Batty Christmas

Madeline McGregor helped me out in the homewares department at the Young Designers' Markets on Sunday.  Aka Maddy, she is a fabulous textile designer who lived and studied in Wellington, New Zealand before crossing the Tasman Sea to live in the sunshine.  Although lately, Brisbane hasn't been so sunny.  Thank you to all who braved a very hot and humid day to visit us.

Maddy has been assisting in the Thea & Sami Studio weekly in return for studio time to create her own line of fun products.  Fascinated and inspired by the colony of Fruit Bats that live in New Farm Park in her neighbourhood, Maddy came up with the idea of the "Christmas Bats" that made their debut at the markets.

Also known as Flying Foxes in Australia, they are non-existent in NZ leading me to wonder if they don't like kiwifruit?  Regardless, these proved to be quite popular and are available in 3 varieties and in a rainbow of colours.  

Christmas Bats can be hung on your Christmas tree, bat-style or in your windows all year round.  At the markets, the bats were hanging off a mini-Christmas tree near our organic lavender products which led many to believe that they too were lavender-filled as the aroma was so strong.  Sweet-smelling bats - an idea for a future range?

This "rose" coloured bat was my Christmas present from Maddy.  He is so cute and is screen-printed on natural linen and filled with padding.  He has festive sequins for eyes.  I will get some more photographed later this week and you will be able to buy one or more on-line from Thea & Sami.

Organic Lavender Products

In fitting with the whole environmental and organic philosophy, I wanted to come up with products which enabled us to use up the remnants of printed organic fabrics we had left after cutting our garments to avoid wastage.

Thea & Sami now have these beautiful lavender filled products available on-line such as the eye pillow and the trio of lavender sachets tied with hemp twine.  They are filled with pure dried lavender, sourced from an Australian farm in Victoria that adopts organic farming methods.  Lavender is a hardy plant that is naturally drought-resistant and grows without chemical pesticides or herbicides. Harvesting is done by traditional hand methods. I only wish that you could smell how good these are! They are very destressing.

I have also researched biodegradable packaging which is not the same as degradable packaging. Some plastics can be degradable but release chemicals as they breakdown into the soil. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that cellophane is not plastic but celloluse, made from trees that are farmed and are sustainably harvested for this purpose. Cellophane is 100% biodegradable and can be safely used in your compost heap so I have chosen it as packaging our lavender products.

I will be listing a surprise soon so please start leaving your comments as I will be giving away one of our new products on December 10th.  Anyone who leaves a comment will be going into the draw.

Keep checking this blog for more information on the giveaway.