Wintertime Whimsies

Winter has come to my garden, the leaves have fallen and despite Mays record warm temps, the evenings have a bite to them, and we have started to use the fireplace again. My girls are enjoying taking their hotties to bed at night and I've noticed a surge in online hottie cover sales!

I've been busy sewing and creating to keep up with sales and to replenish the stocks after Craft2.0 in April, and to prepare for Craft 2.0 in wellington July 2nd.

I have some new products under development which I'll have to reveal a little closer to Craft 2.0, trust me they are worth waiting for and just what one needs this time of year.

In the meanwhile I have the hottie covers in wonderful new shades from peachy pink stripes, purples, tiffany green, and soft blues. Likewise the blanket bear family has expanded into lots of new colours, and the moko bears too have increased in number.

This weekend work starts on my artists retreat, I'm hoping we'll get the french doors in and perhaps the pink batts. It will be great to have a studio I can open up to clients who need something in between Kraftbomb and Devonport Craft Markets!

March Madness

Since the Earthquake in Christchurch my thoughts have been wandering often to friends in the South and now with the recent disaster in Japan it wanders even more. If you should see it wandering please spank its bottom and send it back.

I have some amazing events coming up including Kraftbomb, greylynn on the 27th March, and next month I'm off to Craft 2.0 in Wellington. Plus of course also in April there is that fabulous excuse to eat Chocolate- Easter!!

Preparations are well under way, I have some new products tucked patiently in the wings for craft 2.0 ( more about those in April). In the meanwhile here are some goodies as promised. Blanket Goodness; Owl Hottie covers, Blanket bears in vintage green & cream Kaipoi 100% wool blankets from CHCH. More colours available soon.

Also a little bit of an Easter Craft Ramble; My new vintage Bunny Ragdolls. These are all made from vintage textiles, doilies, and some retro velveteen that was left over from something my Mum made me in the 70's!The bunnies have fluffy tails made from old handmade lace ( except boy bunny his tail is a more manly piece of wool blanket!). They feel super soft and snuggly, I cut the velveteen so it runs down the rabbits and well, if I could I would spend all day stroking their yummy little floppy ears! The ears are lined in pieces of embroidered textiles, their clothes are all fashioned from vintage pieces from my stash under the bed! I spent quite a bit of time dithering about whether to dress them or leave them naked, because those little tails mean they are super cute sans clothes! Then I spent even more time working out how/what clothes, before working out that little dresses from vintage doilies were just the right thing! Miss M( age 9) has been enjoying watching their progress and has claimed baby bunny, I think we shall both be quite sorry to see them leave but I'm sure they will bring joy to kids big & small this easter!

And now for the housekeeping;

EarthQuake fundraising and donations;

Feltaid ( through felt.co.nz) I have donated a Zippitydoodah zipflower which sold within minutes so watch my facebook page for another zipflower for feltaid soon.

Lil Magoolie, I have donated a blanket bear to their fundraiser for CHCH, I will update my facebook page once thats online.

Craft 2.) Wellington I have donated a Morepork Doorstop so watch for details of that on facebook and closer to the event.

UPCOMING EVENTS;

Kraft bomb Greylynn Community Centre 27th March 11am - 2pm

Devonport Craft Market:Community House, Clarence St, Devonport 10- 3pm April 2nd

CRAFT 2.0 WELLINGTON New Dowse Art Gallery, April 23rd 10 - 3.

Earthquakes, Wooly blankets, zippers and teacosies

As I write this my thoughts are far away with my friends in Christchurch as they cope after Tuesdays 6.3 earthquake. I feel helpless being so far away and unable to do anything very constructive. As is the awesome- ness of all people crafty I will join with other crafters donating product to help raise funds for Christchurch, So watch this space for more info on that to come soon.

Also there is a neat little project called Softies for Christchurch. People are invited to make a softie ( knitted, sewn, crochet etc) and to donate it for distribution to kids in CHCH. I will be making a few softies and have set myself a challenge to invent some Boy themed softies. ( photos to come soon)

Speaking of photos, sorry I have not been updating facebook and blog as much as I want too, but I have been challenged by having my computer go on strike, so currently I'm working on a "borrowed" laptop from our "other" work.

Recently I have been working on some NEW products ( very exciting!) which I will debut at Craft 2.0 in Wellington at Easter. So watch out for some vintage themed goodies. A few little pics of Morepork doorstops which have been very popular lately. I promise some new zipflower photos soon.

UPCOMING EVENTS

KRAFTBOMB Sunday 27th Feb , Greylynn Community Centre 11am - 2pm

FIRST THURSDAYS Thursday 3rd March. 6-9PM St Kevins Arcade, K RD, Auckland city,Craft Market plus live music

ECODAY Sunday March 6th Olympic Park NEW LYNN 10am - 4pm. Lots of family activities as well as eco/ repurposed craftmarket.

Good Wreath Exhibition

I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to create a wreath for Parnell Inc's Good wreath exhibition that is currently happening in Parnell Auckland. Twenty Artists were asked to create a wreath in their own style. Two weeks, 93 zips, a string of fairy lights, some very sore fingers and this is what I came up with....

I should probably point out that I'm a Christmas baby so I have a bit of a passion for all things Christmassy, especially twinkly lights and the colour red. Inspiration came from poinsettia flowers. pacific Lei's, and the greens of our native plants.

Constructing the wreath took a little longer than I thought, as there were a few logistical things that troubled me; finding a base that was strong enough to support the flowers( they can get rather heavy when you have so many), and stitching zips around the fairylights to make the flower stamens. The bow is made from dissembled zips sewn together to make striped ribbon and then wired so it sits beautifully!

The wreath is a little more large scale than my usual brooches and jewellery pieces, which was a challenge in itself, as I tried to keep true to handstitching each and every flower and only using unloved zippers( always hard colour matching zips for more than one flower)!

There are 20 wreaths in the exhibition, so its worth a trip to Parnell to see them up close and in person, if you can't make it to Parnell there are some helpful links below and each wreath is for sale on trademe , with part of the funds raised going to Charity.

Some more info here

http://www.parnell.net.nz/Auction/wreath3.htm

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Art/Other/auction-333071566.htm

Christmas is coming......

Golly Goshes Christmas is nearly here, which means things have been rather hectic of late. There are numerous markets each weekend, plus I've been making a special large scale piece for " Good Wreath" which is happening in Parnell next week... More about that later, just a few piccies of some new zippitydoodah that have been stitched this week....

For the love of a good old blanket

Today, I'm madly preparing for Craft 2.0 http://www.craft2.org/blog/?p=4381

I'm slightly challenged trying to fit everything into my 22kg suitcase allowance and my carry on bag!

Recently I've been making new things out of a vintage blanket that came from my Great Aunt & Uncles spare room, it holds a few childhood memories for me, so I made some blanket bears, and then some great Owl hotwater bottle covers ( great for sending to the Northern hemisphere for Christmas pressies) and since the blanket is/was 100% wool I thought perhaps a few NZ Christmas decorations for homesick Kiwis. I was going to make little sheep, but changed my mind and made Kiwis ( perhaps some sheep will come later) ... So here is a little looksee at whats new from a good old NZ wool blanket

Taking time for Tea...Vandalised Vintage Tea Cosies....

This past week I have been finishing off some vandalised vintage tea cosies that had been languishing waiting for me to find the perfect floral fabrics to match up for the lining inside. I have a notebook full of tea quotes and word plays that I want to try on the cosies, plus I wanted to think of some "manly ones" hence the 007, and working under cover. I still have more cosies underway, but here are the ones I finished yesterday...