Nundah City

After having brunch today, we noticed a newcomer to the vacant shops in Nundah Village. We're now lucky enough to have a fabulous retro/vintage store in our suburb! (Although, I must point out that the owner hates the terms 'retro' and 'vintage'.)

Nundah City is owned by Steve, who was behind Rotten Records in the city and Kleptomania in Fortitude Valley. Now Steve will be selling records, furniture and other homewares right in my neighbourhood. If anyone's keen, he currently has a set of bright orange Kartell nesting tables! I was super tempted myself, and probably would have caved had they been red, white or black.

He also has a replica of a Kartell magazine rack, which is a yellow version of the one I own.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to be spending a lot of time looking around Steve's shop in the coming weeks!

Ukiyo-e demonstration and workshop

On the weekend, I attended a ukiyo-e demonstration and workshop with my friend Irene. It was hosted by the Japanese Consulate in Australia, and included a lecture by the Director of the Ukiyo-e Museum, Kunio Sakai. We were also very lucky to witness the skills of one of only thirty ukiyo-e printmakers practising in Japan today, Tatsuya Ito. For a comprehensive account of our afternoon, check out Irene's post here.

After the demonstration, we were privileged enough to use Ito-san's woodblocks and print two colours of a print ourselves.

Thanks Irene for inviting me to come along!

Crafty folk raising money for the floods

Apologies for the lack of posting. Although we are completely untouched physically by the floods here in Nundah, I couldn't help but be glued to the TV for the last few days. We have plenty of friends in the affected areas, but to my knowledge no-one we are close to lost a lot (although, that may be because we simply don't know yet).

I left work at about 10.30 last Tuesday morning (to get home before transport was potentially halted), and I haven't been able to go back. We've been told that we'll likely be allowed back in on Wednesday, but that's not confirmed. I've had no access to my work email until late yesterday, so today and tomorrow I'll do what little I can to try and help out.

As we all know, there's been a huge amount of support being offered by so many in our community - not just in Brisbane, but elsewhere. John and I spent a couple of days cooking up a storm for Baked Relief, where snacks and meals are cooked for the hungry volunteers around the city. The lovely Kelley from Peppermint magazine was even lovely enough to collect a batch. More food will be needed in the coming weeks, so if you can spare a few hours to cook, please do.

A sample of my baked goods on day 2!

Image: Peppermint

The BrisStyle team has listed HEAPS of items on Etsy for their Handmade Ark Appeal, with all proceeds going to the flood appeal. There are a few similar Etsy groups happening too, such as the Australian Flood Appeal.

Make it Perfect has an auction of similarly crafty items, with all proceeds going to the appeal.

Jewellery-makers Epheriell Designs (until 20 January) and Polli (until 31 January) are donating 20 per cent of sales.

Little Shop of Handmade are donating 100 per cent (yes, 100 per cent!) of all internet sales from 20 December to 23 January. This is so amazingly generous, so I think I'll be doing some shopping!

If there are any more places deserving of a mention, please leave a comment and I'll add them to the list.

Please also don't forget the Premier's Flood Relief Appeal if you wish to donate directly. Also, the RSPCA do not receive any of the appeal funds collected, so are running their own fundraising campaign. They need to rebuild their entire Fairfield shelter (including the veterinary clinic), so please help if you can. Lifeline could also use some help, so they can assist with counselling those affected.

Project 18 Christmas party

If you’re in the Brisbane/Sunshine Coast area and looking for something to do next weekend, think about supporting the Project 18 Christmas party and raising money for this wonderful organisation.

Run by the lovely Cate Bolt, ‘Project 18 prides itself in the fact that we aren't here to offer band-aid solutions to broken lives. Our mission is to increase the quality of life for underprivileged and orphaned children but we go further than just providing shelter, food and the basics in life.’

The Christmas party will be happening on Steve Irwin’s Whale One, and includes a three-hour cruise and delicious banquet lunch. A full bar will also be operational.

