things i'm loving . . . 'flamingo fairy lights'

Greetings all,

Playing along with Paisley Jade's 'things i'm loving' today & on this hot, sticky, humid, now stormy afternoon with additional children in my unairconditioned home on the last day of school holidays . . . i'll keep it short & sweet.

I'm loving these totally cool flamingo fairy lights, yep, a whole long ling of hot pink fun!!

 Kind of looking forward to nightfall to see how they light up my little part of the house, hopefully a whole lot better than this terribly lit photography!!

Under $20 from Typo, bought them this morning while trailing a million extremely well behaved & patient children around the Canberra Centre, through Lincraft, Bed Bath & Table, Kikki-K, Typo & the car park where i was 50c short on parking, i had to go back to the car twice for extra change.
Meanwhile at Shop Handmade today, Jamie Durie's new designer reality show Top Design is taking applications (more details & application forms here), how exciting for a wannabe famous designer in the making . . . happy Fridays everyone, love Posie
PS trip over to Paisley Jade for more things i'm loving, she has a cute icon & everything, i just can't upload it, i'll try again next week!!
EDIT: the Jamie Durie Top Design applications went off a treat - watch out Australia, there is serious talent coming out of Canberra!!

my creative space 'framed embroidery'

Greetings all,

In my quest to find more hand stitching projects to do on the lounge at night next to my husband (who has coincidentally gone interstate again) i picked out these goodies + some embroidery tape & linen cloth to create some simple festive & homey inspired framed embroideries.  It's a nod to the way Red Stitch Designs uses natural colours with a hint of red & white to create beautiful things.

 I'm not happy with my embroidered letters, certainly NOT kootoyoo standard, which i had to do backwards as the embroidery tape (acting as my guide) is on the back of the linen.  More practise required & better laid out plans, i totally winged this & you can tell it's freestyle embroidery.  

The frames are very shallow, as in, they are box frames but the glass is positioned at the back so i struggled to put it all back together with the layer of linen & thread - the tree is stuck to the outside of the glass.  Oh well, the glass wasn't necessarily the feature, i just loved the idea of a frame with some stitching & a wooden ornament.  Concept in progress.  I have other natural shades of linen; red & white frames + different ornaments, words, felt & embroidery threads to trial.  Shall keep me busy for a while.  Next time i'll polish the glass too, damn finger prints!! 
Happy creative spacing, love Posie

My Creative Space 'tween bedroom makeover'

Greetings all,

As promised . . . the bedroom make over for my eldest daughter while she was away on camp last week. 11 is a hard age to cater for in many aspects of mother-daughter relationships, but seeing she has grown up among fabric, design, colour & nonstop sewing, she loves my work & I know her taste.  I knew she’d love this combination of blues in a patchwork quilt, it's just simple 15cm squares - 10 rows across, 12 rows down. 
Please enjoy some before & after shots of her bed & windows . . .

All i had to add was some wall art stickers from Handmade Market, letters from Typo, blue fabrics from Posie.   

Then to pretty up the window with some Posie bunting, simple flat curtain thumb tacked above the frame made from the excess sheeting from Lincraft which was on the back of the quilt & ribbon from Tres Divin.  The pom pom curtain was from Freedom ages ago.

You might spy many Amy Butler prints, from her original Gypsy Caravan range to the latest Love series.  I've been a huge fan of Amy Butler since the beginning.

This amazing Arne Jacobsen replica chair from Little Nest, i picked it up from the gorgeous Samantha at Magnolia Square in Sydney last year.  The blankets are Ikea & Laura Ashley from 10-15 years ago, they do not die!!

After all that, i think this prawn baguette with shallots, mayo & avocado was the perfect treat for a mother's job well done. 

I do have some sewing confessions. I put up with little hitches when sewing professionally, I don’t mind 'sewing housekeeping' like spooling bobbins, breaking needles, pressing fabric – when I’m being paid. Alas, like mechanics working on their own cars . . . I get huffy when making things for family & audibly moan when my bobbin runs out of thread.  I go through kilometres of thread each week, literally, I sew A LOT & in proportion, many bobbins. So I pre-spool about 10 bobbins for each machine at a time. Only when I finish the 10th bobbin, a little piece of me dies & I surprise myself with how frustrated i get.  I'm the most patient person on earth!!
What has sparked this outcry?? After quilting this large patchwork piece for my daughter, my last bobbin ran out of thread with no more than 10cm of stitching to do. 10cm & i was finished!! I knew it was running low & watched closely through the clear lid, stitch by stitch & convinced myself the bobbin would make it, cheered it on, sigh, no.  So I sat & spooled 10 fresh bobbins in off white (my multipurpose colour of choice) while rolling my eyes. Please, someone out there, design an uber bobbin, forget about tension, size & mechanics, just humour me that it’s possible!!
I’ve tried over filling bobbins – do not try this, it ruins the top stitching & simply does not work.  You'll have to unload it onto another bobbin or two, time wasted & annoyance gained.  On my industrial machine I can spool bobbins while I continue sewing, yes really, they are separate entities. Only I get hypnotised by watching bobbins fill with thread, so my sewing goes haywire.  So good luck if you can do it simultaneously!! I bet you can also pat your head & rub your tummy at the same time?? Happy Creative Spacing this week, check out more at Kootoyoo, thanks Kirsty, a delightful hostess.  Love Posie

My Creative Space 'faux screen printing & Euro style'

Greetings all,

Clearly after that last Creative Space post showing off my imported fabric collection from 10 years in the craft business, I have exposed myself to well meaning crafters & mothers who would sell their children or break & enter to feed their fabric addiction.
It has been gloomy weather since school resumed last week & my children are not as exhausted as I had hoped they would be with school filling their brains with new information & wearing out their bodies in the playground. So apart from my eldest venturing out with friends to the annual Canberra Multicultural Festival on the weekend (with her Japanese family & this time they ate Thai food) . . . well, it's just been school runs, homework, covering books & sewing like a woman possessed as markets loom near.

Well this is what I have been busy busy busy doing for the past few days. Wanting to go for a bit of a Euro meets Winter feel, with 'faux' screen printing designs & these gorgeous fabric colours mixed up. Had to prove to myself I can do a muted plain palate as well as blasts of colourful patterned fabric ensembles!!  I also find people ask for dresses with sleeves, so these can be trans-seasonal or popped over a skivvy & tights.  My range goes from size 2 to 8 for girls so there is something nice available for those approaching tween years who don't want black, vampire, mini skirt trash look.  I'll do up to size 10 shortly, just want to trial these first.

some dresses have capped sleeves, some elastic & some flat hemmed, some elastic hem (size 2-3 only)
mixing up the shapes & designs so each one is unique
my Euro colour palate
poor man's screen printing works just as well - cookie cutter shapes, fabric paint & press with iron

So these dresses will make their debut at Mathilda’s Market in Canberra, Sunday 28th February. I made 30 odd dresses from the 9 fabrics I purchased on Friday afternoon (Lincraft sale) & so far used about half of the fabric I purchased – great in case of orders & more stock for Handmade Market on Sunday 28th March. So yes, very fruitful rainy hibernation. 

Happy sewing & production for those of you already back into markets!! Love Posie