Getting crafty again…

Been a loooongg time since any craftiness happened around here…

But in the last couple of weeks there’s been some break throughs…Maybe it’s cos the horrid website that had been sapping all of my creativity, enthusiasm and well basically, life blood, finally launched.

So without further adieu…the craft…

Firstly, my new camera case:

An idea that had been brewing for a while as I’ve had my camera for years now with no case…although in all honesty the G9 is so damn tuff you don’t need a case for it but. yeh well…I like it, except I put the lens in the wrong place…oops…

Next up is Hootie. I made him for Nayte, Khan’s nephew who recently visited. I used the pattern and tute from Toad’s treasures. Very easy to make and a really good and thorough tutorial. And the finished product:

Next was another owl for a newly arrived bub…I don’t think this turned out as well as the first one…I think I somehow messed up the pattern as I was trying to be tricky and, well, it kinda backfired…I call him Hootie Highpants cos he looks like his trousers are too high…oh well, hopefully the babe likes it! That’s who counts!

Finally I found I had some fabric leftover from recovering my kneeling chair (which I did ages ago…) and decided to make some cushions as the ones we currently have don’t really match the peachy coloured lounge suite we got not that long ago…

Noice! It’s all a little Ink & Spindle though…Fabric is Teeg’s Blue Wrens and I used Lara’s awfully handy tute to put in the invisible zips making the most prof cushion covers I’ve ever made! Woots!

quick one…

had an awesome weekend (GLWE ’09) with the high school pals…12 girls (I use that term loosely as we’re all over 30 now…) in a big barn in the middle of the country with way too much french toast, wine, cheese and Dr Jurd’s Jungle Juice (don’t even ask what that crap was…)

Got some gorgeous earrings from a little shop in Balmain/Rozelle crafted from tiny paper cranes made out of japanese paper…I’ve always had a love for miniature things…

Sorry again…will update with a better photo when I get a chance…

Small tip, the op shops around this area are really good…saw a Parker coffee table and multiple pieces of kitsch homewares I wanted to snavvle up…booo…must plan a trip to the south side op shops…

But, I was very restrained and didn’t really buy much else as I didn’t want to carry it all around…stupid excuse I know…

My friend also lives basically next door to the wonderful Society Inc. which was unfortunately closed each time I was there…had a very good peek in the windows though…and lots of lusting after was had…

Some more bullet points:

• Tintilla Estates 05 Shiraz is awesome, as is their Rosato di Jupiter (A rose! I hate sweet wines! But ah hah! It’s not sweet!)
• Berocca actually does what it says it will do…I’d never tried it before and now I am a convert…
• The new safari is awesome…it is fast, and smart…love the guessing it does as you type things into the address bar, the Top Sites page and the status in the right hand side of the address bar…glad they took on board the feedback from the beta and sped it up!
• I promise more crafting will be done soon..I have a couple of things in the works, just no time…
• Coolest site of the week: http://www.gestalten.com/

Shameless brand promotion…

Gonna be as quick as possible with this as I wanna watch Hell’s Kitchen…

So I was given a watch for xmas in 2005 by my gorgeous Khannie. It was a Nixon watch bought in Canada and I loved it to death. Unfortunately, because I loved it so much, I wore it all the time and it wore out, the band (which was irreplaceable as it was glued to the face and was unique to the design) basically fell to pieces…

As I loved it so much I contacted Nixon Australia to see if they would replace the band for me. They said no they couldn’t as they weren’t making them with the bands like that anymore. Boohoo…
But, if I wanted to they would REPLACE it for $40!!!
I was like nah…this can’t be right, they’ll just somehow attach the new band to the old face, but holy crap…I got it yesterday morning…a brand new version of the same watch for $40!!! This watch retails at $250! My old watch was weeeelllll out of warranty! It was a 4 year old watch!

Anyway, kudos to Nixon for their awesome customer support…who’d ever expect that to happen these days eh?

