Oh my, I have been naughty not blogging about what I have been up to lately. Its winter time in NZ which is hot water bottle time ( Hey its the environmentally friendly way to stay warm) and what better way than huggling one of these guys! I've mad e them from fabric from my stash of fabrics I can't bear to throw away. Owl is made from red wool coating, Alien and friendly lion ar e made from antipill polarfleece, so not only will the fabrics keep the hot water warmer for longer but they are extra cuddly! All designs available at my felt shop www.zippitydoodah.felt.co.nz

Just a few more photos....

Just a few more photos for April. I added to my sewing companion collection. Sewing companions are super handy friends that work as a pin cushion but have the added bonus of a built in needlebook so you can store your needles safely ( they wont disappear into the pin cushion). No more need to have a separate needlebook, everything is in the one handy place. Perfect present for a crafty mum or friend. Katie Bug Ladybug or Honey bee, more critters coming soon.

and a few more owl photos cause I know you like them

April news- Owls , owls and more wildlife

Oh naughty me , nce again not much blogging but lots of creative making. Whats new , lots of Owl Doorstops have been winging their way to new homes, I have also been by request making some has plushies ( soft toys that you can cuddle!) I also have some new Owl products to debut early May ( so check back soon). Recently I spent a day making up a huge ( I got a bit carried away) hutch of baby snuggle bunnies. snuggle bunnies are baby toys that can be cuddled or used as a rattle. Each bunny is strictly a one of a kind bunny - limited Edition toy.

So enough rambling here are some photos of what I've been up to; Remember that you can adopt oone of your own at my felt store www.zippitydoodah.felt.co.nz or send me a message if you have a special request. For those of you in Auckland I will be at Devonport Craft market This Sunday May 2nd 10 - 3pm Clarence st, Devonport.

Almost Easter..

Its almost Easter- hard to believe! I have been busy with Kraftbomb market yesterday adn for the first time ever I'm going to be at the Devonport market April 11th! I'm so excited! Recently I acquired a big box of felt that was left overs from someone's soft toy project. So I have been thinking up uses for my felt of many colours. Here are some of the things I have been making; bunny egg cosies, chocolate fish sunglasses case, ipod/phone/camera cases.

Rabbiting on and on...

Apologies for the lack of posting. With Easter sneaking up earlier this year I have been thinking about alternative Easter goodies. I've been making Snuggle Bunnies for Babies. These are deliciously squishy with a soft rattle inside, long floppy ears and made from soft tactile fabrics. I've made them out of fabric samples and embroidery samples I'd kept stashed away in the cupboard.

I've also whipped together some Cottontail bunnies for slightly older kiddies. These ones are made from Linen leftovers and have little cotton tails. They have removable pinafores and healthy felt carrots to nibble on that can be stored in their heart shaped pockets.

I also wizzed up a few glamour bugs from some offcuts of trelise Cooper fabrics ( hence the glamour). they could be used as pin cushions of for storing special hat pins. The fabric is velvet, a little hard to photograph them well, so they do look more brightly coloured in person.

Far Out February!

Oh Dear its been a month since I last blogged, not I sign I have been idle, more that I have been so busy making new things that I haven't stopped to blog! IN the lead up to valentines day I was busy inventing Zippitydoodah valentines( check out my zippity blog) and making lots of red rose zippities.  I have also made a few little pixie purses, these are little toadstool purses made from Laura Ashely fabric book pages and unloved odd buttons! I think they are pretty cute. I have also extended the range of daisychains ( photos soon I promise!) Also added  to the collection are Humpty Dumpty egg cosies. Yes little cosies to keep your soft boiled eggs warm while you make your toast soldiers! I think they would make a nice addition to a breakfast tray or just to brighten up anyones day. I've made them out of felt leftovers and vintage white linen, ribbon from the ribbon box and of course embroidered faces using floss from the collection. There are numerous other new waste not want Know creations too, just waiting for photos, won't be long promise! I've been getting a little more organised and have started documenting and saving all the patterns I develop with the thought of making a book for all those people who love to make things but need a book/pattern to get them started, and of course something to sell to those people that say " oh I could make that"... he he

Don't mow the lawn....

Its summertime which means lots of lazy days ignoring the need to mow the lawn. Inspiration hit one afternoon making daisy chains with Maddy( age 8). Maddy had commented on what a shame it was that the daisy chains didn't last very long, and I thought how great it would be to have immortal everlasting daisychains..... I had also been pondering how small was too smaller piece of felt to save before throwing them in the bin. The two thoughts colided and here is the result... my immortal daisychains and also some felted bangles with daisies!

Here are some of my latest Owl Babies- Morepork Butler doorstops. Over the last week I have put together a new flock of them in preparation for the next Craft show. They look very cosy cuddled up together in my giant basket. I have tried a few different colour combinations, and its great to see the upholstery fabric book pages pile getting smaller and smaller. I have started to run out of the huge buttons I use for the eyes so I'm having to think up new ways to do their eyes while I look for usable buttons!

