colour

As I am measuring and cutting fabric I can't help but stop and play with the colours.  I love the richness of it all, it is also a wee break from measuring and cutting.  I also day dream as to what I or someone else might make with the fabric.

A sunglasses case out of the glasses fabric .... oh the options.

Also on another issue what do you do when you have ordered something over the internet and it does not show up?  I recently brought my perfume, Eternity by Calvin Klein, over an internet site and over three weeks later the delivery which was meant to take 7-10 days has not arrived.   Hmmm meanwhile I have run out of perfume and could be smelling decidedly domestic.  I contacted the company last week and they said "oh sometimes delivery can take longer".  This is not the expectation I was given.  Yesterday to add insult to injury they sent me an email asking me to review the perfume.  I feel like yelling at my computer screen -

"I don't have it!" 

So if I am smelling less than pleasant, please don't tell me, pretend you don't notice and just stand down wind :)

Thank you Palmerston North

Fabric a Brac in Palmerston North was fantastic.  Thank you to Josie and the team for organising this wonderful event and the lovely fabricaholics for attending. It was great to meet some blog readers and I am sorry if I did not have much of a chance to chat, but I do appreciate the hello!

This week has been extreme - what with travelling to Waimate (not easy to get to) packing up Dad's house (which was emotionally and physically exhausting), working, fabric shipment arriving and a market.  Yes, the fabric has arrived, just before lunch yesterday, so there was a lot of frenetic measuring and cutting ready for Fabric a Brac, and even then I only got some done!

I will be putting fabric into the shop over the next week - there is a lot. 

Including these wee fellas

And these ones..

I am hanging out for bed time - about 7.30 I think!

I hope everyone's weekend is going well.

freight arrival notification

That was the title in my inbox this morning to confirm that the next shipment of Kokka and Echino fabrics arrive next week.  This shipment has been a long time coming.  Heather Ross, buses, a bit of geek chic and some old favourites back again.

 

 

I have all the new Heather Ross fabrics, plus there will be robots, monkeys, more babushkas, nani iro prints, lots of echino fabric and patterns.

But, in the meantime, this weekend I am off down south to Waimate to pack up my Dad's house.  Dad has moved to Nelson and is not fit or well enough to do this himself.  I am looking forward to seeing my sisters and brother but not necessarily the pack up part.

And next Saturday I will be in Palmy Vegas.  The Palmerston North Fabric a Brac is being held on Saturday 28 August for all you fabric-a-holics out there.  If you have not been to one of these markets before - they are amazing.  Now if you are reader of my blog and you come along to the fabric-a-brac or any other market I am at, don't be shy, please say hi.

So if there is not a lot of blogging going on around here I hope you understand!

Japanese Craft Books

The shipment of Japanese Craft Books has arrived.  Oh what loveliness:

 

  So cute

  

Small Animals a fabulous needle felting book can be found in the shop here.

I have more books to put into the shop and will give a sneak peak inside some of the other books soon.

half price tickets

Just a quick note to let you know that my sister is offering half price tickets to the Dunkleys Great NZ Craft Shows in September in Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargill over on her blog.  Lesley and her husband, aka the Toy Boy (he is a toy maker), have some seriosuly cool stuff.  Say hi and a hug from me if you are going.

a new school bag

OK I know I don't go to school anymore, but the size of this bag is great for books and a folder as well as my lippy, cell phone and purse.  When Miss M saw it she was all excited thinking it was for her. Mmmmmm no, this is Mum's new school bag.

Today I have been cutting fabric and packing up ready for the market tomorrow.  I also bagged up some cards that I made ages ago (and had been intending to make for even longer).  Here are a few - I was very pleased at how they turned out.  The smurf one would be very appropraite for a certain person, who shall remain nameless, who often needs to wave their hand like that.

I also put together some more Itty Bitty Craft Boxes.

Now to decide on pricing.  I hate this part.

to market, to market to buy a fat pig

It has been a bit busy around here.  Last Saturday I was at the Frank Kitts Market and this Saturday I will be at the Kapiti Knack.

The Knack is great craft market which is usually based in Wellington but this coming weekend it is on the move and will be held on the Kapiti coast.

I had sold out of bears so I have been busy brewing up a new batch.

Hubble, bubble toil and trouble - I feel very witch like as I dye the wool for the bears.

As a witch I could then cast an evil spell on those people who pick up my bears at a market, turn them this way and that and talk openly about how they could copy them.  The audacity, the rudeness, HELLO, I am standing right here and I can hear you.  As a witch I would go KAPOW and their sewing machine would jam, their seams would be horribly crooked and they would stab themselves with a needle.  BEWARE!

weekend sewing

I love rainy Sundays.  Life seems to slow down just for one day and you get to appreciate just being, spending time with family and playing with your toys (in my case the sewing machine).

I played with the babushka fabric again.  I know I have done stuffed Babushkas before but this time I did them with a twist, you see they have ribbons coming out of their bottoms.  No I am not getting kinky - the ribbons serve a very useful purpose by providing a place to store girls hair clips, so in the mornings you are not rummaging around trying to find hair clips.

I got quite carried away and made a few of these, with different embellishments.  This one has some lace.  To stop the ribbon from fraying at the ends (as it loves to do) I turned a little bit over and glued it to the back and placed a pretty little button at the end of each ribbon.

I thought they would make good little presents, you can even add some lovely hair clips to go with them.

They are very easy to make as you can follow the outline of the Babushka on the back when you are sewing.  Easy peasy.

I'm dreaming of a handmade Christmas

I know it is still ages away but both Mr S and I come from large families and I do like to handmake at least some of the gifts and pre-Christmas can get very stressful.  Also lets get real here - I still have some 3/4 made gifts from last year - woops.

I love the thought of being totally handmade at Christmas and I do try but I have never been able to do it all.  (Plus I don't think I ever will). With teenagers in our midst some of their wants go beyond the handmade - I have yet to discover how to sew an i-pod.

But I do get a sense of satisfaction making at least some of the pressies that I give. 

I thought over the next few blog posts in the spirirt of celebrating the handmade I would link to some of the cool tutorials that I have found and hopefully try some of them as I go.

Above and below are some butterflies that I have made using The Long Threads Butterfly Tutorial.  I was really pleased how these went together.  You can either hang them on the wall, like a garland or as a mobile from the ceiling.  I thought I might have a go at making small ones for hairclips or brooches.

Ellen has some other wonderful tutorials on her website, that you might like to check out.

Does anyone else have any great tutorials that they would like to share?