Fuel Breakfast Church’s Amazing Craft Fair

Well, am home from the Craft Fair, have unpacked, oggled at the lovely new things I received in “swaps,” found out that predictably my float doesn’t balance (can you believe I wanted to be an accountant when I was 12?) and now I just have to have a wee rave about how generous the folks involved with Fuel Breakfast Church are. Oh wow. Firstly, the table cost was just $10 (including the table!). That’s pretty darn reasonable and with the organisers just wanting to cover costs, intending any surplus to go to the TEAR Fund Christmas appeal, I thought that in itself was noble and lovely. But did it end there? No! The information sheet for vendors said “tea, coffee and light refreshments provided” which I took to mean, provided for “sale.” However, lunchtime came and every vendor was brought an individual plate full of delectable goodies for free! I tried to consume mine as delicately as possible behind my purple cork board of hair ties. Then orders were taken for the promised tea and coffee which was also dutifully delivered to us. Throughout the day the organisers mingled and I was asked “how’s the day going for you?” “is there anything you need right now?” OK, I thought. These people are cool. As Machiko remarked “usually by this time in the market I’m freezing and hungry, let alone having food and drink brought to me!”

A steady stream of the community from Fairfield and surrounds came through the doors. Enough people to create a lively atmosphere but not too many so as to be overwhelming. Each person left with a gourmet handmade truffle, tastefully wrapped, with a gift card which read “Here’s something Jesus said. ‘My peace I give to you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.’” Ha! That’s it! I knew Jesus had to be in on this somehow. I hold him in pretty high regard myself and I’m sure that this is the kind of event that he’d get involved with. Infact I can imagine Jesus slaving away until some late hour rolling truffles, just like Lucy and Sarah last night. He’s that kind of servant. The Fuel Breakfast Church people seem to be the “servie” types, too. I quizzed Lucy about the church’s intent in hosting this kind of event. After all, there was no sermon or altar call, so what was it all about? “We just wanted to do something for the community,” she said, “and provide a reasonably priced context for local crafters to sell their wares leading up to Christmas.” Apparently, being a “breakfast church” they’re a bit different (read “kid friendly”) so the market was an opportunity to let the community know about the church. Lucy says “My son Xavier has a muffin in his hand the whole time (during church)! There’s usually kids making noise and we welcome them. We tend to be quite interactive in our service, spending time talking in smaller groups about the topic for the day.” Sounds awesome!

I’ll finish my wee appreciative rave here and leave you with a couple of pics. A biiiiiiiig thank you to all those involved in organising the fair!

FunFair's wee stall with Lion-Man in foreground!

A humble headband for this gorgeous Bambi journal! Thanks Lara!

scrappykea.blogspot.com My favourite page!

Recent Happenings…

Hi there
It’s been quite some time since I updated the blog! Just thought I’d post some pics of stuff we’ve been up to in our family recently…

Miss A turned 4!

She requested a hedgehog cake!

I upcycled a couple of jersies into this hoodie for Master F

Miss F made these invites for her birthday tea party coming up soon!

New cute and comfy hand felted room shoes from machikoniimi.com

I made this top out of a tablecloth today

Possibly my favourite ever op shop find! An amazing bedspread for $1!

Here's a detail of the bedspread

Looking forward to Craftfix tonight. I’m hoping to get some more shirt dresses underway!

FunFair at the Horizons Craft Show This Weekend!

Again, another belated blog post but I have been super busy getting ready for the Craft Show this weekend. It’s to be held at the Edgar Centre here in Dunedin on Sat 11 and Sun 12 of July from 10am to 4pm both days. Come along and drop by the stall. I’ll be sharing with the talented Jesseme of Lulabelle and Rebecca from Here It Is.

Here’s a wee preview of what you’ll find from FunFair…

I’ll have new “reversible wrap snap” dresses
Some great new pants of the ever popular “wide cuff” variety
Load of bibs
Oodles of headbands
A special offer on skirts
Arm warmers for grown ups

…and a new style “something” for summer 2009!

What a cutie…

…oh how I wish this wee darling and her precious parents lived much much closer. Just wanted to show you this pic. Thanks so much for sending it, K!

