In the wash-up

Edwina Bolger's sweet chicky egg cosy above

and Super Nic's beautiful stall below

Still here, just returning from that other crazy world and landing back in the real world of day job and washing and notes for school.... and I seem to be a suffering a bit of craft-lag.

Just give me a day or two and I'll be fine !

dot points

Today was hysterical - it was like the festival of the blogs (man we should really start that !)...so many bloggers, so many hugs, so much laughing my face is aching....

(OK, this is foxy perfection...look at that little head tilt - again Winterwood)

Tomorrow night I am staying in Melbourne (so far, I have been up bright and early on the 7.45 train from ballarat each day) so I won't be posting. Then Sunday after the show (5pm) we pack up and drive home (about 1 1/2 hrs) so chances are there won't be a post then either as I'll be unpacking the man-car when I get home and then collapsing !

(Nikki (of course) from You sew girl) The woman is simply brilliant !

Yes, I will try and get some Bigger photos- like of the aisles and things tomorrow !

My across the road neighbour Wrens Nest studios - so delicate and the NICEST people you will ever ever meet)

The funniest ever thing today ??? Claire from craft shmaft taking her sausage roller dog (see last post) for a little walk up the aisle on his lead.... I love wacko softie people !!!

and this is Pauline and me . Pauline is from Funky friends and she does softies too and is my other across the road neighbour. She is an awesome neighbour as well

I just have to say I really lucked out with my neighbours - they are all awesome...in fact the whole incubator is full of really fun, crafty , kind of crazy people............... I feel right at home!

(and today I think I met almost every blogger in Australia - at least it felt like it.... Hello Everyone !) My face is sore from laughing, my feet are sore from standing and arms are sore from hugging !!! What a great way to feel so tired !

Thursday...only just

No surprise - I am knackered...but loving every minute...

The sausage roller from craft Shmaft ...unbelievably cute!!

Deliciousness from Nic at Yardage design

elegant style from Kylie at Blue Ginger design....

from Winterwood........(sigh)

and from Kate of Two little Banshees....Doesn't this guy just kill you ?

(I will add the links soon but for now you can just ask Mr Internet to help you, or you can pop in to the show and see it all for yourself...)

I can't explain (not without at least another 10 hrs sleep) how much fun I am having...

Thanks for hanging in there guys.

on closer inspection.....

Pack the man-car
Get the supervisor's OK and head of to Melbourne

to an empty shell

Fill it was stuff from the man-car

fiddle and tweak until the driver of the man-car almost passes out with boredom

and then come home, upload the photos and think about the things you will move / change early in the morning before the real life visitors arrive!

One final rant

Dusting off the soapbox and turning it up on its end (I'm not very tall)..

Ladies and gentlemen, I just want to take a few minutes of your time to talk to you about the Stitches and craft show in Melbourne. I don't want to sell you anything I just want to suggest that you might like to attend.

Why?

• Well, its a craft show so I figure if you read here you are into a bit of craft.
• There are heaps of well-priced classes and FREE studios to attend.
• There are insanely good workshops and free craft bars where you can pull up a stool and make a wee item and take it home... for FREE
• There will be lots and lots and lots of other crafty folk there to bump into, have coffee with and generally be social with.

BUT..and here's the kicker guys.....

I think you might like to come along to support the people who support craft. Does that make sense?

In the craft world, the guys behind Stitches and Craft are the ones out there offering support to little indie businesses. They give us the chance to take part in a HUGE event and gain exposure that most of us couldn't normally afford to do (like not even close) . They help us figure out all the logistics and they sometimes even give people a bit of a kick in the butt to get them started (in the nicest possible way)

Why should you care?

