Feeling the LOVE

What with all that's been going on in my imaginary gypsy life, is it any wonder that at the third 'MadewithLOVEBazaar' I ended up looking like this in just my normal clothes? The theme was "hippie love".

Inspiration is a wonderful thing. Soak it up and see how much fun you can have. I loved being a hippie gypsy. Recognise the dress, I posted about it before here.

These were taken when me, Michelle and Sarah were playing in my mums aka 'Dora the Explorer's' camper van. Don't you reckon that Michelle looks like Gypsy Rose - Fortune Teller?

Hehehehe. Mum bought the textiles in Rajasthan. She was there for six weeks in October/November. She painted a traditional Rajasthani design on the floor and everything else a beautiful warm aqua blue, tiled the top of the small cupboard and stuck little round mirror tiles everywhere. It looks absolutely brill.

The 'market girls' have been so busy making so many new things for the market after our sell-out success of the first two. We're also really looking forward to welcoming new stall holders to our next market on 12th February, just before Valentines. Dress-up theme is RED.

If you fancy being part of this cool, fun, funky market, please visit our Facebook page for contact details, we'd love to hear from you. I'll leave you with a quick peak at some of the goodies on offer at the MadewithLOVEBazaaar in Wynyard, Tasmania, Australia.



Gypsy Bags

I’m tired this morning and I don’t know where to start. I have so many things I want to achieve this morning. I should be doing the laundry and washing-up. But I’d rather take photos of the bags I’ve been making for the market. So I did.

Maggie goes to childcare on Tuesday mornings and I love the time this gives me. However, I have to stop myself from stressing about the best way to use this time or I end up wasting it chasing my tail around in circles trying to do too much and achieving very little. I wanted to write a blog post too as it's been so long again. So I am.

There are also times when Maggie is at childcare when I just want to lie on the couch in silence and read a book or have a nanna nap. So I do. But then after a while I have to get up as the feeling of wasting this precious time is too much and all the projects I want to do are zooming around in my mind. It’s always abit of a conflict isn’t it?

So when I’ve finished this I’m going to take cup of tea into my sewing room and work on the journals that I want to make to go in the little pockets I made last week. I have found some really lovely inexpensive watercolour books which have beautiful paper pages.

I’ve been loving making these bags. It’s so nice to be able to just hack into the fabric without having to measure and refer to a pattern every second. I love being more spontaneous and making it up as I go along. It’s a real drag having to refer to patterns and measure things when making clothes or following tutorials. I’d forgotten how nice it is to be more creative instead of trying to make everything millimetre perfect, as you do when dress making.

So maybe later I’ll have time to put some washing on, do the washing-up, vacum and make a some lunch. If I achieve all this I’ll have had a happy Tuesday morning. Roll on Friday morning. Did I really say that out loud?

New Stockist - Crossed Spoons Cafe

Won't you just check out Violet, Florrie and the others in their new home; the Crossed Spoons Cafe, Boat Harbour, Tasmania. All poshed up and ready to go to a good new home. I'm so proud of them, but I must let them fly the nest. I hope people enjoy them as much as me.

So let me tell you about the Crossed Spoons Cafe. It's one of those comfy cafe's where you always feel welcome and relaxed. Vanessa explained "it was always our aim to offer good homecooked meals and give people the chance to purchase locally made wares". Supporting local artisans is something that is important to her as well as offering a wide range of Indian products.

The Crossed Spoons Cafe provides the perfect place to relax and enjoy a yummy meal, coffee or desert in easy chairs in front of a roaring fire whilst your child plays with the toys on the rug. Or if you want abit of peace and quiet you can sit in the other room and admire the fantastic views over the bass strait. Whether your lunch appointment is business or pleasure, Crossed Spoons Cafe will provide the perfect place to 'nosh up'. There's heaps of space so you will never be left out in the cold and is very conveniently located on the Bass Highway between Wynyard and Boat Harbour. Also known as Killynaught, they also have beautiful little cottages if you really can't bear to leave. Closed in winter on Tuesdays and Wednesdays but open all other days 11am - 5pm. A stay here would be a must if you're thinking of visiting the area.

My Creative Space

My 'Village' applique bags have still been completely and utterly consuming me this week. These are just perfect for kiddiwinks library bags as I made them big enough for the lovely large picture books.

And yesturday I spent a couple of hours just cutting fabric as I was getting abit low on squares and triangles for quilts and  bunting. Not my favourite thing to be doing but it's so satisfying seeing them all cut and ready to go in my cupboard. It also makes it fun for people to choose their fabrics and have a play with designs when they want a bespoke quilt or bunting, with a matching toy. 

