Creative clouds and tea things....

This week's creative space has consisted of lots of screen printing and sewing. Market day tomorrow. Last minute rush again. But, actually, I love that - that's how I work. I do just wish that my mind would stop coming up with new ideas and designs that I.have.to.sew.right.now.
Not right now, mind. 24hrs before the market. Come on!!

These pics aren't the best. I'm hoping to bribe my brother-in-law to do a little photo shoot for us in the next few weeks. Until then, you have our clothesline and backyard, with trampoline legs included!

New tea towels for the Red Seed Studio {clothes}line. 100% linen and hand screen printed by myself + whichever offsider was there on the day {Sam + the kids, oh those kids are super helpful with screen printing. And also my sister Sylv}.
There's pears and pots and clouds.
And then of course some Cumulus Clutches + Handbags. And a few other little things too.... Come along and see for yourself.

For many more creative places and spaces check over at Kootoyoo.

from seed

Top image}  A little shoot growing up from a seed.

One night while we were making salad dressing {lemon juice + olive oil + honey} we found a seed that had already just started cracking open. 

Ready to send forth roots and a shoot.

I gently placed it in the soil in our little window box on our kitchen window. 

A space that gets regular watering and not too much hot afternoon sun. 

Little by little each day we have watched our seed grow. Even since taking this photo, a few days ago, it has grown taller with proper leaves opening up.

Bottom image} A piece of mandarin left on our bench, half eaten by Mishi's little mouth.

One day we will eat lemons and mandarins from our own grown trees. This little shoot is the first. A hopeful first. A dream growing to fruition. Even if it takes many years of tending before we have our own fruits.

Other things} It also seems as if Ari has suddenly shot up taller and taller. I don't even recall when it happened - but he is now tall enough that he fits under my armpit quite easily. Just tall enough for me to lean upon him. 

market loveliness - Miss Dish

I keep forgetting to let you know about the lovely and super sweet Nat from Miss Dish. I will be sharing a stall with Nat at the Bris-Style Twilight Market this coming Friday night. It's going to be so fun to hang out with such a girly girl, and have chats and giggles. 

I'm really going to have to make sure I remember to put my make-up on for market night - as Nat is always so stylishly dressed up. 

Nat and I got to know each other at the Bizness Babes course. It's been lovely sharing market, business, crafting and Roller Derby news with her. (We both recently attended the Derby, though didn't know each was there until after the night - what with 4500 other people!)

Have a look at her beautiful jewellery pieces. Old world charm, Hollywood glamour, vintage meets modern meets pretty. 

So, come along and visit us. There'll be shimmery lights and friendly smiles lighting up King George Square, from all the Bris-Style girls and guys.

*All images used with thanks from Nat at Miss Dish.

a simple line of regular domesticness

It's a public holiday here in Oz, because yesterday was ANZAC Day.

It's quiet here. The kids have been playing all about and making mess and noise - noisy and quiet noise, but tolerable noise. Sam has been really enjoying doing some hand drawing with lots of shading. Just letting the pen move where it wants, where he mind wanders. Nice to be like that - let the freedom of creativeness flow easily. 

This morning I set up a little still life for the kids to do some drawing of their own. I like to do this, mainly for Ari; Mishi still a little too young to be doing still life, but being inspired by it is good. And we have a little talk about what still life drawing means. And perspective and that sort thing. I set up some different shapes and angles and colours. A simple line of regular domesticness.

I love what he came up with. His interpretation on the lines and shapes. And also the way he then looks around the room and finds other things to draw - the Buddhas (which he started here), the bells above the kitchen doorway. And of course, a drawing session wouldn't be complete without rockets from Ari and fairies with long hair from Mishi. 

I've spent an enjoyable amount of time downstairs getting a heap of screen printing done. For the markets this coming weekend. Will you be visiting me there? Do pop in and say hi if you're around - would be lovely to meet you.

Sam and I haven't printed together for many months, and it was really nice to do. It's a quiet rhythmic process, like a little dance of not getting ink on each other, and moving easily around each other in our very small printing space.

Now I'm headed back downstairs to sit at my sewing machine. Stitch up some custom orders. And some more cumulus clutches and handbags. 

The kids did some baking. The kitchen is clean. The washing is done. 

