Nature Designs Scarves, Part 2

Here is a small selection of the lovely shibori scarves on display at the Logan Art Gallery. See my previous post for more information.


This is Jane Simpkins, photographer and Beatrice Jackson, weaver and dyer.

And don't tell my husband but I couldn't resist buying this little number, "Tillandsias", for myself. I really didn't need another scarf but Beatrice has cleverly chosen light fibres for our mild winters. The colours are so mine and I figure supporting other artisans is all good karma, right?



Now I have to patiently wait until the exhibition is over before I can enjoy my gorgeous hand-woven scarf.

Nature Designs Scarves

I was tired and I did manage to get lost but the trip to Beatrice Jackson's gallery opening last Friday night made it all worthwhile.  I have seen examples of her beautiful work before but this current "Influenced by Nature" exhibition is breath-taking and truly inspiring.



Each one-of-a-kind creation is hand-woven by Beatrice and then shibori-dyed to replicate its natural influence. The photographs were taken by Jane Simpkins who also happens to be Beatrice's daughter. This is a photo of a Scribby Gum.  The Scribbly is a type of eucalyptus tree that has distinctive brownish 'scribbles', made by the larvae of the tiny scribbly moth.



The corresponding scarf above has been woven, dyed and then hand-stitched.



Excuse my reflection in Jane's photo of the heliconia; the spotlight on it made it impossible to take a good shot. Don't you just love the colours of the beautiful scarf it has influenced?



The exhibition is on until May 23rd at Logan Art Gallery, just south of Brisbane.

Peacocks for Thea

I really needed a new day bag (who doesn't) and the lovely Alyssa of Lyssy May rushed this great denim messenger bag to me in time for the Stitches and Craft Show.  For this bag, the design has been hand-printed on the reverse side of the denim for the contrasting flap and the internal pocket.

I will be showing it off my new bag at Stand 156 as I am proud to have collaborated on this project with Lyssy May by designing and screen-printing the fabric; exclusively available only in the form of envy-worthy Lyssy May bags. See the new winter collection here.

Please note: that my bag was custom-made to be a little wider than the one available on the Lyssy May shopping site. You too can have bags customised. Try and do that through your local department store.  Contact Lyssy May.

Craft Kits

The Brisbane Stitches and Craft Show opens tomorrow - or should I say today! After weeks of preparations (and I'm still going) I think I am more or less ready. Unfortunately, I have forgotten a couple of things so will need to drive to my studio in the morning before the show but fortunately, the Brisbane show opens an hour later than the previous show at 10.00 am daily.

My mobile phone charger has also gone missing so if anybody has tried to call me today, you will know why I haven't responded. I will have to try and buy another one in the morning. Don't you just hate how every phone needs a different type of charger? I do.

Back to the show, on offer at the Thea & Sami stand are hand-printed fabrics and lovely tea-towels for Mother's Day gifts. New products include the "Loads of Fishes" craft packs and the "Mushrooms" hemp/organic cotton canvas fabric pack which also includes instructions to make the tote bag.

I had the pack covers and instructions professionally photo-copied and I love how well they turned out. In my rush, it was inevitable that something would be forgotten as I was still finishing off the file for the mushrooms pack this morning. I have omitted the finished size of the bag - it is 32 x 42 cm. The fabric is a generous 100 cm x 46 cm so can be used for other projects too.



The Mushrooms pack will be available in 2 colours - red on natural or brown on latte, see earlier post. The new finished size is longer than our previous sample. Don't worry if you can't sew as we will have some ready-made too. I will be listing these products on our website next week after the show. Otherwise, you can email me to enquire.

I have picked up the Show programme today and I can tell you that one day at the show will not be enough! There is entertainment galore including on-stage interviews with some of the exhibitors including Kelley and Kate of Peppermint Mag, the lovely girls from Ink & Spindle and yours truly. My interview is about the business and there is one scheduled for Wednesday at 2.00 pm and another on Sunday at 1.15 pm. I better look at those interview questions now.



Are you coming to the Stitches and Craft Show?

