an early christmas pressie ...

The Yardage Design online shop is offering free postage for all Australian orders between now and 20 December 2010. Enjoy!

ARTichoke Tea Towel used as wrapping paper

Have a great weekend!

a lovely evening @ maker handmade

Last night, I had the pleasure of attending the Maker Handmade grand opening/christmas shopping night in South Melbourne. It was such a lovely evening perusing the treasure trove of lovely things that owner Rachael has stocked her store with. Combined with a glass of bubbles and the knowledge that 10% of all sales would go to the Ardoch Youth Foundation to help disadvantaged kids, it was always going to be a great night! Thanks to Rachael and the team at Maker Handamde for such a lovely evening. There wasn't much time for photo taking, but I did manage a couple ...

Rachael (Maker Handmade) & Nic (Yardage Design)

You can find a large selection of Yardage Design handprinted homewares at Maker Handmade, including cushions. You can keep up to date with what's happening at Maker Handmade by reading Rachael's lovely blog! Have a lovely Friday!

my creative space - block printing

A bought an old-ish, wooden printing block some months ago, and found ten minutes this week to try it out on some cotton twill tape. The first ink colour I could lay my hands on was a navy blue. This is the initial test run - it was quick, satisfying and I like the result - quite rustic and very hand made. Can't wait to try again in red ink.. perfect for wrapping chrissy pressies - stay tuned for the results!

For more creative spaces, or to join in, visit Kootoyoo every Thursday!

at my house today ...

... I'm enjoying flowers on the kitchen bench. It think flowers make a house a home.
... we've been to sport for little ones and learnt some rugby skills.
... we went to the laundromat and washed a huge woollen underlay that was too big for our washing machine. I haven't been to a laundromat for at least 15 years. It's more expensive than I remembered.
... while the underlay washed, I voted (yay for early voting centres when you can't vote on election day), we bought ingredients to make a christmas cake and I picked up a copy of the new Spaces book by Frankie magazine.
... we ate rice cakes with our favourite toppings for lunch.
... I read (skimmed) the new Space book during lunch and then ate a fruit mince pie - bliss!
... we played "adventures" with robots and ted the bear, and then made up stories to tell each other.
... we're both having a few minutes quiet time right now before we make dinner and wait excitedly for Mr Yardage to arrive home from work!

That's my day so far - just me and the Little Mister. What's happening at your house today?

handmade + champagne shopping night this thursday

One of my newest stockists, Maker Handmade in South Melbourne, is having a lovely little Christmas Shopping night this week. I'll be there, along with some of the other designers with stock in store. All the details below ....

Maker Handmade and the newly relocated Blue Door Gallery (specialists in indigenous art) are having a combined opening night and xmas shopping night this Thursday 25 November. Drink champagne, get through that shopping list and leave with all of your goodies beautifully wrapped.

The good feelings don't end with champagne and free wrapping though....we'll be donating 10% of our sales to Ardoch Youth Foundation, a St Kilda based organisation who works with Melbourne schools to provide educational support to disadvantaged kids as well as basic necessities to their families.

Score an invite to our opening and xmas shopping night by emailing rachael@makerhandmade.com.au

today...

more custom printing ... red ARTichoke on natural tea towels for State of Green (available there in the next week or two) ...

Have a lovely weekend!

my creative space ...

It's been a bit quiet around this blog lately - a huge amount of printing, packaging and posting going on. Yesterday was a big print day, but first I had to change the felt on my printing table. This was the state of the old one ...

I kind of like the random print features, bits of thread and fluff that get stuck to the felt. I use an adhesive for some printing jobs, making the felt a bit tacky. I use just a single layer of wool felt on top of my table to print on. It provides the right amount of "give" to get a nice print. I think it's a personal choice, though. Lots of other screen printers swear by a couple of layers or none at all. Anyway, after the felt changing, I printed a custom job - here is a sneak peak ...

More creative spaces at Kootoyoo. Have a lovely Thursday!

at the market this morning ...

It was a little quiet at Camberwell Market - probably because heavy rain was predicted that still hasn't eventuated. I managed to pick up some lovely buttons ...

I think I'll make the larger one into a necklace ... will have to add it to the loooooong list of things to do! I love how it's made ...

