Modish Market today

Hello Melbournites! The forecast is for a beautiful day which is a perfect excuse for a browse at the Malvern Town Hall for Modish Creators market today from 10 am to 4 pm. Come and say hi!

Finally in store!

Click here to view our latest collection created in collaboration with Thea and Sami.
Thanks Thea for sharing your beautiful fabrics for this collection!

Dress up your transport card

Its been a while coming but the integrated smart card 'myki' is now available on all Melbourne public transport and I have to say I am loving not having to worry about whether I have a ticket or coins on me. One less hassle in my day and a couple of trees saved from paper tickets! To mark the occasion 2 new oilcloth cardholders are now available in the online store - London Bus and NY Subway.

Life Instyle Melbourne

It has been an exciting time for Lyssy May as the new designs are taking shape for Spring/Summer. Part of the new collection will include a collaboration with Thea and Sami. Last Tuesday night I popped by Thea's stand at the Life Instyle trade show here in Melbourne. It looked amazing! (my apologies that my photos are a tad on the blurry side).

Thea and Sami's beautiful display

The hardworking team - Voyt and Thea

One of the best things about working in this industry is the people you meet. It just so happened that Thea's neighbour at the show was Nicole from Hot Toffee. Nicole's fused glass designs continue to delight me with her combination of colours and shapes.

Fab Fab Fabric

At the last Modish Market it was lovely to receive a visit from Nic (of Yardage Design). She had a sweet surprise for me of a gift of 3 of her beautiful fabric designs - how lucky am I?! Yardage Design is celebrating 12 months of blogging - congrats Nic on a gorgeous blog and thanks so much for the thoughtful pressie. The hard part is choosing how to use these lovelies.

Sunny Sunday

It's been a gorgeous winter's afternoon so I have indulged in spending some time in a little suntrap in my lounge room with a cup of tea and some mags and thought I should inspect my plants on the balcony. I am very impressed with the progress of my mint which was suffering from frosty mornings. The solution to use a wooden crate turned on its side to give it a little hidey hole has worked a treat!

I hope you are feeling relaxed and ready for the week ahead. It will be a busy one at the sewing machine for Lyssy May. x

High Tea wrap up

It was a lovely weekend at The High Tea Party at the historic Windsor Hotel here in Melbourne. Ladies sipped champagne, were pampered and gossiped to their hearts content - bliss!

Here are a couple of snaps of the Lyssy May stand. It was lovely to mingle and to meet so many lovely people over the weekend - it was worth the early morning starts!

The Lyssy May life size shopper girl helped out carrying a basket full of travel bags - she loved having a couple of days out of the studio!

Little Wing Clothing - Katoomba

Lyssy May is excited to have flown a parcel of designs to Little Wing Clothing in Katoomba (NSW) which is a particularly favourite part of the Blue Mountains of mine to visit. This new store is located at 112 Katoomba St and is full to the brim with lovely clothes, accessories and other goodies made by Australian designers. Hooray for the owner Michelle for supporting independent design!

The High Tea Party

A couple of years back Lyssy May exhibited at the first Brisbane High Tea Party. Since then the event has continued to grow its reputation as the ultimate women's expo and I am excited to announce that Lyssy May will be part of the Portobello Road market section at the Melbourne event (Windsor Hotel, July 17 - 18). Click here for more info and to buy your tickets for a great girls day out!

Modish Market tomorrow

The studio is all packed up and ready to head to Malvern. The Modish Market (all beautiful handmade goodness) is on tomorrow at the Malvern Town Hall 9 AM to 3 PM. Come and say hi! (handbag circle members bring your card for 10% off).

Fabric heaven? Let's roll!

Where were the warnings for fabric addicts? I almost had a coronary as I descended the steps into this section of the Mustafa shopping centre (Little India, Singapore).

