flowerpress

garland

2009-11-11T11:54:00.006+11:00

For a while now I've been putting aside envelopes, collecting the different security patterns which come across my desk. I love the different patterns you can find. But the envelopes have been sitting poked into a drawer out of sight.
I love paper garlands. I'm intrigued with the idea of sewing paper together, something I never would have thought of if I hadn't seen it online.
Somehow though these two thoughts came together in my busy brain and today I put a little time aside to make these flag garlands. They are so simple to make, I made up a template of triangles and cut into my collection. And then I just sewed them together.
I love the blue and white patterns and its a nice way to display them together, it recycles all those used envelopes, and I love the flutteriness and the slightly see-through quality of the garland. Even better, strung from one end near a window they are very mobile, quietly twirling and spinning around.
(p.s. for more beautiful envelope patterns look at this flickr set.)

little parcels

2009-11-06T13:55:00.006+11:00

I've 'fessed my love of old buttons before. The other day I made the mistake of wandering through Ebay, with the result that two little parcels arrived in my letterbox today. One contained lots of big buttons which would be great on bags, and the other had these floral beauties - still on their original card. And they're boil proof, how lucky is that ;-) Have a great weekend.

patchwork knit

2009-11-04T17:27:00.003+11:00

I've already finished three squares of my knitting project. It's fun! I've stuck with simple designs so far and I love how quick they are to finish. I think experienced knitters would be a bit worried at my choice of wools (I am!). I'm just realising now that though they all say 8 ply they are widely varied thicknesses. Which might pose a problem later on when they come to be joined together. Spotlight had a pretty limited selection the other day though when I was there, and I chose for colours rather than matching gauges.

I'll see how I go. Perhaps if I juggle stitch number and needle size I can get them to be a similar shape. Perhaps!

Oh, and here are a bunch of roses for all the lovely people who left such nice comments on my last post. Thanks :-)

ups + downs

2009-11-03T11:05:00.004+11:00

Hello! I hope you're having a good day :-) I am, after a couple of weeks of feeling pretty ordinary I've suddenly begun waking up again feeling focussed and positive. It's not a big deal but I wanted to acknowledge that things aren't always perfect here at planet Flower Press. Just lately I've been really pleased to read the same on a couple of blogs I read. Artists with doubts about their work and online life, Bloggers who suddenly feel like they're talking to themselves!

I think some of that goes with working creatively whether you are a designer, crafter or blog writer. The work is very subjective and sometimes you wrestle a bit with it trying to make it look like you wanted. And then you send it out into the world to be judged and that can feel a bit vulnerable. A week of big sales can make you feel fantastic, but on the other side of the coin a slow week can make you feel blue.

It helps that I woke this morning to find Flower Press had been featured on the front page of Etsy, in this beautiful treasury. And on top of that I've been featured here on Laura Trevey's lovely blog - "Bright Bold and Beautiful". Thanks Laura.

What I wanted to say though was that I was feeling good before that. I wonder sometimes if those good vibes make their way into the world and attract good things. Sometimes I think you've got to work at being happy and at some point it starts to happen on its own!

natural, linen, cotton, vintage, japanese fabric

2009-10-30T11:55:00.005+11:00

I loved reading all your comments about fabric.

"Natural fibres"
It seems there is consensus, we all love natural fibres! I've always been drawn to these too - something about the feel and natural qualities of these just feels right to me, and to most of you too :-)

"Feel and drape"
A few of you mentioned the feel and drape of fabric being important. This makes a lot of sense and I can see how different blends enhance this quality.

"Organic fabric"
I really hope that these will become more freely available in Australia and less expensive soon. I'm sure there is a big market out there. It's funny, a million years ago I helped design catalogues for Greenpeace when they first introduced their organic cotton t-shirts. I wish we'd come a bit further in the meantime.