What have you been up to this week? I'd love to hear. And don't forget to pop over to Kirsty's blog Kootoyoo to see what others have been busy creating.

Monday Morning Book Club

It was my birthday on Saturday and I received several beautiful books including this one which I will share with you today. All you fans of upcycling, reforming and refashioning will love this book. The book is called Free-Style Handmade Bags and Skirts, but it's the 'free-style' bit that stands out when you look at this book. It's so much more 'urban street cool' than others I've seen which tend to go for either that 'home-spun' or 'pure organic cotton' look. This is different, it's more New York than New England, more hippy chic than shabby chic......are ya gettin me?

There are 50 projects for bags and skirts with easy to follow instructions. The first chapter - Sewing and Pattern Making Basics is particularly good in this book and helpful for anyone attempting their first project.

Monday Morning Book Club

In my pantry I have a big bag of cardboard boxes, bottle tops, toilet rolls, string, etc which I collect ready for the day when Maggie-May is old enough to start making things like cars, dolls houses and model villages....... I just can't wait! Already she has her own basket of beads, buttons, 'bubbles' (as she calls them), material & paper scraps, fabric flowers, trimmings and boxes which she happily plays with when imitating me sewing.

Art/craft is so important to children in excersing their creative brain.  It stimulates their imagination, is a great form of self expression, improves motor skills and encourages them to be independent in decision making, problem solving, experimentation and encourages perseverence, thus increasing their confidence and self esteem.

So start collecting bits and bobs now and order yourself a copy of this book from your local library or book shop and start creating with your childen. There are 35 step-by-step projects for you to choose from that use natural, recycled and found materials. The projects are mainly suited to older children (3+) but the 'pumpkin animals' and 'cardboard sandals' could be fun for you and your toddler. My favourites are the peg dolls, the pom-pom caterpillar and the dolls house.

When a Girl Can't Sew.......

..........she knits! I feel that there has been a distinct lack of Baby Boudoir creations on my blog of late so I would just like to explain. My sewing room is sometimes disguised as a spare bedroom and when mum comes to stay my sewing room becomes 'grandma's bedroom'. Since mum comes to stay for several months at a time, I try to not invade her sapce too often as she is so good at respecting ours. Therefore my projects are limited to those that I can manage on the kitchen table or whilst sitting in front of the TV. So after a good deal of thumb twiddling I decided to pick up some old knitting needles and see what would become of it.

After some help casting on I was knitting full steam ahead. "What's it going to be?" mum asked, I replied "a scarf" - of course, what else would a novice knitter knit! Then the knitting started to get wider, and wider. Mum comments "it's a funny shaped scarf", I reply "actually it's going to be a hat now" and start demonstrating how it would sit on my head in that french beret kind of way. After a great deal of unconvinced laughing mum suggested that maybe it would work better as a fluffy pair of undies!!!! Either way scarf, hat or undies it started to look abit 'bodgy'. Now I don't do bodgy, everything has to be pretty perfect in my world so I went back to the drawing board and started to create these little bags. Not bad for a bodgy bit of knitting hey?

My Makes

It seems that I may be a somewhat shy blogger!!!! Each time I attempt to write a post, words seem to fail me. For someone who is not usually short of a word or two this feels a little weirdorama. Maybe that's it, maybe I just have too much to say and don't know where to start. Nevermind, until I find the confidence and feel comfortable about revealing my thoughts, creations and aspirations to the world, pictures of 'my makes' that I have for sale will have to suffice.

The bag pictured above is one of the many different coloured bags I have for sale. Made from recycled wool, buttons, beads and beautifully handmade fabric/felt flower embellishments. Great for little girls to carry their own bib, wipes and spoon when meeting friends for lunch.
Below is Florrie-Blue and Violet from my softie range. Made from recycled stock. I use all the same fabrics for bunting, softies and quilts for a fully co-ordinated baby's boudoir. (See quilts and bunting on the right hand side of the page).
this is sunny...........
and this is Florrie and Maggie.

So there's a few of my little makes for you to ponder over. Baby Boudoir is a very new venture for me and I'm very excited about seeing how it develops. One thing I have discovered recently is how many very talented ladies there are busy in their homes creating wonderful handmade treasures. We need to get together, share ideas and inspiration. I would love to hear from you all, particularly if you are local to NW Tasmania and would be interested in selling your creations in "a winters eve artisans market" that I'm hoping to organise over the winter where people can come to sell, buy, chat, hang-out and have coffee and cake. Look forward to hearing from you.......and don't forget to follow me, sign up over there on the left.