New projects

This is a little Chibi Rabbit I made yesterday using this pattern found over at My Little Mochi. Now i'd like to make a row of them and fill them with different mediums so they make interesting sounds.

Below is a work in progress. I started this needlepoint yesterday and I'm making it up as I go along. I'll keep you posted on my progress. I'm really happy with the colours too.

Couture Party Frocks

This dress reminds me of my friend Jo. It's part of the V&A's Golden Age of Couture Paris & London 1947-1957 collection. The exciting thing is....they even have a free pattern for it available in PDF form right here. I'd like to pop it on and dance around singing songs from The Sound of Music. Is that weird?

PS. If The Sound of Music isn't your thing check out Eliza at Miss Woolly's latest find, Last.fm the social music revolution. It's addictive.

Pillow talk

This is my new bag, whipped up in a flash yesterday, using an old pillow case. I got the idea from none other than, the beloved....Martha Stewart, herself. Check out her directions here. It takes no time at all and makes a perfect summer bag to fling over the shoulder and head to the beach with. Oh, the excitement of summer is building.

Felt Cuisine

I am loving this Felt Cuisine by Japanese born, Melbourne artsist Hiromi Hughes. Hiromi studied fashion design in Japan but her passion for design has grown since having children. She loves to make them imaginative toys and inspire their playtime with her whimsical creations. You can now buy the wonderful fisrt edition of her e-book "Felt Cuisine - Cakes by Design" here...and start making your very own.

While we're on the topic of food and craft take a look at these gorgeous cake pin cushions by Lapin and Me. Mmmmmmm, sweet as.

PS. I just found this set of cup cakes by Yellow Label Kids and available at Quiet Hours Toys. I really want them.

Snakin' around

I made this snakey friend over the weekend out of old wool scraps. I got the idea from an old Womens Weekly Knitting with Squares Craft book, which my Nanna lent me. The idea of the book is to make projects entirely out of squares sewn togehter. Simple. No increasing or decreasing, which I love.
Now that I have the toy buzz I came across the new Knitty this morning and they have a pattern by Anna from Mochimochi Land for these gorgeous Woodins. They look a little more involved than Snakey but feakin cute.

Fratelli Paradiso

I'm back from Sydney after a mini break of sunshine, shopping and exploring....(in all honesty I didn't do quite as much exploring as I intended but I loved it all the same). I did do lots of eating, reading, lolling about in the sunshine, walking and...did I say eating?
My favorite thing on the trip was a dinner at Fratelli Paradiso, in Potts Point. Everything was amazing..the wine, service, food, atmopsphere....we stumbled across it quite by chance and ended up sitting at a table next to, Steve & Alison, two food writers who assured us it was there new favorite Sydney restaurant.....and now, it's mine too.


Now that I've also caught the shopping bug Spanish crafter Kup Kup has just listed some new brooches in her etsy store and I'm thinking I want the Dear.


I have my eye on these too. They are availabe at the good-ness etsy store and apparently ship from Japan within 3 days.

I love a holiday and I love staying in hotels (especially ones that have Aveda bathroom products!) but I also love to come home again. I really do love our home and our city.

Coccon Couture

After my recent foray into ottoman making I thought I'd try my hand at bean bags....however, I came across these from Cocoon Couture I fell in love with them. They are Australian made, with a huge list of stockists and at $129.95ea I figure it's cheaper just to buy one.

Knitted news

These fantastic knitted sweaters are made and designed in Turkey. "News Knitter converts information gathered from the daily political news into clothing. Live news feed from the Internet that is broadcasted within 24 hours or a particular period is analyzed, filtered and converted into a unique visual pattern for a knitted sweater. The system consists of two different types of software: whereas one receives the content from live feeds the other converts it into visual patterns, and a fully computerized flat knitting machine produces the final output. Each product, sweater of News Knitter is an evidence/result of a specific day or period."
Take a look at their other designs here.


After visiting a friends newborn baby yesterday, the gorgeous Eva, I've gone mad for these incredible hanging cribs. Made by Knoppa, you can purchase them from Tiny Dodo.

Syders

COLLECT, Finely Crafted objects for life.

I am off to Sydney next week for three days of discovery. While I'm there I'll be visiting a few of my old favorites Planet Furniture, Chee Soon & Fitzgerald, MCA, Object Gallery and hoping to discover many more gems along the way. I'm also looking forward to taking a stroll down King St in Newtown and Yum Cha in China town - I think I'll need more than 3 days at this rate.
I may have to follow in the footsteps of Alan, 93, who is mapping the streets of Sydney by foot. Check out his wonderful website here. That's dedication. I love it.

It's been a few years since my last trip to Sydney so, if you have any great shops, galleries or cafe's for me to discover please drop me a note in the comments. I'll be staying in Darlinghurst.

Softie Podcast

This weeks CRAFT Pattern Podcast: is this gorgeous tree by Lynda Lye. It's a feature pattern from the new book Softies: Simple Instructions for 25 Plush Pals. The book also includes patterns from crafters we've all come to love such as Heidi Kenney of My Paper Crane, Hillary Lang of Wee Wonderfuls, Cassi Griffith of Bella Dia, and lots more!