Love the Thornbury market

OH MY GOODNESS, the Thornbury market totally rocked today!

Yes, there were lots of people coming through, and quite a few of them buying, and that was fantastic. Whoever did the marketing for this event really knew what they were doing.

But more than that, I got to actually meet some of the crafters whom I've only known through their blogs before. It was like walking down the street of a movie set and meeting all of your favourite characters.

Curlypops and Tinniegirl were sharing a spot next to me (I ordered a lovely orange corduroy bag and admired the beautiful orange Happiness apron until a very clever person bought it), and Finki was showing her beautiful jewellery behind me.

Buttons by LouLou was just across the way - I now own some lovely navy blue polka dotted bobbypins that I coveted all day long, and I'm musing about buying a gorgeous chocolate brown brooch with a bird on it .... and Beccasauras stopped by and shared with some great op shop tips, and Hoppo Bumpo introduced me to Bargy, and Lara from Thornberry had her lovely laptop bag on ... and I'm sure I spied Taccolina and Dear Fii there for a moment as well.

And then (drum roll), then I met the High Priestess of Handbags, Nicole Mallalieu. Of You SEW, girl fame. Yes, the very same one! I nearly fainted with excitement. I may have danced a little jig.

This is the Nikki Mallalieu of the wonderful purse kits - and purse feet, people, feet, which cannot be bought anywhere in Melbourne that I know of apart from her shop - and patterns, and marvellous bias-tape-making geegaws; and we had a wonderful conversation. I am SO going to visit her shop at the first opportunity.

Honestly, if I hadn't sold a thing I'd still have been happy to be surrounded by such lovely neighbours whose blogs I read nearly every day. Okay, maybe I'd have been slightly miffed about not selling anything, but let's not worry about that.

It's so lovely to have found a crafty community, especially one which is both so geographically and philosophically close. It really has helped to bring everything to life for me.

Ahhhhhh. Hear that?

I am breathing the contented sigh of the sated admirer.

I'd like to thank the Academy ....

Well looky here! Look at this! This button to the left!

This is my first ever blog award. It comes from Andrea at A Cat of Impossible Colour, over in New Zealand. There's Andrea over on the blogroll to your right.

I am so proud. It came to her via Mervat, who has a fashion blog.

Mervat writes: "These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

Mervat and Andrea, consider your cleverly written text incorporated into the body of my award.

Andrea passed this award on to me and and one of her friends, Ally, because both of our blogs make her smile daily.

I know I should be modest about this, but I am really very happy and it's hard to contain the excitement. My blog makes someone smile! I'm so excited! Ah, little blog, you're only young - 10 weeks old - and already you're making your mark on people. Just don't bite, little blog, don't bite.

In return, I'm passing this award on to Curlypops, who I latched onto right from the start and who graciously keeps answering all of my blog-related questions, not to mention very kindly letting me know where I could have my new Flickettysplits labels made up. Yay!

And to Tinniegirl, because I love surprises and hers are delightful - plus she is the instigator of my favourite meme, Love Fridays (and I looooove Fridays, so she definitely gets the gong).

And to Kootoyoo for her My Creative Space meme, which is slowly convincing me that I really need to start tidying up more often ....

Share and share alike. Please keep reading!

Love Fridays .... and stripy cushions

As I slowly floated towards consciousness this morning, I think my first fully formed thought was: thank god it's Friday.

I love Fridays - who doesn't? - and so today I'm playing Love Fridays courtesy of Tinniegirl, as well as Hooked On, from Julia in the US. And these cushions fit in with both memes very well.

Why, you might ask?

Well, it's been a long and stressful week at work, with a new boss to adjust to, and no end of associated discoveries and revelations, each one bigger and more astonishing than the last. I'm mulling some of them over, thinking about how they affect me, but I've not made any decisions yet or really considered their impact.

But they've upended the usual sense of peace and calm I like to create around me and operate in. The sands are shifting under my feet.

I take such a sense of pleasure from symmetry in my life, you see. These two cushions here, for example. I've named them Tea In The Afternoon, and they're made from deliciously touchable coffee-coloured velvet, overlaid with individually sewn ribbons in grosgrain, braid, and satin. As you can see, the shades are all milky and chocolatey and coffee-ey. Mmm, yum. And the colour combination is soothing on its own.

Each cushion is trimmed with a different set of ribbons, but the pattern of ribbons on each cushion is symmetrical, fanning out from a single central wide black grosgrain strip. Arranging each design and sewing the ribbons on really gives me a feeling of happiness, because I can see everything in its spot, where it should be. It makes me feel calm, and serene. Like everything' organised, and perfectly placed.

I try to bring a sense of that calm into my general life as well. I have a (reasonably) neat desk at work, though it's piled high with crafty business cards and receipts and materials in amongst the papers and folders and documents. Yes it's true, I even have fabric at my Proper Work. Tragic, I know.

And at home I'd be as neat as a freakishly neat and slightly neurotic pin, if only I could convince My One True Love that he should join me in the quest for order. He is more of the "relaxed" living style, you could say. But me, even when I'm in a hotel for a single night, I unpack and lay things out neatly and hang things up and put everything into lovely, pleasing straight lines.

Life at work isn't straight at the moment. It's full of twisty-turny bends, and dead ends, and blind corners, and metaphorical assassins lurking behind doors, and it feels slightly unbalanced.

So when I get home in the evenings I'm enjoying creating straight lines and perfect symmetry, even if it's just in the tiny space contained by a cushion.

Come to the Thornbury market

Right, people. Time for some shameless advertising.

See this picture at the very top of that right'hand column? The one titled "Come To The Market"? The one advertising the Thornbury craft market? That one right there? See it?

I want you to come to the market! Support your local community. Feed a local artist. Come and finger my wares. That is, I mean, you know, pick up my pretty little things and admire them. And then hopefully buy them too!

At this market I'm going to be all stocked up with soft toys - Hoots, and Ellyfumps, and Pussycats, and I'll have some new things as well. I think a fish. And perhaps a giraffe. Maybe a dinosaur as well - we'll see how much time I can snaffle for sewing between now and then. I'm really going to have to take in my machine for a service soon before it expires with a last exhausted gasp.

Or if you don't want one of my things - crazy, I know, but possible, in an alternate universe type of situation - maybe you'll like one of Curlypops' things. She does lovely bags and other goodies.

Or perhaps one of Tinnigirl's things? She does lovely tins with surprises inside - nice ones, not nasty. And gorgeous recycled album covers filled with papery goodness on the inside. Sometimes there's nothing nicer than a little surprise, is there?

So come to the market. Support your local community! Feed a local artist!