The happiest market of them all...

It's ECO market time again!

 The BrisStyle ECO market is a special market every year - for no really obvious reason it always seems infused with a mellow mood that speaks to my inner semi-hippie.  It might be that the crafters who take part are those particularly driven by an environmental passion - there are always, certainly, local ground-breakers aplenty who fit that description. It may be that the customers and browsers who come along to this market are inspired by the hunt for wares that are slightly different to the normal markets out there, BrisStyle and others - not simply hand-made, not only vintage, not just green, but a market that brings it all together and presents itself as a unique work of art.  The music is usually perfectly matched to the occasion, and the avant-guardedness of marketers, marketeers, and market all seem to dove-tail happily in the early spring sunshine (or, this year, in the cultural centre concrete shade).

tassels decorating the Whale Mall, Queensland Museum

This year, BrisStyle is holding its annual indie ECO market - with the emphasis on recycle, vintage and eco-friendly - in the Whale Mall, adjacent to the Queensland Museum at South Bank. Even more enticingly, in association with an opening exhibition of things Afghani at the museum, the theme this year is ECO-BAZAAR.

Bizarre Bazaar - look out for the hip, the edgy, the rock-abilly, the shabby chic, the Frankie-esque, the steam-punk-pumped, the eclectic, the boho, all in one significant event with green values and artisan artistry. See you Saturday, 7th September, from 9am!

wimcee altered jumper with crochet embellishment

wimcee altered jumper and cardigan skirt with crochet detail

Until next time,

wimcee x

To market, to market...

This Friday night I am setting up shop at the BrisStyle indie Twilight Market. This will be my first 'real' market all year and here it is almost the end of August.

Markets are rather special, especially when it's BrisStyle, which is hand-made only and the primary retail out-let for this not-for-profit collective of craftspeople. These twilight markets can be hugely successful, especially running up to Christmas, but it's also an opportunity to catch up with members of long standing and meet some of the newer recruits.

I've got some new work in the pipeline for Friday night, the nature of which has been in part dictated by physical limitations after surgery in July - my beloved sewing machine hates my back at the moment. So lots of crochet and some paper and glue and embroidery have been my most comfortable options.

I have crochet bags:

...fabric and crochet cushions....    

clothing for chickadees...

and some pixie houses that are actually pin cushions in disguise...

Plus plenty more.

If you are local, drop by King George Square from 5 p.m., browse the stalls, bop to the band, and grab a bite to eat at The Groove Train...look forward to seeing you and being back in the thick of a market once more!

Bridging moments

Terrific Trev took me to Sydney for the January "long" week-end - to see the Picasso exhibition at the Gallery of New South Wales, to scour Oxford Street, the sales, the city arcades, to visit the markets, and to dine wonderfully at hand-picked venues. He is the king of travel planning, and I am a very lucky crafter as a result.

Before we left we walked along the Harbour Bridge feeder road, overlooking Circular Quay, to the foundation stone above The Rocks. The bridge was opened in March 1932, a week before my mother was born, so that was a bit of a moment as she, and the bridge, turn 80 next month.

And she is eternally grateful that her parents decided NOT to call her 'Sydney Bridgette'.

This week-end I have my first market - the very special Heavenly Harvest in the grounds of St Mary's Church above the southern reach of our very own Story Bridge.

If you have a fondness for Jane Marple's village of St. Mary's Mead, or the Parish of Didley, this is the market for you! You can take tea in a pot with its own eccentric cosy accompanied by home-baked scones seated high above the river on the Kangaroo Point cliffs, rifle the jumble, browse hand-made wares, take a self-guided tour of the church, and go home with farm-fresh fruit and vegies, sweet treats and great bread. It's a bit of a hike, and far from extensive or over-crowded, but that's part of what makes it so special.

And the site fees and other funds raised go straight to the restoration fund for the church.

My other bridge moment coming up is an exhibition in which I'm participating of paintings and other works inspired by our very own Brissie icon, the Story Bridge - not as monumental perhaps, but in its own way as structurally impressive as its southern cousin. I have contributed ten bags and pouches - no paintings on this occasion because I simply ran out of framing time, but thematic sewing is lots of fun, challenging to start with but in the end self-perpetuating. The exhibition opens on February 14th at the Robyn Bauer Studio and Gallery, Paddington (the Brisbane one) and includes work from ten artists.

Enjoy a Fabulous February!

A twilight affair

"The city" is a pretty magic place in the nights leading up to Christmas...somewhere I took my boys when they were little to see the lights, the giant Christmas tree in the square, and the Myer windows, and it's where my own parents also took me and my brother and sister when we were small, for much the same purpose.

Debra Lidster's photo of the Myer Christmas windows

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It's great fun to be part of the Christmas events with the Christmas BrisStyle indie Twilight Market this coming Friday night...not just about offering our hand-made goodies for sale as stocking fillers and presents for under the tree in a world where we all have to search harder and harder to find something a bit unusual, a bit special.









It's also about sharing the buzz with the city workers, the families come to see the lights and the tree, those starting out their Friday night festivities, those on their way to pick up trains or buses to get home...the chat is always interesting and stimulating and we all love talking to people who are interested in what we do and why we do it in the happy crafting collective world that's BrisStyle. And the many others we've got to know - the customers, the suppliers, those from allied fields, the extended families, the new babies, those who have faced illness, even a few we've lost along the way. The hand-made world is like a very large, disparate family and I feel very blessed to be part of it.

