screenprinting!

On Friday (ANZAC Day, a public holiday in Australia) the lovely Lisa Max (who took these photos) and the fabulous Jarrad Robb came over to our house for a day of screenprinting.



I screenprinted about 22 Space Rabbits, half in pink and half in blue, and Lisa made amazing owls and kitties. Above: Jarrad and I are happy about how awesome we are at screenprinting.



It was so much fun! I had been worried that four people would be too many, and that Robert and Jarrad would be left out, but it was really a perfect number for a very efficient operation.



The plan is to back these with patterned fabric and stuff them. I am going to have to buy some more fabric (oh no!) because the colours are so bright and they need to be matched just right.

I can't wait to do this some more!

mum's dolly

I made this for my mum, for Christmas. It was really fun to make, especially the embroidery! The fabric is another precious Japanese one, with little goose families. The back is a red apple pattern. I love pink and red together! The pattern for the doll was quite simple so these would be good to make and sell, I think.

Here are two long-overdue Christmas presents (I know, I know) for two little girls who are big fans of my comics. Having kids as readers is the best. They read your work obsessively and are starstruck by your presence, even though you just had your comics printed up at Snap and sell them for $5.

The kitty was the first plush I made and I think it shows. A few tries later, the bear has a lot more resemblance to the picture in my head, but it's still not quite there. Oh well, I am learning so much every time I turn on my sewing machine! I would really like to become fast enough (and develop a good enough pattern) to make a few of these to sell. I even used some of my precious Japanese fabric for the dresses-- oh dear, cutting into that stuff is agony! But the more I use up, the more I can buy...

banana bread

I have been making this delicious banana bread on the weekends. It's really easy and satisfying to make, it's pretty healthy, and it's a great snack to have on hand. It's also good to take a slice to work for morning tea-- it lasts for days. You can find the recipe here. I have been experimenting with replacing the white self-raising flour with wholemeal. The first time I tried 100% wholemeal, which was a bit much-- the bread was dry and chewy. Last time I used 1 cup white and 3/4 cup wholemeal, which was a nice compromise.