cow licked

Bessie the Cow looks like she's been on the turps.
It amuses me no end the weird 'installations' that appear out in the back laneway, although the grease trap pumping truck at 7am yesterday isn't included on the amusing list. I am pretty pissed with my neighbours for that one.
I seem to have taken a fancy to wearing flannelette shirts at the moment and this morning's ensemble is looking pretty strangely layered. As I haven't left the house yet I am perhaps not as concerned as I should be about my sartorial inelegance. I did get a pile of odd chores done yesterday but the rest of the washing was sadly not one of them. I am attempting to unearth the floor in the bedroom and the stairs are desperately in need of a de-clutter and vacuum.
I've managed to get the shop back in order and given it a once over with the sucking machine whilst listening to the girls on the radio. There has been discussion on this on Facebook over the weekend. I was tagged facetiously as 'Ms Jolly Hockey Sticks' as I am a little opinionated about the consumerism of 'cute craft'. It was all a bit of a laugh whilst being a tad feisty.
Yawn. I really wish I had a real weekend (but what is a 'real weekend'?). I've a dye load of gloves in the dryer, a forest of renovated vintage lampbases to cart downstairs and a hundred emails to answer/write. Oh and the post needs to go out, I need to go to the bank, the studio, my suppliers.......

spotted, booked, blooming

Saturday. Here again.
Look! New coloured spotty knitting needles, the new yellow really sparks the other colour up and there are new sizes too, we now have 3.75, 4, 4.5, 5, 5.5, 6, 8, 10mm. As I said the other day we have the CWA of WA cookbook in now and a new shipment of 'Make do and Mend' has arrived too. The last batch of CWA Classics flew out the door but I have one copy left in the shop at the moment if you can't wait for the next batch, I love how well our CWA cookbooks sell.

I finished the rest of the blanket quilts yesterday so they are all in the shop and I'll get photos done soon. There is some stunning combos in this run, mixed up pinks and purples with pine-lime (as in Splice) greeny-yellow and orange and bright blue. I also finished the needle books (no picture yet) which I haven't had a chance to make in ages. I had to wait for the missing die to arrive for my studding machine from Hong Kong, now I've misplaced the boxes of darning needles and sewing needles that I like to 'prime' the books with. Last night I was trying to get some work finished and to dig out components for things we need to make for the shop. I seem to have unknowingly run out of heaps of stuff that I would normally make sure we had plenty of. I kept open boxes to find them empty. I really don't seem to have my eye on the ball at the moment, so next week I will have to get in the car and madly dash about restocking. I may even have to write a list.

I bought myself some freesias this morning. My absolute favourite flower the smell of them actually trips me out and really lift my mood. If I go for a stroll I can actually sniff them out from metres and metres and metres away. My gardening dream is a birch grove to lie in in Summer and beds and beds of freesias to bloom when Winter is inching into Spring. These ones need to warm up and hopefully they will release a bit more smell, I am very particular about my freesias, white preferred as they have more smell and little short stemmed cream 'old fashioned's for their heady scent.

Waffled about things, now I had better get a move on. There is barely any room to move in the hall and kitchen at the moment and I must spend tomorrow sorting it all out. I've promised myself that I will get a Sunday at home tomorrow, first time in weeks.
Before I forget, new re-wired vintage lampbases in store too.
It's Saturday, you know where to find me.

nippy night

Shaun Tan and Oslo Davis was last night (I made a mistake, dates mean nothing to me). It was a hell of a bitter night out but it was more than worth venturing into the wilds of Brunswick. They showed their work, chatted, talked about their desks and, as I think most of the small and perfectly formed audience were makers, there was a lot of  nodding in agreement. And laughter. And a few dreamy ooohs and aaahs. You would have loved it LibraryGirl. As Ramona said at the end 'I'm so glad Shaun is such a nice person'.
It has been a bit of a messy week here so hearing creative types talk about their work actually came at just the right moment. I always feel drained after the gift fair week and doing that on top of a virus really floored me. Those two talked about being introverted and the need to be alone to create, how to balance that with being out in the world, and it spoke to me. Being surrounded with too much consumerist crap and people knocks me about. Yes it is almost time to turn off for a week and breathe fresh air and look at long vistas.
I'm off to the studio to get some things finished. I need to get the gas bottles filled otherwise there will be no buckets of tea. Pick up some more dye as we have entered the final end of Winter glove push- and the last few days have been freakin' freezing.
There are new Welsh blanket cushions in store that i finished yesterday and a couple more quilts, I'll finish the rest today hopefully. Pictures of new pretties tomorrow my friends.

