Off to the Gong

I sent a package of goodies off to Milk Thieves Art & Design last last week....

So if you're out and about in Wollongong, pop in for a visit.
You never know what crafty things you may find!

The travelling adventures of Flat Ted

 The view from the gold mining monument in Clunes

A little visitor arrived in my mailbox last week. I think his real name is Travelling Teddy Bear, but I like to call him Flat Ted.

Flat Ted originated in a primary school class in the US, but he's been having some wonderful adventures all over the world, and sending postcards back home.

So after visiting Disneyland in Paris on his most recent worldwide adventure.......

..... I took him to Clunes for the weekend!

Okay, so Widow Twankeys probably doesn't rate very highly when compared to Frontierland.

But, he did get to indulge in a little Devonshire Tea.

Flat Ted is heading off to visit a lovely family in the Land of the Long White Cloud this week.

Farewell Flat Ted, it was fun while it lasted!

Ominous

The view from my sisters balcony lastnight

So today consisted of rain, rain and yet more rain!

There were so many lovely things at the market today. It was very hard to resist....

Tinniegirl

I bought myself some pressies, and I did some christmas shopping and some christmas swapping (that's one of the perks of having a market stall at this time of the year).

Beccasauras

I'll show of my goodies later in the week.

Right now it's time for feet up and a cuppa!

On My Way

All the crafty goodies are packed and in the car, so now I just need to pack my suitcase and I'm off for a weekend in the country.

Hope to see you there!

* Oh, and I remembered to pack the allen key!

My Creative Space

I'm not creating anything today. I've just been doing a little test run on my handbag display for the market on Saturday.

My BIL made this hanging rack out of an old queen bed frame. I've only used it once, and it's been sitting in the garage ever since, so I thought it was high time to dust it off and make sure that I can still put it together.

Four screws and an allen key is all it takes (Note to self: DO NOT forget allen key).

Everything else is packed up into containers, ready to be stacked into the car Friday morning.

I've never been ready for a market this early before.... there's gotta be something wrong! What have I forgotten???

The home of My Creative Space

Fifteen Minute Refashion

I bought this tunic style dress a little while ago, but I've hardly worn it because it didn't really fit properly.

I have very narrow shoulders, so a dress with a very wide neckline wasn't the best choice. I was constantly dragging the shoulders back up after showing off my lovely bra straps!

It was such a hot day yesterday, that I thought it was high time that I fixed this one so that I could actually wear it (keep in mind that Dear Headless Dummy Frances is two sizes smaller than me and has harldy any boobage - hence the dress looks a bit tent-ish)

My solution was to first take to it with the rotary cutter and chop off the arms - no measuring required, I just folded it in half so that the arms were laying on top of each other, and guessed where to chop.

I had to actualy think about how to solve the shoulder issue as I certainly didn't want to go to the trouble of unpicking the sleeves from the body.

I ended up putting this little dart in the centre back of the dress, which has worked perfectly.

Unfortunately, none of this has fixed the issue of this dress not really being suitable for my skin tone. I think I'll be calling on the services of my dyeing buddy to turn this colour from drab to fab!

Eye Candy

In the absence of anything interesting to say, I hereby present some eye candy for your viewing pleasure.

Just talk amongst yourselves, and carry on then.....

New Colours

I finally managed to whip up some iPhone / Gadget Pouches in my new colours on the weekend.

They'll be coming along to the Daylesford Makers Market this weekend, but if you can't make it on Saturday, then pop on over to the CurlyPops Shop instead.

I'm off to enjoy this beautiful Melbourne sunshine!

A pressie just for me...

A friend and his daughter came over to visit yesterday to help install my ceiling fans before summer really hits!

So while he was banging and crashing around up in the ceiling, we decided to have a little impromptu sewing session.

To begin with, we worked together to make a little pencilcase for her (which I didn't think to photograph).... and then I left her to it, and she went through my scraps container, and whipped up a little zippered purse just for me.

She made it all by herself. How cute!

One Week To Go

I'm so looking forward to next Saturday.

It feels like I haven't been to the Daylesford Makers Market for the longest time!
There'll be over fifty stalls filled to the brim with crafty goodness.