A little more from Singapore

I am finally getting my Singapore pics together. Here's a little collage of images from Ann Siang Hill and Club Street - this little treasure trove of shops and resturants sits at the edge of China Town and has a lovely eclectic feel of both the oriental and the european. A highlight is the gorgeous Books Actually which had a huge piece of fabric with poetry stitched on it hanging outside its door. It is such a beautiful store and you will not only find an amazing and thoughtful collection of books but also quirky collectables, like typewriter ribbons and retro wooden rulers. There are fantastic boutiques around the hill too - this area was one of my favourites to visit by day or night.

Singapore Fling

Lyssy May has just had a little adventure to Singapore for a few days (hence the recent blog neglect). I will post about some of the lovely highlights soon (i.e. I returned with heavy suitcase and light purse!) but there is no topping the experience of breakfast with the orangutans at the Singapore Zoo. I could have stayed for lunch and dinner if only to spend more time with these amazing animals which are 'free ranging' so as you walk through their area of the park they are sitting in the trees right above you. Note the little baby one which won everyone's hearts - who could blame me for wanting to bring one home!?

Open Studio this Sunday

This Sunday (23/5) the Ironsiders are opening their studios to the public from 12 to 3. If you are in Melbourne it would be great to see you there - pop by for a drink and a browse. I will have some materials for sale as well as Lyssy May designs available for purchase if you'd like to come and check out Studio 1. The number of studios has grown since the last open day as well so there are lots more talented people to meet - see you there!

Modish Market

Can it already be a week since I was packing up to go to the first Modish Market? Here is a quick snap of some of the Lyssy May display. It was so lovely to meet fellow stallholders and the many locals who were quick to snap up the recycled map wallets of their suburb - I will know to make more next time! Despite the day starting with a flat car battery and a mad dash to put everything in a cab to make it to set up on time the day turned out to be a special one. I do love a good craft market.

Market Day in Malvern this Saturday

It is 7 years ago this weekend that Lyssy May was launched at my parents house in Brisbane. Here is a snapshot of the bags on display that day - if you own any of these they are truly vintage LM! Fast forward to 2010 and this Saturday I will be at the Modish Creators Market, Malvern Town Hall 9 AM to 3 PM (cnr High St and Glenferrie Road). Be sure to stop and say hi if you are there and I can show you how I now have more than one style of pattern in my designs!

New stockist: The Lillie Tree

If you are lucky enough to live in Brisbane's beautiful Bellbowrie area you must pay a visit to a lovely new local store that's landed: The Lillie Tree at Bellbowrie Shopping Plaza. A fresh batch of Lyssy May goodies has just arrived on their shelves. 

Giveaway goodies & Winners!

Today I had a chance to delve through the Lyssy May shelves to select some giveaway goodies for last week's 200th post. The 2 prizes will each include one of our wallpaper lavender sachets and a handmade 'pattern girl brooch'. One lucky winner will then receive a copy of Handmade in Melbourne and the other a 'what a hoot' owl zip purse. To be in the draw make a comment on the previous post or join up to follow by Thursday.

Winner update! Congratulations to bubbachenille and Sandra Darling - you have each one a handmade goody pack. Thanks so much to everyone for their comments on the 200th post. x

Blog Giveaway - 200th post!

I just realised as I was going to blog about something else that this is post 200 for One Day at Lyssy May - how amazing I have had over 200 things to share in the last couple of years!

As a result please leave a comment about anything or everything, long or short about one thing that made you smile today (or opt in to follow as all followers will go in the draw too!) and I will pop you in the draw for a Lyssy May mystery parcel full of handmade goodness!

2 x prizes will be randomly drawn Thurs April 22nd (comments close midnight Melbourne time Wed 21st April 2010).

Pinboard love 2

Keeping a watchful eye over proceedings at Lyssy May HQ is this copy of a picture of my great grandmother on her wedding day. It wasn't until after I had named my business that I learnt her name was 'Elsie May' and she was apparently an amazingly talented craftswoman. I would dearly loved to have known her but do feel a little of her legacy is stitched into every Lyssy May design!

