crochet power

Hello! I had such a lovely day in the King George Square today teaching crochet and chatting with visitors to the Brisbane Saviours of the lost arts festival and market.

Thanks very much to the organisers, to Sally for inviting me to join, to Penny and Mel who came on board at the last minute and to all lovely women who came and sat with me and gave crochet a go!

For the newies; I hope you find a good crochet/knitting group nearby to continue your good work-here's some links to some groups in Brisbane where you can find out about meet ups and projects...good luck!

Stitch n bitch

brisbane brown owls

Knitting for needy and this site is the ultimate resource for knitting/crochet-ravelry

(I'm dash-robin on ravelry and don't forget you can find me at Village life market, Northey street, Windsor, Sundays 8-12.)

I was really impressed by every ones skills, patience and enthusiasm today and was so happy to see those newly made crochet flowers going home with excited new crocheters...

I forgot to take my camera and as I spent most of my waking hours the past few days making lots of the crochet flowers which decorated the square I am a little annoyed with myself right now!

But the space and indeed us crafters seemed to be the subject of about a billion photos!

(No offence to anyone snapping away, because I love taking pictures too, but my word, it was like crafting paparazzi!), if anyone has any photos of the events please let me know! I'd love to share them...

xKate

blog with bunny

Before my special house guest Lucy heads off today I need to whip up a little parting gift for her...a scarf like this...but it won't take long...she's pretty little!

She came with me to lots of places...friends, markets, cafes, gallery openings(!), gardens, classes-I toted her along in my bag and she behaved beautifully!

She had to sample a organic hazlenut and apricot tart from Sol bread

And enjoyed viewing the Brisbane river from Kangaroo point cliffs.

She's setting a good example by travelling safely between destinations!

In Windsor she met the much loved chooks of the Northey street city farm and joined me and Luka wandering around the grounds seeing the lovely kids spaces on Sunday and meeting the Village life stall holders...

And to end on a high note she had a look at the giant kites flown by the Queensland kite club in Clontarf (on Moreton bay) We are going to miss her SOOOOO much, she was utterly adored by everyone who met her...(in fact she even did a side trip to another bloggers place which I will update about soon)...but in the meanwhile big thanks to Jenni from Baa me knits for making her and making this story happen, its been really fun!

She's off to Sunshine? Paradise? blog next so keep tuned!

xoKate

small world

Northey street city farm is a beautiful place to be studying permaculture...all the little things...

Join me there on Sunday if you'd like-8-12 at Village life market. I will have my own dash robin goodies and am excited to be sharing a stall with Lynne who makes beautiful jewellery using recycled silver and Australian made glass beads.

From 10-11 a.m this Sunday at the main stage on the farm grounds some folks may also wish to join me in creating a new informal group-'Village life wrap with love crochet/knitting circle'...we'll be making squares to go off to this organisation...

xKate

let us belong

Hello,

I am so excited to share a lovely gift I received this week from lovely Cath, who makes beautiful items-she also has the cutest store names; chunky chooky and my bearded pigeon. Isn't this the sweetest cushion?

I love the spirit of inclusion in the message and the simple bold graphic, thanks Cath.

Would you like to learn more about the facts about refugees? This site is a great place to start. I have been heartened to hear some beautiful stories of community spirit- some of Brisbanes' newest arrivals have been lending a hand during the floods. One small example is the charming Sri Lankan community members who cooked up delicious curries to feed volunteers-beautiful!

And speaking of community spirit this doll has been sent off to 'hope softys' appeal. You might have seen my first attempt back a post-I wasn't 100% about it but sent it together with this one for the children who have been flooded out of their homes. You can find out to have some crafting fun and help brighten a littlys day here...

xoKate

the definition of sweet

hello! I hope this little selection of images gives you some inspiration, specifically cute and sweet creative inspiration!

The very clever Steph of mon petit poppet is organising something very special over here. She is encouraging anyone crafty to join her in making 'hope softies'

Special little handmade toys for the families who have lost thier homes and everything in them during the recent Qld floods. There are thousands of people in evacuation centres, these toys will go to them.

So tonight I will be gathering some of my favourite fabrics and my softies books and will be trying to create something adorable ...won't you join in?

Cute little toys

and just to finish on an ultra cute note...puppies!!

I will update tomorrow with the finished toy!

xKate

Floods and the bay

Hello,

This is the waterfront of the Moreton bay, near my house.

This was taken before the recent floods.

And these are after.

A tank and large pontoons.

Garden soil, plants and trees.

The high tide.

It's wonderful some areas are being cleaned but from here the view is not so good-the job is enormous and we need to help and be helped with it.

To register to help locally go here.

To support local craft workers and donate to the flood appeal go to my etsy store here

and BrisStyles handmade ark appeal.

On Saturday we managed with some wonderful volunteers to perform a miracle mammoth clean up at Northey street community farm. On Sunday we held a combined organic and village life markets in the Northey Street farm carpark.