Why not take a day trip and come and visit.

In need of some colour?

I've been playing with linen tea towels again.

These ones were screaming out to be turned into something much more stylish than a cloth to dry dishes!

I can't seem to remember where these ones came from, but they're absolutely beautiful. (Edit: These were sent to me from the super talented Steph from Moo Bear - thankyou Steph!)
 It's one of those times when I'll take something to the market and secretly wish that no-one buys them.... just so I can keep them.
That's always my problem when I make 'one-offs'.

Photo courtesy of Becky Et Al

Just to prove that there are many more ways to use a tea towel - you must pop on over to read this post at Becky Et Al

* Handbags will be available at the Daylesford Makers Market - Saturday 27th November

My Creative Space

A little stack of bits and bobs waiting to be sewn up into gadget pouches.

I think this bit is the most fun - cutting, fusing, stacking, counting - making sure that I have the right quantities of each cut piece all ready to stack up next to the sewing machine.

But, for today, the sewing has to wait.... I'm off to an appointment, and then popping over to to a girlfriends house to meet her brand new bubba (musn't forget to take his handmande bibs and blankie pressie with me).

I'll catch up on all the creative spaces (and the sewing) when I get back.

The home of My Creative Space

The Production Line

I'm trying to whip up a few more handbags this week (amongst other crafty things).

I've realised that when the builder returns next week to install the flooring in my new dining room, he's also going to be ripping up the carpet in my craft space, installing new wooden floors, and installing new wall mounted cabinets for me.

All this is good news..... except for the fact that I have to pack up and move everything out of my craft space, and then bring it all back and pack it all away again. I can't really envisage that there'll be any time at all for pre-market sewing next week, amongst every other activity that goes on in my life.

I'm just really looking forward to it all being finished!

Handbag on the left created using two lovely linen placemats that I received (quite a while ago) from Linda at Two Pink Possums.

Handbag on the right created using the same linen tablecloth from Monday..... and there's still more of it that I can use.

Introducing: The CurlyPops Fabric Line

 Very exciting news today!

At long last, my brand new fabrics have arrived, and I've started loading them into my brand new shop.

 
All fabrics are a linen / cotton blend - 55% linen / 45% combed cotton, and have been digitally printed. It is recommended that they are machine washed warm or cool using phosphate-free detergent.


*Note: the colour on screen is as close to actual as I can provide. All screen colours differ, so please keep this in mind when ordering.

**You'll still be able to find me on Made It as well.

In preparation

With less than two weeks to go before my next market, it's probably time to get sewing to make sure that I'm fully prepared.

One lovely 100% linen tablecloth + straps = handbag.

Happy Birthday Bec

It's Bec's birthday today, so I made her a cake.

It was delicious!

Happy Birthday Bec.

Going Cuckoo

I've been wanting one of these for the looooooooongest time, so when I won the Betty Jo Fan comp, I knew that I was putting my gift voucher towards my very own cuckoo clock.


Every time I walk past it, I want to break out and sing So Long, Farewell...

The other half of the story

I almost forgot - I haven't told you the other half of the story
 
There was a very good reason that we used such bright colourful fabric for Nikki's new Shopping Bag Pattern test.

It was made to match this new bag!

This bag is for a family friend of one of my friends (who is an ex-work colleague). She recently moved into aged care (and you may remember that I was very generously gifted some beautiful supplies from her craft stash).

The blue handbag is one that she'd made for herself many moons ago, so the request was to make her a handbag in the exact same style, except larger, with longer handles, and using something very bright and colourful.

The shopping bag can be folded up and popped into the pocket so that she has it on hand when she goes shopping.

I didn't like the way that the handles had been attached on the original, so I wanted to come up with a better solution.

I managed to attach them twisted around not once, but twice, so there was a little unpicking here and there, but I like the way that I've managed to insert them in this way - something new to me!

She still had her Bulldogs membership attached to the old zip so I swapped it over....

I'm hoping to drop it off to my friend next week so that he can pass it on to her. It's a bit of a suprise so I really hope she likes it!