In BrisStyle we have a little band of special, special people who dedicate a great chunk of their "spare" hours to organising and promoting us and what we do - arranging markets and seminars and workshops, liaising with government agencies and business organisations, supplying us with all sorts of info and suggestions to help us all along our chosen paths, and at the same time still trying to find the time to ply their own crafts.

Peppermint Magazine's photo of a BrisStyle indie Twilight Market in full swing.

So if you are local, come and visit us in King George Square from 5 p.m.  - have a chat, and by all means look around at our wares for some Christmas shopping that's outside the parameters of normal retail shopping. Look forward to seeing you!

Asset-less!

Not really - one only has to reflect for about 2 seconds on the lot of so many locally affected by floods and cyclone, not to mention further away catastrophes this year - but a little robbery at home has left me without my laptop, my camera, and our second set of wheels, which did feel a bit personal at the time and has kept me on my toes for the past 6 weeks chasing up bits and pieces of insurance claims. (Photograph your techno treasures, reader dear, and then keep the photos somewhere other than on your laptop!) Did anyone say: "back up"? One moves on, but it's hard to blog without images, so I'm going to resort to my pinterest boards to liven up this post.

Pinterest is a site for cyber pin boards - collections of images. For someone who makes a full time occupation out of collecting images in hard copy it's one of my favourite down-time past-times to go on a hunt for a new pinboard on pinterest, my own or someone else's. My latest has been 'fibrication' - things crocheted or knitted, for example:

the knitted wedding party from Elizabeth Anne Designs

Check out Pinterest for further collections of images from across the world.

News for wimcee is that I will be joining the wonderful collective of hand-madees again at the BrisStyle indie Designers Market, the first day-time market that they have held for 2011, on July 9th. Get all the details from BrisStyle at BrisStyle on Facebook

One of the beautiful resin necklaces from BrisStyler,  Strat Designs, who will be at the July BiDM.

And immediately following the BiDM, Piece Together will be launched on July 11th, a wonderful initiative from some of Brisbane's super sewers and craftees, which will offer sewing and crafting workshops for all levels as well as a gift shop and gallery space, and embracing the lost arts of handiwork combined with an environmentally friendly ethos. Wimcee will be providing workshops in bag-making and embellishment, but there will be a range of opportunities to learn skills and develop interests at piecetogether 

Insurance front suggests that I may be getting my camera back shortly so hopefully back to more reliable blogging soon. Apologies in the interim!

Deck the halls!

...and every spare inch of space at the moment - what a glorious time pre-Christmas-BiDM is! The sewing machine hums, the creative neurones spark, the scissors slice through cloth, colours bounce around the room like those 'visions of sugar plums',  and mama in her kerchief, or actually her jaja's, is unsettled and planning unfinished projects at 4 a.m. the day before market day! Come rain or shine the BrisStyle indie Designers Market will leap into action at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning and run all day, until 4 in the afternoon, in the grounds and hall at St Augustine's Anglican church, Racecourse Road, Hamilton, cheek by jowl with all the coffee shops, icreameries, and restaurants - the perfect market venue!

wimcee will be in a Grand Marquee in the grounds, and offering all the usual aprons with attitude and bespoke clothing, one-off accessories and lovesome softies, plus lots of smaller gift ideas, like hip jewellery rolls, funky peg aprons, diary and lappie cosies, and groovy embroidered glasses cases.

Jewellery roll

parisian patch cushion

lavender pillows

So don your wellies and join our rain dance tomorrow!

The flowers that bloom at the Spring BiDM, tra-la...

...bring promise of market delights ahead as well as we hit the market season proper in Brisbane - not too cold, not yet too hot to be pleasant at midday. wimcee will be in the grounds at St Augustine's Anglican Church, Racecourse Road gate, from 9 am on Saturday, with lots of new stock that I've literally made with great affection...you have to love the fabrics, and they seem to get more and more exciting all the time.  This is a particular current favourite, a little dress for a 6-8 year old, with a matching happy bag - the main fabric is an exquisite print from Japan in a combination of mauve, aqua, orange, and a little mustard on a mid-tone neutral back-ground.

Some paper folding too - out of sewing commission for a week or two the family accused me of playing paper dolls at the kitchen table, and there certainly was a lot of inner child involved in choosing the 'outfits'...

There are also lots of father's day offerings from many of the stall-holders so drop by and say hi!

Boutique Marketing at Portside!

wimcee will be at Portside, Hamilton, in Brisbane, this Sunday, August 8th, for the Boutique Market, from 8a.m., so pop in, browse the new stock, or just say hello! We have been caught up with a large and happy family celebration, but I have new skirts, new bunting, and various other spring-time delights ready for the season's change.

Happy 90th, Harold!

BiECO-lossal!

reconstituted woollies ready for the BiECO

wimcee's next market is something very different - brisStyle's first ever eco market, on Saturday July 10th, at St Augustine's church hall and grounds on Racecourse Road, Ascot. Local etsians will be amazing us all with a wide range of upcycled, repurposed and vintage wares. While most of my usual stock is made from new fabrics and fibres, I have previously offered a few eco-friendly pieces, so the BiECO is a wonderful opportunity to devote extra time and energy to upcycled denims, reconstituted and embellished woollies, and all manner of wimcee-cal numbers put together from my supply of vintage fabrics, buttons, ribbons, trims and scraps. As usual, just never quite enough hours in the day and days in the week to make good all the ideas I'd like to try out, but so much fun -!