Why handmade?

I went into Typo the other day and saw a laptop messenger bag for $15. My heart sank. If you could get something like that for so cheap, why on earth would anyone buy my handmade messenger bags for $65? (and many handcrafted bags sell for a lot more than that)

Then I remembered I was in Typo, where absolutely everything mimics a vintage/handmade/hipster type look for as cheap as possible. Typo is owned by the same people who own Cotton On... so it would be like looking at a $15 jumper and wondering why anyone would buy a hand knitted jumper for many times that amount.

So why would you buy anything handmade?

Well I don't know about you, but I know why I would and do. Here are some reasons:

• The object itself will have had every bit of it pored over, thought about and put together by another human (usually the person you are buying from) - I mean this as distinct from an object that has many, many people involved in its creation and distribution
• The object will be unique, even if similar to other objects in the maker's range
• The materials used will often be ones that you wouldn't see in a mainstream store
• I'm supporting another creative person in their creative pursuit
• I'm encouraging that person that spending time on something creative is valid, and giving them the juice to keep going
• Even though it is purchasing another Thing, so it is not breaking the cycle of materialism, it is actually putting more of a value on a person's time, and on the object itself. Yes, I can buy a mass-produced sweater in a chain store. But will I appreciate it and value it as much as as a jumper that Karen, for example, might have made for me? Of course I wouldn't. 
• You don't have to go into malls
• And now, knowing the joy I get whenever I hear the little Etsy cash register noise on my phone when I make a sale, I know that for the maker, it is really exciting to know that your creations are finding new homes

Looking at that list, though most are reasons why I buy handmade things, they're also reasons why I make handmade things. I've still got lots of stuff from market I need to photograph and put in my store, but do have a look at my TalulaMei Etsy store for my handmade bags, pencil cases and pouches. Yes, I made them all, mostly while watching Gossip Girl, Suits or the Newsroom - Suits and Newsroom are for when I'm cutting out and pinning; Gossip Girl is the best for when I'm actually sewing, because I don't have to pause it when I run the sewing machine (it's not like I'm going to miss out on anything crucial...). Though I've watched all of Suits now, and am rationing the Newsroom. So I've started on Freaks and Geeks, which so far is pretty fun.

But I digress. My point is - buy handmade! You know, if you want. :)

Our first Spire Market!

So the first Spire Market happened! It was lots of fun. The other stallholders were lovely and had some beautiful things for sale. Everyone set up their stalls in a professional, attractive way...it went pretty much as well as we could have hoped for a first go with only a month's notice.

Well, it would have been nice to have lots more people through. We didn't have a crowd at any point, but a steady trickle of people. We'll have lots more time before the next one (in late March) so we'll be able to publicise it better and hopefully get lots more people in.

I sold a fair amount of stuff and saw lots of lovely friends - some who came from quite a distance. I got so much pleasure out of creating things and thinking up ideas for future products. So I think all round it was a good venture!

By the way: I have a few things left for sale, in case you didn't make it on Saturday. I'll be setting up my Etsy shop too for stuff that I make in between markets, but I'll keep you posted about that.

Unfortunately, since Saturday night I've been completely out of commission. I got the virus that poor mum was knocked out by, so once my body knew it didn't have to do anything else, it completely gave up. I was in bed, mostly asleep, for the next 48 hours, and am only just starting to feel human again. The fever has gone but I'm only able to function for about half an hour at a time before I have to lie down again.

Oddly enough, while I'm lying in bed, all I can think about are the next things I want to sew...

busy bee

Well I've been busy, sewing purses and bags and making bath salts and things in jars for the market. I really hope lots of people come and it all goes well - we only have eight stalls, as that's what we got insurance for, but I'm confident that the quality of what is on all the stalls will mean there is plenty for people to buy and enjoy. Also the hall can't really fit more tables than that, so if we expand we will have to go outside and into the adjoining room.

Anyway. Baby steps.

Sewing has been so great. My room is an absolute bomb site, with bits of thread and offcuts all over the floor and piles of fabric on the cutting table, but it's the mess of creativity so I don't really mind it. I guess it's my studio really, with a bed in it.

The good thing about sewing is that it keeps my mind on hold, and keeps my hands busy. I'm dealing with some stuff at the moment that is painful and sad, and although I'm feeding my brain good stuff when I read my Bible or listen to people like Tim Keller speak, sometimes my brain needs to just rest. But if I'm not doing something, unhelpful thoughts just whirl around and get me nowhere.

So sewing it is. And Psych. It's silly and mildly amusing and I don't have to devote much attention to it, so can just have it on in the background.

