WHY I LOST MY SEWJO

I was totally excited about doing a fabulous Christmas Collection.  I was using a fabric that I had not seen anywhere else that I just LOVED, and yet, I couldn't finish it.

The reason why?

THIS 2 INCH PIECE OF FABRIC

Yep, I am not kidding... I have had this top sitting on the back of my couch for 3 weeks unfinished because I simply don't want to sew on this piece of fabric! I have 3 tunics waiting on belt loops like this but I just can't bring myself to finish them. I have another 10 dresses sitting 80% finished on the back of my couch too, because I don't want to make the binding.

This week, I hit my fabric shelves to make something else because I just couldn't stand the thought of sewing on those belt loops!

I am even updating my blog so I don't have to sew them on!!!

This is actually the first time I have done any assembly line type sewing... i.e. cut out all the things you want to make... and sew them in a logical way to save time.

My conclusion is that it doesn't work for me!  I love to make one dress at a time until it is finished.  I think it has so much more love in it by doing it that way and that is the way I will do it again from now on... as soon as I finish these Christmas things that is... maybe not tonight... maybe not tomorrow... but hopefully before Christmas!

Rather than a big market night, you will see things released as I finish them, listed randomly.  I think that gives everyone the best chance of getting something!

Keep your eyes peeled for

'I'm Dreaming of a Blue Christmas'

SPOOKY CUSTOM SPOTS

Random org custom spot winner is Kristy Mansfield

Creative entry custom spot winner is Karen Patterson

Karen's story appealed to me because it is amazing what a difference the internet has made in this world.  Without the internet, Karen possibly wouldn't have her little girl and I certainly wouldn't have BOO! Designs.  Thanks for sharing your beautiful story Karen.


After being single for close to 20 years, I finally found my Mr Right online. Only problem was that he lived on the other side of the world in USA. So after going to meet him (on my first ever overseas trip) we decided we wanted to be together. He loved me so much that he agreed to move here, and after telling him I was too old to have children, he still wanted me to be his wife. So we got married, and  1 month into the marriage I decided that perhaps I was not too old,  and we decided to try to have a baby. I gave ourselves the year 2010 to achieve this, and surprise surprise I was pregnant after only 2 months. And our little baby Isabella Brooklyn arrived in February this year. The most cherished of gifts that I never thought I would ever have, considering I had been single for all of my adult life. So after hearing our fairystory beginning, you might ask yourself why I deserve to have a SPOOKY outfit made by BOO DESIGNS, and the answer is simple. I want a beautiful (yet SPOOKY) outfit for Isabella to wear when we go trick-or-treating for Halloween. Because she lives here, she is going to miss out on many of the big celebrations that the other half of her extended family celebrate, like thanksgiving, 4th of July, and of course Halloween. So I really am wanting her to experience these USA celebrations in her life, despite not living there. And I also want my husband to be able to share these celebrations with his daughter, as I know it is so difficult for him to be away from his family, and to be missing out on these moments.

Fingers crossed my story moves your heart...and I am lucky to get one of these amazing outfits!!!


I would also like to share a really great entry from Shelley of Pink and Blue Nappy Cakes (she did ask to be excluded however as her husband would not be happy with her if she purchased any more things!!)

Oh there be a little girl with a heart as good as gold

And though she be quite tall, she's really not that old.

Her young life so far has been one of love and laugh and fun

But she has a goulish temper despite only being one! 

So a goulish little dress would suit her to a tee

And when she puts it on I can simply explain to thee

That she is no longer throwing tantrums, and she never ever maligns,

She's just channeling the goulishness of her dress by Boo Designs!

Thanks for playing everyone!  I will do a few more random listings with any fabric that I have left over, so feel free to drop me an expression of interest if you are interested in a particular size or style and I will see what I can do.

SPOOKY CUSTOM SPOT

Since I have a little more Spooky in the house, I thought I would offer 

TWO paid custom spots.

This basically means, patterns and fabric permitting (depending on size), you can order what you like out of the grey Spooky fabrics. 

