tomorrow - come to the Gallery Artisan market

Can I tell you that I'm really excited to be setting up for this market. I'm headed in this afternoon to hang out at the gallery and organise all the tables so all the stallholders can come along and set out their lovely tomorrow early tomorrow morning. 

Then you can come along, at the reasonable hour of 10am, and look at all their goodness and loveliness and amazingness. You can buy some too! Yep - bring along your pocket money and take home some handcrafted wares; all made by local artists, craftspeople, makers. {Cash only}.

I'm still frantically sewing and making, and stupidly planning new products (yep!!). I think this is the most dis-organised I've been personally, for a market. But that's ok - I'm good at making it look good and pretty on the day! Come along and hold me to that.

Enjoy your weekend my friends, here's to some sunshine. It's the other side of the Solstice now, so we're spinning back the other way.

*the image on the poster is by my good friend Jo Olive.

threads - kinda sorta really lovin' these

just made some little pouches using bits of fabric scraps. oh - don't you just love fabric scraps!!!

and messy stitches. how can you go wrong with messy stitches, raw edges, and that delicious peachy-pink thread on the natural hemp.

but boy-oh-boy. super super lovin' it on the grey-ish pieces.
i dyed these pieces in a solar-dyeing bottle of rust and eucalyptus. um - love love!

i'm off back to my solar pots to add these natural linen and hemp pieces into some coffee and some red cabbage. can't wait to see how they look after a few days / week in the dye.

these little pouches are for my crochet stones - little nests, safe carrying places. these will be available for sale at the Sew & Tell market this Saturday. i'm so excited to launch my rock collection (small as it is at the moment, due to those cut fingers and big bandaids!!).

come and check them out, won't you?

Sew & Tell - counting down the days

There's a new market happening soon. It looks like lots of fun. There'll be so many excellent stallholders, some I know, some new. I can't wait. I'll be there too with lots of things. Come and check it out, won't you - if you're around.

It's at the beautiful (I've been told) A  & I Hall in Bangalow. Have a day out in the lovely town after the market, or head over to the beach after or drive around the glorious mountains and valleys and countryside.

Sew & Tell Market - handmade and hand-me-down. Saturday 26th May 10am - 4pm.

Make sure you say hi!

{images with thanks to Sew & Tell}

papernstitch - red seed studio

 
I'm on Papernstitch! So exciting to be having an exhibition over there. Check it out. I've got lots of new things in the shop - some lovelies for you, some for friends. Lots of things at the moment are one-offs or limited editions. Lots of pieces on sale as well - so go have a look-see.

I'll be having a few markets over the next two months, so you online shoppers have first choice. Jump in quick!

Ok. I'm off to set up some screen printing right now. Some new tea towels and.......
I'm trying to decide what colour to print with - what colours are you loving right now?

scraps of time, scraps of fabric

I've been spending precious moments in my "studio space" lately. Mostly to do online research and work (and yes, real work - not pinning and such!..... well, not much anyway).

I've gathered up some of the fabric scraps and pieces I have in my fabric boxes. All my hand screen printed organic fabrics. They are now in little bundles just ready to post off to your sewing machines, hand needles, or crafting spaces. Oh - golly. What would you make with these delicious scraps.

Lately I've been making lots of bits with my fabric scraps. Tiny purses and bags. My girl made a sweet little handbag for herself over the holidays, and my boy made the funkiest belt.

Isn't this the most beautiful sewing machine. I don't think she works. She doesn't belong to me, but I know my sister really won't mind me piling her up with fabric for a pretty photo or two. With that moment of afternoon sunshine gleaming in.

I've decided to start a little Studio Scrap Challenge. Are you up for it? Pop on over to purchase one of my scrap packs and start some making. The competition starts now, and runs until the end of August. There's a Red Seed Studio $50 gift voucher for the winner - we'll have a general voting so its all fair. What do you think?

saturday things

the sun is shining outside. it hasn't yet made it to our little house, as we are under a hill and under trees. but i can see it stretching slowly across the dewy grass. slowly warming places of our space.

i've feel like i've been talking about the sun a lot lately. we'll around these parts it's big news that this is the fourth sunny day in a row. after a year of endless rain, four days of sunshine is good. not that we know how long it'll last. so it doesn't mean we can set to house building - it could rain again for the next weeks in a row.

i'm procrastinating tidying the house. and doing the washing up (a few day's worth, that both Sam and I have been avoiding). we do not have hot running water in our home, so we have to put a big pot of water on to boil on the stovetop. sometimes that's annoying, but something it gives you five minutes or so to build up to doing the washing up.
for those of you wondering, we do have a hot running shower. it's a wonderful shower for sure. one of the best. outside, which is sometimes cold. but i can see the moon rising or the trees above me while i shower. when we build our proper bathroom (rather than the pad of bricks that currently is our bathroom) i want to have a window in the roof so i can see the trees while i bathe. oh yes.


