Elephant Mirabel

Finally got around to making a Mirabel elephant, this one using fabric I printed the other week. It's the first time (I think) that I've used my own fabric on an elephant and I kinda like it, I think.


Dropped it off yesterday and the window looks *amazing* as usual. More snaps on Flickr.

Bird love

When I discovered Pippijoe last week, I also discovered Spool and their amazing birds/bird mobile made from their own free pattern. Wow, so much fun and so easy (unless you're me and kinda pattern illiterate - or just impatient - and it takes you a few shots to get it right!) Anyway, once you get the idea these are so easy and fun to make, and look so great (although I'm yet to get the beaks looking right...) I used a couple of contrasting heavy-duty Ikea fabrics.

Sewing Machine Love

A little while back my trusty Lemair sewing machine, circa 1970-something (thanks, Mum!) stopped working. Just like that. I was in the middle of sewing a Mirabel heart for Mikes and it conked out. Thankfully, I had heard of Barry and his amazing Barry's Sewing Centre (or should I say "sewing machine man", as he seems to be known on the interwebs) and I knew that things would probably be OK. Barry is a gem - he sat with the machine and looked at it and had it fixed in five minutes - amazing!

Anyway, another reason to love Barry is for his amazing collection of sewing machines. OK, some of them aren't his - they're machines he's repairing - but they're all there on display, and I couldn't stop staring 'cause they looked so good. And reminded me of another reason why I wanted my lovely old relic to be repaired - new machines generally just don't look as good as these babies.



More/bigger snaps on Flickr.

Blog love

For all the time I spend looking at blogs (ah, that would be too much) there's always stuff you miss. And boy have I been missing out! OK, so I'd kinda noticed they're around, but not really *noticed*, if you know what I mean...


Pictures from Skinny laMinx

..How great is Skinny laMinx? Not only does she design great tea towels and many more things, but she's also also very generous. So generous, in fact, that she's sharing process details for how to put your own designs onto ceramics (in her ceramics transfer tutorial). I had no idea how these were done, or even that they could be done. What a revelation and what a great way of combining your own ideas onto your own creations! I thought about what to put on my pieces when I did some pottery a little while back, but wasn't that into painting directly on the piece - I'm just to clumsy (and am too attached to the command+z option). This really does open up a whole world of opportunity, so thanks Heather! Another reason to love the crafting community - there's so many generous souls.


Pictures from pippijoe

I also stumbled across the blog for pippijoe this morning. I'd seen bits and pieces of her beautiful screenprinted fabrics around the place, but missed the blog completely (which contains lots of great snaps of her lovely creations). So much talent, so little time - I tell you, it's a full-time job just taking in all the beautiful stuff that's out there!

A Happy Printing Long Weekend

OK, so further to the previous post and despite technical issues, the polka dots have had a test run on a set of napkins I made last week. Mental note: Screenprint before sewing - the 'hems' give uneven printing results! Think the white is a bit strong - I like muted colours - but can work on that next time.


And in a late-ish night urge to make something else this long weekend, last night I took the plunge, cut up a potato and put my Lotta Prints book to good use as a reference guide. After getting the technique right, I'm now quite happy with how this first attempt, a table runner, worked out, despite the printing being a bit wonky. The pattern is similar to one Lotta uses, but is adapted to having only straight edges - archs are too hard with a dodgy kitchen knife and a lino cutter!

Busy but not too busy for polka dots

I have been way too busy in the last couple of weeks. Annoyingly busy. No time to read blogs, no time to post. Strangely, it also somehow means I've been more productive, in a spare-time crafting sense, than a while. I guess that's how it goes - the less time you have, the better use of it you make. Anyway, no time for proper pictures, must sleep, but let's just say polka dots are rearing their heads, again...