A Little Excited

I have to say, today I am a little excited. I've spent most of the day photographing and listing items in my very own web shop hosted on Big Cartel. And.... I now have my own domain name www.iheartcharlie.com.au

I've only listed a few items but I'm so excited that I have to share it with you

yet another step towards the iheartcharlie empire.
and now I'm off to list some more items :0)

Happy 2012

I know I'm a little late, but I've been having issues dealing with the fact that the new year is not only upon us but also past us ! And I'm sure I'm not the only one whose head is spinning wondering where 2011 went. So as a belated welcome to the New Year I thought I'd share with you my favourite photo from 2011

 and I'm guessing that it's absolutely no shock to you all that it's a photo of Charlie, but perhaps the most candid photo I've taken of her since she was a puppy.

In looking back on the year that was there are a couple of stand out moments......

#1- it was the year that our dear sweet Tootsie chose to move on from this world.

just 3 weeks short of her 15th birthday it was time to let her go. We miss our girl but we're so happy and thankful for all the wonderful years with her and the love that she gave us. 

#2 - Montage Collective was born and with my iheartcharlie label I had the opportunity along with some very crafty and talented friends to delight Perth shoppers with our wonderful creations, in a series of 'pop up' shops

these are some of my crafty creations on display in the first Montage 'Pop Up' shop in Fremantle.

#3 - I finally decided to join the rest of the world and get an iphone and now have absolutely no idea how I ever managed to live without it or the hipstamatic app.   

 

 And no surprises as to who my screen saver is ........

#4 - I had my very first 'iheartcharlie' stall at a market. Just prior to Christmas I was at the Margaret River Handmade market and had a great day for someone who is  very much learning about selling her wares in a market environment. Here's a couple of dodgy photos I took of my stall. I was a little nervous on the day and appear to have left all photographic skills at home, but they give you an idea of how I presented iheartcharlie to the market shoppers

and last but not least

#5 - At the end of November  along with the  rest of Margaret River I experienced the very real threat of losing my home to a bushfire. The fire came within  5km of the town site which was thank fully  saved by a wind change and some very savvy fire fighting. The true heroes of those days were the many volunteer and professional fire fighters. And while some families out on the coast did lose their homes and part of our coastline was decimated no human lives were lost.

 These photos are of the view from my work, looking west, at lunch time on Wednesday 23rd November the first day of the fire. I've recently learnt that when these pictures were taken 11 homes had already been lost

The coast line looks barren at the moment but some late rains have brought with them the start of the rejuvenation. It’s sad to see it now but with time the scars of the fires will be replaced with the lush green that our region is so well known for

 this photo is only a glimpse of the devastation. To the right at the back the once green River Mouth bush looks like a barren waste land, in the middle just jutting above the river line is what remains of the historic Wallcliffe House. Once home to the Bussell family it was one of the original homesteads in the area, it is now a burnt out shell. And to the right of where this picture was taken is where the homes were lost on the first morning. The fire skipped and jumped there are areas that are now barren and others that were spared.

And onward into 2012 we go...... after a year of good, bad and sad I'm looking forward to seeing what this year has to offer. 

So a happy belated New Year here's hoping that 2012 will be an exciting and rewarding year for us all. 

 

Old School Crafting

Remember the days before you were allowed near a sewing machine? If you are like me and have been crafting since you were a little person there would have been a time when you picked up a needle and thread to sew a dolls outfit because your mums sewing machine was off limits. Each item would have been painstakingly stitched until it became Barbie’s favourite outfit or a new set of shorts for your favourite teddy bear!! There of course was a time when this was the way that most households made their clothes, needle and thread. A few days ago I left the sewing machine switched off and returned to these roots. Inspired by a discussion with a friend about ‘Old School Crafting” this is what I came up with

This clutch purse is totally hand sewn, yes folks as mentioned before the sewing machine was unplugged and neglected for this one. The flap is decorative only and is attached to the front of the clutch.

