Thats not a basket. THIS is a basket!

I decided if I was to be a serious craftster, I would need some serious craft supplies. That of course means a kitchy retro sewing basket. We managed to do a deal with Aldi for some rather nice tapestry covered sewing baskets (2 for 1 - bargain!) for Kate and I, and then off we went hunting for some good monkey-making socks at Vinnies Cronulla. And whilst there I found the most FANTASTIC kitchy retro sewing basket! D'oh - double baskets! So Mum has inherited the Aldi one, and I must say I love my Vinnies one, best $6 purchase ever :)

Monkey - of the sock variety

There will be a bunch o blogs coming in short sucession to catch up my blogging with my crafting

Is it just me, or is the sock monkey not well known in Australia? It seems to be an American craft staple, yet I hadnt ever heard of one until recently! Of course, once I found them, I made one immediately:


My first ever sock monkey: Winston. I particularly like that there was a hole in the toe of the sock, so his forehead has been stictched up making him a bit Frankenstein :)

How it all started...

I have had a craft revival of late. It all started many years ago when I was in primary school (Year 5 to be exact), and I borrowed this book from my school library:

Ondori Lovable Mini Dolls by Terumi Otaka
ISBN# 0870405187

I remember turning each page and wanting to make EVERYTHING in the book (and believe me, thats a lot - theres 165 patterns in this baby!) I made a few of the creatures - the Duck, Bat, Dragonfly, Frog and Bear - and photocopied a few of the patterns of things I would like to make later before diligently returning the book to the library.

Fast forward a decade and a bit, and I still have those photcopies and a few of the little felt creatures that I had made. My littlest sister Kate, who is now about the same age I was when I originally made these, found them and asked me about it, which inspired my new crafting mission: I would once again make small creatures out of felt :)

Thinking it would be highly doubtful I would find the exact book I had loved when I was a kid (and wistfully wondering if perhaps I could go back and borrow it again from my primary school...), I looked around on the net for similar books/patterns, and stumbled across a highly inspirational and talented online crafting community and many amazing blogs!! I also off I went to the fab Kinokuniya bookstore in the city, where I bought this book:

Felt Mascots by Keiko Matsuda
ISBN# 4834754766

And so started my crafting again!

PS. I later did a random ebay search for 'felt' and found THE PRIMARY SCHOOL BOOK!!! And so I bought it!! Its much smaller than I remember, but inside its still as fantastic :)