Getting to the UK one Frida at a time

Hi all, I am on a plane in 14 sleeps and the big old whiteboard is covered in things to do! I arrive at Heathrow on 24 October and will be back in New Zealand by 16 November.
I am broke, cassé, skint, and in order to be able to eat, travel and have somewhere to stay while I am there, I've been fundraising. The gigs I have do pay, and for that I am grateful, but to raise the balance I have been making and selling Frida and Mary jacket patches. Frida outsells Mary by about 10 to one but that's to be expected!
It's actually really satisfying to be able to raise money by making things myself. And with these sales, sales of false drag lashes and performance fees I've raised enough to get by without having to rely on my credit card too much!
Other than that, I'm doing some free lance work, sewing for myself and others, and dealing with three massive things going totally wrong in my life all at once.  Two of them could be sorted by me getting a full time job or a longer term contract, and the third will probably come right faster if I did as well, because the stress of the situation would diminish a lot.
I don't want to go into details about any of them here, sorry to be vague but I'm in that weird place where pretending everything is OK is just not possible because it isn't, yet sharing the details is not a thing I can do right now either. Suffice to say that corporate greed and earthquakes are behind the troubles. One day I'll tell all.
In the meantime, I am blown away by the kindness of people!!! Friends and family who through small and huge acts of kindness just keep reminding me that life is worth persisting with.
On my to-do list is Fabricabrac this Saturday. The bi annual huge destash market that started in Wellington and is now happening all over NZ. I decided to use it as  chance to clear out my ridiculous stash of fabric in the shop store room and today Penny and I hauled out boxes and bins full of it!

This is a FRACTION of what we unearthed. It was crazy. I found stuff I forgot I had, had bought again, and generally realised that I am a HOARDER.
Anyway it's sorted more or less, scraps in colour themed bags, size and value sorted, everything. And I tell you I am not bringing stuff back. I kept back about a binful at most, the rest if it doesn't sell is going to a charity. But I think I'll be seeing lots of happy people walk out with it.
And thus will I make just a little bit more for my trip. :) In full knowledge of the money wasted on buying it in the first place. But to be honest I've not really added to my hoards much in the past few years, I've just dragged the stuff around after me. So by getting rid of it, it is an end of yet another era!
If you are in Wellington and love fabric, come to Fabricabrac - at St Anne's Hall, Emmett Street, Newtown 10am-2pm this Saturday 13 October. There's a huge car park and the church collects a gold coin donation for it. You can do your fruit and vege shopping next door too! https://fabricabrac.wordpress.com/wgtn/
Update after Fabricabrac: I went with five boxes and came back with one small box! WIN!

The Spring Wedding Show

A few months ago I had a sudden urge to do a wedding show, as you do. We sell and hire lots of the kinds of stuff used at weddings - cake tins and stands, bunting, ribbons, cake decorating stuff - and hessian, or burlap as it is known in N.A. Plenty of couples want to D.I.Y. some aspects of their wedding and so often when they do come in they remark that if only they had known we had all the stuff that we have, they would have come to us for it. So why not get out there and show them.
The show was on Sunday 18th October, at Macs Function Centre which is a converted dockside warehouse and quite funky.

 Cupcakes - wrapped in hessian ribbon, lace or both. Fruit leather daisies make a lovely topper for a rustic look.

 Of course I had to show off my butterflies too. The cupcakes are there to show off the tiered stand that we have for hire, and also to promote private workshops in decorating them.

 Cake toppers - I was chuffed to find one with two guys. None with two women seem to be available...

 more stuff

 The whole muddle.

I HAD to get these wicker hampers - they are so great for displaying stuff. Back at the shop it is filled with rolls of Christmas wrap. Here, it is showing off all the things out of which you can make table runners.

It was a pretty quiet show really, but we had some lovely chats with lovely people, and got to know some of the venue people and hire people etc so we can all help point people to each other. 

At some level I find it odd that people would pay $18 to get into a show like this and then act like the people with stalls are trying to ensnare them. Most of the attendees were relaxed, happy types interested to find out what we had to show them, but about 1 in 5 groups didn't even bother to come over and see what we were about. So stupid - how do they think they can tell what it is we are offering by a quick glance at our stand. And us. It's these types that really put me off getting in too deep with wedding related stuff. To me it is such a sacred act, so much more important than the colour of the serviettes, and I find all this superficial nonsense really disheartening.

Oh well. That's what happens when you go to the people instead of waiting for them to find you, I guess.

Fabric-a-brac

What a morning! Today was the biannual Fabric-a-brac, Wellington's own stash rehash market. Sewists of all kinds take a table and onsell their bits and bobs - patterns, fabric, wool, trims, beads, haberdashery, leather, the lot. I reckon it is my fifth Fabric-a-brac, and the first time since my very first where I was only selling my own stuff. Even I cannot generate a whole table of unwanted stash by myself in six months!

My stall at 9am, before the public were let in. I'd already bought and sold fabric by then! Note the Elvis Christmas stocking draped on the piano behind my stall. More about Elvis later.

My stall at 12. I've let my neighbour encroach because I didn't have enough stuff left to even cover the table! and Elvis has left the building!
Elvis was a huge hit. My neighbour and friend Sue, bought him, but word had got out and someone turned up at my table to ask if she could buy him. I explained that I'd sold him to Sue, and we got him out to show her. The lady ended up convincing Sue to onsell him!
Anyway, I indulged myself just a little bit:

Gorgeous quality trims and wee rosettes from famous and fabulous Wellington designer Alison Blain whose table is my first port of call every time! The piece of poppy canvas was from my non-Elvis fancying side neighbour's stand. Enough to make a nice bag.

For the Embroidenator, a pile of dupion scraps in native NZ bird greens. She is making exquisite free motion machine embroidered birds for Christmas tree decorations. Not shown is a length of red/green shot organza and a whole roll of waistband lining tape for a mere $4!
Other highlights? I saw a young (early 20's) lass wearing a skirt in a fabric I remember buying in the early 90's, a strong and vibrant red and purple fabric reminiscent of Kaffe Fassett and Phillip Jacobs. It was very exciting to see it and it turned out that she had made it from a piece of fabric in her mother's stash. THEN, when I saw her with her sister and realised that her mother was a long lost friend I had bequeathed a huge pile of fabric to when I left Wellington, we realised it really WAS made from the same piece of fabric! Now isn't that just a little bit hilarious?!
A great morning was had by many - fabrics and bits found new homes and no doubt some will turn up again at future Fabric-a-bracs - such is the way of these things. As for me, as well as my small crop of treasures bought, I have a nice nest egg of funds to reinvest in long arm quilting, must haves and haberdashery needs, so I can keep to my zero budget :)

Before there were small things (Nano), there were Nana things...

...And so there was Nanatechnology! Things made by hand with love and care. Yum.
For the past two years, a small group of us have run a craft market at work. Just over a long lunch hour in our lunch room, and then we leave it out for a couple of days and people pop by our desks to buy things. It's cool - everyone wins. Twenty percent goes to a local organisation that helps people in need, the crafters make some Christmas spending money, and the workers can buy unique gifts for their friends and families.

Rows of delicious preserves by the Embroidenator, so pretty with their serviette tops! My tea cosies in far corner, some of HRH's gorgeous button jewellery too.

The ever elegant Miss de Vivre adds finishing touches to the presentation.

A week later, we hike it over to another workplace with a lot more people, and other crafters, and do it all again. But only for lunchtime.
It all adds to that wonderful sense of pending Christmasness, which I enjoy far more than the actual event most years. Except this one, which was ab fab. :)
Happy New Year all!