Friday, July 27, 2012

The Mind Blowing Bendigo Show Experience


Alien Bunny in Gilderoy
There was no blogging by me last week Friday: the first time in a looooong time I did not keep up the every Friday blog rhythm. I had a very good excuse though: I was at the Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show in the Flower Power Bunny Shed setting up the bunny shop and meeting an amazing amount of wonderful, enthusiastic Fibre and yarn fans! It was FANTASTIC! But before I go into that I will start with the beginning……..enter curvy lines on your screen, spacey music because we are going back in time………….

You may not realise this, but I’m really quite shy….okay are you sitting down on your chair again after you fell down laughing? Yes, it is true! Really. I grew up as an only child, having to take care of my mum & dad and submersed myself in art and music. It was my saving grace. I’m sure that every crafter or artist goes through periods of doubt, you know: am I doing this right etc. Especially when you offer your souls work for sale. Will it sell? Will people like it? And no matter how confident you may seem, there is always doubt that rises up in your mind as if a little anti craft devil is sitting on your shoulder. Ofcourse it doesn’t help when that anti craft devil is helped along a bit by people doing spiteful things or talking behind your back. It is hard to keep crafting or creating when you do not get any feedback. Nobody is a self-sustaining vessel. We are all part of a bigger picture and we all function in unison. Just like there is a reaction for every action. What am I getting at? Well, I’ll tell you: for the last 7 months I have been preparing for the Bendigo Show full on as well as doing my other stuff like the Sydney Royal world record event, the hand knitters guild, several guild spin ins, work shops and ofcourse the Friday blog updates, not to mention that life goes on at the IxCHeL farm as well and animals need taking care of . I was telling everybody that there was a BB and an AB (= Before Bendigo and After Bendigo) and to tell you the truth I was on the brink of exhaustion working my proverbial bunny B*tt off. I thought I ‘d collapse in a heap after Bendigo show and take it easy for at least a couple of days. You know book, read, bed, pamper, have a drink, relax. Then the Bendigo Show happened ….I got to Bendigo on Thursday morning and started to set up in the flower power bunny shed. Last year it had taken me 10 hours to set up and this year I was a bit faster…it only took me 9 hours, but then I just couldn’t stand idly by while others were setting up so I helped a little bit here and there. I must admid by Thursday night I was absolutely exhausted. Friday morning was spent “littering”the show grounds with Super bear posters and bunnies to tell people there was Craft Life beyond the BIG commercial sheds and there were exciting things happening at the Flower Power Bunny Shed. Then the First Day of the Bendigo Show started. And oh Boy did it start ! it was as if the flood gates opened and thousands of people just marched straight to the Flower Shed. It was amazing ! I cannot tell you enough how BIG and how much enthusiasm and Love just exploded onto the Bendigo Show Ground. If ever there was a time that some people said sarcastically “nobody will come” , they are now proven totally and utterly wrong and can pick themselves up from the floor after being trampled on by the thousands of enthused Bendigo show crafters running to get into the show gates. It was truly and utterly mind blowing. I have been hugged, kissed, cuddled, asked advice, given the most amazing preents from people I don’t even know ! I have received so so much love and enthusiasm by so so many people who admire the bunnies and what I do it has been truly and utterly MIND BLOWING! I still have a hard time coming down from that wooshy cloud (yes I know Im mentioning THAT again eh…eh..lol..don’t worry the wooshses are coming..;) ) The Bendigo show was a full on fibre fun and love for craft filled three days and it was the best show I have ever experienced. I should be totally exhausted….dead…tired…comatose even….instead, I feel invigorated, high as a kite, happy and so extremely grateful !!! The Alien Bunny Felted hat you see on the top of my blog today deserves a special mention: in the middle of being super busy talking to people and enabling them happily , this woman comes up to me, holds my arm , staring me in the eyes and says in a serious voice “You don’t know me, but ..I love your blog, I love your bunnies , I love your stories…and….I have come all the way from Illawarra (Nsw)to give this to you” and she hands me the most gorgeously funky felted bunny hat I have ever set my eyes upon…ofcourse I teared up….as you do…I was totally amazed ! Thank you so much Melinda from the Illawarra Feltmakers !!! You are an absolute treasure !!!! Thankyou from the bottom of my heart ! and this goes for all of you who have stood by me in the last years, have laughed and cried with me, snaffled and drooled with me and most importantly have shared your love and enthusiasm with me. We as crafters would not be able to survive and create the things we HAVE to create because our soul tells us to without one another. We are one big family and we know that we will never ever get rich from what we create in any monetary value, but we get a much better deal. We get a wonderful loving crafting Universe where dreams can come true. No, we are not in Kansas anymore Toto…lol. Enjoy the ride, enjoy the journey and enjoy what you and your crafting family create every single day. Because you are special and Love and passion conquers all ! Rabbit on ! Here are some photos for those who sadly could not make it to this years Bendigo Show and for those of you who visited here’s the proof that it was AMAZING FUN:
I’m sure there was an alien ship hovering over the stall when I finally set up and took this photo late Thursday night….;)

Super Bear in the foreground


as Marg Bozik so aptly put it “and for all of you who thought she did not look like her avatar”…rofl…here is me hanging up balloons an streamers and super bunny Bear posters as a bit of a “yellow brick road”to the Flower Power Bunny Shed….;)


with Louise and Annet (yes there were prizes to be won when you dressed as a bunny! ;) )



Oh look! some Western Australian Bunnies at the Show ! ….;)


How to have fun with Pre felt: just cuddle ! With Erin Tilley and ?