good things today -
+ figs, walnuts and chocolate - oh yum. and so easy.
+ fabric play money - Ari is having a hard time learning his numbers and counting and money. i think this would be a good thing to make for the kids. plus they love playing shops so much (a favourite game of mine, as a child too)
+ this simple and lovely reminder for me to make some fabric napkins for our table
+ the wonderful wonderful uplifting colours on this new-to-me blog
+ is it Easter soon, or something....? i am seeing eggs and decorations all over Pinterest at the moment. and again, i'm going over (in my mind) what Easter is about for us. if you have any interesting thoughts about what it means to you, i'd love to hear. it is neither Spring here - reason for eggs - or are we Christians, so don't talk/believe/think about the Resurrection aspect; but i want some meaning for my children - rather than just more chocolate. i am planning to only buy / eat Fair Trade chocolate this Easter time; i want to continue this on for all year round - but i do so like Lindt chocolate a little too much. and i personally find most organic chocolate to be much too sweet and a little grainy. tell me, what is your favourite Fair Trade chocolate?? i'd love to know.....

one last good thing is this slowly growing stack of zippered purses i've been making. i am not at my sewing machine often enough these days, and it seems i need to relearn how to do the most basic of tasks all over again. sewing zips - eeeekkk, i really thought i had it down pat!

enjoy your Saturday, your weekend, your week, my friends. look up at the sky, the clouds, the sun, the moon, the stars. and breathe and deep proper true breathe. xx

a little making and doing

Right now I'm doing some making and planning -
:: zippered pouch purses using my new fabric print lacework/leafwork in deep teal. I like the gold metal zips I've been using. I hope to get these on the website later this week
:: more crochet - little bits here and there. Making happy little mountains and stacks of crochet goodness
:: organising the next handcrafted market at the Tweed Gallery, coming up in June
:: planning the agenda for the school P&C meeting tonight; my first meeting as the new president...
:: planning and organising and getting excited about a little popup crafty event I'm doing in town with some other local creatives. It's sure to be lots of messy fun!

The weather is cold and breezy, it seems that Autumn is here. It's sunny outside, which I am very thankful for - but I expect the rain will be back soon.

What are you doing today?

the blues, leafwork & a giveaway

Yesterday I mixed up a most delicious blue ink for some screen printing. Oh I do so love it. It dried just perfectly perfect. Don't you like it when things go just right like that.
I'm still deciding on a name for the colour - naming colours can be fun, but hard. I don't want to be all silly and 'arty', but fun and descriptive. Some paint names I see, on paint chips, are so silly don't you think! Tell me the best you've ever heard.

Some experimenting with the designs at the moment. Printing on the kitchen table, using an old sheet/blanket that I mum made for me an eon ago. I like using it, and remembering that she sewed it for me to take on my overseas journey. Now I use it for a new journey - and I'm adding good ink splotches to it too.

I thought I had a free week this week to do some fun exploring and work with fabric and ink and such, but suddenly, just today, it got busy. I'll try to slip in a spot of printing again - but not sure. I also have a sewing project that a friend asked me to do, that I need need need to get done.

Anyway - here's what came out from the screen yesterday. Some of it anyway. Some bits were mistakes, and they're the best bits. But I haven't photographed them yet. I'm trying to decide what to make with these pieces, they are smallish test bits, but I think I'll make some more of similar design in bigger sizes.
The best bit that came out of the screen yesterday was the doing of it - I haven't done any printing for a few months again now. So getting back into it was good good good.

I've decided to give away one of these pieces. It's about A4 size or so, maybe a bit bigger (it's not beside me right now, I'm at the town library - so I can't measure it). Tell me - what would you make with this piece of delicious organic cotton / hemp hand screenprinted goodness. Leave a comment to enter to win a piece. I'll draw sometime next week, maybe Monday morning.

{this is called 'lacework/leafwork', and I'm thinking of calling the ink colour smoked teal - you can't really tell in these images, but it's a deep blue almost like a cyanotype}.

last minute

i really am a last minute kinda girl. it's not so much what i keep wanting, life just keeps making it happen / i keep making it happen.

anyway, my market is tomorrow. we haven't done a market stall for a year now (due to living here, with no facilities for proper making). i'm so glad we're doing this one - but also starting to wonder why i pushed myself into it when there was/is so much other stuff happening.

signs kept telling me that i shouldnt be doing it. but it was too late by then. when i went to screen print my tea towels on wednesday afternoon, i could hold the big big screen on my own properly so didn't get a good print. i washed up and went to help Sam do the concreting!
yesterday when i was sewing (my machine finally back from being serviced), the needle broke, the thread snapped at least three times, the bobbin kept running out at the wrong time, the zips wouldn't sew, i was doing lots of unpicking.
the wind outside picked up, the rain came down. i breathed and breathed. my dad came home and said keep going, don't stop, do more, sew more. so i did - even though my tummy was grumbling and all signs were saying to stop.

more work to do today, market tomorrow. my sister is coming over to help me label and price and make some of our mirrors + badges. we'll also get a much needed chance to chat with no kids. yah to that! i'll stress and rush and stay up late, and then be all shiny and excited at the market tomorrow. doesn't matter does it - the lead up to the market. it all starts again on the morning doesn't it. like the opening of a show. once the curtains are up, all mistakes and forgotten lines don't matter. you smile and chat and have fun (and hopefully take home a lighter car load). and then get to sleep in the next morning.

just had to put this cherry photo in. makes me happy to look at it. aside from being addicted to instagram, it has actually been a good tool for me doing little styled shots of different things. doing it regularly (which i don't get to do with the big camera) is something that makes it keep happen. it's a good thing to keep practicing.