Well there are the big reasons for caring - like supporting handmade, and the craft industry. But I think its fair to ask people to support Stitches and Craft because they are out there promoting and sharing and getting the word out about craft . Their show helps raise the profile of craft and handmade and that has to be a good thing right? Surely getting craft out there in the world has to have a trickle down effect, more people know about craft, think its great, are more likely to look for handmade when the need arises. More people get excited by craft and go home and take up knitting or sewing or raffia hat making or whatever fuels them....so our community grows and new exciting stuff happens...

and apart from all that ? Maybe one day YOU will want to get a teeny stall in the incubator and spend five days meeting people and showing off your stuff and having a great time, or maybe your mum will, or one of your blog friends. How sad would it be to say "oh there used to be this great place for little businesses at a craft show- I never went though, I wonder what happened to it?"

So maybe you are half-heartedly thinking about attending... Seriously tickets are only $10, or $15 for two days...if that's as far as your budget stretches, pack a sandwich and come and do all the free stuff.

But I say throw that $10 to the wind, and get to Caulfield, join in the big crafty love-in and show your support for craft. What have you got to lose?

For a full list with links - of all the people in the incubator go and check out jennies blog.

and for a comprehensive list of all the great retailers attending, check out the stitches and craft site

* hops off the soap box and packs it away to return to the sewing machine (where she feels far more comfortable)*

Every village needs an idiot....

Yes I know there is still stuff to do, but with every blogger saying "see you next week" and every email talking about what day people will be visiting and what classes they have booked in for and who they are excited to meet or catch up with, I can't help but get increasingly excited. Heaps of people are taking advantage of the two day ticket offer for $15 so they can fit in everything they want to do...
Can I ask a favour ?
If you do come to the show , please come and say hi. Please don't do that freaky weird thing where you email me a week later and tell me you came and hung out and visited me but didn't say hi 'cause you were too scared to talk to me....


I mean look, yes I seem to be smiling in a weird lop-sided village idiot kind of way....but I won't bite you and won't try and sell you stuff , I might ask you to play shopkeeper while I run off to the toilet, I may hug you , I may already know you through your blog, or I might have no idea who you are and will need your card so I can look up your blog after the show....

For me, the meeting-people-bit was one of the very best things about last years show, and lets be honest is also one of the great bits about this community, so come on just walk right up and say Hi there Jod !


I promise I'll be on my very best non-freaky behavior!

I know you guys will get it....

Boxes are being packed, things are getting ticked off the list and it is all starting to get a wee bit exciting. A week from tomorrow I'll be setting up my stall...

I can't help but think back to last year , I had no idea what I was in for at all.

(pocket -bot kits complete with little windows so you can choose your own colour- I love packaging)

You know, it occurred to me that there is one big change this year - I feel less like a "fraud" than I did last year. It was the invitation to join Stitches and Craft last year that set me off on this whole pattern-writing thing.......and now, even though writing patterns is not my favourite thing in the world to do, I feel like I am getting OK at it...like no-one is going to point and laugh and say "OMG what are you doing here?" - "what is this crap?"
Does that make sense?

At this point it about 50/50 excitement and stress (good stress) but as time moves on the excitement will take over for sure. And of course, because I am so busy , the old brain is once again having trouble shutting off and I am being haunted by a new softie and fun tutorial...and of course Milligan is still waiting patiently...

and after the show......yes I'm sure you guys are getting sick of all this show talk - well, there's Sew- it-Together, followed by a weekend at Sewjourn.....

Beware exploding heads!!

inter galactic giveaway or blogging from a life raft

So we come to the third and final Stitches and Craft related giveaway. This one is for all the international people.... (as in...NOT in australia)
You know, I have one of those little maps right down at the bottom of my blog and it puts little dots on where people are visiting from. Its quite fascinating. But it can be quite worrying- I've had this conversation with a few friends...you see, two people visit my blog from the middle of the ocean. Yep, two little red dots in the middle of the ocean. I can't help but imagine two lonely castaways on their wooden raft, with their laptops...you know, just catching up on some craft blogs... (edited to add - there is only one dot today - oh dear, I hope the other person didn't get washed overboard)So if you would like to be entered to win a show-bag of patterns and stuff from me, Just leave a comment - and if you like, tell me where you are from, your town and country or just your country - whatever rocks your life raft!

