You must forgive the quiet going on here recently. Those of you who follow this site/facebook/twitter would’ve been aware I was pregnant. Well, not no more! For a shorter version of the tale with less gory detail and more humour and profanity, have a read of Casey’s re-enactment. Otherwise, here’s the tale in all its [...]
After years of dreaming, planning and saving money I went back to school last year. I’ve found a course that combines my nerdiness with my love for textiles: I’m now on my way to becoming a textile engineer! One semester down, this far we’ve had courses in knitting and weaving (and lots and lots of [...]
As you’ve probably noticed by now I’m a sucker for big projects. So I just had to make another one. One more Super Mario Bros 3 map, world 2 this time. Size: 59 x 18 cm on 21 count Aida. It took just under nine months to finish (although I did mix it up with [...]

Hear ye all ye westside crafters!
My awesome clever friend Jo is running a series of FREE craft workshops in Braybrook, yes, Braybrook! I know! Exciting!
You should come. And bring your friends.
Hooray!
With an expanding family it was time to make some tough decisions about space in our house. I made the big call and offered to hand over my craft room to be the new guest room. Then the existing guest room (which adjoins Tara’s room) can become Tara’s new big girls room.
It was [...]
Some pics from Craftwerk 2.0, the exhibition in Jönköping, Sweden, where Kakariki and I participate. The exhibition was amazing and I could not stop smiling as I walked through. Lovely to see all these things that I’ve seen only on pictures in real life. Anyone near Jönköping should go see it, not to mention all [...]

I often talk about the under-appreciated art that lies to waste in the op shops and thrift shops of the world. Beautiful work that took many many hours to complete, lies discarded, undervalued and dismissed as ‘just craft’.
Hey all you Wellington peeps, check THIS out!
That has to be the coolest name for a craft show ever I reckon. If you go along, let us know what it was like! Especially the workshops, they look ACE!
The text says “You are not alone”. Sounds comforting, right?
Well, look closer…

I made this tea cozy the other day, with a little help from the internet for tutorials and my cousin for some of the materials.
This is probably going to be my least safe for work post ever, so if you’re looking at this at work. Make sure you’re the IT guy, or the boss – unless you’re a primary school principal…
So last night the Craft Cartel hosted the second Trashbag Rehab – craft workshops for people overdosed on [...]
I went to Sunshine yesterday. Or as I call it ‘the suburb that should be done for false advertising’. It’s named after the Sunshine tractors that used to be made there. Sadly, visiting is normally a dreary experience. But it’s always full of surprises so I do keep getting drawn back again.
The best [...]

Anyone who’s ever rented a place will know how hard it is to get your landlord to fix something when it’s broken. Unless you have a dream landlord – or your landlord lives with you – it can take bloody ages.

I love, love, love it when people send me photos of finished stitches done from my patterns. And I was super excited to get this email from Christy after reading the brilliant story about who the stitch is for:
And of course titling a post as such causes the interwebs to hate me right back and trash my post. Sigh..
I wrote this great thing about how cool cross stitchers are ’cause we’re down with our roots and are ace at subverting traditional design, exhibit a, Kate Westerholt. Then I talked about how [...]
Hooray it’s Episode #9 of the Craft Cartel podcast, and we talk to Faythe Levine about her brand new documentary film “Handmade Nation”


Craft Cartel Podast Episode #9 09.03.25:
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Welcome to all our visitors from The Age! Please come on in, grab a cup of tea and make yourself at home. It is lovely to meet you
For you other visitors who rambled in from elsewhere, welcome too! And you might wanna look at the article ’cause it’s got lots of great people [...]
Since craft is totally the new black and recession chic is all the rage, everywhere you turn these days there seems to be a story about craft and how it’s practitioners are saving the world.
And we’ve been in some of them, yay!
Here’s an article that was in the Sunday magazine in last weekend’s Herald Sun, [...]