Totes mah Goats

Part of a blogger’s duty to her readers is to occasionally divulge a bit of information about her life. I’ve done that with things like what happened with Dad, birthdays and a few other bits and pieces but I feel like you should know ‘me’, know odd little things about Marni. I like to think that I am friends with my customers – whatever varying degree of friendship that may be, we are all different and that’s a good thing but we don’t have to be everybody’s BFFs and live in each others pockets.

So what I’d like to do is open up the comments below this post to you – ask me something that you’d like to know (keep it reasonable, but I will reserve the right to not answer some things), I am pretty open about most topics.

So here is a little confession of one of my many, many quirks…

I love goats. I’ve always wanted a pet goat. They just appeal to me for some unexplainable reason that seems to baffle and bemuse my friends and just quietly I think it stresses out my mother…

I am a Capricorn which may explain the initial attraction as I dabbled with all of that astrology stuff throughout high school. I love the glorious drawings and artworks that people create, showing the mystery and fairytale nature of our birth signs. So I guess I was going to head towards a goat from the start.

I even have a pinterest board dedicated to them and their cuteness.

I love their cute faces, weird eyes and cheeky nature. If I had room (read farm) I’d have a whole bunch of them along with every other animal I’ve ever wanted to own (Clydesdales, ducks, a heap of cats and maybe an Alpaca or two). People think I’m nuts because it isn’t a normal pet to own, but I don’t care.

I’ve even started to collect a few goat knick knacks.

Below is Greycliffe. I used to work at Craft Depot at Pennant Hills and one day I was taking the mail orders over to the Post Office. While I was waiting in the queue I glanced over at the sale bin they kept near the front and it was full of toys. Reached out to see what the quality was like and as I lifted the top toy off the pile, there he was. His little beardy face staring up at me and I knew he’d be coming home with me. The poor lady at the counter thought I was a bit odd as there were much cuter more normal (there’s that word again) toys in the bin and why would I want a goat one?

He now lives in my bedroom along with Koala who is my childhood toy – one given to me by my brother when my sister was born so I didn’t feel left out. I think that was the start of my koala obsession. ๐Ÿ™‚

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Then I have Gilly who lives on my craft room desk.

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Gilly is the tiniest ceramic goat I ever did lay eyes upon. She was purchased for me by my friend Ellie while we were away on our annual Stitch & Bitch Brigade’s Stitchmas in July holiday. We traveled to Blackheath for a weekend away. The group of us (9) rented a house for the weekend, ate, drank and crafted. We went into town and shopped, lunched at cafes and then stopped at the tea house where Gilly was to be discovered.

I love these weekends away with the girls – they are a mix of friends ย – Susan is my oldest and dearest friend from kindergarden, Fi, Alison, Dimity, Nicola, Jocelyn and Camille are friends of Susan’s that I’ve appropriated and Ellie was my plus one. There are more of us in the S&B Brigade (53 in total) but we don’t all go away together. I am not a part of a guild or quilting group. I’ve always been a bit of a crafting loner, the lone wolf really… I don’t crave social interaction while I’m crafting like many quilters do, it’s just not in my nature.

Anyways, along with Gilly I also purchased a small grey and white cat because… well… cats…

The last piece in my goat collection is this stamp.

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I picked this up from the craft show last year at Darling Harbour. Cecile from Unique Stitching had these in a sale bin on her stall and there just was NO way I was walking past this goat. I was only buying felt from her (lovely luscious felt) as she stocks bamboo felt which is great for me because when I want to make felties I want to use good felt. I’m allergic to wool so can’t use the really good stuff and the acrylic sheets pill and fluff up too much for a good finish on a feltie. But now that I’ve tried the bamboo that’s all I will use. It’s perfect in every way except for 2 small things – it costs a little more, but so worth it and that it doesn’t come in the large selection of colours that the acrylics do. But time will fix both of those things and I will be using it regardless.