And it's only 3pm. 

What a marvelous day indeed. Definitely the do-something day.

being creative does take planning!

My creative space today isn't very exciting; but is very necessary.
Suddenly I have lots in my diary. Lots of little things adding up to one big busy month ahead.
So, I found the roll of kids paper, and ruled up the next 2+ months of plans.
Work plans, school plans and personal plans. All there for us to see what we need to do.

Coming up in the next month I have ::
weekly Thursday afternoons in Ari's classroom, helping the teacher
Romeo + Juliet modern ballet + a girly night with my three sisters
birthday party for my dear friend's son + a present to make
working bee at school, for the Mother's Day stall
two craft markets over one weekend
prep work for both the markets
baking for another school event + helping on the day
a workshop + talk to prepare for
another craft market

plus we want to go away, for our birthday or anniversary or something

and we've just decided to take Mishi out of her daycare (kindy) days, so she will now be at home with me full time again.

immediate jobs for today include tidying the kids bedroom (I think a whirlwind must have swooshed in there and knocked everything off every single shelf). The pile of laundry will have to wait another day to be folded and put away, I suppose!

Visit Kirsty, where there are sure to be some creative souls actually doing something beautifully creative.

cumulus

"He stared out the window at a shelf of clouds that was like miles and miles of densely packed snow one could walk across. The sight filled him with peace; this was his life now, the ability to do as he pleased...."  From Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri.

 {source}

 

I've decided on a name for my new pleated purses. Henceforth to be called the Cumulus Clutch. 

Don't know why I didn't think of this earlier than today; I have a skirt in my clothing collection (that I'm currently working on) called the Cumulus. 

Cumulus generally indicate fair weather, until they start to change shape and become storm clouds. But for now, I'm hoping for clear skies for my new purse range.{The weather today in Brisbane is rain and grey cloud}.

These are just a couple that I finished up today. They'll be coming with me to my market stalls (have just booked in for another one), and hopefully not coming home again!
I really enjoyed the hand stitching details, and am working on some in more colourful stitches. Also, there are some with our screen printed fabrics.

So, how do you like the name? 

I was really excited by all the suggestions you gave me. The Goldilocks was so fun, and I started imagining lots of Three Bear off-shoots. All the fern related names - I did not know there was a fern called Hen + Chick! And then Petite, Perfect + Plentiful. And of course I will always love any suggestion relating to the always enchanting Audrey.Thank you so much for all the suggestions.

I picked a name out of my little blue hat - Congratulations to Sandrine. Tell me what colour you'd prefer, and if you'd like a printed design (our screen print) or some hand stitching detail. I'll add it to my sewing pile to be posted to you by the end of this month, or you  can choose one from my market stall - if you'll be around {contact me  - redseedstudio AT gmail DOT com}.

*the sky is a bit too dark to give any really excellent photos today - so this is the best; I've deliberately overexposed them with lots of white glowing light. 

yellow in the rain

It's raining here today. All grey and overcast. Warm cups of cocoa and snuggling in bed weather (reading my book).

But can't you just imagine how sweet the littlest one looked walking her big brother to school today, wearing this bright yellow frog raincoat. She had pink gumboots - having grown out of the yellow ones (all hand-me-downs, just co-incidentally matching!).

** is anyone having issues with Blogger giving a new strange photo loading option, that really doesn't work? I have to keep starting new blog posts in order to be able to upload my photos as the other one does nothing (offers me links to Picasa online photo albums... or some such).

Sewing Circle

Don't we all love being part of something. Something new and warm and with so much possibility. 

After hearing from Hazelnuts about My Sewing Circle I decided to join up. A few initial glitches (new site and that sort of thing) and I got my login. And now I'm part of the Circle. 

A virtual Sewing Circle is such a wonderful idea. I think it's aiming to be like Ravelry, but for sewers. I hear so much about Ravelry from the knitters whose blogs I read. And it makes me want to learn to knit, if only to be part of that fantastic community. 

Anyway, go and have a look. There are already a growing number of members, and lovely projects and you can collect fabrics in your stash. The site is constantly improving. Run by a crafty wife and computery husband, they are always there adding and updating. 

I've already added two projects. And look at that, some friends. How comforting and welcoming. Drop on by to our Sewing Circle, sit down have a chat and do share your latest project.

