good and bad

Just a quick note again. My computer is still not up and running properly. I need time to sit and figure it out which I have not had for the last few weeks. Today I have to take Bantam Boy to see a skin specialist as he discovered a spot (in a place that rarely gets any sun exposure) that the doctor is extremely concerned with. This was on Thursday and the doctor immediately rang the specialist to ask for the next available appointment for him, this has been playing on my mind badly although I am doing my best not to alarm him and there is not much we can do until we see the specialist.
Yesterday was the George st festival. It went very well. I sold $655 worth of stuff and ran out of business cards. A lady called Songy took some photos of the day and some of my things are featured on her website. It was a lovely day and the time flew by, and I'm pleased to say my aunt didn't copy my bags- according to Bantam Boy, as I was too busy to look around. He said that there was nothing that compared to mine, if she did they didn't look any where near as good! God bless him. Although a complete stranger said she had been to the Bazaar (a very upmarket, posh market run by the fremantle art centre) and she had not seen anything as creative and innovative as my little HANDbags. A very nice compliment!
Many people asked where else I sell from and some asked if I had an on line shop. Maybe......

While I should be working...

Finally after goodness knows how long the dining table was clear! Thanks to Bantam Boy who has chastised me soundly for leaving mess about and for having too many tea cups (I must revisit teacup Tuesday!) We actually ate dinner at the table yesterday and the dishes were done strait away.



Alas the clean table did not last long,



it was the perfect place along with the breakfast bar to set up as a printmaking station. So while I have too much work to do I did some printmaking instead. These are about 30cm square, the blue bird (which is what this is supposed to be) reminds me of my childhood so I'm going to do some of these a bit smaller and print them onto pages of old children's story books.



I tried printing one on fabric, without a press they don't work all that well. I'd like to print some tea towels for George st. I think silk screen might be the go. It's quick and simple and that way I can make duplicates quite quickly.



Ahhhhh... so many plans not enough time.

Shameless self promation.

I took my little HANDbag shopping this morning. I did something a bit silly, I cut out a pile of the bags ready to sew and used the left over pieces to cut out some wrist purses. That's not silly, I hear you say, that sounds sensible to use up the scraps and have a pile of things ready to sew when the mood or opportunity strikes. Well that's true but I forgot to cut the bases of the bags so I had 4 bags cut but no bases to match. So I had to go and get some more fabric this morning.

While I was in the fabric shop a lady exclaimed "What a lovely bag!"
"Why thank you," I replied," I'll be selling them at the George St Market."
"It's just the kind of thing my daughter would love."
"We'll tell her to come and find me at the market!" I heard myself say. I was quite surprised that I was so shameless!



I made 7 bags today and 3 flowers too. So does that mean I'm 6 days in front with my goal and I can have a week off?

Bare necessities

WIP.

I thought I'd best make this little bag that's been lurking in my head for months now before I see someone else has made one already! When I went to Melbourne I saw some shoulder bags with handles that loop through one another. I'd seen them before but had forgotten about them. Since then I'd been thinking about making a similar kind of thing that was just big enough to link and slip over your wrist just for the bare essentials.

So in the wee hours of this morning I came up with this. It's not finished yet and I've discovered that I estimated the length of the handle too generously and it sits better if shorter.

PS: all the bags I've seen that are similar to these have a rounded base mine has a circular base, so it sits flat and upright when placed on a table and is my own pattern.

Mark 1...

. .
see the handle is too long!

With adjusted handle...

. . .

I might do some with crocheted flowers too. (For those of us that like more than the bare necessities when it comes to embellishments)



I'm also going to make them in plain black, denim and linen. Perhaps the flower could be detatchachable
I just ran the spell checker over this post and it didn't highlight necessity - I am not the worlds best speller, as some of you may have already noticed as sometimes I forget to check or post at very odd hours when I should be asleep. Necessity has been the brain of my writing life and I have on numerous occasions selected others words rather than making an error!

four more flowers...

. . .

I'm really enjoing making these floral necklaces for the market, they've kind of taken over. They are great because there's not alot of room taken up or mess to make. Just a few balls of cotton and a crochet hook and perhaps a few buttons or beads.



After saying that I wasn't going to spend too much time reading blogs I found myself joining in Blogtoberfest in which you blog every day, as I'd already been blogging every day (and three times on one day.) I'd thought I'd join in. As I've been quite productive at the same time I don't feel guilty about "wasting" my time. I find that it is quite motivating to see what other people are doing. Plus now I have my laptop on the go with the wireless network it's easier to find a minute or two to make a post while watching a bit of t.v. or baking cake or cooking dinner. It also doesn't take as long now that I'm becoming more computer literate!

