Poppalina

Crafty business

Some friends have a fashion label, Baraka, and a new store, Baraka HQ. They are in the process of making the store the place to be for all kinds of things besides a lovely place to shop, with craft classes, a book club, story readings, movie nights and much more.

I mention this purely to show you some pictures I took of a kid's t-shirt printing class, which was going on in the next room from the book club I attended. (We were discussing Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea, if you're interested; which is very much worth a look.)

Masterpieces created on the day included: a charming lady robot,

four siblings;

but my personal favourite was the shark.

Specifically, the proportional size of the tiny fish's eye at the realization of what appears to be imminent.

In other news, last night I went to a yarn swap at the best yarn shop that sells coffee (or cafe that sells yarn) in Sydney, A Coffee & a Yarn. Ok, maybe the only, but it's still good.

I took a bag full of balls from my stash that I was unlikely to ever use, and came back with ... these:

Nice, huh?

Introducing the Craftorialist

A Kapinny post

Not content with having a craft overload, and a co-authorial position with Popplina, I have started a new project that, with any luck, won't be finished for a very long time.

The Craftorialist is a new blog of inspirations, instructions, pictures and patterns, in which I share my technical expertise with anyone interested in textile-based craft. It's brand new, so there's only a few posts to see right now, but I will keep adding to it over time.

Feel free to drop by and have a look, ask a question, make a comment or—hell—add it your reader!

thecraftorialist.com

Vintage pattern cache

A Kapinny post

My aunt found a bunch of '50s and '60s sewing and knitting patterns in a second hand shop. I have the choicest ones on loan, so I can copy them.

It's perfect timing: I've been so loving the Mad Men aesthetic (if not the culture) as we make our way through the DVDs.

Here's the first pattern I have copied and actually made up.

And the result. I'm not entirely happy with the way the sleeves sit (hard to show on the dummy), but this is only the first trial version; I'll be making some adjustments. I've made it up in a stretch woven, since it's more closely fitting than the illustrations would suggest. Also, I don't have that kind of figure any more.

I love the print on this fabric; for some reason blue and white always does it for me.

And here's a gorgeous coat pattern that I'm in the process of making up.

So much fun.

Treasure Chest

A Kapinny post

My beloved Grandma will be 91 years old in August. She's very much alive and kicking, in fact she'll kick your Scrabble-playing arse any day you care to take her on.

 

This year, she sold her home and moved to the only actually cool retirement community I've ever heard of. This meant downsizing her formidably large collection of gorgeous STUFF.

And look what ended up in my clutches.

It's a beautiful chest full of crafting things ...

... fabrics, knitting needles, buttons, laces, ribbons and braids.

Fine, hot pink silk; natural linens; batik cotton. A tiny floral print (blue) that she made the dress of my favourite doll from, when I was little. She'd also made the doll, Amelia, whom I loved dearly.

Do you have any gorgeous 'inherited' things in your stash?

  

 

Garage Raiding

I have this friend who loves me. The kind of love that always calls me first when she's cleaning out the garage.

The most exciting moment of all was when she dug out and gave me some books I've been looking for for YEARS. They were among a small collection that were cooking bibles to my mother. If I wasn't such a Tough Girl, I might have cried. At last I can make that hippie apple and yoghurt cake with sunflower seeds that Mum used to cook.

 

 

All in all, a rather marvellous, sunny-in-a-very-nearly-Winter-kind-of-way, Saturday afternoon. So much excitement, I'm going to have to stay home and be quiet for, like, ever.

Hugs to the Gupster. May she continue to need surfaces, darling.

This is... My Collection of Antique Lace.

Well, a sample of it, anyway.

Actually, I have a lot more lace in the stash,

But these are my favourites,

Because my great grandmother made them,

About one hundred years ago,

And it's pretty much all I have left of that side of the family.

Not that I'm complaining.

Just to look at it makes me feel special.

Bobbles

The gilded, balsa wood tree angel is a Treasured Possession, picked up on a trip to Bali in a Previous Life, long before it became apparently necessary to blow up Australians. She must be tougher than she looks to have survived the myriad house moves and bacchanalian celebrations, over the years. She needed a little pva this year, but hey, don't we all.

Christmas tree-wise, Poppalina 2007 goes Crazy Willow. Tricky to decorate, and impossible to photograph, but fabulous at night with the icicle lights on (a paradox, I know). Mym's still bitching that it doesn't smell of pine and therefore Christmas and it doesn't, it's true, but damn it looks classy, and I'm getting philosophically uncomfortable with the pine tree thing. So she'll get over it.

I have to tell you, I had a lovely day. Three hours in my favourite cafe with The Christmas Fairy didn't seem like nearly long enough. I saw other friends, people I love dearly, in a gorgeous, unplanned, perfect timing sort of way.

And all of it in a warm, monsoonal rain. I can't tell you what that kind of weather means to a People in Drought. It was glorious. Drivers gave way to each other in the peak hour traffic, citywide, this evening. They were so blissed.

Now, this is good. This. I could get used to.

Ping Ping Ping Went My Heartstrings

Buttons in the mail from Ping.

I'm on Stage 3a Stash Restrictions, but at only four bucks a card...

How much can a koala bear?

So I completely lost my mind.

It's not the first time Ping's done this to me. I've been a big fan for years. Mym scored a Ping Original for her birthday a couple of years ago, whom she named, not surprisingly, Ping.

And she did a rather irresistable line in crochet dudes for a while there,

And like so many creative people I know, her work is seriously underpriced. Ping does all her work by hand. All of it.

I did manage to leave a few buttons behind in her Etsy shop. But only a few.

So I suggest you be quick.

Axiomatic

Those of you old enough to remember the band, Axiom, (and you know who you are), do feel free to sing along.

A little ray of sunshine...

has come into the world.

A little ray of sunshine...

In the shape of the most beautiful box of fabric I have ever seen.

She can make me feel good...

She can make me feel that it's all worthwhile.

...

Jude, you really are the best.

Saved From Certain Death

A sample of our Raid on Gillian, as promised. There was much more, of course, but the photography would have taken all day.

A ruffled, plastic hat. It looks like a bathing cap. But isn't:

Twin prints, for Mym. Remember these? Are they 60s or 50s? Judi? Anybody? I can't remember.

Stackable plastic cups. Everybody needs these, right? Mym thought so.

A beautiful wooden pot. I love this.

Royal Doulton pansies. When it comes to china, I am my mother's daughter. I flip everything upside down and check the stamp first.

Another pot. I took this because it embodies Gill's exquisite sense of colour, and as such can only fully be appreciated by me, who's known her forever.

And last but not least, a Balinese Buddha. Everyone should have a buddha, especially one from a country that's almost exclusively Hindu.

 

Pretty chilled, isn't he?

Speaking of which, I really should go and do some yoga.

Later.