PS - My new floors for the dining room and craft space should be getting delivered today - yippee!

My Creative Space - a granny square.... of sorts

The case of the sewjo kidnapped by the lurgy has meant that it's been drawing central in my creative space this week.

Which has led to lots of mucking around in photoshop working on a new design.

I figured that if I can't crochet a granny rug, then why not just make my own drawn / digital version?

So of course, there are now fabric samples on the way.....

The home of My Creative Space

For the fans

This is the last thing that I managed to sew on the weekend, before the dreaded lurgy hit and my sewjo absconded to another planet.

It's my test version of Nikki's brand new Fan Bag pattern.

This is a super sweet clutch perfect for an evening out, and I must secretly admit that I love this fabric!

Best of all, it's really quick. I could whip up another in less than an hour.... perfect for christmas pressies.

Have you Pinned Up Your Doodle?

Good news - the closing date for Pin Up Your Doodle has been extended to this Friday November 12th!

I thought I'd missed out because I hadn't posted mine by the end of October.

From the website:

The doodles will be exhibited in Melbourne in November 18-21 and auctioned at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art on November 24.

100% of the funds raised by PUYD will be donated to Shebeen, a non-profit bar that will open in Melbourne soon(ish) to support some super smart projects in the developing world.

There's even a Pin Up Your Doodle Blog - quick get your skates on before you miss it!

Testing for Shopping

I thought it would be fun to get my sister to test out Nikki's new Shopping Bag. The pattern is for beginner sewers (so unfortunately I couldn't test it myself).

I could have saved myself a lot of trial and even more error, if I'd begun my bag making career with a pattern like this years ago!

The instructions explain all the basics of sewing, with lots of diagrams and photos, so that they're super easy for beginners to follow along with.

This would also be perfect for experienced sewers - everyone has fabric in the stash that could be used for something like this - quick and easy! Fold it up and pop it in your handbag and you'll never have to bring home a plastic bag from the shops ever again.

This one is going to be the perfect accompaniment to something else.... but I'll explain more about that later

PS - I'm pretty sure that the pattern will be available for purchase later this week.
PPS - There's another lovely test version here at Foxs Lane!

A Teatowel Tale

A long looooong time ago, a pretty little teatowel began it's maiden voyage...

It was designed and printed somewhere in Australia, but then managed to find itself sad and unloved in a charity shop (that's Op Shop to us Aussies) somewhere around Lancashire in England.

In an amazing twist of fate, a lovely lady named Lynsey spied the poor unloved teatowel, and took it home, before packing it up and sending it all the way back to it's birth country, to a lover of tea towels (ie. my place).

There the tea towel sat, in the stash for a whole twenty-one months.... until it was time.

Jess had spied the Quince teatowel bag on my blog, and enquired about it at Pip's book launch, but alas, that bag had already been snapped up.

I was quite sure that I had something else suitable in the stash, and Jess said that she'd like something Vintage Australiana with Echidnas or Wombats.

The next day I started searching..... and as I was getting closer to the bottom of the teatowel stack, I was starting to panic that I hadn't found anything with an echidna or a wombat!

But serendipitously, right near the bottom of the stack came a shining light (ok, well that might have just been my imagination, or lack of oxygen to the brain).... but it was the PERFECT teatowel - Echidnas, Wombats, Koalas, Kangaroos, Cockatoos, Possums, Kookaburras, and Platypusses (forgive me but I don't know the correct plural for platypus).

So now Jess has her very own unique OOAK bag with nice dark handles to carry about all her bits and bobs and widgets and squidgies.... and the teatowel is going to live happily ever after.

THE END

Progress...

This was my little outdoor nook before work began on Thursday (and yes, I do have a lovely view of the neighbours laundry door and clothesline... thanks for asking).

In progress - tea break

All installed - I had the builders move my old curtain pole (which is far too short) and curtains (which are also too short) for the moment, until I organise another solution

I've ordered my new wooden floating floor, so as soon as it's installed, I'll be able to move the furniture in and decorate.

The glass sliding door on the right of this photo leads into my craft space. You can probably see the ironing board through the window.

I might need to start organising a dining room warming very soon!