New Spotty

This arvo my buddy Bec and I braved the opening day crowds and went to the Franky Spotty opening. Nothing remarkable, just a big Spotlight in a big ugly concrete shopping centre. I didn’t buy much, just a fascinator hair comb kit to make for a Cup Day gathering (aka “Hat Day”) and some embroidery floss. As we had a 4 year old in tow, I didn’t get a chance to look at the fabric section, but it’s nice to have a big store nearby. Yes peeps, I now live about 3 minutes (by car) from Spotlight. Curly Pops are you jealous? ahhahah.

[The image above is the car park that used to be across the road from the old Frankytown Spotty.]

Unsolicited Plug-gage

Hurrah and hooray and a happy dance! The new Rebound diaries are available for purchase. I got me sticky mitts on ‘Tommy Goes to the Doctor’ but there’s lots of goodness there. (Mine’s at the bottom right of this pic.) Little Golden Books and recycled and such…etc…etc…’The Shy Little Kitten’ and ‘Tootle’ and ‘Scruffy the Tugboat’ were also begging me to buy them…but maybe you should? Whooopeee!

Want to make…

this pattern. From Duckcloth.

Aprony goodness!

You can never have too many aprons…look at this beauty:

One of my favourite prints ever! Aprons by Jessie Steele, available here.

Scratch my name on your arm with a fountain pen

Ah yes, it’s dangerous.  What’s that? Me buying more than one of anything…because yesterday at the oppy I found this:

I also left a similar portable Brother on the shelf (it was not particularly pretty or remarkable) but now I’ve got the bug, ooh, now I’m thinking about it.  Bad me. I can’t can’t can’t collect typewriters, no, I don’t have the room for them. No.

I need some carnations to put next to mine.

Original instructions, yay! And not a trace of "engrish".

This was in the case, I’m guessing this was the typewriter’s maiden voyage with it’s new owner.  I’d love to see Mieke and her pets!

Alas, the case is most unappealing:

Anyway, now I’m trying to find out more about Flying Fish typewriters, so far to no avail.  The fab Will* put this link on the Yahoo group , but I can’t find anything else out there about them.  However I think it’s worth buying for the name alone!  And it types a treat.

*see last typewriter post

New book

The blog this week is indeed reading like a shopping litany, but I wanted to show you this book I picked up yesterday as I was wandering around the shopping centre. I had gone up there in search of a ball of Vintage Hues wool and a Starbucks coffee (I am somewhat ashamed to admit that I like their coffee – with a shot of mint).

Anyway, the book. $9.95 at A&R, and a lovely volume it is too.  ‘How to Sew’ by Nicki Trench, which does sound rather basic, I know, but the book is full of lovely patterns that look easy to make.  Gotta love that.  Here’s a little sample:

Easy pattern templates:

Nice:

And a nice intro on sewing:

A great pressie for a crafty type!  Sorry the pics aren’t very good, the light in here is crappy…click on the pics to see a decent size.  (I can’t work out how to make the picture size within a post bigger on typepad, so if anyone knows, please explain?)

New stuff

"I like shopping and going for a walk with my dog" and "11 kinds of stamps for enjoying the nature" :

bought from Zakkaya at the design fair.

Coveting

…which I know isn’t a good thing, but…
I was reading The Lark’s blog, and noticed a mention of Ladybirdprints.com. I do think the old Ladybird books are gorgeous, but they’re not really the sort of thing I’d have ever thought I’d wanted on my wall. Until I saw this book that is:

I want this on my wall:

And there’s heaps more, of distributors, oil pumps, shock absorbers, etc. Hurrah!

Of course, this one also had obvious appeal:

Coveting

…which I know isn’t a good thing, but…
I was reading The Lark’s blog, and noticed a mention of Ladybirdprints.com. I do think the old Ladybird books are gorgeous, but they’re not really the sort of thing I’d have ever thought I’d wanted on my wall. Until I saw this book that is:

I want this on my wall:

And there’s heaps more, of distributors, oil pumps, shock absorbers, etc. Hurrah!

Of course, this one also had obvious appeal:

On my desk this morning

Normally I do Kirsty‘s meme over at Shabby Chicken, but look what’s on my desk today! Extreme cuteness and lots of yay!

I saw a pendant on Mike’s blog the other day, and knew it had to be mine.  I don’t know who made it, but I hotfooted it (or clicked rather) over to Mike’s online store and bought one.  Oh, and another Sublime designer pattern – look at that kitty and poodle!

So when it arrived, with a nice extra pressie no less, I was a bit loathe to unwrap it, because of how gorgeous it looks!  But as I was being selfish and buying me a pressie I unwrapped it. (If you think you’ve noticed a theme here lately, you’d be right – I think I’m bolstering myself against the coming Winter blues by amassing lots of wool, books, embroidery patterns and handmade loveliness to inspire me!)  Thanks Pip, super cuteness and customer service= happy camper.

Purrrrr….