online people I've been dealing with for so long who came and said hello! :)

a sneak peak:

2010-05-05T17:32:00.000+10:00

I've been sewing quite madly here for a full two weeks now, and I think I'm almost done. Amongst the mass of new dolls piling up in boxes, and on my lounge are these babushkas which I am really happy with, they have been made from scraps and scraps alone!

The reason I'm so happy with them is that the first 5 or so that I started remain unfinished, I just couldn't get into the right babushka making mood, and the fabrics didn't work together so well. But after realigning my zen with walking and running, watching lots of Moving Wallpaper & Echo Beach (new fave tv shows), and perseverance I managed to pull it off-- thank goodness!

And the next peak is at this newish little critter, who is similar to my Spring Lamb, but about one tenth of the size! This little fella is smaller than a blinky, so I'm calling him and his siblings Little Lambs-- they are perfect baby sized friends! And they make me smile when I look at them...

I hope these pictures entice you to come to Finders Keepers if you can! I'm just hoping that I get a good look at all the other stalls... *fingers crossed*. The info about getting there can be found here-- please don't drive, parking is difficult, and it's really close to Redfern & Macdonaldtown Stations, and from Newtown itself. The stall map is here too, I'm in the foyer area right near the bar, and opposite Made 590.

Well I'd love to stay a while, but back to the grind I must go!

hello little blog!

2010-04-29T19:14:00.000+10:00

It seems to have been a whole entire week since I wrote anything to you. I've been a very busy person this last week, having recently decided to embrace my whole personality as opposed to continually fighting all my short comings, I figured that the best thing to do was to leave all the sewing for Finders Keepers to the last minute. You see, I would have left all the sewing to the last minute anyhow, but I would have wasted an additional 2 weeks pretending (to myself and everyone around me) that I was doing other things for Finders Keepers, that is, a bunch of completely unnecessary stuff in the name of stall presentation, in designing something new without enough time to actually make enough of the new design to sell, and so on and so forth. I need a deadline to make things apparent in my mind, and now I have one! One week today, I will have to be completely finished all the sewing, the stuffing, the counting, the packing, the cleaning of the stall stuff, and the name tags too... and its starting to look like I will be, and like practically everything will be brand spanking new, and never seen before by anyone except me... and Joe who complained 'I can't have an opinion on every single one' when I took the time last night to show him 30 new blinkies, 10 new drop girls, and 4 new meekoos. He's right, but they take so darn long to make that I have an opinion on each and every one of them.

So, if in Sydney, you MUST come to the market. Below are the details, and if you like my stuff, I guarantee that you will love all the fabulous stuff there, it only happens 2 times a year and its definitely worth the effort! Check the designer profiles here, and I will post some more details about how to get there and my prices during the next week.

Happy Thursday! Almost the weekend for you folks out there in working-away-from-home-land!

seven things:

2010-04-21T22:26:00.000+10:00

I just won a blog award from Kim, and part of the deal is that you tell everyone 7 things about yourself, and pass it on... so here goes!

1. I'm 29 and I'm just learning to drive. I have had my L's twice before now and let them expire, and had them a year before I decided to start taking lessons this time. And I only 'decided' to start lessons because of an intense and prolonged campaign by my grandmother which involved emotional and financial blackmail. She got her license at 69 after my grandfather told her her whole life that she wasn't allowed to drive.

2. I don't really have a hometown. I lived here in Wollongong until I was 14, then 4 years in the country, and Sydney for 8 years, and then here again. And although Wollongong definitely is mathematically my hometown, I moved away at a really pivotal age, and I don't feel very attached to it, or to anywhere. Don't feel bad for me, I think its all a good thing.

3. I pay a lot of attention to politics. I watch the SBS news, then switch over to the ABC news at 7pm, then I watch the 7:30 Report, I always watch Media Watch, I had to ween myself off Lateline because it's on so late, and it usually just regurgitates the 7:30 Report except for the interview. And I periodically check news websites throughout the day. I watch complete election coverage from start to finish. And I follow American politics too, I cried when Obama was elected, and I have a poster of him in my loungeroom.

4. I go on food benders all the time, always based on my mantra of more water vegetables. At the moment I'm on a fibre kick, and will be making a huge pot of homemade baked beans this afternoon.

5. I can be quite disciplined with sweet foods until something goes wrong, or until I have to do something by a deadline. I can go a whole week with a chocolate bar in the fridge, but if I need to fill out complicated paperwork or write a submission, I've chowed down that chocolate before I've even thought about it... seriously!

6. I'm very bad at keeping my sewing mess contained, I'm sure you all think 'me too', but let me assure you, I'm far, far worse than you could possibly imagine. Part of the charm of my ever evolving softies is that they are all slightly different, which has more to do with me constantly loosing/misplacing the original pattern pieces than anything conscious or considered...

7. I watch The Bold and the Beautiful everyday if I can. I love it, it's so wrong, but oh so right. And Bill Spencer is definitely my fave character at the moment, and not because I think he's hott-- just because he's sticking it to that spoilt cry-baby, Ridge!

Now to pass it on, I choose Virginia, Stacy, Torunn, Mitsy & Nicky, so please go read their blogs!

hopey, changey stuff:

2010-04-19T19:00:00.000+10:00

There are so many great blogs out there about being eco and ethical and green, and I've started reading them, like really reading them-- not just looking at the pictures! And the lovely thing about the internet is that whilst a suprising amount of people in my day to day life are quite resistant to change, it turns out that lots of people around the world are thinking the same things I'm thinking... and that's that something has to give... we can't keep living this way...

