The sun will come out ... tomorrow ...

Today hopefully! I am so excited, I'm just putting finishing touches to my signs for the BrisStyle market at Hamilton today. Yes, we've had more rain this week than for a long time and our dam is 80% full and looking like reaching 100%, but at the moment it's not raining and that's a good sign.

This is my first BrisStyle market and I've been busy sewing all week. I am really looking forward to a fun day and getting to meet many of the other BrisStylers who have all worked so hard for today.

Stay tuned for photos - not too many of gumboots I hope.

Etsy Updates

Like many other BrisStylettes I have spent this weekend updating my Etsy listings to meet the requirements to apply for a space at the next BrisStyle market - a minimum of 10 listings in our Etsy store.

I haven't actually sold anything through Etsy yet, but I am enjoying being a member of the BrisStyle team and catching up with the creative goings on around Brisbane. I'm also very thankful to those that share information, like the great tip that allows you to copy your own listings on Etsy when you need to repeat the same information. That has been a great help.

I have to admit I won't be sorry when the whether cools down a bit. I'm finding it very hard to get motivated to enough to sew in the heat. I had a good start to the year with fabrics in my EBay store turning over quickly though and packing parcels is keeping me busy. I've had lots of fun bringing in new designs and keeping some special pieces aside like these owls which I've earmarked for another hat. But with time for the the first Handmade Expo for the year approaching quickly I know it's not enough just to stockpile great pieces of fabric - I will need to stop procrastinating and get moving with the sewing.

One more week of school holidays left to go here and I'll have to get creative in that area as well to make it special for my boys. My youngest starts high school this year - so a big step for all of us.

New Year's Resolutions

Late last year I set up an Etsy store The Rainbow Patch and became a member of BrisStyle a group of Brisbane crafters with amazing talents, many of which I can but aspire to.

My first NY resolution is to get more involved in 'blog world' and add to my blog every Sunday this year. Of course, I missed the very first one last week so I'm already off to a slow start, but here goes.

Today I had my first market for the year back at Mount Tamborine. It's a beautiful area on the Gold Coast hinterland and I've been doing the monthly craft market there since October. This time of year is particularly good for hat sales, which suits me because hats are my favourite things to make. I need to buy some more hat stands though as you can see I've got them all doubled up and it's difficult to show them well.

It looks as though I've inadvertently caught onto something big with my latest items - the Rainbow Patch bib. I thought I'd use up some some of my many scraps and make some great eye-catching 'I Spy' type bibs in the process. These have also been fun to make and no two are the same. The one in the photo is done using a variety of animal prints. I've just spotted Robyn's great blog over at Daisy Quilts where she's done a tutorial on making string blocks.

I've also found there's a challenge on at Loft Creations which I'll have to have a closer look at. I'd been wondering about other ways I could use up some of those many bits and pieces I have left from my fabric range. My personal challenge is to make 4 charity quilts this year - one a term. The quilting group I attend make them for a local domestic violence unit - with the hope that all the children who find themselves there will leave with a quilt made with love.

I also have another 3 grandchildren arriving this year, one due in March, the second in May and the third in July. I expect I'll be kept busy making things to welcome those lovely little bundles as well.

Late last year I participated in a Christmas ornament swap that I also found through Daisy Quilts. I swapped with another blogger Helen It was my first swap and Helen was quite a seasoned swapper. It surprised me how special it felt to receive her lovely decoration in the mail. I must do more of this.

Well this is blog #1 for 2010 - 51 more to go. Now to go and be inspired by the many wonderful things others are doing in craftworld.

Christmas is coming

A busy few weeks coming up now, with markets every weekend for a while. Next Sunday the 8th I'll be at Tamborine, the 15th at a fundraiser for the McIntyre Centre (a horse riding centre for people with a disability) and then 21st at The Handmade Expo. So the race is on the get plenty of great things made for each of them. I've just got in a lot of cute fairy fabrics as well as bug and insect designs in stock so the hats, travel pillows and seatbelt pads will be flying.

I've also just joined a Christmas ornament swap over at Daisy Quilts I have to admit I've never actually made a Christmas ornament before, but they have lots of great ideas over there, so I'll just have! to make a trip to Spotlight for some great Christmassy fabric.

Like most crafters I find there are never enough hours in a day - or space in the workroom. I've now taken over the garage and the car is to be parked in the driveway. A bit of a spring clean and it has actually come up well - at least there's room for expansion - as well as room to move!

A bigger than busy few weeks coming up, I've got the Brookfield Country Market on Saturday, heading down to Tassie on Sunday to catch up with no 1 grandson Josiah (the only grandson so far) and his lovely mum who has been busy designing patterns for our great new fabrics. Then I get back to Brissie the day before the next Handmade Expo on 26 Sept. Have started stocking up though for the markets and made lots of lovely hats recently. Now, if I can just work out how to post a photo?

A new blogger

I've finally done it, after months of watching other great crafty people write about their inspiration and share their crafts, I've managed to add myself to this forum. I'm hoping that before long I can work out the ins and outs and start sharing with likeminded crafters and publishing updates on a day in the life of The Rainbow Patch. I'm currently working on developing a new web site, so that will be a work in progress to watch. Now I'm off to start adding some of those lovely crafters I've been watching.