..and a...

It's still a day or two off, but getting in early as I'm off on a wee short holiday to the hills. Hope the new year is good to you, and thanks for dropping by this year :)

Merry Festiveness

Can hardly believe how quickly it has all happened this year - in fact, the last few weeks are a bit of a blur. And here we are. Soon it'll be time for new year's resolutions and planning for 2009 but for now, it's time to stop. And time to eat. Eat a lot.

Now I just have to wrap some (OK, all) the gifts I'm giving, and finish off some of the handmade ones. If only I was as organised as Fiona, and had a batch of these waiting to be eaten. But I did manage to whip up more than one batch of shortbread, most of which has already been eaten or given away.

Apartment Therapy

I think all my dreams came true this morning when I saw this.



That's my tea towel. On Apartment Therapy/Re-Nest (it's an article about wrapping gifts in gifts - what a great idea!) Can you tell that I kind of like Apartment Therapy and to see my work on there is insanely exciting? Thanks to my eagle-eyed colleague Michelle, for bringing it to my attention!

A pile of elephants...

..and a whole lot of polka dots. Yep, they're for new babies for friends and friends of friends, and also some for shops (or at least one shop). At least they won't get wet on their trip outside, now that the 48 hours of solid rain we've had this weekend has finally stopped. Summer? Bah.

Another Handmade Christmas

Can you believe there are now over 32,500 people who've pledged to Buy Handmade since the site's humble beginnings about a year ago? Wow, how great. Now, to make this a reality...



I've started with some delicious Christmas cakes (OK, they're made, not bought) that are now doused in brandy and rather delicious and not-too-fruity. Or for something much more heavy and long-lasting, try Delia's Classic Christmas Cake - if you've got a spare 5 hours (or make it as cup cakes, as I do, and it's a much more reasonable 1-2 hours!) You might need four mixing bowls and a bit of time up your sleeve, but they're worth it - insanely fruity and delicious (see below). Yep, I've gone cake-making mad.

Small home

I finally got around to making my little Ashley G house mentioned last week and oh my, how very cute it is. And yes, next time I'll remember to cut the window/door out. Oh well. How very sweet it would be to have a Christmas tree hanging a bunch of these.



In other news, I've finally got around to stocking some of my patchwork elephants and tea towels in a couple of lovely shops - both here in Melbourne (thanks to the great guys at Mike's - hope shopping night was fun last night and wish I could have made it - and the fab Bamakko) and in Adelaide (at the gorgeous Nest Studio).

And I have also put these guys (below) in my own wee small Etsy shop.

Weekend

I had an impromptu long weekend and don't want it to end, especially because it's now actually December and feels like time to start slowing down, as the weather warms up.

My weekend consisted of lots of fun things - 2 raffles, one involving a spinning wheel in a country town (1); buying freshly picked cherries, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries from the farm door (2); a family bbq; ...


..a trip out to a bunch of op shops/thrift stores (3) where I picked up a few good things, like a small wooden toy from the Netherlands (4); a pub meal and a walk in the park with friends; lots of time dedicated to trying to complete a 520-piece puzzle, purchased at one of the aforementioned op shops (5); admiring the lovely Japanese apple pins I bought at a newly discovered and lovely cafe/shop in Collingwood (6) and sadly, no Design Market, due to running out of time. Is it Friday again yet?

They were seeds...

And now they're plants! Tomato plants! I can't believe they grew, actually, given the lack of sunlight they receive on our south-facing balcony. But here they are - firstly uprooted from their first home - a pot they were accidentally dropped into (above top) and in their new, more spacious homes (well, one of them, above bottom).

Summer, you surely are not too far away.

And very excited about making one of these Ashley G houses - so cute!


Image copyright Ashley G, via Kitty Genius

Hatch-o-rama

Well, the market was fun, and it's done, whew. It wasn't tiring as such, but I slept 11 hours after it, due to the lack of sleep I had before it (no matter how organised I think I am, there's always more to do). And of course you learn, learn, learn as soon as you make yourself do something. Like, um, don't bring along a thousand props just in case you need a wooden box or 4 to set things up in/around. No, you just need your stuff - really, it's enough. And maybe you need a patchwork table cloth that you happened to have made on the morning of the market stall. Yes, it was that tight.

Here are some (not very good, but you get the idea) photos.





And look at the lovely stall that was just behind. Sooo lovely! Look at that Bambi-ish deer (close up below)! Ohhh :) It was run by Jules, who's also got a sweet little shop in North Fitzroy, called Poppet. Awww.

Firsts

Today I had my first nectarine of the season - so good! And in even more exciting firsts news, my first market stall is coming up, and very soon. It's at Craft Hatch market (organised by Craft Victoria), will be at the City Library in Melbourne and is on this Saturday. Yes, it's another market, but has a special focus - it's described by CV as "an incubator market for student and emerging craft designers." This Saturday's market is the first of three for the summer.