** You may notice the name of the pleated clutch in the above pic. It's currently a working name (in my mind, I'm tumbling it about to see how it feels). Thanks Roz for the suggestion.. I'll announce the clutch winner later this week. Do please still keep giving me your suggestions, as I'm a fairly changable person and may have gone through five different names before the week is out!

Saturday Moments

A new photo ritual of just a few moments from our week.

1. Fabric Love 2. Eating the last bits of the kids' Easter Chocolate! 3. Macro 4. Shadows by Mishi

the name game

Thank you all for your lovely and supportive comments about my fern bag. So sweet. 

I need a little bit of help with naming my new bags. I must admit I do have a name that came to mind as I was sewing, but if I'm honest with myself, it's not entirely me. Or what Red Seed Studio is either. {I'm not going to tell you, don't want to bias you}.

So, here's where you come in. My dear and trusty creative ones. I need you to come up with a super dooper name. It can't be something that relates to the (fern) fabric, as I'll be making them in lots of different fabrics. 

This is the Big Papa size, 

and this is the Little Baby size clutch style. {I whipped this up in about 20mins before I went out the other night. Isn't it wonderful when you can make something so quickly, and it works exactly like you want. This one's not lined, due to time constraints, and it has a *few* issues. But that's all due to the fact that it was totally last-minute-going-to-be-late sort of rush rush sewing}. It's some beautiful, grainy, textured Lotta linen that I was dying to use, with our plain black organic hemp. LOVE IT. More baby clutches to come, as this is quite perfect for going to exhibition openings with your dear friends. In fact, my sister already commissioned one from me, that I had to whip up late last night, for a gift for her dear friend. It's the same white Lotta fabric, the last piece from the parcel........

Just right, perfect in the middle {Mama} size will be featured here next week (after I make her). What colour shall I make her???

In appreciation of you racking your awesome brains for me, and coming up with a fantabulous name, I'm going to make a baby clutch for one of you. So, all comments (who leave a bag name) will be entered into the draw to win the prize!

creative spaces - pleats and ferns

 Finally, finally, finally I have something to show for my creativeness this week. Photographic evidence!

These past two days I've been slowly pottering in my sewing space. It's still a bit smelly down there, from the flooding and moldy carpet. {Massive flooding a while ago in our downstairs room - most of Sam's extensive magazine collection was ruined, and the walls grew some interesting looking mold}. But with the curtains and windows wide open today, and the sunlight trying to peak in it was quite lovely down there. 

My sister picked Ari up from school, which meant I have a few extra hours. {Thank you!}. Lucky, this bag took much longer than anticipated. That's what happens when you design as you sew.... and you change your mind quite a few times.

But I'm almost very totally happy with this. A few tweaks and it will be quite exactly as I wanted. As it is now, it's a bit bigger than I planned. That's the problem with wanting to use up all of the fabric, and not make scraps - I always use the extra 3 - 4 cm, which really does all add up. Next time the bag will be the same size as the drawing and planning and calico mock-up.

Green screen printed ferns on black hemp / organic cotton, lined in orange silk that's been sitting waiting in my stash for oh so-so-so-so many years. Hmmmmm. This sure is one lovely bag that I am going to enjoy using. 

I'll be back in the sewing room later this week, sewing up some variations for my market stall on 30th.

Visit more Creative Spaces over here.  I am sure you will probably find many moments of inspiration.

PS - please come back tomorrow, cause I need your help with a little something.....

events {exhibitions}

Here are a couple of interesting looking exhibitions this week around the area.

Stella Gallery is hosting a beautiful looking photographic exhibition which opens tonight (Wednesday). I've been meaning to visit this gallery space since it opened, but life hasn't sent me over to that neck of the city. I'm planning on heading over to the opening event (we'll see if family life lets me out the door!).

Exhibiting photographers include Elisabeth Harvey, who shot the beautiful photos of my sister for Peppermint mag.

Sophie Munns is this year's artist in residence at the Mt Cootha Botanical Garden. Her art theme is homage to the seed, and will focus on seed conservation and awareness for the future. Exhibition is this coming weekend at Embiggen Books as Noosaville.

