A friend stopped by today with her two lovely daughters which prompted a spontaneous photo shoot! Here are some of my favourite pics. The dresses are all available to be purchased here.
My relationship with facebook is on rocky ground. What started as an innocent flirtation has morphed into something compelling and consuming. So. I have initiated a trial separation. It had to be me to make the first move. Facebook didn’t want to budge. Oh no. Facebook wasn’t going anywhere. The trouble was, until last Tuesday, neither was I. Our laptop sits open on the dining room table, connected and signed in, all day. And all those “quick checks” were adding up. They were adding up to a lot of unwashed dishes, a lot of unvaccumed carpet and a lot of last minute dashes to the supermarket at 5:30 because I had no idea what was for dinner. The problem was, facebook is interesting. I loved to know that my old school friend now living overseas had a new job; that the lovely-girl-I-worked-with-in-Japan also had a daughter called Freya; that so-and-so had posted a fascinating article about infant sleep controversies. Hit “like.” Hit “repost.” “Add comment.” Then, there was also the worrying stuff. A friend’s teenage son. Not so sure about all those “like” notifications coming through from his profile. Should I be worried about this? Did this require some kind of response? Somehow all this information seemed important. It demanded my attention and my attention, desperate for something new and exciting to focus on was only too happy to oblige. It all seems harmless enough, I know. Any for many I’m sure it is. But I, like a lot of people, struggle with moderation. That interesting article would stay in my mind and I would mull it over, hash it out, think-think-think about it for hours until it had sapped enough energy to render me useless for the actual, right-in-front-of-me issues, the realities of my little life. Stuff like talking to my husband. Some people can casually glance through an article and shelve it. Not me. I need to engage. I feel obliged to comment. And there’s only so much stuff that I can engage with.
I know this blog is called “funfaircrafts” and perhaps you have stumbled upon it expecting to read something about upcycled clothing or similar. Bear with me. Funfair is another casualty of my facebook relationship. One fabulous aspect of the great wide world of cyberspace I have discovered to my delight is that there are people out there just like me! I can spend hours discovering the blogs of other vintage fashion lovers, eco crafters, lacey doily collectors who are all just…so…inspiring! (and on facebook). So I decided to make a page for funfair. This seemed the way to go. Much quicker than blogging all the time and with a potentially much larger audience in a shorter space of time. Page made. Photos uploaded. Invitations (somewhat sheepishly) sent. Now to wait. A few minutes passed. A notification arrived! Someone had responded to my invitation and they “liked” me. They LIKED me! Soon complete strangers “liked” me. I double checked. No – we didn’t have any mutual friends!! Whee!! Must. Keep. Posting. It wasn’t long before I had discovered many other WAHM’s facebook pages. People making and selling really beautiful clothing. Creations more beautiful than mine. And cheaper! Oh my goodness! How did they do this so cheap? Why hadn’t I thought of that design? Then the dilemma: “if I hit “like” it’s going to show on my friend’s feeds that I “like” this other person’s page and then my “friend” might buy their stuff instead of mine but I really want to keep an eye on what they are making and where they are selling it.” Honestly, it was just getting ridiculous! Everytime an image of a ruffled nappy cover appeared on my newsfeed I would feel intimidated. I was becoming aware that my confidence in my own unique creativity was waning. (And I don’t even make ruffled nappy covers!) It’s not only moderation that I struggle with. It’s also comparing myself with others. The “business network” side to facebook was providing me with the perfect context to compare funfair, become discouraged and lose focus.
The worst part though, is this. I would get up early in the morning to spend time with God. It’s my favourite part of the day – the early morning, before anyone else is up and about. It feels almost sacred and I find my clearest thoughts and most feverent prayers in that time-space. But as I would sit down at the computer to do my Bible study (have been working through some excellent ones online) I would inevitably end up on facebook! The minutes would pass until I heard some little body stirring upstairs at which point I would hurriedly answer a couple of questions, throw up a quick prayer and start on the porridge. Throughout the day I was becoming aware of this phenomena emerging: Some event would transpire. Something like, say, ricies being spilt all over the floor. I looked for the next opportunity to update my facebook status and wait expectantly for my friends to respond. If something was on my mind I would put it on facebook and enjoy the “instant peer support” that seemed to follow. Facebook was becoming a kind of counsellor for me. Not good.