It will take me approx 2-3 weeks (hopefully less) to make them.

One spot will be drawn randomly

All submissions will be numbered and drawn using random.org

One spot will be drawn creatively

Be creative and submit a paragraph on why I should select you for a custom.  It can be heartfelt or funny, whatever you decide!  I will pick the winner based on the story I like the best!  The winning entry will be published here on my blog.

(If you are not feeling creative, you are welcome to just enter the random draw!!)

To submit your interest, email boodesigns@bigpond.com with the subject line 'SPOOKY'

Submissions close Monday 26 September 7PM QLD time.

CITY OF INSPIRATION AND DISASTERS

I recently started a new job.  I was in my old job for 13 years and although my head office was in the city, it was very rare that I would find myself there.  My job involves being contracted out to clients and I have spent time working in Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, Dublin, London and the lovely Blackpool, city of lights!  Whenever working locally, I would not usually work for clients based in the city.   

The first few weeks of my new job means working in head office in the city.  I am making sure I take advantage of my location, catching the train and going for lunch time walks around town. I have been having dates with my husband and it is lovely to have a hot meal together without kids screaming or sitting on our laps. It is such a hive of activity with people everywhere, crazy performers blowing whistles to get attention and bars with Samoan's dressed in blue spilling out screaming at tv screens (I guess there was a game on today and this is not a regular occurance).  All the shops and food places have changed since I last went wandering too, it almost feels like I am in another city.  Lincraft is still there though, standing strong and still carrying uninspiring, boring fabrics... I had to double check didn't I? 

I am a big fan of people watching and there

are certainly some people worth watching!

The thing I notice the most is the fashion though. 

For guys, it is all about checked shirts and pointy shoes.  I know it has been cold, but that is no reason to mistake Brisbane for Melbourne... when did Brisbane go and get so trendy?  Pink shirts, pin stripes and mixing and matching spots, stripes and checks seem very popular again, and skinny ties... SKINNY TIES, really??

For girls, there are ruffles as far as the eye can see... seems that no outfit is complete without a ruffle.  Dresses, pencil skirts and tops, they all have ruffles, mostly asymmetrical and black/charcoal, 2 of my favourite things! 

And for the disasters...

1st place: High waisted shorts with massive circle ruffles on the sides (it looked like someone took some cheap paper dinner plates and stuck them on her shorts)! 

2nd place: Denim short shorts with bum cheeks and cellulite sticking out, fabulously teamed with muffin tops and mid drift t-shirts... and what is it with the pocket lining hanging out the bottom of those shorts? 

3rd place: My husband pointed out a grown woman wearing a pair of ruffle pants! 

The city is a great place for inspiration!

A SPOOKY THANK YOU!

I want to express a very big thank you to everyone who helped make my first collection so successful. Your enthusiam and support was overwhelming!  

I had more than a few moments when I doubted the collection, not because I didn't LOVE it, but just that it was sooo different, I wasn't sure whether anyone else would like it. It is not pastel or floral or girly and it is not in a fabric that everyone knows and loves, but it is awesome and definitely unique.

I know there are people who really wanted something and missed out and I have ordered a little bit more fabric. I am not in a position to be able to offer custom made pieces, but I will post a link when the fabric arrives for people to be able to suggest a dress style and sizing preference for the new dresses that I make up.

I have to thank my 2 star models, Paige and Holly for rocking the outfits for me in some very impromptu last minute photo shoots!

In between starting a new job and planning my daughter's first birthday party, I hope to be able to pull together a little Christmas Collection, so keep an eye on my facebook page for updates on that.

AND THE WINNER IS...

Thanks so much to everyone who took the time to enter my competition and for helping me get to the 1000 liker milestone. Your feedback has been invaluable and will help dictate the sizes and quantities I make for my Christmas Collection.... I can't believe the number of you shopping for size 2!! 

Anyway, back to the topic at hand...

