My Creative Space

Moby received a new family portrait from his long lost relatives in the mail last week...

He has a new crafty photo frame, and plans on getting creative with it to add his own particular artistic flair

But first he need a little biccie treat for sustenance

The home of my creative space

Cramming

There's a distinct lack of sewing happening at my place at the moment.

Between my own ongoing medical dramas and constant appointments, and that of Mr Limpy Houdini Dog, all of my available sewing time and energy seems to have vanished into thin air.

I'm hoping that this lovely stack of teatowels from Margaret at Konstant Kaos will give me some much need inspiration and motivation to just get on with it!

Well that, and a motivating kick up the behind from the NCB girls tonight!

Lucky Dip

One of my absolute pet peeves about Op Shops is the way that they write directly on objects with permanent marker, or use lots of icky yucky sticky tape that leaves a horrible residue all over things.

Stickytaping the lid shut on any type of boardgame fits into the abovementioned category!

When I spotted this little beauty (securely stickytaped of course), all I could do was shake the box, guess what was inside, pay the $2, and hope for the best.


I found it well over a month ago, but it somehow went from the back of my car and ended up in the garage?

On Sunday, I finally cut open the stickytape and was ready for the big reveal.....

Now what on earth am I going to do with fifty plastic owls?

The Finders Keepers Haul

Mookah Tea Towel (to be transformed) and Screen Printed Denim

I had such a great day out at the Finders Keepers Market yesterday. I love hanging out with such a wonderful group of girls who love all things crafty and handmade just as much as me!

 Delilah Devine Flying Ducks

It was the perfect spot to catch up with everyone, and have fun at a market, rather than being a stallholder.

Kristen Doran Craft Panel - I've promised Kristen that I'll actually make something with it!

I'd decided on a strict cash budget before I arrived (the one advantage of there being no ATM at the venue to lead me into temptation), and I spent it very wisely indeed.

Even though I meandered up and down every single aisle, judging by photos I've seen on other blogs, I've completely missed some stalls..... oh well, just another reason to make sure that I make it to the next one!

PS - If money was no object, then I would have bought myself this.

Frilly

I was driving around running errands earlier this week when I spotted a sign for a new Op Shop.

Now that's the sort of sign that I can't resist, so I immediately added it to the days itinerary!

When I walked inside, it all seemed familiar..... and suddenly made sense. One of the local churches is undergoing a renovation and so they've moved their Op Shop onto the grounds of a different local church so that they can keep trading.

Even though I hadn't visited that oppy since late last year, the lady behind the counter still remembered me from when I was madly buying all the random knitting needles for my Fringe Festival Exhibition last year.

I came home with two whole shopping bags full of goodies, but this was my favourite find of the day. I haven't actually tried it on yet, so fingers crossed that it actually fits!

Help! - updated

After finally getting a replacement printer on Monday, my PC screen decided to die on Wednesday!

I've just been to buy a new one (check out the size difference compared to my mini laptop).... but I can't work out how to get it out of this weird stretched wide-screen view.

Does anyone know how to fix that?

Edit: All fixed - phew!

My Creative Space + Mr Limpy Houdini Dog

If you've been reading my blatherings on twitter or facebook, you would have heard about the trials and tribulations of poor little Mr Limpy Houdini Dog.

He's been having some problems with a knee that keeps dislocating, so after a couple of vet's visits, some arthritis shots, and some painkillers, he's off to see the surgeon tomorrow morning to get the final determination on a knee reconstruction.

He usually spends most of his time lying on his granny blankie on the couch, but at the moment, he has to just lie on the floor as he can't jump up onto the couch with his dodgy knee.

After my nephew came to visit after school yesterday afternoon to help me take poor Mr Limpy to the vet, I arrived home to the following.....

I'm assuming it's a Mr Limpy dog accessible stairway to the couch.... creative yes?

The home of my creative space

Do you Boogaloo?

I've been having so much fun playing around with all the fabric designs for my padded pouches. The possibilities really are endless it seems.

Take this example for instance....  Vic wanted Electric Boogaloo printed on her pouch - and her wish was granted!

If you would like your very own specially personalised version, just let me know via email or check out the custom text listing here.

* Please note that the fabric cost is $5 extra and takes at least three weeks to arrive in my letterbox, therefore pouch may take up to four weeks from order to delivery.

The Giant T-Shirt Quilt - The End

So here it is..... finally in all it's quilted glory!

Such a lovely backdrop (ahem) I realise, but this quilt is sooooo big that there's nowhere else to hang it for a photo.

Each piece was originally 15.5 inches square, which means that this quilt in now approximately 75 inches wide x 90 inches long or 190 cm wide x 228 cm long.

It's really difficult to see, but Bec straight line quilted in white thread either side of each seam line, and then quilted the diagonal lines in invisible thread (so that the stitching wouldn't interfere with the prints).

It's finally time to let go and send it off to live with its owner. It certainly was a learning journey!

One roll of stickytape = 2 hours of entertainment

Yesterday my sister and BIL went along to see Daryl Braithwaite, Vika and Linda Bull, Ross Wilson and Mark Seymour at Legends on the Lawn at Werribee Park.

Although I would have dearly loved to go, access to any type of concert really isn't great for someone like me, so I volunteered to babysit the twin munchkins instead.

I'd picked up some cheap and cheerful pirate craft kits in the mark down bin for $2.50 at Spotlight a while ago...

They were quite a hit!

I couldn't deal with the amount of mess that would have been created with glue...

So we spent two hours making artwork using stickytape..... just check out that concentration!

All I had to do was sit across the other side of the bench with the stickytape dispenser. Cheapest and easiest entertainment ever!

