Blinking Flights

Busy... me?

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I'm still here. I've been up at 6 most days and still at it until very late. Housework has been neglected, blog has been neglected... but still checking emails and reading everyone else's blogs.

Going to be announcing a giveaway very soon-- in relation to Mathilda's Market, which will be on this Sunday... these are some of the toys I'll be taking along!

B.

Worst.day.ever!

This is what my Saturday looked like! Although the sun did come up and actually get quite hot, and make things a little gross and unbearable at times! I decided to move my stall into a different spot, and I had a terrible day! I'm not sure whether it was just generally a terrible day or if moving my stall to a different part of the markets was the cause of all my woes... but I did talk with lots of other stall holders and some organisers who seemed to be all saying the same thing "stacks of people, no one spending!".

Such is life! I have now caught up on stock and can spend this week making things besides bugs-- bunnies, birds and of course do some screen printing!

So anyway, this is Jilly, my new favourite little bug girl- she is made from fleece, some pretty blue vintage fabric scraps from my nearest op shop, and this fabulous fabric designed by Liz and printed at Spoonflower. I bought it from her Etsy Shop, and she has a blog which I also love, called Paper Pie. She is very clever with textas, her designs are hand-drawn. The pretty blue flower-dots on Sofia are also by Liz, and I only bought a fat quarter, and it's almost gone! This never happens, usually a fq lasts a month or 2 because I use such small quantities, but I got a little carried away!

Jilly.

Sofia.

The gang.

More on some great fabrics finds a little later, but I'll just quickly share this great link with you, Mel Bomba-- a new etsy shop selling divine hand printed fabrics from Sydney- free shipping until the end of August, I bought some during the week and I'm VERY IMPRESSED! Photos later, but I highly recommend!

B, x!

A Farewell to Bugs!

Don't be sad little ones. It's not you, it's me. I know that we've taught one another a lot, but I think that's just it... I'm not sure we have anymore to teach each other... our time together was lovely, I drew pretty pictures of you, I drooled over adorable fabric to make you from, and spent hours and hours (and I mean HOURS) bringing your pretty faces to life, not to mention all those haircuts... remember the felt covered floors? We watched every episode of Mad Men (more than once) together while I stuffed your bodies with polyfill, and watched you become real. And I did all this lovingly and carefully, but I'm at a stage where my mind is wondering... I'm thinking of pandas again, of little sheepy-lambs and dolls, oh so many dolls... I don't think it's fair to string you along, you deserve better than that.

So goodbye my little bugs! I will keep your sewing pattern, and make it into a PDF so that others can learn from you the way I did, and make their very own little piece of bug happiness, I promise!

B, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

boys, boys, boys...

It's hard making crafty-boyish things... I have lots of trouble with it, for some reason, most of my toys are girls, most of my fabric is girly in some way and most of my designs are super girly. I've tried to move away from this, but it just seems to keep happening. I finally forced myself into making up some boy bodies and boy faces, and I was having quite a lot of fun with it, especially with the names, until I came up against the haircuts! Girl haircuts are easy, I make so many of them each day that I feel like I could do them in my sleep, but the boy ones are tricky!

I searched the net for pictures of boys, I went through my photos and looked at male friends and family members, I flipped through my prized collection of Golden Books in search of funky retro boy-dos... I sketched, I cut, I starred at Don Draper and Pete Campbell (Mad Men has been playing on repeat for the last week, its my new background crafting DVD... Pride and Prejudice had run its course!) and still don't know if I managed to pull it off...

Can you tell that 2 hairstyles that made the biggest impression on me were Don Draper as a little boy (aka Dick Whitman...), and the kid from The Munsters?

Hhhmmmm... 

B.

Bug photos uploaded!

Hello there again... well I just photographed the bugs and uploaded them to flickr, so if you won, you can click here, choose your bug, let me know by emailing me at: [email protected], and include your mailing address, and I'll post it Monday! It's a first in, best bugged system! Just leave a comment under the photo, so other winners know not to choose yours.

Thanks everyone for the naming help, I didn't manage to use everyone's suggestions, but I do have a whole new batch on the way, so I'll certainly use everyone's names eventually.

Have a great Saturday!

B.

And the winners are...

Well, I am so tired. So very, very tired, I just got back from Sydney a little while ago, and the first thing I did was write everyone's name down on a piece of a paper... on 2 pieces if you came up with a bug name. I put them all into a bowl, and drew the 3 winners... and they are:

Breezy Babies...

I Love Baby Quilts... &

Michelle!

So I will post all the photos of all the bugs I have tomorrow morning... far too sleepy now, and it is way too dark, but if there is a bug you 3 have your eye from flickr or the blog, let me know, and I'll let you know if it's still in my possession, so that it can be in yours!

Congratulations and thanks to everyone for playing along, I appreciate it!

I'm going to do another one soon, I had so much reading all the names!

If you wanna know when, you can join the Facebook group I mentioned in last post (or click here).

B, xxx!

Facebook Giveaway Group

Wow! I'm really loving reading all these bug names and likes, and some of the dislikes are especially funny! Fake nails, wedge heel shoes, air conditioners! They're great... I would never have come up with them at all! I especially like the dislike 'people who are mean to kittens', being a serious cat lover myself!

So, thank you!

I have made up a facebook group which will alert people as to when I'm doing another giveaway, so if you're into comps and freebies (I am!), feel free to sign up! The link is here.

Today, I'm going up to Sydney to spend the night with with my Mum, my parents have rushed to Sydney because Dad needs some sort of surgery one of his eyes, or he could go blind in it... so that's pretty freaky, but nothing life-threatening!

I'll draw the winners tomorrow and let everyone know on the blog, and via whatever contact details were made available, your blog, email, facebook, whichever!

If you haven't already, please leave a comment under the post below and enter the comp!

Thanks again!

B.

Giveaway! Giveaway! Giveaway!

I'm about to open my Etsy Shop, and so I thought I should do something special, or at least exciting, and that thing is... give away 3 bugs to 3 different readers! And I'll let the winners pick which bug they want! I have about 30 sitting here patiently waiting for me to do something with them, and I have about 10 being even more patient with me because they have no stuffing! If do you win, I'll let you pick which one you want by posting them all on flickr later in the week! How's that for generous?!

What to do...

1 entry: Leave a comment on this post

2 entries: Since I'm having trouble picking names, and likes & dislikes for the new bugs, I want you to make up a name and 3 likes, and 3 dislikes for a bug. They could be anything at all as long they're not rude, they could even just be your own name and tastes.

I'll draw 3 winners randomly on Friday, and I'll let you know who you are so that you can pick your new little bug friend! So they should be in the post by Monday!

Anyone, anywhere can enter!

Please do, I'll feel silly if no one enters!!!

Goodluck and have a great Tuesday!

P.S. If you're having issues leaving a comment because you don't have a google id or something, just email me at [email protected], and I'll post your entry for you! Or on facebook if you know me there!

x, B.

P.S. More bugs @ my photostream!

ta-da!

My final 'prototype'. I'm happy with  this one, she stands up on her own, and has a little sack of rice sewn into her base. Back to applying for jobs and enjoying what's left of earth hour!