"Vintage, overdying, geometric prints, japanese designs"
I got excited just reading about all of these. Isn't fabric great!! Come back next week and I'll show you pictures of the fabric I've bought to print on!!!!

And now to announce the winner of the giveaway, the very helpful random generator gizmo has chosen - Ellie who said "i love using natural fibres - lots of hemp and organic cotton, and little linen. as well as vintage japanese fabrics. ooooohhhh. anything pretty really.
but love handcrafted fabrics the best!
lovely giveaway you have."

Thanks Ellie. If you contact me with your address I'll pop your prizes in the post.

Thanks again everyone for helping me celebrate my blogging milestone. Its my blogoversary next week, two years. Crazy. But lots of fun. I think I'll be here a while longer.

buku larrnggay

2009-10-29T10:52:00.006+11:00

Thank you so much for all the wonderful comments and ideas about fabrics you've all been leaving on my Giveaway post. It doesn't end till late tomorrow so join in and leave a comment soon!!

My brother has been in town the last couple of days, which is great. I don't get to see him that often because he lives in the Nothern Territory, at the top of Australia. He works there for Buku Larrnggay Mulka Centre, a non-profit community arts centre in Yirrkala, on the Eastern tip of Arnhem land.

Buku Larrngay is well known in the international art world as a leading centre of Aboriginal Art. One of their artists, Djambawa Maralili was recently part of the Moscow Bienale, alongside Anish Kapoor, Fiona Hall and others.

Will's down here for an exhibition at Annandale Galleries which opened last night. We all went along to the opening, I love the fact that my kids are such inveterate gallery patrons, having been going since they were little babies, I love to seeing them wandering around, wine glass (full of mineral water) in hand, perusing the art! Here are some images from the exhibition. The three artists showing are Gunybi Ganambarr, Dhurrumuwuy Marika and Boliny Wanambi. It runs for a while so if you are local, go and see it, its great to see it close up. And the gallery is housed in a wonderful old Masonic hall which is beautiful all on its own.

Giveaway - 300 posts!

2009-10-26T08:13:00.009+11:00

To celebrate all the new colours in my tea towel rainbow, to mark the milestone of 300 posts, and most of all to thank all my lovely readers and blog subscribers here at last is my promised giveaway!

Up for grabs are these two tea towels, the Filigree design in bestselling Royal Blue and White on Unbleached. If you can bear to give them away these make great presents! All my towels come wrapped in a cellophane bag with Flower Press banner and woven label. Also included is this little Keep Calm cloth badge (a gift from one of my suppliers).

To enter leave a comment below, and only if you feel like it I'd love to hear from all of you about what fabrics you like - what you buy and what you use. Cotton, linen/cotton, lamé, plush!? Leave your thoughts, a name and contact details.

I'll be drawing this one on Friday afternoon. I'd love to hear from all of you. Come on - delurk!

Blog followers are automatically included in the draw but if any of you would like to leave a message about fabric, I'd love to hear it.

learn to knit - patchwork afghan

2009-10-23T10:56:00.007+11:00

I enjoy knitting, its like meditation. And while I'm not quick or experienced I really enjoy patterned knitting - the type that uses stitches to work a design. Ambitious! But if you work carefully they are usually just a mixture of purl and knit.

The last two scarves I've made have had quite intricate designs, the seafoam design I made last winter and another, shown below. I can't remember the name of this design, I adapted it from somewhere. It's not great as a scarf though as it rolls inwards! (Please admire the beautiful bakelite stitch counter my dear MIL gave me from her stash :-) )

The other day at the library I found this book 200 knitting blocks (Aussie version here) and something clicked. A while ago I was admiring this gorgeous blanket on Rummage's beautiful blog. So that's my new project (no I haven't finished my sashiko!). A patchwork afghan. It's a long term project, its nearly summer here so probably not a great time to be knitting, but I like the idea of small squares which can be knitted individually and sewn together down the track. They are small and quick to do and all those different patterns will keep it interesting I hope. I'm hoping to venture into the world of cable when I get more confident.

