My creations at Sew Make Create

I am delighted to announce that my softies can now be found at the innovative Sew Make Create workshop!!!

Sew Make Create is a unique, contemporary, creative workshop located in Chippendale, the funky city location in inner Sydney. The founder Melissa is ever so encouraging and I am very excited about this new opportunity. 

From the outside looking in the shop, you see Bo Bear and Giraffe in the front window!

More Bo bears by the front entrance and an amigurumi cupcake on the table there, bottom left 

A bowl of amigurumi cupcakes 

Here is Mixy hanging out with a fellow handmade softie by The Crafty Little Fox

And I can't possibly go without mentioning Pepper, by far the cutest Front of House and CSO (Chief Security Officer) I have met in an establishment like this... 

I love the whole concept of this creative workshop as this promotes a wonderful environment for the crafty community. I am really looking forward to meeting new people and sharing more of the stitchy and crafty fun soon! 

Stitch with Love!

Merriwa Festival of the Fleeces

We just came back from Merriwa! And what a wonderful trip we had!

Last year when a friend told me about an annual event in country NSW called Festival of the Fleeces, I was instantly intrigued! The idea of having 100 heads of red socks wearing sheep walking down the main street of a country town just tickled me silly.

Merriwa is about 4 hours north west of Sydney and the event is being held over this June long weekend - perfect! Hubby planned his work schedule ahead of time and I took an extra day off work so we could drive up on the Friday. We stayed at the Sandy Hollow Tourist Park and what a great find! More on that after the photos of Merriwa...

Main street of Merriwa at around 9:30am, people are just preping for the day!

Sheep dog demonstration and I had an overwhelming urge to call out "BAA RAM EWE" but that would just be silly!

It would be sacrilege not to have scones with jam and cream at the CWA (Country Women Association) morning tea now.... and they didn't disappoint - YUMMY!

Met Angus the sheep with this owner who would later be leading the 100 heads of sheep parade -  he was such a great sport treating everyone on the street! And check out his red socks!

Unfortunately this is the only picture I have of the actual sheep parade cause silly me pushed the wrong button when I thought I was recording the possession but I turned it off instead - DOH! Anyway, I can just see them lining up behind the men in white coats (don't really know who they were - hopefully not butchers...)

Riding club

The band - got to have the band!

Small dog jumping competition - that's really funny but I didn't stand close enough to get good pictures!

Met Gail from Pleasant View Fibres, a family owned business in Mount Pleasant (near Singleton NSW). They have Angora goats and coloured merino/ bond sheep. They process their own fibres on their property and they sell saw fleeces, hand dyed fibres and hand spun yarns. Gail was really friendly and helpful, she even invited us to email her if I have any questions at all... so I think a trip to Singleton is going on the calendar soon!

So Sandy Hollow - I am so glad we got to stay there! The hosts David and Chun are very friendly and knowledgeable. The 1 bedder cottage we stayed in is spacious, clean and modern with all the necessary amenities. It has beautiful views of Mount Dangar, part of the Goulburn River National Park, even on misty foggy days! There are plenty of nature walks around too.

They have a paddock that housed 3 girl sheep who are fully grown and very cute...

... or so I thought until we met Troy, the baby lamb. He is just epic cute! Troy has been adopted by David and Chun because his mum died so he stays with his adopted family at their main house and has his own patio. They are hand feeding him until he is big enough to join the ladies in the paddock.

Well, I had never been this close to a baby lamb before and naturally I was completely smitten. We were allowed to pat him, to feed him and wait for it... to walk him! Yep, I had a happy "SQUEAL" moment!

When Troy saw his human run, he picked up his pace and boy he can run!

Well I can go on and on but the internet seems to be cutting in and out and I really have to do something about dinner so I will wrap up here: We are definitely doing this trip again!

Next time, we will factor in some time to visit Tocal Homestead where they have the Back to Back Wool Challenge! Gail from the Pleasant View Fibres mentioned above was one of the spinners!

I did do some crocheting over the weekend and started to draft a post about one of my favourite techniques on keeping track of the number of rows when working in the round. Hopefully I will get that post up later on this week.

Stitch with Love xx

Where did May go?

Can someone tell me where has the month of May gone? I mean I can account for every day, I didn't lose time, that I knew of, but how can a whole month flew by without one single blog post being written?

I did stuff, lots of it! Since we are still in May, I figured I haven't lost it completely!  Here is a quick recap:

A relaxing weekend at a friend's place by the beach and hung out with a thieving kookaburra! This sneaky kookaburra managed to snatch a sausage from my friend's hand! This photo was taken before the "incident"!

Then I had my birthday... yep still in the 30s, just... but let's not dwell on that! Hung out with my two favourites by day and dinner out with my beloved by night - so blessed!

 

Then we had my sister in law and our nephew visited the following weekend. We went to the Million Paws Walk on the Sunday too!

 

And the weekend just gone? We caught up with friends, did things around the house and a visit to the Fabric-a-brac market in Newtown! I am so glad to have visited, great variety, the people were so nice and I just loved the community feel. There is something fun and exciting about digging in someone's sewing box and finding treasures like vintage embroidery threads!

 

These are just snippets of what I have been up to. I haven't done as much crafting as I would like but I am working on a couple of projects/ custom designs... more on them soon!!

Stitch with love xx

I did it!! The Dreamers Autumn Market recap...

Wow - what an amazing experience I had at the Dreamers Market yesterday!!! Here are some snippets of the day. Although no words can really fully describe it but hopefully the pictures can tell the gist of the story.

