Grand (final) day.

It's days like this that make me glad I'm not running about on a football field, playing a ball game in front of thousands of people.
As the black clouds rolled over Northcote and the rain lashed against the window, I thought about how cosy it was inside.... ...and how much I enjoy retreating to my sewing cave.....
...and how disinterested in football I am .

My Creative Space

Is tidy. A rare thing indeed, to see the surfaces of every table.... I had to photograph it.

Even the wee one's area (back right) was tidied ... as best as could be managed with a wee one in the room.

Oh... the constantly-rummaged-through cutting table stash isn't very tidy, but I didn't see the point in taking things too far.

You might have noticed that my space isn't about interior design... it's about making stuff.

Take a peek into other creative spaces here...

MELTDOWN...

I suppose that everyone is tired of hearing Melbournians complaining about the weather, so I shan't go on about it. It's been a shocking week (on a lot of fronts) in our city and we're all a little frazzled.

Just wanted to drop in to say that we had to shut the studio doors early the last couple of days and head for cooler places. It was intolerable and we couldn't work there, and I certainly couldn't keep a toddler there.

We stayed long enough to process all the orders that had come in and then got the heck outa there. I'm really sorry if we missed your order this afternoon, or (heaven forbid) you travelled to Brunswick especially to see us. We'll catch up with it all on Monday, when it's cool enough to think again.

There has been no product development this week, no Stitches and Craft preparations - only sales and customer service and heat-proofing measures (curtain-making and draping and keeping a small child cool). On every table there is a pile of inspiring fabric, but it's too hot to do anything with them... New pieces - ready to be made into hats and bags...

Large scraps - ready to be made into purses or colour detailing on plain fabric...

Small scraps ready to be made into yo-yos or origami, and a whizzy new Clover gadget yet to be played with...

All lying idle in the fan-forced oven that used to be my studio. Tomorrow's "cool change" (35 degrees!) will hopefully mean that fans will suffice to make the room bearable. I'll try to catch up a little and will keep you updated with finished projects.

Sewing up a storm...

...of the force-9 variety. I've been having a lovely time with an old fashion-industry friend in my studio. We both have lots of projects on the go and have done ABSOLUTELY NO TIDYING since before xmas!!! It's a whirlwind of ideas and a flurry of cutting and sewing action. Garments are appearing as if by magic (...and the studio looks like it's been hit by two hurricanes).

I made this towelling art smock for the wee one, using the trusty 18mm bias tape maker to make the bound edges.

I also pulled out all the knit fabrics in my stash and made a ton of simple little leggings and shorts for my girl, and a simple t-shirt or two for myself. This little dress was whipped together without a proper pattern - a test run that kind-of worked. (shame I didn't iron it before photographing it!).

In order to make it look less like an accidentally-successful-test-run I did a simple bit of couching (zig-zag over yarn) and discovered something new with yo-yos...

You can pass off a slap-dash attitude as "rustic charm" and machine stitch them roughly into place!!! I really like the textural effect, and will be using this method again. I'll even use it on a properly thought-out project.

Other projects on the to-do list....

Unfortunately I think it's a bit unrealistic to expect to finish all I have ear-marked.

I hope you're all enjoying your holidays and wish everyone a happy and creative 2009!!!

On My Desk... Wednesday

Wednesday was all about desks. Building desks. An IKEA extravaganza!Of course, we had a bit of help from the youngest member of the family... The roll of sticky-tape was a small sacrifice for about 40 minutes of uninterrupted desk construction time.

My studio computer now has SPACE!!! We also have new tables for workshops. YIPPEE!!

And look what arrived today.... finally we've found Flat O-Rings in "antique brass" in 32mm and 38mm. Previously we could only get them in 52mm. I could almost eat them.

More desks over at the lovely Kirsty's....

PS. I'm a little behind on website updates. These rings are not there yet, but will be the same price as the silver nickel ones in the same sizes.

Rainy Days and Mondays...

Well, I don't actually mind them that much.
This is the view from my studio window on Saturday. I love looking out at rain from my sewing cave. I feel all snug and comfy, somehow.... almost better than lying in bed listening to rain on the roof.