Sophie has three different blogs to look at, so do check them out. 

homage to the seed

studio archive

visual artist - which is more like her personal blog

*images used with thanks from each blog.

blues piling up

I've been down in the sewing room today. 

Stitching up some little pieces for the Twilight market at the end of this month. And starting some designs for new pieces.

Of course, I was sewing and watching the clock until school pick-up - so no photos. Maybe tomorrow. Or another day, when I have more done, more to show. 

But I did take some photos of the blues I'm collecting for Ari's quilt. 

Blues piling up. I'm wanting to start this very soon - in time for this Winter, of which the slightest cold is slowly creeping into the days.

new home ~ BlueCaravan

I'm so pleased to say I have a new home in a beautifully designed BlueCaravan!

{Of course I can't resist using this sweet photo, again - but this isn't at all what I mean}.

I'd like to Welcome you to BlueCaravan [ethical] design. A new online shopping haven of contemporary, handmade and ethical products. 

All the designers have been handpicked by Jen, the Caravan Camp Hostess, not only because of their ethical production but mainly because of the quality of the design. Jen realises that being a sustainable, thoughtful, environmental, 'eco' product doesn't necessarily mean a product is high quality or design. So, while everything on the site passes her production criteria {locally made, organic, Fair Trade, recycled, handmade}, all designers are picked because of their designer quality. 

As Jen sums up on her blog ::

We expect few people to visit us for a token ‘ethical’ guilt purchase. That’s not what we are about.  Bluecaravan promotes all things  interesting & lovely, edgy & urban, quirky & cute – all wrapped up in a warm glow!
We aim to create a venue for people to buy the things they love, and to feel good about what they buy.

At the moment there are a few hiccups and last minute things being repaired, but that beauty is happily motoring down the road to the next Gypsy Campsite! {Shopping Cart is still to be added, so in the mean time keep visiting my other sites - Etsy and Big Cartel, where I promise there will be some new work added later during the week}.

Saturday Moments

A few of my favourite moments from the past few days.

Mt Cootha Botanic Gardens :: drawing from nature; splashing in the water at the Japanese Garden; flowering cactus; soaking up the sunshine

My Dad's home :: stone temple building at the creek; low-light afternoon memories; kids + Granddad playing music together; shapes, lines, textures

At the beach with our dear friends :: building sandcastles; jumping and running in the sand; silly photos; honesty and laughter with long-known friends; beautiful weather, water and day

And home again :: a postage box waiting for us, filled with Lotta fabrics (bought on sale - looks like limited stocks left); some to be added to the growing pile of bluey-greens or greeny-blues for Ari's quilt.

from Sandrine

I received an email the other day, from the beautiful Sandrine. Such a lovely person to know, to spend market time with, to be inspired by. I so love her felted pieces, and pretty little hats. 

At one of our Christmas markets, Sandrine took home one of our cushion making kits, and finally after the holiday madness of family life and running your own small business, she had a spare moment to give it a try. 

It's always to lovely to see my designs in someone else's home. 

Thank you Sandrine. 

I do believe I'm not wrong in saying that Sandrine will soon have her own cushions available for sale at her market stalls and online shop. I have seen some with special felted flowers and other details adorning cushions.

In other news of seeing our things in people's homes - Sam came home from work the other day (he rides his bicycle across the bridge), saying that he'd seen a young woman carrying one of our smoke design tote bags. He'd felt like stopping her and saying Hi! Always makes one happy. 

In shop news - I'll be loading some new products - cushions and little things I've starting work on - later next week. School holidays are almost over, which means that I'll have time to get back to work and settle into making for the market.

*Image used with thanks from Sandrine.

away ...... for some chatting through the night

The kids and I are heading away for a couple of days. Sam is staying at home alone; work and such keeping him here.

We're heading down to my dad's house, for one teeny little night. Perhaps it will be only slightly just cool enough for a fire, though perhaps just snuggling under blankets. My dad and I will stay up late chatting - something we haven't done for a long time. 

We'll be having breakfast out with some dear dear friend, who we haven't seen for such a long time. It will be so lovely to meet them at a cafe near the beach and chat and chat. Having European friends for breakfast always makes one feel just a tiny bit more stylish. 

