Friday, Saturday, and Sunday too!

Today I'm getting packed, ready to head off early tomorrow morning for Melbourne town for the Finders Keepers!

I can't wait!

Come along for more great indie design than you can poke a stick at, all under the historic roof of the beautiful Royal Exhibition Buildings. 

Friday night and all day Saturday too!

And then on Sunday, I'll be in the glorious gardens of the Abbotsford Convent for my monthly Melbourne market, Shirt & Skirt.

And, that's my weekend all accounted for!

Making

Only a week to go until another Melbourne Finders Keepers!

I do love this event.

It's huge, it's in the beautiful and historic Royal Exhibition Buildings, there's so many great designers, and live music as well.

I'll be trying to get out and catch up with some of my maker friends too. 

It feels like ages since I've got out from behind my sewing machine!

There's been lots of shirt making, and the arrival of a spur of the moment purchase of some truly beautiful smooth and silky cotton chambray kept me busy for a couple of days working on a new skirt design.

And here she is.

Of course, there's a bit of Liberty worked in. 

I can't help it!

Spring clean

It might be a bit of procrastination, or it might be the longer and brighter days, but I took to my workroom cupboards yesterday morning in a bit of a 'I must sort this stuff out' frenzy.

And sort it out I did.

There's always a few odds and ends left over when I move from one thing to another.

And, I'd dearly love for these last few things to go off to good homes, so I've listed them in the shop.

There's very limited stock, and some things not in every size, but I've slashed and burned the prices, so here's a chance to snaffle a bargain!

Go for it by following this link right here!

Making pictures

What a glorious day it is here on our coast.

Perfect for a little time out from the workroom to take a walk on the beach. Crikey, the water's cold though, don't let the picture fool you.

And that nice little segue leads me to tell you how much I am loving instagram. 

Just being able to whip out my lovely new phone to snap a moment in the day is giving me a great deal of pleasure.

Even my work table looks more interesting! 

I'm there as frankieandray if you'd like to join me. 

And let me know if you're on there as well. 

I love to have a look at your day too.

Distracted

Who would have thought?

I confess to being a little bit of a pooh-pooher about these new fangled smart phone thingies.

Not anymore!

This week saw my 8 year old mobile phone finally die. Poor thing, it'd been struggling for a while.

So, off to the phone shop I went, and home I came with this beauty.

So many things I can do with it!

Facebook, email, the internet, instagram, a scrabble-like game to play with my city friend....and there's probably more I haven't discovered just yet.

Does anyone actually use them as phones?

It's a wonder I'm getting anything else done at all!

(with less than 3 weeks to Finders Keepers, I really must get to work!)

Quick turnaround

I've barely caught my breath from a fabulous Melbourne market weekend, and I'll be packing the car again tomorrow for another trip to town.

I'll be set up in the function room at the Mt Erica Hotel in Prahran with a small group of fabulous designers.

2 days with some great people in a pub. That's going to be fun!

Plus, this is an opportunity to grab some great stuff on sale.

I'll have my new season things, but also the last of the popular Liberty cord skirts and some organic cotton and hemp frocks at a great price. I think I'll even knock a bit off the long sleeve Liberty shirts to make room for Summer....

Don't miss out!

Out and about

It's been more than a month since I've had a market outing, although it feels like forever.

I'm making up for it this month with 3 fabulous outings to Melbourne starting this weekend!

And, I'm excited to be showing you a few new things. There's been lots of little shirt making, so I have oodles of colours and pattern combinations to choose from. Perfect for this warmer weather.

Also, a new tee, and some perfectly quirky hemp and organic cotton skirts embellished with a vintage tea towel motif pocket, all one of a kind, and gorgeously colourful.

Hooray for Spring!

Love this market - and it's only on 3 times a year, so don't miss out!

Then, in the beautiful gardens at the Abbotsford Convent on Sunday, September 16 (yes, that's this Sunday!)

Shirt & Skirt Market

Abbotsford Convent

1 St Heliers Street, Abbotsford

10am - 4pm

A few days at home, and then you'll find me at this lovely gathering.

See you soon!

Doing it justice

It's always such a delight to be receiving a parcel of hand printed beautiful fabric from the girls at Ink & Spindle.

I'd been contemplating this one for a while.

And when it arrived, all my preconceived plans for it went out the window.

It's perhaps the touch and feel. This is a blend of hemp and yak fibre. Yes, yak.

And the feel of it is amazing. It's soft, yet robust. Like a beautiful woven wool, but softer.

A lovely mid-weight.

So, I've tried to do justice to this lovely fabric.

I've done a little subtle hand stitching with some red silk, and made a scarf.

There might be a few more....

Patchwork, quilting, and tees

Inspiration popped into my head this week.

It's always an interesting thing, demanding to be acted on, and sometimes I'm not sure where it's arrived from.

Not this time!

My brain has been full of quilting and patchworking for a while now.

I've been studying pictures of beautiful combinations of fabrics and colours.

My favourite place to do this is over at Maggie & Sparrow. If you haven't been over for a look, go and visit! Make yourself a cuppa, you could be a while.

If only I could run my hands over the pictures and feel the fabrics I couldn't be happier.

Then, of course, I've been mucking about with my own little bits of fabric making a start on a quilt for us.

Somewhere in all of that, and the arrival of some beautiful new blue organic cotton and bamboo tees, here's a new tee for the coming season.

I might just call it the Quilter's tee.

This and that and a few new tricks

I'm feeling like an old dog with new tricks this week!

A friend generously came over this morning with her photo tips and tricks, oh, and a few lights as well.

We looked properly at my little camera, and discovered a few settings I didn't realise I had.

Did I tell you I was a bit lazy when it comes to all things techie?

Hmmm. Lesson learnt? Do take a bit of time to look at your instruction manual....

And, I'm feeling a bit empowered this afternoon!

My other project on the go goes all the way back to here.

I've always admired a good quilt, and I had dinner with another good friend and fantastic quilter on the weekend. 

She inspired me to get going on making a start on my own quilt.

It'll be made from lots and lots of scraps of lovely Liberty of London tana lawn that have been collecting in a special tub in my stash cupboard.

I just needed to start.

And, I figured that the way to start was to decide that each 'block' would be 20cm x 20cm. Any combination goes, and I'll work out how they go together when I get all 144 of them done!