Back, with hats :) (in fact 3 hats in one afternoon!)

I find the thing with posting, the longer you leave it the harder it seems to do! I love posting and blogging, but most of all making.  I have been doing lots of making  but not much posting about it which is silly really because one really feeds the other.  So I will behere blogging away more frequently from now on! I promise!

I wanted to make my children a hat for the coming cooler months so I headed out to the garage/felting studio and put into practice all the skills I learnt in the hat making workshop run by Liz Evans.
here is my little man Kai in his new green  hat, how  cute...

I was so excited with the green one, I went straight  on to make a pink one (as requested!) by my lovely girl ruby, it is complete with pink hearts..   So thrilled was I with the results of these two that I went on to make a third for the shop. 

samples

some of my work over the last three years :)

Grampians Texture Workshop

I am back from the bush, felt hat , feathers and many treasures in my hands.
A name tag made for a friend 
The finshed felt hat creation

The workshop was fantastic and Liz Evans a fabulous teacher.  We spent two days learning the art of felt hat making and decorating so I am now eager to get in the studio and see what evolves...

paper and stitch

I spent yesterday in the shop, trying to catch up on some cutting out and printing after Christmas ( very little stock left! arrgghh!) The yellow is a custom order for a woman who loved my hand printed kids dresses and 'had to have one' in her size.

There has been alot of pfaffing about trying to get the size correct ( help I have no pattern making skills!)

I am posting it off to  her today , so fingers crossed it will fit.
While I was there I printed up a few girls dresses aswell.
my card stocks in the shop  were very low so I spent a bit of time making some newbies.
This one is vintage fabric and vintage wallpaper with machine stitching.
As are these few... I am going to do some more screen printed cards soon.

I really really LOVe stitching on paper.

I am a little sad as my trusty old Janome was very sick, the man rang from the service centre this morning and its going to be cheaper to buy a new machine than to fix the old one.

sad, but very exciting to have a spanking new machine

mim xx

Rainbow Serpent Festival

I'm back! I had such a great time away... I truly missed my family but it was so nice to be my own person for a few days with no responsibilities... although there were very many difficult decisions to make each day ( do I go for a walk on my own? or have a coffe? or lie under a tree?) Even though I was surrounded by thousands of people I still found solitude and a sense of self that is hard to find in the day to day life of mothering two (gorgeous) children.

So, I am back and very relaxed! This is a picture of the stall looking out onto the dusty festival.  The stall was a success and I sold quite alot of my felt 'dust skirts' as they are now called.

My friend Kerry, who I was sharing the stall with, was selling gorgeus tutu's made from tulle and vintage fabrics , aswell as hula hoops she makes.

We spent many an hour outside the stall hooping our little hearts out.

We decorated the roof of our stall much like a circus tent with lovely coloured fabrics.

This is some dyeing I did just before leaving.  I purchased about fifty white petticoats and dyed them some lovely colours.  I sold quite alot of these, especially the earthy coloured ones.

So, now I am back to reality and looking forward to the creative year ahead.  I have had a big sale at the shop and am clearing out old stock in order to make way for some lovely new pieces.

I am very excited to be attending the felt hat making workshop in Halls gap in a few weeks.

Looking forward to seeing what everyone has been up to this last week or so.

mim xx

finished felt over skirt

I worked in the the shop yesterday and borrowed miss mannequin to display the finshed felt skirt on.   The light was not quite right inside soI headed down the side of the shop into the alleyway.    This one has three felt triangles and a little felt pouch attached to the biggest one.

Upon J an's suggestion I am going to make some with just one triangle.

The lovely linen skirt underneath is made by the very clever Sherrin 

Finally I made it to the spinners and weavers guild yesterday and brought a heap more wool.

I have to get making ! I leave for the festival next Wednesday and have fourty of these to make, plus a heap of other stuff!     :)  mim x

Festivals, Felting and Freedom

I'm back, its been a while! my cmaera software is back on the computer and finally I can post again. Yay! Its so nice to see what everyone has been up to.

I am having a stall over Australia day weekend at the Rainbow Serpent Festival so have been busy trying to come up with  some new designs.

I am going away for five days which is the longest I have been away from my kiddies, so there may be some tears.

On the other  hand I will be feeling so footloose and fancy free not having all that responsibilty!

I came up with the idea for a felted overskirt which also has a felt pouch attached, perfect for festival and dancing when you dont want to carry a bag.

Here are some images of the felt pieces dryinig on the line.

I will post a pic  tommorrow of the finished product :)