These are going to be mine soon...

..I just need to decide on the colour. They're so ace and they even have wooden clog heels. Swoon. And though I could just buy them online, I think I've got a better idea that might just involve going to Sweden and picking them up in person :)

Finally

So the Craft Hatch market was fun with lots of cute things to see. And my new set-up (a great old ladder with shelves, as you can see above) worked out great, yay! AND I got my coffee cup - I went minimalist, all white - from the lovely hookturn ladies :) It's a reusable, silicon cup and is very very nice.

I was happy to see all the fabric wrapped up in my new packaging (which I've got no photos of, bah) and as ever, the red Akzidenz was the most popular. And as of now, it's all in my shops - Etsy (USD) and Made It (AUD) so take a peak :)

Colour mania

Woot!

New & upcoming stuff

After a lazy January, February so far had been a bit mad for me and I've got the squeegee blisters to prove it, eek. It's a new year that's full of promise and I'm pretty excited about my first market of the year, which is on this coming Saturday.

It's Craft Hatch, the Craft Victoria market for emerging designers and this edition is a special one, to coincide with the Sustainable Living Festival. It's at the City Library, Flinders Lane in the city from 11-4. Can't wait to see my neighbours, including Hookturn Industries (love their mugs!) Oh, and if you come along it's upstairs :)

Hookturn Industries' coffee-coloured mug with white lid, pic courtesy of Hookturn Industries.

I'll have a bunch of new things at the market including a brand new range of colours (soon to be photographed!) of my 'Akzidenz' and 'Polka Dots' yardage and super amazing new natural linen tea towels that I'm in love with. Oh, and a new market set-up, I hope - fingers crossed this week goes slowly so I can get everything ready in time...

And before I forget, a big thank you to Rebecca of My Green Australia, who featured my Enka tea towel in her article about creating a paperless kitchen (some good tips there, thanks Rebecca!)

And thanks to all those who voted for me in the Poppies - it was an honour just to be nominated :) I think the trusty gals at Ink & Spindle were the "winners" of the crafty Oscars, yay for them and their fab work.

The Poppies

Ohh, someone has nominated me for The Poppies (awards run by the lovely folk at Poppytalk Handmade, whose market I took part in last year), in the Favourite Handmade Textiles section. How sweet and what an honour to be mentioned alongside Summersville, Skinny LaMinx and local heroes Ink & Spindle (and many others). Go and vote for your favourite (you get one vote per section) with polls open until 29 Jan. And it only takes a minute to do as you don't need to log in or do anything annoying like that.

Swedish love

I've just come back from a public holiday long weekend away full of beautiful summertime alpine scenery, relaxation, swimming and, believe it or not, Swedish treats! Yes, we discovered Å Skafferi, the sweetest little cafe/pantry/produce store. Now I'm planning a holiday to stay there (the accommodation looks amazing) so I can eat beetroot salad with walnuts and goats cheese everyday for lunch, yum!




Now I'd better go off and eat some lamingtons, pavlova, have a bbq, drink some beer and do other Australian things!

Typography in blue

Ohh, what a great lil' treasury ...



.. thanks for including me, Laura!

Fully organised & inspired

Yay, my revitalised studio is now fully shelved and getting a bit organised! Very exciting to see shelves that aren't jam-packed full of stuff and so great to be able to get to stuff easily.


And here's an inspiration shot for you (today's Thursday already - sheesh, the weeks zip by so quickly) - old photo sleeves that form part of an exhibition at the Town Hall in Melbourne at the moment. They look so great!

Happy Thursday :)

Getting organised

Well, it's not quite complete as the other batch of shelves required painting and are still drying (three coats later) but here is the first lot, set up and installed in my studio! They look better in my head than in this photo (bad light combined with piles of junk everywhere and just out of shot) but you get the idea. On the top shelf are my screens (yay, they have a home that's not the floor) and under that, inks and emulsion and assorted printy stuff. And all conveniently located right next to my printing/work bench. Can't wait to test it out next week.

Also out of shot is a massive amount of lavender, some of which comes from a recently visited lavender farm in the country. We stumbled upon the farm on the way to a far-away beach, during some time out of town last week. Yay for refreshing mini breaks that involve lavender, other people's cute houses and visiting old petrol stations.





And yay for random crafty stuff spotted around town. Below is a crocheted fence (or is it knitted?), spotted whilst walking to dinner tonight.

Summer cleaning

Found this photo from last year - a new-ish studio that's sparce and clean!



It's my inspiration to get the once-waterlogged-now-dry(ish) space back on track in that department, and also do some handy things like put up more shelves. Fun! Expect some updated photos next week (fingers crossed!) Yep, I'm hoping that the commitment I've just made here will make it happen in real life :)

Happy Monday.

Gone fishing

Or something like that, and somewhat belatedly.