I’d like to collect more goat things but for now these are enough. My mission at the moment is de-cluttering my life. We are drowning in stuff on this planet and it’s just not practical.

 

So ask below, what you would like to know about me, as I am the person you trust for fabrics and other quilting paraphernalia and you have the right to know who I am and what I’m all about. ๐Ÿ™‚

Marni xย 

 

Procrasti-sewing…

What is procrasti-sewing?

Procrasti-sewing is sewing that I do when I don’t want to do what I HAVE to do. Such as my BAS. Like I was doing this week.

My poor brain had a bit of a rebellious meltdown and went ‘nah we are not doing this, go do some sewing!’

So I did, mainly because one does not argue with one’s brain. Especially when said brain is in that kind of mood.

So I’ve done some sewing – I have been (slowly) piecing a custom order. It is using a large drunkards path block and I’m am happy to admit I am not the best at curved piecing, so I am cheating (not really) and using a curved master presser foot. To see it in action click here. The colours for this quilt are lemon, lime, two-tone mid green and dark emerald green. I was laying out the pieces on the table at the shop and realised that this quilt is a couple of firsts for me – a curved design and a green quilt. I mean I’ve used green but not for the whole quilt.

I have also been making Frankie’s girlfriend Bridie.

She doesn’t look like much…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She really was a bit of a mess this morning but she is starting to look the part. I’ll finish her tomorrow after my new (shiny) toy arrives in the morning. I am SO excited. I will post pictures so you can all admire it with me.

Pin the fabric and trace 2 arms and 2 legs - and yes that is a monkey pencil....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This week has been a mad rush of deliveries – there was fabric arriving left, right and centre. All the images have been uploaded to Facebook – there are still some technical issues with the shopping cart here on WordPress so any orders are still going through FB, etsy and hand-made.com.au. My apologies for the dramas!

 

Anyways – I am about to have dinner, bit of a rush dinner (because there’s things that need doing) of fish and chips.

Marni

Sometimes…

I surprise myself sometimes. I make silly little toys like Frankie and the act of making something so simple and cute makes me feel better. Or at least distracts me from how I am currently feeling. Toys are good when I have quilters block or if I just don’t feel like sewing a big job but still want to do some sewing.

So on Thursday I made Frankie (his girlfriend still needs stuffing) and he made his appearance in the shop this morning. He came home with me on Thursday night because for some reason in the mornings I am not the most organised of people. I quite frequently leave things at home when I need them (coffee mug, toy fill, mobile phone). So when Frankie came home, he got stuffed (haha!) and mum stitched his head closed.

For those of you who don’t know me I am the most atrocious of hand sewers. Mum enjoys it so she gets the work. It’s not so much that I won’t do it (and believe me there are a few quilts with the bindings sewn by me that look like a drunk spider crawled across it) but I don’t like to do it. Hand-sewing is not my forte and I don’t push the issue.

So Frankie is part toy, part cushion – definitely in the spirit of Frankenstein’s monster. His girlfriend will be finished on Tuesday so I’ll upload some pics of her. Her name is Bridie.

I am going to make them up as patterns/kits so if anyone is interested please email me.

Here’s Frankie helping out at the shop today –

Frankie looking at the halloween quilt.

Helping on the till

Looking at the new fabrics - Bella Butterfly.

So this week – new stock is pending, some cute things and something for the bunting fans. Maybe even slightly Hipster. ๐Ÿ™‚

Australia Day on Thursday – please note we are closed. Any public holiday we are closed.

I have orders to fill and quilt tops to stitch. ๐Ÿ™‚ But that’s par for the course.

I am also looking at starting a swap – anyone interested please email me frankensteinsfabrics@hotmail.com – I will send you the information. It will be patchwork postcards made and sent (like to a penpal) every two months. Anyone can be involved and are more than welcome. The more the merrier.

I’m off to be now to read my book.

Marni