Gumnut hill stationery, Luvya doll, Fauve fibres and my own dash robin stall raised funds for the flood appeal reaching a total donation of over $200.

For those of you who visited us and are helping in any way to contribute to the flood appeals and clean up efforts all that you are doing is being deeply appreciated.

Best wishes to all,

X Kate

Market update

Hello all,

I will be donating 50% of all my sales to the Premiers disaster relief appeal this Sunday. I am setting up at Northey Streets market held in the Northey street car park in Windsor, early Sunday morning til 10.30.

The nursery and toilets will be open as usual.

xKate

Brisbane floods

My heart goes out to all who are suffering, especially at this point in time by the floods. I am safe and the area of Brisbane I live in is not expected to flood and didn't flood during the 1974 Brisbane floods. If you'd like you can direct your concerns in a meaningful way to people who are genuinely in need of them by donating to red cross. They are working here and in many other parts of the world where people are suffering.

I feel shocked by what has happened in the Lockyer valley and Toowoomba. It has been a wearying time and I wish all well who read this, we will all be together soon and helping each other out as best we can. Northey street farm is closed until further notice, keep an eye on the website for further updates.

'Through our hopes and fears, our pleasures and pains we are deeply interconnected.'

Pema Chodron, 'comfortable with uncertainty'

xKate

Hello all! I am down to my 2 last markets for the year this weekend! I can't believe how quickly this year has gone by and how much has been going on! I am heading down to Victoria to spend some good solid time with my family in the town where I grew up. It has a beautiful river with red gums growing on the banks and it should be looking pretty healthy as the rains have been falling there.
What are your holiday plans? I plan to read and take photographs of the special places I loved from my childhood.
These are the books I picked up from my local library;
Last Child in the woods by Richard louv, which is about why we ate spending less time amongst nature and how this can be changed.
The social entrepeneur by Andrew mawson, which looks into social enterprises and is written by one of the leading writers and planners in this field,
and last but not least ;Kitchen table sustainability by Wendy saarkissian, which is about too much and which is too good to try and sum up here. I would link for you but my iPhone says 'no' so google them! :0)
I am having my second last stall (for the year) tonight at the avid reader bookstore, which is hosting a booklaunch at the same time.
The book is one I am yet to see is a handmade craft special, and it will be interesting to meet some of the contributors of the book and even see 'for real' what they have made! Books and craft-yay!
If you'd like to come along; avid reader, boundary street, west end, Friday night- tonight( think my blog date is out of whack for some reason)
From 5.30-8.
Cheers xkate

wet weather events

Hello! Sorry I have not been posting much lately-my home computer internet connections is on the blink, and relying heavily on my iphone and wireless cafes is not working out so well...I hope to get it all fixed soon.

Anyhoo-today I am online with my trusty usb stick at my lovely friend Sams! Thanks dear one!! LOTS and LOTS going on...will start with the good news...

The fundraiser at Reverse Garbage went brilliantly-the organisers did an amazing job; the space looked wonderful and the food was delicious and presented so creatively!

The whole feel of the night was so good natured, the live music and the auction was exciting-its a thrill to see the crowd joining in the fun and chipping in towards the fundraising! The event kick starts the fundraising process-for the the purchase of a permanent home, a purpose bought Reverse Garbage building. I would love to see this come into fruition!
I am thrilled to have a selection of my dash robin pieces in the gallery store.

I chose some Christmas style items;, some of my partridges, jacaranda brooches and few other good gift giving ones. Reverse garbage receives a percentage for these
sales, I am really happy to know that commission fee is going to a good cause!




So that was the highlight of the week. The rest though was more like a series of lowlights! Yesterday I spent some time reflecting and regathering my spirits with the help of this little love, curling up on my lap, purring and basically letting me be quiet and down. The disheartened feelings I had when two highly anticipated weekend markets were totally washed out left me very flat. This is the not so cheerful part! My hope and optimism about this business is at a low point.
Saturdays Christmas Brisstyle market was hit by such extreme weather, high winds whipping up and absolute down pouring of rains. Unfortunately quite a few of us had wet stock but the efforts of the organisers are appreciated. Helen was racing around with plastic sheeting and trying to keep every ones spirits up despite how frustrating it must have been for her, it was nothing short of spectacular and inspiring.

On Sunday I did not have high hopes for a clear skied day. I gathered at Northey street with the few brave souls who had travelled to our market site. Bob soothed our souls with some amazing music, the acoustics of playing under food connects huge new tent and heavy rain was so moving it raised goosebumps.

I felt negative and bitter and without the kindness and gentle support of everyone around me I would have felt worse-this was the site where one of the stall holders was meant to be!

Can you believe it?!?!
These feelings pass, Buddhism and counselling have given me some small seeds of patience and in some ways I know I am and even
feel lucky. Knowing this is passing disappointment, not genuine depression. I hope and work towards never facing depression again, I had a terrible time in the past with it and am thankful to have mental stability.

