A Break...

Custom Santa Sacks

 Did you know that it's less than 100 days until Christmas???

Front One

Rear One

The last couple of years I've designed and made Custom Santa Sacks at the very last minute, but this year I thought I'd be more organised, and start taking orders now, so that I can have the fabric printed in plenty of time.

 Front Two

Rear Two

There are two different design colourways to choose from and each one is personalised with the name of your choice.

The Santa Sack is a strong cotton/linen blend, fully lined with a drawstring, and measures approximately 43cm wide x 65cm long.

This is an example of one of last years Santa Sacks.

If you're interested, I've added a listing to the shop!

Conversations With Creative Women - Volume 2

Photo courtesy CWC

I've been keeping todays news under wraps for quite a long time now! Tess McCabe from Creative Womens Circle has just released Converstations With Creative Women - Volume 2 for pre-order.

Photo courtesy CWC

And the reason why I've been keeping it under wraps? Well, I was lucky enough to be chosen to design one of the Title Pages inside the book for one of the interviewees!

Photo courtesy CWC

I can't tell you who I designed for just yet, but I'll let you in on the secret as soon as I can...

In the meantime, there's a special offer available for pre-orders (I hope you noticed those lovely fabric designs under the book).

When you order a copy, you'll receive your choice of fabric panels designed by Catherine Campbell (top), Emily Green (middle) or Lara Cameron (bottom) printed by Frankie and Swiss right here in Melbourne!

The book was even featured on the Design Files yesterday! 

A Coat for All Seasons

Just a very quick update thismorning to let you know about the latest You Sew Girl patterns that have been added to the shop!

The All Seasons Coat is supercute, functional and trans-seasonal depending on the type of fabric you choose.

It suits sizes 4 - 8

The Tween Seasons Coat is the same super cute style but in a larger size to suit sizes 8 - 14

Their both available right now in the shop!

Crafty HiJinx

I'm very excited about Crafty HiJinx this Sunday!

I'm having a little market stall with all of my crafty bits and bobs, so I've been snapping a few iPhone photos while I've been packing and labelling this week.

Still a few more things to go.... see you there!

The Hottie Challenge 2013 - Final Fundraising Total

Great, fantastic, fabulous news... would you like to know the final fundraising total for 2013???

Through the sale of Hottie Kits, sale of Hotties during the exhibition and on Facebook, and the very important People's Choice Money Box donations, the total amount raised was.....

......drumroll please

$3381.30

Of course, a huge thankyou must go to Prue and Robyn at Open Drawer once again, for all of their hard work in organising and putting on the exhibition, and donating the gallery space for the duration. It's a huge job and it went off without a hitch!

Another massive thankyou to everyone who purchased a kit, made a hottie, spread the word, visited the exhibition, made a money box donation, or bought a Hottie to take home. It blows me away that the crafty community can be so generous with their time, talents, and wallets!

And on a final note, just so you know how important it is to raise funds for lung rejection research. I had my six month bronchoscopy a few weeks ago, and it showed signs of A1 rejection (the mildest and most common type). Luckily the docs at the Alfred are brilliant, and were straight onto it. They made some changes to my medications, and I had a repeat bronch a little over a week ago, and thank goodness, the rejection is gone again. When it comes to transplant, rejection is the scariest word, so I just want to say thankyou.... and thankyou..... and thankyou x

A Crafty Weekend

Sometimes a crafty weekend is all you need!
Friday night dinner was yummy porterhouse steak and potato bake. I usually make it with lots of cream and tasty cheese, but this version I used chicken stock instead (a bit more healthier).

B-Fab visited the Zumbo Pop-Up shop at the Cullen Hotel on Friday, and arrived with these - top is Milo, bottom is Pina Colada. O.M.G.

A bit of Friday night crafting (and a typical shaky blurry photo from me - damn anti-rejection meds)!

It's so lovely to have a houseguest that makes hot milo and serves up dessert while I'm sewing!

On Saturday, we picked up Michelle and headed to Geelong to visit Jennifer at A Piece Of Cloth.
We spent over two hours here - it's completely amazing. So many beautiful vintage quilt tops and vintage fabrics, and Jennifer is an absolute font of knowledge about them - everything from age, fabric type, the types of dyes used..... and so on!

Most definitely worth a road trip for anyone who loves fabric.

Next stop was lunch - we celebrated International Bacon day in style!

.... and then headed across the road to visit Joy (with jazz hands of course)

Just around the corner was this sweet little shop named Frank & Dollys - lots of lovely things and great service (unlike another handmade shop we visited later in the day - we were being watched as if we were going to shoplift and didn't even get a hello when we walked in. NO money was spent there)!