My current favourite verses are Lamentations 3:22-25:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.

washiiiii

I was very excited to get an email this week from Natalie at Creme de la Craft, telling me I'd won a competition for $100 worth of washi tape from Freckled Fawn! I had completely forgotten I'd even entered the comp, as I rarely win anything. What a wonderful email to get, and a generous prize. Thank you, Natalie and Freckled Fawn!

Washi tape is delightful, but a frivolous thing to spend money on (although since when has that mattered to a crafter?*). So having $100 to buy whatever I like was just bliss. I am so looking forward to my parcel arriving...

...and then nothing will be safe! As well as cards, I've already washi-ed my desk, the cracked fridge handle, a flash hood I just made from leftover plastic...

What else can I washi?

* when I told her about my prize, mum said, "but aren't you doing the Stash and Treasure market next week to get rid of craft stuff?" I said, "Hush. That's not the point."

not an entrepreneur

Okay before I start, I acknowledge the irony inherent in complaining about the internet on the internet. But I'm not going to stand outside my house with a megaphone telling everyone about it, because, well, I'd probably get beaten up by my neighbours.

I'm not sure whether I've just had information overload, or whether it's a symptom of depression, or what, but I'm finding my addiction to the internet troublesome at the moment. There is so much information out there, so much you can do, so many people doing so many things (with varying degrees of quality), so many ways of finding out information about people, and so many ways for people to find out information about you...sometimes it gets a bit too much. A step back and a deep breath is advisable.

For the most part, I control the information I put out there. I write this blog, and I choose what I will and won't write about (and if you're a regular reader you know I write about just about anything, so that doesn't bother me so much). I post photos to my Flickr page. I post random snippets of my day to Twitter. I poke people on Facebook. I've signed up with all sorts of sites that collect my information, from the books in my library to the songs I'm listening to right now. I love the confluence and the immediacy of information, but then occasionally it gets overwhelming.

I think the tipping point was setting up an Etsy store. Etsy's a great website full of handmade stuff, and there are some beautiful things featured for sale. It seemed like the perfect marriage between my love of the internet and my love of making things. I had a little scheme for selling the bits and pieces of craft that I make, and maybe even helping Karen sell some of her superb knitting. I set it all up, took photos, wrote some copy and excitedly put a couple of Karen's hats and a shawl up for sale last night. So rather than just putting bits of trivia out there, I was putting something tangible and saleable online and hoping that people would find it appealing.

I woke up this morning to a disgruntled note from the designer of one of the hats, telling me we'd breached copyright by posting her design (I don't know - was she waiting there, refreshing her browser every five minutes to see whether anyone was selling her designs?). I immediately apologised and took the items down. Karen did a bit of research and now we're much better informed, but can't sell the knitting (it all seems a bit ridiculous to me, but if that's the way it is you have to respect it - read Karen's post for the full details).

It just left me feeling so flat and disillusioned (although the designer probably felt that way too and thought we were ripping her off), and it's made me doubt whether I ought to be stepping into this pond of internet selling at all. To add to it, I was trawling through Etsy and then started down that whole spiral of 'why bother adding anything to the already crowded marketplace', which then led to 'why bother doing anything?' (Meaningless! Meaningless! Everything is meaningless!) It's hard to go out on a limb; to get knocked down before you've even started makes you feel like giving up - and I haven't even gone through the torture of putting my own craft things up for sale!

I don't think I'll give up. I'll just try something different. But maybe not for a while.

Light

There is something very pleasing about candlelight, especially Northern Light candlelight. We went to the Remo VSC warehouse shopping night last Thursday and bought a bag of the tiny Muse beeswax tealights. They're much smaller than a normal tealight, and so I thought I'd try my hand at making some holders for them out of FIMO. The millefiori one looks very pretty lit up, but it's a bit chunky and blobby when you look at it close up. So I have to work on that with the next one I make. But for the moment, I'll just enjoy the candlelight...

more things I made

I got inspired by the FIMO website to make this tealight lantern for M's birthday present.





And also, at the last minute, I gave her the owl too. Because, really, who likes owls more than M? That's right - no one.

To lift our spirits again

Here's some things I made...Panda was given to Karen today for her birthday, and I've been experimenting with owls. That's the owl and the pussycat in their beautiful pea-green boat on the left.

crafty

Yesterday I had an almost completely non-computer day, which was refreshing. I did check email for about two minutes (nothing of note).

At 10am Freda and I headed over to Marrickville to see what treasures we could unearth at the Remnant Warehouse, which was having a huge moving sale. Not your ordinary kind of sale either - this stuff is amazing. 25-50% off everything, and the most gorgeous dressmaking and craft fabrics I've seen in Sydney. I've always been disappointed at places like Spotlight and Lincraft; the stock is expensive and unimaginative, the staff tend to be harried, unhelpful and rude, and I'm never that satisfied with what I end up buying.