Have a great Sunday!

just because ... winner

Thanks for all of your lovely words yesterday, and to those who "delurked" just to enter - I really appreciate it. The randomly generated winner of yesterdays giveaway was Lx - my mr lugs - congratulations! Do pop over and visit this lovely blog.

:: weird, cartoony hand portrait using Photo Booth on my Mac! ::

It's a rainy, gloomy day here in Melbourne after a very hot, blustery day yesterday. I'm actually looking forward to a weekend inside, just relaxing and preparing for a very busy few weeks ahead. I have loads of printing to do - stocking up my stockists, my shop and some custom printing work just for something different. The Christmas season seems to have crept up on me a little early this year, even though it's probably been the biggest thing on my business calendar all year! Regardless, I still love what I am doing with Yardage Design. It was great to be reminded of that last night when catching up with past work colleagues that I hadn't seen for a while! Answering the "what?", "why?", "how?" and "are you enjoying it?" questions are a great way to know how enthusiastic you are about your business - full marks all round for me! It's also nice to know that others (i.e. most of the people reading this blog - you!) like what I am doing - thanks.

I hope you have a lovely weekend ... whatever you are up to, and where-ever you may be in the world!

just because ...

one ... it's Friday
two ... it's nice to share
three ... bloggers are lovely!

A quick little giveaway to inspire your creative weekend - a copy of my favourite textiles magazine Selvedge (the July/August edition) and a Bits'n'pieces fabric pack ...

Just leave comment to enter. Become a "follower" and/or "like" me on facebook to get an extra entry. Easy peasy! Entries open to everyone and will close tonight at 9pm AEST.

Have a great Friday!

stocking up

I've been busy printing over the last week - replenishing sold out items for stockists and the shop. The full range of rainbow vintage tram roll menu tea towels are now back in the shop (the duck egg blue ones sold out in just a few days last time, so get in while they last!)  ...

Also, the bits'n'pieces fabric packs have been very popular and sold out earlier in the week. Last night I raided the remnant basket and made some more - they are only available in the shop here.

Hope your days is a good one!

new stockist ... maker handmade, south melbourne

A selection of Yardage Design tea towels and cushions can now be found at the newly opened Maker Handmade shop in South Melbourne. Owner Rachael Kelly opened Maker Handmade just last week and stocks a range of high quality homewares, ceramics, jewellery, textiles and other unique items. I dropped into the shop on Friday for a chat and to take a look ...

:: Rachael in her lovely shop, Maker Handmade ::

Maker Handmade is a beautiful, light filled, fresh looking space. The gorgeous handmade items are displayed cleverly with vintage furniture and props, as well as a brilliant selection of Aboriginal art courtesy of Rachael's husband who owns the art gallery next door.

Rachael has also just started blogging for the first time - pop over here to welcome this self confessed "craft groupie" to blogland!

Have a great week!

printing today ...

... and taking a few pics along the way ...

:: printing tram roll menu tea towels ::

:: rolling out fabric ready to print bunting panels ::

:: goofy ink mixing photo! ::

Have a lovely weekend!






P.S. Thanks for so many kind comments yesterday - I was chuffed!

my creative space ...

... is a little messy at the moment. I've been doing lots of cutting and fiddling - all sorts of little jobs that have been on the list for a couple of weeks. This was part of my printing table this morning. I cover it with a red sheet when I'm not printing and use it as a work table ...

This was one of the tasks completed yesterday ... some fabric samples. I'm really proud to see them like this - sometimes I'm so close to everything I don't see what I've achieved.

More creative spaces over at Kootoyoo. Have a great Thursday!

new stockist ... one sydney road

I am so pleased to be able to announce that the beautiful online store one sydney road is now open, and a stockist of Yardage Design homewares. It is so exciting to have my first international stockist!

Piper Toth is the owner of this Cleveland (Ohio, USA) based design emporium. Interestingly, she named her business after a trip to Australia, a place she describes as "amazing and inspiring" (so true, but I might be a little biased!). Piper also has a lovely blog, showcasing beautiful things she finds in the real and virtual world - it's an excellent design resource.

Best wishes Piper - you're living the dream of many ... enjoy!

Good luck to everyone in Australia having a flutter on the Melbourne Cup. It's a bit overcast here in Melbourne this morning, but hopefully the sun will be out for the race.

 

red

Experimenting in the sewing room with a red bunting panel ...

... and adding a splash of red to the kitchen with gorgeous Waratahs ...

Have a great Monday!