supporting handmade

I went shopping with my teenager daughter the other day .

We don't get to the big shops very often so

we took the opportunity to have a good look around .

We went into one of those jewellery shops,

you know the ones with all the loud music

and the shop girls bounce over to see

if they can help with very bright , high voices .

Anyway my daughter was a bit taken with a necklace .

It was pretty , it was trendy and damned if

I couldn't make it myself !

It was also very , very expensive .

I'm fairly sure it was imported very cheaply

from overseas and now someone is making a fortune

and it isn't the people overseas that are

paid a pittance .

Which finally brings me to my point .

There is a program on the ABC

called Blood , Sweat and Luxuries

that shows the hardships people endure just

so we can have our fancy goods .

It has showcased embroidery sweatshops and

precious metal mining and computer recycling .

What these poor people go through for us

is just incredible and heartbreaking .

This program is a real eye opener and

I highly recommend it .

I would always rather support local handmade and

in a very small way I hope this helps .

This is as political as you are ever

 going to get from me but I am so passionate

about handmade , upcycling , recycling , reusing

and just making do that this was a good place

to rant to so many others that feel the same .

So the handmade necklace was made.

The girl and I just love it and because

we worked on it together this

 always makes handmade extra special !

help I've been hexed !

As most of you know I am not a quilter .

I have seen hexies around forever and have

never really been interested in doing them

until just recently .

After a bit of chat on facebook I found

 a great tutorial here .Thanks Karen .

I decided right from the start that

only scraps could be used .

The new addiction then began .

There are little bags of hexies ready

to be stitched everywhere !

I even have a bag of them in the car

for times when I'm waiting to pick up kids .

Why do I need help you ask ?

After all these little hexies have been joined

to make a flower then what ?

Surely if I stitch around the edges onto backing

fabric the middle piece will pop up ?

Or if I join all the flowers together how do

I get them onto the backing .

I repeat

 I.am.not.a.quilter.

hello chickadee !

From my chicks to your chicks

have a safe and happy Easter .

I will be having a little blog break over Easter .

When I come back there will be a giveaway ,

a new pattern release and maybe a new swap .

If you have a swap idea let me know here

and I'll see what I can do .

Don't eat too much chocolate !

how does the Easter bunny carry his eggs ?

In a Honey Pot of course !

I did a tutorial for these last year for Christmas

in Christmassy fabrics but as you can see

that look pretty darn cute for the Easter Bunny too !

If you you would like to make some the tutorial is here

They are easy to adjust the sizes and you could fill them 

with eggs or even hot cross buns , yum ! 

grateful

I'm grateful for living in the country with the family I have .

I'm also grateful they haven't run away from me

as I seem to be a little scatty and they are so

very tolerant of some of the mistakes I make .

Find more gratitude here .

easy Easter craft for kids

Easy , easy and almost mess free !

All you need is colourful paper even old magazine pages

and cardboard an old cereal box will do .

Tear a pile of colorful pages into small scraps .

The kids love this part .

Glue all the little pieces to the cardboard .

Turn the cardboard over and draw

some eggy shapes and cut them out .

Use a holepunch and put a hole in the top of the eggshape .

Thread some ribbon through and you're done !

These don't take long and is a great way

to distract the kids from saying

"When again is the Easter Bunny coming ?"

because I felt like it

I was reading one of my favourite blogs the other day

and Tania had the best tutorial for little Easter chicks .

I haven't done a lot of work with felt

so I thought I'd have a go .

How easy this was going to be , no seam allowances

no heming , no machine sewing .

It was going to be so cruisy sitting by

the fire stitching my little heart out .

I got a little excited and had visions of myself buying bolts

of felt because this was going to be great fun .

I started on a little design of my own and then

remembered this was meant to be for fun not work

and used a pattern from this cute book .

Well that was when it stopped being fun .

I didn't like the fluffy bits that went in my eyes .

I didn't like the untidiness of it all .

I didn't like not having the structure that I'm used to .

I sort of liked the end result and will probably

have another go at felt animals .

I know lots of others love to work with felt and make

 fantastic things , just not me .

I did ask the bunny do a little jig for me like the

chicks did over at Myrtle and Eunices

you really need to see these talented little chicks

they really know how to dance !

This was the response I got got from my bunny

when I just asked for a tiny , weeny dance  .

Hmmmph how ungrateful !

fairy dance - complete

Finally the fairy dance blanket is finished .

In case you are wondering what the heck I'm

going on about the story starts here .

I took lots of photos of it for you but had so many

I put some together so you didn't feel the need to

nod off especially after seeing my lovely, soft blanket .

I won't get sick of looking at it and I won't get

cold with this over me this winter .

It's so nice to see your family snuggling

up with something you've made ,

beats a shop blanket any day !

Imagine how excited I would be if I could quilt !

my creative space

My Creative Space is chaotic as usual .

I've been dismembering cupie dolls for my shop .

I have certainly not been charming this week .

This week I have been planning to dye .

This week has been pretty well frocked !

How's it going in your space ?

Lots more creative spaces here .

memories of The Easter Show

The Royal Easter Show was a huge deal when I was a kid .

I was one of eight children so obviously we weren't

able to go every year but when we did it was

the most exciting thing ever !

We would take our own lunch and walk what seemed miles .

My parents were country people so it was the

woodchopping and fresh produce displays that we

spent lots of time at .

But it was always the dolls on sticks that we wanted .

If you were lucky enough to get a doll on a stick

your life just felt complete .

We would trudge back to the bus with your doll

held high so everyone could see just how lucky you were .

The doll on a stick was placed beside your bed

so it would be the first thing you saw the next morning .

I have all the dolls on sticks I want now .

They still  make me smile and I remember

much simpler times and a very happy childhood .

Dolls available in my shop now .