bunting is back baby!

Just in time for a bit of pre or post Christmas crafting :: make your own bunting panels are back in five colours ...

Happy week before Christmas madness!

{ freckles }

The Yardage Design online shop has been restocked with lots of favourites, including the Freckle Tea Towel in a range of colourways ...

Including the new black and slate grey version ...

Dry the dishes, frame it, wrap it around a gift or make something with it :: enjoy!

Also, there is just a week of online shopping to go if you want to ensure you get your goodies before Christmas. 17 December is the last day for regular post orders. After that we should be able to work something out for express post if needed.

jacaranda ...

The Jacaranda tree in our back yard is losing the last last of its blossoms. These trees have captivated me this year, especially in full bloom :: their colour is just stunning.

There are a few jacaranda inspired Freckle tea towels in the Yardage Design online shop, along with the last of the pastel retro canisters tea towels I printed last week.

Have a great week!

handmade christmas GIVEAWAY!

Handmade gifts are the best. How would you like to win all of these handmade goodies?

Yardage Design is thrilled to be one of the participants in the Handmade Christmas Giveaway hosted by Christina Lowry Designs. Christina is a great champion of small, independent designers and a supporter of buying handmade. For more details about this giveaway, and to enter, pop over to Christina's blog.

Have a great week!

switching it up ...

During busy printing periods, I need to switch things up to keep my own sanity intact (and remind myself that I can actually do what I like)! So this week, amongst the long list of usual suspects on the print table, I thought I would try out a new colour palette :: summery gelato inspired.

I don't often print pastel colours, but I like the combo of some pastel, some bright colours :: it works for me, and seems to fit the season and the imminent end of year celebrations.

So what did I print with this palette? I pulled Retro Canisters out of retirement and this was the result ...

I only printed a small number (half a dozen) of these tea towels and they will be available at the GOMA Christmas Design Market in Brisbane next Saturday 30th November 9am to 4pm in the GOMA forecourt :: hope to see you there!

adventures with curlypops!

What a weekend it's been! I've just spent the last two days with Cam Curlypops at the Brisbane Finders Keepers Market. It's funny how things work out :: Cam missed out on Melbourne Finders Keepers a few weeks ago (where she lives), but I got in, so she helped me out with my stall. I missed out on Brisbane Finders Keepers this time (where I live), but Cam got in, so I helped her out with her stall! We have had a ball :: it's so nice to have someone to help at these types of events. This was my favourite pic of us from the weekend (taken by the lovely Helen from BrisStyle) ...

 

Overall, the market was a good one :: the weather was a little overcast at times which probably reduced the crowd a bit on Saturday afternoon, but otherwise it was great. We got to meet lots of onliners and offliners and catch up with old friends. Thanks to everyone who came and said hello! I'm pretty sure Cam had one of the brightest stalls there!

If you couldn't make it to the market, Cam will be stocking up her online store with lots of goodies this week, so pop over for a shop.

This week I'll be printing like a mad person so I will be ready for the GOMA Christmas Design Market on Saturday 30 November!

Have a great week!

new design :: GIRT by sea!

An idea for an "Australian" tea towel has been swirling in my mind for a while and finally came to fruition a few weeks ago. I wanted to combine a whimsical ocean with some great typography, and finally came up with this :: the Girt by Sea tea towel.

It's a two colour print of ocean blue (for the ocean!) and a royal blue for the great southern land. I launched these at Finders Keepers in Melbourne a couple of weeks ago and only came back with half a dozen which sold out online on the day they were listed. It seems they have hit the spot of a non-daggy Australian tea towel! I hear lots of these will be making their way overseas this Christmas, which is lovely.

The Yardage Design shop is now restocked with these lovelies along with a few other items that have sold out recently. 

Have a great weekend!

chatting + a giveaway

This week I did something I've never done before :: I chatted to Renae from Suzy Hausfrau on her podcast. I met Renae earlier in the year when I printed some rejigged tram roll tea towels and market bags for her yarn business. It was lovely :: a conversation more than an interview about small business, colour and textiles. I was a bit anxious about listening to it for the first time (the whole hate the sound of your own voice thing), but it actually sounds OK (even if I do say so myself!). You can find it here if you feel like a listen!

In other news, to celebrate 1000 lovely people who like the Yardage Design facebook page, there is a little giveaway going on over there to win a tea towel and bag printed in colours of your choice. Pop over to the page and find the post with all the details and enter! Some great suggestions over there already. This giveaway closes at 3pm Brisbane time this Sunday (tomorrow).

Have a great weekend!

melbourne finders keepers market :: the wrap!

It's been just over a week since the Melbourne Finders Keepers Market, and what a weekend it was! I arrived in Melbourne on Friday morning (for the first time since moving to Brissy in January) and felt instantly at home. Then, the mad rushing about began! Off to Shop for Shops for bags and stands, a quick visit to the Abbotsford Convent to see my friend Pip's new painting exhibition, lunch at my favourite Japanese joint, check in to the hotel then bump in at the Royal Exhibition Building. Bump in was awesome, mainly because the lovely Cam from Curlypops came to help me (and brought props!). I also hadn't seen Cam since her double lung transplant earlier in the year :: the difference was astonishing and was truly a highlight of the weekend.