Get On Board

I wasn't productive at all today but that's okay as I really needed to recharge my batteries after an exhausting week. So hubby and I went to the cinema this afternoon. Now, I don't usually blog about movies but I felt that I had to share this gem with you. 'The Boat That Rocked' is one of the BEST movies I have ever seen.

In the late 1960s, American radio stations blasted rock and roll 24 hours a day but in the UK, only the BBC could legally broadcast music and played less than 2 hours of rock and roll every week. The only way 25 million people could hear their music was to tune in to a pirate station on a boat anchored outside British waters.

Hosted by a colourful band of disc-jockeys, the boat soon gains an audience of millions and angers the government in the process who tries to shut them down.

If you want to see a clever feel-good British comedy, I recommend this one.

My New Toy

I never knew I would be so excited about an EFTPOS terminal but I am. This was delivered to our studio today and I had fun playing with it. Put immediately to work, two telelphone bookings were taken today for screen-printing workshops. I didn't even have the chance to post the new dates but the 23rd May class is now fully booked. Two alternate dates are now on the website for May.

So don't fret about running out of cash at the Show or lining up at the ATM, come and buy hand-printed fabrics and goodies at the Thea & Sami Stand (156). We will take your debit or credit cards with glee :)

And you've got to love the Blogging creative community. Kisses and a BIG thank you go to the lovely Shannon of My Girl who has volunteered to help at our stand next Friday and to model at the Lady Beetle Breakfast.

Something Fishy Going On

I love fish! I designed and screen-printed "Loads of Fishes" for the Brisbane Stitches and Craft Show and Emily our resident sewing guru came up with ideas of what to do with these guys.


The linen/cotton blend is ideal for whipping up a pencil case.



How much fun are these stuffed fish? Available in 3 colourways, each craft panel will include Emily's easy-to-follow sewing instructions for making up your own.  We have hung ours up but you could also display them in a basket.
 


I'm thinking that you can even use our craft panel as a cushion front. Road-testing these at the Show will determine their future so come and save the salmon and gold fish at the Thea & Sami Stand 156!

Dinner with The Governor

Look at what I received in the mail today! A formal invitation to dine with our State Governor, Her Excellency Ms. Penelope Wensley AO, at Government House next month. The dinner is to celebrate Queensland Excellence in Design. I don't know the how or why but I am really excited about this. My husband couldn't understand why he was only referred as "and Partner". Who cares? He should be grateful that he was invited at all, right?

Now I have to worry about what to wear. Eek!

Did anybody else get one of these invitations? Let me know.

Coffee, Cake and Blooms

I love Anna Bartlett's whimsical art! I have raved about it before when I purchased one of her fabulous art bags as a Christmas gift for my sister.

I was so excited to print these linen tea-towels for Anna last week and now I can show you. The top design is "Coffee and Cake" in lilac and the other is "Bloom" in spring green.


Remember how I told you that I love teaching screen-printing workshops because of the cool people I meet? Well Anna is another prime example and while I sometimes do screen-print for other people, I confess I can only print things I really like. Am I bad?

To see more of Anna's wonderful art and for information on how to purchase visit Shiny Happy Thoughts.

Down in the Woods Today

How exquisite is this woodland elf doll? The creator is the talented Wilma Simmons of Empress Wu Designs who was the winner of our Blog giveaway a little while ago.  I am amazed at what she has achieved with a 1/4 metre of our brown Mushrooms linen fabric.  And how lovely is the photography of the doll in her natural enrivonment?



The pattern used for the doll was adapted from Jacquie Lecuyer’s pattern “Uma”.



But wait, there's more. Wilma also made these adorable Matryoshka dolls from the rest of the Mushrooms fabric. These little beauties are available for sale through the Empress Wu Etsy Store.

Lady Beetle Breakfast

What a lovely way to start the day. I LOVE going to the Artisan champagne breakfasts and always for a good cause. 

If you are in Brisbane, please keep free the morning of Tuesday, 5th May and bring your mum or friends along to support the Royal Brisbane Childrens' Hospital which will benefit from proceeds raised. The Mart store is the best place in Brisbane for finding those unique, hand-made gifts for special mothers.