I love my studio. It's an old classroom on the third level of what used to be a High School Building, and has windows the full length of the room on both the North and South walls. I have LOADS OF NATURAL LIGHT and a clear view over the rooftops of Brunswick (ok, so it's not really picturesque... but I like the sense of space). I watch the city change colour (and sometimes disappear) with the changing weather. I even like looking out at cold, grey, Melbourne winter days.

This was supposed to be a temporary stop-gap studio about three and a half years ago.... Ooops! I forgot to MOVE OUT!! (Would YOU??)

On My Desk.... Wednesday

Clutter. Lots of Clutter. In fact, I have SEVERAL tables and a sewing machine bench full of works in progress, offcuts, tools and various materials queued for new projects.I have so much to do at the moment... patterns to finish, Sydney show organisation, classes to prepare.... it goes on. Today was my one child-free day in the week, and I tried to do EVERYTHING.... SIMULTANEOUSLY, it seems!! Everything was half-done and nothing was tidied up, so the place looks like a small hurricane has passed through.

There are a few desks in the studio NOT pictured here that also saw a bit of action today... just a bit of computery stuff - not too messy. They made for boring photos.

Despite chaotic appearances, I actually did get quite a bit done today (or at least organised IN MY HEAD) and I can always clean up tomorrow.

More On My Desk over at Kirsty's....

Back on the Air!

Oh, those lovely folks, the web hosties... whipped me back onto the WWW, and it's as if I'd never been gone!!

Now I can access it, I'll be tweaking the website to put up some exciting new products (and whittling down the amount of downloads available from the site... sorry). I'll get started just as soon as I finish this post ...and the hot Irish whiskey I'm drinking. (I have a cold and it's the cure. Really. Go to Ireland and ask anyone what you should take for a cold!).

Watch this blog as more HOT TIPS FOR BAG-MAKING tutorials are transferred over here!!!

Not a lot of crafting done today. Not a lot of work done either. I was sick, and feeling very sorry for myself. My back still hurts and I have a rotten cold AND.... my poor wee girl had her first accident involving BLOOD (lots of it). She'll probably have a triangular corner-of-a-sewing-table sized scar on her forehead for life. Apart from that, she's ok. I'm still a little traumatised. She'd never seen blood before, and I'm not sure if I've ever seen QUITE SO MUCH blood before - especially coming out of MY BABY!!!

We were in a wholesale sewing supplies showroom, and luckily we were BOTH looked after by a team of experienced mothers who knew how to calm, apply pressure to wounds and make cups of tea for crying, shaking mothers of injured children. All's well that ends with a banana smoothie at Northland (shopping centre).... we survived.

By the time we got to the studio today it was afternoon, and all I wanted to do was curl up in a corner somewhere and sleep. Instead I did a bit of prep for my purse frame class tomorrow and a little bit of sewing. Thanks goodness Leah is still fighting fit, and kept the wheels of industry turning for us today.

Nothing to show for the sewing I did today, so instead I'll show you ANOTHER Day Bag - finished in dribs and drabs over the last month or so... 'tis the way it goes.

More "happy" floral print... with silver grommet detail (done during a Sharper Edge Class when I was looking for something to demonstrate grommet-setting....!!). There's medium-heavy interfacing and medium wadding in the bag to give it stand-up structure, and the internal base stiffening is Fast2Fuse. The O-rings are Medium-Light.And OF COURSE I put a ZIPPER PULL on it!!!

My Tuesday....

What a day....! Well, actually most of it was rather uneventful. I saw a lot of this computer and did toddler-related stuff.

I'm INCREDIBLY CLOSE TO FINISHING the instructions for this....

Somewhere in the middle of the day, I had to go out in the car.... and someone drove into the back of me!!! (For those of you who missed my drama in the summer, this is the SECOND time our poor little car has been rear-ended in about six months..... I wasn't driving it last time, by the way). HOW TEDIOUS... and now my back hurts.

Back to craftiness.... I haven't been able to get near the sewing machine since last Wednesday, so nothing much to show... except the Small Tote bag I finished off last Wednesday. Just a simple little one with flat o-rings in the straps. It has light fusible wadding and medium-light interfacing to give it a bit of gentle structure.

