New cushions for 'Hilbarn New Vintage' store in Tasmania

A friend of mine, talented journalist Hilary Burden, and her partner Barney have opened a lovely little country store called Hilbarn New vintage, at Karoola in Northern Tasmania...and she asked me to make her some cushions for the store (and a magazine feature! Yay, I hope these cushions work well for her and the photographer?!)

Hilbarn also has a fabulous Fresh Produce Delivery service in and around Launceston and this is something I feel passionately about....and just wish we lived a little closer to town to enjoy the benefits of this service (luckily we have productive vegetable gardens and fruit orchards at both our parent's places which we can raid regularly!).



Hand and freehand machine embroidery on silk, with jacquard woven hemp backing and Australian feather inserts, each cushion measures 60 x 30cm.


I'm really pleased with how the Peony Teapot cushion worked out...its quite hard to see this one go away, actually!

Teacup Beecup loveliness from Chile

A friend just emailed a link to designer Mariana Tocornal's website where you can see these amazing and delicate Beecups and Teabag artworks...Happy perusing!

Alice in Wonderland is all the rage...again!

My friend Cat-Rabbit has just shown me this amazing old version of Alice in Wonderland made in 1903...



Isn't it glorious?!! I love the Mad Hatter's tea party scene, with all the restored film scratches and jumpy frames!

Amazing Museum Tea cosy find....

Last Friday I spent a very productive day with curator Elizabeth Adkins at Franklin House in Launceston, in Northern Tasmania.

We are working on an exhibition/collaboration about Tasmanian Women's underwear between 1820 (European settlement/Occupation), and 1930. Franklin House is a National Trust property which happily has a fabulous small collection of antique clothing which we spend 4 hours inspecting and documenting for specific items.

Our current working title for the exhibition project is 'Intimacy' & Elizabeth will be curating the exhibition, drawing on the collections of Tasmania's small museums, and writing the exhibition essay....and I will be responding to the collections we inspect as well as the general historical background and traditions associated with Women's Underwear in Australia and in particular, Tasmania. So I will create a body of embroidered textile artworks which reflect all our research and field trips to inspect collections.

So far Elizabeth and I have been to see and document the lovely collections at the Smithton Museum in North-West Tasmania, and now Franklin House near Launceston. We have a huge schedule of more road trips and will start a new blog about this exhibition project to share the exciting results with everyone who is interested!

During our inspection at Franklin House we found this magnificent treasure....a truly Majestic Tea Cosy of exciting proportions....and so interestingly made to resemble Peacock plumage to some extent. I was so excited about finding it that I HAD to share these pics....!






Also another blog that I love and want to share with you is Toronto based Flock of Teacosy. Check out Michaelle's lovely felted wool cosies.....I'm hoping my sister in Toronto can get me one for my birthday in April?!

Is there a magic formula for stretching days & making them longer....?

I'm really itching to make another tea cosy, well, to finish another one.
I have four cut and pinned and in various stages of completion, maybe more than four actually....though for now I have commission and orders to complete.

These are two of six new purses for my Autumn/Winter 2010 collection for my PARIS+TASMANIA label and have been mailed off to (M)Art at Artisan in Brisbane, Queensland (Australia) for the opening of their new store at Southbank.

I'm playing with some familiar imagery that I really love, mixed with Elizabethan portraits & slashed clothing and 1920's beading on silk satin and Dupion...I really want to start freeing up a lot with my embroidery and having fun again, so this is the start...and you can see more here

Trusty Teapot...


A restrained Willow Patterned teacup...

Tea Cosies brewing in my mind....

Wow, this is turning into a once-a-month blog since I started being a baby-cosy!
At the moment I'm making work to fill orders and luckily there are three tea cosies on order which I'm working on right now....

I had a stall at The Market in Hobart last Sunday and found a very good home for my 1930's Kitchen Cupboard Cosy, which has a lovely new owner. I always feel so happy when coises find their owners!

Also at The Market I had some lovely new purses...coin cosies!!

T for Teapot


W for Willow Pattern


The inspiration for these purses are some old Victorian era wooden alphabet blocks with printed paper sides I found in a junk shop years ago.

Can't wait to upload pics of new cosies, hopefully next week!

Blogerama- sharing the love!

I've been getting lots of publicity for my work recently and featured in the February issue of Australian House & Garden magazine, and now in the March issue of Notebook magazine, alongside some very inspirational women like the talented & glamorous owner of Melbourne store & blog Meet Me At Mike's, Pip Lincoln.

A friend also pointed out to me that I've been seen on some global blogs too:
Gypsy Village & Brabourn Farm, which is very glam!

Two of my Teacosy* Revolution Tea Cosies have also found new homes with friends in Tasmania: the very talented jeweller Anita Dineen has become the proud owner of Teacosy* Number 9, and origami whizzes Sam & Maya of Hideyo Designs have chosen Tea Time Teacosy*, which is great!

So this is just an update to let you know what's been happening lately!
And to finish this post I'd like to show you a really great packaging design on my favourite TICK TOCK brand Rooibos Tea (Aspalathus Linearis).

Think I'll put the kettle on.......