This is.....what I do and something exciting as well

Actually , this is what I do when I should be doing something else.

It might surprise you all to know that hemming metres upon metres of fabric is really boring....like so boring that I have been setting myself rewards. After each curtain is finished I get to do some "fun craft".

A teensy bit of embroidery !

A dollies face - sorry she is decapitated. I wasn't sure about the glasses so I did her face before attaching the head in case they didn't work to prevent the need for a total head transplant. I think they are OK. Would people want a dolly with non-removable glasses?


A little purse from a Nicole Mallalieu pattern. I made this out of a salvaged piece of an old embroidery from an apron. It is obviously not my embroidery - look how neat it is!

STOP PRESS ......

Guess what? Its happening ! Round one of the softies for Mirabel auctions is up and running - I knew it was coming so I have been randomly searching throughout the evening ...and its there and its happening....... so get on over there and have a sticky beak . I have already been bidding and I may have gone a little overboard so get on over there and outbid me - remember I have a kitten to feed now !

and on a quieter note I want to say that I think Pip of Meet Me at Mikes deserves to be awarded the blogger of the year award for all her work with the Softies for Mirabel campaign - she is the person I have the biggest craft-crush on in the whole wide world.

Don't tell her I sent you , but maybe you could also pop over and give her a little hug if you have time......

If you want something done.........

If you want something done ...give it to a busy person.

So in amongst the preparations for the show and all the other general life things ,including a bizarre sore ear/throat/mouth thing...we bought a kitten.!

We actually planned on two(one each for the kids) but there was only one suitable for rescue from the RSPCA.

As things go that was probably a good thing because Miss Eloise is a bit sick and we had to take her back to the vet today. She won't eat which obviously isn't good, but this evening she has a had a bit of kitten milk so we are hoping she is improving and yes we have supplements and things and are monitoring her very closely so don't worry.

Yesterday while she was off at the vet getting de-sexed and vaccinated and implanted and so on , Connor busied himself with kitten preparations and asked me to make a mat for the bowls to sit on - He was so excited he was driving me mental so I told him to think of a cat design and we could use the last of the gocco bulbs to burn a screen.

First off - no pins , just winging the three layers ended in total skewiffness and I had to unpick it.

Next - added the walking foot and some pins but put the layers together wrong so the wadding ended up on the outside (and yes I had sewed all the way around before I noticed.) Unpick it again.

Third time - no hassle! So my ten minute job ended up taking most of the afternoon and you know what?

I don't think the cat has even noticed it.

Can you elasticise my life?

I need some elastic. A huge piece of elastic. I want to elasticise the whole of July. - I just need it to stretch around about another six or seven days so I can fit everything in.

So far the green fabric has almost all been transformed into ginormously long curtains, and the frock is next. The hem is about 3 inches longer on one side than the other. You've got to love sewing for costumes - if the audience is far enough away , you can get away with some shocking stuff. Three inches is a bit obvious though.

On Sunday I went to the Melbourne design market - it was crazy ! Soooo many people in a very little space, lots of patiently waiting to be able to squeeze in to see things - but what things there were to see.

I bought some fabric from Lara and while I was there I got to meet Pip and Kirsty and have a quick catch up with Angela . I am becoming a bit of an old hand at meeting bloggers- seriously these girls are just as regular and down to earth and welcoming and lovely as you would expect - or even more so. They were flat out !!! and they still stopped and hugged and chatted as if they had nothing else to do.

I do believe Mr Ric- Rac also made a purchase of the birthday-present-now-artfully-hiding-in-the-undies-drawer-variety. (ooh not that it is undies of course- it just that is where he hides everything!)

Kits are coming along - I am enjoying this far more than I thought I would, but gee there are lots of bits and pieces to organise.

Of course whilst I am busy "doing", my brain is busy dreaming and I have ideas and things just bursting to be done that I can't get to yet. The whole concept of screen printing has been haunting me since I did the first little birdcages. I can't stop thinking of things I could do if only I could make bigger screen prints. I have started googling screen printing kits.

Now before I jump headlong into another little craft adventure, I'd really appreciate any tips, info, tales of woe you guys can share about screen printing - I mean it would be dreadful if I went and got all the stuff and it was a total flop or a bit too involved and then I only ever used it once wouldn't it?

