More printing...

I'm in love with my gocco printer now that I've started using it! My husband bought it me for Christmas as a surprise (isn't he fabulous?) And I was a bit scared to use it, but now there's no stopping me.
I've done some more colourways of my "Elephant Family" fabric,


and also a new design,

which I plan to use in a quilt for a friend whose baby is due in May. She doesn't know if it will be a boy or girl yet, so I thought shades of grey, linen and white would be best. Here are some of the other fabrics that I'll use. I'm looking forward to starting this quilt, though I haven't got a lot of time to complete it in, it's bound to be a complete rush!

For Little m

Oh, I haven't blogged for long time I know.
And here's the reason why......

Little m.
He's becoming so much fun to be with at the moment. I just can't resist spending all of my day time with him. (Which means absolutely no housework gets done...)
But he's also growing teeth, having his first cold, and now that he has turned six months, he's demanding my time more than ever before. He has also decided that daytime sleeping is no longer the thing for him....and as a consequence of being so exhausted by the end of the day, over the last week or so I have only made crafting disasters. Including an elephant softie that has the most ridiculous ears you have ever seen. It was straight into the bin for that little guy.

I did however manage to get to the Stitches and Craft show last week here in Melbourne, which was fabulous. I did a brilliant craft lab on acetate etching by Tegan Rose from Ink and Spindle.
Here's what I did on the day,I'm not really in love with the picture I created, but I love the technique.
And it also inspired me to get out my print Gocco and start designing and printing some fabric for Little m's new quilt.
Here's my first attempt at printing on fabric
I need a bit more practice with my technique I think....but at least my creatively disastrous phase has hopefully ended.

Mmmmmmm

lovely new fabrics that arrived the other day.....

Its so hard finding cute fabrics that are boy friendly. There is so much gorgeous stuff for girls, but finding things for boys is so much harder. After hours of searching online, I found these. To be turned into a quilt for little m, whenever I find the time.......

Bonjour Madamoiselle Mitten

Now that her couture coat and matching handbag are complete, she was willing to be photographed in full....
she is wearing her mother's pearls....
but she is a good kitten, she remembered to put a handkerchief in her pocket.

A new banner for my blog!

At last I've got around to doing a banner! Named after little m, my not quite 6 month old baby, I thought it should include a little sketch of him. And his hair really does stick up like that, as if I put it in curlers....
And if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be doing all this crafting and blogging stuff. When he was newborn, I was totally shocked by how much time looking after him took up. I found it quite difficult to adjust to my new life, but slowly, bit by bit I managed to get a few minutes a day to myself. And I appreciated them more than ever before! Now I savour every spare moment I get and use it to craft, my own little outlet away from the exhausting, and sometimes mundane job of being a new mother. Little m is my inspiration. I want to make things for him, paint pictures for him, and as he grows be creative with him.

Mess

This is what is currently in progress on the floor in my studio.
Two little embroidered shoes, belonging to one Madamoiselle Mitten....



and the reason they are on the floor as opposed to my desk, is because this is how my studio looks right now....


Shameful. Absolutely shameful.
It's a wonder I manage to make anything at all in this mess. But somehow I do. I finished this little make up bag for a dear friend of mine.


Even when I do manage to clean my studio up, I can't seem to work again until I've got more stuff out and jumbled it around. Its seems the more mess I make, the more creative I feel.

Books

Much of the weekend was spent browsing bookshops, I could just spend hours and hours doing this..... Moving from art to design to sewing, drooling over the sumptuous pictures in the cooking section, and then finally getting lost in what is always my favourite section, childrens picture books. I loved these books best even before I had a baby of my own, before I had neices....and now I have the perfect excuse to buy more books than ever!

So I did buy a few books for little m (that have gone straight up to my studio....) but my favourite purchase of the weekend was this darling little book that is just for me, I just had to have it....

Isn't it divine?
You can find more of Rob Ryan here and also more stunning papercutting here.

Finding little gems like these is what book shoppping is all about.