I'm going to choose five colours of wool, some neutrals and pale coordinating colours (I couldn't wait though so this one is leftover from the scarf - I think it matches my new front door!) but does anyone know any good wool places in Sydney apart from Spotlight?

300 posts!!

2009-10-20T12:56:00.005+11:00

300 posts! I can't believe it! That's a lot!

I promised a celebratory GIVEAWAY in the 300th post, but I'm still catching up on things now the kids are back at school. Come back next Monday, my time, and I promise it will be up.

In the meantime, here are some things that have been occupying my time and brain! These are fabric samples for my first yardage print. I'm so excited but anxious about taking this step, its something that I've wanted to do for so long. I'm still a way off but once I get strike offs I'll be sharing them here.

I've always dreamed of Flower Press producing yardage, locally printed on natural fabrics. Now its actually going to happen! One of the (many) steps along the way is choosing fabric and I've managed to track down a great range of samples.

I've narrowed it down slightly from the million samples I have, but if you have a preference, some experience or any other input, as always I would love to hear it. For next week's giveaway I'll be asking readers to leave a comment about fabric preferences. So please come back then and share your ideas with us (me!).

Oh, and all blog followers signed up by then will get an automatic entry to the giveaway too :-)

holiday

2009-10-14T13:00:00.007+11:00

Despite the very wintery weather (strong winds and rain for most of the week) we had the nicest time away. There is something about being out of town that really unravels the lines of stress that build up in a busy life. For the first few days I did a lot of staring into the distance (probably with my mouth attractively open). I slept in and finished reading Great Expectations which I've been reading and really (really) enjoying.

We did a little op shopping one day, all five of us which was fun. My favourite score was these zips and rick rack for $1 at the Animal Welfare shop. I also bought a holiday jigsaw with this lovely old fashioned inscription. We started it but most of it was a faded green colour and only half was finished by the end of the stay. My sashiko panel however is much closer to being finished.

Our friends' little house was a perfect haven. As an added bonus M is Japanese and there was a bookshelf full of japanese craft books and magazines to savour.
She also has a stack of Australian home magazines and it was fun playing spot the Aussie online peeps.

Food was cooked and eaten in large quantities. Broccoli soup made from scratch. Fresh asparagus and mayonnaise sandwiches were eaten for lunch and Whiting and bream caught off the beach on our one sunny outing were eaten for dinner with chips from the local fish and chip shop, for authenticity ;-)

On Monday we drove the yellow boat to a secluded beach in the middle of bushland and played and beachcombed (A found this paper nautilus shell) and fished and swam (too cold for me) and raced and climbed and read. A dolphin came up and caught his dinner just off the front, dancing around with his tail in the air for our enjoyment. A heartbreakingly perfect day with my gang :-)

Oh, and teeth were lost, two of them. The TF (tooth fairy) got two notes to advise her we were on holidays. I think that makes 14 teeth lost this year between my three little people. And one very busy TF!

dolmades

2009-10-08T17:03:00.002+11:00

The grape vines are bursting with new growth at the moment which always inspires me to make dolmades, as taught to me by my Greek sister in law. Of course hers are just perfect, mine on the other hand never taste quite as good, but they are still really yummy and simple to make.
Here are some photos of the process. I can't find her recipe with exact quantities so here's a Bill Granger one that's similar but uses chick peas and some chilli and paprika. Mine uses fresh leaves and tomatoes and a bit of olive oil in the rice mix. I'm sure you could substitute rice for the extra quantity of chick peas.

I've seen a few recipes online that use cooked rice but these are rolled with uncooked and it cooks inside the leaves. These are the vegetarian version. I didn't eat red meat for many years and I still prefer them without meat.

Even the fussy eaters round here love these, this whole pot, three layers by the end, was finished in a day, most of them for dinner with tuna, boiled eggs and salad.

