Off I go...

Well I'm all packed. My shop is all packed. Joe has instructions and Jacqui and Eleni will be taking turns helping him out at the markets on the weekend. I'm going to a concert tonight and then flying up, up and away tomorrow for a wedding... I'll be back by Monday. I'm a little bummed about leaving my mess, but it will be good to see people and soak up some warm, sunny QLD weather! And I will definitely be posting pictures of the wooden dolls when I get back!

Have a good weekend, not sure if I'll be writing while I'm away... but I'll certainly be photographing!

B.

Oh dear-- new obsession...

1. rainbow girls, 2. citrus girls, 3. Little Red Riding Hood, 4. Inspirational Set

It probably won't come as a suprise to most of you that I have a reasonably obsessive nature. I think it comes from my Dad... once we get a taste for something we like, we need some more. I showed some blank wooden dolls a while back that I was going to paint and give as a gift, and I finally, finally got around to painting them yetserday... and it was amazing! I can't show mine just incase the recipents decide to click over here (I have no idea who reads this sometimes...), so I'm contenting you all with some of these amazing dolls I found on Etsy and Flickr-- I bought my blankies at the Wunderkind Shop btw.

And so, now all I can think about is painting these little wooden dolls, about Christmas time and how they would make perfect gifts for certain people, and I have 2 birthdays coming up as well. I need to slow down and take a few deep breathes, but the sketches are flowing... I spent about 6hrs yesterday painting when I should have been sewing and now I'm busting to varnish them instead of making more lambies for the stall on weekend... so anyhow... I think I'll sew and then reward myself with varnishing them...

I love when I love the process as opposed to the simply the finished object! :)

Happy Tuesday-- hope you all get some work done!

B.

The picture says it all...

Need I say, that last night I was the happiest I've ever been to just get home and have a shower, and breathe in some undustry air, eat some undusty food and drink an undusty drink. Everything is in the washing machine right this minute! Hope you all had better luck staying inside yesterday...

B.

Miss Tallulah-- the black sheep of the family!

It doesn't happen all that often around here anymore, I mean I love my toys and I pull the uglies apart and reuse the fabric, but still-- I love this one! I don't want to sell her to anyone, because she is perfect for me-- just the right size for cuddling, all cozy and made of fleece and a really soft thick winter cotton on her dress, and one of my fave prints in a long time to boot! I realised that in the photo from this morning, I failed to show off the little lamby tails that I've given to all these critters... I hope you can see it in the photo below:

And I'm quite happy with my new batch of blinkies... although I know this spotty-dotty fabric is getting a little 'common', I was having trouble mixing it with other fabrics, so let it do all the talking on it's own... and a brave mum with a tough washing machine might like to snap up the fleecy white blinky underneath...

I'm a little sad to have used up the last of the green spotty fabric in the fleecy one's ear though. I had been holding onto it for a couple of years... precious!

Ok, well thanks for all the lovely comments today-- my creative space is such fun! :)

Nighty-night, I'm still sewing!

B.

My creative space

My creative space has been surprisingly productive this week... I have managed to make 5 new spring lambs, 5 new blinkies, 2 new monster type things (yet to be named!), 1^1/2 dew drop girls and I have a bunch of faces ready to go, and lots of blinkies cut up and ready to be sewn. I've also been working on an update of my website which has resulted in the new blog banner, and am dreaming up a new Etsy shop banner. I am trying to get super organised before I go away for a wedding next week, which will leave Joe and Eleni running my market stall that weekend and I need there to be enough stock to cover them. I'm also having a stamp made up so that I can make my own fabric labels for my toys, as much as I love the ones I've been buying online, I want a more handmade look and I want to be able to print them in different colours for different editions/releases of toys... I guess this is just another sign of the control freak within... I also want to be able to iron them when I iron the toys... I had a few accidents...

I've also been having lots of new ideas... hoping to turn these seriously rough sketches into a doll, with a fabric face, not a felt face... something new for me!

I found some old school pillow cases that would make the perfect dress fabric for this doll, if I can make her work, I'm thinking a bedtime, snugly, PJ wearing friend, hopefully with curly/afro type hair... we'll see what eventuates!

And a big thank you to Nic at Yardage Girl, who suggested a rounder body on my little lamb pattern-- I think you were absolutely right-- so good to get some objective eyes helping out! Whilst the light isn't great this morning, this is design I've settled on-

I'm also in the middle of a black one-- 'a black sheep', and I have some great boy lamb fabric lined up! And thanks to Riyo for this awesome fabric, which I have almost used up... she is having a sale in her shop to clear her shelves before going back to Japan to restock! I'm drooling just thinking about it-- she will be at Glebe on October 3 again-- definitely worth checking out!

Happy crafting peoples! And of course check Kirsty's blog for more creative connections-- and check out the fabulous quilt project... all that red embroidery is amazing!

B.

Always, never, sometimes...

I always:
   * feel loved
   * am happy in my heart
   * envisage living & non living things as toys
   * drink too much coffee
   * cook delicious foods...

I sometimes
   * refrain from chocolate
   * remember to exercise
   * draw pictures of my dream (shipping container) house
   * think about getting dread locks
   * imagine that I am married to Don Draper...

I never
   * leave a fight un-mended
   * eat veal
   * watch horror films (or voluntarily watch crime shows)
   * place my pattern pieces in a sensible place
   * drink tequila... any more!

- list idea from Leslie's blog, which I have just discovered and am enjoying immensely! :)

Hope you like the shot from my bedroom window... it certainly was a strange day!

B.

Flickr Faves- the dust storm

Well, I'm running a little late with my mosaic this week-- blame it on all the hard work I've been doing in preparation for Mathilda's Market, and getting stock up a little for Christmas... plus, I needed to do some fabric shopping up in Sydney yesterday...

I know the web has been flooded with pictures of the dust storm that Sydney and it's surrounding areas woke up to this morning, but there are some really fabulous shots and I couldn't resist collecting some for this week! It really felt very odd waking up to a neighbourhood covered in orange dust, with no one about, a very eery feeling, the air is still so thick that I can't see Mt. Keira (not too far from my house). The worst part is that we are almost out of milk and have nothing for dinner... going to need to venture out into it (although it isn't so colourful anymore!).

1. Filtered Orange, 2. Foliage, 3. IMG_1783 - Dustday in laundry2, 4. birds of dust

I will post some of my own (slightly less amazing) photos later on this afternoon!
Don't forget to check Mitsy's blog to see everyone else's efforts for the week!

B.