our creative space 'hooking & knitting'

Greetings all,

Wow, what a fantastic lesson with Kylie from Mealy&i - i can officially crochet a Granny Square!!  I have a lot to master - tension, shape, consistency . . . but how exciting, it's so much fun & we made good use of my new selection of hooks & bundles of yarn.

Look at these cute 'stage' examples Kylie made for the lesson demonstration & my very first square, glee!!

 It's so darn magical how a circle becomes a square!!

 Kylie had to teach us to knit before i finished my square, so i am not 100% certain i finished it off properly, might have to consult a tutorial + it's a great excuse to catch up with Kylie again & build on my crochet skill set??

 Pretty pleased with myself, it was so much fun!!

 The purpley one is Kylie's handy work, note tension perfection & man she's speedy!!

 All the children got involved, some stopping at chain stitch & making bracelets as their current crochet lesson limit for the school holidays. 

 Then the knitting lesson commenced in the early afternoon - yes, middle daughter declared it a pyjama day & remained in her Peter Alexanders, knitting in comfort.

 My keen French knitting 3rd daughter was very excited to learn knitting too.  Children really only need those 20cm long needles, the ones i brought along were way too long, she's not knitting a blanket, just learning!!

I soon discovered, even after a good 20 years of zero knitting to my name, i picked it up like riding a bike!!  I'm just playing, i want the skills to share with my children, not to knit commercially.  I was thrilled with how quickly it came back to me, even casting on with my hands (Kylie showed me how to cast on with my thumb & 1 needle, which i excelled at, handy when i have to cast on for 4 children too!!)   
Thank you Kylie, you are a delightful teacher & dear patient friend, i'm loving my new lounge craft hobby.  No doubt there is more crochet & knitting action over at Kootoyoo & Our Creative Space this Thursday.  Special mention to Kirsty at Kootoyoo (Queen of tiny crochet perfection) - my youngest daughter wanted to start crochet with a 2mm hook & i said "oh, you're aiming at Kootoyoo dizzy heights already".  Love Posie   

our creative space 'the new generation' & paper packaging giveaway winners

Greetings all,

So many of we crafty types learned from our mummies, such is the age old way of passing on skills to the next generation.  My grandmothers Edna & Alice were amazing seamstresses making ball gowns for the rich & famous, ditto for my mummy Barbie (only with an awkward Von Trapp family twist).  We'd have matchy matchy ensembles . . . end-of-bolt-sale-fabric for a family of 6 or my brothers in cloned knitted jumpers with Dad, my sister & i in matching dresses with Mum . . . classic 60s & 70s handmade horror, technically carried through into the 80s too, i was 5 ok??!!.   

My children have been surrounded by craft, stood on pins & slept to the hum of the sewing machine since i got into nesting while pregnant with my first baby in 1998.

 Now my eldest is in high school, she has proper sewing teachers who studied textiles & design (not pharmacology) & she gets graded on her work!!

 So excited, she chose all the fabrics, applique ideas, ribbon & did all the sewing at school (no professional mummy sewing allowed) & da dah, only two As were awarded . . . 

 proud mumma moment . . . she got an A!!  Her beautiful pillow slip now sits on her bed & as she finished so quickly, she's making boxer shorts. 

 This week is Creative Clubs at primary school.  My son chose drama, age 7 he's "directing plays".  I think he picked drama as the teacher is one of those gorgeous first-year-out-of-uni enthusiastic types who can sing, dance, act & teach.  I know, taking a class because of a pretty girl out of his reach is in it, he's such a boy!!   
Anyway, daughter 3 is learning French Knitting with the professional ice hockey teacher & loving it, it's clearly addictive.  Last night she called from her room to say "can you tell me when it's 10 so i can change wool colours??"  Um no, GO TO SLEEP!!  No idea where she'd get that bad habit of crafting into the wee hours from??

 She's French knitting a rastafarian wig - only way to describe the awful dreadies coming out of her handmade toilet roll/ paddle pop stick device!!

 I showed the middle girl how to crochet chain stitch (limit to my skills so far) in the car park at school, by bed time she'd crocheted like 3m of the stuff!! 

Totally loving passing on the skills & learning new ones with them!!  Have i mentioned that Kylie from Mealy&i blog is patiently teaching me how to crochet in the holidays??
NOW for the paper packaging, twine & stickers giveaway WINNERS . . . who knew over 100 individual bloggers would enter so enthusiastically to win paper bags??  Yay, thanks so much!!  Bugger - two of the winning numbers weren't followers??  DQ to you.  Come on guys, not such a hard thing to ask is it - follow for your chance to win, my blog's nice right??  So sucks to them & yay to these faithful followers & WINNERS!! 
Randomly selected number (big time winner) . . .
69 Thea from Thea & Sami blog, congratulations!!
Randomly selected supplementary numbers, as witnessed by the official Posie Lotto panel (itty bitty winners) . . .
2 Bron from Taylor Made blog,
23 KerryAnne from Shabby Art Boutique blog,
86 Rhi from Flour Child,

79 Trish from My Little Drummer Boys blog &

24 Felicity from Gifts Of Serendipity blog!! 
Congratulations everyone, please email me your postal addresses for your parcel of fun.  For more creativity, check out Thursday's Our Creative Spaces.  Love Posie

our creative space 'a hex on sewing'

Greetings all,

i have a new addiction to add to my crafty happiness . . . hexagons.  It's a hex, a spell, a new (to me) patchwork style i started last weekend as 'car craft'. 

