A quick update to let you know of the fantastic door prizes on offer at Frock Out this Saturday (26th, 5-9pm).  
First up is a $75 gift voucher from The Fabric Store in the Valley; $50 gift voucher from Sckaffs Fabric Store, Indooroopilly; a gift pack from fabricfascinations.com.au (Anna Maria dress pattern, OPI nail polish, Salt City candle); a place in the Perfectly Fitting Pants workshop that Stephanie of blog 3hourspast will be hosting.  We think this is pretty awesome.  Come along and get a taste of how Stephanie will run things... she will be teaching you to make her Dior style fabric roses which make a great addition to any dress, headband, wrist or bag!  Wear something/anything that you have made to be in the running for the main prizes.

Tickets are on sale, through Stephanie & Piece Together at $20 and for $30 on the night.  See you there.

Isaac's fun drawing of a monster has come to life with Amigurumi.  This is one of the fantastic things you can do when you add a little creativity and fearless crocheting together. 
You can learn the basics of amigurumi in our upcoming workshop on Saturday, June 2nd 1-3.30pm.  In the class you can either make an apple or a pear shape.  After you learn how to increase and decrease with these basic shapes, there is no end to what you can create!  For more information about the class check out our workshop page.

For those of you who make your own fashion for ethical reasons, this great post by Peppermint Mag is fantastic reading.  It discusses the recent Copenhagen Fashion Summit, the worlds largest conference on sustainability in fashion.  These are the words that headline their website...

"The fashion industry is one of the world’s largest industries, and one of the most polluting and exploiting human labour globally. The impact on our planet has reached it’s maximum. This calls for action."

Have you ever wanted to "yarn bomb"? Do you want to knit/crochet and want to be a part of something so much bigger... on a global scale?  Well my fiber friends, now is your chance.  The Yarnbomb Consortium has put a call out for knitted/crochet squares of all shapes and sizes, from all over the world.  This will be a global effort.  Here is a bit of information from the group:

The International Street Art Project is a 'Yarnbomb Consortium' .
People from all over the world joining forces and uniting to make one artwork.
You can be involved from anywhere in the world.
All you need to do is Knit or Crochet squares of any size or colour, using any yarn.  As many or as few as you like.
When all the squares are collected together, they will be used to create a large scale Yarnbomb in Manchester City centre.  With a view to it being the first of many...hoping that we might continue to collaborate in future years to produce street art in different cities around the world.

Let Jennine know if you would like to participate or donate squares/wool to this magnificent project.  This is a great way to de stash and put your yarn to a colorful art creation.  Who knows, maybe the next installation can be in Brisbane!  Deadline for squares will be EOD Friday July 13th 2012.

Found this fantastic hand embroidery by Evelin Kasikov (via Anthology) with traditional printing effects.  There is apparently some tutorials on the way.  Last week some cross stitch iphone cases arrived in store.  Several have already walked out the door.  Some easy patterns, threads and needle are included.  This reminds me of New Years fireworks.

Jennine and I have been a little absent in the last week, planning the next lot of timetables!  We are planning a few 'masterclasses' with local talented artists, crafters and designers.  So keep an eye out for the new programme at the end of this month.  The picture below is a little preview...... (as well as our research on contemporary embroidery :-)

Here in Brisbane we are enjoying one of our last long weekends for the year and it is beautiful.  This is today's  sunset captured from our living room windows.  

Have a look at the fabulous results from our Kanzashi brooch/fabric pendant class led by Melanie of Kimono Reincarnate.  Needless to say Melanie is a fantastic teacher but an enthusiastic and knowledgeably lady.  Not only did we complete the beautiful flowers during the class but Melanie took us through some history of the handmade fabrics, the styles and importance of the Kimonos and her love of the culture having lived in Japan for six years.
We were left with tidbits of know-how to create different styles of petals as well as a sweet butterfly.  Thanks again to Melanie for such an enjoyable morning of crafting.

We received a very exciting package in the mail yesterday!  As you can probably guess from the picture, we now have the new range of Colette patterns in stock.  The vintage inspired patterns are all gorgeous and suited for beginner and intermediate sewers.  Patterns in stock are Lily (sun dress), Iris (shorts), Hazel (dress with V-seamed bodice), Violet (button front blouse) and Ginger (our favourite skirt!)

Well weekend projects sounds like I planned, executed and completed some awesome things over the space of two days!  Unfortunately, I was cleaning up my sewing space and found a lot of things that needed finishing.  Some were completed, while I made headway on others.  All in all, I was very happy with what I achieved.  Does anyone else find unfinished projects in their cleanup?  I didn't actually clean up my sewing space, but got sidetracked by actual sewing.   First up was four pairs of Oliver+S pj bottoms that were pieced (legs, waistband, hem facings) and ready to be put together.  

Hemming completed on this pretty Sunday Brunch Skirt (another Oliver+S pattern) and such a perfect name.

Sleeve one completed and the second and final piece of this jumper begun!  I'm very proud of having made it this far.  However, my kids may not fit this once it is done?  Jennine will be teaching me to retro-fit cuffs so that they can actually wear it.

Facing and hems ready to be handsewn and finalise the sample for the Clover pants workshop we have coming up.  Rather than have the standard hidden pockets under the front waistband, I've created little peeps of colour.  These are a super easy pattern to complete.  

Oh, and this dress and underdress was finished in time for Georgia's confirmation during the week.  As the only non-bridal outfit at the evening, she was just beautiful.  

Today I had the absolute pleasure of teaching Fran and Fiona how to make their own crochet baskets.  This session was part two of the Crochet Basket class where we examine and discuss your "homework", talk about molding different shaped baskets and learn how to put on an optional handle.  As you can see from the photos, these two lovely ladies past with flying colours!  Fran also took it one step further and upcycled fabrics from home into an amazing piece which cleverly holds her plants (pictured top left). 
(There may also have been some delicious baked goods passed around supplied by Fiona.  Thank you!)