Aside from the whole sustainability problem, the carbon footprints, and all the environmental arguments for consuming less, the basic human decency argument has to be enacted too... unfortunately, my high standard of living is paid for with the poverty of the third world... if we're not ripping the guts out of resources in Africa, we're getting super cheap labor in Asia... and I'm over here, living like a queen in comparative terms, I have running water, a telephone, and a 2 bedroom flat! It seems meagre compared to what a lot of other people I know have, but it is massive compared to what most human beings around the world have.

I'm certainly not perfect, or above judgment, I have coke in my fridge, I have reeboks in my wardrobe, and most of the stuff in my house was probably made in a sweat-shop, even if I obtained a lot of it from the op-shop, but anyhoo, I'm going to try and be better at this whole thing, and marry my ideological commitments with my everyday life.

A couple of weeks ago, I signed up for this pledge at Isis' blog, and I'm really digging it. Already I've noticed how those cute, cheap clothes I see everywhere are just off limits, they might be cheap, and cute, but they are not worth having. I should also confess that I've been watching an this doco on ABC2 each week, and it's bringing the reality of sweat-shop life a little too close to home, this and reading No Logo by Naomi Klein, are all making for a pretty heady mix of anti-consumption-for-consumption's-sake sentiment around here...

This is the pledge, as copied from Isis' blog:

----------------------------------------------------------------------

E T H I C A L C L O T H I N G P L E D G E

I pledge to only wear clothing that is one or more of the following:
1. Pre-loved
2. Handmade (preferably by me)
3. Reconstructed
4. Made with ethical / environmentally friendly materials
5. Made by a company with strong ethical policy & workers' rights

* Companies with environmentally friendly practices (such as cutting down on waste/energy/water) get brownie points
* If I get one little inkling of sweatshop labour, I'm outta there!
* Above all though, I think the most important thing is reducing the amount of things we use in the first place. Not purchasing ANOTHER piece of clothing just for the sake of it is the biggest statement we can make.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

This all leaves me in a bit of a pickle about where some of my doll fabric comes from, whilst the majority is made in Japan and the US, and a lot is second-hand... I do buy the occasional Spotlight fabric for half the price of my other fabrics, and it does clearly read 'made in India' on the roll... I'd love feedback, suggestions!!

P.S. picture via here.

P.P.S. my title is poking fun at Sarah Palin, not Obama!

I call them egg dolls!

2010-04-15T18:44:00.000+10:00

Well actually Joe called them Egg Dolls because of their shape, nothing to do with Easter or chocolate or chickens or anything else to do with eggs, and since I really don't like thinking up new doll names, I think this one might just stick. I think they are pretty cute, and I'm making them all with red heads and blue hair for now-- I find that when I'm making something new, narrowing my colour palette really helps me a lot! And it seems I'm completely over sewing mouths... they are so last season... or something like that...

And speaking of seasons, it's getting to that time of year when snuggling and sleeping on fabric is far more fashionable than it has been in a long time...

House Keeping:

2010-04-14T17:34:00.000+10:00

picture available here!

1. Now you can download patterns as soon as payment is complete via my Big Cartel Shop! :)

2. Now you can buy my dolls in Wollongong-- and not at my house, but at Emma-Lee's little shop in Crown Street above Flight Centre, just near the stage in the mall. It's called The Milk Thieves Art and Design Shop, and you can buys things like Mixtape mag there too!

3. Dolls are still available at Monster Threads in Newtown, and will be available in the soon to be opened Paddington Store, which will be just opposite Paddington Markets, so make sure you wonder across the road and check it out next time you are there!

4. No more custom orders for a little while, after the Notebook article, I've been a little overwhelmed with custom orders, and need some time to make my own style of thing especially with Finders Keepers coming up. I have removed the custom info from the sidebar, I will consider starting it up again in the next few months.

Finders Keepers!

2010-04-13T17:37:00.000+10:00

Some people have been asking me 'what's with all your mouth-less dolls lately!?', and I was thinking that it was just a cute, expressionless thing to do, but maybe there was something subconscious going on! I've had to keep a bunch of secrets lately, and those people who know me well, would know that I'm not very good at that type of thing... especially when the secrets are exciting! Some are simply custom made dolls, which means uber-cuteness that cannot be posted about on the blog, but one of my big secrets is that I'm going to be doing Finders Keepers this May, and I'm super excited about it... and now that the designers have been announced on the blog, I'm allowed to announce to you all!

The list of stall holders is fabulous, and I'm not going to be the only softie-a-teer there either which is nice, the lovely Torunn from Herbert and Friends will be there with all her kooky, adorable little creations-- who all have stories-- my toys might have name tags people, but Torunn's have entire stories! And the neatness of her hand stitching will blow your mind!!

The market will be the second weekend in May, from 6-10pm on Friday, and all day Saturday... I have my volunteers booked in to help me, now all I need to do is... SEW!! :)

Farewell Mitsy...

2010-04-11T18:43:00.000+10:00

Sometimes I make dolls that I love a little bit more than the rest, I know I'm not supposed to, but it just happens, seeing how I already have 2 dew drop girls, 4 blinkies, and a Russian doll... and Joe has a special bug named Sylvie that he loves, and a meekoo named Sash, keeping more of them could result in us living with far more dolls than would be socially acceptable... so even though I loved her, I put little Mitsy out on display yesterday, and I took some photos just in case someone else loved her too... I went to buy some coffee mid-morning, and came back to the stall only to notice a little bit of a gap in the display, and a distinct lack of red...

