These little ladies, plus some more pretties, are now available in Meet Me At Mikes and Kids In Berlin. I took them in yesterday and realised, due to Grand Final Day, that it was a year earlier that I first took my stuff to Kids In Berlin.
I spent the last two days in Ballarat and Bendigo on a bit of a tourist trip with Gareth's Ma and Pa. I went to uni in Ballarat but have not been back for a long time. We went to the Sovereign Hill and Mt. Buninyong on Tuesday, as well as looking at a Mural I painted with other first year students in the Bridge Street Mall. Today we went to the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery and I forgot what a great Gallery it is and was kind of sad I was one year off the art school move to Camp Street. I also went to my favourite Op-Shop that is only open Wed/Thu/Fri and got some buttons, books and fabric. In Bendigo I found a lovely little shop called Bobs Boutique with lots of familiar items being sold including Allira Tee and Mingus. The drive from Bendigo back to he Dandenongs was a long one but when I arrived home my GreenOlive scarf was waiting and it is stunning, I can't wait to wear it out.
I got a massive fright earlier this afternoon when I heard what sounded like a bird in the next room. I was home alone and thought I was going crazy until a minute or so later I saw it flying around. The only window open in the house was a small window in my studio and it was only open about 10 cm. He got out when I opened the door and left a few treats around the house.
I have finally had a chance to post again. The last two weeks have been busy with school but now I am on holidays and can get back on track. I made a new bag today with the screenprints of the city with the blue and orange colour combo.
I decided I didn't want to do the wallet fold with them right away but thought it was too small to make a tote. I realised that a smaller tote would be fun to make and the denim dual fabric would work well with the orange. It was also quicker to sew as it was a much smaller bag compared to my other totes. I didn't put a pocket inside because the bag isn't that big and the straps are quite short.
After a busy weekend in the city I'm back at home, missing a shoe which is most probably lying lonely in a Richmond street after falling out of my bag. They were not suitable winter shoes, but I wore them all winter, and now it was coming into spring they were perfect. However I now have a reason to get new shoes.
I purchased some paper lacy doilies with the aim of working them into some collages. I used some as a stencil for screenprinting onto fabric then did some pen and ink drawings. I thought the paper would not work well with the ink because it is thin, but it works perfectly due to a tiny bit of wax or something like that in the paper. I plan on stitching the doily onto A4 paper because the subtle white on white with the lace and paper creates a lovely shadow. Click on the images to see the full size in flickr.
This is another bag in a similar style to the ones I made the week before. The print didn't turn out super crisp because I had already used the stencil and the ink formed tiny dots due to printing onto canvas in the previous run. It wasn't a bad non crispness as there was a uniform nature to the dots around the edge, but it wasn't perfect. I decided to stitch around the edges, but ended up going a little free form over the design with the sewing machine and white thread. I'm taking this and some badges and pouches to LuminaTextiles in East Malvern.
I have some new spring ladies made up ready for spending time out and about. Some will be going to a new stockist in Sydney (ohh la la) and the others will be out and about in Melbourne town. I like the pink beehive lady with the flower in her hair. The pink felt is the perfect shade, not too bright, not too dull and not too sickly.
I'm doing a morning tea on Friday for work, so if anyone has any ideas for things I can make please tell me. I don't need to make too much food because it is only for 10 people, but I want some delicious treats for some lovely coworkers, who on a Friday morning want something to make them feel good.
NEET magazine came out last night and I have an advert on page 82! I had a quick squiz and there is some great stuff in there, including beautiful Ali J drawings from aussiepatches.etsy.com. I'm always happy to see Australians getting big features. There is also adverts for madeit.com.au and Cocoapod!
I put two new bags up on Etsy, although I made them last month. Now that we are in spring, taking photographs that are not too dark is possible again so today I had a little photoshoot in the somewhat sunny front room. I plan on making some more screenprints today on red canvas and getting lots of work done. I need to update my website as well, as it is a little outdated and needs refreshing. Both of the bags are available on Etsy.