THE LUCKY WINNER IS 

LITTLE BOO BOO'S

Keep your eyes peeled for the release of my first collection, The Spooky Collection (planned for release 26 August with preview album loaded a few days in advance). 

These fabric's are AWESOME and so different to what everyone else is using, so your little one will stand out (hopefully for all the right reasons). I took them to work the day they arrived so I could just look at them all day, they are by far my most favourite fabrics ever and I am sad to be coming to the end of them now. There will only be a few pieces in every size (size 0-6) and every piece is different. If you love it as much as me, you will have to be quick to grab something!

LET'S GET TO 1000 LIKERS COMPETITION

At BOO!, I try to do things a little differently.  I don't like to make the same thing over and over and I don't like to use the same fabrics over and over (or I get bored).  I search high and low for pretty fabrics in lots of different places.

I don't take custom orders, mostly because I am just far to busy to do it (see previous blog).  I recently started an 'Expressions of Interest' list. What this means is that if you like something that you have seen me do, you send me an email to let me know.  I keep track of who likes what and in what sizes.  If I know what people like and what sizes, then I can keep that in mind when making things.  I can also give you a heads up before listing the item for sale.

I have received a number of 'Expressions of Interest' lately for things made out of a beautiful fabric by Saffron Craig, an amazing Australian designer.  The fabric is called Magical Lands and it is so pretty, not to mention it features my favourite colours, blue and purple.

For the opportunity to win either a Toffee Apple Tunic or a Tuxedo Top (or dress) using Saffron Craig's Magical Lands fabric, all you need to do is leave a comment on the picture on Facebook telling me...

which style you prefer, and

what size you shop for

Call it market research if you like!  Oh and if we can get to 1000 likers in the process, that would be fantastic too, so tell your friends!

Competion will be drawn using random.org by numbering the comments (one per person). You have until Friday 12 August at 8pm QLD time.

So what are you waiting for?  GO! GO!

MY SECRET ADDICTION

I am regularly asked how on earth I have the time to do BOO! when I work full time.
There are a lot of things that have suffered so that I can sew... here are a few...

MY LEGS
I used to groom myself much more regularly, but now through no fault of sewing, I have become a rather hippy looking mountain goat.  If I try to have a bath while kids are awake, I normally have 2 kids trying to get in the bath with me along with 2 dogs who walk the perimeter of the bath and eat the bubbles while I try to shave my legs. I can't bath after the kids are down as running the bath would wake the kids as it is inconveniently positioned opposite both of their rooms (I DO still shower though).  Thank goodness for winter.  I shaved them yesterday though... yipee!

MY HAIR
I used to wash it and straighten it on a daily basis... not anymore!  A couple of times a week, it gets the old wash and a super quick half-blow dry before being tied back in a messy pony tail.  I also don't get time to go to the hairdresser anymore, so that saves me lots of money!  I washed, dried and straightened it today though!!

MY BEAGLES
They used to go to the dog park once or twice a week so that they could walk around and sniff things and avoid all other dogs or come and sit under the seat at the park while I socialised with the other doggy owners... now they have to be content with just sniffing in their own yard and chasing each other around.

SLEEP
I used to go to bed at around 9:30pm, my husband thought I was mad and wouldn't dream of coming to bed before his scheduled sleep time of 10:30pm no matter how tired he was.  Now he usually has to come downstairs and drag me to bed.

EXERCISE
Well I should exercise and sometimes I work up a sweat whipping out fabrics and running between the sewing machine and overlocker... actually, who am I kidding, I just don't exercise anymore.

CLEANING
My house used to be clean.. it is not now... The clean clothes get sorted into the rightful owners baskets and that is about it these days... I have a giggle to myself under the covers when I hear my husband swearing after falling over baskets of clothes in the middle of the night after doing bottle duty!  I still tend to have to vaccum pretty regularly to clean up the bits of cotton and fabric that my daughter now tries to eat.

The kids are usually both down by 8pm and that gives me a good 3 hours to internet, research and sew while I catch up on my tv viewing!

