Hi . I'm ric-rac

Yesterday my friend Flower Garden and I headed off to Melbourne (early) . Some Aunty cookie fabric was calling us all the way from Ballarat.

We had a great day planned that involved Magnolia Square Market, lunch and sewing with friends, a trip to a patchwork shop, afternoon tea with another friend before heading home - if you think that sounds like a long day , wait until you see the size of this post !!!

We met the gorgeous and Gracious Brenda and Anita at Brenda's home and then all headed off together to Magnolia Square. Our first glimpse inside and what do we see? The Lark tea towel.

I knew I had to have one . The big smiles and hellos from the stall holders made me feel brave enough to say Hi and to mention I read larks blog. The equally gorgeous Three buttons was there and we chatted on about her recent problems with the person copying her unique and wonderful Miss Buttons kit. These two are seriously lovely people I have to say ! I am so pleased to have met them and it was great to have a chat with other crafty people- I keep wanting to tell you just how nice they are, warm and genuine and funny ! ....why am I so surprised !!!
Inside, we approached Aunty Cookies stall. Then we had the funniest conversation ever.

Mumble mumble mumble Ballarat

"Are you ric-rac"?

"Yes Hi Shannon"

"Hi etc"

"oh I'm Jo - you once sent me some stuff"

"oh Jo teacup - Hi teacup, This is my friend Flower garden"

"hi"

"I Know your face - Oh Whizzme! I bought some great stuff off you on etsy some scraps and papers"

"Of course, did your mum like them?"

Five grown women chatting away , Aunty Cookie, Whizzme, Teacup, Flower Garden and ric-rac, I couldn't help but wonder if people thought we were part of some very strange and secret society.

Then of course we got down to the serious business of purchasing.

Badges - 2 for me and one for a friend

appliques- ( how cute is this little guy? - I might applique him to a little accessories for bag for Miss Jem who is off to France next year)

fabrics - the very reason for the trip !

cards - these are gocco'd. I am so seriously in awe of Shannon's talent - she is as I have said before , a Renaissance crafter , able to turn her hand to everything.

prints - I am yet to decide on separate or a big group frame - need to make a bit of wall space for these. Shannon does the best originals as well!!! I have one already and have purchased some for friends - she rocks !!!

So that managed to get us until morning tea time - I'll post the rest tomorrow (fingers crossed). There will be cupcakes, cushions (Can't show you those) a beautiful brooch I bought at the market and some crabby shop keepers !

Whizzme, Teacup, Aunty cookie, Lark, Three buttons - hmmmm perhaps I should have asked for autographs...

Corners, cutting and coats !

Today I worked on my zipper problems and am quite pleased with this one !

I have decided what I am doing with this fantabulous fabric

and I am going to use this fabric to make a zakka project for this months whip-up challenge.
This fabric was the lining of a child's coat that I found in an op-shop recently. It just jumped out at me !!! So a few dollars later and some unpicking, washing etc and I have this gorgeous fabric. It has heaps of text but I am not sure what language it is in.

It is really detailed with little assembly diagrams - it makes me think of spies sewing maps and plans into the lining of their coats.

Just think..... some spy is out there wondering what happened to agent X - the child agent who had the secret plans artfully hidden inside his jacket.

In a week or so he will know. As he casually browses the Whiplash site ( yes of course all international spies keep up with Whip up !) he will scream "Egads ! " (that's the sort of thing spies scream I believe) and he will pound his fist on the keyboard crying "foiled again !" as he realise his plans are now part of a lovely little bucket and his hopes of world domination are over.

Softie !

Hello !!!!

Jodie has been busy trying to finish off a few projects this weekend. So far I have only seen one thing get finished but I have noticed lots of fussing about with Mr Gocco.

I have also seen her fiddling with NEW fabric but can't quite make out what she is up to

She did make the radical statement early this morning that she would actually be vacuuming the sewing room today ....hmmmpfff.

I am not even sure there is a floor in here. All I can see is fabric and a hacksaw and a staplegun, three trolleys, more fabric and loads of stuff on top of stuff on top of other stuff

She is all over the place, at the sewing machine, at the ironing board, back to the sewing machine, scribbling on bits of paper. Pins in her mouth !

