And a bit more spring
Excuse my indulgence, but these are my first daffodills that I planted myself!
Aah…
Ain’t that cool?
Handmade Nation Trailer
If you haven’t already seen this, watch. And then get really excited!
I can’t wait for the doco to come out. Although, goddess knows how long it will take to get to Australia…
The thing I love the most about this trailer is the number of times people say recycled!
Oh and sorry I’m a bit quiet. I’m in a serious creative juicy squish at the mo so I’m taking advantage of it to create like a mad woman. And I’ve got a badge maker at my house!!!!!!!!
The fruits of my labour will be posted up real soon.
Planet Saving Cushion Cover
Presenting, my latest finished piece!
I got this cushion cover from a charity shop in Smith Street, Melbourne a while ago and I’ve been holding on to it for the right moment of inspiration. One day I had a polar bear moment and knew exactly what needed to be done.
I had a great time making this one because it inspired a lot of thought about environmental actions and other environment-inspired crafts. And I developed a pretty cool relationship with the bear. I love her part-sad, part-angry expression. And she’s kind of mid-step so it’s like she’s waiting for us to do something about this appalling behaviour of ours before she gets on with what she was up to.
This one took be about three weeks to complete, including a few late nights and a lot of stitching on the bus.
And I’m stoked with how it came out.
If you really, really like this and just HAVE to have it, you can find it in my Mintd store.
Tapestry against Tyranny
No that’s not a print, or a photoshop image. It’s one of the latest amazing tapestries from John Nava.
Political Fabric is comprised of a group of tapestries that seeks to record resistance to the disastrous policies of the destructive and corrupt Bush/Cheney reign. When the work on these images began the national polls measuring support of the administration were highly supportive – although then, as now, world opinion of the Bush regime was negative in the extreme.
John Nava is a tapestry artist who’s work is featured all over the world. But I haven’t seen any as political as these. Maybe they’ll come to Australia…
Spring has sprung!
And I don’t care that it’s still August!
Climate Camp: Kiwi’s represent!
I hope you’ve all been keeping up to date with the awesome actions at Heathrow for Climate Camp 07. I’d been reading updates along the way, mostly through Schnews and thinking ‘boy I wish I was there, looks like fun!’.
Well, turns out one of my old school friends was there (Facebook does have it’s uses, even if it isn’t ‘productive’). Here’s a hot pic of the kiwi contigent and their super rad banner.
Thanks for representing guys 
And those of us in the antipodes who are wanting to do something similar, there’s rumours of an aussie camp coming up in Newcastle next year some time. And there’s talk of a camp in Aotearoa too. Stay tuned for more details.
Easiest Baby Hat Ever – Tutorial
Welcome to all the visitors from Sew, Mama, Sew! I’m so honoured to be a part of such an inspirational project. I’ve already made two things and have a long list of other projects to do. Hope you find this tutorial useful
We all know that making our own things is good for the planet and our wallets but sometimes it’s a bit hard making things. So here’s a super easy one. Please just use this as a rough guide. It’s so easy you should really let your creative juices flow and come up with your own styles. Feel free to send me photos of any finished product!
I made a few baby hats recently. Actually a lot, I’ve turned into the mad hatter. So here’s a step by step on how to make a baby hat out of an old knit dress. You could use pretty much anything, as long as it’s a bit stretchy and warm.
Cut the bottom of the dress off at about 15cm. Sorry don’t have a pic of this, went and did something with the dress before I remembered to…
Cut up from the bottom about 15cm (for a 6 month old) along from the seam. Make sure the seam is exact on the edge before you cut.
Fold so the seam is on the outside and then sew up the side. Make sure you do the side first so the two ends are even where they join.
and along the top
so it makes a rectangle (ignore my wonky lines, I was experimenting)
Turn inside out.
Ta da!
Piss easy and super cute.
I’ve made a few out of polar fleece too. The difference was that I used one long piece and folded it over the top and sewed up the sides. I tucked under the bottom of the rim of the hat and sewed along there to keep it straight and tidy.
I also cut a couple of small strips and tied little bows on the corners to give the hat little ears.
I want one for me!
And recently I made one out of a crazy vintage 60s psychedelic shirt. And I make a matching scarf to go with it. I know it clashes really badly with what she’s wearing but how cute is that?
You can find that one in my Mintd Store!
Thanks for checking out this tutorial. I’d love any feedback from people making these hats on how easy the tutorial is to follow. Or if there’s any way to improve it.
One Bad Ass Patch
Sometimes when you’re friends with really cool jewish anarchist hippies and you find a cool jewishy font on the internet, you just get compelled to cross stitch.
I never got to turn it into a proper patch cause I made this before I got my sewing machine. And if I took the photo it would have been ironed first, but I’m not a boy.
Free fun
Once in a previous web incarnation I wrote:
Even having fun is political. And the most political fun stuff you can do is stuff that costs no money! Screw the GDP!
So here’s Tara having fun for free.
This is Tara in her spaceship. It’s just a box lined with a blanket and she loves it. We got the idea off mum. I reckon she spends about 30% of the day sitting in it. And it’s a waterproof box so we can take it outside and put it on the grass, even in the morning when it’s still a bit damp.
Another fun free thing we do is talk to Tara about adventures. Any time we go anywhere, it’s an adventure. A walk to the shop or a three day road trip. I know one day some authoritarian grownup is going to say to her “life’s just one big adventure to you isn’t it?”
I hope she says yes.
Indie Social Networking
Like I needed another distraction, but all you crafty kids out there should check out indiepublic. It’s a social networking site for independent art and craft designers. It’s a seriously pretty and uberfunctional site and a great way to promote the work you do.
My profile is here if anyone wants to be friends with me. And definitely looking for people to join the Melbourne and Mintd groups!