Where have you been?

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!!

B.

seven things:

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!

B.

About free stuff:

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!

B.

Who are you reading??

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!

B.

Thank you!!

I'm feeling a little over-whelmed with all the lovely messages and comments I've received since my post yesterday! I've been smiling and laughing reading them all-- and thanks to all the people who complimented my stall set up... I was feeling pretty happy with the way it all looked too if I do say so myself.

Joe and I have been talking so much about that strange experience, and my mind has been wondering around this horrible concept of blue for boys and pink for girls, and the way that people didn't know how to understand my toys, how to look at them, and how the comments I heard were pointing to the need for classification/categorisation/pigeon-holing/stereotyping etc. The worst part for me was seeing kids dragged away from the toys, and thinking about what else they might be dragged away from, and why. Why it really matters if you give something blue to a girl, although that doesn't seem nearly as taboo as giving something pink to a boy. I really think it all comes back to homophobia and the preservation of the idea of happy families... trying to curtail the ever rising divorce rate and other 'unsightly' things. Rather than write a sociology or history essay, I'll just say I find it so sad.

I do however talk about things like this each week with my Glebe customers and I know that there must be lots of happy kids out there, who are being nutured and encouraged to find themselves, and it's another reason that  I'm happy to have fluked my Mum and Dad, and my awesome brother, who don't seem to be so strangely affected all this craziness...

B.

P.S. that rad card is from this rad etsy shop!

Have you been told lately?

I have indeed. I was looking at the stats for my blog this morning when I noticed a funny googly-search address, so I clicked on it... and so should you... it's here.

Did you see the search? 'an ugly sketched doll'... Meh!

To be honest, it actually made me laugh a little-- how funny! And I know that all the words 'ugly', 'sketched' and 'doll' are written in that post, so I guess that's how google images works, but not the most flattering thing to wake up this morning!

I'll announce the giveaway winners around 5ish this afternoon, so get your comments down if you want to be in it, and thanks to everyone who entered and spread the word-- I really do appreciate it. Happy Friday, I have tags ready, and toys mostly ready, so today is all about attaching names, ironing tablecloths and double checking 'to do' lists.

B.

I think anyone can comment now!

Obviously typepad is all new to me, and I've gotten a few messages from different people who were unable to leave comments on this blog-- I think I've fixed that up now! I think I had the wrong button checked, which was a default setting that I was unaware of, so I plead ignorance, but thanks heaps to the people that let me know! Very important stuff!

B.

EDIT: Ok- that didn't work, but I have definitely fixed it all up now!!! Please send me an email if you're still having trouble commenting. I have been able to post comments whether signed into typepad or not, so I think it should all be fine!!

Fingers crossed!

Rebecca the Erratic...

Well, I think I may have mentioned how much I love changing my hair, the furniture, the city I live in, and lots lots more... so now I have changed my blog. I love my blogger one, don't get me wrong, but it just felt so cluttered and I'm sick of typing in html to change the appearance-- I don't really understand html, I just search for it on google and copy and paste, and read articles and tweak and play for hours until everything is how I want it. Typepad seems to be slightly different- still lots of googling to find out how to do what I want, but simpler in terms of layout options, which is good!

I had some big issues getting all my posts over here... blogger and typepad are not compatible in terms of the way that they do posts, and the html coding I was instructed to use to transfer my posts over only transferred the past week's lot, and they were out of order, so not only did I muck up all the formatting on blogger, I didn't have my posts either-- frustrating! I eventually transferred posts from blogger to wordpress to typepad, wordpress works with all post kinds, and I would have gone there, but I'm lazy and uninterested in learning css coding...

And so I have gone with a sketchier look with my graphics, unsure if it works, have been looking at it all for days now, and unable to be remotely objective! I just decided my journal, sketch book, actually any spare piece of paper in the house is covered with little ideas, doodles, pictures that I draw so as not to forget, and so I'm using them up a little!

And so, now I'm going to start posting from here!!!

Happy Monday to you all, but I'll be back in a little while!

B.