Would I change anything?  Probably not!  I enjoy it so much that if I stopped, I would only think about it and toss and turn and not be able to sleep anyway.  I think I need to find a less addictive hobby!

NOT SURE ABOUT THOSE ROCKS IN ROME...



Disneyland Paris



I was having a conversation with my husband today and saying how 'Paris' is so in right now in the land of fabric and applique.  We discussed that I didn't really enjoy my visit to Paris and that my highlights were a trip to Disneyland and a dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe where we sat next to 2 very funny American ladies who had a camera that was dedicated exclusively to taking photos of boy bits around town (statue and real)... what a laugh! 

The Eiffel Tower was beautiful, but a bit brown and rusty looking, not like the pictures and I think I almost expected it to have little markets underneath with little French guys in striped shirts selling their wares at market stalls... I blame the movies for over-glamorising things!

Then I mentioned the rocks in Rome (the Coliseum)... well, his face dropped.  "What do you mean the ROCKS in Rome, you mean the Epicentre of the Roman Empire?"  I said "Yeah, what is so fancy about that, why is that so good?"  He replied and told me something about lions and Christian's... not really sure, tuned out!  I do remember him saying something about not believing we have been together for over 10 years and him not knowing that I wasn't interested in the rocks! 



These are some 'rocks' that I do really appreciate and love
- The Giant's Causeway, Ireland



Venice on the other hand, well I loved that place!  I have been twice now.  I loved it because it is still there (and the Carbonara was to die for).  I wouldn't go back to see it after it has sunk though... where is the fun in that? 

Sorry, but I am just not into history. 

Some might say I am uncultured, but others might understand.  For me, I need to see things to fully appreciate them, not look at them and picture what they used to be.

I have an imagination, really I do, I think it just works in reverse.  With fabric, I can look at it folded up in neat piles or thrown in a heap and visualise exactly what I would use it for, what it will become and how awesome it will look when it is finished!

Funny how the mind works hey?




'Brite' Tunic modelled by Paige

 

I GOT IT FROM MY GRANDMA...

My Mum always tells me that when I was little, I was the best dressed kid at pre-school.  This was all thanks to my Grandma, who used to make lots of my clothes.   As I look back at some of the pictures, I realise just how amazing she was.  They were always lovely and far too nice to be covered in paint, but Mum feared that if I didn't wear them there, I wouldn't get to wear them at all and all that effort would be wasted.





Me in outfits made by my Grandma.  The kangaroo dress is so similar to my Picture This! range and I only found this photo tonight!



My Mum is very arty and creative, she has also tried her hand at sewing.  She told me that she hates it, but I suspect there was a time that she didn't given that I do remember a few of the outfits she made including a pair of Cabbage Patch Kids shorts.  Definitely OOAK (one of a kind) and so unique and different to what anyone else had for sure (not sure if that is a good or bad thing)!




Me in outfits made by my Mum



I make clothes for my daughter, Holly now and am very proud to see her wear them to kindy.  I really don't care if they are covered in dirt and paint as at this age, you need to get as much wear out of them as possible before they grow out of them.  I have to say, I think it would be hard for her to get covered in dirt or paint, because they cover her in bibs so that she doesn't mess up her clothes and fight over who gets to carry her around and cuddle her, I don't think she has ever been on the floor!   



Holly in outfits made by me



I did a little Home Ec at school and really enjoyed the sewing bit (less so the cooking bit, although I like making sweets)!  There is one little outfit that sticks in my mind, which included making a little girls dress with an applique of a sailing boat.  I remember how proud I was of that outfit and wish I still had it.  It probably wasn't that good and I am sure that I remember it being so much better than it actually was!

I can't tell you how many times I think of my Grandma when I sew and how much I would love her to be here so that she could see some of my creations. 

Miss you Grandma xxx



My favourite 'Holly' outfit





WHAT'S IN A NAME...

When it came to creating a page name, I came up with KG Designs (my intials, and I thought the play on names with 'cagey' would be cute), it would also still be flexible enough that I could use it to load birthday invitations and other things that I had been dabbling with. 