Hope everyone had a lovely fathers day!

Sunday Snippets

Some of my fave pics from the week....

New Hexie Brooches

It seems that the only time I update the blog these days, is when I update the shop.

I never anticipated how busy I'd be post-transplant. Just keeping up with all the medical procedures and appointments and driving back and forth to the Alfred takes up sooooooo much time. Throw in some part-time contracting work, a daily exercise program (must do at least 30 minutes cardio daily post transplant), trying to catch up with friends and family, and keeping my little shop and stockists full of CurlyPops goodies.... and blogging sort of falls by the wayside.

I'm also now one of the joint editors of the HLTTV (Heart and Lung Transplant Trust) Circulator. I'm really enjoying it. It's great to be able to share the transplant experience with others who are also 'living it'.

Other than making my new Hexie Brooches and Hexienut Necklaces, nothing much crafty has been going on around here at all. I've bought fabric to make some summer dresses and tops (although this weather is making me wonder whether spring/summer will ever arrive), but it's just sitting in a pile on my workbench.

Anyway... I'm hoping to get some of these new products out to my stockists next week, so keep an eye out!

A Society 6 Quickie

If you're looking for a new iPhone / iPod cover

 

  or iPad Case

Laptop Skin

or Tote Bag

Society 6 has a free worldwide shipping offer on my designs - available until midnight 25/8/13

Last Chance Hottie Sale

We still have some leftover Hotties from The Hottie Challenge so there'll be a last chance Hottie Sale starting tonight at 7.30PM.

 
Each Hottie is for sale for $25 (plus postage) and all funds will be donated to  The Margaret Pratt Foundation

Sale ends Tuesday night at 8.00PM - anything leftover at that time will be donated to the foundation to sell!

Head on over to the CurlyPops Facebook page for all the details!

Here's the link to the Hottie Sale Album

Fashion Challenge 3 - Little Black Dress

I missed the second Fashion Challenge as I just completely ran out of time, but I certainly didn't want to miss out on number three - the Little Black Dress!

In my mind, a little black dress conjures up images of fancy cocktail dresses for formal events. But in reality, I have absolutely no need for a fancy cocktail dress, so I wanted a much more casual style little black dress. 

I really want to try and stash bust as much as I can with these challenges, but for this one, there just wasn't anything suitable in the cupboard.

I headed down to the local Spotty and walked lap afer lap after lap..... and found nothing inspiring in black. So, there was only one choice - some cheap and cheerful spotted cotton print.

I have a very unusual shape (some of it due to twenty years of steroids), so it's really difficult to find suitable dress patterns.

I bought this Retro Butterick reprint... traced, modified and made the bodice.... and then promptly threw it out as the fit was absolutely horrid!

I decided to skip that and sort through my pattern stash to find something else. I found a Vintage Simplicity 5007 top pattern which I've previously used.  I used the pattern to create a bodice and shortened it so that it ended just below the bustline.

I then wanted to create an A-line style skirt for the bottom, so I took the skirt from my Lisette Passport Dress pattern, and modified it by removing the pleats, and taking a little away from the width to fit the bodice.

Once I'd added the skirt to the bodice (and before inserting the zip), I decided to make the waistline a feature so I added a length of red binding all the way around.

I'd normally use an invisible zip but I really love the black stripe running down the back!

To finish off, I simply bound the armholes (to the inside) and the neckline and bottom hem (to the outside).

I haven't quite finished as I still need to add some pockets (I completely forgot to add in seam pockets before I sewed and overlocked the side seams).

This isn't the greatest quality of fabric so the drape isn't wonderful, but it'll be a really nice cool and comfy dress in summer.

I think it's a great versatile addition to the wardrobe!

The Hottie Challenge Winner

Photo courtesy Snap Happy Ian

Now that the Hottie Challenge Exhibition at Open Drawer has finished, it's time to announce the winner of the Peoples Choice Award....

Congratulations to Charlotte Jowett!

For any non-locals who purchased a Hottie, I'm heading over to pick them up on Tuesday and then I'll package them up and pop them in the post for you!

If you're not on the Open Drawer mailing list, then here's a link to yesterdays newsletter with the Hottie winner and a huge thankyou to everyone who joined in the challenge via the blog this year.

Have a fab weekend peeps!

New CurlyPops Teatowels are GO!!!

I've been promising these for the longest time.... but my new teatowel range is finally ready to go!

I have to thank my lovely instagram peeps for helping me make desicisions on the designs...

In the end, most agree that the black stoke looked the best, so I went with that.

There are four fun designs to begin with

 Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Fuschia and Lime Floral

Tangerine and Green Floral

Dry The Dishes

They're all ready and waiting in the shop!