However it was the completely opposite experience at the Remnant Warehouse. They really do need to move to bigger premises; it's a big space but so crammed in with stuff it feels a lot smaller. This wasn't helped by the long queue that snaked through all the aisles of fabric and moved at a glacial pace. They had five cutting tables going, but of course when there were so many bargains to be had, people were buying up lots of stuff and it took a long time to cut everything.

But the thing that amazed me was that even though it was hot, cramped, and uncomfortable, everyone was in such a good mood. Nobody was rude, nobody snapped at people, nobody pushed, nobody shoved. The staff were polite, friendly and helpful. We stood in the queue for 45 minutes and it wasn't an arduous wait at all. In fact I found it interesting looking at all the different types of people buying fabric; older ladies buying up big for their next quilts; small Asian ladies buying bulk dressmaking fabric; trendy pierced design school types who all seemed to know one another and were imagining what amazing things they could make. I think that's one of the things I love about good fabric shops - the possibilities. You stand there looking at all the different patterns and textures and your imagination runs wild.

I got some great fabric - backing, batting and border for Imogen's quilt (the alliteration is unintentional), three packs of yummy looking fat quarters* that included some gorgeous Japanese prints, and some delightful yellow Beatrix Potter fabric that I thought mum would love and will go nicely in a nice baby's quilt or cushion. All up I spent about a third of what I had set aside for that shopping trip so I was pretty pleased!

Then we went back to Freda's place for lunch and sewing. I find sewing a lot of fun but also exhausting. I get so focused on the project I forget to eat or straighten up my back, so after a while I'll get a bit trembly and have a big sugar crash. Not such a good idea. But we were very productive. Imogen's quilt top has been sitting in Freda's cupboard for the better part of a year because I haven't had time to go back and work on it, and Freda looked a little sceptical when I said I wanted to try and finish it before I go overseas so I can give it to Imi for her birthday.

Well what do you know? Yesterday I finished Imogen's quilt.

We did a lot of work at Freda's with the sewing machine, and then I brought it home to do the hand sewing. I watched about five episodes of Grey's Anatomy and finally finished at about 1am; I was determined to finish it while I had the momentum, otherwise it might never get done. And I love it! I hope Imi does too.

Details for the interested: it's spread on a double bed, but it's actually a single bed quilt. Made of 100% cotton top and backing, with polyester filling. You are supposed to use wool for children's quilts but I think this is okay.
It's tie-quilted, which means I've just threaded purple Perle thread through all 3 layers and tied it at the corners of each square, rather than quilting patterns. It means it's quite plain, but I thought there was enough interest in the fabric that it didn't matter too much, and I quite like the cute, 'naive' look it gives to the quilt. It also means it was really quick to finish, as the quilting is the bit that takes the longest time (for me, anyway)!
I just have to sew the label onto the back and then it'll be done.

* the term 'fat quarter' still delights me - for non-quilters, a fat quarter (or a quarter of a yard) is a yard of fabric cut in half horizontally and again vertically - in metric that's approximately 45cm x 56cm. They're usually packaged together in co-ordinating colours/patterns.

Hope St Markets

Karen and I had a lovely night yesterday, which she has blogged about at the bottom of this post.

Hope St Markets "are independent design and art markets for emerging new talent." They're held in a converted warehouse-type building in Campbell St, Surry Hills - not sure of the frequency, but they are sort of one-offs, as the artists and stallholders change each time. It wasn't quite as big as we were expecting, but there was a nice vibe about it, stalls all set up in a couple of big rooms, with funky chandeliers and music. Everyone was friendly and relaxed and a guy wandered around with delicious free canapes from the kitchen.

We each bought a couple of things, gifts for people and things for ourselves, and had a drink in the bar area upstairs. It is exactly the kind of chill out space I'm going to have in my big warehouse/creative hang out/drop in place I'm going to have one day when I'm rich. Remind me to tell you about it sometime. These terrible cameraphone photos don't do it justice:


It was great actually; it felt like you were just hanging out in someone's lounge room. Big, overstuffed couches, mismatched armchairs, black chandelier hanging low over the room and a white piano.