The thing is, in writing this post it’s difficult to decide which tense to use. The struggle for “moderation” makes me hesitant to cry “divorce.” It would be much easier, in a way, to say “no more facebook” than to tiptoe back and attempt a less wholehearted embrace. I do think there are things that we may need to totally eliminate from our lives. The danger comes when we allow that to make us feel safe and superior and when abstaining from certain things starts to define us. So I have to say that I’m not sure yet, whether or not facebook and I will get back together or whether our separation is permanent. I do feel that I need a little longer to straighten out my priorities. A few more sacred mornings. A few more hours spent with the precious people who are part of my here and now. A few more evenings spent on funfair without worrying about how my crafty peers are going about reinforcing the knees on boys pants.
In the meantime, please don’t be offended if I don’t comment on your facebook photos or join that group you have suggested. In the meantime find me here.
My 1 week in Australia last month included a whole 3 ½ hours in Melbourne before heading out to Bendigo to spend as much time as possible snuggling my newborn nephew and two lovely nieces.
Fortunately, good advice from a Melbourne-born friend saw me head straight to the Fitzroy area of town – vintage/retro/handmade heaven!
First stop was the Rose Street Market – “Australia’s Premier Art and Design Market” where I wandered around and around and around again (just because I could – no kids with me – wheeeeee!)
Having borrowed a sensible grown up kind of bag from Steph and suddenly “needing” one of my very own I pounced on cybertart’s stall, a veritable candy store of modern illustrations turned into wearable art of the carrying kind. Melbourne designed, Melbourne made. The range of bag sizes and styles and choice of illustrations left me literally not able to decide! I had to go for a coffee (several times) before I finally decided on “Alice in her party dress” in a larger messenger bag style. A cool feature of these bags is the zip off illustrated panel. Yup, you can collect ‘em all and zip ‘em on according to your mood. So happy to have a sensible grown up bag of my own!
My other very very favourite stall was “Retro Print Revival.” Check out these amazing lamps made with stunning vintage/retro fabric. Ooooooh, the Holly Hobby one!
After the market I dashed up Brunswick Street, popping in and out of the many design and vintage stores along the street. Hunter Gatherer (274 Brunswick Street) is an initiative of the Brotherhood of St Lawrence and had a fabulous range of reasonably priced vintage pieces.
Somewhere between an op shop and a high end vintage store the carefully selected range of men’s, women’s and children’s clothing eliminates the need for rifling through racks of discarded pilled polar-fleece numbers to find a retro treasure. I picked up lovely orange wool cardy, as new – obviously “meant to be!”
Power walking on up the street I was so excited to stumble upon the legendary “Meet Me At Mikes” and browse for a few minutes. Looooved this Raggedy Ann and Andy clock!
The fun and games continued once I reached the Bendigo area and I have to mention the amazing Empire Line (upstairs 67 Vincent Street, Daylesford) again with an impressive array of retro treasures – clothing, accessories, and memorabilia.
The town has a number of design stores, especially with an eco focus where you’ll find everyday goods crafted creatively from all manner of materials such as recycled wooden chopsticks and car tyres.
Bendigo itself is home to bob boutique, Amazing Adventures in the Land of Bob, a weeny store with rather random opening hours and an excellent selection of “quality, cute and kooky, quaint and quirky products” – one off, limited edition and handmade.
I’ll finish now with a photo of the main reason for my happy travels, the gorgeous Wynton Alec Oldfield with proud Aunty Rach modelling the above mentioned orange cardy.
I still look good holding a newborn, no?
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!
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!
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!
…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!
…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!
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!
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!
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