Busy Bees

I FINALLY have internet in my new home. Yay! We have other things that need fixing around here but who cares? I can start blogging again and visiting you all.

I had a lovely time at Sew-It-Together in Melbourne and as you can see, there was some serious crafting taking place. Don't ask what I did all day. I knitted, unravelled, knitted, unravelled and then knitted just a little more. I hadn't knitted in 4 years and I just couldn't get into the rhythm of it. I hope my daughter isn't reading this as she will be waiting for a while before she gets her knitted beanie with ear-flaps. Elessa, be grateful for the blender I bought you!

I was fortunate to have the vivacious Juddie of Flightless Boyds sitting at my table. She was making a toy rabbit as she is also a member of The Toy Society. They leave toys in random places around the world for a lucky recipient to find. How much fun would it be to find one of those?

My other lovely neighbour was Mary-Jane who flew all the way from New Zealand for a well-deserved break. She has 3 little girls and another baby on the way so I was happy that she won the mini-quilt sewing pack on the day.

And it was super-exciting to personally say hello to the people whose blogs I follow such as the elusive Tania of Myrtle and Eunice fame.

Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the Sew-It-Together dinner as I had a terrible headache that evening. However, the next day I had a fantastic brunch at Chimmys at Richmond with Elessa and met up with Alyssa of Lyssy May for lunch and shopping for the rest of my day. Alyssa and I are collaborating on a beautiful range of hand-printed hand-bags that will be revealed at Life Instyle in August. The samples were so perfect that I got quite teary when I saw them. It was the motivation that I needed to keep moving forward right now.

Sheridan did an amazing job of organizing this event and is planning to do it again next year in Sydney. I highly recommend going if you can. There was a lot of positive energy in the room. Thanks Sheridan!

I will be updating my website this week so stay tuned.

No Wire Hangers!

I wasn't meaning to sound like Joan Crawford but I'm so glad that my husband is no longer working in the corporate world as I hate those wire coat hangers that always come back from the dry cleaners, don't you?

However, as one who cringes at the thought of waste, the ugly wire coat hanger was my inspiration for our new linen coat hanger covers. Do you like?

These covers are very easy to make so I made up 60 craft packs today to take with me to Melbourne for the Sew It Together meetup on Saturday. The packs include the pattern, sewing instructions and different fabrics made up of mainly discontinued hand-printed pieces (not those shown). This was a great opportunity for me to declutter so it's good for everybody.

I am flying out tomorrow morning at 6.00 am so I will have to find some winter woolies to take with me as I have been warned that the weather is cold! We have been quite spoilt in sunny Brisbane with all the warm weather lately.

I apologise that I am unable to bring you Friday Follower again tomorrow but once my internet is connected (we have now applied for a wireless service), things will be back to normal.

Have a Great Weekend and I look forward to seeing some of you in Melbourne!

I Need a Break!

As an self-confessed internet addict, I always knew that the withdrawal symptons of not having internet access on-call would be brutal. I can honestly say that I feel like my hands have been cut off. The drama with Telstra Bigpond continues. Basically, I have been promised a service that is not available in my area but they have promised me a solution today (promises, promises).

We have been busy though. What I hadn't yet told you is that my husband has quit his job as a commerical real-estate agent to work with me full-time at Thea & Sami. I really do need his help! He has a strong sales background and will be the project manager for the building of our new screen-printing studio.

The thing that makes me happiest right now is that he is the BEST screen-printer. No more tears over bad and inconsistent fabric printing. When we print together, it is fabric perfection! I will be looking for another fabric printer in the future but will really be looking for someone with fabric-printing experience as I find training very time-consuming.

We have been printing more peacocks on the natural flax as seen here and also in burnt orange on the hemp/organic cotton. Very retro, don't you think?

Unfortunately, I am unable to update the website with new fabrics until my internet problems are resolved but if you are interested in any of these, please contact me directly.

And I am pleased to say that I am taking a break this weekend and flying down to Melbourne for the Sew It Together meet-up. Can't wait to meet all the other bloggers!

Fabrics and Scraps

The Thea & Sami fabric scrap packs have been popular so I have added new packs here.

There are so many things you can do with fabric scraps and this adorable fabric bowl is one great example. You will also need a clothes line for this. The tutorial is available from Craft Stylish.

For more creative ideas on using up fabric scraps, visit Crafting a Green World here and here.

New in store are the Eco-Fabric Packs. These are mixed packs of printed organic and sustainable fabrics containing larger pieces than the scrap packs. Some of the one-of-a-kind fabric mixes include discontinued prints so be quick to get your choices.

Please note, that once the item is sold, the system will not allow you to purchase it. I will be adding new packs as required and as time permits so please be patient as I'm a one-woman operation right now.

Have you heard about Sew It Together? It is an event to be held in Melbourne for the first time on May 14-15, 2010 that will bring together sewing and craft bloggers from around Australia for the first time in a purely social setting. As I will be in Melbourne for the Stitches and Craft Show (May 5-9), I thought I would stay longer to participate. We are one of the proud sponsors of the crafting session on the Saturday. Each participant will receive a special gift from Thea & Sami. It's a secret at this stage as I haven't even designed it yet but it will be craft-related.

Speaking of crafting, we are introducing new Craft Kits this year and I hope to have new products ready by February.

Just a reminder that The Fashion Sale is on-going too and I have been adding new items as others sell out. Please be keep checking for updates.