(Editors note: Please do not be fooled the mock sincerity of that last paragraph. If she gets to this point , no matter what you say she will have to try it for herself - she is obsessive I tell you . Trust me I've been here before (ahem)........... raffia hat making, candle making, mosaic, wire work, puppetry, dressmaking, felting, resin casting, needle felting..........

wakey wakey !

Before my sleepover was rudely cut short last night by a blackout at about 11.20. This is where I was up to.

Little thread holder for the kits.

Chorus heels were sparkled. (Hot glue guns really are amazing things!)

and I had another attempt at the hedgehog. On Friday a parcel of selvedges arrived from Kristen Doran and they looked so good together that I had to make a little project for them. Thanks Kristen! I have included the rest in the big project of course. Your selvedges are beautiful.

Thanks to Fiona for organising the sleepover, I wish she were here in person I could have used a spare pair of hands , those sequins were a bugger!

aha !

Envelopes to put all the bits and pieces in ????

Not enough time in the day...so I'm sleeping over

Hurray - shes' back and not dead as I feared (and wrote on the form)

The green curtain fabric for the show is sulking in the corner , but after almost 5 days with no machine - I am hardly rushing to sew that !

Tonight as part of Fiona's sleepover am working on kit ideas for the birdcages -

I'll be back later with a progress report.

Miss Jodie regrets

Miss Jodie regrets to inform you that crafting will slow down dramatically due to the following:

• She has to go back to work tomorrow


• Miss Jemma's show opens in 3 weeks and Jodie has 5 stage curtains to make, a full skirted dress to hem, and a pair of chorus heels to transform into the ruby (actually silver in this version) slippers. (and if course she is dealing with thespians dahhhling - they still haven't even bought the fabric for the curtains!)


• Her sewing machine has developed a nasty hacking sound that simply cannot be good. Said machine will be delivered to sewing machine casualty as soon as possible.

On the upside:

• Work means time on the Craft-at-work challenge - I am currently trying to master the very difficult stitch that I call the "colouring- in stitch" . I keep puckering everything up too much!



• It's kinda nice that I am still "allowed" to be involved. I may be the daggiest most embarrassing mum on the planet - (no its true , It's me -you can all rest easy, I am just waiting for my invite to Beijing to compete in the "No way, my mum is so much worse than yours" relay- I've been in training for years and just quietly I think I am a good chance for GOLD!)......but my sewing skills do hold some brownie points at show time.

• Lack of sewing machine means I may get a chance to look at flat-pack birdcage instructions. Seriously, I still don't get this but I'm willing to go with it- Just don't blame me if it all ends in tears.

Of course this probably doesn't mean I'll stop blogging - It'll just be as boring as bat poop!

News and updates

I just needed to pop in and let you guys know that I will be having a very small shop update tomorrow. (middle of the day Melbourne time)

Charlie, Kate and Addie will all be there and maybe a few other things as well.

I also wanted to let you know that I did look into the little birdcages going into the shop but the international postage was just ridiculous for such a tiny thing.

When Annie and Rachel came over last week I printed more cages with a new screen and Annie had an idea that I could send them out unsewn, with instructions and people could make their own - that way postage wouldn't be a problem.........hmmmmmm ...what do you think?

I also promised that I would mention the competition over at scrapbag , design a mascot / softie and win a great prize. maybe I could try and resurrect one of those earlier disaster softies? yeah ....... maybe not.

A post from Mrs Big-Head

Hi Guys,

Mrs Big- Head here, just posting some exciting news.

On the weekend I got a delicious email telling me I had won a competition over

at Living Creatively.

The competition was about "green crafting" and I entered my selvedge scarf. Of course when I received the email I was cool calm and collected . (squealing and running - actually running, to tell the rest of the Ric- Rac clan.)

I nearly died when I saw all the great entries. I recognised Cass' cute bag and of course Betty-Jo's amazing clock instantly.........and then I got a bit nervous 'cause they were people I "blog know" and I didn't want to post this post in case it looked like I was bragging and being a Mrs Big head about it.

