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...

Busy, busy, busy...

Is it just me or has this year just flown by? I have lots of great fairs and markets scheduled in before Christmas , and so the preparations have begun. At the end of this month I'm off to Wellington for Craft 2.0, so I've been stitching up some new zippitydoodahs as well as working on some of my waste not want knot items ( these are new things made from vintage & surplus textiles). Heres a little peak at some of the things that have been completed this week.. Owl upcycled hotwater bottles (made from 100% NZ wool blankets- perfect for Northern hemisphere xmas pressies) Morepork Doorstops ( also available unfilled for posting overseas), Tea cosies made from vintage embroidered teatray linen and lined with Laura Ashley retro fabrics, and of course plenty of Zippitydoodahs

Once again , a totally shocking effort at blogging, but I have been remembering to update the facebook page, Forgive Me?

Lately I've been trying to organise my creative space, Is that really possible? I've had a huge sort of the thousands ( yes really) of zips I have into their colours and whether they are vintage or modern, so now have two rainbows of zips. Plus a bit of a sort out of some buttons and other notions and a reshuffle of the fabric stash. I'm hoping to move into my new studio by the end of October, and once that is sorted I'm happy for clients/friends to drop by for coffee and a browse of the always extending range of all things handmade & zipppie!

Plans are afoot for something new based on a vintage item I was lucky enough to inherit recently... watch this space, and since I'm a terrible blogger I'm thinking of merging the waste not , want knot blog with this one....

Heres a little selection of whats new...