The Frooch

I dropped off my Feather Your Nest exhibition piece at Gleaners Inc yesterday, along with some of my lovely new Frooches (thanks for the hilarious name Michelle)!

Photo blatantly stolen from Liz's Instagram Feed (@missbettyjo)

Liz just happened to glean this old bird cage on her way to work that morning. Serendipity? Fate? 'Tis a match made in feathery heaven.

I also stocked up on Nikki's You Sew Girl Patterns while I was out and about, including the Fedora which was featured in The Age on Saturday.

It's not long 'til I can reveal my finished MasterFeatherpiece

PS - You can also find Frooches in the shop!

Bibs'n'Bobs

Before Topstitching, Labelling and Snaps

I had such a busy week last week that I didn't get to sew anything.

Not. One. Single. Thing.

That's not very productive when you run a teeny tiny one person handmade business.

 Before Snaps

To make up for it, I spent the entire weekend sewing and packing up my little orders to send off into the world.

Of course, I forgot to photograph them properly before packing, so these are just a couple of iPhone happy snaps while they were in progress.

One lot of bibs is destined for Gleaners Inc and the other is heading to a brand new stockist - Dorothy & Evelyn. They have stores in Northcote, Brunswick and Windsor.

My little chicken arms had a great workout adding all those little snaps with the snap press!

Sunday Snippets

I heart...

Stitchy

Mixing it up

Getting my knit on

A unexpected reward for a good deed

After school art

Designing

Sewing

Beautiful gifts from London and Bristol in the mail

Sunday Snippets with Tinniegirl

The Choose Your Own Bag Adventure Sew-Along

Hear Ye, Hear Ye! It's time to sign up to the next sew-along.

I decided to make this one a 'Choose Your Own Adventure' type sew-along as I'm quite particular when it comes to bags. I probably have around twenty, and they all suit me in different ways. I'm a bit like Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I have to choose the right bag to suit the right occasion.

I'm aiming to make at least two bags during the month. I desperately need a new Baguette, and a new Backpack Bag (I'm going to base it on the one in Nikki's You Sew Girl book but just make it larger).

If you're looking for a pattern, I have a whole shop full of gorgeous You Sew Girl Bag Patterns, but you can sign up and make any bag your heart desires!


I used my Illustrator practice (combined with a bit of Photoshop) to make a button. You can right click and save it (it's 200px), or use the code:

<a href="http://curlypops.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-choose-your-own-bag-adventure-sew.html"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8288/7655603570_c1543e5a32_o.jpg">

Here's the sign up list:







Don't forget to upload photos to the Flickr Group once your bag is finished so that we can all see the beautiful new creations!


Flickr Group

My Creative Space

I finally have my very own graphics tablet thanks to eagle-eyed Vic who spotted it on her local Buy Swap Sell site.

By the way, it's not actually a GIANT tablet... it just looks that way next to my mini Laptop.

I haven't had much time to play with it yet between work and appointments, but I have managed to muck around long enough in Illustrator to make a flower.

It only took me over 2 hours - phew!

I have lots and lots and lots of practising ahead of me. The only way that I can learn is to just keep trying and making mistakes and deleting everything and starting again.

I'll know that I'll get there eventually.

I have a CT scan and Tx Clinic today. I wish I could stay home and keep playing with it!

More creative spaces.

Tutorial - How to make a simple tote bag from a teatowel

I'm looking forward to next months Choose Your Own Bag Adventure, but in the meantime, I thought I'd re-publish some of my bag tutorials for anyone who might be a little new around these parts.

You can find an online version of this tutorial as published in The Weekly Times, or you can download a PDF version.

It's super simple and will take you less than 30 minutes (I promise)!

There was an Old Lady who swallowed a Fly

One of my little op shopping jaunts last week yielded me this lovely vintage puzzle game for the grand total of 50 cents.

The illustration on the lid of the box immediately drew me in, but it was stuck down with stickytape so I couldn't check what was inside.

Why do Op Shops always do that? It always manages to damage the box.

It wasn't until I arrived home that I was very pleasantly surprised to actually find the name of the artist inside the cover of the box.

A little bit of research uncovered that Pam Adams was quite a prolific illustrator for a UK company named Childs Play which produces lots of puzzles and books.

Even more interesting was finding out that her very first book illustrations were for There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.

Source

They're my kind of Op Shop gold for sure!

Bag Ladies Part 2

I still have more goodies to show and tell from last weeks ladies luncheon...