Joe said that the lady who bought Mitsy loved her, and didn't even consider any of the other dolls, apparently she was very nice and didn't even need a bag, she was happy to just hold her new little friend.

I just hope Mitsy knows, I love her, where ever she is now...

Handmade?

2010-04-09T23:54:00.000+10:00

Yes. Handmade... Gosh I get a lot of people asking where I get these little fellas made... who I import from and such, so when I was sharing a stall with Riyo last week and noticed her little stamp, I thought that it might make a great addition to my supplies... I also hope it stops people advising me to get them made offshore in dirty little sweatshops... (I'm reading No Logo the moment, so outbursts like this could go on for some time).

This little girl is actually a display item, she's modeling the new 'Blinky Making Kits' that I've been going on about on twitter and facebook during the week, they are 85% of the size of the regular blinky pattern from Notebook & my shop, and there are 2 styles of face and ears in the kit, one a little bit girly, and one a little bit boyish, but both easily enough turned unisex if desired. The kits are time savers, they contain the fabrics, mostly vintage op finds, but some super cool Japanese prints, 80% wool felt, the embroidery thread and a BLANK name tag with a space for the maker to make him or herself known! And of course instructions because I find they come in handy sometimes!

These kits are part of my 'make less blinkies' campaign. They'll be $20 each, blinkies will be $35 each this week, and next week they will go up to $40 each, so it's all part of the restructuring I'm attempting... I just can't keep it up, and if I'm honest about the time I spend on each one, $40 is still quite reasonable. Fingers crossed that it all goes to plan...

I'm hoping this nice in between Autumn weather keeps it up over the weekend!

Tutorial: How to make laminated earrings

2010-04-08T02:25:00.001+10:00

Laminated earrings are very easy to make, they are also very cool, and a fabulous way to use up little drawings that you may have lying around, so I thought I'd share my very simple method of making these totally contemporary and totally lightweight earrings-- and don't forget, they can become pendents just as easily as earring!

What you need:

- drawing (optional)
- Photo Shop (optional)
- scanner (optional)
- printer
- copy paper & cardboard
- laminator (or access to one)
- thick sewing needle
- pointy nose pliers
- earring hooks, available at most craft stores!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. You need a sweet little drawing (about 2" tall) that you want to wear- find Shauna here in case you're stuck for ideas, or for image manipulation programs, which also means you can skip the next step too!

2. Scan your image at a resolution of at least 200 dpi. Open a new document in Photo Shop with the same resolution as your scan, and copy and paste your image into the new document. Paste another copy of the image, go to the edit menu and select transform flip horizontal. Now you'll have have 2 mirror image drawings.

3. Print your drawings out on regular copy paper-- I use an ink-jet printer, you could go to a copy shop and use a laser printer, but I think the coloured pencil look is better on ink-jets.

4. Paste your drawings to some cardboard (which I think North Americans might call Bristol board from memory!). Wait a few minutes for it all to dry, and very neatly cut around the perimetre of your design, leaving a small boarder of white.

5. Use a laminator to laminate the designs, once the plastic has cooled down, cut around the designs, again leaving a small boarder.

6. Using a thick sewing needle, or even a sewing machine needle, pierce a hole in the top of each of the designs for the earring loops to go through.

7. Using pointy nose pliers attach the earring hooks to the designs and voila!! you have yourself some very cool earrings!

ENJOY!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

I've been a very busy person these last few days... between attempting to clean out my wardrobe and rid myself of clutter, I've been trying to keep up driving lessons, develop some new and exciting products-- I've almost completed my first 'Blinky Making Kit', which will contain a new sewing pattern with a couple of different styles of blinky, the fabric (most will be vintage), felt, thread etc. I've also taken a new batch of toys to Monster Threads, including some Winter Dew Drop Girls, which are sweet, rugged up little things, and I did Surry Hills Market on the weekend, where Autumn made itself well and truly felt, and where I needed to be out of bed at a shocking 4:45am... not sure I'd ever gotten up that early in my life...

Hope everyone had a lovely Easter, we're down to our last chocolate bunny :(

Flickr Faves

2010-03-31T09:53:00.000+11:00

I don't do Flickr Faves too often any more, but I do like it, and when I read one of Mitsy's twitter posts this morning, it reminded me... so here it is, in all its Autumny-orange glory- a completely subconscious choice which I wasn't aware of until I looked at the finished mosaic!

1. Surprise in the Tree: cute cats, 2. love chart pouch, 3. small embroidery book, 4. Retro Glasses Frames, 5. Angel Suzie, 6. Helichrysum 'Burnt Orange' Strawflower (Macro), 7. Paper Butterfly Earrings, 8. class, 9. Love is All Around Us - detail

Some very inspiring photo streams to be found amongst this lot. You can play along too at Art Mind, and be sure to check out La Pomme! Some very cool stuff to be found there as well!

Goodnight!

Because paper letters are nice

2010-03-28T23:41:00.000+11:00

And ink-jet printers are great! You can download this little letter set here, it'll be in the sidebar under 'freebies' from now on. The size is A4, but if your printer doesn't have that setting, just set to US letter, and it'll scale it down ever so slightly to match your paper.

Enjoy, and thank you for all your lovely comments and emails all the time! I read them all!

Even Better!

2010-03-28T19:06:00.000+11:00

Picture by Pocket Canival

Wow! After some tummy churning decisions and serious negotiations with friends, market neighbours, and market organisers, I have a new plan. I'll be doing Glebe every second week in my regular spot under the COLA (covered area) for the next little while just to see if this extra time allows me to do all the other things I want to do. I must say, I am a little relieved, I have come to love all my new creative friends, and I really love treats such as the one I had yesterday, which was being opposite the most beautiful fabric I've seen in a long time-- it was from Senegal, and it came in yardage, it came in dresses, shirts, baby clothes... it was lovely! And things like that inspire me.