However, since my son, Jesse was my initial inspiration and the reason I got started sewing, he needed to be in the name.  Before he was born, we called him BOO! after Boo from Monster's Inc. (one of my husband, Aaron's favourite movies), I think I wanted to refer to the baby as peanut, but I lost that battle... thought it would be better to let my husband win that battle, rather than the war after the baby was born!! 




Jesse was blowing raspberries all over us and always had funky 'product' in his hair, so I incorporated a cheeky looking monkey with spikey hair into the logo.  We call it party hair now and he rarely leaves the house without his 'parpy hair'.

When I found out I was pregnant with our second baby, I went and got a bunch of ruffle bum patterns and put them away (I think I even got them before I was pregnant).  This baby had absolutely no choice but to be a girl, I was SO confident that she would be.  Our little princess, Holly was born in September last year.  We secretly knew that she was a girl and that we were calling her Holly, as Aaron caved at 20 weeks and let me run back up to the doctor who did the scan to find out the sex (even though we had no intention of finding out)!  I made some pretty linen in blues and purples since she was moving into Jesse's blue room and they were safely hidden away in the cupboard.  Man, had I come a long way since Jesse's linen. 

My love for making little girl clothes was born from my first pair of ruffles.

IN THE BEGINNING...

A few years ago, I got a bonus from work and I decided that I needed a sewing machine.  I went to look at them and came home with one.... done!  I purchased a few patterns and made myself some clothing.  Some of them are very dodgy and I wouldn't be seen dead in them now.  For the most part, my sewing machine sat in the corner of the lounge room on the floor with its lid on. 

When my son, Jesse was born, I thought that he needed some cot linen and when I looked at the ones in the shop, there was nothing that I quite liked or was willing to pay so much for given the short amount of time he would need it.  Back then, I had no idea about cutting mats or rulers or rotary cutters... I used the grouting on our floor tiles as guides for cutting the fabric!  When I looked at lettering, there was none big enough for what I wanted, so I printed out a font I liked as a template, then cut it out and made my own.  I didn't even know there was such a thing as that papery stuff that you use for applique!  I enjoyed it so much, I made a few more, just for fun. 

When Christmas came around, I thought I would make Santa sacks as a little surprise present for our mother's group boys.  They would receive it on the day we exchanged our 'secret Santa' presents and it would be a backpack style so they could fill it up and put it on their backs to take their presents home.  I used ZAC as the guinea pig, because his name was the shortest.... Sorry, Zac, I would do that so much better now!  I ended up making 27 sacks that year.  I thought all the kids I knew needed a sack.  Gee, I was pretty good at it by the end of it even if there were a few dodgies along the way.

I loaded a few pics up onto a Facebook 'Fan' page, mostly just for my own viewing pleasure.  I had no intention of starting a business or anything, I just thought it would be a good place to keep them.  Some random person from a place I had never heard of became a fan and I remember thinking, what's with that??? 

I have come a long way in a short time and feel like I get better every day.  I love doing BOO!  It would be lovely to do it full time, but there are too many bills to pay!  For now, I just survive on a lot less sleep than I ever used to or thought I could. I love bright, bold colours, and tend to stay away from pastels and florals since they are not really my thing.  I do my best not to 'copy' anyone and try to make things that I haven't seen elsewhere, so hopefully what you see is something unique that is not being done by the masses.  My tastes are evolving and I get more adventurous with my colours and fabrics every day and hopefully get a bit smarter about how I do things along the way.  To anyone who follows me or has been kind enough to purchase something, I am so grateful that you do, it feeds my little addiction and lets me go and create more loveliness!

 
It is interesting when I look back at the notes I took from visiting a fortune teller when I lived in Dublin around 5 years ago. 

"You are a creative person and should be

doing something more creative,

you will be working for yourself in around 5 years"

Everything else that she has told me on the list has pretty much come true, maybe there is something to all this hocus pocus... we will just have to wait and see!