Craft group next MONDAY

All being well we will be at the PO again 7:30 next Monday.

I have my year 10 school reunion in Bendigo this Saturday ( high schools in Bendigo are year 7-10, 'cos there is an amazing senior high school there, it was one of the first in Australia. The failed experiment of the Coburg Senior High could learn a lot from Bendigo Snr High!!!)

The reunion is supposed to be "dress up - 80's theme" (yeah, I'm gettin' old!) but it is one thing to dress up in full on 80's gear for a friend's 40th with your mates, and quite another to turn up in costume with a bunch of people you haven't seen for 10/20/30 years! So I will err on the side of caution and not go too over the top! Had a flick through my collection of old "Dolly" magazines still in my wardrobe at my parent's house for some dress-up inspiration.

PS. Nicole Kidman had seriously curly hair when she was a "Dolly" model in the 80's!!!

Felt & button necklace

I made this a while ago for a friend, along with one in red/black/grey for me. But the 1st was only made of crochet cotton & felt, and although I loved the look of it, it was too light and blew around in a breeze! So the 2nd one (above) was put on the back burner while I figured how to modify it too add a bit of weight. Finally, I decided to sew some buttons on the flower shapes (pairs of buttons, from & back) and it seems to work! Plus it adds to the look.

But I can't decide which is the quicker way to do it - sew the buttons on 1st (one at a time) before glueing the shapes together, or put the necklace together & sew the buttons in pairs, with the slight complication of sewing through the dried glue and coping with the occassional tangle. Hmm, have to try both methods & compare. Planning on making some for the school fete anyway - once I have the felt shapes cut, I can put it all on the good old "stable table" on my lap & make them up while watching the telly.

The last race

I just watched "the last race" on the ABC, about organ donation. Beautiful, moving - I was crying through most of the show. One of my Dad's best mates (all-round great bloke, and an honorary uncle and to my sister and I when we were growing up) died waiting for a heart transplant. A school friend had a kidney transplant several years ago and which has turned her life around. My husband's phD supervisor and mentor also needed a kidney transplant but didn't make it.

Go over to Curly Pop's blog and have a read too.

Then talk to your family and sign up.

Just popping by...

...to let you know craft group is on again next Monday 27th Feb at the PO. See you there!!!

School holiday sewing pt.1

I did manage some sewing in the holidays - here is a bag made for my dragon loving friend Cheryl. She LOVED it, yay!!!

Dragon fabric from the craft show last year, vinyl & denim from Rathdowne Remnants, lining & inner pocket fabric from GJ's. This is about the 4th bag I have made from the Sew Hip "modern messenger" pattern. Very easy to make (once I figured it out, their patterns/photos/instructions never quite match. I have given up buying the magazine now!).

CRAFT GROUP - back on at the PO next Monday 7:30-9pm. I will put it in the school newsletter, and gave it a plug at the prep parents' morning tea at school this morning too!

Yarn bombing in Melbourne city square!

On our way in to Brickvention on Saturday, we came across a yarn bombing event in the city square! All the trees have been wrapped in beautiful knitted and crocheted pieces, including these gorgeous flowers! If you are heading into the city, stop by and have a look!

Brickvention was FANTASTIC of course, more about that next post. But one of the best things about it was that it provided motivation for the boys to FINALLY sort out their lego ( for about the first time ever without arguments/begging from me!!!), & they have had a major clean up and actually have room on the desk to play and build now!

Maker Faire last Saturday

We took the boys along to the maker faire last Saturday, it was really quite amazing! Lots of enthusiastic people showing off the amazing stuff they make in their sheds! Got to see the very cool MAKEDO cardboard creator kit in action - it's a set of joining tools, cardboard saw etc. safe for kids to use, to make cardboard boxes into all sorts creations! I was totally amazed by the 3D printer, I had seen the prototype on Catalyst on the ABC years ago, but to see one in action (and a home-made one at that!) was really mind blowing! Just goes to show you should never underestimate the power of imagination!

The Steampunk costumes were FANTASTIC! I love the book "The Difference engine" by Bruce Stirling, & William Gibson (who 1st coined the term "cyberpunk"); and the whole family loved watching "Going Postal" on the ABC recently (must find our Terry Pratchet books & read them again . The outfits on display - and worn by some people at the faire, looked like they had stepped out of one of those novels. Plus the designer and other people from clockworkbutterfly were so friendly, happy to pose for photos, talk about the outfits and how they are made etc. The designer said someone will contact her and say "can you make this dress for me? just like the one in this movie/picture/ book I read..." and she can do it! I am only just learning to read basic sewing patterns - this lady is AMAZING!

The only disappointing stall at the Faire, was the lady from the Steiner school, who just sat there doing some needle felting. She had some gorgeous felted people, trees etc. on display, but was a bit reluctant to actually talk to anyone! I said her creations were like the ones at the friendship tree in Northcote - she hadn't heard of it , and had to write it down! A man was interested in felting & thought his daughter & grandkids might like to know about it, & wanted to know more - all she did was give him a handwritten card for her blog! (Which I had a looked at when I got home and although it has some cute photos there are virtually no words ie. no tutorials, no lists of suppliers, handy hints or anything - just a label for the photos) Nikki has more felting info on her sewing blog! I told him that tools etc are available from Spotlight, but the wool is cheaper from the yarn barn in Coburg.

But thankfully all the other people there were a lovely, friendly, incredibly creative bunch, happy to talk about their passion for home- built technology! AND we got to see the very cool "robot" hands which can spin & solve a rubiks cube in under 10 seconds. I could only ever manage the bottom & middle layer, and that was with the book next to me. For the top layer I had to cheat & get my pocket knife out to take it apart!