Eye on the prize

The weekend before last I toddled off to the Finders Keepers Market in Melbourne.

I was on a mission !

1st stop - The best Aunty in blogland for a few bits and bobs and a chat with her and Kirsty

Shannon's stall looked great and she and Kirst cracked me up with their stitching conversation.

2nd stop - Yardage design - you guys remember Nic, and her beautiful bunting....

well you can see why I needed to have some of this new fabric as well. It is divine and appeals to my love of typography in a big way.

Then, with my eye on the prize, I sought out Victoria Mason (who is just lovely by the way)

and bought my hearts desire.

Sunday

It was some time last term when the quality control officers got a peek at the first peanut-headed draft of these guys. I tell you, I am not built for speed.

11.30- wool felt , stuffing pellets and stuffing. These guys are FIRM !

12.05 - Some clothing

2 pm -Some teensy arms

3 pm - Some straps, some tidying.....

And in a fit of who knows what, last night I joined facebook. After waxing lyrical about wanting to set up a business page but not really wanting all the drama of 'friends' and stuff, I decided to bite the bullet.

I joined and I have a page and I have a business page but I ticked or unticked or double clicked somewhere I shouldn't because I don't exist.... I mean I know I am there, but no-one else can find me, which surely defeats the whole bloody purpose.

I'm over it already!

Over share?

Yesterday I was answering an email about doctors flannel and wool felt, and it occurred to me ( not for the first time) that I really should just have a little explanation that I can send people when they ask those questions. A fact sheet.......So that got me thinking about some of the things people ask me about and I thought I might add a FAQ page to the blog.

So this is your opportunity - ask away. Send me your questions and I'll make a little page with all the answers. Open slather. Crafty questions, bloggy questions...ummmm whatever else you might think I know.

and while I'm here banging on about myself , I have to thank some people for featuring me on their blogs in the last wee while,

The gorgeous Miss L of Tialys who featured Baxter

Erika of Weallsew who is featuring my blog next week

Craftymummy who posted about the craft clock

and Ursula who popped my teapot in her round-up and whose blog I seem to have lost.....

Its cold and wet here today and I am at home in my track pants. The parcel man has visited and given me a gorgeous present and there is a small knight calling plaintively from the sewing machine......

Go on don't be shy......... just ask !

While you were away

So, while you were off reading Baxter, I was, for the most part on school holidays.

You know, those holidays where I was going to get heaps of 'stuff' done. I was going to revisit my fox, work on the circle quilt, write three squillion new patterns, save the world?

Well, I made a new bag (which I was supposed to do in August at Sewjourn.....)

and although it is a mighty fine bag , with delicious front panel made from a hand printed Green Olive designs tea-towel.... I'm not really sure where those two weeks went.

I did visit daylesford Makers Market and chance upon the delightful Beccasauraus, who presented me with a gift for wishing her a 'Happy Blogtoberfest'.

But mostly it was me and my team of staff working in the state of the art studio, revelling in all the mod-cons as we worked to create our little story .

(Technical specifications : Sauce jars for ballast)

Art is hard work, while Lou got horizontal to fully appreciate an installation at the gallery, Baxter apparently fainted and face-planted into a piece of modern art. The resulting nose-bleed added a new dimension to the piece. Note bench still attached to Baxter's bum.

Studio shot of all my willing helpers. Kitchen skewers one and two (look carefully under Lou's back) were indispensable additions to the holiday staff. Pantry wide open for ease of snacking and potatoes I'm guessing in a plastic bag on the end of the bench. Back wall held up by what appears to be a wine-box.

I'm just waiting for the magazines to contact me for a studio tour!!

Baxter Interuptus

Sorry about the interruption guys, I just had to pop over and let you know that I have been playing over on Whip-Up . Kathreen of Whip-up asked some bloggers, including me, to do a guest post while she is spending some holiday time with her family. Have you been following the guest blogger series?

I mean you all subscribe to Whip-up don't you?

Its one of the best crafty round-ups on the web...

So here, at long last for some of you I know, are the teeny party turtles.

You can pop over to the sidebar and download the whole kit and kaboodle!Thanks Kathreen, it was fun to have a turn in your chair !

Baxter will be back later today, and just a quick thanks guys for indulging me with my Baxter story. I can't really explain how much I enjoy making all that stuff and setting it up and cracking myself up over little things........anyway thanks.

Could you just lift your feet?

I have been having a bit of a blog-tidy for the start of the holidays. It has always bothered me that when I make stories on my blog, they run backwards, and they have other posts in the middle and generally aren't all that readable.

So yesterday I made two new pages...see up there under the header? I made a new page for Ernst's story and a new page for the Bus Stop story (that bus stop page took hours !!!!! I am not joking, so if it's a bit wonky just don't tell me, I am ignoring it!).

This is one of two cushions covers I whipped up on Monday from the delightful new range of fabrics from the talented Melly for Creative Abundance. The fabric is called 'Where the wind blows' and it features whimsical hot air balloons, little seedy pods , flowers, butterflies, and my favourites, the pinwheels. It also has the teeniest tiny text on it that just killed me when I saw it.

Melly generously sent me a stack of fat quarters - see no matter how much I want to seethe with jealousy over her amazing talents, she subverts me by being totally gorgeous and generous ! This new line of fabric will be available in a few weeks , so have a quiet word in the ear of your local patchwork / craft shop owner and get your hands on some.

Tonight, I am attending the ASG Convention as a guest, after-dinner speaker. In some ways I am quite calm about these speaking things - I mean, I get to talk about sewing and blogging so its not as if I will run out of things to say......but this is the first time I am 'talking' outside my comfort zone. The other times I have always had a fairly stacked audience with at least the odd half-dozen bloggers that I 'blog-know' smiling and nodding at me from their seats. I have to admit to having the weird stomach flip-flops when I think about tonight. I mean this is a guild for goodness sake, a guild ! What if there is a secret handshake? Hell what if they take one look at my 'stuff ' and kick me out.... I'm hoping they serve the audience alcohol at dinner.

Decorum...........

Yesterday afternoon Mr Ric-Rac and I headed off to Bendigo to see, once again, the freaky genius of the John Butler trio. Sometime after lunch Mr Ric-Rac enquired as to whether I had my car-craft planned. YIKES ! With Izzy's embroidered dress completed I had nothing to do....

But there is always something on the back burner... Its not perfect by a long shot, but it was quick and fun and car-friendly

and shows a surprising amount of decorum.......

Obviously I am still not quite myself.