Do you think now would be a good time to remind her that I have no tail?

Whatever gets you through !

This week at the job was one of those weeks that you just have to cope with . You know, keep your head down, grit your teeth and get through it. I figure everyone has those weeks occasionally so here is my not-yet-patented method for getting through it !

Monday

• Ignore the work piling up on the desk. Grab a load of important papers and rush out the door at lunch time. Head for the nearest op-shop and buy something lovely.
  
  Tuesday

• Design and draw cushion for the Ballarat patchwork Cushion challenge during staff meeting. Maintain an air of intelligence and try to perfect the I-am-so-interested-in-what-you-are-saying-I-am-just-going-to-have-to-take-notes kind of look. (It takes practice but it is one of those skills that come in handy)
  
  Wednesday

• Attend daughters concert, a local fundraiser for drought relief. Realise you are one of the oldest people there and that the boys in the band are not actually singing in a foreign language - you just can't understand them. Resist the urge to tell them to pull up their pants.
• Give yourself permission to leave at interval and pick up daughter later ! Go home and do a little stitchin'

Thursday

• Have lunch with a friend - better still have noodles with a friend.
• Get a package in the mail - who cares if it something you paid for and not a real-life actual present. In fact buy yourself something that has to be posted - parcels in the mail are the best !
• Drink red wine (This step may be used at any time during the week and as many times as necessary)

Friday

Stay home, blog, read others blogs, finish project so you can blog Saturday.

Bad week nearly forgotten !!!!

Check this out !!!

Hiya - I am mid project here , just taking a little blog break to let you know that there is a great tutorial over at Amanda Edwards . It is seriously cool.

I have also been trying to get these guys into my header but obviously I am a complete dimwit because it will not work.

I'll catch up with my four Pay It forward people soon I promise.

Presents !!!

Present for a Friend

This is a belated present for one of my gorgeous friends. It is a craft cushion, featuring every bit of crafty fabric I could find in the stash and a few of her favourites as well. Some embroidery and wonky logs and hey presto !!!

This little embroidery is a design by the most talented Aunty Cookie ? Do you like the bit that says " Nimble fingers required" ? That is one of Aunty Cookies fabrics too, as well as the other texty piece. I have some of Shannon's great art as well and I just find I love everything she does. She is like uber-talented, a Renaissance crafter - drawing, sewing, goccoing, and now even badges.

I can't wait to buy more of her stuff at the Magnolia Square market. I wonder if I'll be brave enough to say HI?

If you haven't "met" Aunty cookie pop on over now - I'm sure she's there.

Presents for you guys !

Pay It Forward !!

I have no idea about the Pay it Forward movie but I love the idea of giving things away so I have joined The Pay it Forward Exchange over at Fiona's blog .
Here is how it works -( copied from Fiona)

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange!I don't know what that gift will be yet, and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week...LOL... but you will receive it within 365 days, that's a promise! and it will be something yummy!!The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog...

However I will add that you will receive it within a month because if I don't do it by then I will forget to do it at all. I have no idea what the gift will be but I will do my best. (Not a wonky purse I promise) So there you go - first three to make the same promise are my prizewinners - Couldn't be easier.

And the buttons? Well they are a pressie for me that I grabbed at the op-shop today. A huge jar for $6.

One day I will show you my button collection - and that is a threat !

Crafting (not quite) disaster

Old purse

(old, grungy and way too small for all the crap I keep in there).

I tend to tuck all my receipts into my "craft Purse" and this one just isn't big enough - It must be 3 years old or more, so todayI decided to make the new purse.

A bit of selvedge, some plastic and fabric and voila!!! (or not)

OK , So I can live with the fact that it looks a bit like a toiletry bag - but I hate the whole zipper bit and I am not happy with the artfully angled top corners (they are not artful at all, all those layers of plastic mean that is as far as I can turn the corners out).

Blah !

Mind you - the Teflon foot made that top stitching a breeze.