Happy New Year full of new ideas and crafts

Wow 2009 seemed to zip by ( pun intended). I'm bursting with new ideas for crafts and can't wait to find the time to try them all. Its summer school holidays here so I have my girls home from school, which means 3x the crafty mess. I gifted Abby a bag of fabric scraps for Christmas  she is always asking for mine) and she has been busy making everything from wristbands to clothes for littlest pet shop toys. The next step is to get her going on the old Bernina, leaving my industrial sewing machine free for me.  I have made up a few more Morepork(owl) butlers ready for the next craft market and have a few new ideas to whip together  as well. This year I hope to be a little more organised ( and tidy) and try out lots of new ideas. Christmas was lovely and all our handmade gifts were very well received. Photos to follow, the photographer is on holiday!

VIP's (vintage inspired Pinnies) and more!

Another busy week has flown by, its hard to believe Christmas is THIS Friday! Yesterday was Christmas KraftBomb market. The busiest yet! I had a very successful day, the morepork butlers again where a huge hit and I sold out, and then had requests for more next month please! I also debuted the vintage inspired pinnies(aprons) or VIP's as I like to call them. I had a lot of interest and sold a couple! Like with all things I find it really hard to decide on a price, at the moment working it out by cost of materials and time involved, but Jason has suggested I should put my hourly rate up a little, hmm hard to know.  The zippity doodahs were  popular for Christmas gifts so now I need to find some time to replenish the stock for the next craftmarket and for on felt.co.nz. Plans for this week; tidying up the chaos from last weeks crafty explosion and getting ready to tackle some new VIP's as I find the time over the Christmas break, and of course inventing new zippity doodahs!

Sunday Night, almost bedtime...

What a busy weekend! Saturday was crafternoon tea craft market. A steady day, I met some new crafters and said hello to some now familiar faces. The Morepork/Owl doorstops were a hit! I also spent Friday making some earrings from the zip sliders that are left over from when I make ZippityDooDah's, and they were well received with a few customers buying the zippitydoodah brooch and then the matching earrings which made me giggle, perhaps I'll have to start saying "would you like earrings with that.."  Today was spent making my 12 year old daughter a dress to wear to her school social dinner and dance tomorrow night. I really struggled with what to make as she is only 12 and I didn't want to dress her as older than she is. Finally decided on a dress design and made it up today in lovely green silk that I got from the Trelise Cooper fabric store sale, and managed to find a zip in the right colour and length from my collection of zippers!  

Its a zippity DooDah day!

I have been busy with Zippity Do Dah requests. In case you aren't aware Zippity DooDahs are flowers created from old zips. I sent a collection in with Jason to work so he could photograph them beautifully for me ( one of the advantages to having our own photostudio!) and he stayed late and then forgot to bring the Disc home for me. So no new photos yet but hopefully tonight or tomorrow.  I've also been playing around with some patterns for Aprons, hoping to use up some pieces of cotton fabrics from the collection. Not much to show yet as the patterns were a little more fiddler than I had anticipated. The challenge is t make the design/pattern so the pieces are  going to fit on the size of the fabric pieces I have squirrelled away. 

Monday, Monday...

Start of  a new week and I have a table at Crafternoon tea this weekend, so I'm motivated to get a few more things finished before then. Last week was very productive and I found a use for a collection of Laura Ashley Upholstery fabric samples that I had been hoarding. Inspiration hit and I created Morepork (owl) Butlers. What is a morepork butler? Its a native NZ owl themed doorstop.The idea being that a butler will hold a door open for you :-) Once I had worked out the pattern they were quite easy to make and best of all I managed to use up a lot of the brown fabrics that I was not terribly inspired by With there being a bit of a fashion for all things bird themed I'm hoping they will be popular at the craft fair!

Speaking of brown fabric I also had a length of brown suede type fabric that had been languishing, and with Christmas just around the corner I decided to make some Chris (tina) Mouse (s). these are little soft toy mice wearing little green sequinned A line dresses( looks like a Christmas tree) that I embellished with fancy buttons that I had hoarded. Fantastic as I utilised the leftover sequin fabric from a Mermaid costume I had made and buttons that were left over but too nice to throw away.

Photo to follow....

The Enterprising Beginning.....

Welcome to the Waste not, Want knot project. The goal is to turn textile waste into desirable objects that people want. Its a combination of all those things our grandparents told us waste not, want not, combined with modern day landfill avoidance, reduce, reuse, recycle, and a need to liberate a great collection of fabrics and trims amassed over a few years from the back of my wardrobe, under my bed, in the roof space etc.... I have a design degree and an addiction to textile arts and crafts, lets see where it leads....