beach walks, wool dyeing and reading!!!

The beach was absolutely stunning on Sunday...we went for our regular beach walk and it was just amazingly gorgeous....

the water is so warm at the moment....

feet up!!!

But today was a 'head down with paint brush in hand' kind of day.....boy did I paint some wool. Now I just have to hope this stunning weather we have been experiencing for weeks now hangs around a little longer so I can get it all dry. My verandah is a mass of colour.

But really what I would LOVE to be doing is curling up on the lounge with my new book that just arrived in the mail. I will let you know what it is like...but I know I will love!!!! Sometimes you can judge a book by its cover!!!!

Do you judge a book by its cover?

Have a great week and I would love to hear from you.

xox Jo

from this to.....this!!!!

I just love it when I receive a delivery of wool....it is so yummy and soft and creamy. It doesn't stay that way for long....I usually work to orders, so as soon as the order comes in, I get to painting. 

The ever so talented Lanie from Bambino Lane Designs uses alot of my wool in her designs. She popped down today to pick up her latest order and to show me some of her pieces.....these little booties (rainbow) and this stunning little dress (autumn rainbow) are just so adorable (and neat...I wish I could do that) 

And then I received a nice little Facebook message from her....this photo below....I just LOVE it!!!!

I have recently become a little hooked on Instagram.....are you too??? It has a whole heap of filters to transform the look and feel of your photo and then you post it straight to Facebook...it is heaps of fun.

Here is some rainbow boucle mohair I took the other day on Instagram....

and 12ply rainbow....

and Puddles....my trusty work companion...

Tomorrow I am off to my little Indigo Inspirations world.....my shop at Shearwater for the cleanup/setup ready for opening on Wednesday....I wish I had a little Indigo fairy to do it for me.

Oh well I don't, so clean I must!!!!!

See you soon ♥Jo

wool. wool and more wool.....

I close my shop in school holidays.....I open it up again tomorrow until the end of this school term and "oh my god" - until Christmas. For those of you that are new here, I have a small shop which is jam packed with wool and felt and other craft goodies, books, children's toys and puzzles. I take up a large area outside the shop as well. It is on the grounds of Shearwater - the Mullumbimby Steiner School and is open to everyone....I have customers who travel quite a distance because of the difficulty of finding natural, quality craft items and especially wool felt and I post world wide which is pretty exciting.

Which brings me to today - my last day of frantically trying to restock my supplies of hand painted wool. I had a wonderful customer a few weeks ago who almost took home all my wool in stock so I had a lot to replace. It is quite a time consuming job. I buy all the wool in different plys, soak it, paint it, cook it, rinse it, dry it and then it usually ends up in 50gm balls ($10).....(that is a sit in front of the TV kind of job).  I also sell it in 100gm ($19.50), 200gm ($30)  and if it comes in it 250gm ($36) hanks.

I also sell it in my ETSY store and on my website and am continually experimenting with colour combinations for new listings. I sooooo love what I do!!!! and feel very, very lucky especially on beautiful spring days like today.


Happy about: I have just received a copy of Pip Lincolne's Sew La Tea Do book and can't wait to make a new dress from it. (not her latest book - I haven't won that one yet.)
Reading: the latest issue of Papier Mache Magazine.
Favourite blog post I have read lately - Ivy Nest
Listening to: (sad but true) Australian Business Women's Network Podcasts.
In my craft basket: still stitching together my crochet blanket.....I will get there by next winter, I promise.
Grateful for: the sun and the rain.
Watching: The slap.....have you....what did you think??


Would love to hear from you  ♥ Jo

My Monday's and Tuesday's are like no other....

I love Mondays and Tuesdays.....I work from home on these days and I am home alone. I never have enough time to do all I want/need to do and so have learnt the art of 'List making' so I don't waste a minute.

The music is either up loud or off depending on what "I" feel like. We always have music on in this house so peace and quiet is usually my preference although for some reason today it is 'on and loud'....I don't know why.
The photos above are of a pile of my hand dyed wool felt.....which I worked on yesterday.....doesn't it look so pretty?
Today I have been painting wool for an order for 'Treasure House'....the shop at Noosa Pengari Steiner School and making about 40 felting kits as I have fallen so far behind with these.

I have only finished the rainbow packs and the pinky/purpley packs....lots more to do.
Well I best get back to it before I have to do the usual Tuesday afternoon pickup from school and drop off at circus and soccer training....

Before I go....here is what is Happening this week...
Reading: the latest mammoth issue of Frankie Magazine
Working on: what seems like a million felting kits
Lovin': my new addiction.....crocheting...I have just finished my first beanie...it doesn't fit anyones head in this house but I am sure there is a head out there that it does fit.
Also Lovin': early morning walks and afternoon walks with Puddles, the dog and sometimes with Sasha, the son.
Eating: chocolate bullets...can't help myself.
Hope to hear from you soon ♥ Jo
And here is a photo of my above mentioned walking partners.

my new addiction.....

Crochet has become my new addiction....yes I know it could be worse and much more expensive so I am quite happy about it. Lucky I have pretty much a never ending supply of pure wool as I paint it myself but books....there are so many of them. I have been tempted to buy a couple.....and will show you them when they arrive. I learnt to crochet when I was a child....I can still remember the pale pink and white baby wool blanket I crocheted when I was about 10. I have no idea what happened to it.
So I was very excited last week when I learnt how to do other stitches. Last Saturday at the MILK and HONEY CRAFT MARKET, Mary one of the other stall holders showed me how to do the double stitch and I was off......I created round, rectangle, frilly bits with chain and kept pulling it apart to do more. I was hooked, so to speak.
So you can imagine my excitement and happiness when I finished my first pair of wrist warmers. (at almost midnight because I couldn't put them down). I used a 5mm bamboo crochet hook and 8ply hand painted Autumn Rainbow wool and it took less than 50gms. Check them out.....what do you think?

Coincidently, another stall holder at our market, Helle Jorgensen was offering crochet workshops starting yesterday and running for three Saturdays for two hours learning how to make flowers and experimental and freeform crochet techniques......yah!!!! so of course I just had to go. I went along with Julia (another amazing, creative friend) and this is one of my new creations.

Just a quick look at Helle's gorgeous studio in Murwillumbah and her amazing creations. Helle works alot crocheting with plastic bags and receives them from all over the world so she has an amazing selection of colours. On her blog there is even a PLASTIC BAG YARN TUTORIAL....check it out and you can also see more of her photos on her blog too.

And just in case you are in the area and want to join in the fun, here is Helle's workshop poster.

Oh if only I could just sit in the sun today and crochet and crochet......fortunately/unfortunately I have more painting of wool to do so it will have to wait. I will show you more soon.
Am I the only one who is crochet mad at the moment? (or maybe just mad)
Have a lovely day and would love to hear from you ♥Jo