A fond farewell

 We have been going to the local butcher - a 5 minute walk away - for the last 16 years since it reopened. Today the doors have closed for  the last time, as Frank has decided it is time to retire. He is quite a local character, knows his regulars by first name and is always up for a chat. 

When I found out he was closing I put a post on the local Coburg Good Karma Facebook page, to let people know and to ask if people could maybe drop in and say goodbye. Luckily I had checked today because Frank’s daughter in law posted that he was closing an hour earlier than planned, so I quickly ducked down to the shop to say goodbye. I had sewn up a couple of strings of blue striped bunting yesterday ( thanks to Helen from craft group years ago, who showed me how to whip up bunting on the overlocker!) so I hung that out the front between a parking sign & power pole! 

Frank already had a few family members and local loyal customers out front;  and a few more dropped  by to say goodbye. He was very chuffed with the send off and loved the picture I drew for him of the shop. I was pretty happy with it myself, especially considering I only decided to do it about 10pm last night! All done with my alcohol markers, fine liner outline & white gel pen for highlights; copied from a photo I took earlier in the week.

Daiso delights!

 Popped into Daiso on the weekend while attempting some Christmas shopping…I had to replace my favourite drink bottle that I broke when the wind blew it off a table & onto the concrete! 

 I figured while I was I the shop I would have a quick look at the craft section - so glad I did because look what I found, 2 sashiko stencils! There were only these 2 but it looks like there are other designs available, will have to keep looking. Very happy with the Yabane ( arrow feathers) design, I drew it by hand for my Death Star project & have been wanting to use this design again - will be much easier with a stencil now!

Case sensitive

 I spotted a child sized vintage suitcase in our local hard rubbish rescue fb group a little while back, & was lucky to collect it. I remember having a similar mini suitcase as a child, it was my kinder/ prep case! Would have used it to carry a drink bottle of frozen cordial, with a cup on top, wrapped in a towel to keep it cool!

This little case was a bit bigger than my original, made of cardboard but with metal locks and plastic covered corners.

I removed some of the loose stickers, gave it all a light sanding, and masked all the trims with tape. Then I gave it a good coat of gesso for a base coat.

I kept a “window”on the back  to show the original label. I mixed a couple of shades to get a nice dark red & did 2 finishing coats, then a coat of low sheen varnish to seal it all.

Very pleased with the results, came up looking more like leather than cardboard! It was a fun project, & filled with some fabric & threads it made a lovely birthday gift!