Funnily enough, instead of having the next weekend off, I'll be doing Surry Hills Market with Riyo, which I am very enthusiastic about, and I always like spending the day with Riyo!

So this is the schedule for the next little bit:

April 3: Surry Hills Markets
April 10: Glebe Markets
April 24: Glebe Markets

Hope your Sunday is good to you!

A New Chapter

2010-03-26T23:00:00.000+11:00

picture from bubbo-tubbo.

I've been doing lots of thinking lately, and the truth is that doing the markets every week is driving me slightly mad. I'm caught in a never ending cycle where all I really do is make blinkies, which I like to do, but frankly, I like to do other things as well. I have numerous half-finished projects, which I begin each Monday, and have to put aside each Wednesday because the Friday night deadline is always looming. My Fridays are dedicated to odds and ends related to the markets, my Saturdays are the markets, my Sundays are simply spent recovering from the markets, and balancing the books, which don't always balance.

The markets and associated costs such as petrol and all that unavoidable snacking-- which I promise myself each week that I won't be doing-- is my biggest cost. It's about 30% of my expenditure, and I'd rather be giving that 30% to shops who can sell for me despite the weather conditions, who have a larger window of opportunity than just 10am-4pm on a Saturday, and where I don't have to be the one doing the selling.

So, things are changing around here! I'm not going to be a regular at Glebe anymore. In fact after tomorrow, I'll be going pre-paid, which means that I'll just book ahead for when I want to show up, and pick a stall number on the day, maybe once a month. And I'll be doing some big markets here and there along the way, but regular markets where I'm competing with loads of imported items are just not so viable, and neither are craft markets where I'm competing with drastically underpriced copies of toys from the Softies books.

On the up side, the markets were GREAT for me. I made friends and contacts, I got to learn lots from those people, and from my customers, I got to see what people responded to, and what they didn't, and I got to practice my skills, and I must say, that I'm a pretty confident doll making lady these days. A year ago, I would have been too modest to say that, and when people complimented me on my skills, I used to think to myself 'wow, she must be a bad sewer if she thinks I'm any good', but I've come to see that growing up around people who sew things with as much ease as the rest of drink water, might have confused my idea of what good sewing was!

Anyway, I feel like an infinite number of good things came from the markets, it's just time for me to move on!

Hope you have a great weekend!

Small Faces

2010-03-25T20:04:00.000+11:00

Well, not small faces exactly, but small facial features is perhaps more precise!

I've been having trouble with felt again, I find it REALLY hard to get decent felt in Sydney or Wollongong and my chasing it on the net hasn't exactly yielded the best results. As much as I actually loathe my local Spotlight, they had the best stuff, it was a poly-wool blend that stayed firm enough to embroider, and which was soft enough for soft toys... however they have stopped stocking it. The sheets they sell are too chunky and course, and the stuff they have by the metre isn't strong at all, it comes apart like polyfil... and there are pieces of small cardboard (or goodness knows what) blended in through it, which I find myself picking out with a needle and smoothing over.

I have been buying felt here, and it is lovely felt, but for my purpose it is too soft and flimsy. It is is hard to embroider and hard to sew onto the doll's bodies, either by hand, or by machine... however, yesterday I had a small breakthrough which makes using this beautiful feeling felt in this context, a little more workable.

I have some very fine double-sided-interfacing my cupboard, and when you iron it, it gets much firmer, not stiff, but it helps fabric hold it's shape as it's used for the inside of shirt collars. My breakthrough is that I've started attaching the faces to the fabric with this interfacing and it looks and holds so much better! You just need to cut the interfacing slightly smaller than the face, line them up on the doll body, and have them facing down on the ironing board so that you can iron the wrong side of the body fabric, and ta-da, the face is attached, and a more peaceful type of sewing can begin! I also pin the legs of the blinkies up at this point so that they are not dangling in my way.

As for the small facial features, they seem to be a necessity with such fine felt, anything too big looks silly and awkward, so I'm sticking with it as an aesthetic choice for the while, but I think it is working.

Happy Sewing! I'm hoping to release an add on blinky pattern soon-- with lots of extra faces and ears to work with, so stay tuned!

Ready!

2010-03-22T20:26:00.000+11:00

After much photographing and resizing, description writing and the like, the earrings are up in both my Etsy Shop, and my Big Cartel Shop. I also made up some little cards with names, likes and dislikes, and I think they are rather sweet, from top to bottom, left to right, we have Leia, Shauna, Arianna, Miriam, Hisako, and Ramona. I think Arianna is my favourite-- gotta love rainbows! I had them at the markets on the weekend, and I think they thoroughly confused most people... lots of curious looks, questions and explanations! And "yes, they are from my drawings" was said over and over!

Laminated Love:

2010-03-18T01:40:00.000+11:00

If I sit here sewing non-stop, I go a little bonkers. My shoulders start hurting, my right foot gets sick of the pedal, and my fingers are already so tough, I can stick a needle into one, and feel nothing. Drawing keeps me entertained when sewing is too much... but what to do with all these little doodles...

I've been wanting to make some laminated jewellery for a while now. I first saw some at Mathilda's back in November, and have since noticed it popping up all over the place. It's all pretty straightforward, and so I made some:

They'll all have names and stories too!

So Frenchy, So Chic??

