Studio rearrangement

This week my studio got rearranged! Previously it was cramped, and with the addition of the ironing press and overlocker, it was getting difficult to work in there. So a trip to Ikea and I'm all set!

New shelves and containers (from my kitchen actually) to organise all the little things! And a home for the overlocker.



And another new shelf for the ironing press and other assorted bits.



Now the only problem here is the ironing board, which no matter where I put it, is in the way. It's currently stashed under the cutting table as you can see, but that's not practical. Think I'm just going to have to take it out and move it around everytime it's in the way. It's a million years old and weighs a tonne, but what else to do?!

Oh and trying to add a little life and colour in there too... I love indoor plants - especially these babies that I've grown myself!



PS. Please just pretend that I've emptied the recycling bin and vacuumed the floor!

Who knew that $12.50 could buy love?!

Despite being one of the busiest people I know, Nikki is amazingly generous when it comes to giving advice and sharing her knowledge. When she told me a few weeks ago to try to find a second-hand Elna Press because it would be a lifesaver when it comes to fusing interfacing to fabric, I figured that this was something I definitely needed to do. The timing couldn't have been better cause when I looked on ebay, there was one - local pickup only, just 15 minutes down the road. Now the crazy thing is that I managed to get it for $12.50. Yup - you read right - $12.50.

I picked it up this morning and I'm in love already. A little bit of elbow grease (and some bicarb and vinegar) was needed to clean the plate, a $5 ironing board cover for the base, and we're in business!



Oh and fusing this interfacing takes approximately 10 seconds!

The ebay equipment love doesn't stop there either! In the last couple of months I've also managed to get my hands on a second-hand overlocker, and a brand new electric rotary cutter. All of this has cost me about $300 and means I have all the essential appliances for my studio!

And speaking of the studio - these recent acquisitions mean that I need to rearrange it, so I'm in the midst of doing that now. If I can get some decent photos when I'm done, I'll post them here. Even though it looks like a bomb has hit it at the moment, it's already looking bigger and more user friendly!

Preserves

I sold these two pieces outside of Etsy and realised that they aren't really preserved anywhere anymore, so I thought I'd blog about them. I have a feeling I've mentioned the first one before:



Such a pretty one off piece! 3 days of work... Luckily it's gone to my next door neighbour so I can visit it if I need to!

And a piece that few people would have seen:



This was the first of my new Inessence range of bags etc made from natural, eco friendly, reclaimed and vintage fabrics. The outer is a very nice recycled hemp/organic cotton blend, with a scrap fabric applique. It's lined with a vintage fabric. I'm looking forward to making more like this!

Friday feature

I'm going to try to do a regular Friday feature post from now on... Starting today with the robot treasury I curated on Etsy!

I'm sorry!

Dear blog and the one person who reads my blog,

I'm sorry (again) that you have been so neglected! I am going to blame it on two things. Being busy. And that since I got my new computer, I couldn't login to flickr. So I couldn't post pics on here. And I didn't want to bore you to death with pictureless posts.

Now, I'm still busy, but I do promise to be back soon with something vaguely more entertaining!