product placement

With sunshine being a rarity these days, as soon as a ray peeks through the clouds, I'm out with the camera trying to get some pics of Yardage Design products. Here's what I captured this week ...

I hope you're enjoying your Saturday. I'm off to tackle a Julia Child recipe for dinner - it's always a journey!

P.S. "Things people have made with Yardage Design fabric" page is now up - click the link just under the header banner.

chair makeover

Fabric has been flying off the bolt around here lately, so it's always nice to see where it ends up. Fabulously clever Brenda has been busy making over a vintage chair (which she bought for $5 - bargain!) with some of my Agapanthus fabric ...

See Brenda's whole post about this project here. I'm thinking of creating a new page under this blog for photo's of all the clever things people do with Yardage Design textiles. I would love to hear from you if you'd like to share your creations - my email address is in the sidebar. Have a lovely Friday.

P.S. Brenda's having a giveaway of some of her gorgeous handmade pears - it closes today, so pop over here to check it out!

bright for a boy

The last couple of evenings I have been making a small play mat for a new boy in town. This is my first quilt, and to be honest I just winged it, and made it as bright and as soft as possible for little people ...

It's made with 15cm fabric squares, backed with (lime green!) flannelette, includes a generous (puffy) amount of wadding and another layer of flannelette in the middle, and a bit of bias binding around the edge. I wanted to keep it soft and puffy, so I only quilted down some of the join lines. I overlocked the edges before I sewed the bias binding on, which worked a treat ...

I really enjoyed sewing this - it was a totally stash busting project too - the only thing I bought was some extra spotty fabric. I have been collecting fun fabrics for boys ever since Little Mister was born - good ones are hard to come by. Anyway, I'm off to meet little Owen for the first time - I hope he likes his play mat!

To see what everyone else has been making, check out the creative spaces at Kootoyoo.

photo booth

Yep ... still playing ... normal programming will resume tomorrow!

nerd alert!

Introducing my new, fast, fully functioning, doesn't have a fit when you want to open more than one program, loads the internet properly, lovely, laptop ...

After much deliberation, I bought a 15 inch MacBook Pro. It's the first time I've used an Apple computer since first year uni ... a while ago! I have to say, it's quite different to a PC, but very intuitive and refreshing. It feels easy. I guess anything would be after living with a terminally ill PC for the last six months. The Apple service is also superb - they transferred files, installed software and setup my email. I just had to turn it on and it worked. The most seamless computer transition I've ever had, which is ironic when you think that this time I've changed operating systems completely. Anyway, the very good news for me is that I will be able to do a lot more blog visiting than I've been able to - not having to wait 10 minutes for pages to load (or not) is luxury! Thanks to everyone who left comments and emailed me with advice about choosing a Mac - I really appreciate it.

vintage print blocks

At last! I have finally collected all of the blocks I need to spell ....

The colour, patina and craftsmanship of these wooden blocks is amazing - it's a bit addictive once you start searching for them! I hope you've found some great stuff in your travels this week too. Have a lovely Sunday!

handbag love ...

This morning, lovely Tanya from Teek left me a comment to let me know that she had made this from my Agapanthus fabric ...

Isn't it gorgeous?! I absolutely love it and got such a kick out of seeing something so beautifully made with my fabric. It was well and truly the highlight of my day - thanks so much, Tanya. Pop over to Tanya's blog and see how cleverly she made the inside of the bag ... here.

tram roll menu market bags

New market bags featuring the popular vintage tram roll menu design are now in the shop ...

lovely

Peacock at the zoo yesterday ...

Pressie in the post from Posie ... badges made with my fabric ... it made my day, thank you!

vintage hanger

Another Friday find at the Shabby Vintage Junk Extravaganza ... a lovely vintage wooden hanger ...

I've been looking for something like this for a while - something with a bit of character - they are perfect for hanging tea towels for photographing ...

Have a good Tuesday!

scarf progress

Getting there and enjoying the journey ....

save your pennies ...

Another classic find from the Shabby Vintage Junk Extravaganza on Friday ... a 1950's Willow budget tin, which still had one of its coin catchers inside ...

I love that this tin is really worn - it has been used. I wonder where and by whom? The form and function is very retro - love it! More finds overe here.

machine letters :: part 2

After a bit of trial and error, this is the latest version of machine letters with my logo uploaded into the Janome ...

Now that I see it with finer font, I think the fabric is too busy. Maybe a natural linen might be better? This was one of the trials (the thread got caught on a couple of the letters) ...

