Kits and Patterns for Kelani Fabric Obsession

Living in Bathurst and having a full time job makes it a bit tricky for me to do craft shows that start mid-week (even the weekend ones are a challenge for me!) so I am grateful when a fabulous fabric house like (the very appropriately named) Kelani Fabric Obsession offer to stock some of my patterns and kits at a show they are doing. Kelani have a stand at the Craft & Quilt Fair from July 22 - 25 at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre and will be stocking my "wonky" softie patterns and kits.
I needed another photo for the kit cover so I went to my usual spot at the local fernery (I must look positively mad doing my photo shoot in there) but its the most reliable light source in town on a rainy day like today!

I took a pair of scissors to my sacred fabric stash to make the kits...I love this fabric from Sprout Design, and its a terrifying concept to not be able to get more!

It was hard to use this fabric designed by Bee from the ever-so-fabulous Ink & Spindle, another piece that can't be replaced....oh noooooooo!

And this little guy has fabric from Ink & Spindle and the drool-worthy CLOTH...I am getting a LOT better at not being the dreaded fabric stasher.

CLOTH bag finished...finally!

I mentioned a post or two ago that it takes a while to finish things....this bag is direct evidence, considering I started it last Christmas! I decided around that time to stop being precious about precious fabric, and take the scissors to my sacred stash. This little bundle of offcuts from the ever so fabulous CLOTH collection was just screaming to be teamed with a few bits of denim from recycled jeans. It only took 6 months to complete. A bit here and a bit there. Thats how I tend to work.

My friend Catriona gave me a dress made out of striped Liberty print that she wore in the 80s! The fabric was still in flawless shape so I used it to line the bag:


I nerded out and made sure I used a small snippet of fabric bearing the word CLOTH (no secret how much I LOVE their work)


Love the shades of blue created by chopping up an old pair of jeans or two!


One of these days I'll post a tutorial on how I do zippered pockets on tote bags. I'm pretty sure you'd never find this technique in any traditional sewing instructions, but hey, it works great! Sometimes I just make it up as I go along, making tutorial-posting a challenge. (i.e. "You mean you want me to do it twice? Exactly the same??!")


So my bag is complete and I'm a bit in love with it. The ONLY problem is that I think I made the strap a bit too long. As you can see I top-stitched the bejeezus out of it, making unpicking it not an option. I'll use it a bit more and see if I can tolerate it. It would be such a shame to chop a chunk out of it! Ahhhh we'll see.

Gocco Hiccups!

K so there I was. I cleared away all other potential interruptions, and left the Queen's Birthday for me to roll up my sleeves and get busy printing.

Artwork prepared, Gocco unpacked and ready for action: Check.


Chair strategically placed at window to distract cat and prevent her from walking on fresh prints: Check.


Screen burned, ink applied to master, all going well:


Here is where things start going pear-shaped:


I've read about this happening. Of course I didn't consider it would happen to me, I envisioned a flawless print run....the carbon from the toner stuck to the screen, well more than the carbon stuck, even the PAPER stuck! Ouch. I knew this master was toast but printed a few anyway and quickly decided to have another crack with a fresh master. (Its painful though, every master you waste is about $15 worth of supplies!)


I remember reading that if your photocopied artwork has any moisture in it, the carbon may stick to the master. So I got out the iron, and turned off the steam and applied the iron to the artwork to dry it out. The second screen I tried to burn was better, but still had some major carbon sticking problems. No paper stuck though...so I printed a few more...(man the printing bit is heaps of fun, I had to force myself to stop b/c it was coming out all wrong...)

So its back to the drawing board - I think I have to make the photocopy lighter, I'll try that - I only have one master left so I think I'll get some more supplies before commencing the next experiment. Its a pretty amazing little unit, I so hope I can work out how to get a good screen, coz the printing part is super easy and heaps of fun.
So the rest of my day got freed up to do something with guaranteed results: I made a lined A-line skirt with a lovely piece of winter woolly fabric. Its nearly finished, I'll have to post a pic! Ciao for now. xo

Gocco Experiment, Here I Come...

