my creative space

Today I woke up cold. I dont remember my dreams very often but this morning I had been dreaming of finishing this jacket. I remember thinking in my dream that I couldnt very well begin to make for others what I cant even finish for myself. Kind of felt like false advertising. So there you have it, the story behind my mornings sewing.

This is the jacket I started here.

As summer was just about to hit. Im a bit seasonally challenged.

See that aqua ceramic pear shaped thingamajig? Its a paper weight and I bought him from the pottery guy at Mulgrave market on the weekend and he now helps me with my cutting out. Heavy fabrics slide off the table and I get very hot under the collar. So this morning was a good morning cutting out.

I still found cutting out around an already put together outer highly challenging. Oh yeah, the lining I finally chose is a piece of papery cotton that my daughter tea-dyed.

I just had to hand finish this baby and was pleasantly surprised that it didnt take me long.

I must be getting faster. I am!

I used red thread so I would see the teeny tiny stitches afterwards.

Ill be needing some more of these buttons, so if anyone knows where I can get a stash it would be much appreciated. I think they give the right lumberjack-ey look to the final coat. Hey. I just figured out. 

Ill call them 

LUMBERJACKETS!

Get yourself over to Kirsty's to see what all the fuss is about.

new

size 12

size 10

 I completely forgot about posting these and, ahem, forgot to put them in the shop until today.

Someone has market brain.

The first being a vintage sheet and the second is a craft cotton I came across at Darn Cheap Fabrics.

Im sorry for being a bit disfunctional. again! with the whole giveaway thing.

I havent been remembering to mention it at the end of each post which

would have been a good idea dont you think?

For anyone who hasnt yet seen it heres the link.

Ill be drawing the winners for the giveaway this friday the 1st!

a game for everyone

I was up early about to cut out some size one eskimo patterns (nope, dont have any yet) and before I knew I had been distracted, found this post at Soulemama. It reminded me of a game we used to play when away on family holidays so I thought id share it. Its a good one for all ages and let me be completely clear, these games went late into the night. No one wants to stop!

youll need

1 or 2 families who love to laugh

paper

pens

a dictionary

lots of snacks so you dont have to stop

This is not the game of Dictionary as you know it.

Its a variation made up by us on a memorable camping trip.

the rules are simply

taking turns, someone chooses a word from said dictionary

everyone must write a poem* about that word in a two minute time frame

(including the 'word chooser' of course)

it doesnt matter if you dont finish your poem in time as others will finish it for you!

even the little ones who can talk will join in with rhyming words and they may even inspire you when youre stuck

this game is meant to be played fast paced

enjoy!

* its a good way to teach your kids about different writing styles, limericks, phrases and the like

today

Today was all about getting to the post office, well two tradesmen later and a few very important phone calls (I had to catch up with my favourite people now my phone was working again), an etsy update and after having the Mr's amazing boeuf bourgignon for lunch.

He cooks on the weekends, didnt I tell you? Theres no way I could do so much sewing if he didnt.

 Now you know my secret.

I made some envelopes from kids books a couple of years back when I was first thinking of things for the market table

and today I sent some with packages.

Im going for the 'airline' look at the moment because it seems I still cant wrap very well.

This is the perfect postal bag given to me by my sister in law when she visited early this year.

I love this bag.

See how large it is compared to my bird bag? It never seems to get full... 

She has an etsy shop Elk and Antler, where she sells bags made from upcycled leather jackets. Pop by her little piece of etsy sometime.

a headband gift for a market customer

The disaster of the day was when I discovered three holes, not one, but three tiny holes, may as well have eaten the whole dress you silly moths, next time just fly off with it would you??? as id much rather that than finding holes in a completed dress ready to ship you bad bad mothy yucks! I hate moths! they freak me out. They never know where they are trying to get to. At least bats have the sense to go around you even in the dark. No, think about it.

 Now, here's a not so well known fact.

Apparently the average human will swallow eight spiders in their sleep throughout his or her lifetime. Well id rather be asleep swallowing a spider than awake and having the horror of choking on a moth. Oh yeah, that brings me to my other fear. Choking. Save that for later...

The dining room has looked like this all day and its not really bothering me too much. 
Lucky were having salads for dinner and wont need the table. 

The Mr has been going to the gym, bike riding after work too and were on a bit of a health kick right now. When I say we, I mean him.

I did a shop update with the upcycled cardies but youll need to pop to the shop to see them, sorry.

eskimos

size 2-3

size 3-4

size 4-5

size 4-5

size 5-6

size 3-4

shop update - eskimos

size 5-6

size 5-6

size 5-6

I managed a cool 11 of these last week.

Add them to the few I made the week before, (even after some selling at the weekend markets)

and the shop is going to feel full. I think you may need to be quick if you were thinking of having one.

Ill be taking them to a local market this weekend if im feeling up to it.

Oh! Did I mention im not feeling that great today?

Too many late nights sewing someone got run down, silly me.

shop update

size 5

size 4

Ill be busy updating these into the shop this evening.

The market was a huge success and im thinking of enlisting my daughters help.
I have a queen size random quilt to make in blues and creams so pop back in to watch the makings.
Most importantly, this week, ill be trying to catch up on some custom orders.

Hope you all had a great weekend.



before the light fades

I thought id post a friday evening update before the light fails.

They will come with me wherever I go tomorrow to be hand finished.

  

Im feeling organised having already chosen the buttons and pinned them on to each jacket front.

Heres hoping.

animation friday at my poppet

I was pretty happy with my newly found stash until I spied these gorgeous blankets that Cinti has found.
Lucky for her I dont know where she lives!

Im distractedly staring at this pile of knits while I finish the eskimos.

Head over to my My Poppet to join in Animation Friday. Its a bit of fun.

my creative space

Ive had a busy week cutting out and organising piles for production. Today ill be at the machine pretty much until I stagger into bed tonight, hopefully without the blood shot eyes of last week.

Here are the yoke detailings of the latest eskimo jackets for the market this weekend.

The car is still packed from last week (im not silly), so all I need to do is load in the new winter offerings! Ill have cardies for boys and girls in a range of sizes. The boys range will be called 'chocolate milk', and the girls range has been aptly named 'strawberries and cream' by a friend I visited yesterday. 

I took her a little gift of one of my cardigans and she instantly said it reminded her of 

strawberries and cream.

( I know youll read this , so id just like to add I think everything reminds you of food!)

You can guess the colours then, cant you? With a bit of a twist of course.