This is the back

and these are some detail shots. I’ve used my favourite cotton floral for the lining and the outside fabric is a cotton canvas.
Inspired? take the challenge and sew something entirely by hand. I’d love to hear about your results

More Montage Press

With just over a week left Montage has received more press coverage. This time in the local Fremantle paper

 

Montage Press

The Montage Collective pop up shop in Fremantle is open for business and was featured in todays edition of Habitat in The West Australian.

If you are in the area pop in and see it for yourself

Montage

iheartcharlie will be appearing alongside 11 other wonderful designers at a pop up shop in Fremantle, Western Australia from the 8th  February.

Early Days part 2

 In 1989 while I was studying Textiles at Curtin Univeristy in Perth we had a very lovely Indian Lady visit the Art faculty from Rajistan.  With her she brought an amazing collection of Indian Textiles which were hung in the halls of our building and she also held several Indian Textile workshops. The one thing that grabbed me in all of this was the amazing stitch work.

These are the works that were inspired by the workshop with a little added inspiration from some of the work of Vincent Van Gogh.

 This one was my first piece and was a homage to 'Starry Night'. It's my favourite and all of the others follow along on a similar theme.

Early days

Recently I've been looking through some of my early work seeking some inspiration for future creations. It's all been packed away and I've decided it's time to share some of it with you....

These pieces were machine drawing samples when I was studying textile design

These were created on my old Husqvarna 2000. I think it might be time to put it into the repair shop and start incorporating machine drawing into my work again. I seem to remember that it was a lot of fun

I'll share some more early work with you again soon

Holiday Sewing Fun

I've just had a week and a half off and apart from a visit to Ikea, where my credit card took a battering, I've been sewing..... how unusual!!! I've created 8 new slip covers for  the chunky (200 page) A6 Visual Journals and Notebooks. And collaborated on one with my sister.... or rather  she designed the cover and I put it together. 

Here's what I've created

This was the first one it carried on from the last series of covers that I created and uses the inset pleated panels front and back. I call this one Belt Up # 2

 
I followed on with this one, inset panel and belt closure using a 100% Cotton Canvas. I found the wooden buttons in my botton collection. This one is Belt Up #3

 This one again has the inset pleated panel and a pretty satin ribbon to keep it all together.

Next I had a play with a denim offcut, a cute printed cotton fabric and some buttons and created the Buttons and Bubbles cover.

Then I played with insetting strips of the fabric and again incorporated buttons. This one is known as the Buttons and Bubbles cover #2

The last cover had me thinking about panels and contrasts. This one incorporates the inset panel  pintucked blue denim in a contrasting black denim.

inset pleated panel and two different shades of blue denim.....

This one features the fabric from the "Dotty Pouch" along with a mid blue denim. It's the same front and back. It reminds me of an old novel.

And finally the first slip cover designed for iheartcharlie by my sister, Catherine
Hopefully this is the first of many

This cover features, black hemp denim along with german wool felt from B&M Felt. This one is a definite favourite and aside from the amazing colour choice and the cute button, part of it's beauty is in it's slightly deconstructed appearance.

Yet again these covers have offered me some great ideas for future bags. I my last post I shared a series of Journal covers from which great ideas were born.

Here's the first Tote bag that was inspired by these 

This is the Chloe Tote Bag and it's currently for sale in my Etsy Shop

iheartcharlie retail launch

The latest designs from iheartcharlie were recently launched at 'love the beast' in Margaret River. These are some of the latest Tote bags and Pouches available.

Tote Bags:

 

April Messenger

Darcy Pink

           Darcy Chocolate

   Jennifer

      
 

Gerty

  

  Valentine (dark blue)

 

Valentine (light blue)

 

                           Harriet                           

Pouches:

 

Pouches in order of appearance :- Amelia , Dotty, Fanciful, 

April, Marnie & Valentine

All of these designs have been individually hand crafted by me. I love what I do and take great pride and care I all my creations. They are all designed as one of a kind or limited additions.

New designs will be appearing soon in my etsy shop.