Melly & me

Sangsang = imagination.

Kiki and Zak the Sangsang Dolls were hatched last night.  Welcome to the world!

Happy Australia Day! and WEIRD.

Happy Australia day to you all.  And what a beautiful day it is to enjoy living in this gorgeous country.  Here in Melbourne it is 26 degrees Celcius and sunny and here is a snapshot of some Aussie flora from the front yard this morning.

We received a wonderful email from Leanne this week showing us her adorable completed version of our "Pocket & Floss" pattern.  We think she has done a beautiful job so we wanted to share it with you all.  Thanks Leanne - we love feedback from people who have enjoyed creating our designs.

Speaking of Leannes, we have been tagged by another Leanne at Leanne's House for the "Weird" meme.  Resistance is useless...... so here goes..

ROSIE

1.  I always have to buy two of everything when I do my grocery shop - I cannot possibly buy only one of anything!

2. I love cheese and "Burger Ring" jaffels (toasted sandwiches)

3. Every time I go into a shop where I need to browse i.e: patchwork store, scrapbook store or library, I immediately need to go to the bathroom!

4. Flies are always trying to fly into my ears!

5. I have to sleep with my head under the blankets so that bugs don't get into my ears. Yes, it's true, even in 40 degree heat!

6. I always have to arrive to any appointment thirty minutes early.

MELLY

1. When we moved into our new house on a quarter acre block we had no lawn mower so I spent a week cutting the lawn with scissors!

2. I cannot possibly go to sleep without a blanket curled up in my hand under my face.

3. Hope this isn't too weird but I have this lump on my scalp and from this lump grows the most unusual curly hair (my other hair is all dead straight)

4. I have to have every day scheduled before I wake in the morning and if anything changes those plans my head spins. (I'm not even a tad spontaneous)

5. I cannot eat fish and chips without half a jar of mayonnaise - and you can keep that low fat mayonnaise stuff to yourself!

6. Whenever I am concentrating on a task I must make sound effects in order to concentrate properly. (By the way this must be genetic as Rosie has the same ailment!)

May the floss be with you! - Rosie and Melly.

Something old and something new.

I was reading Julie's blog yesterday and she was discussing ways of living in better balance with the environment when it comes to our crafting.  I have read other blogs discussing the same general thread and it is something that Rosie and I have incorporated into our recent designing and crafting.  We, like most of you, are mad thrifters and enjoy searching for great books, aprons and other bits and pieces in every thrift store we see.  We also, however, scour the thrift stores for clothing that is linen or 100% cotton to recycle into our creations.  Take these shorts for an example...

Just a very ordinary pair of linen shorts found at a thrift store.  But look how great the linen goes with these designer fabrics..

And even better yet take a look at the end result when those shorts have become part of a gorgeous new bag from our most recent pattern...

It has become something that we take great satisfaction in doing now.  It is great to recycle for environmental reasons as well as being softer on the budget (if you don't count all the hours looking through thrift stores of course!!).

  To recycle clothing in your crafting you need to make sure that you only use garments where the fabric is in good condition.  Soak the garment in Napisan or equivalent soaker overnight to clean and disinfect.  Once dry cut the garment apart along the seams and voila you have some fabric!  Of course we are still obsessed by and can't do without all the gorgeous designer fabrics but we try to include 20% - 50% recycled fabric in all of our creating.

These are a few other bags that I have whipped up over the past couple of days (all using part recycled fabrics).  They have all hit the Etsy store.  Until next time, May the floss be with you! - Melly & Rosie

Group Hug!

Following a big talk with the flossies today they have been celebrating and saying their goodbyes.  We have decided that it is time to find good homes for them all, so after lots of tears and cuddles they have been transported to our new Esty shop.  We are sure that they will find fabulous homes where they will be loved and given lots of cuddles.

We will be adding more bits and pieces to the etsy store over the next few weeks so keep an eye on it. (to all our Aussie readers please note that the etsy store is in USD$)

And to all of you who commented or emailed us wanting to know how to get a hold of our new patterns they are now available here.  We have also added a list of online retailers to our sidebar for future reference.

Until next time, may the floss be with you!! - Melly & Rosie.