We had dinner at Betty's Soup Kitchen, which is exactly as cheap and cheerful as I remember it, and then went back to the Beilharz abode after attempting (and failing) to go for hot chocolate in Glebe. The Bs live in part of a huge old house in Stanmore with other Moore College people. Their flat is around the back and up a steep flight of stairs. We had to come in from the Trafalgar St side because there were roadworks happening around the front, and it was quite interesting actually. Atmospheric. We parked beside the railway line and walked to a pair of crooked, rusty gates, overhung by rambling trees. Karen unlocked the gates and we made our way up the cracked and overgrown path to the melancholy house that looked deserted and gothic in the moonlight.

All cosy and lovely once we were inside. Karen made us spicy chai and sang me a funny song from Assassins, then we settled down to watch hilarious snippets featuring Ian McKellen and Orlando Bloom from Extras season 2 and then Howl's Moving Castle. It was so delightful! I laughed and smiled with delight throughout; at the fat dog who couldn't climb up the stairs, at Marco's dwarf disguise, at Howl's melodrama ("what's the point of living if you can't be beautiful?"), at Turniphead hopping around after Sophie, at old Sophie's wry asides. It was just a lovely film. And a lovely night, with a lovely friend.

To finish, here are the things I bought at the market. A hat! A hat that fits me! (when I said to the woman "I probably can't fit any of these, I have a very big head," she smiled and said, "I have some very big hats.") Three little badges with a red shoe-d girl on them, who reminds me of Milly Molly Mandy and kind of me as a kid too (I probably won't wear them on the hat, but it was the easiest way to photograph them). A bib that I bought for Sarah Whittingham with red and black koi on it (but I've given it to her already so haven't got a pic of it). And the red perspex 'hope' sign that I'm going to take to work (the proceeds from this go to help homeless people, which is what the whole Hope St thing is about).

how Rebecca got her groove back

Birthdays are fun. Well, they should be fun. I know some people don't enjoy their birthdays, but as you all know, I do. So I like to do my bit to help people enjoy theirs!

Today is Meg's birthday. I made her a cake and also this little creative thingummy, featuring some pics of Bethany, me and Meg, artfully placed paper and a ton of Liquitex gloss medium and varnish. It's been really fun playing around with colour and using a paintbrush - there is something so therapeutic about painting, even if it's only layers of varnish.

I hope she likes it.

Mum was excited, mainly because she could see me doing something creative. "My creative daughter is back!" she said when she came over the other day. It's a big deal mainly because I haven't felt able to do anything much at all since I've been sick, and so to start up a new project and enjoy doing it seems momentous.

We agree that it bodes well for Varuna - I return there in two weeks! I can't wait. I haven't been able to do that much writing since I left in March, but hopefully I will be able to use this week in Katoomba to great effect, and I will soon have a novel that I'll be forcing you all to read.

les invalides

after starting the year off really well with work, i've been sick for the last two days. i have lots to do that i really want to get stuck into so it's a bit frustrating. got migraines, extreme nausea and weirdly aching joints. most unpleasant. it has been suggested more than once that it might be a flu thing. this alarms me because my boss came back from the states with a nasty flu and i would hate to have caught it, but i'm hoping it's just my body being stupid and it all sorts itself out by tomorrow. if it doesn't...well then...i guess i'll just have to sleep some more.

being sick always makes me want to curl up under the blue and white crocheted rug my great-aunty bab made for me when i was a child. i haven't today, as it's too hot for that, but how's this for a seamless segue into showing off the latest progress of TQTWD (the Quilt That Wouldn't Die...remember?).

freda and i are really excited about it. i haven't had the chance yet to show it to danielle, who was instrumental in me starting the whole thing all those years ago. but i like the fact that this will most likely become my sick-day solace quilt, and it will contain memories of two wonderful women who have helped me along in my Christian walk and been lots of fun to sew with.

so here it is, not yet put together with the backing, or quilted, but here's the top, currently hanging on my wall:

the quilt that wouldn't die

my love of craft things is being resurrected - watch out! i shall be collecting random, meaningless swatches of fabric just because i like them. i shall be hoarding all sorts of bits and pieces because i might be able to use them in 'something'. i shall be once again pondering whether buying a sewing machine can be considered an essential purchase.

i got together with freda, my godmother-if-i-had-a-godmother, yesterday and dragged out the sad remnants that were once going to be my quilt. but, the lovely encouraging woman that she is, she ooh-d and ahh-ed over my badly pieced blocks and said they were wonderful. she is of the opinion that you must enjoy the craft you're doing or there's no point, so if you obsess over making every stitch perfect then you will most likely give up because you're not having fun. this is very much my philosophy!

so we laid the blocks out on the ground and she gave me some ideas as to what we could do. we sewed a few things and now i am charged with going off to find some bordering and backing material - maybe next week we'll be able to put the top together and i'll be that much closer to actually having a finished project. it's only taken five years!