(The winner of the previous giveaway that had no fancy title was "sewing the seeds of love")

Stitches and craft Giveaway 2

I don't mean to rub it in - but have you guys been over and checked out the show guide?

Far out there is some stuff going on .........

Anyway at the show I will be talking about blogging. I won't be getting technical at all. Basically I am going to talk about my experience of blogging and why I do it. I will definitely go off tangent, I may drop in a few swear words (I am worse when I am nervous) and if Annie keeps me to time , then there will be lots of opportunity for people to ask me questions of the non-technical variety. Its completely free, (as all useless information should be) and I'll be talking the talk on Friday Saturday and Sunday while my mum runs the stall.

Without further ado, the ticket winners are Linda of Gum Valley Patchwork

and Kate of One flew Over . )

Now for those of you in Australia who cannot get to the show- I have another giveaway but you'll have to be patient. At this stage it looks like I will have 3 new patterns to release at the show (maybe more but I'm not promising) so I'll give a copy of each new pattern to someone plus I'll buy them a little present from the show as well....So knock yourselves out in the comment box below and I'll be back with an international giveaway as soon as soon.

And my wisdom after 4 days back at work?

(and I am not ignoring you, blogger is no longer forwarding comments to my inbox , this means replying has become a bloody eighty step process....If you need me just email through my profile)

Call me Elastic woman

OK, so although I am the first to say that I am no superwoman - I have decided that I am in fact ...."elastic woman".

I just keep on stretching, and fitting in more stuff. The list is keeping me in line, if not quite up-to-date. There is so very much to do between now and May 5th and of course I have just performed the biggest stretch of all, and gone back to the day job.

(sheesh it takes up some time).

But you know, all the busyness is fun in that kind of crazy way - I don't do so well with nothing to do -and the librarian in me revels in the lists and checklists, and ticking boxes nature of it all.

and now I am ticking the give away box.

I have two tickets to the show in Melbourne to give away.

The Stitches and Craft show is in Caulfield may 5 - 9th, so if you are planning on going or if a free ticket will help you make up your mind-please leave a comment(and make sure I can reply to you). I think I'll give two people one ticket each...

(I'll be doing another giveaway for people who can't make the show soon as well I promise)

Give-away one ....... Tick !

its growing......

My last post got me thinking about Stitches and Craft last year and how much fun it was. I remember Eleanor dancing in the restaurant at a dinner that Sooz organised. (I met half the blog nation at that dinner)

I remember being so intimidated by the Ink and Spindle team that I didn't speak to them until about day three and I broke the ice by feeding them muesli bars and cheesey dippers. (and yes I was a total dickhead - they are awesome!)

This year I am going to catch up with Kristen, she was my neighbour last year and is a super favourite friend.

- her screen prints are delicious ! and she is one of the most unflappable people I think I have ever met.

I'm also keen to grab me goodies from Lisa who I met at Sydney Stitches last year.

have you seen anything cuter?

My own spending might just re-boost the whole economy...

and you know that think that I thunk this morning at 3.27am.... well obviously , the answer is darts !!!

I'll keep you posted.

doing the bum dance...

I am making progress.

I bought a shelving unit to use at the show,

which I promptly managed to almost fill with junk from the floor

I have made a zipper mouth monster from the new pattern that I have written (just not had tested yet)
and I did some painting....This will all get a second coat tomorrow.

and in a feat only possible by the most uncoordinated crafter on the planet, I managed to mangle my own bum while taking a photo in the sewing room.
My not-at-all- small-or-pointy butt collided with a small pointy edge of cupboard...... The cupboard won.

and I thought Edna caused pain....I knew nothing!

samples

Yesterday I packaged (not very creatively) the dyed doctors flannel for elephants.

and then I finished some new "goodies" for samples

and a new tea-set sample as well. I love this fabric ! I was one teensy little tea-cup handle short but Annie saved the day and gave me a bit from her stash.

