Melly & me

On a roll...

While Rosie was off having fun with all you girls in Yarragon on the weekend I did manage to finish another WIP!!!  Yippee!

Now I am madly trying to write some patterns to be hopefully released within the next week.......I smell a giveaway coming!  Make sure you watch this space. - Melly

Lovely things

Thank-you to everyone who left a fantastic response to the "Scrappy Cabin Challenge"!  We are so excited that some of you are going to join us on the journey and are bursting to see some of your blocks!

Over the past couple of days I have been putting together this new wallet and wristlet set (pattern to follow soon)

Rosie and I will be teaching these sweeties at Patchwork on Central Park on Sunday the 6th of May from 10:00am - 3:00pm.  We will also be teaching the Sangsangs on Sunday May the 20th 10:00am - 3:00pm.  Central Park will be taking bookings next week so ring promptly if you are interested as there is a maximum of 8 people per class.  We would love to see you!

Of course this weeks sewing left me with lots of yummy scraps which resulted in a few of these - YAY!

We may be a little quiet for the next 4 or 5 days as we have a very large order of Little Kitties and Silly Bunnies to make for Anna at Black & Spiro.  We will be using our loveliest fabrics and can already see all those delicious scrappy cabins that will follow!

As always, may the floss be with you! - Melly

PS from Rosie - Thank-you so much Jocelyn for the amazingly beautiful hanging heart that you sent me through Leanne.  She brought it around yesterday and I am thrilled with it!  How thoughtful of you.

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

My Christmas bliss!

With all the children off at their other parent's houses for Christmas day, DH and I woke up at 1:00pm and had a spa bath until 4:30 pm - Ahhhhhh bliss.  There was champagne, chocolates, music and candlelight.  We felt justified in filling the spa bath as it was pouring with rain and had been for the past 36 hours.  After such amazing rejuvenation, it is no surprise that I wanted to spend the evening crafting.  We had a boxing day party to attend and I decided I needed a new handbag for the occasion.  I decided I wanted to crochet fabric strips into a cute bag - the only problem was I didn't know how to crochet!  I found a vintage magazine on our holiday with a one page tutorial on crochet and off I went.  About 6 hours later I had this cute bag (modeled here by my gorgeous, slim daughter)

I love the bag so much that I have spent the morning at a local haberdashery buying crochet hooks in many sizes.  I will be playing with this idea for a long time.  For anyone who is interested I used a size 8 crochet hook and 1" strips of patchwork fabric.  Until next time, may the floss be with you, - Rosie.

Finally some work!!

Well today was the day to finally stop playing and start doing some work!  All of my sewing over the past few weeks has been "just coz I want to" sewing and I keep feeling the self-imposed pressure to design some more patterns for Melly & me.  So today was the day - and the thing I forgot is just how much fun I have designing and making a new creation that I really love.  That's what happened - I have created a new handbag that I think is adorable and now I feel that sweet feeling of satisfaction.  Of course I still have to write the pattern and I'm sure I'll leave that too long also.  The best part is now I can excuse myself to do more "just coz" sewing - in fact I feel a flossie (softie) brewing!!  Here is a peek at the new creation. - Melly