A late night blog post.
School went back today, which means I'm back into working regular hours in the studio- fantastic!

This week I'm making up  new things from pool table felt off cuts. A wonderful person gave me a box of off cuts. They are lovely quality thick 100% wool felt. I've actually had the box sitting in the corner of my workroom for about a month while the ideas  have bubbled away in my head. I've quite a few ideas, so check back at the end of the week to see what else has taken form...

A lot of the felt is a wonderful green ( funny that), and the pieces are mostly long strips. Over the weekend I worked on a pattern for a novelty purse/basket made from felt leaves stitched together. Each leaf is had cut and stitched before being joined together, a bit of a challenge to get the pattern pieces right and the leaves so that they would be stable and stand up around the edge of the purse/basket. My thinking was that the little bag could be used as small carry bag/ purse or as a storage basket in a room or on a desk. It could also be fun as an Easter basket, for flowergirls or perhaps dress ups.

I've also been playing with making baby croc's. Little Croc shoes made from the offcuts, still working on the pattern as I'm not 100% happy with it yet.

New purses/bags made from pool table felt

zippitydoodah.felt.co.nz

crocodile baby shoes made from pool table felt

pixie purses from snooker table offcuts

I also managed to find a bit of time to make up a few more pixie purses from snooker table felt! The pixie purses are fully lined with vintage fabric with little holly hobbie style girls sewing, and spinning. I managed to find some perfectly matching zips in my large surplus zip collection, so they are 100% upcycled, love it when that happens. Have a great week, easy when its a short week.

2012 Its going to be a goodie!

Wow. I'm quite possibly the worst blogger ever, my excuse is that if I get busy creating I often "forget" to blog about what I've been making.

This year I'm loving having my own workspace- thank you husband and Dad for creating my refuge where I can stitch and create and make a mess without disrupting the household!

Blanket zip purse, upcycled vintage blanket, doily and fabric

Bunting made from fabric pieces from the stash.

So here is a condensed update on whats been happening this January.

Tanners Point, low tide.

We had a lovely break away to Tanners Point, which is near Waihi Beach in the Bay of Plenty. It was wonderful to leave the city and spend a few lazy days kayaking, reading, eating local produce and just enjoying doing as little or as much as one wanted to do, and breathing the fresh sea salty air! While I was relaxing at the beach I knitted up 3 scarves and a pair of stripey socks from Happy Go Knitty hand dyed yarn. I hadn't knitted socks for quite a number of years so it was great to get a few tips from Helene of Happy go knitty and Belinda from Blendy knits again. I've worn my socks a few times( It is mid summer!), and other members of the household have expressed their desire for their own home made socks, so no doubt I'll be making a few more pairs for winter.

Its also been school holidays which means a little less productive "work" time but I have managed to sketch down lots of ideas for new products I want to create once we get back into the swing of school next week.

Last week I had a film crew visit for some filming in the studio. I tidied up because they were coming, and then the first thing they did was "untidy" as they wanted to show how I used vintage and surplus textiles to create my products. He he I should have realised my creative "mess" was actually of interest! I'll keep everyone posted with when my little spot will be on the telly.

Its Wedding season , and I have been busy with wonderful commissions for Weddings, some zip flower button holes for groomsmen, a few zip floral headpieces, and some custom blanket mice for table settings at a Alice in wonderland wedding reception. I love knowing something I made is part of someones very special day.

I also managed to find a little time to restore my vintage sewing work box. Its a rather wonderful useful contraption, the top layers open and extend out to house all my threads, and the bottom has drawers that I store my sewing tools in. When I found it the little wooden pieces that allow the tops to open and extend were broken, so I posted a few down to my Dad and he made up the replacement ones for me. It has squeaky caster wheels on the bottom so I can move it around the studio to where I'm working. I love it so much I bought another smaller one to store my buttons in, and to my delight when I opened it up I found lots of wooden reels of thread and some old lightening zips! Seems like it was meant to be!

the "before shot" of my sewing cabinet.

