Ron & Audrey

Way back in 2013, I was involved in the  Red Nose Day Dolls. I made a little doll called Maisie, and she, along with lots of other wonderful items were auctioned to raise money for Comic Relief. They raised oodles of money and it was an awesome project to be involved in.

Then the wondrous Mrs Pebbles came up with a Bigger Brighter Better plan. She teamed up with some clever folks and the team behind Mollie Makes to create The Big Comic Relief Crafternoon.

The Big Comic Relief Crafternoon magazine is full of super wonderful projects and interesting tidbits. 

There is a host of projects including knitted beards, crochet red noses, exquisite knickers, DIY craft themed dinner plates, Spring-themed brooches and wrist warmers and, my friends, Ron and Audrey.

This super special edition of Mollie Makes goes on sale in Sainsbury's for £7.99 and £5 of that goes to Comic Relief to support their wonderful projects. Here in Australia, we should be able to get a copy on itunes. (I'll keep you posted on that).

Lots and lots of people have been involved in this massive project, donating their time, and their projects including. Lucy of Attic 24, Flossie Teacakes, Lynda Lewis from the Great British Sewing Bee, Oh No Rachio, and the wondrous Mrs Pebbles. 

  

My contribution is Ron (above) and his dear friend Audrey (below). You may have seen them prancing about on social media lately. In fact you can watch a wee stop motion video of them on youtube !

This project was actually a bit of a challenge for me - it is not often that I try and make realistic looking animals and it dumbfounded me to begin with.

But once I added some little dress up coats to the pattern, I felt much more at ease. Ron and Audrey are included in the magazine in a full step-by-step tutorial. 

The magazine also includes instructions for running your own gala craft day so you could craft up a storm and sell your creations to support Comic Relief.

Last time I was involved in this fundraiser I remember saying that sometimes, being the maker  of things small and useless becomes bigger than small and useless.

I stand by that, but it takes more than all of the many makers to make something like this happen, it takes people like Emma to dream up these huge ideas and then to set about making them happen. I am so amazed and in awe of my blog-friend. 

She is an egg of the very finest order.

Please share this on your channels, your bookfaces and your what evers. Go to the facebook page and give them a like - spread the word.

Look closely

The holiday boss almost cracked a smile !

R.I.P Blog

With this morning set aside for computery stuff  I found myself looking at my blog roll.

I expanded the list and found all the blogs right at the bottom .

 Sorted by most recent posts, those are blogs haven't posted for a year or two or even longer. They are not coming back I told myself as I deleted them from my blog roll. I felt a bit sad that some of the blogs had completely disappeared,  removed from the interwebs, just a little broken link remaining.

 I could be doing a wrap up post - you know, a montage of last year and I will probably get to it eventually but for now I am holidaying a bit (photos from a trip to Sovereign Hill) and sewing some new crazy ideas that were supposed to be easy-peasy and turned into Oh Will These French |Knots Never End ?

 Are you into the whole pick a word for the new year bizzo ? Do you pink Connection and spend the year devoted to family? Do you pink Strength and tackle some of the hard bits of life?

It is not really my thing but I have been pressed by a friend to give it a go - she swears it keeps her on track for the year ahead... 

So the Ric Rac word of 2015 is

DIPSTICK

May 2015 be full of dipstickery of the highest order. May we pee our pants laughing at our friends, our fluff-ups and ourselves.

My New Career

as any form of legal eagle is not looking promising.

Over the last few weeks I have been trying to get my head around the changes to VAT.  (Very Angry Tax). It is boring so I'll give you the quickie version.

• If you sell digital products to anyone in the EU (European Union) you must register, calculate, collect and pay VAT (Value added tax) in the country of your buyer. (yep PDF sewing patterns included).
• You will need to register for this, in each country separately.
• You will require two pieces of evidence proving where your customer is from and you will need to keep this information and the transaction information for ten years.

So if I have customers in the UK I must comply to the UK VAT thresholds and percentages, Sweden -different again, France, different again and so on and so forth.

I have followed about eleventy million threads and forums on this topic. I thought I had some answers but they have contradicted and counter-contradicted on a daily basis. 

I cannot see any possible way to make this work - and to be perfectly honest folks, I just want to make stuff. I don't want to be stressing over this crap and keeping peoples private information or spending my time learning about tax law.

As of January 1st I will no longer be able to offer PDF sales to people from the EU.  I will be limiting the locations available within my Big Cartel store to reflect this. 

I am really sorry guys. I only ever began PDF sales because so many people don't have stockists of paper patterns near them or even in their country.

If you want to grab anything from the shop before January 1st, just enter the code VATSUX into the checkout and you will receive 20% off your order no matter where you live.

I'll keep you posted.

Jod

x

How's it looking?

You OK ?

Under control?

Did you nab that last virgin goat testicle after driving to seventeen delicatessens? 

Are you festively cheerful or talking through clenched teeth?

I am eating toast  and thinking about squeezing some sewing room time into my afternoon. I hope the next few days are awesome for you - in whichever ways float your holiday boat!

big loves,

jod

x

truth and lies

 I finished work on Wednesday so this bright Friday morning sees me totally in control of the whole Christmas debacle. The baking is done, The house is decorated and the good-cheer and festive warmth are oozing from every pore. (lies)

In my defense I did go into town yesterday. After eleventy trips around the car park, with hooting cars, swearing pedestrians  and a giant festive Elmo playing bagpipes I gave up and came home.

At least Darla has the housework under control. 

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

I guess if the title is true I must be well loved because I sure as hell am finding blog time hard to come by. Mr Ric Rac (still wearing the busted ankle boot) is back at work and things are back to high-speed end of year normal here and at the day job.

I am working on a supersonically huge new project and am struggling and doubting myself and giving up and starting again and obsessing as I always do. I am completely sick of myself, but don't worry, it's often like this and I'll get over myself once I get my head around it.


Here is the little present that I sent out in my newsletter last week . The pattern is completely free and can be downloaded by clicking on the link HERE. It comes with the whole alphabet, so you could, if you had the time and inclination, make a set for your whole family.

Or you could just print out the pattern and gift it with some felt and make them do it themselves .... 

You know, give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to blanket stitch and then he can keep busy while he waits for the fish or something along those lines.

There are a few packs of those coat hangers in my shop if you are keen.