::onegirl handmade shop update::

now in my handmade shop - reindeer oobees! i feel like these have been lurking behind the scenes for ages, i started them way back in september and have eagerly been awaiting their debut. i was hoping to get nine done but finished with five (one has already been snapped up and is on his way to bermuda for one of my best buddies' new nephew) as the antlers were *challenging* to create and work with. i do love thinking up these special edition holiday oobees though, i'm already looking forward to the valentine's and easter editions : )

also, a couple of well dressed oobees...





and a bevy of cushion covers in vintage fabrics and linen, including a set of the vintage little red riding hood cushion covers. here are just a couple of my other favourites...





this is my last shop update for 2007, although that doesn't mean i won't whip you up a custom softie or cushion cover inbetween, just send me a message at leslie::dot::keating::at::gmail::dot::com with whatever your little heart desires (except oobee reindeer, i think i'm done with them until next year, as cute as they are!)

energy. levels. low.

ah, look at that, i've gone all quiet again. i had great plans to get heaps done this weekend and here it is, sunday night, and i can't quite remember what i did for the past two days... well, that's not quite true, i did have an amazingly successful garage sale/op shop/excursion yesterday with plenty to show and tell but i just haven't had the energy to photograph everything. been feeling a bit off for the past couple of days and am finding it quite hard to get anything done. the shop update that was moved to today now has to be moved to tomorrow as i didn't get everything photographed that i needed to and, even though it's only 9pm, i'm exhausted. blah. sorry for the boring post, i'll show some pretty pictures tomorrow to make up for it. goodnight, you kind folk.

random blatherings

i was hoping to get up this morning and take a couple of pics of my garden to show and tell but the pounding rain which started up last night was still pelting down and i wasn't about to brave it for some very dark photos. so you get the cuteness of baxy instead! this is pretty much his permanent spot from 6:30pm until we go to bed, on the couch on a lovely faux sheepskin blanket, which he has claimed as his own and i traded one of my leather photo albums for at a trade show in vancouver back in 2005, with his soft bone toy that i made for him (the third in a series - one is under the house somewhere and one he left at the dog sitter's). i've been trying a little water therapy with him lately, namely squirting him with the water bottle when he goes on his crazy barking rampages at anyone walking by (or the neighbour's dogs, or a bird, or a motorbike, or a police siren...). he HATES it but it sure makes him stop quickly and he doesn't seem to associate me with the sudden squirt of water that happens when he barks. it might seem a little mean but the barking can get pretty tedious and, although small, he's LOUD and has a very deep bark and can go on and on and on.

things are busy for me lately and i'm starting to really look forward to the christmas break. i've moved my onegirl shop update up from december 1st to this sunday, november 25th so i can then start working on some personal projects (that is, if i can ever stop sewing cushion covers... it's like i'm obsessed. every cool piece of vintage fabric i see i just want to frame it with linen and see it propped up on someone's lovely couch... be prepared for quite a few new cushions popping up in the shop this weekend). i've planned a little field trip for saturday morning to gather some inspiration and possibly materials for my handmade ornament swap and, of course, have managed to route out a series of op shops to discover along the way - can't wait!

the kindness of strangers

aahhhh, i have SO been enjoying the fruits of my tea swap (if it wasn't 6 million degrees outside, i'd probably be enjoying a cup right now) - another big thank you to jen and kim for helping me out and sending my favourite teas across the sea. for their trade oobees, i wanted to do something a bit special, something that i had been wanting to try out for awhile...



oobees with clothes! it was great that kim and jen both had quite different tastes so i was able to play with two similar but different designs. they were super fun to make and well received so i'm planning a couple of clothed oobees for the shop - or, rather, i'm adding them to the already far too long list of things i'd like to work on. there really just aren't enough hours in the day...

::onegirl gathers shop update::

whew, it's been a loooong week, my friends. lots of washing, inspecting, photographing, editing, and finally, finally, there are a whole bunch of new goodies in the onegirl gathers shop! there are a couple of great fabrics, some super cute vintage aprons, a bit of vintage mikasa and plenty of teak. i put together a couple of teak bowls with gorgeous shells, sand dollars and coral that i collected (responsibly, washed up and uninhabited) on 80 mile beach in western australia. i think these look so lovely, like small perfect still lifes, and hope that you guys will too!

i think it will be awhile before the next update, possibly even after christmas, unless i find some really amazing things inbetween. i do, of course, still love spending time pouring over these vintage pieces but for the next couple of weeks i just want to concentrate on the house, playing with my overlocker and scheming ideas for my holiday ornament swap. i got some amazing swapees and can't wait for the ornaments to start arriving, even though it's weeks away! the calibre of my group is making me a feel a bit of pressure to come up with something really fabulous and unique but i'm feeling up for the challenge right now. looking forward to creating something i can really absorb myself in and spend a bit of time on...

overlocking goodness

look at me, all falling off the regular blogging bandwagon and stuff. ironic, too as i actually had to create a little list yesterday to keep track of all the things i'd like to post about! let's cross number one off the list and get straight into it - the overlocker, as mentioned, is out of the box and was finally put to use over the weekend. and i love it - love, love, LOVE! how nice is it to have clean, straight edges? i used it to make a couple of simple, envelope closure cushion covers out of some of my vintage stash and i'm pretty much in love with them. i'm not in need of any new cushion covers at the moment though, so i've popped them into my handmade shop for someone else to enjoy.



i made two like this one, from an utterly fabulous, danish style, cotton canvas print. the colours are lovely, very autumnal on a sort of natural linen coloured base.