BTW off to Sydney/Hunter Valley for the girly long weekend…will report back with some awesome double denim photos…

Mmmm breakfast!

Ohmigod!

Finally found a good breakfast in out extended neighbourhood!!!

We first ventured to the Social Roasting Company yesterday after Khan read about these local guys employing people from migrant or refugee backgrounds, long term unemployed people or those with personal problems such as drug addiction or mental disorders to deliver their coffee…Had a coffee and an awesome ‘Lemon Delite’ which left me salivating after each mouthful…mmhmmmm…Beautiful flavours and social justice served with a smile…noice!

So it was decided a 2nd visit was in order for breakfast this morning…good move…I had the home made beans which were slightly mexican in flavour with a rich tomatoey sauce that was divine topped with a dollop of sour cream and spring onions…Khan had the baked eggs with feta, caramelised onions, hash brown and olives…very good also…way too big portion sizes but it’s worse to get not enough…

Stupidly, I was too involved in reading the Snow ’09 lift-out from the Sunday paper to take photos…next time I promise cos we are definitely going back there…

Their logo rocks too…

You’ll find them on Racecourse Rd next to the antique shop that is only open when the elderly lady who owns the place has a good crime novel to read and can be bothered entertaining people who venture in to find some interesting and unique objects…should have bought that old wooden fold out ruler dammit!

No news is not so good news…

I’ve been busy…still am and should probably not be writing this post as I have work to do…seems the old adage of when it rains, it pours is ringing very true at the moment…

I did have time to go op shopping last weekend in Sunshine, the main focus of the adventure to get denim for a double denim party in the Hunter Valley I will be going to over the Queens b’day weekend. It’s part of an annual Girls Long Weekend (GLWE) where my old high school friends get together and drink lots of wine and eat lots of cheese. This will be my first as I have been overseas when the others have been held.

Anyway, successful in the denim department but also got this:

I’m dying to make it into brooches but am struggling with the ‘how to’ of it all.
They have holes in the sides and I was thinking I wanted to make it reversible so you could wear either the picture or the letter, depending on how you felt that day…
I’m thinking something that clips into the existing holes to secure it somehow but I haven’t had any flashes of inspiration…

If anybody (out of the 2 of you) who reads this blog can think of a way, lemme know eh?

The fruits of purservering…

Oh the witty puns…gotta love ‘em….

So, yes the finished purse that I am mildly proud of…

front – next to my matching mattt bag

inside – oh what a wonderful lining…no puckering!

the back

Fabric is Lara Cameron’s Birch in charcoal on black for the purse and in chocolate on chocolate for the mattt bag…

All I can say is woot!

Type nerd = YES!

Way too slow with this blogging…Both Karin and Khan (check his blog for videos of the Primitive Calculators who played a set for the benefit) got in first, but as the instigator of this weekends little jaunt I need to put my 2 cents worth in as well…

I LOVE TYPE!

I love letters, I love the shapes they make, I love the shapes words make, serifs and sans- serifs, the variations in font families and how the application of a particular font can change the tone of a design completely…and yes, I am one of ttthhhose who HAS to comment on the use/misuse of a particular font on the side of a building or on a sign or poster and have been known to walk around streets naming/guessing fonts as I see them. N – E – R – D! 

So when I heard about the Melbourne Museum of Printing having an open day as they were struggling to stay open, I was like huh? I’ve never heard of this place but it makes me ultra excited…

And oh boy was I like a kid in a candy shop…so many beautiful old things to see… great big old typewriters, printing machines of various eras and racks and racks of letters all sorted into their font type…Many familiar names Rockwell, Gill Sans, Univers, Times, Bodoni plus all in different weights (bold, condensed etc).