The Giant T-Shirt Quilt

Brianna (or B-Fab as we like to call her) and Bec

Yesterday was deemed to be the day of quilting the giant t-shirt quilt (although I somehow managed to forget to actually tell Bec about this particular part of my plan before she arrived)....

The first step was the congregation of about a million safety pins.... the big wooden bench made this much easier (thank god).

Then the quilting began (notice how I'm not actually doing anything much other than snapping photos?)

Quilting is hungry work, so it was time for a homemade pita bread pizza break!

There was also cake.... there has to be cake (and the host always gets to keep the leftover cake - but that might just be a rule that is in place when I'm the host).

We decided to put the child to work....

....and reminisced about Bea from Prisoner (please note that it's not actually turned on).

There was a looooooot of quilting, before it was finally time to start on the binding.

Mmm lovely binding.

We finally finished the entire quilt just after dinner time thank goodness! I would never have been able to finish this without the wonderful help from Brianna and Bec. I'm indebted to you two ladies! I learned a lot about quilting today and had lots of fun too.

I don't have any photos of the finished quilt just yet, so I thought I'd share the out-takes instead - enjoy!

Here Chook Chook

Did you ever used to wander around the backyard as a kid yelling out "Here Chook Chook" with a handful of stale bread?

Gosh that brings back some memories!

The very lovely Vic shared her Chook drawing with me this week.....

.... and now 'Here Chook Chook' has been CurlyPops'ed.... poor technicolour chicken. I wonder what colour eggs it lays?

And the winner is.... and whoops!

Thanks so much to everyone who left a comment to join this lovely giveaway, and a huge thankyou to Jess for donating two copies of *bespoke* to give away to two wonderful winners!

After checking my giveaway post, I've only just realised that I was supposed to draw a winner lastnight... whoops - sorry about that!

So without further ado - there were 65 entries. Winners were picked by the random number generator:

Winner number one is number 32 -Carolyn from Clenbar Cottage

Winner number two is number 9 - Jennifer Rose from Fuzzy Dragons

Thanks ladies, I'll be in touch to get your snail mail addresses and your copy of *bespoke* will be on it's way!

My Creative Space

Researching, Testing, Thinking, Working, Dreaming...

..... and wishing the best of luck for dreams coming true!

The home of my creative space

Plain Jane

Sadly (ahem), not everyone is a fan of my penchant for bright colours... but just look! I really can do plain.

This one was a request for a very plain blokey flex-frameless sunnies pouch.

But I couldn't resist adding just a little bit of fun.

Abandoned

My sister found this poor little dolls cradle for the twins, abandoned on the naturestrip a couple of weeks ago.

It had the mattress and pillow with it, so I made some new covers using leftover Bot-Camp scraps. They even have zips so they can be taken off and washed (completely necessary with those two rascals).


Sure it needs a slight bit of repair, and a new paint job....

But Woody is quite happy with it just the way it is...

*apparently Sisters hubby isn't quite as impressed that his twin sons have a new dolly cradle!

Belting

Another belated birthday present..... I'm really not doing well with the handmade birthday present planning so far this year!

I was a little bit lost for ideas, so I asked Jack's mum what he would like. She said that he absolutely loved the belt that I made him for christmas, and so could I please make him another.

The most difficult thing about it was finding a fabric in the stash with a small enough print to use as a feature, but this one ended up being perfect!

Tiny Treasures

 After playing with vintage cotton reels last weekend, I've finally managed to put some tiny treasures back on the wall.

My printers tray has been hanging around completely empty for sooooo long. It looks so much prettier with a bit of colour and a bit of bling!

But still plenty of room left for more....

A Bespoke Giveaway

Have you heard about *bespoke* Magazine?

It's a sweet little full-colour Australian print zine which is also available in digital download form.

*bespoke* is published by Jessica Van Den from Epheriell Designs.

I bought myself a copy of Issue 1, and will also be buying myself a copy of Issue 2 (especially with that beautiful cover)!

Issue 2 of *bespoke* features a huge array of Aussie and international crafty types, and has articles including:

• Vintage crafts - rag ruggin'

• How to find your vintage era

• A tutorial on how to carve a sweet birdie stamp

• The stories of 3 women who gave up corporate careers to launch thriving creative businesses

• Thrive - an interview with a crafty lady making a full-time living from her upcycled kimono jewellery

*bespoke* is written totally by the community, for the community and is always on the lookout for submissions from artists, photographers, handmade and vintage business owners etc.

The good news is that Jess has very generously donated two copies for me to give away on the blog. All you need to do is leave a comment. Please make sure that your email address is enabled within your blogger id so that I can get in contact if you win.

I will draw a winner using the random number generator at 8PM Thursday 17th March..

Good Luck!

My Creative Space

Trying to get the production line going... not very successfully.

Too many ideas, too many crazy tangents, and not enough time!

The home of My Creative Space

Pursed

There's a very lovely brand new purse just about to be released over at Nicole Mallalieu Design.... which I was lucky enough to be able to test run last week.

I chose to make the base version, without the overlay, using this gorgeous fabric that Tinniegirl brought back for me from her US trip last year.

I'd been saving it for a special occassion to make something just for me!

I've never made a purse with a curved frame before, but this wavy fabric suits it perfecttly.

To get an idea of the size, here it is with my *barrel purse.

One of the things that I most enjoyed about making this one was sitting on the couch, stitching the beads and frame into place at the end.

Can you spot my little accidental design feature?

If you're super quick, and pop over to Nikki's blog, you may still make it in time to guess the name of this new purse, and be in the running to win a copy.


* I found money in my barrel purse - $7.80 Woohoo!