As a self taught seamstress & designer i'm not so great at following instructions, as opposed to inventing my own method of creating something (i'm mathematical & spatial, why not??)  I rarely use pins or tack anything when i sew - it would make a matronly professional sewing teacher turn in her grave - yet i always have a neat finished product.  Bite me, you horrible year 7 non elective Textiles & Design teachers!!  They knew we didn't care or we would have done elective T&D in the first place!!  Guess what i grew up to do for a living??  Well ok, it was pharmacology, whatever, i've been sewing professionally for 10+ years now, so . . . let me share my speedy hexagon technique!!

Cut out lots of strips of pretty fabrics & a perfectly shaped cardboard hexagon - photo proof i didn't use 'the good scissors' on the cardboard mum!! 

 Fold & press down 2 sides of the fabric around the cardboard hexagon. 

 Fold & press down 2 more sides of the fabric around the cardboard hexagon.

 Fold & press down the final 2 sides of fabric around the cardboard hexagon.

 Open up a couple of sides to slide the cardboard hexagon out.

 Press the fabric hexagon with a hot & steamy iron (i have a $15 el cheapo iron from Big W & an $8 metallic ironing board cover from Coles in my studio - both work a treat).

 Voila, la hexagon goodness, no tacking required.  Repeat & make millions.

 I said millions, stack them up in same-fabric piles!! 

 Armed with perfectly pressed hexagons, tiny travel scissors, needles & thread, the next step was to start hand stitching them together.  I did glance at Cath Kidston's Sew instructions for hexagons, yawn, sorry Cath, i just made up my own attachment system, i think she recommends rows??  I was winging it, sewing on my lap, while chatting to my husband & taming 4 children in the back of the car for 700km.  I started with a hexagon in the centre, stitching another hexagon to each edge & growing out like a fan, or 'spreading like a virus' as my husband said so encouragingly.  He just knows this will be the first of many hexagon patchwork projects.

 Canberra to Sydney & back, this is what i had created in the car between 7a.m. & 7p.m.  Don't ask me how on earth i managed to make it a perfectly symmetrical finished shape??  I surprised myself when i laid it out.  I really like the pink, white & red clashing patterns which resulted.  Some sewing was done in the dark, so don't look too closely.

While i was taking the photos, my husband was making pasta in the background, keeping it real & homemade at our place.  He likes extra credit for his cooking, i'm his cheer leader & should have been helping.  Anyway, i can't wait to press this first hexagon effort & applique it to a simple cot quilt.  But wait, there's more . . .

 how lovely is this gorgeousness from Kristen Doran??  From her Gyspy Caravan range, these panels are about to be added to my range in both colour ways, on linen.  Then it struck me, oh, imagine some hexagon goodness as a boarder around a beautiful screen printed panel made into a sweet & simple quilt??  Hello!!

 Stay tuned, i have BIG plans & clearly, i'm not keeping them to myself, i'm here to share.  For hundreds more creative projects, check out our creative spaces each Thursday, still hosted by clever Kootoyoo.  Love Posie

PS feeling creative in a Lego kind of way - enter my Lego GIVEAWAY!!

my creative space 'hot under the covers'

Greetings all,

Embracing Winter is the trick to enjoying it.  I thought i'd dig up ye olde hot water bottle cover recipe (which consists of laying a hot water bottle onto fabric & cutting around it) & mix it up with different fabrics, organic batting, quilting stitches, bias binding, fabric buttons . . .

 I took half a dozen into Shop Handmade today, they're already featured on FB (thanks Tania).

 I have many more cut out, in screen printed fabrics & boy's themes too.  The quilting takes ages, but it's fun.  I also like the smaller hot water bottles (no idea where to get them but we have some which came with covers from Peter Alexander) so if i find the mini bottles, i'll make some covers!!

 Oh look at this one merchandised with Sheep's Clothing & Soft&Lush at Shop.

 All this heat inducing goodness - just in time - those are snow clouds above school this afternoon.  My darling husband is coming home this weekend, leaving sunny warm Brisbane for a Canberra forecast of -6C on Sunday night.  He's already researched that woollen underlays & doonas are 30% off at David Jones.  Mega investment pieces for the next 15 years of marriage.  He might be a soldier used to roughing it, but when he's home, it's all about comfort.