So instead of surrendering to feelings of failure I am cherishing simple little happy tasks, one at at time, and holding fast to moments of joy,

xoKate.

Hello! I am feeling full and lazy because I have been enjoying some yummy pain du campagne bread today. I picked up a loaf from Sol bread which is my fave bakery chain in Brisbane, they have shops in West end and New farm, a stall at Northey streets Sunday market, and maybe even more places, not sure?
Anyway, they make all sorts of breads, but specialise in sourdough. By happy coincidence my taste buds specialise in sourdough :o)

I stopped in quickly after dropping off some brooches and toys to Echoes Giftshop, in West end. Echoes is inside the premises of Reverse garbage and to have your work stocked there you have to use at least 75% recycled or reused materials. They take work on consignment(yay-no upfront fees!) and proceeds go back into their organisation to fund their education programs.


These brooches are a good example of the kind of thing I am interested in; re-purposing high quality materials. These are discs of thick clean white felt, used in the transportation of glassware, afterwards instead of ending up in landfill, these are collected by Reverse garbage. I purchased them from their shop front, decorated them with embroidery, stitched a brooch backing onto them and now they have returned to the premises, in the gift shop for sale. The only thing I have not yet found are recycled brooch pins. If anyone has any leads on this I'd love to hear of them, as my aim is to use only recycled items.

I am happy to have been able to create this 100% recycled baby cloud toy. I filled it with ordinary polyester stuffing offcuts from an upholsterers, which are again, from reverse garbage- clean, fresh and totally usable.
The bird symbol was a fine red woollen jumper, felted, and the white material is again, reverse garbage offcuts, from clothing manufacturing. Even the sewing thread is from reverse garbage!
I love using stuff which was otherwise destined to become rubbish-it really feels great, and seems so useful. Why do we continue to buy new materials, and manufacture and import so much stuff when we have vast stores of things, overflowing, cluttering up homes and businesses?

There are some things we have to buy new of course, but lots of crafting supplies, I suggest we simply buy new, without really considering the impact, source, workers who've made them ,etc, etc...
Anyway, I feel so passionate about this but will stop now to hopefully avoid becoming a 'ranter' !
Before I sign off I thought I'd show you my new glasses, picked up just today-how strangely comfortable they are to wear! I thought they'd be heavy and hurt my nose as I have never worn glasses before, but they feel great...what do you think?
My goofball son is pulling a face to show what he thinks of them, he told me, "you look good in them" after a pause, he amended it to 'not really good, but good."
Hope you're having a really good week,
xkate

Did you go to the Christmas market ? Wasn't it sweet?
From my perspective, turning up and setting up, and not having any other responsibilities on the night when I have my kids with me is fantastic.
The spaces are allocated and the tables all set, I just have to put out my pieces.
And littlest one even helped stock my table by whipping up some quick paintings.
He sold this one last night and a few more today and was stoked to make enough to get a book ('Roll over pavlova' ) with the proceeds on the way home.



I created these new birds yesterday-lambswool felt from upcycled knit wear, red linen vintage fabric on the back, filling from reverse garbage and recycled yarn wings!
Even the floss embroidery thread (eyes) was scored from an op shop-so pleased to be able to get some great high quality materials, locally and give them a new use. They are sort of chick/partridge like and they are lovely to hold and to prop against each other. I am not too humble to admit I really love them!

Can you spot them amongst the spread of goodies here? This is the pop up shop Chrissy, Sam and I created today, outside lovely Michelle's nook shop. Along the front here is some apron decorating-it seems the love of old aprons goes hand in hand with crafting, between us we have quite the collection! It all looked very pretty!


We enjoyed ourselves and all left for home with some spending money and some swapped treasures- some dash robin bird brooches and a toy cat were exchanged for a gorgeous whale water painting print from Jettas nest (Sam)and fabbo necklace and ring from my nostaligic feeling (Chrissy)
I love swapsys' at markets!
hope you're enjoying your weekend,
xkate

Donate today!

Northey street community farm is an amazing place, one that has given me many opportunities to learn and meet like minded people.
To find out for yourself about how Northey street supports social enterprise, local community, environmental awareness and education and much, much more read here...
and for the whole month of November and December Jack Johnson is matching dollar for dollar all donations recieved up to a value of US $2500.
Almost makes me want to sing for joy, but hmm, I think I will leave that to the experts!!
'wrong turn' is my favourite Jack Johnson song....whats yours?

xKate

Hello, hello. These are shots around Northey street from Sunday, it was lovely strolling about with a cup of chai in hand. I know I bang on about it but it's such a beautiful space. My favourite things are the flowers,

the cakes
the chooks
and the shady resting spots. Bliss.

It's been a pretty restful couple days, my littlest one has been home sick so we did a bit of painting together...I was tinkering about with an old sheet of music...


my son calls it doctor love(hee, hee!)
xKate