After bump in, we scoffed a sandwich and got ready for the doors to open at 6pm. It was a fun night of catching up with new and known faces, but by 10pm we were zapped! Next morning I was up bright and early to faff with the stall before opening at 10am. Cam was there to help again which was amazing! More lovely people to meet and catch up with. At several points it was social central in and around the Yardage Design stall. Great sales and good laughs made it a brilliant day!

At 5pm, we bumped out (I'm always amazed how quickly this happens compared to bump in!) and I choofed off to get some of my favourite chinese food for dinner, and then pretty much collapsed into bed. Sunday morning saw me up and about with the birds, eager to get down to Camberwell Market before all the good stuff went. Treasures were found and old friends chatted too :: I miss my Sunday morning ritual at this place. After that it was a quick delivery of stock to Little Shop of Handmade in Carnegie before heading to the airport and flying back to Brisbane. Such a good weekend!

In other news, the Yardage Design online shop has been updated with some new colourways and designs launched at the market last week. The new "Girt by Sea" tea towels have already sold out, but I'm in the middle of printing more so these will be in the shop soon (this week, I hope).

Have a great week!

melbourne finders keepers market :: two more sleeps!

That's right, just two more sleeps until Melbourne Finders Keepers Market ...

Lots of new designs and products to show :: hope to see you there!

{ m i n t + s i l v e r }

I am a mad woman printing at the moment :: lots of new colourways (like this pretty mint and silver Freckle tea towel) and designs to be ready for Finders Keepers Market in Melbourne in two weeks time. 

There will be a shop update soon, I promise - I'll keep you posted. In the mean time, you can see what I'm up to over at Instagram (I am @yardagedesign).

Have a great weekend!

the window brooch

And now for something completely different ... a little carved brooch of my Window design. Made from beautiful Tasmanian Blackwood ...

The pin can be attached so the brooch can be worn vertically or horizontally {just select your preference when ordering}. The matching market bag of this design is also available in a range of colours. Both in the Yardage Design online store now.

Have a great week!

new :: retro flowers hand bag

I am really enjoying printing these little bags, so I've added another design to the range. This one is my take on flowers, but with a distinctly retro vibe! {some have even suggested that these flowers look a bit Jetsons inspired, which is such a perfect description :: love the Jetsons!}

This design is printed in a sublime tomato red and is now available in the Yardage Design online shop.

Hope you're having a great week so far!

wordless wednesday :: macro

new! the lisbon hand bag

It's nice to do new things, so it makes me very happy to share my latest design and product with you :: the Lisbon Hand Bag ...

The design for this bag came from the many, many photographs I took of the beautiful tiles in Lisbon, Portugal, last year. I have loads of design inspiring pics stored in a little album that I go to when I want to try something new. In this case, it was part of a tile design which I then added to and surrounded with dots.

The bag itself is also brand new. It's a small, heavy weight, unbleached cotton canvas. Just perfect for carrying small craft projects, lunch, a book ... all the essentials! It's very sturdy and the generous gusset makes it free standing. This bag is now available in the Yardage Design online shop for a snip {just $12}.

I hope you're having a great week so far. We have end of winter colds here, so it's a bit slower than usual, but we're getting there!

making :: spring time patchwork cushion

Even though it's not spring yet, I'm feeling a bit springy, so I've been making a spring-inspired patchwork cushion cover ...

So many people have been buying my Fan fabric in yellow and orange lately, that I thought I had better grab a couple of panels and make something for myself. The floral is a Liberty Print (though I can't find its name - anyone know?) from my stash.

I cut out basic squares of all three fabrics and, for a change, arranged them diagonally ...

This cover was cut, sewn and finished over a weekend :: the perfect project for me (ensuring it doesn't become yet another work in progress shoved in the cupboard)!

And, it goes nicely on the new verandah chairs!

Handprinted "Fan" fabric (in quilting weight and medium weight) available in the Yardage Design online shop.

Have a great Thursday!

colour crush :: rainbow popcorn

 I'm into sunny, cheerful, spring, gelati colours right now, so I printed some to go with the popcorn!

Handprinted "Fan" in quilting weight and medium weight fabrics now in the Yardage Design online shop.

Happy Friday!

making :: fabric covered bangles

Yesterday, I covered a couple of the new wooden bangles I have in the shop with some Liberty print. So easy, and so effective, it was the perfect 15 minute crafty interlude!

Liberty print, or any light weight quilting fabric, works really well for this project. Both of these bangles were made with 90cm strips of fabric that were about 3cm wide, with one edge folded over about half a centimetre and pressed. 

Starting on the inside, wrap firmly around the bangle on a slight angle, overlapping and fabric as you go (making sure the un-pressed edge is covered). Just before you get to the last wrap, fold the unpressed edge over with your fingers (so there will be no exposed frayed edges), wrap it around the bangle and then trim so it can be glued down on the inside of the bangle. Fold over the end of the fabric before gluing (I just used craft glue) to give it a nice finish, and either hold it until the glue bonds, or clamp it with a clip or peg. Warning :: these are addictive! Wooden bangles to cover are available in the Yardage Design online store.

Have a great Thursday!