Stall set up done - first edition at 8:57am

Then I changed my mind and rearranged a few things.... about 9:14am - Market opened at 9:30am

So happy with how the laminated signs and the paper pom poms turned out! Thanks for my sister in-law who helped me putting the pom poms together at 11:30pm the night before!

A dear friend Janine suggested for me to have an "about me" photo so I made this up on glossy paper and stuck on a foam board. This also gave me an avenue to include my mascot "Benny" the amigurumi bunny. The convo bubble is a bit too small but it is Benny telling people to ask me about him.

The cupcake display - photo taken by my dear friend Yen... 

Around 11am... all the sock softies and a few of the cupcakes were gone and I had to rearrange the table a bit.  

Happy little customers!! This has to be my favourite photo of the day! 

Then a couple of these guys went to good homes too - I named them Bo the Bear Bear...

Here is the lovely Yen

This is the lovely Janine!  

Last and definitely not least, my supportive hubby - and did I say he made the two poles that held up the signs and the pom poms - at 10:30pm the night before?!

Key notes from yesterday include:

• Met some amazingly talented artists and those I spoke to were all so friendly and supportive and only too happy to share their experiences. As a newbie at this, I was so grateful for their openness.
• I learned that I LOVE talking to people!
• I am blessed with beautiful friends and I have been overwhelmed with their support (many came and those who couldn't, sent me encouraging messages)
• People do really like my stuff!! woohoos! It took me a little while to learn to say thank you when people complimented but I was so chuffed to realise that these people really meant what they said!
• that I really can pull something like this off by myself!! I am so incredibly proud as I can honestly say that this is the first time I have done something entirely off my own bat for my very self. Of course along the way I had help (notably Yen and of course hubby) which I am ever so grateful for... 

What's up next? Well, I am still digesting what I experienced from yesterday but one thing for sure, I am pumped! I have been getting some good feedback and great enquiries for custom pieces so I am excited for the follow up work ahead. I won't be diving into another market in the near months as I want to regroup, reflect and plan which I have some great ideas and now just have to put some action plans together - so watch this space.

In the meantime, I am taking next week off actually making the softies but put some thoughts to upcoming plans and follow up work. We also have a friends' wedding, some family visiting next weekend, and perhaps it's really time to focus on the home front as the house is an absolute bomb after weeks of neglect! :)

Life is great - savour it! 

A dress rehearsal...

There are only 6 more sleeps to go before the first debut of my softies at the Dreamers Market next Saturday!! We are officially in the "all hands on deck" crazy madness trying to get everything in order stage! All hands - well just hubby and I... if only Sally has opposable digits!

One of the things I was doing this weekend is finalising the table decoration and to try to do a mini dress rehearsal. I have made up a selection of amigurumi cupcakes for the day so I thought how better to display them than to use a proper cupcakes stand...

I am really pleased with how they are looking so fingers crossed they will catch people's eyes on the day!

Also started labelling the paper bags and printing out flyers.

Anyway just thought I would do a quick post before the final week of preparation....

On that note, I am going to get back to the lists of things to do!!

Minky fever

I spent today wrestling with metres of minky! they are so soft and smooth and cute that you can't really be mad at them but I also don't mind having a break from sewing with them...

Almost all of the minky used here came from Minkee Fabrics Australia. Excellent quality, lots of choices and fast shipping. I will definitely shop with them again. The blue with white dots came from Spotlight, they had a sale on last weekend so I picked half a metre up for $7.

The hooves and the pig tails probably give the identity of these softies away but one can never be sure what expression (mood) they are in!

Monster love...

Introducing two of our finest monsters, Choppy and Bubsy!

Sunday snippets - transformation awaits...

Batch 3 of my designs in healthy progress....Monsters awaiting transformation!

Stitching mad!

One of my personal goals/ dreams this year is to try selling some of my creations online, not in a million years did I imagine selling at market stalls... but when I spotted a post on the Sew Make Create Facebook page about applications closing for a market stall at the upcoming Dreamers Markets, I was immediately curious.

Before I knew it, I requested for the information pack and then next I knew I was submitting my own application! It's like I was hypnotised! I love the idea of a wholly handmade markets, it being so close to home and the opportunity to meet other handmade artists.

All applicants have to undergo a selection process and I will be told if I am successful in securing a stall spot by 10 February. I am not totally expecting to be selected, purely due to my lack of experience in selling my handmade but I am already really proud of myself for actually taking the step to apply. My sole aim this time is to try as it is not in my nature to jump into things without extensive research (sometimes too extensive!) and having a deadline like this will really push me along.

Regardless of whether I get a stall, the anticipation I have felt since I submitted my application last weekend has been overwhelming - in a really good way.

I started planning! I have decided to just focus on my softies only this time so I have been on a stitching mad frenzy since... here is a snippet of what I have had so far...

I know they are faceless but not for long!! I need to make sure their expression fits...

See how my faithful project manager staying close by my side!

My brain has been going overdrive with so many ideas... how many designs do I want to showcase? how many of each will I make? what styles will they be? how do I want to present and package them? etc etc etc

[BREATH]...

How I want my stall to look like? the props I want, should I revamp my label? paperbag vs plastic bag, business cards? colour theme? inventory - spreadsheet with photos? etc etc etc.

[MORE BREATHING]...

More practical and important stuff like pricing (should have been the first thing!), do I need an ABN? looking to public liability insurance options, drawing out a budget etc etc etc...


[MORE BREATHING - PROPERLY!]...

I did say I tend to research a lot.  All of these take me away from actually making but I am pumped with excitement!

Having said all that, if I don't get picked this time, I am cool with that plus I will have enough softies to put on an online shop of some kind.

Got to get back to my stitching fun!!