Please visit the Project 18 website for more info or to buy tickets. Or, if you can’t make it, check out the other items in the Project 18 shop (including Cocolo fair trade chocolate, which contributes ‘bricks’ to building a classroom in Indonesia).

More screenprinting workshop... and a giveaway!

You can now see Thea's overview of the weekend screenprinting workshop on her website. The other ladies produced some fabulous designs (many far more ambitious than my own!), and I think we should all be very proud of ourselves. Here's a picture of me at the studio with one of my newly printed bags.

Image: Thea Samios

I also forgot to mention that after the class, John and I stopped off at Love Love Studio (in Newstead, Brisbane) to pick up a print we purchased at a recent exhibition. On hearing that I've just done a screenprinting course, the guys were kind enough to give me one of the screens they had laying around the studio. How awesome is that?!

Now for a giveaway! I'm giving away one each of my apples and pears bags! Keep in mind that these two bags are far from perfect - they certainly have their flaws! If you would like to win one, just leave a comment before 5.00pm Sunday (Brisbane time - keep that in mind daylight savings people!).

Thanks BrisStyle Indie Eco Market!

Many of you know already that I've been having a bizarre never-ending winning streak of late. I've managed to score a whole heap of great stuff from fellow bloggers around the world, particularly some very clever local crafters.

The icing on the cake came last weekend, when I won one of the raffle baskets at the BrisStyle Indie Eco Market at Hamilton! The proceeds raised went to a fabulous cause - Knitting for Brisbane's Needy. I found my prize sitting on the doorstep this morning (I think it has been there since Friday - oops!), and it was packed full of great eco wares - many of which I'd had my eye on! Some of the contributions included those from Beckybean, Jetta's Nest, Wicked Child Designs, Kim Wallace (Udessi), Wimcee, Renee Treml, Denim Days, and many many more! I'll be sharing the spoils with my best friend, who also bought raffle tickets on the day. Here's a peek at what was included!

I also want to pay public thanks to the other great people who've sent awesomeness my way recently. There's more on the way (yep, crazy but true), but so far I've received beautiful stuff from:

Wind and Water Designs
REread
Calico & Co.
Being Tazim

Please stop by the websites of these fantastic people and check out their wares. I'm not sure whether my winning streak has come to an end yet, but I've bought a lottery ticket just in case...

Favourite Things Project

As if I don't have enough to do, I've decided to participate in the Favourite Things Project being run by Tazim (from the Being Tazim blog).

I may not participate in all 52 weeks, but I'll do as many as I can. For the first week, Tazim has asked participants to talk about iconic things they love about their country or city. So, I'll talk about two things I love about Brisbane.

Firstly, the Brisbane River. I'm not sure why, but I really enjoy walking over the river across a bridge, or taking the bus and looking out the window. I'm super excited that I'm taking a CityCat out to lunch tomorrow to celebrate my birthday early with John's parents. Since I've lived in Brisbane, three new bridges have been built in the city over the river (one of them even opens this weekend!). As I don't yet drive, I'll show you the my favourite pedestrian bridge - Kurilpa Bridge, which I walk over twice a day because it ends up right outside my work.

Images: The Architectural Review

The other thing I love about Brisbane is the growing trend towards to handmade, particularly all the fantastic markets. We now even even host the Finders Keepers Markets twice a year, which used to only be presented in Sydney and Melbourne. These markets are held in the Old Museum, which is a beautiful building to visit.

Images: Mark Lobo for Finders Keepers

Image: Ralf Regeer for Our Brisbane

The trend towards crafting does not end with markets. The start of winter also meant the launch of the I Knit Brisbane, which saw knitted and crocheted creations pop up all over the city. Here are some creations from Rogue Cosie and friends, at the end of the Goodwill Bridge (another pedestrian bridge).

Image: Rogue Cosie

If you'd like to participate in the Favourite Things Project, sign up at Being Tazim! To find out more about cool stuff in Brisbane, check out my Brisbane city guide on the Design*Sponge website.