pom pom tea cozys and owls

This is the little owl complete with pom pom nest and (crocheted)mushroom snack.

He's on his way to my dad, with some little gingerbread-babies, sure to raise a smile?

It was fun making owl and especially adding the rick rack trim... love rick rack. Even the word is great!

And this was a gift I made a couple months back for my friend Teresa, for her birthday. It is a super kitsch pompom tea cosy and took an ridiculous amount of both time and pompoms to make, but it is pretty funny. It is the drag queen of the tea cozy world, all colour and glitter...and as I added the pompoms to an existing tea cozy(picked up from an op shop) there was no hassle of making that up.

It took approximately 7 hours to assemble...I was bored out of my brain so I watched some dvds, including Borat and little miss sunshine and a terrible movie with catherine zeta jones in it which I refuse to even name because it was so bad.

I hope everyone is enjoying this warmer weather and is getting out and about. I got 2 thumbs up from my littlest son yesterday for taking him to the southbank beach area, it has great squirting water features and is totally free.

xdash

new things...fun, fun, fun.

I am a happy little camper with my 2 juicy new sewing/plush b'day books full of inspiring goodness.

One is 'bend the rules sewing' and it is written by Amy Carol who is pretty "big" in the blogging community with her crafty-cooking blog http://angrychicken.typepad.com/ It has lots of cool easy sewing projects and is designed to introduce sewing to absolute beginners in a fun and friendly way.

First up I need to make the woodland elf hats,

not only for me and my boys but don't you agree this one would look a bit special in one as well?

The other book is 'plush you' by Kristen Rask

who is a toy store owner and gallery curator.

http://www.schmancytoys.com/

It is chock a block full of the cutest and oddest little soft toys you could imagine...plus tips and advice. Out of all the how-to toy books I have seen this is easilly the most open ended, much more than a pattern book. I love all the different toy makers question and answer details and the special little tips. Oh and if you get your hands on a copy, check out the authors photograph, she is as cute as any of the toys.

My dad is not well right now so I need to make him an owl like this, asap. Someone to watch over him, right?

So with all this sewing to be going on with, where shall I find time to crochet!?

Never fear, I have found time lately to whip up this brooch...

and this purse...

and this brooch...

and I am working on of all things a mushroom, yep, a crocheted mushy. Will post as soon as it is fully 'grown'

xdash

hoppy brithday

One word is sometimes all you need.

Gratitude.

melbourne graffitti

Just a short post today, following up once again from my little whirlwind trip down south. It would be nice to have some photos of some completed purses and other objects but I have been struck down with some virus or other so I will use this opportunity to revisit my love affair with Melbourne!!!

My god, I loved all the street art, stenciled, pasted, sprayed, its everywhere. I was like a kid in a candy shop.

This was a more obvious styled graffitti, but it caught my eye because of the lovely blending of the pretty colours...

Melbourne has a lot of grey walls, and a lot of grey skies, so these hits of colour make the place come alive.

It's obvious, art and culture is really important, design and image are present everywhere, from cafes decorated beautifully with cute paintings, to street signs to fashion shops with ceiling murals.

Another good thing that happened was meeting some inspiring people. One person I was lucky to meet at the thread den market was Katja, who is the creator of these sweet pieces of lovelieness. This is a beautiful journal she has made from recycled materials...sigh, so sweet, hey?

It was great to talk with someone who has a similar philosophy, and who makes such stunning things out of found objects and remnants. You can check out her stuff here: katja8.etsy.com and she will be selling her work at these markets; http://www.roundshegoes.com.au/Site/Home.html so keep October the 19th free.

Brisbane still has my heart though, and I am inspired by so many things around me, the weather is glorious again, the colours bursting out all over!

hope you're enjoying these days tooo000!

xkate

spring days

Spring has sprung. Along with my youngest son, I visited the botanical gardens in Redcliffe today. We checked out all the fantastic colours, flowers, leaves, bark, water reflections. In between wanderings, I lay beside my son on a blanket crocheting.

I have quite a collection of wools and was recently given 3 extra bags so I literally have no room to store it all anymore. Instead of trying to make it fit, I am instead using it as fast as I can! A pile of crocheted rectangles and lining fabrics will hopefully be purses by the end of this week.

The wools are mostly organic, 100% wool and have been dyed with a mixture of natural and chemical dyes. They are so beautiful and soft to use, I am seriously worried they will spoil ordinary wool for me!!

I am turning over the thought now of experimenting with dyeing. I keep dreaming up gorgeous shades of custom dyed wools. Mmmm, rich reddish brown, like the colour of the moist, delicious chocolate mud cake from the Three Monkeys Café in West End or y’know so I have been told…ahem. Okay, I need to get out more!! It’s just the idea of using specifically coloured wools to create things excites me…this much!!

I stumbled across this Anais Nin quote while reading (for the second time) The Hip Mama Survival Guide by Ariel Gore. By the way, I recommend this book in a HUGE way. Who could not love a writer who advises if anyone gives a breastfeeding mum a dirty look for nursing her toddler in public, she should "squirt 'em in the eye." Not a mother but a motherrrrr!

Anyhow, the quote below sums up how I am feeling about spring and kids and life as I love living it so I thought I’d share it here;

“The presence of young lightens the world and changes it from an oppressive, definite, solidified one, to a fluid, potentially marvellous, as-yet-to-be-created world”

but in case you think, wow she is deep, there was also this one…

‘I did what I could and I deserve a beer” Thanks to Ani di Franco.

…which maybe I liked as much if not more than the first.

Anyway, ‘stick around for joy’

and check this out…. http://www.hipmama.com/

and this…. http://www.righteousbabe.com/ani/

P.S-I also recently checked out a cool book on the art of amigurumi, which is a Japanese craft of crocheting small cute animals. And I love this.

Victorias charms...

Well it seems I am back in Brisbane, I am slowly thawing out and am ready to update...

I so loved my trip. I spent one day in Ballarat with my dear brother and his family and was given so much. Sam gave me a amazingly generous load of wool and the gift of fun and play with my niece and nephews was priceless.

We visited a gloriously huge sized park, which I have dubbed the hundred acre woods and it was such a fun way to start my holiday, romping around with my little loves.

I had to leave them, all too soon, and head back to Melbourne for the thread den fundraising night. The show night was y'know fashion, frivolity, freezing. There were many chats about clothes and detailing and oohing and ahhing. The clothing was beautiful and I met some really sweet people, doing things that I really admired and felt inspired by.

I got some great ideas and feel really supported by the response to my projects and the pieces I had bought along.

This sample scottie dog felt brooch was popular and didn't return home, but I know he is in good hands.

I woke up Saturday morning with a bit of a flu but refused to surrender to it! As I wandered about lusting over way too expensive designer everythings I occasionally took breaks and hit myself up with juice blends. I had an amazing juicy power drink from a cafe called 'sustenance' So to the naturopath that works there(yes, a consulting naturopath in a cafe, how cool is that!?), your mix really did seem to help, thanks!

I also think florentines may well have undiscovered healing powers, in any case I am happy to be a guinea pig in any potential florentine medical trials!!

Melbourne is such a mixture of high art and design and street art and street life....it spins me out...the close proximity of the grand with the gross is amusing. I will finish up now on my favourite sight of all in Melbourne, it just made me laugh...