2010-03-16T19:28:00.000+11:00

Cute? I think so. I found it here, amongst an array of very, very cute crochet patterns. I'm quite taken with the hedgehog and pirate panda patterns too. I just need to learn to crochet first...

And if you type Marie Antoinette into Etsy you'll find 104 pages of strange, but curious delights-- some of which are utterly frightening to be honest-- but some, like this one, are very sweet!

Hope Tuesday is good to you-- I can't believe that I'm already eating hot cross buns!?!

About free stuff:

2010-03-14T21:02:00.000+11:00

Ok, so I have some free stuff on my blog, and these free patterns just came out in a magazine-- and so lots of people are as asking me about if I am scared that people will 'rip off' my designs and sell toys from them, so I thought I'd write a post about it!

The truth is, I'm not really all that concerned. Maybe I should be, but the way I look at it is that people will always copy other people's ideas, it's the way of the world, it does hurt my feelings a little when I spend such a long time trying to get a design right, upload it and then see it appear in a stranger's Etsy store (or worse, a blog readers), with the slightest little amendment, and a claim of complete originality. I probably won't be your friend on twitter if you do that, and I probably won't ever reply to your emails if you send them, but I'm not going to freak out over it.

I might be an optimist, but in reality, people who copy other people for monetary gain, generally speaking, never do it as well as the original did it, they are preoccupied with time vs. dollar concerns, and they don't understand the intricacies and details that make the original worth having. And, if someone is serious about selling their wares, they will most likely just copy to start with, as they gain skills, they will start to develop their own designs and preferences, and become their own 'creative selves'... copying someone else is not exactly the most sustainable or reliable business plan, unless you're an enormous company, and that's where the copyright laws are really worth enforcing.

I know that when I see a copied doll or toy at the markets or online, I question the maker's credibility, and I think of the narky people who come to my stall and stand right in front of me and say sneeringly say 'Oh, I could do that'.

So, why give away free stuff at all?? I think the answer to that is just because I can, and because the first truly cool toy I ever made was from a free pattern, and because I get a little inner-glow when I see the toys that other people make from my patterns... and I know, it sounds all mushy and sickeningly-sweet, but it makes me feel good, and money can't buy that... or so I'm told! This whole crafty blogging community wouldn't exist without free stuff... it would just be a bunch lonely, idea hogging, unconnected people.

Sister Diane over at Craftypod has been discussing 'free' and the other currencies that go along side free stuff for a while now, and if you're interested in this, you should definitely check it out.

Happy Sunday!

How to make your parents happy!

2010-03-13T00:46:00.000+11:00

It's very easy, you just have to get into a magazine, a national one that they can show their friends...

Yes, that's me in Notebook magazine this month, and the Dew Drop Girl and Blinky pattern are included! It's a really nice article, a little bit weird reading about yourself... but flattering nonetheless. And it mentions The Toy Society, so hopefully that'll have people dropping toys here, there and everywhere!

For now, I'm working on something new... something not quite developed enough yet, but I thought I'd share a sneak peak anyhoo... I've been dreaming up guinea pigs... they are little and cute... although I'm worried that at this early stage, the brown one looks like a hippo, while the white one is a little sheepy... but I'll get there eventually...

Happy Weekend!

P.S. At this stage the markets are go... unless it's really, really raining, I'll be there!

I'll take 2!

2010-03-10T06:22:00.000+11:00

Joe found this great bag online somewhere, he doesn't know where it came from, and neither do I, but I want it, it is perfect! I'm reading Persuasion at the moment though, and Captain Wentworth is proving quite the heartthrob... Jane certainly likes a man with some attitude!

In other news, today I replenished depleted stock at Monster Threads in Newtown-- new Dew Drop Girls & Blinkies, which I didn't have time to photograph-- but I assure you they are cute-- one is made from the Seoul subsystem fabric I bought recently, and one is made from a pretty doily, completely inspired by the coin purse I bought from Gretel a little while back.

And I managed to find some small vials which will be perfect for making little rattles-- I've been on the look out for-EVER! Apparently they are very popular and hard to get a hold of... and in the process I managed to get some 'squeakers', so look out parents, I'll be contributing to the noisy toy industry sometime soon-- they sound like ducks, and I think after visiting Kinokunya this afternoon, and looking at all those Japanese craft books, I'm filled with an endless array of ideas!

And (!), I returned home to find a lovely package in my mail box. I won some fabric from Sheridan last week in her 3 year blog anniversary giveaway-- I've been on the look out for this sausage dog fabric for a very, very long time!! And she kindly included some utterly beautiful Tina Givens fabric as well, which I adore!

I'm exhausted!!

Shop Update... finally!!

2010-03-07T19:47:00.000+11:00

I finally updated my online shop... I'm using the Big Cartel one this time, the patterns are still available on Etsy, but after looking at who buys what and realising that most of my finished toy buyers are Australian (90%+), it seemed crazy not to use this other shop where I can list things in Aus dollars, where I can have multiple quantities of the one item without additional fees, and where people don't have to become a member in order to use it, but can still use paypal if they like. I also feel as if I am drowning in the ever-expanding sea that is Etsy!

And for overseas buyers, such as Americans, Canadians and Europeans, your dollars are generally worth more than mine, so you'll receive a nice suprise at the checkout as opposed to the unpleasant increase in price when I transfer the US price to the Aus price... although things are about as good as they get at the moment, the US dollar buys about Australian 90c.

And the little Anne-Sophie print that people seem to love so much is available at $5 per panel! :) I only have 10, and 5 would make a very sweet row of bunting... in fact I'm going to print some more for my market stall today!