So enough of the boringness…it was totally packed and I intend on going back there to have a class or maybe even volunteer my time as all the big old machinery intrigues me so much and I’d love to help out with retaining such an important part of the history of print…here’s the photos…sorry shitty photos again as I only had the iPhone…

self-indulgent typesque moment

a plate for one of the prints being sold

my favourite out of the prints available for sale, unfortunately out of my price range at the moment…

Some happy snaps…

Getting arty farty with the Camerabag app for the iphone whilst waiting to begin the Melburn Roobaix…most fun had on 2 wheels…EVER!
Out with the old, in with the new…

Interesting how they kept the colour exactly the same (not that you can tell so much from my crappy iphone pic) over so many years…the design is so similar too…the newer model being plasticised to reduce production costs.

I pass these bugs nearly everyday on my way to and from work, both always parked in the same place and the funny thing is I’ve only ever seen somebody driving the old one…
Ain’t he sweet? I don’t think there’s anything you couldn’t do with a penguin….they’re just so darn cute and maleable…

I have to remind myself all the time to look around for street art..there’s some clever kids out there…

Scarves, capes, migraines and good breakfasts

Not much on the blogging front as I have been stricken with the ugliness of the dreaded migraine…possibly stemming from an over-extension of my neck last week in pilates, but I think I’ve managed to get rid of it with packets of codeine, ibuprofen and paracetamol along with coffee, rest from the screen and some heavy crafting.

Oh yes have I been busy…

sorry about the crap photos but I kept forgetting to take photos until after dark…and yes, i know my carpet needs vaccuming…

First up scarf no. 1 

Close up of fabrics > (colours = bad due to terrible lighting…sorry!)

made from some black cotton drill and some japanese fat quarters I got from the Stitches and Craft show a while back and lined with a nice knitted fabric in brown I found at Clegs.

Then after deciding I needed one to match my outfit last night I whipped up this one in under 2 hours…it’s not as wide as no. 1 and is possibly a little poorly sewn but it does the job!

Close up of fabrics >

This one was made with the same black cotton drill, lined with a black version of the knitted fabric and some more variations of the japanese fat quarters.

Was actually quite easy to get a fairly professional looking outcome…an iron really helps with that too…

and tonight, I started the purse…the massive amount of instructions with ACCURACY in all caps and underlined and the ‘intermediate’ rating kinda freaked me out…but y’know…nothing ventured, nothing gained…so unlike my usual approach, I turned the sewing machine to low speed and managed to get it done without too much drama! I don’t have the proper glue so I’m holding myself back from whipping out the super glue…so unlike me again! and am planning on going to buy some proper glue and do it properly…woot!

So I can’t find a button/clasp/do-upperer for my cape, so it’s just sitting there waiting to be finished…booo…

Good breakfast tip? I am an avid breakfaster…I am actually thinking about starting another blog to document good (vegie) breakfasts in and around melbourne…So added to the list this week is Palominos on High St in Northcote. Moving past the free King and Queen font used on their front window, the coffee was good and strong and the spinach and pecorino baked eggs with fennel seeds and pumpkin bread was really good…I was scraping the bowl for more…Also, props go to the newly opened Pearl Oyster cafe on Miller St Thornbury, awesome decor (exactly how I would love to decorate my house) excellent coffee (Coffee Supreme) and sublime breakfast…shame about the service, our order was forgotten twice and after a one hour bike ride to get there we were famished…but sooo worth it when we finally got it and we’ll definitely be going back there…

Another thing done today was not very crafty at all, but this blog ain’t all about craft…maybe more about happy stuff, and happy stuff = snowboarding…yes, we spent almost an hour in Trigger Bros with Khan trying on boots…he ended up buying himself a pair which makes me very excited as we’re going to NZ in August to snowboard…soooo much funnn…can’t wait…we may’ve also bought a DVD at my suggestion which is soooo dorky and I’m holding out on watching it cos I know I’ll wanna jump out on the snow asap after watching it…

Oh and I got some awesome new shirts this week from sneak design who are having a sale on some of their older designs on their site…Go buy one or 5! Support local designers!

If only I could read german…

then I would read this blog… 

Do something pretty 

But the pictures are certainly enough eye candy…