Wednesday's work

Yesterday I experimented with ways of constructing the wrist purses quickly. I decided to make a quicker, more simple and therefore cheaper range that would appeal to kids. Chicky Babes friends all wanted one even one of the boys! (I've bought denim fabric and heavy duty studs to make some that would be more unisex)

Today I woke with a HUGE headache but as the day progressed I managed to motivate myself and have put together about 15 of these little guys. I still have to add buttons and loops. As I worked I suddenly had an idea to make corsage purses with crocheted flowers. Here's the first one.

I've bought black fabric and will make some with black flowers and some with purple and red too. I dont care if these ones sell because I like them and will wear them myself!

So that's more to tick off my holiday list! Tomorrow morning I will bake a cake because A is coming to visit with her little ones.

P.S. (some time later)

I couldn't leave them so I searched through my odd button stash and now they all have buttons but it's 1:15am and I really should get some sleep!!!

P.P.S @ 2:30!!!! I had to make this one too!!! (I saw it here and decided to give it a go.) It's cute! I didnt follow the pattern just the picture! It is so close to what I've been playing with ie; crocheted flowers as jewellery. Sometimes I'm not sure if this web is a good thing or not it's nice to see the collective conciousness and the similar things being produced but on the other hand it's a bit frustrating to feel as if you are not as creative as you'd hoped!!!! I supose it's like beaded jewellery- it's the same techniques but just different types and colours of beads threaded in different combinations but still they are similar. I really should sleep!!!!

Crocheted necklace

Wrist purse

This is my next idea for the George st Market. It's a purse worn on your wrist for when you go to the beach or for that walk with a girlfriend and stop at a coffe shop, for traveling or clubbing when you dont want to carry a bag or want to carry a seperate secret stash of cash,a key and or a condom!


This one is quite simple made from linen and embroidered with 1oo% crochet cotton. I might make some even plainer from cute fabric to sell as a more functional item but origionally I imagined them to be a chunky jewellery item and therfore beaded or embroidered. I think kids would use the simple ones more and I could sell them more cheaply as they take less time to make.


This particular model has 2 large buttons on the side and an invisible zipper on the top.



It was a little fiddly to turn through at the ends and on reflection I would use a shorter zip next time. I wore it all day today to see what it felt like. It was very comfortable. The next plan is a wrist purse when I figure out exactly how I'm going to do it!

multi tasking

I found this image while browsing blog land, it made me laugh. I often feel I'm in need of 8 arms to complete all the necessary tasks along with the unnecessary ones! I found it on Pengin & Fish. She has links to a variety of beautiful and quirky sites. This one really tickled my fancy!
Right at this moment I'm enjoying breakfast out in my patio making use of this wonderful wireless network! I think I'll bring my sewing machine out here to do some work today. It's a little overcast and cool but nice to be in the fresh air.

I'm beginning to wonder if it is a good idea to do the George St Market or not. There is not a great deal of time and I do need to balance work commitments. Term 4 is alwasys busy and a little stressful- trying to get everything complete, writing reports and the principal and P&C want to do a huge whole school art exhibition with each child having a piece of artwork to sell for a large fundraising event! This has me a little concerned as I'm a bit of a control freak and like to do stuff myself, I will have to learn to delegate, and hope it gets done properly! Also I have to confess I have not yet finished the mural so this also has to be a high priority! See I truly do need 8 arms! (And less time spent browsing looking at all the lovely stuff everyone else is producing!)
Time to get back to it... making not browsing!!!

off the leash

I am currently sitting comfortably in my warm lounge at a reasonable hour using my laptop computer to browse the net and blog! One of the kids has the computer in the cold hallway/ computer nook. I mannaged to set up the wireless thingo complete with security. (It took a great deal of reading and rereading the manual and a great deal of cursing but now it is done and it is wonderful! I can take my computer anywhere and work in comfort.)

I made this today, a trial design for the market later in the year. I call it a "tuck tote", it is a shopping bag that folds into the side pocket making it easy to carry in your handbag or to pop into the glovebox.

Shopping bag about 40cm x 45cm Made from Retro cotton fabric.

To tuck the bag into it's pocket fold the sides in....

in thirds...

Fold it in half and then in half again.....

Fold the red pocket bit over- like folding socks

Now it's all neat and tidy about 15cm x 10cm

I'm really happy with the way it turned out and the best bit is they will be quick and easy to make. Hopefully with the talk of charging for plastic bags and the move to reusable bags they might sell.

I just showed Bantam Boy how it worked and he was impressed!