And a night at my Grandmas. Such a strong woman, so influential and inspiring to me. Every time I see her, I want to ask her to tell me her life story. Instead I settle for the snippets of life events she tells me. And I soak it up. And I look after her, in the small way that I can. 

And then we will be home again.

Enjoy your weekend my friends. I hope it brings you clear skies and stretches of uninterrupted crafting, thinking, resting reading time......

temple in the sunroom

We're not religious. Well, not particularly practicing anyway.

We do celebrate Christmas and Easter - but more in terms of family together time, and the swapping of beautiful, thoughtful and amazingly wrapped gifts. Or yummy organic, Fair Trade chocolate from the Easter Bilby. But we are not Christians. 

We have many statues of Buddha in our home, and Ganesha - the elephant headed God. Our Buddha statues are from India, Thailand and Tibet. We have temple bells - that I brought home many moons ago from my overseas adventures. We burn incense and candles. But we are not Buddhists.

We talk to the Goddess. And ask for help. Sometimes we {i} silently pray to the Earth Mother - Gaia.

I suppose while I do not follow or practice one religion more than another, I do have a belief of something. Just don't ask me to tell you what that something is. 

Anyway, this week we've had a temple in our sunroom. Ari has collected all the Buddha statues, and lit incense, and kept the room very tidy. He's rung the temple bells. He even had a young 3yr-old temple guard. An ancient language is spoken in our temple. And music is played. We searched through my CD collection, discarding chanting Monks, for Dona nobis pacem. We've had this on repeat for days now - which has been a lovely interlude to the regular kid music (which I love, but do get slightly over after weeks and weeks of constantness).

So, I think I do quite like the religion that we are making up. The ideals and ideas that we talk. The soft and quiet. The tidy room. The incense burning high to reach the Gods. The peaceful words and contented thoughts. The ancient language, the guarding of the temple from dragons and other such creatures. The temple artwork. The leaving it all, and packing away the icons and statues and turning off the music when life shifts to another gear for a moment or so.

I think, perhaps, this is as good as any other religion.

colours from the dye pot

 

There's been a bit of dying and pot boiling this past week. Mainly experiments with blown eggs, for Easter - mainly as fun activities with the kids.
I threw some fabric scraps into the left over dye water; just to see what would result.

I used some silk scraps left over from the workshop. And some pieces of my hemp + organic cotton. 

I'm really excited by of the results. Some were not so exciting - but easy enough to dye over.

All have been washed, but not, as you can see, been ironed. They've been sitting around for a few days now, and some fading has happened. I'll have to test this a bit more. 

Beetroot resulted in the pink colour. {bottom photos}

Red Cabbage gave the purplish colour. {bottom photos}

The skins of mangosteen gave a more faded sort of pinkish hue - seemed to work better on the hemp than on the silk. {top two photos}

No mordants or anything used, as I'm just at the stages of trialling small pots in my kitchen and not wanting to have a whole lot of things boiling.

eat :: this post is brought to you by burnt eschallots

Dinner tonight was a simple affair of market tomatoes. A delicious combination of green, black, bright red and yellow heirloom varieties. Slowly simmered until nicely thick and rich, then add some bok choy and snap peas. Just right for spooning over fettuchini and serving with fresh ricotta.

I cannot wait until we have our own house and garden and space to grow enough tomatoes, basil and beautiful simple foods to feed us each and every day. Soon, I'm hoping (if I keep whispering in Sam's ear, and showing him lovely houses to live in at the country).

Luckily the eschallots, that burnt while I was taking these photos, didn't overpower the sauce. In fact there was not one complaint. Well, okay - the two smallest* kids didn't care too much for the snap peas, and pushed them to the side. But the thinly sliced bok choy slipped sneakily past their fussy lips.

These over-ripe figs will serve as dessert. A perfect combination with the rich dense chocolate brownie we have sitting in the fridge, in one of those special white boxes from a bakery. {Sylv's new boyfriend works for an organic bakery; he does the market stall three times a week. Any left over cakes are his to bring home, and he doesn't mind sharing the deliciousness with us. They even have dessert parties after market day, once a week.}

*my nephew is visiting. he's the oldest, and will eat most anything. by most accounts he is my child, rather than only my nephew. i love living in, being part of a family, where all the cousins are like siblings - where my sisters + brother trust me totally and wholly with their children.