I first heard about GOCCO right before I left Canada to move back to Aus in 2006 and have been coveting one ever since. Despite them not being made any more, I was slightly anxious about the concept of having one and then one day not being able to buy supplies any more! But as they say, I'll deal with that when and if it happens! It only took four years but a few months ago I purchased the PG-11 and its been sitting in my bedroom whispering to me ever since. So its time to bite the bullet and have some fun with it. I'm not very good at loving my experiments and given this is a whole new application for me, its taken a while to dive in. ANYWAY long weekend coming up = lets have some gocco fun baby. So I've prepped some artwork, the PG-11 came with enough supplies for 3 designs, so here is what I plan to experiment with:


I can't claim the rights to this phrase, I scribbled it in my journal after seeing it in a graphic design rag....so apologies for not being able to reference it correctly!

Hows this for a drawing with absolutely no point:


And this is an old design that I thought might be fun for printing on fabric one day. But for now I'll print it on paper and see what happens:


I'm terrible for percolating on projects and not having a finished product for weeks on end which is why I'm such a terrible blogger. So instead of sitting idle I thought I'd share that there is progress in the Juicy Zone! And hopefully after the weekend instead of black and white artwork I might have a pretty picture or two to share. Or at the very least some pictures of my cat covered in paint! xo

IMOK - Love Your Work!

One of the BEST things for me about participating in craft markets is connecting with other like-minded creation-obsessed peeps. Meeting the lovely duo of Sandra and Jen from IMOK in Melbourne was a highlight for me for sure, we had one of those crafty conversations that covered everything from challenges to the reason why we can't stop doing what we're doing...it seemed every thing we declared was met with a "me too!!!" type response.



Anyway in addition to these two spunky chicks being very cool, they are mega talented to boot. I LOVE that they BOTH create their illustrations/paintings and I was totally inspired by Sandra telling me that they go on holidays to PAINT together! How awesome is that!?? I couldn't resist this little rabbit canvas, who now has primo real estate on my mantle. Thanks for the inspiration ladies! xo

Stitches Wrap Up

So I am back in Bathurst, and I still havent remotely organized my life upon my return from the Stitches & Craft Show in Melbourne. I havent taken photos of all the amazing goodies I picked up from the uber talented crafty chicks in the Incubator, suffice it to say I have a photography exercise for the weekend, and I am positively exploding with ideas (and the desire for a few crafty projects just for the hell of it! i.e. not a smidgeon of production oriented tasks in sight!)
The experience for me overall was positive, however I did find things a little slower in general than the Sydney Show last year (which is all I can compare it to!) ...with the exception of the Saturday which was a fantastic busy day for me and gave me the encouragement I needed to continue with my crafty obsession.

I managed to take a quick couple of snaps after I set up and for some reason after that my camera didnt get much of a workout and I missed getting pics of all my neighbours!



Hooray for the Wonky House (thanks Gramps!)


I'm so glad I managed to get the brooch kits together, they were very popular:


And the highlight for me was running the workshops and even though they weren't super busy it was awesome to see people making their own wonkies, especially younger girls learning to sew! Its official: when someone asks if wonkies are hard to make, the answer is NO!



Huge thank you once again to my tireless mother Mazzy for her help and support, its so much fun to have you at these shows. Even my Dad got a guernsey this year, driving all the way to Melbourne to pick us up on Sunday (and letting me sleep in the back while he drove back to Wagga until midnight!) I am so lucky to have awesome parents.

Another thank you to our friends Judy and Peter who let us move into their guest wing, and taught Mazzy and I how to be transit queens!

And finally, a BIG thank you also to everyone who came by and showed their support, I am so grateful. Thank you thank you xoxoxooxxo

More pics sooon, I promise!

Daisy Brooch Kits

I make no secret about the fact that I work best under pressure. I've always been like that. I am an awesome worker when I am juggling 500 things and a lazy lame worker when I have one task and a week to do it. I could be relaxing this week, obsessing over the final details for next week's Stitches and Craft Show. But noooooooo... instead I am madly finishing the pattern and kit for these little daisy brooches that I've been making...determined to add them as a product at my stand. (Yes the daisy obsession continues!) I don't have to do this. But if I don't I'll feel slack. I could have done this six months ago when I took a mini-craft-hiatus after almost killing myself with preps for the Sydney Stitches Show. But there was no pressure, so I didn't. So instead of having a relaxing week easing into my adventure to Melbourne, I will be in a mad panic, covered in bits of felt, printing kit covers on my trusty laser printer, lovingly selecting colour combinations of leather, felt and buttons (man is that part fun!)...reminding myself that its better to make the kits and not sell any of them than sit around wondering if they would have sold if I'd bothered to make them at all!