But you know what, I decided to post it anyway (took me since Sunday) to let you guys all know about Living Creatively and the exciting stuff they are doing , and so you can all enter their competitions as well. That's right I did it for completely altruistic reasons, for the betterment of craft-kind.

Actually I am still not sure I don't sound like Mrs big Head about to disappear up my own bum but I am going to Annie's place tonight and if I hadn't done this post she would have nagged me to death.

The been away giveaway!

This evening I started on the BIG selvedge project. I know you are all probably sick to death of the selvedge thing by now but I just can't stop myself. You know how most towns have a crazy cat-lady who had about thirty cats? I think that I might become the crazy selvedge lady.

The crazy selvedge lady would cover her own couch in selvedge and wallpaper the laundry in selvedge.........

(the scary thing is there is a part of me that thinks that would be pretty cool.)

So for now these are my selvedge cushions. Gorgeous red linen on the back and bright green zips because that it what I had to hand. I like the backs almost as much as the front. If you want to give them a go, make sure you foundation piece your selvedges to some cotton first for the fronts.

I have been away all weekend . Mr Ric - Rac organised a two night stay somewhere lovely and his mum to babysit , all very strange and romantic and puzzling until he admitted in his particularly Mr Ric -Rac style that it was a birthday present for me.........he'd just gotten the month wrong.... and his mum forgot to turn up for the first night so we had to call in back-up. What a crack up. We had a great time.

So while we were away I held a giveaway. If you commented on either of the last two posts you were entered (whether you liked it or not I guess), and now the following people might like to send me their address and then keep an eye on their post box.

I love the retrospective giveaway and these guys are the winners of a little birdcage.

Curlypops

amandajean

twocheeseplease

Reality therapy

O.K guys time to get tough.

Thanks so much for all those crazy comments about the gocco cages, but just in case you were thinking I am some sort of freaky uber crafter, you need to see some of the stuff that hasn't worked recently. I would hate to be here bloggin' under false pretences.

Exhibit A: Squares

OK, not so much and abject failure - this project just died of boredom and disinterest. I fussy cut 13 squares and then snowballed them and now......couldn't care less. They have been in this state at least a year and will NEVER be used. If you can use them please email and I will happily pop them in the post. (Yay they have a new home - I am guilt free)

Exhibit B: Hedgehog thingy

Ah poor little hedgehog, beheaded and disemboweled at least 8 times so far - but I am yet to give up this one ...it has potential. Maybe its the fur fabric I need to change - I hate fur fabric. Why did I even start with fur fabric? Who invented fur fabric?

Exhibit C: Dog? Rodent ?

Weird dog shaped softie - No potential, no hope . I should hang my head in softie shame for keeping this abomination alive for so long. Hidden in the bottom of the bin straight after this photo. Trust me, this thing has been tweaked so much that I forgot what I even started with. Goodbye Doggie., Was it meant to be a doggie?

Exhibit D: Birdish shaped blob

The softie hall of shame is a long one- The bird , just in case you couldn't tell. Got to this point and I didn't even add wings - it is just so BLAH !!! Nothing happening at all with this. Wrong wrong wrong fabric for a start and it is kinda flat bottomed like a boat - Maybe it is a boat? Why the bird??????? Well isn't it obvious. It was to go in the cage.....

(Brace yourselves)

Exhibit E: The cage

The less said about this monstrosity the better. By far the worst and most graphic photo today - In reality this project should be taken out and shot but I just want it to work so bad that I can't give up yet. It has been a disaster of boning and stabilisers and 5 million pins give or take.

It might need to go into the Hiatus basket (where all those projects go that have lost their appeal - your not quite ready to give up on them even though you know you should - you keep on living in hope that inspiration will return) . I have decided that its major problem at this point is that it is just too big- and ugly, and floppy, and weird , and non bird supporting.....and well, its just plain wrong really. Exactly what was this for? and how did this one get past idea quality control.

That concludes this weeks session of "What was she thinking?" I do hope you'll join us again for another episode of the misguided craftings of a 30 something year old librarian in rural Victoria.

Next time: Will she act on her obsession with remaking and embroidering an umbrella? We can only hope not viewers.