Happy Sunday,

About Spoonflower:

2010-03-05T20:32:00.000+11:00

I know, I know, I have only ordered 3 swatches from Spoonflower, so I'm no expert... but this is the lowdown:

It's very simple--

1. Make your design, and make it digital if it isn't already. If it's hand drawn you need to make sure that you scan it at the right resolution (at least 250dpi), and tidy it up in PhotoShop if need be (Spoonflower has some simpler online software to use if you don't have access to PhotoShop or the like).

2. You pick the repeat pattern, so you could centre the design in the middle of the fabric, or you let it repeat in a number of ways, such a basic repeat, a half drop or a mirrored effect. It's all very user friendly and visually easy!

3. You decide how much you want, from a little 8"x8" swatch to as much as you want-- swatches are good for checking the printed colours against the colours on your screen.

4. If you want other people to be able to buy your designs, you make them public, you need to have bought at least a swatch before you do that, it acts as a 'proof'. The customer buys the fabric at the standard Spoonflower price and 10% of the sale goes to the designer-- so you won't get rich by selling your designs this way, but you might accumulate enough to give yourself a nice discount every now and again.

All this info is available in more detail here, but I thought you might like a summary before committing!

I have made the hand drawn matroshka doll available for you to purchase. Only 1 and a half will fit on a fat quarter, but it actually doesn't cost much more to buy a yard, so maybe you could make a softie doll this way, or a pillow or something-- but please don't get all crazy, buy 20 yards and start selling them... contact me if you have commercial aspirations and we can discuss them.

Like Etsy, Spoonflower has a lot of not-so-good designs to wade through, but there are some really, really awesome designs/designers too, here are a couple of my favourites:

Sweet and Sour Apples by Syko. Kajsa's blog actually inspired me to get off my butt and finally order this fabric that I'd been umming and arrring about for so long!

Spring-a-ding by PaperPie. You can't buy Liz's designs on Spoonflower, but she does sell them herself through her Etsy Shop.

And there are many, many, many more designs!

Happy Friday! I won't be at Glebe tomorrow-- I have hardly any stock and it looks like miserable-thundery-rainy weather again... but I will get to sleep in and that sounds lovely to me!

New at my house:

2010-03-05T00:19:00.000+11:00

I've been screen-printing again... and I'm realising how much I have learnt about it over the past year. About which designs are good, how to draw them for printing, the ink, the fabric, the tightness of the screen, how to use photo emulsion... with Joe's help, I've come a VERY long way! Not that I'm pretending that I'm a pro, but I'm certainly not the complete amateur that I was. I've been playing with the dolls from my banner... and I've named this one Anne-Sophie.

I also had a package arrive from Spoonflower today. I ordered three swatches:

Very exciting! I have so many plans!

Who are you reading??

2010-03-02T19:10:00.000+11:00

I have 575 unread items sitting in my google reader right now, and I check it everyday. I go through phases where some blogs must be read every time there is a new post, and others seem to post so quickly that I just can't keep up with them... I need to find a whole afternoon to sit down and take it all in. I know I have a bunch of blogs over there in the sidebar, and I do love them all or they wouldn't be there, but these are pretty consistent favourites of mine which must be attended to asap:

1. Craftypod
2. Wee Wonderfuls
3. Sweet Sweet Life

I would love to know what captivates your attention when you turn your computer on. We are very lucky people to have access to so much!

Doll Fabrics:

2010-03-02T03:14:00.000+11:00

I've been making some custom dolls over the last few weeks, and decided that it might be a good idea to have a fabrics set on my flickr page so people know what I have. I'm not sure how it will work in terms of when I run out, but it will provide a good place for inspiration and ideas, I will try and update it each week. The little doll here is named Ursula, and she is made from a machine embroidered pillow case I picked up at the op shop recently... I have a bunch of pretty things like this here at the moment too & they work really well with modern fabrics.

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My market highlight from this weekend was when a very serious girl, about eight years old, took one of my cards and asked if I was at the markets often. She told me that she loved my dolls and fabrics and that she was going to save up. Very sweet and made me smile.

I can't believe it's Autumn already... jeepers!

What's new:

2010-02-27T00:32:00.000+11:00

Some meekoos made from organic Japanese cotton and lovely prints.

I've also been performing a little pattern cross breeding:

You take a blinky pattern and a Russian Doll face (and some really funky blanket type fabric which you find metres and metres of at the op shop):

and you get a fuzzy, happy little girl in a rabbit suit!

Then you take the same blinky pattern (front) and you use a meekoo face (back):

And you get a very sweet little thing that is neither smiling nor frowning, and therefore the perfect childhood secret keeping companion!

Happy Weekend!

And about Glebe: the sun shade still isn't up... so I will be in the same place as the last few weeks, down the front opposite Pookie and their funky peeling fruit candles! I will also have Riyo accompanying me-- so come and get your Japanese craft supplies, including hand-carved stamps, masking tapes, fabrics, and the like, as well as a fresh batch of blinkies!

Now you can make a meekoo too!

2010-02-26T09:23:00.000+11:00

I finished the meekoo pattern and added it to my Etsy Shop, so now you can make a meekoo too! There aren't any photos in the listing, but I've made the cutest, softest batch of critters from organic Japanese cotton which I hope to photograph and upload tomorrow... I got a little too focused on meekoo making last week and started seeing fabric only in terms of its ability to make cute meekoos! Oppps!

Good Night!

Something nice.

