Thursday, February 12, 2009

Slowly, slowly

After a very slow start to this week, due to the melancholia which set in because of the terrible tragedy being enacted in Victoria with the bushfires, the creative juices are finally beginning to flow. This bag is for a friend's sister who has her own distresses to deal with.
The floral fabric is thrifted from the Gold Coast (thanks again Lana!!) and the purple was on special in Ikea, Sydney. I have free machine embroidered the yoke for an extra touch. The lass is a large girl and wanted to be able to use the bag across her body or else hanging on the handles of her sons stroller. I hope she likes it!

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Rainbow comfort packs

Just a quick post to let you know how you can give help to those hurt by the bushfires. I won't go into all the details as many have already done so but you can link to http://curlypops.blogspot.com/ or http://meetmeatmikes.blogspot.com/ or link to the buttlon at the top of this page. Thanks.



P.S. chookasmum has ideas for a 'sanity pack' for crafters who have lost every thing.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Ikea and thrifted fabric verus floods and fires

My dear friend on the Gold Coast took me op shopping last week. I thought we were looking for clothes but it actually turned into an exercise in which clothing could be turned into bags. Sorry to all the designers whose garments I will be cutting up but then they shouldn't use such lovely fabrics should they. We also bought loads of almost new leather belts for peanuts that will be able to be used for novel shoulder straps. Here is just a small selection of what we found.
Thanks Lana!!!
Can you just see this made into a hobo style bag? I think this is one of my favourite finds. A perfectly classic weave that is just plain denim on the back so will not even need to be lined to make a lovely soft shoulder hold-all. I will probably just cut along the bottom and use the excess to make shoulder straps.
This one reminds me of my Mum.
Mix and match from various op shops. I have and idea to combine these little embroideries with this vintage fabric.
Then after dropping my daughters off at the Sydney International Airport (they are off to New Zealand for 9 days) I nipped into Ikea to see what all the fuss was about. Of course I couldn't leave without buying some gorgeous fabric - so hard to pick just a few though!

At the moment none of this seems to matter. I am just glued to the screen in shock as place after place diasappears in fire. Almost entire communities are burnt out with 65 dead and more expected in Victoria. I don't live in any of the affected areas but did live nearby as a child or had my son living there for a couple of years. It brings it home very quickly when you are near, even in memory, to devastated places. Thankfully I know from the Bible that God will not allow the wicked conditions on earth to remain indefinitely, otherwise it would be so easy to lose hope.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009