Go Native!

No, I am not suggesting you go wandering about in the buff. But I am saying you should come to this ace trivia night being organised by my clever sister to help raise funds for our native animals.

 

The event is being held at South Melbourne's Honey Bar this Wednesday. Prizes include Prickly Moses beer, a $100 voucher from the good people at Claremont Tonic AND a mystery prize that's being donated by Make it Wednesday. What's it going to be? Even I don't know yet. You'll have to come along to find out!



And if you win this amazing prize - a two-night stay at the Great Ocean Ecolodge, where you could meet quolls like these ones - you can go native there all you like.

A giant koala walks into a market...

Ever wondered what giant plush koalas do all day? Well, on certain Saturdays (like this one), they go to  

The Handmade Show.

Sometimes they get to visit their friends, like these super-cute critters - Heston the Hedgehog, George the Owl and Phileas the Fox. They're created by the very clever Mari of Rainy Days Joy and you can make your own, too! You see, Mari puts together all the elements you'll need to make one of these little guys, and sells her kits at ridiculously low prices (yes, George the Owl kits are only $5. BARGAIN.) 

Her business name - Rainy Days Joy - summed up the day nicely. Sure it was bucketing down, but that didn't stop a giant plush koala (and me, clearly) from having a great time. After all, there were lots of lovely and talented people to meet, and gorgeous products to see. Like this range of jewellery....

...all handcrafted from Czech glass, silver and gemstones by Jane and Helen of Jewellery by Jahl. Can you believe they've only been making jewellery for a few months? 

I had a stall next to theirs, which looked like this:

It's not a great picture but hey, I never said I was a photographer! 

Right behind my stall was the Gingerbread Corner crew. These guys were AMAZING. They had penguin gingerbread. The had BATMAN GINGERBREAD. I repeat, they had BATMAN GINGERBREAD. 

(I'd show you a picture, but I ate mine before I thought to take a photo! 

Holy smokes Batman, it tasted as good as it looked!)

And they had these divine little gingerbread men felt badges that looked good enough to eat.

The lovely Linda, from Lindyloo Designs, was spotted wearing one. And I was spotted gazing admiringly at this be-yoooo-tiful bunny she'd made...

...completely gorgeous and huggable, don't you agree? So if you'd like to see all these great products (and lots more - so many I couldn't fit them all in one post), come along to the next Handmade Show or check out their websites.(Warning: you might end up drooling over the gingerbread. But don't worry - Cotton Candy Designs have you covered with these ace bibs.) 

See you there!

 

The Handmade Show

I'm going to be a stallholder at The Handmade Show this Saturday! Yay! 

It's on from 10.30am-3.30pm at St Anthony's Parish Hall, 

164 Neerim Road Glen Huntly (cnr Grange and Neerim roads).

There's going to be bags of style...

...you can have a hoot with these lovely owls...

 

...or these ones...

 

 ...and everything for sale at my stall will have a green bent 

(I handmake my creations from preloved and upcycled fabrics).

 

Come along and see what presses your buttons, like these badges...

...or these sweet baby clothes made by my talented sister Leeyong...

...or this ultra-cool fabric necklace, also handmade by Leeyong, whose blog you can read here. 

I'll also have conjoined twin elephants available, sock critters galore, and of course some 

ZOMBIE HAMSTERS will be lurking nearby.

 

RAAR! 

So drop in and say hi - we'd love to see you, and I promise the hamsters won't bite!

A case for hypnotism

Looooooooook into my eeeeeeeeyes...you are under my immense powerrrr. 

You are feeling an irrepressible

urrrrrrrrrrrrge

to spluuuuuuuuurge

at Melbourne's first Suitcase Rummage market

(which you can read about here, once you are no longer under my spell).

You'll find me there, hanging out in a suitcase with my pals...

 ....some of whom are REALLY excited about seeing you there!

HURRAH!