2010-02-24T08:39:00.000+11:00

I've been meaning to show this brooch off for a little while now, and I finally found it, my camera, and camera chord all at the same time today! I bought it at Glebe a while back from Elyse, who will be back on the first Saturday of March. I love it, and I loved almost everything she had that day, so I highly recommend you come and check it all out!

You'll also notice the chenille background-- that's right, my persistent op shopping adventures finally paid off last week. One white chenille bedspread, complete with tassels! :)

Babushka pattern is here at last!

2010-02-22T05:44:00.000+11:00

I just popped the Russian Doll sewing pattern over there (------------->) in the sidebar. Please feel free to comment, email, ask questions, add suggestions, I'd love to hear them. You can also pop your creations in the Blinking Flights Flickr Group.

Happy Sewing!

The. Longest. Week. Ever.

2010-02-20T00:12:00.000+11:00

This week has been long, and a little bit like like living in the early 1990s again... in a long and winding tale of incompetence on Telstra's part, despite the fact that I am not even a Telstra customer... my phone line was swapped with someone else's... someone who didn't have an internet connection... so it was like being in the 90s except with knowledge of how good the future could be... no googling silly, curious curiosities, no googling important things either, no checking the news throughout the day, no twittering, no facebook. And it seemed to be packed full of ironic moments, where the net was truly needed...

In other news, I almost have my Russian Doll softie pattern finished, and the meekoo is well on the way-- no distractions you see! I've also been mucking around with embroidery after reading some bits and pieces on Sublime Stitching before the whole net thing went down, I decided to jump right in, and I like what I came up with... it's just like drawing, and I like drawing!

Happy Weekend!

And yes I'll be back at Glebe this weekend, hopefully in my cozy spot, although with the construction work, who knows!

To make a scrap quilt:

2010-02-13T01:27:00.000+11:00

Ok, well, here it is, in all it's half-finished glory! Please don't be critical of my wonky lines, I think they're going to look super when it's all put together!

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To make your own scrap quilt:

Technically, making a scrap quilt is really, really easy, It's collecting the scraps that is the difficult and time consuming part. I have had quite a few emails asking me how I made the quilt, so I thought I'd share the details, although please be warned: this project was not planned, it just kind of grew from something small, and I didn't do anything clever like plan block sizes, or use a rotary cutter to ensure angles were correct... but you could, and in fact, maybe you should!

1. Find all your little scrap pieces and make sure they are all neat and ironed, and flat!

2. Match up pieces which are a similar length or width, and start to make some small blocks.

3. Make sure that you have your iron set up right near your sewing machine, so that you press flat the seams as you sew. This picture is the backside of the patchwork.

4. Start to join the smaller blocks together, and follow the same principle until you get some larger blocks. Then, you just join all these blocks together... it's that simple!

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And I'm sure there are some people out there with some amazing scraps to work with, and a lot more space and experience with quilting than me, so I'd love to see some links if you decide to use this idea.

Since finding my second box of scraps I've been colour sorting. I now have a bag of red, blue, green and yellow, and a bag of 'white background with lots of colours in the print'. I've trimmed them into nice rectangles and squares using my rotary cutter, and I've started stitching them together. I plan to make some bags and small softies-- I'm thinking maybe a guinea pig? Upon stumbling on this little pink elephant on flickr, my mind has been filling with cute ideas...

It's by Abby Glassenberg, and she blogs about it here, and it's just one of about a million fabuolous things to discover on the blog.

Well, I hope this modest little tute answers some questions, and helps some people out!

Busy, busy...

2010-02-12T08:14:00.000+11:00

I'm in the middle of making a downloadable PDF pattern to make one of these little girls, I think it will be quite easy to make a little set of them, and I think they would look super sweet dressed up differently... for now, I'm busy drawing up little tiny instruction pictures and diagrams, and of course, spending lots of time drawing all the little details in the fabric-- I guess I'm a sucker for punishment.

I've decided that I'm going to go on a pattern making bender, the meekoo and spring lamb will be next, and I'm hoping to perfect that little Marie Antoinette type doll up there in my new header, completely inspired by my overdose on the Sofia Coppola movie a little while ago... I love the big, big hair, you can see it much better in the movie, but this is the gist:

And my little dolls and blinkies arrived home safe from their debut at the Notebook offices, a shortened version of the dew drop girl pattern, (just the Lucy girl), and the blinky pattern will be in the April edition, so keep your eyes peeled... and a very big thank you to Vanessa for recognising the cuteness of my little people! :)

P.S. No Glebe this weekend, just Kirribilli on Sunday.

I went on a little trip...

2010-02-11T06:52:00.000+11:00

So, I went to our nation's capital yesterday. I saw some pretty pictures that had travelled all the way from Paris... I saw lots of pretty pictures and beautiful sculptures by Australians too. Sometimes I feel the cultural cringe, but knowing that people like Bertram Mackennal and Rupert Bunny 'got it', makes it subside a little.

I saw some political stuff...

I'm always weirded out by the 'European-ness' of stuff in Canberra...

I got to have room service...

And I dropped some toys for the Toy Society, one by the lake in Canberra, and one in Goulburn on the way home...

And when I came home, I found that my cat's vet had put him on anti-anxiety tablets... I didn't know there was such a thing, but he does seem very relaxed!

The Dolls

2010-02-09T06:40:00.000+11:00

My dolls are not throw away items, they are keepers, companions, and special friends to be passed down. They are all different, and they are all pretty darn cute... they have all been designed and made by me, in my little house just south of Sydney.

All the fabric is painstakingly sourced and chosen, it is all pre-washed and double stitched, and all the faces are embroidered by hand, meaning that each doll is completely and utterly unique! And they all come with personality tags, so taking one home is a little bit of an adoption process...