New patterns and WIP completed

YIPPEE! We finally got down to business and wrote up a few patterns which have now been produced!  The designing and making is always so much fun and the pattern writing seems to always be put off - but it was time to stop procrastinating!  These three images are our 3 new patterns. 

And remember Rosie's WIP?  Well she is now releasing her new "Rosalie Quinlan Designs" block of the month called "The Joy of Life". 

Both the new "Melly & me" patterns and "Rosalie Quinlan Designs" patterns will very shortly be available from a range of stores as well as some online retailers so please let us know if you want to know where you can grab them.   

Now that the pattern writing slate is all cleared we can get on with more designing - let me at it!!! - Melly.

Post and procreation

What a week this is turning out to be - we are just having so much flossie fun!  Yesterday in the post we received the next swap installment from Erika in the Netherlands.  Oh what a package it was.  Here is a photo of the booty.

As you can see my two little flossies have pulled out their cheesiest grins to model their new aprons made by Erika and just get a look at all the rest of the wonderful items!!!  Handmade cosmetic bags for Rosie and I as well as beautiful traditional fabrics, goodies and the most wonderful vintage softie books!!!!  Swoon - these are just too good to be true.  Here is one up close which is a vintage Japanese craft book in Dutch.

And I just had to take pictures of a couple of the internal pages for you all to see and go green!

  This is just way too cute!

This book has already given its weight in gold when it comes to inspiration and eye candy! 

This package was so detailed and delicious - a true joy to open!  Thanks so much Erika - you are a gem.

And while we are on the subject of this swap, remember those kitties that I made to send to Erika's daughters.  I could have sworn they were both girls but it appears I was sorely mistaken,  look what they left with me......Kittens!! - Melly

We've gone dotty!

What a fun day we had yesterday going for a girls day out to one of our many favorite patchwork stores in Loch, Victoria.  We went to the area for an old church auction and a couple of markets and of course it was such a convenient location to spend a couple of hours fondling gorgeous fabric just arrived from Japan.  While there we saw all the posters for the up-coming Quilt Hanging that the Quilters Barn hold annually.  We have been offered the chance to hold a stall at the quilt hanging and made our final decision to do so - why not? it's not like we are busy or anything!!!!!  We both arrived home and began madly sewing flossies for the event.  Rosie made three of these cute little bunnies last night and Melly is madly sewing up a number of kittys that will also soon be in pattern form.  If you are interested in attending the quilt hanging it is held on the 4th February and involves the whole gorgeous township of Loch in Victoria, Australia.  We would love to see you!!  Of course any unsold flossies will make their way to our nearly up and running etsy shop.

Lovely!

We had a picnic today, It was lovely!

Meow

These swaps are getting too addictive!  We are currently organising a swap with Erika in the Netherlands and we are really excited about this one since our parents were both born and raised there.  Erika has two gorgeous little girls and I heard that they love cats and the colour red so I have made up a flossie friend for each of them.

I really like the way these gals turned out.  They are a little bit of Crazy Kitty and a little bit of Possum o' Possum with an added cute little lined dress. I hope they will get lots of cuddles on the other side of the world - if we can actually part with them! - Melly

Sew & tell.

Didn't you always love "Show and tell" on the first day back at school after the Christmas break?  Well here is our "Sew & tell"

Firstly, some of the treasures we found in the thrift stores at Lakes Entrance (our apologies to anyone else visiting the region as we have cleaned out these stores!)

Vintage aprons.....      

And here are our four favorite apron finds

 

Here is the funkiest, most fabulous book you have ever seen - we so want to make one of these crazy bird sewing companions.

We also found this dolly.  She really does have a face for radio but her clothes are to die for.  Rosie has cut a pattern to remake her and recycle the clothes - watch this space!

Today the postman brought some very lovely mail from the delightful Shell.  We were so thrilled that she chose to share some of the special treasures her Grandma gave her - THANKS, we are honored.

Our current WIPs....

Melly's

and Rosie's

And the best news of all, A new year - some new hair!! 

Melly says its coming back grey, but I REALLY think its blond!

A happy and flossy new year to you all - Melly and Rosie