See you at Suitcase Rummage - a market where everything is sold from a suitcase

Thornbury Theatre, 859 High Street, Thornbury

Sunday, July 29 11am-5pm

Oh yes, I nearly forgot. When I snap my fingers, you'll wake up...and bring me a large box of Maltesers.

*CLICK*

Munch munch munch....

It's MY wine!

At last, I can say "today I'm drinking myself..." without adding "stupid"! Thank you, nice people at Blue Pyrenees. I like what they say about my wine here - why thank you, I am "Ready to appreciate now"! And for the record, my wine is sparkling and delicious. Just like me ;-)

You know the automated cookie cutter scene from Edward Scissorhands, with the robots' feet cutting shapes out of dough as the dough moves along a conveyor belt? (No idea what I'm on about? That's normal. Here, watch the clip, it'll make more sense then.) Sometimes I wish I had one of those for cutting out critter patterns. I'm a pretty slow cutter-out-erer so a machine would make things heaps faster (and probably neater, too). Plus, how cool would it be to have a machine like that in your house? Imagine giving first-time guests the guided tour.

'The kitchen's through there, this is my craft room - watch out for the giant zombie octopus - and, oh yeah, that thing in the corner? That's my Pattern-bot,' all said with a nonchalant shrug, of course.

Since I sadly do not yet possess a Pattern-bot nor the knowledge of how to build one (I am pretty sure pipe cleaners and empty toilet rolls are NOT involved, since the last time I tried building a robot out of those it was a dismal failure) I have had to become my own Bot and cut out lots and lots of shapes myself.



I spent nearly three hours today cutting circles out of felt. These are just a few of them. I could be a wanker and say I am exploring how different colourways work together here, or I could just explain that the felt circles would later get sewn together and used as owl eyes. (Oh, and the tin of pins you see there? The tin came from my sister (it had beads in it that I made into a necklace for her) and the little bit of orange chalk (handy for marking fabric) is a leftover from childhood. Our family really are hoarders.)



I also spent some time cutting lots and lots of owl shapes out of assorted fabric. I'd been asked to make one owl so I figured, why make just one when I could make a dozen and have some in stock for the next time someone needs one? The above shot shows how useless I would be as a cutting-out robot, unless I was programmed for chaos. There's owl parts and eyes and leftover felt and gluey bits everywhere.

And now, through the magic of time lapse technology...also known as me updating this blog sometime after I started writing it.... I bring you the finished result. Yes, only two owls, but man, you oughta see the number of eyes I've stitched up! (Er, that would be "several" since I am REALLY slow at sewing such things, but please just pretend there is a whole MOUND of owl eyes ready to go in my very well-organised studio *cough* OK, in my craft room *cough, cough* OK FINE, in the ROOM OF UTTER CHAOS I choose to call my craft room. There, happy now?)

My scissors have been in my hands for so long today I almost feel like I'm Edward himself. Maybe the Bot isn't so far away after all.

Unbearably cute

My pal Robyn and I are hanging out in Hobart for a few days, and we found these guys hanging out in the foyer of the Ronald Mcdonald House there. Too cute! I had a knitted bear that was kinda similar when I was a kid, only he was nekkid (ie knitted without clothes). On special occasions I'd put a red bow around his neck, and that was about as dressed up as he'd get. Either he was a pervy nudie rudie bear, or these guys are wearing built-in clothing simply because it's colder in Hobart than Melbourne.

Hobart must be the unofficial knitting capital of Australia - the CWA shop is full of gorgeous knitted goodies (as well as cakes, jams and home grown fruit) and we've found at least three places specialising in hand-knitted clothes and beautifully dyed wool. In my short time here I've developed an obsession with hand-knitted tea cosies, which is kind of nuts since I rarely drink tea from a tea pot (I usually use a cup, boom-tish). These super cute ones were at the Salamanca Market, a huge art and craft and fresh produce and clothing and bric-a-brac extravaganza held every Saturday in Salamanca Place. If you're ever in Hobart, GO, it's great fun.
As for what I purchased... well, I'm off to check out Hobart's nightlife, so you'll have to wait for the next post to find out!