My oil cloth bunting is in Shop Handmade too, super cute cubby house mini style & a larger version for outdoors.  Happy Creative Space folks, i'm sewing up more hot water bottle covers.  Love Posie

PS i could start every new post with a 'thank you for the comments on the previous one', you're all so awesome out there in blogland, THANK YOU!!  Seems i'm not on the only one who didn't shine on Mother's Day, sigh.  The IKEA giveaway was huge & stay tuned (follow this blog) as next up it's a mega LEGO giveaway!!
EDIT: did anyone else lose all their comments for today's post?? 25+ comments just up & disappeared??

my creative space 'cubby house bunting'

Greetings all,

Another Thursday, another Kootoyoo creative space to kick me into action.  Tomorrow i have 250+ gifts to prepare for the school's Mother's Day stall, so making some outdoor/ cubby/ doll's house bunting has been a welcome project.  Armed with scissors, pinking shears, ruler, blunt pencil (why can i never find a pencil & when i do they are blunt & the sharpener is missing??) & about 18 of the prettiest Mexican printed oil cloths a girl could hope for.  I picked up another 15 prints while on holiday in Brisbane, at Beach Vintage (thanks Simone!!)

 I had visions of ric rac edges & lined flags, but that can just add to the variety of the range in the future, for now, keep it simple!!

 Working with material that doesn't have threads is so dreamy.

 I zig zag stitched them onto pretty ribbons.

 Et voila!!  Fit for an outdoor cubby house.

 This is the mini version, these flags made up from remnants from cutting out the larger flags (that's the nothing-is-wasted-patchwork-quilte in me).

 Added a bit of nostaglia with some post it note clouds, perhaps a distraction from the poor lighting effort, i just wanted a quick post.

 I think these would be cute in a doll's house, non??

I'll be making a long version with the larger flags for our BBQ area, just for fun, something for my husband to shake his head at while he cooks.  Love Posie
PS i'll be back to link Kootoyoo in, i'm stuck & can't access her blog right now
EDIT: link seems to be working, poor Kirsty, living on the edge with her blog connectivity.
This bunting is not for the mother's day stall, i'm just doing up wholesale & inexpensive organic soaps, chocolates, soy candles etc & making them look a million dollars for profit to the P&C.  Amazing what a bit of stylish packaging (cello, raffia, washi tape, tissue paper) can do.
Finally, don't forget the lovely IKEA giveaway i have live, next post down, enjoy & good luck!!

my creative space 'screen printing holiday' & OPEN DAY this Saturday

Greetings all,

Well HOW lucky am i??  Last week I spent a whole day of giggles, laughter, lessons, business & fun with the wonderful Thea Samios of Thea & Sami screen printing magic, in Queensland.  Thank you Thea, i had a ball with you, i've certainly caught the screen printing bug!!

 Now this is one full on professional set up with mega printing tables, assistant Dan, wall fans, sky lights plus a custom design cleaning trough, it was screen printing bliss.

 Honestly, it was like watching magic happen, with this back & forth flowing rhythm of paint, screens, accuracy & perfection.  Oh, on the best quality linens too!!

 Sweet Thea doesn't like her photo being taken . . . what is more gorgeous than taking a bunch of images of someone as they work, to find they're laughing in every photo you download!!??

 This was jaw dropping beauty, honest & for true.

 Thea & Dan had both the 10m & 7m tables printing up a storm.

 Thea & i both love our maths & numbers so the accuracy & measurement is our thing.  Precision is key, especially with her detailed designs.

 Even watching the different runs dry at intervals was magical.

 Watching paint dry is fascinating, i can assure you.

 Then i got to play with some shapes i brought along to cut out & make into screens.

 So i made each of my children a new pyjama top.

 Look at these beautiful designs on the large screens.

 Want a piece of the action too??  Thea is holding a GRAND OPENING of this new studio & shop on Saturday 30th April, from 10a.m. to 4p.m. at Unit 1, 6 Jones Road, Capalaba Queensland.  Find out how fabrics are screen printed & pick up some beautiful original hand screen printed delights, including remnants.  There will be screen printing demonstrations at 11a.m. & 1p.m.  You will be made to feel very welcome!!  Please RSVP here. 
EDIT: new blog post about preparations here with news of a $100 Thea&Sami gift voucher to be won by one lucky attendee.

The remnants are AMAZING, quality, value & perfect for those smaller sewing projects.  I promise i left some!!

So i'm very ready to be back in my own studio after some fun & relaxation in Queensland (so much more on that later) & will be sewing my heart out to wrap up the school holidays & make good use of the huge array of new fabrics in my new cool vintage suitcase.  Happy Creative Space this week, i've been having a ball.  Love Posie