All fun and games - and all will be put to good use, regardless! Have a great weekend!

shabby vintage junk extravaganza

I've just been to the Shabby Vintage Junk Extravaganza which was organised by Tamarah from Shabby Vintage Junk. I found out about this after reading about Tamarah in the paper a few weeks ago. I was not disappointed - a careful selection of vintage sellers all jammed into the Ashburton Scout Hall - it was a real treasure trove. Lots of fab odds and ends, vintage plates and kitchenalia, jewellery, sewing patterns and fabric .... heaps of stuff. I bought a few choice bits and peices (which I will share over the weekend), but my extravagance was this vintage theatre letters sign that I bought from Tamarah herself (thanks!) ...

If you're a Melbourne local, the Shabby Vintage Junk Extravaganza is on today and tomorrow at the Ashburton Scout Hall, High Street, Ashburton. Take cash, there is a $5 entry fee (but it goes to the Scouts), and it's open from  8am to 5pm each day.

machine letters

Today I'm playing around with the embroidery function on my sewing machine (Janome Memory Craft 9700). I want to create some small "yardage design" signs on my circa fabric. This is the first go at it, using one of the default fonts on the machine ...

I think it's a bit heavy looking, so I'm going to use the Janome software to upload "yardage design" in the font I use for my logo and see how it goes. I like the teal cotton, though (no surprises there!). More creative spaces via Kootoyoo.

in style ...

I've just spent the morning at the life instyle trade fair with the lovely ladies from Ink & Spindle - cruisin' the amazing talent, including some favourites like Caitlin from Pippijoe (with Tegan and Lou from I&S) ...

... and Thea from Thea and Sami ...

I was too busy looking at the amazing displays and chatting to lots of people to take more photo's. I loved the cute new collection from Lark called Daisy Lane - I loved these designs when I was a little girl - it's great to see them back. The Nancy Bird stand was another highlight - I'm hoping Santa brings me a Nancy Bird bag for Christmas! Thanks for a lovely morning, gals!

one down ... one to go

I've been working on this cushion for a while ...

... and finally managed to finish it off today ...

It's the first of two entries I am making for the Royal Melbourne Show this year. The cushion cover is made from a green/blue demin I got from Lincraft a while ago, embellished with apple green stitching and a line of vintage buttons. I did an envelope back with some fancy machine stitching. I really enjoyed making this - it's nice to just make something because you feel like it. It's a lovely sunny day in Melbourne again (3 days in a row!!) so we're off the the playground. Have a great afternoon!

blog posts i've enjoyed reading lately

In no particular order ...
Lesson 1
The Slow Project - Monotasking
How to play : Materials
The Business of Art - Part 1
You
Enjoy your week!

testing text + texture

Lots of testing going on here today. A new tea towel design - here's a sneak peak ...

I'm also testing some lovely new natural linen tea towels. I have been sewing all of my own tea towels since I started this business because I couldn't find ready made ones that I was happy with (in terms of quality). At last, I seem to have found some that are well made, beautiful weight, perfect size, excellent colour. I'm testing the natural ones today ... tram roll in white on natural - what do you think?

Black tram roll tea towels have already been switched to beautiful linen, and are now available in the shop. New tea towel designs and colourways will be available in the next couple of weeks, and I'm working on a new fabric design too. Lots happening! Have a great Friday.

no freakin' idea what I'm doing!

I must be the last person on earth to start using Facebook properly ... as a result, I have not much clue as to what I'm doing! I seem to have opened an account, and then I worked out how to create a business page, so if you want to see, click here!

Any advice greatly appreciated! It's all part of the learning curve, and just a bit of fun.

my creative space: rusty reds

Little Mister and I went to the Melbourne Museum on Tuesday. As we were walking around the rainforest exhibit looking for crawly creatures, we came across this pretty toadstool ...

The photo doesn't do justice to the vibrant rust red and brown colours, but after we had lunch with Mr Yardage in the city, we popped in to Cleggs and found some beautiful wool in the same tones. I haven't knitted since I was at school, so when we got home I learnt how to cast on (thanks to google!) and started ...

I am just loving the relaxing nature of knitting. I'm making a scarf as a first project (which may take a while as the wool is fine and so are the needles, and I am slow!). I love the colours and can't wait to wear it - fingers crossed it will be ready in time for the cold weather this year! Thanks to Kate for sharing her newfound love of knitting and sewing the seed in my mind. More creative spaces at Kirsty's place - where you are bound to find far more beautiful woollen cleverness!