For the love of tea!

I am very excited to announce my new 'for the love of tea' range of tea and mug cozies in my shop! (yes, I've been busy). Those of you who know me will know of my undying LOVE for cups of tea. So it was only natural that I branch into making cozies for teapots and coffee mugs, for all those tea and coffee lovers out there.


Black and white floral tea cozy and mug cozy


Red and white stripey mug cozy - hug your mug!

Pop on over to the stitchybritt etsy shop to have a look! Oh yes, and I've just started a MadeIt Shop too (two sales already!), so if you prefer to buy in Aussie dollars you can do so here.

Check back regularly, because new 'for the love of tea' items will be added daily in the lead up to Mother's Day on 9 May 2010!

Frilly business

Got a treasury on Treasury West. Quick! Head over there, check it out, write a comment and buy lovely frilly stuff before it expires on Tuesday 13 April (Sydney time. The evening before for my friends in the US).

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=94790

What's new?

So Stitchybritt, what have you been up to?

Well, stitchin-wise, two things!

One: When Sam's housemate was getting rid of his suitcase, he was also getting rid of a bunch of unworn business shirts. I snapped up a bunch of them with refashions in mind. And here's the first -



Looks good, huh? I used the super-easy tutorial from Made By Lex - here. I left it the length it was, so that I can tuck it into skirts for work.



Two: I'm finally using the wonderful angora bunny wool that I bought in Scotland (once again: the bunnies are not harmed in the process), and knitting a cardigan. It's a ruffley one that I found on Ravelry. Ok so it doesn't look much at the moment, but I'm loving the softness and the vibrant colours!



And you, my dear friends, what have you been up to?

The new pad

We have safely arrived in Sydney, spent a few days unpacking and a few more days traipsing around to get the stuff we didn't already have for the house. Check out my new craft desk! Exciting stuff! Crafting recommences next week.

Oh yeah and this is some cool graffiti from down the street.

Moving part 2

Uhh ohh... I found another WIP. This one is a dress that I cut out to be the same as my new year's dress, but never got stitched. I couldn't even bring myself to take it out of the bag, hence the in-bag photo. Thinking I might actually turn it into a top. Maybe.

Meanwhile, I'm living out of a suitcase until next Saturday when both my stuff gets delivered to my new house, and we (being boyfriend, the guinea pigs and I) move in. I snavelled the suitcase from the about-to-be-thrown-out pile from one of Sam's housemates. It's pretty cool and vintagey looking. The only thing is that it had an ugly old plastic luggage tag, so I cut that off and ordered a new one on etsy from Polyclarific. Look at it! It's so stitchy and cute and wonderful, exactly what handmade stuff should be like.



In other news, I've been knitting these cute little egg cozies from some wool from my stash.


I used Sqwish's Gnorman Egg Cozy pattern which I found on Ravelry. Not sure if I will keep them for our new house or give them away as Easter gifts yet. Hmmm...

Moving

Holey dooley - Melbourne to Sydney move is coming up so quickly! In two weeks I will be moving into my new pad in Sydney's inner west, setting up my new craft desk, finding my new favourite wool supplier... eeek! Right now my whole house looks like a shrine to cardboard boxes. Packing up my crafty stuff was especially difficult - what if I suddenly get the urge to stitch me a new, um, something in the next two weeks? What will I do then? I did leave one knitting project out though, so at least I will have something to keep my fingers busy when I'm not working, studying, going to circus class, watching Deadwood etc.

One of the downsides of packing is coming across all the Works in Progress (WIPs) that were never finished. Some of them are years old. Ok, it's time to name and shame. Here are some that I came across today.

Exhibit A: Kusudama


This cute little box of folded things is due to become one of those amazing japanese origami ornaments. One day.

Exhibit B: Paintings

These two paintings got to a certain stage then were forgotten. I still like the designs (which were off the top of my head) but maybe not the background colour so much. Hopefully new Sydney house will have a perfect place for them to hang, and I'll be inspired to finish them off.

The Social Studio

Yesterday I went along to the Social Studio in Collingwood, Melbourne to take part in one of their Re-mixed workshops. What a brilliant place! The Social Studio is a fashion store/design studio/cafe that assists young refugees to gain fashion design skills and employment in the industry. They source recycled and excess materials from the fashion industry and encourage community involvement in the many things that the studio does.

When I walked into the Social Studio I felt immediately at home. It has a really friendly, casual vibe and there are people from a whole range of nationalities and cultures which gives it a really exciting feeling. Our task for the day was to look through boxes of seconds clothing, choose an item (or items) that we liked and refashion it.

Being my first venture in the world of refashioning (and believe me, I've been visiting Wardrobe Refashion for ages wanting to have a go) I went with something easy and relatively plain. I took this black singlet and made it longer by chopping it off about 15cm from the bottom, sewing a piece of alternative fabric in between and then sewing the bottom of the singlet back on underneath. Simple, but came up looking pretty good and it is definitely something I will get good wear out of.

You want to know what's awesome? The Social Studio workshops, which run from 10am - 1pm every Saturday, only cost $30. For that you get all your materials, access to the industrial sewing machine and overlockers, and qualified teachers to help you with the tricky bits. Amazing. Not to mention the delicious vegetarian lunch I had in the cafe afterwards for $8. $8! And you get to take home whatever you make, of course.

If you're in Melbourne, you MUST check out the Social Studio!