rainy wednesday

A stunning magnolia sky yesterday evening.
We stood out on the street and admired it.
It's been a strange couple of days with weirdly annoying things happening. Today is all rain and cold and I have had little fantasies about being holed up in a cabin with a fire clinking in the hearth and rain pattering on the roof. Instead I am settling for a mug of tea, a handful of Haigh's dark chocolate raisins and a flannelette shirt. You've got to go with what is at hand. I think the tail-end of this virus has mucked me about, I'm heading towards 'little bit emotional'. Yes the need for holiday time is fast approaching.
Good things have come in the mail though. Ann has hooked up a storm even whilst inundated with family commitments and has sent through three beautiful afghan throws and a small mountain of her wonderful tea cosies. A parcel has arrived from the CWA of WA  and we finally have copies of the CWA cookbook I grew up with. Mum's version, which she was given when she married,  has had no covers for as long as I can remember and I loved reading the handy hints section when I was a youngster ('how to whiten kid gloves' was always a favourite and I think I always dreamed of one day having to put the hint into practice). A box of silk spinning bobbins has come in too and we have stock of the 3 smaller sizes available again.
I have something to admit..... Dell, Drew and I have all entered the Royal Show cooking competition this year. Dell and I thought we had missed out as we got our entries in a tad late but apparently the RASV is a generous organisation (or Shirley only comes in once a week) and we have been accepted. Stay tuned for our adventures in Show World.

all traipsed out

I have spent 4 out of the last 6 days traipsing around the gift fairs that are on at this time of the year. My eyes won't stop watering, a nasty combination of still being virus wracked, stifling aircon heat, fluoro lighting and a visual bombardment of weird products. I did get to overhear strange comments and conversations and luckily my blocked nose saved me from the stench of too many scented candles. It's like being on a treasure hunt, picking the gold from the dross and sometimes in amongst the foulest crap you can find a little gem. Now I have to sit back and hope they arrive.
My feet hurt and I want a nap.
Meeting tonight and this tomorrow night. (Heard a rumour it's sold out.)
Can I have a sleep in tomorrow morning?

pennant

Well I seem to have caught a dose of the fluviruscoldthingy, although I think last night it might have broken. Teeth chattering chills and a hotted up wheatie bag certainly go together. Trying to do the trade shows and the Craft Cubed opening while delirious is not a great idea. The joys of being self-employed... 'sick days', what are they??... although I did pass out on my bed on Thursday between trade show and opening.

Yesterday I really needed to go and do some work in the studio and get some things done as I still have two more trade show days to go. We never get very much in from the gift fairs but it's always a good idea  to see and be amused by some really weird stuff that makes you wonder about the state of consumerism. I have to say I think I am going to retch if I see another single colour screen print cushion. It actually reinforces why I do what I do, small, handmade, a bit tongue in cheek and referencing our textile history. As an example please see our new 'pennant' cushions. I've patched together beautiful wool felt, stitched on the souvenir pennants and backed the whole thing with blue saddle felt. Talk about colour blocking. There are only a few of these at the moment as I can't seem to find where I've put a stash of these pennants. 

Every time I think 'pennant' Indiana Jones saying 'penitent man' pops into my head, bloody 'Raiders of the Lost Ark', bloody cute-in-those-days-creepy-looking-now-I-blame-Callista Harrison Ford.

And in shop news our big shipment of Trunk and Orderly kinder and lunch cases are back in stock. I better dash now as I need to find somewhere to stash the box of extra cases. 

quiltage

Look!
See those little red and white gingham Docs peeking out the bottom?
I made Dell hold the quilts up!

Can't say I did the best job photographing. I should probably have been the one behind the quilt not behind the camera.

It's amazing the patterns that happen in them.

And the colour combos.

And I love the way they get all out of true going through the quilting machine. This freaks the quilters out but we love it.

I'll finish the rest soon!

Usual price, usual deal if you like them give us a call or drop me an email.