You can buy preprepared vine leaves but its fun to use your own. The best leaves are fresh new ones, you can see how soft and fresh the new growth is. Collect a pile and trim off the stalks. I roll mine and tie them and then pour boiling water over them for a couple of minutes. (If you don't need to use them you can keep them in the fridge in a plastic bag for a day). My sil likes the leaves from an ornamental grape or glory vine best.

Put a spoon of mix in the centre then wrap bottom right, bottom left, top right, top left and then roll to the centre point. Squeeze them all in together and place a plate on top, right side down (oh, and make sure the plate/pot fit is right to start with!)

tea towel rainbow

2009-10-07T10:39:00.003+11:00

Yesterday I snapped this pic of my full range of tea towels stretched out in rainbow formation. It makes me happy to see all the colours I've used in the past year. Not so practical perhaps to be printing so many different colours, but I love the range and its been fun to experiment.

I haven't listed the teal towels yet (5 and 6 in the picture), but expect to see them in the shop when I return from our time away. I'll be gone a week, wish us luck with the weather gods. Back with photos late next week.

I'm hoping to get a bit more organised then (!?) and list more stock for Christmas. I found some block printed towels cleaning up yesterday that will appear finally and I'm going to get some more cards in store in individual packs. So if you've been after a Teapot or Ruby Slippers card you can buy them in singles or sets.

I think this post is 297 and I've written one that will post while I'm away, 298. Come back next week for 299 and 300 and I'll have that promised giveaway!

sushi love

2009-10-06T16:21:00.005+11:00

School holidays for the next two weeks and we head to the beach on Wednesday, housesitting for some friends who are off to Japan (yay!).
While the boys went off to the city to explore the Harbour Bridge, A and I got down to crafting. She wanted to do some embroidery and I'd bought these frames a while ago. Wondering what to sew, inspiration soon hit, one of her very favourite things in the world is sushi. I pulled out the felt and we hit upon this design. So simple but I love the way they look. She is mad about beads too and decided to make the 'fillings' with beads and ribbon from her stash. Isn't she creative :-)

This was nice and simple to sew but good practice for knots and sewing. I'm thinking a little piece of sashimi might be a nice addition. It would make a nice applique for a purse as well with some japanese fabric lining...

new shoes

2009-10-06T09:18:00.004+11:00

Continuing the red theme :-)

front door

2009-09-29T14:05:00.004+10:00

We've just had the windows, gable, portico and door painted on our house (after four years here!). I just love the slightly wild red we painted the door and I was tickled today to see a geranium cutting that I pinched from a friend's garden six months ago, and popped into a pot on the front verandah has flowered for the first time to match, the forest pansy cercis tree in our tiny front garden is leafing out in harmony too!
p.s. My old camera always struggled with this shade of purply red. What a nice surprise to see this one capture it perfectly.
p.p.s. I was so touched by the deep goodness of the couple who carried another's child when I saw them interviewed. They are very so honest and thoughtful in the face of an unimaginable trial.

maple

2009-09-27T11:20:00.007+10:00

I've only had my little maple tree a couple of years. And I'm pretty sure it hasn't flowered before. In fact I didn't even know that maples flowered like this!
What a lovely surprise to find these little sprays of lolly pink flowers appear with the emerging lime green leaves. And can you see in the last photo the little seed pod emerging from the flower bud with its characteristic winged form. Very sweet.

350 sales!

2009-09-25T08:57:00.005+10:00

Over the last year a few people have asked me about printing the Filigree design tea towel in black on white. Its taken me a while, but now its done I love how graphic it is, and I love it here with J's father's day cup (D is for Dad). I have limited stock of this, so if you like it get in early.

In other exciting news, Flower Press hit the 350 sales mark this morning on Etsy. I'm not sure why those round numbers appeal but they do :-) It's pretty exciting to think the next big step is 400 sales!