Something rad.

2010-02-09T05:10:00.000+11:00

I know I Heart Huckabees is a few years old, but I finally rented it from the video store on the weekend, and I just need to share it's utter awesomeness with everyone. I love it. I watched it last night, and again when I got up this morning. And this song is perfect, and thanks to the joys of google, I'm discovering who Jon Brionis, and seeing that he did the music for some of my other fave films, like Eternal Sunshine, and Punch Drunk Love.

I'm also noticing Jason Schwartzman a bit lately after repeatedly watching Marie Antoinette a few weeks ago... he's a pretty funny guy.

God bless hypertext!

I do love you, but no thanks.

2010-02-07T21:05:00.000+11:00

Ok, I lived in Sydney for 8 years, I didn't grow up there, I was transplanted there for uni, where I managed to change courses once, and drag my degree out to five years instead of three, just for the fun of it... so most of my time there was as a starving student, in fact, I went part time at uni so that I could work more hours at my crumby job, a means of coping with my own personal 'rental crisis'-- and this was years before the official one occurred.

When I left, it was because I had been crying every morning before work because I hated going into the city. I was working on George St as a humble pen selling girl, where I didn't much enjoy the prospect of having business types eyeball me over $700, gold nibbed fountain pens made in Switzerland. Where the men were so blatantly pervy, and the women were so blatantly frustrated and resentful. The fact that I was a vegetarian with a creative arts degree and some big opinions about conspicuous consumption habits got shoved a little deeper down into my gut everyday... and so I left...

And ever since, I have been one of those people who go around complaining that nothing works outside the city. I hate bad food, I hate bad art, I hate when I go shopping and I can't find what I want, I hate the stares you get outside Sydney when you dress ever so slightly differently from the mainstream... but yesterday really put some things into perspective about why I did leave Sydney, and why I'm not about to move back there.

To be fair, it was raining and I know that things are a little hiccuppy on rainy days... but still...

1. Your traffic is a joke, like an actual laughable joke. Nothing works, and I try be to pretty reasonable and relative when I look at things like this- in the scheme of world problems, Sydney's transport network doesn't really rate in matters of importance, but all the same, it is one massive joke, where between the roads, the trains and the buses you just can't seem to get it together. The structure of your streets are so outdated that nothing moves. It shouldn't take 2 hours to get from Concord to the city.

2. The price of real estate is a joke, like an actual laughable joke, the type of thing which could severely paralyze lifetime dreams and such. Who in their right mind would work a 40 hour a week job to come home to live in a cupboard and spent all day Saturday in traffic? Yummy food and pretty art don't justify this.

Ok, well really these are my only qualms, but they are big qualms! Maybe Sydney when you get this stuff sorted out, we can talk.

No markets this weekend...

2010-02-06T06:21:00.000+11:00

All the messiness for nothing. I had signed up to do Surry Hills Markets tomorrow, but all this crazy weather has changed things up a little. It's a shame because I have managed to make a truck load of very cute blinkies, I had a burst of inspiration last Sunday, and I also whipped up a bunch of funky patchwork ball sets, but such is life... I actually love this kind of heavy, consistent rain, it's an excuse for coziness and sleeping in, and for generally hanging about. I think I might see this instead. But I'll be at the Kirribilli Art and Design Markets next Sunday (the 14th).

Happy Weekend!

I take it all back...

2010-02-04T20:26:00.000+11:00

About little Paco... she has turned out to be super sweet, super affectionate, and a total one of a kind! She does this strange prancing thing when you pat her head, she goes around in circles, almost like she makes a figure 8 over and over... but alas, there was a funny twist of fate which occurred over the
weekend, thanks to jerky real estate agents, which has meant that she
could go and live with people she already knew in a house... with a yard, and a cat flap! And be her happy-outdoor-self-again... Handing her over was bitter sweet, getting her into the cat bag was so sad... I only had her for 4 nights, but we were starting to bond. I don't understand those cat abandon-ing types... but I know I did the right thing by her, the easy thing would have just been to keep her here in my little flat staring out at the world she knows so as not to break my heart...

Hope you're having a slightly less heart wrenching week!

Edit: Some cats are the best people!

2010-02-02T20:09:00.000+11:00

Some of you may have noticed from the status updates on twitter, that I have doubled the amount of cats at my house over the weekend... Paco arrived on Saturday night, bringing with her 8 years of cat experience to teach to my beautiful, gentle, INNOCENT & snuggly Henry. It's an interesting dynamic, H is friendly and welcoming, he's trying to sneak her food in a nonchalant sort of way, not phased if you take it away from him, he's very interested in everything she does, he follows her, stares at her, copies some of the things she does. Paco is tiny, she was the runt of her litter, and she is one strange little kitty... she likes humans a little more than H, and she seems to take more to me than Joe. She isn't a daytime cat at all... and I am one tired human being... tired and uncomfortable!

P has decided that she needs to be out there among the action in the trees, the trees full of birds which she can see from sitting in the window cill. She has spent the last few nights trying to shake the window screens out of their frames, so that in this hot and muggy summer weather, we have had to have the windows closed, and the vertical blinds wide open-- she keeps getting herself tangled in them whilst running along the window ledges. Exhausted and frustrated at 3:30 this morning, we let her onto the balcony for some air, where we watched her trying to calculate the mathematics of jumping off, whilst Henry watched on, with a completely baffled look on his little face. After much hissing and a little scratching, a towel was used to wrangle her inside, and she spent the night inside... much to her disgust...

Lets hope things improve!