Frankenstein’s Fabrics on Handmade Australia.

I won’t be writing blogs for a little while.

Dad’s in hospital and it’s very serious.

I’m still updating on Facebook.

I’ll be back later.

To all of you who’ve already expressed good vibes, thoughts, well wishes and prayers – Thank you <3

Once again I have been lax in my blogging duties. I apologise profusely.

but… I have a very, very good reason….well actually maybe not considering how much of everyone’s lives seems to be sucked into the vortex that is Pinterest.

I’ve been merrily pinning my life away – collecting ideas for my Halloween party for this year, some colour combinations for some upcoming projects, cakes for my mum to get inspiration from, things I like and love and the list goes on… It’s not a Pinterest page for the business, it is my personal one. I might start a business one later.

Things have been a little chaotic around my neck of the woods lately – we had the passing away of my great uncle, a leaking rusty hot water tank, car trouble, job drama, hospital drama… hopefully things will settle shortly but the past two months have made life very stressful. When things happen in condensed chunks like this I lose a lot of sleep as my mind keeps picking away at how things could be done differently, I pull apart every aspect of my life to see if something could have been prevented etc… I become neurotic and over-analyse everything.

But in saying that sometimes this self-analysis helps. I can see my life in segments and work out where I can change things or where I can fix something. At the moment for example there are a few people in my life who are nudging me to ‘find’ someone. I’ve been on my own for quite a while and love my single life – but it is hard to maintain that outlook when you are getting hints from friends (and family) that you need someone. It wears me down a little but I still would prefer being on my own. It’s hard too when you are at an age when everyone is getting married and having babies. There is always that niggling doubt in the back of your mind that you are missing some vital human characteristic that makes you want to do these things too and follow the traditional social norms.

Sorry to disappoint folks but I have no intention of having children. Marriage is only on the cards if there is a man out there who can accept all of this craft crazy in me. 😀

People often ask me why I don’t want children, especially since I make all these quilts for them… my answer…I’m not the mother type usually gets a comment like ‘well neither was I’, but I know that I can’t be there for someone else the way a child needs its mother. That kind of obligatory love is just not in me, I think I’m far too selfish to give up my time in that way. Part of this also stems from some health problems I had 5 or 6 years ago. I won’t go into the gory details but basically the problems I had can potentially cause me issue were I to try and have kids. And yes I know that potential doesn’t mean irrevocably but it’s just something that I am not prepared to risk, nor put a partner through. So for now I am content to live vicariously through my friend’s kids, make them quilts and then hand them back the their parents. I feel no guilt for not passing on my genetic material.

Anyways – I will get back to blogging about craft and quilt stuff next week. I’ll be in market planning mode 🙂

Marni

Hi everyone!

Not exactly a riveting post this one and not very long either as I’m still working on a few things and don’t have time to sit and ponder life’s mysteries.

So I will get right to it….

{drum roll…}

SALE TIME!!

The shop turns 9 months old this coming weekend so I thought it’d be a good time for a SALE.

So head on over to my Facebook page and see all the goodies that are up for grabs. All the details are in the album description.

I’ll be adding more things over the coming week and pretty much all the way through the sale ‘month’ (eh, it’s a few days more than a month)

See you over there!

Marni

The past few weeks have been a little chaotic…

In the aftermath of Darling Harbour I was running around chasing orders, information, a new job (I’ll explain later), wedding stuff for my sister and a whole lot of other little bits and pieces that seem to pile up.

So…

Firstly –

Wood: The new cross stitch kits arrived this morning. Too cute. Owls and Babushkas, flowers, circles, hearts and ovals.

$15 each – in stock now

Secondly – This week has also been PANEL week. Prices range from $13.20 – $19.80per panel

Thirdly – My new job. Over the last month some things have changed and my beading magazine has been cancelled (not because things are bad, just because the company is changing certain things and moving in other directions). So I went off to look for a part time work because I’m slightly mental and like to keep busy 😀

So what I am doing is consultancy work for a mail order company – they wanted someone to advise them on craft products – so an easy kind of job for me but not too draining on my energy or time. Bonus points for the job because I don’t have to go into their office!

Everyone has been asking if I’m okay – and yes I am. Not sad or upset but kind of glad because now I have time to start writing my book… more on that later…hehehe

Fourthly – wedding stuff. No it’s not me! It’s my little sister. She became engaged at the end of last year and has started planning some of the stuff that all weddings seem to require these days. So as I am the ‘crafty one’ I got to help out with making invitations. We have just made the bases of all the invites because not all the reception/ceremony details are set in stone yet. My next task is the decorations. Papercrafting is my third crafty love so helping out my sis is no chore. 🙂

Anyways…

It’s raining here in Gosford again today, a bit chilly and my hands are numb (but currently one handed typing as the other hand is wrapped around my peach tea).

I have a whole pile of custom orders waiting for me but everything’s on hold while I wrap up the last issue of beading. After that it’s full stitch ahead with the custom orders, my collection of UFO’s and the next round of magazine projects.

Don’t forget that the class list has been updated and covers us until the last day of trading this year. Book soon to reserve your place as spots are limited in each class. Check the Classes tab for the full list.

If you are interested in a night class please email me – due to limited demand I did not schedule a full complement of night classes and will be doing these as needed when people ask. Also if no-one minds I would prefer to do night classes when Daylight Savings is back on as its cold and miserable in an industrial area at night.

There are no custom quilt spots left this year. If you would like one I am now filling places for 2013. Please email me for quotes or pop in store if you are local. One custom quilt spot per month is all I can allot at this stage – I have other commitments that I am obliged to fulfil.

If you have a small quilt order (cot quilt, playmat, wall hanging) please don’t hesitate to contact me. As these are small pieces I can usually fit them in around the big stuff. When I say one custom order per month I mean single bed size quilt and upwards.

I hope this post hasn’t done your heads in… this is more information than I have written in a long time so I hope it wasn’t too much.

Back to my instructions…

Marni

So I disappeared for a while… my apologies…

Darling Harbour was … amazing, but time and energy consuming.

The five days of trading gave me some well needed insights to what you as customers want, some really good feedback from you as well and some positive reinforcement to the things I’d been doing.

After all of that week of hustle and bustle I sent pretty much all day Monday asleep. Totally exhausted.

I’ll be releasing a few new and exciting things over the next few weeks so make sure you stay tuned.

Just a teaser…

• Sale items
• New classes
• Free project per month
• New pattern releases

Night,

Marni