Yep, I have disappeared off the radar but it was definitely time for an unplanned semi-break and some crossword-doing, berry picking, book reading, movie watching, whatever. But just quickly wanted to say thanks to everyone who reads this wee blog, buys my things and supports me in my crafty pursuits - it's been a blast so far.

Now for 2010...and the fabric that's ordered on the way, the new fabric that's just become available, some new ideas, travel plans and more - my brain's ticking into overdrive thinking about stuff, yay!

Now I'm back off to the beach :) OK, not exactly today but the snaps below are from the other day, when it was mid-high 30s and perfect for beach lying and fish and chip eating. Looking forward to more of that this week, assuming summer comes back (low 20s and showers today and the last couple of days - hello summer, where have you gone?!) Hope you get a bit of a break too :)

Crazy times

OK, so with my grand ambitions of markets and parties and general Christmas craziness, things did get missed along the way...like a couple of those festive events I mentioned previously. Yep, I missed out on the party that ended up in a hot tub spa-y thing - jibbed (or not?!) And what was I doing instead? Swimming in the lake that our studios became late on Friday night, woo! Yes, a water main valve burst (or something like that) and water gushed through the building for hours (or at least an hour and a half). Not fun. Here's proof.


That's my floor as the water creeped in, slowly at first then it was a frenzy of flooding. Nice reflections of the furniture, you'll notice.


This is the hallway/kitchen and no, we don't have polished concrete floors.

I guess I was lucky to be there, else I'd not have been able to get everything off the floor. And I feel sorry for the peeps who weren't so lucky - the studio space has just doubled in size and a heap of people have only just moved in, poor things.

Anyway, after what turned into a quite late night, I wasn't too enthusiastic about getting up on Saturday morning to head to Market 3031. But as things go, it turned out to be the best day - we were right outside Kensington Station and soooo many people came past and were sooo friendly and it was a great day. Here's my stall, although this photo hardly captures the frenzy of the market, just a quiet moment!



Now just one market to go - Rose Street this Sunday - and then everything stops (well, almost). Phew for that! Now I'd better get some gift shopping in while I have a moment...

This Weekend...

It's time for more market mania - Saturday at Market 3031 (around the corner from my studio in Kensington and including stalls from neighbours and pals) and Sunday in North Melbourne, at the Christmas at Arts House Meat Market (over 80 stalls and so many good people going, none of whom I can think of right now!) Think I'll be tired after that, especially as I've got two Christmas parties on Friday night and one on Sunday night!


Here are the details, if you want a piece of the action:

Market 3031
Bellair Street, Kensington (near the train station)
Saturday 12 December 2009
10am-4pm

Christmas at Arts House Meat Market
Arts House
5 Blackwood Street, North Melbourne
Sunday 13 December 2009 (it's on Saturday too, but I'm only there Sunday!)
11am-8pm

New Stuff

OK, so it's a crazy busy time of year, yes. But I'm taking out five minutes to say hello to my blog as it's been a while and I miss it!

So what's been going on? Last week (or was it the week before?) I dropped off some goodies to my latest stockists, the most lovely southwoodtrading in South Melbourne and Southwoodhome in North Fitzroy. The stores are so great but of course, forgot to take a snap inside! Below is a snap of the outside of the (original) North Fitzroy store, which is a bit like a house with different rooms set up. The newer South Melbourne store (opened only a couple of months ago) is more of an open showroom full of too many lovely things to mention.



southwood trading
285 Coventry Street
South Melbourne VIC 3025
(03) 9090 7494
www.southwoodhome.com.au
Tuesday to Friday 10am-5pm, Saturday 10am -4pm, Sunday 11-3pm

southwoodhome
284 Queens Parade
Fitzroy North VIC 3068
(03) 9486 6002
www.southwoodhome.com.au
Monday to Friday 10am-5pm, Saturday 10-4pm

In other news, I've finally got a photo or two of the new T Towel in Red! It was an idea suggested by a stockist (Catherine from Southwood, now I think about it) and what a great idea it was - has been very popular at the last few markets I've been to. I've also just put a couple in my Made It and Etsy shops, along with some screen printed gift tags (on recycled card) with Italian cotton string and some fabric mix packs - finally - and lavender bags!

OK, argh!

Argh! Yes! But no time to go actually crazy - that would take too much time! Just time to grin and bear it and keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best, as this year is now in hyperdrive and I think I've committed to doing TOO MUCH. Argh! Again!

I know it's only Tuesday, but Saturday will be here before you know it and that means I'll be at my first ever Yarraville Market - a special Christmas Market, no less. Think I'm going to be joined by lots of lovely folk and it'll be quite fun, and hopefully I can get some shopping in, too. Here's the skinny.



Sunday's also a market day - Rose Street. I was there this last Sunday and it was busy (well, except for the part where it poured with rain) and I nearly sold out of my new 'T' Towel in red. Yep, red. More on that soon. And more on other fun things, like new stockists. But not now. Now is time for sleep - another 14 hour day tomorrow, and that's before I've even got any crafting in!