Pinboard love

Today I am zooming in on the remnants of a button card that has the most gorgeous 'modern miss' design. One button is still attached but I don't think I will ever use it as its too special as is!

If you liked it..

...then you shoulda put a pin in it.. Don't you just love the effect of a pin/cork/inspiration board when it details bits and pieces of stories, some important and some trivial? I thought this week I might 'zoom in' on something different from the board for the next few posts. My board sits over my sewing machine so my eyes can rove over different memories and things that are on the 'to do' list during moments of procrastination.

First up is this dear little piece of canvas work. I used to sell these as pincushions/door hangings when I had my first craft stall when I left school. I think she would definitely have been created around 17 years ago!! Lately she reminded me how much I love canvas and tapestry work so I have embarked on a big project which I will share when I have more to show.

Golden moments

A little treat for my currently crowded studio shelves - beautiful tulips in my Holly Hobbie jug - 'fill your days with golden moments'. The sunshine has been glorious over Easter here in Melbourne which has been the perfect backdrop to numerous special moments. I hope you've enjoyed your break!

Hot Toffee goodness

I do love a nice parcel. This special one arrived from Hot Toffee the other day - I have many pairs of these fused glass stud earrings made by the super talented Nicole and I felt the need to update my collection with some soft green and grey hues.

Nicole's attention to detail in both her designs and her presentation of her products is to be admired!

The Secret

On Sunday some friends and I were chatting about Peppermint Mag and we thought that the next issue mustn't be too far away and how fabulous it is. Less than 24 hours latter it arrived in my  mailbox. Yay! Now I am off to concentrate on the arrival of Johnny Depp on my doorstep whilst I flick through Peppermint's gorgeous pages. Good things can happen for those who wish for them!

Giddy Spinster: platform garden

Apart from loving the name 'giddyspinster' I am also loving these 'upcycled' platform and stilletos planted with cactus and succulents. I am not a high heel wearer but I could handle one of these on on my window sill. Check them out on Etsy.

Which also reminds me that I hope to get along to the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show next week (Mar 24 - 28). Having studied floristy I still like to keep my eye on what's happening in the industry!

Bread winner

Have you seen Thea and Sami's latest homeware creations? I remember my mum had a similar breadbasket in the 80's and I love that Thea has brought the idea up to date with her gorgeous new range of fabrics.

Plus don't forget the tea cosy (a personal favourite!).

Floral threads

This morning on my way out the door I thought I must pick up some flowers to brighten my coffee table today but plans went astray. Instead I have made the most of my current sorting of hundreds of skeins of embroidery threads and thrown them in a bowl to add some colour and texture to the table - if they can't be used for projects at the moment at least they are doing some work!

I'll be brief

Retro inspired plywood briefcases - just perfect for a decorative storage solution (could see some sewing projects kept in here!). Created by Sam's Garage.

Knock on effect

A couple of weeks back I was in Brisvegas and stopped in at the Martha St (Camp Hill) precint which has some lovely shops and I was thrilled to find this resin door knob at Kim and Judi. I couldn't wait to get it fixed to my studio door and I have finally had time to do so. I have tracked down that they are produced by Jackie Brazil which has the most amazing range of resin jewellery and objects - here's a link! (they have loads of Australian stockists).

Notable purchase

A casualty of my studio flooding was my much loved kikki K notebook that I used for all my bag ideas and notes. Fortunately most of the contents are still readable however it is too damaged to use again - I will need to trot back into their yummy store this weekend and choose some new stationery. I am loving this 'fashion notes' journal!

Shall I be mother?

One of my most favourite possessions is a caravan teapot my friends gave me from England which has little union jack curtains. This Sunday is Mother's Day in the UK and what could be more British and cute for Mum than a collector teapot? Visit The Teapottery for an awesome selection which you can order in time for mother's day here.

Anthropological study

Anthropologie have recently started to ship to Australia - looking at the jacket featured on today's email bulletin I can feel a little pain in my credit card region.