Look out for a Flower Press giveaway as I head towards my second birthday on Etsy, 300 posts (hard to believe but I'm up to 292 with this one!) and my second blogaversary!!

dust

2009-09-24T10:24:00.005+10:00

It would be remiss of me to not post at least one picture for all of you who weren't here to see Sydney's fabulous dust storm yesterday. I woke early to an eerie yellow light coming through the blinds and when I looked out the world was orange. Turns out the winds had brought some inland desert dust from the centre of Australia and dumped it over town. It was bizarre and felt sort of apocalyptic.
This is not my photo, it shows the pool at North Sydney with the Harbour Bridge behind. Such a beautiful town my city, even in orange!
Amy (badskirt) has set up a great Flickr pool with more great photos.

sashiko

2009-09-22T10:49:00.001+10:00

A while ago I stumbled across some beautiful pictures of Sashiko embroidery and was immediately smitten. It's partly the colours, I love navy and white together. I love the graphic quality of the stitching and I love the geometric patterns.
The fact that you can buy panels with the stitches outlined seemed like a good idea for an embroidery newbie like me too. I bought a cushion panel in the Petal design and though you can see I haven't made a huge amount of progress I am enjoying it.

Mine came from kimonomono. I see she hasn't any navy panels at the moment, but you can buy panels and supplies here and here too, Purlbee has a great sashiko tutorial too. This second image is taken from Etsy store handyhandscorner. I love the colours of this purse and can't wait till I've got the hang of it and I can freestyle like this.

* Thanks so much to Ellen from TheLongThread for featuring my red Filigree tea towel on her Etsy Finds Friday post last week. If you haven't seen it her great blog is a fantatic resource for crafty tutorials amongst other things.

heaven

2009-09-17T13:43:00.014+10:00

I've spoken about my friend Melissa Wastney and her beautiful work before, most recently in my post on embroidery love. I just adore her beautiful blog tinyhappy and the work she creates. Of course I'm not alone, Melissa's amazingly creative eye and authentic, simple and observant life as documented on her blog, and the way she expresses it through her beautiful work, are much admired.
And she is the sweetest person too, but you knew that :-)

A while ago we decided to make a swap and recently our parcels passed over the sea somewhere between Australia and New Zealand. Melissa posted a lovely piece about the parcel I sent, and promptly whipped up a fantastic pillow with the barkcloth I have been hoarding for nearly a year! I'm good at stash but she has inspired me to start sewing.

Yesterday I arrived home to an exciting brown paper parcel in my letterbox.
I opened it and Wow!
Look at all the beautiful things she has sent me. I am so very very spoilt.
And you know what. Her pieces are even more beautiful in person, if that is possible.
I'll stop talking now and just show you the pictures.
You can see for yourself what beautiful gifts she's sent me.

The funniest thing is that I was wearing a necklace I made last year at my daughter's art party whose colours matched the Marimekko bag that Melissa sent exactly (see above).
The jasmine embroidery purse is something I've admired before, I think its so clever how she's shown the colour gradation in the flower buds.
And the brooch is just perfect, I'm wearing it today and loving it.
Thank you Melissa :-)

margaret olley

2009-09-16T10:50:00.010+10:00

Heather Moore has posted a picture of my favourite Morandi painting on her Skinny Laminx blog today, following up on her post about this painter yesterday (I sent her the link after reading her wonderful post). Coincidentally the Morandi painting, held in our local Art Gallery of NSW, is one of many bought with a bequest from the wonderful Margaret Olley, herself one of our finest Australian painters, and someone who I've been meaning to post about for ages.
Now in her eighties, Margaret is best known for her still lives. A recent exhibition though, which I visited in May, featured her landscapes in watercolour, pen and ink, done over many years and many from travels around the world.

I've had the pleasure of meeting Margaret and she is an inspiration. She is wonderfully talented, clever and funny. Her sense of colour, shape and composition are beautiful and her long career is an inspiration to all artists.

