Christmas Drinks

I finally got the chance to visit Sydney and start the first of my Christmas drinks. It was a bittersweet, farewell/catch up with my good friend Kirsty!  We had a long cruisy lunch at Manly Wine. It was hard to leave, such a gorgeously decorated bar with views of the ocean and Kirsty ;) I had to refrain myself from photographing all the interiors, so I just kept the photo's to my model friend, rocking a Elkhorn Scarf and our yummy Giggly Rose cocktails!
Kirky hope you have good travels home and a fantastic Italian Christmas! xx Miss you!
Only 4 days left of making and creating for Elkhorn, then back to Sydney for some more festive fun!

Labours of love...

 

 

I love making one-off cushions... not that all our cushions are not "one-off" and individual, as they are all handmade. But it's good to have a break from the norm... it helps keep me sane! I often have a few side projects on the go, mostly experiments & a mix up of our current designs. They do become a labour of love and sometimes it's hard to let them go... but one can only have so many cushions.
My favorite part is adding small touches of stitching, I love seeing natural cord next to sparkles of gold. Here are a few of my favs, some of which have already gone to a good home.

The Finders Keepers - starts this Friday

 

Some how it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! I don't know how it happened but the festive season, seemed to of rubbed off onto Elkhorn's latest limited edition(very limited), Table Runners & Dahlia Tanks. We have combined soft neutral colours with pop's of bright red to create, fresh table features & vibrant tanks! These will be at our stall at The Finders Keepers this Friday night & Saturday! I will be saying goodbye to my collection of swans, planted with sweet little Haworthia succulents, unless I am the only person in love with them... in which case I will gladly take them home again.

Okay, I love the rain but it has to stop so we can finish the last of our screen printing!!

So come along for some crazy good Christmas shopping. Mother Elkhorn and I will be there Friday night and Gbone & Libby will be helping me out Saturday so come say Hi!!

MagnifiScent Flowers

Kirsten from MagnifiScent Flowers put together a little flower arrangement for our stall at Magnolia Square. We already had so many things to prepare for the Elkhorn stall set-up, so it was one less thing to think about. She took our concept on board and came back the next day with the sweetest Water Lillie's. They finished the stall off beautifully and received so many compliments & comments. Thanks Kirsten, for your professional & stylish touch! Look forward to meeting you again soon and discussing Brooklyn in more detail x

Magnolia Square

 

Elkhorn ready for the opening

 Our lovely neighbor Jules

 

 

 the 'oh so hot ladies' from Materialistic & Mae

 

 Elkhorn's WOW factor!

 

Magnolia Square was such fun, hot & crazy, that I ended up in bed for two days after with a cold. I have made it to the computer today with a million tissues & herbal tea to keep me going. I didn't have much time to leave our stall, so a lot of the photos are a little Elkhorn focused. Mag Square was a wonderful market... we made lots of new friends. It was great to meet fellow textiles designers Materialistic, feed the dog and States of Nature, the range of different textiles designers constantly amazes me, each with their own unique twist. I highly recommend this curated market, it was well worth it. If you didn't manage to make it this time be sure to check their 2011 events calendar, we hope to make it to next years Feb event at the new venue Paddington Town Hall. Thanks to everyone who braved the heat and came along. Oh, I nearly forgot to mention our stall won, one of the WOW factor awards selected by stylist Jason Grant !! It was super exciting and very unexpected.

Magnolia Square this weekend!!!

 

We have four more days until we set up for the Magnolia Square curated market at Randwick... I am excited and nervous at the same time! It's 3 full days... starting Fri Nov 12th till Sun 14th. So these next few days are going to be crazy, finishing off table runners, dahlia tanks, cushions... ahhhh a bit of everything. I have been following the Magnolia Square Snippets - blog this past couple of weeks, each day features a designer from the upcoming market AND Wow there are some very talented people, which I can not wait to meet! We are currently featured... super exciting!!

Hopefully we will get sometime to do a little Christmas shopping.
So please come along for some unique Christmas shopping and tell all your friends!