Currently I'm working on red zip flowers and a few little gifts for lovers of valentine's Day.... quite a nice way to pass the time...

Kisses for the Mrs, Blanket mouse.

Christmas Gingerbread sleigh, made at tanners point, iced with  an icing bag made from a plastic bag!

Spring Fling

I've been super busy lately with lots of fun projects. Firstly the Wooly Walk a Long which is a collective Yarn Bombing on the Devonport Wharf, Devonport, Auckland. It will hopefully remain there for the duration of the Rugby World cup. If you are in Auckland do take time out to go and see it as it is amazing, with over 90 pieces of knitting/ crotchet from over 9 different countries. Theres over 80 metres of knitted wooly goodness to see.

For my first piece I started out with the idea of travel; people would travel from around the Globe for the RWC, and also people would travel by ferry across the harbour to Devonport. So I came up with the idea of " the other side" which lead to " the grass is greener on this side" and well then along came sheep ( perfect since NZ has so many) so then the sheep became wooly walkalongs along the handrail on the wharf.

For my second piece, I spotted some impossibly furry red wool, which was just wanting to be made into Elmo - everybodies fav. furry red monster! I thought Elmo would be fun for kids to see when they went past the yarn bombing. Most of Elmos fans are rather short and I figured that if I made Elmos arms dangle from the railing they would spot them and interact with Elmo. Elmo has been enjoying meeting new friends and giving out lots of free hugs. He had a slight mishap when some meanies pulled off one of his arms, but luckily Elmo has an angel who found his arm and we were able to replace it!

My third piece for the Wooly Walkalong is called Lowri ( say Lowri like "low tree" but without the "t") in the sky with butterflies. Its a special piece for a friend who's missing their gorgeous daughter. You might wonder why its called ..butterflies when you can only see one there, sometimes you don't need to be able to see something to know its there.

I really enjoyed creating something that was just for fun, knowing that it would spread some random hapiness about Auckland. I hope you can find time to visit Devonport Wharf and have a photo with Elmo, and if not enjoy these photos and check out;

ttp://www.localist.co.nz/milfordtakapunadevonport/articles/devonport-wharf-gets-woolly

Spring has sprung...

September already, and I'm happily welcoming Spring into the garden and the new studio, which is nearly ready for visitors. I'll do another blog post about the studio with before and after photos just before opening day. Good things really do take time, and more so when trying to reuse and repurpose rather than buying new. With a lot of effort from my husband and some great help from my Dad the double garage has been converted to a studio and extra room. I'm lucky to have gorgeous picture windows that let the sun and garden in. I'm hoping a little futher down the track once I'm settled in, I'll be able to offer workshops or classes in the creative room. Anyone care for a cloche hat making class?

A few piccies of the outside of the studio/shop space, and know that I am super busy preparing for all the spring markets , lots of new handmade happiness on its way.Oh and a shot of my homegrown grapefruit & lemons because even though I'm not a fan of yellow, I loved the yellowy goodness of them sitting in the pot about to be turned into Marmalade. Perhaps Mother Nature knows that we need a shot of colour at the end of winter and send us the promise of sunshine in the colour of citrus! Mmmmmm I love spring!

Mad as a hatter?

So lately I've been somewhat busy with several new products and projects on the go. The biggest and most lengthy of which is converting the double garage into my own artist studio ( workshop and selling space). Following my Waste not want knot mantra we have been using preloved and repurposed materials as much as possible. My fabulous husband with the help of my handy Dad have installed french doors and a wonderful big picture window that lets in lots of natural light and views of the garden and local birdlife. Next up is adding the insulation and then the gibbing starts! Getting the studio finished is very distracting, but also exciting as I can't wait to have a well lit, orderly creative space!

This month I've been finishing the first of my vintage styled Cloche hats. I hand block each hat using vintage hat blocks, a steamer, some eco. friendly hat stiffener( not easy to find!) and 100% wool capelines/hoods. I'm looking forward to taking the hats to Kraftbomb at the end of this month for their big reveal and to get some feedback.

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.