madebymaisie

Jane Elizabeth

Jane Elizabeth creates the most beautiful handmade purses out of lovely co-ordinated fabrics. My favourites would have to be Jane's choice of liberty prints and this special one (below).

Jane and I met through very unusual circumstances (I won't go into detail here). However, may I say how happy I am to know Jane. We are two girls who want very similar things in life. Oh, and we love to sew!

You may be seeing a little bit more of Jane Elizabeth and Made by Maisie teaming up in the very near future.

You can buy Jane Elizabeth currently at Doll Face Handbag Boutique in Paddington, Brisbane.

Be careful, Miss Maisie

It was time to make some more business cards. 

I love the process of hand making my business cards.

I print them on card stock through the printer.

Draw the little heart in pink ink.

And hand stamp Miss Maisie on the back of the card using my own hand made stamp.

 

The little eyes are so delicate. Maisie, you need to be careful when cleaning the stamp.

Too late! A little eye has disappeared from Maisie's stamp.

 

So, I now have to add another single eye to every print.

 

Time consuming.

 

But, so worth it...

New Kokeshi Dolls

Quite an eventful weekend in my little sewing room. I have made several new Kokeshi Dolls which will be available in my Etsy store later this week.

Here is a sneaky peek...

The detail on Miss Kokeshi's dress is just lovely.

The little Kokeshi below, has a more traditional coloured dress combination.

The pattern and kit for these little girls will also be available soon.

Made some more yoyos.

Just about finished two custom Maisie Dolls.

Bought some more fabric for the Crunch Club Cushion Cover Challenge.

Bought some more yoyo makers.

Even went to a Tupperware party.

Big relief to send off my overdue Spring Swap parcel to the USA.

Now, just to get through winter and enjoy an Aussie Spring.

Might be soon time for a giveaway!

Thinking of Spring

It is Autumn in Brisbane. It has cooled down some. It is particularly chilly in my house which is nestled at the foot of a mountain surrounded by the cool dark rain forest. I sit here in my fleecy tracksuit pants and hoodie and wish for warmer temperatures.

I am putting the finishing touches to my Spring Swap item.

 

The challenge was to incorporate the colours of yellow and red in the theme of 'Spring'.

 

The piece is almost finished. Soon to be packed up and sent to a special recipient who lives in the USA.

 

A little fusible applique.

A little raw edge applique.

A little hand embroidery.

A lot of sweet memories of Spring.

Maisies go to the Stitches and Craft Show

On Saturday I ventured out to the Brisbane Stitches and Craft Show. I thought that I would go by myself so that I could peruse the stalls and activities at my leisure. However, little Betsy and Mei-Ling Maisie dolls insisted on coming along too.

A couple of my fellow BrisStyle girls had stalls in the incubator.

Helen from Ruby 2 Go Go had the most delicious ruby red themed stall.

 

I have never seen Helen without her smile!

 

I bought a Ruby 2 Go Go t shirt transfer. Hmm, must consider Maisie Doll t shirt transfers. Or even gocco images on shirts.

 

I had lovely chats with Christine from Little Diva.

Also met the very sweet dear fii.

I finally got the chance to see documentary Handmade Nation.

You simply must see this film. Take your friends, take your family, take your work colleagues...so they can finally understand what you are all about as a crafter. Being able to see this film was worth the admission price to the Stitches and Craft Fair, alone. So inspirational. Can't see the movie?? Buy the book!

This encouraged me to spend some time at the 'Why Don't You...Tell us your Craft Secret?' wall, reading all the serious and not so serious craft secrets.

 

My craft secret is not so secret...but I had to contribute.

I purchased some lovely Japanese fabric from Amitie for more Kokeshi Dolls.

 

Lastly, I had the pleasure of volunteering on the Mixtape stall. Justine trusted Mei-Ling, Betsy and I to sell subscriptions to her fantastic zine as well as selling lots of other nice things on her stall.

 

Fabric covered buttons/badges were very popular.

 

It was a good day all round. The little Maisies were very well behaved and very polite to all customers!

Fun times.

Thursday Crunch Club

I just love when Thursday comes around. 12.30pm on the dot, we all down tools and head to Crunch Club.

 

Helen was making Mothers Day card packs for a fundraiser at her local soccer club.

 

Esther was designing her baby quilt (baby due in August) which the members of the Crunch Club are all invited to contribute a square.

 

Jenepher working away on her needle work.

 

I was busily stitching away on my spring swap contribution.

However, last week I transferred jobs. I now don't work directly with these incredibly crafty work colleagues, but I am not too far away. Only one floor away. Still a central member of the the Crunch Club.

 

The view is amazing from my new office. But what is even more amazing than the view, is the new friend I have made.

Kirsten likes to craft. She loves to crochet.

 

A sweet little giraffe.

 

Kirsten has been welcomed into the Crunch Club.

 

And Kokeshi too, has a new friend at work.

x Catherine

Hexagons find a perfect backing

My little hexagon flowers are in need of some backing fabric. Nothing too plain, nothing too pretty. Just something with the right colour contrast and a little bit of a detailed print to give it some interest.

Thanks to Robyn at Patches Indooroopilly for your help in finding just the right fabric. Robyn taught me to quilt about 11 years ago. Her quilts are simply beautiful.

 

One rainy Easter Sunday, I cut the 49 x 7" squares required for my project.

 

I ironed, folded the fabric, lined it up square, rotary cut ... all so precisely.

 

Well, I thought that I cut it precisely. (Note the detail in the above photo. You can see the fine print on the fabric). Very sweet and delicate.

 

I finger pressed the squares to accurately place the hexagons.

 

I remove the tacking and hexagon templates, only as I am ready to pin the flower to the backing for the hand applique.

 

I have been lost on the bus and during lunch breaks with no hand sewing to do.

 

Let's see how long it takes to hand applique the 49 flowers.

Birthday card for Richard

Joining a group of friends last Saturday night to celebrate our dear friend Richard's birthday. I set about making a sweet little handmade birthday card for him.

 

Thank you to the Little Golden Book that provided the inspiration behind this one.

 

Better make a matching envelope too. Quick, whip out the sewing machine.

 

I think that Richard will like this.

 

Little did I know that my husband had bought Richard a card. All I can say is that his card choice was totally blokey and not all that innocent. I would not publish the image on this blog, ever!!!

Richard loved both his cards!

Peppermint magazine

Congratulations to all my crafty indie designer friends who have been featured in the latest issue of Peppermint magazine.

The very talented...

Bec and Jade of Beckybean - featuring one of their lovely salvaged fabric handbags

Michelle of Pedrosprout - featuring her signature baby booties

Ali of Jellygnite - featuring softies and vintage goodies

Leah of leahkl - featuring vintage chenille bunny

I heart Belle and Boo

I simply love Belle and Boo. I have been coveting many of their prints in their Etsy store for some time now. If only the Aussie dollar would recover - just a little bit more please, then I will stock up on Belle and Boo goodies. 

What a very nice surprise to just discover that I can own my very own Belle and Boo print for FREE!!! Yes, the very talented Mandy of Belle and Boo is kindly giving away a FREE print. The print is called 'Shall we sit a while.' You too can own this print. You can check how to get your FREE print by visiting the Belle and Boo blog.

So...thank you, thank you, thank you Mandy for allowing me to own my very own little piece of Belle and Boo.