Dahlia Muslin Baby Wrap

On a little side project, we have been making a few baby wraps for new baby friends.  The only coloured muslin I could find was the standard baby pastels, and that's just not fun. I wanted something bright and cheerful, so I decided to hand dye it a bright turquoise. I have to thank Mother Elkhorn for undertaking the dying & sewing... well she nearly did it all but I lay claim to the screen printing! After making these, I thought they could double as beach blankets or scarves, if cut long ways? What do you think? I might make a few more and try them out at the Magnolia Square Markets next week!
Heading to Wollongong tomorrow to meet baby Aidan, so I will have to get a photo of him all wrapped up in it. Cute.

Emma Leonard

 

My girl crush, illustrator Emma Leonard featured today
on the The Finders Keepers blog... just gorgeous

Elkhorn sighted at Pretty Beach to Ferry Street

 

 

 

 

 

  

I never get bored of looking for location spots for Elkhorn. There are endless choices of old weathered jetties. Hardys bay along to Wagstaff is one of my favourite places on the Central Coast. It still has some of that old world holiday charm with little fibro shacks & faded putt putt boats.  It seemed appropriate to photograph Elkhorn's new Ruffle Scarves and Dahlia Swing Tanks with a water backdrop. Needless to say the camera's batteries died half way through(no spares on hand of course!) so I bought a delicious sourdough loaf for lunch from The Fat Goose and wrapped up the shoot down the ole favourite, Ettalong wharf. Hope you enjoy the photos... The blue boat was called "Elma" and had a patch of faux grass placed on the back... do you think the owner plays "putt putt" on it?

All the Dahlia Swing Tanks and Ruffles Scarves are now on Elkhorndesign Etsy Store. Click on individual photos and it should take you through. The Tea towels and cushions are new! They should be up in the next couple of days so look out for an update!

Patonga Creek

Tuesdays morning paddle down Patonga Creek was gorgeous. Such a warm, tranquil day. Luckily I had Sally come up for a visit... good excuse to get out of the studio and explore. There was no one but us a few birds and jumping fish. We didn't catch any fish but feasted on bought whole snappers, barbecued with coconut rice. YUM

Brooklyn Diary

I hadn't expected it to arrive so fast... I ordered the 'Brooklyn Diary' from the Lines & Shapes series and much to my surprise I had found it in the letter box today! I have only had a sneak peek through it as I am savoring it as a end of day treat. It takes a look at the daily lives of 21 Brooklyn artists... some of which I often stalk on the web, so it's pretty special to get a little insight into their studio & home spaces.. plus I have a hankering to visit NY/Brooklyn hopefully next year, so this dairy will work as a slightly unconventional guide to Brooklyn with the artists favourite local spots for the best eats/drinks & places to explore. Who wants to join me?

Melbourne - FInders Keepers pics!

 

A little collection of pics from our weekend at Melbourne Finders Keepers.  I fall in love with Melbourne a little more on each visit. The Finders Keepers was a great excuse for another visit. It was a fun fun weekend...  Thanks as always to Brooke & Sarah (FK Ladies) for making it happen. Now we have to get busy for next stop Sydney Finders Keepers (well fingers crossed we get in!)

1. Our view from the Elkhorn stall
2. Elkhorn's new Dahlia tanks & scarves  - sold out over the weekend!! Promise we are making more
3. The charming Kelly graciously helped out for the weekend
4. Emma Leonard's stall with her gorgeous illustrations. Have a little girl crush on her, she is lovely. You'll see why when you have a look at her work.
5. Beautiful Cloth Poppy Stall
6. Golden Ink Collaborative create one-off jewelry & homewares.. so intricate and original
7. Our new friend Bec from Georgie Love stall we were neighbors for the weekend... thanks for loading us up with musk lollies!
8. The cutest girl checking out the Georgie Love pieces. I wish I had been that trendy at her age!
9. no caption required
10. There has to be a bird pic somewhere!