Disappointingly I can't find a good copy of this self portrait online. It is one of my favourite paintings of hers and I love how contemporary it feels despite being painted in 1948.

p.s. The lovely Mary Beth from Supafine who writes for True Up emailled me a while ago about using my one of my stash photos in her Show us your Stash column. You can see it today on True Up, that wonderful fabric resource for all us addicts! If you haven't read it, go and have a look.

purple

2009-09-14T13:31:00.004+10:00

My new camera (finally) arrived Friday afternoon! It is fantastic, I love it already though I haven't really had a proper chance to explore it yet.

Oh and thank you everyone for your lovely words about my camera tribulations. I've loved all your wonderful comments.

The D90 has a very satisfying feel, straight away it is more comfortable to hold than the D50 and some of the basic controls have been improved. For example there is a special setting for taking photos without flash. I take most of my photos on automatic in natural light so I'm loving that. The screen on the back is much larger and much improved. And it has the capacity to take video! Our other digital camera does that but I'm looking forward to experimenting with SLR quality video. I'm already thinking what would be fun to post here...

I've quickly rushed a couple of product shots so I can list my new tea towels. Some of you might recognise the new Purple Blossom tea towel from the parcel I sent Melissa last week! If you haven't seen her lovely post and the cushion she whipped up from the barkcloth I sent her, then go and have a peek on her tinyhappy blog. She's so creative!

In other purple news, labradoodle Pippie has a new collar. She doesn't really like having her photo taken, can you tell?

teal towels

2009-09-10T11:34:00.006+10:00

To be honest, it was a communication breakdown that led to this new teal colourway in the Chrysanthemum and Filigree tea towels, but I like to think of it as a happy accident! What were meant to be aqua blue prints came back as this wonderful, classy teal colour. (I have a few other new colours but until my new camera is up and running I'm not going to list them.)
This picture is made quickly on my scanner just because I can't wait any longer to share them. Apologies for the quality. The colour isn't quite right, it's slightly greener than this.
What do you think? I'm starting to love it! I think its a great addition to the range. A sort of deeper turquoise colour that we are all loving so much at the moment.

There are quite a few other things too I want to share when I get the new camera not just the new colours, adventures in embroidery, spring springing in the garden, a simple crafty trick I've just discovered...
And I will be having a giveaway. So come back soon!

change

2009-09-09T14:18:00.002+10:00

flotsam, originally uploaded by flowerpress.

Well I did it! I finally bit the bullet and bought a new camera.
I'm buying it online so I don't have it in my hands yet, but hopefully it will come this week.
In the end I decided to keep my old lenses and just (!) buy a new body, a Nikon D90 DSLR. It feels very indulgent but the old camera was going to cost a third of the price of a new camera to fix.
I'm going to miss the old D50. I was uploading some old pictures to Flickr today and I can see improvements in my photography over time. I've learnt a lot by just shooting so many photos. That poor old camera has been dragged all over the place.
Here's an early shot. Some flotsam and jetsam from the beach, taken balancing on a kitchen chair, at the funny little beach house we stay at down south. I love the way photos hold memories so safe. I can nearly always remember when and where they were taken, what was happening, and sometimes how I felt. Magic.

symphony

2009-08-31T20:51:00.006+10:00

To Live Simply

To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury; and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable; and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden, and unconscious to grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony.

William Henry Channing 1810-1884

I came across this quote the other day, and felt immediately that it captures something of my personal philosophy, and what I admire in others. Of course I bear some things grumpily, and talk loudly often! but I like the idea of appreciating the small parts of life and doing things elegantly with limited resources, learning from wiser people and those of pure heart. And I love the bit about being worthy, not respectable :-)

I am without camera still while I dither over buying a new one, so this is a photo from my flickr, taken on my sister in law's bush block where the wildflowers are often exquisite, but tiny, so you have to slow down and look out for them.