and then the first in a little series i hope to whip up using this vintage little red riding hood fabric. i wanted to see it isolated by natural linen to give it a cleaner, more modern look and i love how it turned out. it's fun without being too childlike.

sorry, the photos are a bit crap, i've been struggling to get good shots of products lately as it's been super sunny. you'd think that would be great for photos, but i like to shoot outside, preferably on overcast days. when it's too bright outside the shadows just overwhelm the shots and then, when i try to shoot inside, it's just that bit too dark. i decided to treat myself to a new little nikon flash that should be arriving any day so hopefully that will help me get some great shots throughout the long, hot summer ahead!

two things

just a super quick thank you to all of you lovely birthday well wishers - you made a pretty good day ever better : )

and also, i just joined over three hundred crafters (so far) in signing up for the cake & pie and freshly blended holiday ornament swap. there's still a wee bit of time to join in the fun so get over to one of their blogs for all the details!

b-day

i'm 32 today. yep, the big three two. and while i'm not overly concerned about my age, i'm finding myself in a very contemplative space this week. thinking about my life, my current one and how easily satisfying it is, how lucky i am to have the family that i do and the friends that i do and the outlets for my creativity that i do, but also about past lives, past friends, past routines and places that i've lived in my 32 years. so many familiar times and places that are so far away from where i am now in my life, both mentally and physically. as i wrapped up packages to send out on tuesday, i put on a mix of songs from my early twenties, those heady brit pop days of vodka lemonade, dancing til the lights came on and broken hearts all around. while you couldn't pay me enough to leave my life now and relive that one all over again, i felt a small, sad kernel of nostalgia for friendships that have faded away and for the community of music that we had all built around ourselves. bittersweet, i think, is the best way to put it.

but i'm 32 and happy with where i am now and the path that i seem to be ambling along. there is japanese dinner tonight with good friends and a visit with my father-in-law in bendigo this weekend to look forward to. there are photographs to take, an overlocker to play with (i got it out of the box!!), country op shops to pillage, a community of inspiring bloggers to visit, a dachshund to play with and a husband to smooch. things are pretty good : )

right, right

yes, i did have lots to talk about yesterday, that's right! this new shop is really exciting for me but it sure has been a learning experience. for one, i had no idea how expensive shipping is to most of the world from australia. i have a handy kitchen scale and when i was weighing some of the vintage stoneware pieces, i almost choked. yes, the set of mikasa mugs are very cool but they weigh 880g, making them fall into the 750g to 1kg shipping range - that's $24 to north america and $30 to europe!! so while i have added a selection of homewares, i've had to hold back on posting a lot of the very cool plates and things i have due to weight and will definitely be keeping my eye out for light items or maybe just focus on textiles in the future. shipping within australia is pretty reasonable though, so maybe there is a market here for all the vintage ceramics i like to collect. if not on etsy, there's always ebay for my mikasa, japanese, pyrex and fire king goodies...

and another thing i'm wondering about now, since the fabrics are getting snapped up pretty quick, is how to handle shop updates. i still have a few fabrics to add plus a couple of vintage aprons and tablecloths but i'm wondering if i should do a planned update with notice so everyone has a fair chance to see the new stock? what do you guys think? add things randomly or have a big update every two weeks or so?

as for the handmade side, not to worry, there is heaps to keep me busy. i'm working on a couple of new custom oobees and trying to work on a cushion cover pattern so i can offer up some of my vintage fabrics that way, too. the name of the game for the next couple of months is to use up this stockpile i've created! and toward that end, here are the wee bags i whipped up to send out with gathers orders:



these tick two boxes by using up some linen scraps and also some of my extensive shell supply - each bag has a variety of small shells and a sand dollar as thanks for ordering. here's an order all ready to be wrapped up and sent on it's way:

come on in, it's open!

whew - it's been a big week of photographing, measuring, washing, ironing and organizing but, finally, my second etsy shop is open for business! it's actually been "open" since friday afternoon when i thought i'd get a head start on adding items. it didn't take long for people to sniff out good vintage fabric though and i've had a few sales already which is fabulous. i was hoping to get a few of you excited by offering some of the vintage little red riding hood fabric that i found in bendigo a couple of months ago but it was snapped up a mere 20 minutes after i listed it! not to worry though, i kept a tidy chunk for myself and am going to be making some cushion covers out of it, to be added to my handmade shop next week.

i was planning on writing a big post tonight but i'm sleepy and enjoying my second glass of a lovely merlot - i can't seem to remember what i was going to write about : ) i'll be back tomorrow, i need to get back into the daily blogging habit.

stuff and things

despite having 6 million things to do and work on, i found myself digging through my fabric scraps for the perfect bit to make myself a new pincushion last night. see i bought new pins (an exciting purchase for a crafter) and my old, worn, 25¢ tomato pincushion from dressew in vancouver suddenly wasn't cutting it anymore. i still love and use my mountain pincushion from michelle but i like to have a couple in rotation as i tend to spread out my work. i used the whip up tutorial, although i use the term "used" quite loosely - i really just skimmed over the pictures and got to work which meant my pincushion didn't really come together as smoothly or nicely as i'd expected. it looks okay in the photo but it's pretty wonky in real life. it does the job and looks much cuter than my old tomato though and, really, that's all i wanted : )




in other fabric goodness, some delightful pieces i ordered from superbuzzy turned up this week! the creamy top one is a gorgeous double gauze and is intended for a summer top, should i ever actually get my overlocker out of the box and learn how to use it. only had it for about 6 months now...




and i jumped the gun on my own november goal of one soft toy each day and popped peony in the shop yesterday. she's joined by today's corduroy cutie, louee!