Waste Not, Want Not

I love decluttering and really wish I had more time to do so. Following the success of our Scrap Packs at our recent Open Studio, we have packed and packed several more. Many of these off-cuts are discontinued prints. They are now available for purchase in our on-line store now and more will be added as required. I will also have them on hand at the next Young Designers Market at Brisbane's Southbank next Sunday.

These scraps are ideal for small projects such as covered buttons, magnets, brooches and appliqué work.

Stay posted for more fabric packs and new Thea & Sami stockists.

Who's That Girl?

My parents were leggings and now I'm a groovy head band.

Don't you just love it when you can save your fabric off-cuts? I have been packing ours into fabric and scrap packs which are popular with crafty types but not so easy to do with the jersey pieces. The head band was my contribution for the goody bags at last week's ABCD (Artists+Bloggers+Crafters+Designers) meet-up. I wanted something original that represented our work. The head bands were a hit and I have now listed them here in the Thea & Sami on-line store. Great stocking fillers, don't you think?

I was very impressed with the number of goodies that were upcycled from other crafters & designers present at the event. For images of the event and of the items, visit Bondville or Udessi. Steph from Bondville and Kim from Udessi always organise these great meet-ups and I am already looking forward to the February one.

Thank you to Curlyhead aka Eleni Papadatos for being my gracious if, at times, reluctant model. Eleni is leaving for Africa for 6 weeks next Monday so we wish her a Bon Voyage and safe journey. I was a little panicked about being left alone but my little possum is coming home from Melbourne soon so will be helping me print (snaps for Elessa).

Pop Art Girl Dries Dishes

Pop Art Girl is back! She used to be seen about town on art skirts but now she is back to help you with the dishes. Printed on natural linen tea-towels and easy to ship to friends near and far. Purchase towel from our on-line store.

Also available now is the new Spoon & Whisk print on natural linen or hemp/organic cotton tea-towels.

Delicious Runners

New table runners have been added to our collection. The runners have been quite popular and make the ideal Christmas gift. What I like about them is that they suit and fit just about any table. It doesn't matter if they are shorter or longer than the table. I keep one on my coffee table.

The new Spoon and Whisk table runner is printed on a lovely weight of hemp/organic cotton fabric. The organic cotton really makes this fabric soft. The runner is available in Really Red, Burnt Orange or Cocoa Bean. Or you could make your own home-wares, curtains, aprons etc by purchasing the fabric here. Available in 1/4 metre minimums.

As you can see, we have been using up the red ink lately. The mushrooms runner is printed on natural linen and would brighten up any table. Also available in a brown colourway and as a fabric.

Don't forget that shipping is always free for Australian buyers on any purchase in the Thea & Sami online store. International buyers will be notified of extra postage costs, usually only a little more after Aussie sales taxes are deducted from your order.

I'm off to another busy day today. I am attending the Artists Talk at Artisan this morning and am especially looking forward to the Brisbane ABCD meet up tonight. I have to finish making my contribution for the goody bags. Sorry that I can't show you what that is yet but it is a surprise for the recipients.

The highlight of my day may be my much-needed facial this afternoon. Are you doing anything special today?

Cutie Patootie

How sweet do I look in my lovely new dress? My name is Madeleine and I am wearing my new dress made by my designer mum, Petra and featuring Thea & Sami's baby-soft "Pets and Bones" muslin fabric in lolly pink. The contrasting neck ruffle was hand-stitched by mummy too.

Thanks Madeleine!

Proud mama, Petra Jones is the talent behind Mooce Baby and was won of the winners of our new Pets & Bones hemp/organic muslin and was happy to trial the fabric. 1/2 metre was more than enough for this sweet dress. The fabric is very lightweight making it ideal for those hot summer days and can be gentle machine-washed.

If you are looking for a lovely eco-friendly fabric that is kind to sensitive skins, you can purchase some "Pets and Bones" muslin, also available in Jelly Green, through the Thea & Sami store.

Winner & Grinners

I really appreciate your comments on what colourways to print our new Spoon and Whisk fabric in. The three colourways, based on popularity will be burnt orange, red and brown. We already printed the red and brown yesterday on the hemp/organic cotton and it looks fab. I will be mixing up the burnt orange ink tomorrow to print the rest. Stay tuned.

The winner of the blog giveaway is Simone of Beach Vintage, chosen from the list of commenters using random.org. Simone will be receiving 1/2 metre of Spoon & Whisk in her colour choice. She is very creative so I am looking forward to seeing what she will do with it. Check out her blog if you haven't already. I will have more freebies for all of of my readers later this week.

Thank you to all the lovely people who came along to my Open Studio Day yesterday. The following images are some of the bloggers who were at the morning session. Click on their names to visit their blogs. Photos are courtesy of professional photographer Catherine Lowe who came along for a visit.

Melanie Gray Austin of Kimono Reincarnate and her lovely mum, Cynthia.

Esther Daley of Daley Star and Teneale Muir of Wicked Child Designs.

Emma Gascoyne of Up in Annie's Room (I'm wearing my new brooch today, thanks Emma) and Daneve Frankish of Chicuff.

My star printer and partner (see first image for seamless squeegie passing) Voyt Reich and printer-in-training Sandy De Vetre who was showing off her first fabric yardage printing handiwork.

Melissa Hoedel of Taybian Design and Miss Photography, Catherine Lowe of Celebrations Studio and her perfect accessory, baby River.

Next Open Studio will probably be in February and I will be planning some Screen-Printing workshops for January.

Lick This

Lick our spoons because they are delicious!

Our Spoon & Whisk screens arrived yesterday so we wasted no time in setting them up and testing the print with red ink on white linen. Unfortunately, I have temporarily run out of hemp/organic cotton and new stock didn't arrive yesterday as expected. With preparations for the Thea & Sami Open Studio Day tomorrow, we won't be able to print the burnt orange colourway (your most popular choice) until next week now.

I also had a tea-towel screen made with the design in a larger scale; the utensils are 16 cm (6.3 inches) in height. The utensils on the fabric are smaller at 10 cm (4 inches) making the design ideal for quilting and small projects too.

Here comes the little assembly line of natural linen towels through our textile dryer, required to cure the ink. This first batch of tea-towels and the very limited-edition white linen fabric will be available for purchase at our Open Studio Day tomorrow and will be listed on the website next week. I will be adding another colourway to the tea-towels.

Clearance items at our Studio Day will include lining fabrics for $2 metre, plain organic cotton ladies and children's (size 8 - 12) t-shirts for $9 each and lots of fabric remnants and other goodies in our Bargain Box.

Don't forget that the Fabric Printing demos will be at 11.00 am and then at 1.00 pm. You have until the end of today to enter the Blog Giveaway.