The event runs from 7:30-9:30 am at Artisan, located at 381 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley. Tickets are $20 and profits from entry fees and 10% of proceeds from (m)art & Electric Boy sales at the event will be donated to the Royal Children's Hospital Foundation. RSVP essential by Thursday 30 April 2009

To RSVP and pay in advance, please contact Shannon McCaskill on 07 3215 0800 or email: info[at]artisan[dot]org[dot]

Thea & Sami are proud to be showing our limited-collection of hand-printed organic fashions on the runway. 



Other featured designers include:
So in Design - Reversible Skirts
Electric Boy - kids' t-shirts
Various jewellery designers from the Mart store and
Jess Dabro who made this adorable "Sea Creature".

 

Lucky door prizes have been donated by the designers plus other sponsors.

Does anybody want to model on the morning? It's all very friendly and casual and I am looking for a model who is a size 8, 10 or 14.  I will pay for your ticket and you will get a scrumptious champagne breakfast while mingling with other artisans and lovely mothers.  Please email Thea.

Craft Labs

This is one of the vintage armchairs that I scored off ebay for $20 and keep at our Capalaba studio. Why is it here you ask? I have yearned for the longest time to cover it in one of our lovely hand-printed fabrics and was hoping to learn upholstery at the Brisbane Stitches and Craft Show. Realistically, I probably won't have the time but you lucky visitors should take advantage of all the amazing opportunities to learn new skills such as crochet, knitting, beading and fabric dyeing to name a few.



Some workshops incur a small fee for materials but there are free demos on offer too. I will be conducting daily demonstrations on how to screen-print your own 2-colour designs on fabric for personalised projects. Simply turn at the Learning Centre at least 5 minutes prior to each session. The times are as follows:

Studio 1 -Wednesday 1.00pm
Studio 1 -Thursday 12.30pm
Studio 1 -Friday 12.30pm
Studio 1 -Saturday 2.30pm
Studio 1 -Sunday 12.00pm



And so that you can go home and get printing, we will have small screens and squeegies available for purchase at our stand 156. If you look closely at the photo you will notice some printed fish fabric in the background but that is a story for another day so stay tuned.

Visit the Craft Labs and Studio page for the full programme at the Learning Centre.

Sewing Mamas = Cool Kids

Fresh Pets and Bones all printed today on organic cotton jersey. This soft fabric is fabulous for sewing your own cool kids' t-shirts, sleepwear or little dresses. What do you think about the coordinating white on black and black on eco-white? The eco-white jersey is hydrogen-bleached which is a much kinder treatment for the environment than chlorine bleaches. We may also print this design on our organic cotton/spandex jersey which would be ideal for leggings.

Also printed with purple ink on the green organic cotton jersey. The inks we use are from the Permaset Aqua range and are water-based and solvent-free. These fabrics will be listed soon on the Thea & Sami on-line store.



Any feedback is appreciated and these new designs will be making their debut next week at the Brisbane Stitches and Craft Show.

Our Cutest Fabric Ever

Today was an exciting day because we had new screens to play with. My goal was to have new fabrics for the Brisbane Stitches and Craft Show and am happy to show off our new kids' design "Pets and Bones". The design is a collaboration between graphic designer Liz Christiansen and myself. Liz drew the adorable cat and dog motifs and I tossed them into a pattern that may be used in any direction.



We printed these on coloured cotton fabrics that I have had in my studio for a while so they are limited-edition runs just for the show. I have to point out that the ink colours are not showing correctly in these photos. The blue fabric has a chocolate print and the lime one has a striking purple print.

We will also be printing the designs on our organic fabrics, including soft jerseys, for sale at the show and through our on-line store once time permits. We are working around the clock to get ready for the show so please keep checking our blog for updates.



The best thing about teaching screen-printing workshops is that I get to meet wonderful, creative Brisbanites. This is the lovely, talented Liz, who I met last year when she brought her husband, sister and niece along to screen-print one Saturday afternoon. You may also remember my post about her son, cutie-patootie Rocco.



If you would like any design or illustration work done, please email Liz Christiansen at liz[at]neonelastic[dot]com