I've been madly running around in the last week or so trying to get things sorted, and it's coming together, I think. The packaging part can take almost as much organising/time as the actual things you're selling, but is fun to do and makes such a big difference in getting things looking 'together' and 'proper'. Still not quite sure how I'll fix the stall/display up but have been gathering props and ideas and have my fingers crossed it'll all sort out.

And here are some of the things I'll be selling - yes, that's a line-up of tea towels.


And here are the details:

Craft Hatch market
@ City Library, 253 Flinders Lane Melbourne
Saturday 8th November
11am - 4pm

If you're in the area drop by and say hi :)

Peg peg felt

After putting it off for what seems like forever, I can now say I've been to Winterwood, a lovely little shop out in Park Orchards (and near at least one lovely orchard). Putting it off as it seemed so far away (it's not THAT far) but definitely worth the trip - so much woolen felt, so much carved wooden goodness. It's all quite dangerous. And I also got a bag of wool stuffing, which I've been looking for for a while.

Above are some pegs I picked up, just like the ones we had when I was a kid (actually, I'm pretty sure my mum still has those). And I finally got the latest MixTape, which made for lovely reading in the afternoon sun (topped off with beer = heaven).

This morning

Not as cold as it looks but definitely dull and grey. And kinda nice looking.


And here is one of the many elephants that have been taking my time lately. The polka dot/type obsession continues. He's a keeper, I think.

Weekend love

Saturday morning walk.


More tomatoes, this time grown from seed in an egg carton. How exciting!


Cute Auntie Cookie shoes bought at the Sisters' Market in Brunswick. Lovely to finally meet Shannon after a few fabric swaps!

Fully Framed

You can almost barely see it, but below is a Julia Rothman print that I finally got framed (over a year after I bought it!) It's a screenprint of one of her illustrations, called Luxury Aparments. The tube it travelled to Australia in got semi-crushed - bad but not that bad that I wanted to replace it - and I think this is why I was a bit lacking in enthusiasm about the whole thing. But now it's up on the wall I love it. And there might just be some left in Julia's shop, under the handmade section.




Friday afternoon walk.
I walk past this all the time, but never noticed how amazing it is.


Last night's dinner.
Forgot to take a photo of the frittata this turned into.

Thursday Morning Walk

Preceded by a strong coffee and followed by tea and toast.

Tomato Love

It's well and truly spring here in Melbourne and with daylight saving starting last weekend, there's a different feeling in the air. And so walking through the CERES nursery, the tomato seedlings looked so inviting I just couldn't resist buying a couple. I live in hope that they'll prosper in pots on our balcony, without quite as much sun as they need.



I fall for the same trick each year, and think "Oh well, next year I'll have a backyard to plant tomatoes in. Maybe." You see, my boyfriend and I never planned living in our apartment for as long as we have, but time just slips by and here we are nearly four years later.

So hopefully they make it though the rough transition from small tub to pot, and hey, maybe in a few months we'll have lovely San Marzano tomatoes everywhere.

And speaking of spring things, there's now a second colourway in my new Enka Tea Towels - a spring-inspired red and pink.

Tea & Shoefly

What better way to start the working morning than with a cup of tea and a shoefly bun (the most amazing buns in the world - light but chewy with a heap of currants and tiny, tiny speckles of orange peel - in a good way, as I hate peel usually) from Babka. Picked up on the way back from a morning swim. Yes, it's most definitely spring.

Tea Towel Love

I have a bit of a thing for tea towels. There are way too many in the kitchen drawer, and yet I always seem to be acquiring more. And when the Craft City Melbourne girls blogged about the CWA's collection at the Royal Melbourne Show, I was reminded of my tea towel love.

And now I've got some of my own. Yep, my first batch of tea towels. All done. OK, it's a small batch and in just the one colourway to begin with - a lovely charcoal & cyan combination - but I'm pretty excited. And I can already feel that a bigger batch in a pink & red colourway in the works.... And they're for sale in my (new & small) Etsy shop, if you'd like to go look.

Scissor Love

It's been nearly 2 weeks since my last post - whew, time flies. If you've been here before you might notice that this blog looks a bit different - redesigning and such things have been on the cards recently. And not much making. But have been doing some drawing - these are my scissors. I love scissors, can you tell?

It's a shop!

Finally, finally I've put together a wee lil' Etsy shop. It's modest at the moment as this is just the beginning, but you've got to start somewhere!

It's now stocked with a range of super cute elephants made from handmade, hand screen-printed fabric - go on, have a look!

Leaves

A lovely spring day leads to more drawing, this time leaves.

Trees & leaves & more pink & grey

I have things that I should be doing right now, but they'll have to wait as these leaves & trees needed to be drawn and coloured.


And have been working on some new fabric designs. These are some test prints (and lame low-light photos!)