It matches the hat (...yes, yes - hat patterns will be out ASAP!! I'm working towards my hat-making workshops in September. Oh - that's not far off, is it?). Colours are a bit washed out here for some reason. The fabric is much prettier in real life. You can also see the hat I made in that print in the background.

In the late afternoon my little Petal drew a picture. She proudly announced "THAT'S ME!" (the two bits at the top are her pigtails, she tells me).

We photocopied the original, laminated it, punched holes in it and got to work with some wool and a plastic needle..... VOILA! A self-portrait "embroidery". She was very proud. I was beaming. I took photos and took the embroidery home to show her Daddy. He was proud, too.

So the day ended beautifully.

This is what makes me happy...

After my last couple of posts, you're probably wishing I'd STOP banging on about what makes me happy.... but here's another one! (I'm sure other mothers will be putting in cute photos of their kids for this post... but I guess you've seen enough of mine for a while).

When I think about what makes me feel the MOST at ease and happy, it's this. Just me an my sewing machine - sometimes serenely lost in my own thoughts, sometimes excitedly watching something unexpectedly good coming together - but all the time feeling completely in my comfort zone.

I've spent a large portion of my life in this headspace, and for 15 years it's been with this machine (I even took it with me when I lived in Ireland for five years!). For the last couple of years I've barely had any time to enjoy uninterrupted, creative time there, and right now I REALLY CRAVE it.

Is that really sad...? Should I have included more warm and fuzzy family stuff...?

"This is" is hosted by Angela. Jacinta came up with this week's heart-warming theme. I'm sure there will be lots of wonderful responses.... and then there's my "I just want to be alone" one!!! Oops.

And so it grows...

The mess on my cutting table, that is.

Things have developed a bit more in the paper and calico jungle, and I now have the patterns finalised for the hat and small purse. The framed bag pattern is ready for toile (sample) no 4, and the instructions for the smaller purse are finished.

We're seeing some development, but no RESULTS as yet - nothing photogenic, anyway.... just more calico and paper, and files on a computer.

Instead of pictures of my craftiness, here's my assistant at work on the whiteboard. Out of the blue last Friday she FILLED the board with lines and lines of "writing", telling me all the things she was "writing the names for". The picture in the middle of the board is a "sleeping bear". I was so impressed with her trying to write - and such an over-indugent parent, probably - that I also took a VIDEO of her doing this! It's one of those bitter-sweet great-leaps-forward that mark another step towards independence..... It means my baby is growing up fast.

The best advice I was given when she was a newborn was "Kiss and squeeze while you can!".

On My Desk... or cutting table, actually...

Started out the day with big plans to work on the patterns for curved frame bags and purses... and make a hat pattern (for my hat-making workshops in September).

Chiara (the work experience wonder) was on the job with the purses. I was on hats.

Chiara finished her part on the purse so then I needed to work on hats AND purses. I was swimming in a sea of calico and bleachcraft paper for a good part of the afternoon.

I didn't get far with the purses but the hat is nearly sorted now. I have to do a tad more pattern-tweaking to make it PERFECT and then I can get back to the curved purses... or the machine embroidery ...or that pile of half-made bags..??

See what's on other people's desks or join in the fun here.... I'm sure most people's desks are tidier than my cutting table.

PS. Yes - it really DOES take about 5 toiles (calico samples) to get a pattern absolutely right. Sometimes MORE!! (Have I mentioned something about neurotic perfectionism before... or unfinished projects?).

Can a girl have TOO MANY bags...?

Is it POSSIBLE...?

Surely if they're balanced with just the RIGHT AMOUNT of hats it's OK... isn't it??

But then there's the small issue of EIGHT unfinished bags on the cutting table....

And a new purse design in development....
..and now I have some NEW purse frames and WAY TOO MANY ideas for more designs....

Hmmm.... Wishing for some little elves to come into the studio to sort out all my half-started projects so I can make more, MORE, MORE new bag and purse designs. Or perhaps a ten day week.