Hi all!

I've been wanting to do this silk screen for ages, but have been having some disagreements with Speedball drawing fluid and screen block, so I had to find an alternative way of doing it.  I wanted to do more than one, so a paper stencil was out.  I decided to have a go at cutting a stencil out of contact (the sticky plastic book covering stuff) and sticking this onto to screen and see if it would hold for a few editions.  It worked!  I did two different shirts with the stencil and I think it would have held for a few more too.  It's definitely a technique I would use again!

Here's my pic...  this makes me smile every time I see it.  Unfortunately, I have had no high fives from strangers... they all read my shirt and them look away quickly, doing their best to avoid eye contact with me!  Oh well...



Comments and critiques welcome!  Cheers!

Hi all!!  I'm so glad to have found the special spot for Aussies on craftster!  I have no idea why I have not found it before now...

Anyhoo, I was just wondering if there was anyone who was booked into or thinking about going to Grampians Texture in Feb next year?

For anyone who doesn't know, it's a huge array of contemporary textile workshops that are taking place in my favourite place in the whole world.  Check out the website:

www.visithallsgap.c om.au/grampianstexture

I'm trying to decide which one to sign up for and am having hella trouble!  I have heard that three workshops are already booked out, but I'm pretty sure the ones I'm thinking of doing should be okay....

I'd just love to hear if there are others who are coming along to this and what you are thinking of doing!  Also, if you know the work of some of the tutors, post what you know about them.

I know Mary French and India Flint do some amazing cool stuff!

I keep hearing all these wonderful things about freezer paper and how easy it is to iron on, do your stencil and take off.  Sounds fabulous!  Only, I don't seem to be able to find freezer paper in Australia!  I thought that perhaps it was waxed paper that some people use to wrap their lunches in, so I grabbed some on the weekend.  I cut out my design, but when I tried to iron it onto my fabric, there was no sticking happening whatsoever.  Nada.  Can anyone from Australia or anywhere in the world let me know what freezer paper might be otherwise known as?  Or describe it to me so I can find something like it?

Anyway, I ended up using spray adhesive as a temporary bond as I stencilled.  They still came out well and I'm happy with them, but freezer paper may have been easier and less smelly!







Crits welcome!

I think this is the right spot to put this - if not, please let me know and I will move it!

I finally got myself an ipod and I love it.  I love its size, its colour and the fact that I can take my music with me anywhere.  Oh, how I love music...

But I digress.  I also love vintage fabric so.  Hence, I scrounged through my stash to find some lovely fabric to make an ipod cozy out of to protect my new special little friend.  I chose a fabric with purple flowers and decided to quilt around the flowers to bring the out and add some texture.  I'm so pleased with how it turned out!



I added a little vintage glass button and an elastic loop so that I could close it up.  The flap doesn't go all the way across the opening so I can still plug the earbuds in easily and still have it in the cozy.



I also lined it with some red silk (indulgent hey!) that I had left over from another project.



And one last shot of the back.



Good and bad criticisms ar welcome!

I ran into a strange little woman at a market on Saturday who was selling felted hats and wraps and stuff.  We got talking and she told me about a felting workshop that was happening on Sunday.  I thought I'd go along for a few hours and learn the basic ropes.  I ended up being there, working hard, for about six hours.  I am so proud of what I made! 



I'm going to make it into a cushion cover and only just remembered to take a photo of it after I cut it and was about to start sewing!

I'd love your opinions, o wise felters, good and bad!

I am a tragic tactile person who finds any sort of interesting texture heaven to touch (it makes for interesting trips to the art gallery with my husband... well, he really doesn't like to come with me anymore!).

How would other people feel about a swap where all items must be made with natural materials? Think cottons, silks, wool (all the different kinds...), wood, raffia, cork, natural dyes... etc, etc... there must be so much stuff that can be done!  I've also noticed new yarns like bamboo and corn fibre popping up in my local craft store recently and I love how they feel too. 
Materials wouldn't necessarily have to be organic or anything like that, but I just love natural materials and perhaps there are others out there in craftster-world who share a similar bent on tactile stuff?  I'm only a swap newbie (only one swap under my belt), so I don't think I'm allowed to organise a swap, but is there anyone out there who thinks they might like to make this happen?  Anyone else even interested?

Well, after a cold southern winter, complete with chilblains, I found that I had a hole in the finger of one of my beautiful gloves.  Such wonderful gloves they were, coming all the way from New Zealand with my in-laws who had journeyed there for a holiday.  Such wonderfully soft, sweet gloves made from merino wool and possum fur.  I'm not kidding - possum fur.  They're a protected species here in Australia, but they hate 'em in NZ and consider it a national duty to rid the country of them. 

However... I didn't want to get rid of them, so I pulled out my "Sock and Glove" book by Miyako Kanamori and decided that the best way to preserve my darling gloves was to do a complete metamorphosis and create a creature from them.

Here are my darling gloves before:


And a few hours later, Rowdy joined me on my couch, playing in my sewing box:


He became a little shy and turned around, however it gave me a great shot of his little tail:


I'd love to know what you think of him and if anyone else has made any of the other creatures in this book.  He was so super-easy, he only took a couple of hours - entirely hand-stitched.

This is also the first craftster topic I've posted, so I hope it all works okay!

Thanks for looking!!