My heart skipped a little beat when Nic from Yardage Design gave me this package which was wrapped up inside a white bag (top left) with Marimekko printed on it.

For me, this classic Unikko design by Maija Isola is my idea of heaven. It's simple, yet bold with an amazing burst of colour.

I'm so blown away that Nic bought it all the way back from Europe for me!

I am absolutely itching to get into working on some floral fabric designs and now I have the most perfect inspiration.

This little gift makes me chuckle.

If you haven't checked out Vic's range of Geek Amour Cards, then you should definitely check them out. I sooooo wish I had the quick witted sense of humour to think of these things!

Seriously, if you're a baconpalooza fan, then you need this card. If you're reading 50 shades of anything then you need this one, and I can't go past Labyrinth.

Thankyou ladies - you rock!

Sunday Snippets

Sunday Snippets with Tinniegirl

To Market To Market

I'm packing the car in readiness for tomorrow's Flemington Racecourse Market.

Here's hoping for another day of glorious sunshine just like today!

Come and say hello between 9AM and 2PM tomorrow.

My Creative Space... impromptu Market Prep!

Hey, long time no market!

My creative space today consists of lots of tagging and marking of stocks.

When I went on the Tx waiting list, it became slightly impossible to book market stalls, so I've been taking a little break.

But, this Sunday, Leonie is having a stall at The Flemington Racecourse Craft Market, and I'm going to join her with some of my crafty goodies.

This is one of those markets that I love as a shopper as it has everything - art, craft, food, produce, plants. Something for everyone.

My tip - line up early for the Bacon and Egg rolls (they're delicious). I always end up stocking up on lots of crusty bread, boutique jams, produce, popcorn, and handmade soap.

All the details:

Flemington Racecourse Market (enter from Epsom Rd)

Sunday 22nd July

9AM - 2PM

Parking is controlled by the VRC and costs $4 per car

Map

PS - I'll have lots of market specials so come and say hello!


More creative spaces

Bag Ladies... and Ladies Who Lunch

No Filter - No Photoshop - Just an iPhone Snap

I had a lovely lunch date today with Nic, Cathie and Vic, and I just had to share these snaps. 

No Filter - No Photoshop - Just an iPhone Snap

OK it may have been absolutely freezing as there was an icy cold wind blowing a gale, but the clouds and the view were just stunning.

Nic made us these absolutely gorgeous personalised Yardage Design Market Bags.

So of course, we had to take on the obligatory Instagram 'pose de jour'

I think that if there's enough pester power, Nic might add personalised hand printed bags to her repertoire.... what do you think?

I have more pressies to show, but I just haven't had a chance to take pics yet!

What's Coming Up

You Sew Girl Baguette - made by me in June 2009

Another month seems to be flying by so I'm trying to be organised by doing some planning for August.

I think it's high time for another sew-along, so may I present you with the challenge for next month:

Cue the brass band...

Choose Your Own Bag Adventure

We all have bags. We all need bags. You should never let go of a great bag (that's my insightful tip for today).

So what exactly does this mean?

It means that you can choose to make any bag that you like, and join in for a sew-along. You might have an old favourite pattern in the stash, or you might even have a brand new pattern that you've never opened.

The bonus for everyone who joins in is that we all get to share our favourite bags, and any nifty bagmaking tips. I'm quite sure that the Bag Designer Extraordinaire will happily share some tips with us too.

I'm hoping to make at least three bags during the month, but my first mission is to make myself another You Sew Girl Baguette. I use the one above constantly. It's the perfect size for running errands as it's nice and compact but still fits my wallet, keys, and phone. I can't stand lugging around everything but the kitchen sink if I don't need it (hence I have at least five handbags that are in constant rotation).

I'll put up a sign up post at the end of the month, but I just wanted to let everyone know early so that there's plenty of time to organise fabric / interfacing / bag hardware etc... and of course if you need a pattern, you know where to shop!

Also coming up, is Cathy's Come Paint With Me workshop.

There were still a couple of spots left at half price, so snap them up quickly!

A final sneaky peek

I'm terrible at surprises. Especially terrible when I'm so excited about something I'm making.

But, I've promised myself that this will be the final sneaky peek of my Feather Your Nest exhibiton piece.

My original idea didn't work (ie. it looked like crap and made no sense once put together), so I've changed it, and fingers crossed, it will all work out.

Now I just need to work out whether I've made enough feathers...

Sunday Snippets

I'm letting the pictures tell the story of the week today.


Sunday Snippets with Tinniegirl