{these are some photos that Ari took, on my phone, while we were all posing for a photo shoot for the local newspaper. i quite like his little viewpoints - there were a few not so nice ones..... we made the front page of the newspaper - that's pretty cool, hey! this is in Helle's super cute and creative studio space, that's her on the very left with the spotty cup. also at the shoot were Lyn (the President of the Friends of the Gallery), Judy and Nikki (out of shot). i love the shot of Helle looking out the window}.

Christmas Market at the beautiful Tweed Art Gallery

We're having a market at the Tweed River Art Gallery this coming Saturday. I hope you can come along to see the new bits and pieces we've been working on.

Sam and I got to handpick all the stallholders, so let me tell you - they are all talented artisans whose work you'll totally enjoy seeing. I plan on doing all the Christmas shopping there! (The rest I'll be handcrafting myself, of course.....).

So - come along. The view alone, from the gallery verandah is spectacular, and there are some excellent looking exhibitions on at the moment, that I can't wait to see myself.

PS - if you'd like to join our mailing list to receive news about this sort of thing, and other happenings (on a very irregular basis!), please join our mailing list over here.

oh, hello!

"When the world wearies, and society ceases to satisfy, 

there is always the garden"

                                            Minnie Aumonier

I read this quote the other day. Wrote it down straight away. So I could keep remembering it. So so true for where I'm at right now.

Spring is here. And it's lovely lovely.



My blog stats are down. I don't blame you all. I'm not here much either. Thanks for keeping on coming. Just putting little toes every so often into blog land, or pinterest world, or any other sort of wonderful place in this big web is hard. You need to be here often, have endless moments to loose in it [which includes solid decent internet connection + electricity. I'm currently watching the little battery icon on my computer shrink while I scurry to do the few things I can.]

My dear dear friend who lives in NZ, [who I went to visit in January - and haven't spoken to since!] emailed me the other to say a person shouldn't be this hard to contact is this day and age.

I'm missing so much by being away from this online community. But I'm gaining so much by being where I am. Sitting in the garden. Watching the snowpeas get bigger, and the calendula flowers bud and start to bloom. And sitting with my family at the table searching through the bird book, and mimicing bird calls and talking to the birds. And setting up tents in the yard. And walking through the forest, drinking cool refreshing water straight from the creek. Watching the sun each day as it creeps across the sky in it's arc, each day in a different spot than yesterday, rising and setting at different times. Noting all this in my head, my memory.

*The 'hello' button sign is from a shop counter in Byron Bay, on a rare night out with my sister and niece to see an exhibition opening.
All photos taken with my phone - the real camera isn't seeing much action lately. Mainly due to the annoying aspect of then having to process all images through the computer.

Also, just in case you wanted to know. I'm working {slowly} on a new range of things. Lovely things to be ready in time for a market I'm organising at the local art gallery for Christmas time. I'm aiming to get some up on my new website [let me know your thoughts on it!!] in time for Christmas postage - if you're interested.....

{a handcrafted holiday} Pop-Up Market

When we moved into our new studio, both Nina and I said we wanted to have an open studio day - for fun, and to show off our space and also, really, I do love being a hostess (with the mostess!). Well, that didn't happen (due to markets taking over our lives, and then Nina dashing off to have the adventure of a lifetime in Vietnam). 

One day while chatting with a few of my crafty friends, I decided that I would actually like to indeed have a little open / pop-up day. With the collection of some of my favourite local crafting.making.designing.talented peeps, we're having ::

Please come along for an afternoon of friends, food, music and some of the best {handcrafted}shopping you'll have this side of Christmas. I'm so excited to be hosting this event, and getting just the teeniest bit scared that there's still no music, or coffee van (if you are local and know someone who would fit the bill of making great coffee or playing/singing beautiful and lowkey music, please send me an email redseedstudio@gmail.com). Visit our facebook event, and invite your friends and family to come along too. Bring the kids, as we'll have a special area set up for kids crafting and fun.

The lineup includes ::

KW Ceramics, of Udessi fame. 

{Who'll be having a hugh studio sale on the day, with samples and seconds of her ceramics}. 

 Renee Treml

Edward and Lilly

Giddy Girl Designs

 Peppermint Mag
 

 Kimono Reincarnate

Red Seed Studio

& Nook Shop, Lotus Flower Designs...... and more.

Hope yo see you there!