I gave this robot a face (He is particularly excited, not having been to a Stitches and Craft show before)

and half-started a bazillion or more other things as well.

According to the list, Today is display day and its nice and sunny so I am cracking out the paintbrush.

check ...

I have somehow found myself at Wednesday today and the list seems to have already been thrown out the window.

Every time I look at the list I think of something else that I need to do before the Stitches and Craft Show extravaganza in May, and of course I am trying to do as much as possible in the two weeks holiday.

(Does anyone remember last year when I started a good 3 months beforehand... )

So today I finished off the hedgehog kits - Like totally finished , and packed in a box.

I dyed some extra delicious 100% wool flannel for elephants. I'm hoping some people want to make woolen versions of Parsley and Beet (but I have to admit that wools are hard on the hip pocket)

and then... this afternoon I tool Edna, spirited filly that she is, off for a brisk trot

There are these crazy wild plants that have been planted along one of the main roads into Ballarat - and they really intrigue me....Their colours are weirdly tropical and bright and they seem to be shooting crazy furry squiggly brain shaped flowers...

So off we went to investigate and Monty and his dear wife Pearl joined us.

But mostly they seemed unimpressed !

(and speaking of unimpressed : Just so you know, tonight when dinner was ready , I called the kids a few times with ever-increasing volume. In the end, I thought about storming down the hallway and kicking someones door in, but then I thought of all the "we didn't hear you" "we thought it was something else " endless argument palaver, and you know what ?
I rang them !
yep ! I wasted whatever-it-costs and I rang my children to come to dinner.
I rang and they came......must be the novelty value.
Judge me ...don't judge me, I don't care.....that's how it is on the front line these days and all I can say is thank god I can sew OK ...cause quite obviously the parenting gig is not my strong point!)

playing truant

So , having devoted the whole weekend to pattern-writing I am not really here. I have been quite productive so far, made the most stupendously ridiculous mistakes and mis-printed far far too many pages.

But, in a dash to Aldi...I found this little cart.

I had seen these months ago and thought they would be a cute display item but I resisted, so I was pretty surprised today to find one still there (and better yet half-price). So I bought one and assembled it this afternoon.
(It's lucky I speak that crazy weird instructional assemblage language.....this made IKEA look like baby blocks)

I think its a bit OTT myself and am planning to give it a bit of a makeover these holidays .

(oh and don't tell anyone you saw me- I'm writing patterns!)

I booked the choir

Man, I have been busting myself to get this project finished today....

But no matter how many times I tweak and re-tweak, the inevitable crunch came when the perfect fabric ....was about 10 cm's too short. Oh the agony of a finish that is soooo close.
(insert chest beating and clod throwing here)

Today I also wrote a bit of list for myself and totally fruck myself out . The thing is , I'd like to get some new patterns ready for the Stitches and Craft show in May. I have a rather long list of things I'd like to do but in reality I have to accept that they will not all get done , so today I auditioned for projects to become patterns....

First place of course has to go to Ernst and his dear love Pebble...yes?

Then maybe these guys , once I finish their accessories...

and I'd love to do these guys as well.....
What do you think?

Will you be coming along to Stitches and Craft? If you came along last year you might have had the chance to visit one of the uber-busy craft bars.
Well, Living Creatively are looking for people to help "man" the craft bars. Volunteers are needed in Sydney(April 14 - 18), Canberra (April 22-25) and Melbourne (May 5-9).
They are looking for people to share basic sewing and embroidery skills with people at the craft bars.
There is also some fun crocheting that needs demonstrating in Sydney and Melbourne.
In return for a days "work" you'll get two free tickets to the show and a stitches and Craft bag.
Apart from that of course you'll get to meet a bazillion or so crazy crafters and share your skills with craft-lovers.

To find out more email enquiries(AT)stitchesandcraft(DOT)com(DOT)au

and if you're there, I'll be seeing you in Melbourne, displaying my usual grace and decorum and even reprising the bloggy talks of last year, this time hopefully with
less mishaps and less blood!