It’s been a while…

…since I posted anything new to the blog! It’s not that I haven’t been thinking about creating things but it seems to have been a period where family and other commitments have taken priority. I have made a few new things, though, inspired by the colour brown.

Wrap snap dress

The back

And the reverse side

Fully lined wool blend pants, back

Another wrap snap dress

Scarflets for grown-ups

These, I know aren’t in the “brown” catergory, but they are heading up to my dear friend in Auckland for her sweet wee daughter next week so wanted to show you before I posted them.

I’m discovering more and more that sewing actually takes ages. I know it sounds like a no brainer but really, it does take quite a few hours to put even something simple together. I am kind of feeling inspired again after the Presy Support Fabric Sale today. Among other treasures I managed to get hold of 4m of fantastic denim so keep an eye out for more pants.

Must, must actually finish something tonight and want to work on resizing the petal sleeve dress, too. More to go on etsy soon!

Arm Warmers Batch Two

Just wanted to show you these ones before I head off for an early night. We all slept in this morning and didn’t wake up until 7:55am! It made for a pretty stressful morning so here’s to an earlier night tonight!

these ones are my favourites

That’s all!

This Weekend’s Indulgence

More recycling! It’s actually midnight and I think I’m finally sorted for school tomorrow. Have managed to locate lunchbox and school bag which is a good start! But before I go to bed I just wanted to show you these arm warmers I’ve been working on this weekend. They are made from reclaimed wool jerseys and leftovers from my hoodie endeavours. I felted the wool and then sewed and embellished them. Very snuggly and soft. There’s a wee opening for the thumb so they are more like “fingerless gloves” than “cuffs.” Some of this batch is going up to nuddy in Palmerston North and some are going to “Here It Is” in NEV.

This is the first batch so I’d love to know what you think!

Oh, and I can’t resist showing you this picture of the girls both wearing dresses I’ve made. The red woollen dress was kind of “free-sewn,” as in “make it up as you go along.” This was taken just before we headed off to see Robin Hood at the Globe as a school holiday treat.

Goodnight!

Bits For Boys

Just wanted to show you some “boy stuff” I’m working on. Actually, I would quite happily dress a girl in these clothes but thought I should pitch it to boys as they are so neglected!

The pants are wool and fully lined so nice and soft, not scratchy. This pair is in size 1 and I have another in the same fabric in size 3. More boys pants coming soon!

The overalls are a size 2 and unapologetically 70s in shape and design! These ones have a snap opening through the crotch seam but after lots of great feedback from lovely facebook friends I won’t be including snaps in future pairs. I can’t wait to make more of these!

Thanks for reading and don’t be shy about leaving a comment. It really makes my day!

Scoodies Are Here

I’ve been feeling a little directionless with sewing over the last couple of weeks and decided to make something new so tried these scoodies this afternoon. “Scarf” and “hood” makes a scoodie. These ones are so nice and snuggly. Miss Five was only too happy to be a wee model for me but as you can see the wee man was a little more reluctant! I’m putting these ones on etsy and think I will make some more.

Have been lamenting for quite a while the lack of a great craft market here in Dunedin – something like kraftbomb or craft 2.0. It would be so great to have a context for crafters to regularly show and sell their crafts directly to the public. Just thinking back to the Thieves Alley market – it was so much fun to meet people and have a chance to talk about FunFair and promote it – but this chance only comes once a year! I’m thinking monthly, handmade goods only…Had a wee scan of the venue I have in mind last week which I think would accommodate 15 or so stalls comfortably. So calling 15 crafters! I wonder if we could aim for June… Would love love to hear from anyone who would be interested in having a stall as well as people with experience organising this kind of thing. Thanks!

The Winners!

As promised the draw was done tonight with the help of Open Office Random Number Generator (and husband who knows how to use stuff like that)

Congratulations Jess! You are the winner of “Pinny Number One” (the recycled bedspread)

Congratulations Rachel (not S, sorry Rachel S)! “Pinny Number Two” (the recycled tablecloth and placemat) is on its way to you!

Thanks everyone for your comments. I’m looking forward to making more clothing from recycled fabrics as they come my way.