Wooshes finally exposed at the Bendigo Show ;)


the extra big Navajo Churro display at the show with the history and photos

For this weeks blog I have some camelbunny silk tops and some Wooshes ! Now what is a woosh? Well, where to start?
The life of a Woosh starts out as hand dyed cuddled fleece and fibre and down and glitz and Angelina with some textures like hand dyed wool nepps and feathers thrown in the mix. All this is handpicked into submission to become an amazing cloud of gorgeous fibre blends ready to be spun up as an amazing yarn or felted or embellished to make something extraordinary.
 Every Woosh is different. After the Wild Woosh comes out of the Picker or the Woosh machine aas I call it, it is contained in a special tube so that when you want to work with it you just have to start pulling your fibre from the top and you can work with it while the rest of the could stays in the tube. You will not get blinged, fluffed or covered in fibre while you are spinniung because the wild woosh is totally contained. You can just pull out what you need . when you gently pull the fibres out of the tube you can see that the woosh is connected to the rest of the cloud inside, so if you wat you can just have the woosh tube next to you while you spin or have it on your lap while spinning and your wooshy cloud will transform itself totally into a gorgeous yarn. Ofcourse for all of you wooshy liberators, you can free the Woosh from its container, exposing the wooshy cloud for what it is: a huge airy mountain of hand dyed fibre heaven !


woosh escape ! 

the woosh escape is getting out of hand !!!
A Woosh in the wild taking over my dining table !!!!

Before I go on with enabling, I have an announcement to make.
At the Bendigo Show anybody who spent over $75 dollars received a ticket and went into the draw to win a fabulous IxCHeL Fibre/Yarn Prize worth $150 and there are also club memberships to be given to the lucky prize winners!!! Drumrolllll!!!!

Here are the lucky winners of the Bendigo Sheep and Wool show 2012 IxCHeL prize draw:


Winner of the $150 IxCHel Prize pack is
BERNIE SAMMON !!!!!!! (Vegemite on Ravelry) congratulations Bernie!
A huge parcel will be sent your way next week !!!

Winner of a 2 month membership of the IxCHeL fibre club is
SARAH ANDERSON !!! (Charlisa on ravelry) Congratulations! Your club parcel will be sent out on monday!

Winner if the Yarn Club for two months is
SONIA YOUNG (Sonia on Ravelry) YEAH !!!! Your yarn club of July will be sent out to you next Monday!

Congratulations everybody ! and thank you so so much for visiting my stall at the Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show ! Rabbit on ! Well, Have fun looking at what I have been dyeing and whooshing for you !
How To Order:You can email me on ixchel at rabbit dot com dot au or message me on facebook or ravelry where I am Ixchelbunny. I will email you right back with all your order details and payment methods. Any questions? Please don’t hesitate to ask! Always happy to enable.
Thank you so much for your help and support !
(((HUGS)))
Charly

Camelbunny Silk Tops

baby camel - peace silk-angora bunny (50-45-5) 50 grams AU$19

Hand dyed with passion , spins like a dream with softness, lustre and gorgeous new colourways! Amazing to spin and felt and heaven to wear ! !
Grapevine

Himalaya
Romance

Ocean
Bamboleo2
Carnivale

Happy Bunny



Aubergine



funky



van Gogh



Bunny Playtime2



Penguin Parade

Wooshy Cloud



Wild Fibre Fun 100 grams AU$28

angora, merino , Navajo churro, yak, alpaca, silk, glitz, Angelina, wool nepps and much much more ! Amazing fun to work with!


Woosh Party Time

Woosh Elf-SOLD-



Woosh Bordeaux-SOLD-




Woosh Bunny Hop-SOLD-


Woosh Brazil 


Woosh Mermaid

Woosh Burgundy Blush -SOLD-


Woosh Swirl


Woosh heavenly -SOLD-


Woosh Ravel


Woosh Orange universe -SOLD-


Woosh Party


Woosh Duck


Woosh Pittar Patter



Dates to Remember:

Bunny Spin in at the Ixchel Fibre Farm (11am-4pm)
Every Third Saturday and every fourth Thursday of the month!
Saturday August 18th, 11am-4pm and
Thursday August 23rd,)   11am – 4pm

Bring a plate to share your wheel or spindle, knitting or crochet, yourself and a smile and have a fun day out amongst bunnies and friends ! Please contact me to secure a spot ! Bunny food like cabbage, bok choi or broccoli is always welcome as well ! : the bunnies will cuddle you more for it ;D

Any questions or special requests?
Contact me on Ravelry where I am Ixchelbunny,
message me on facebook
or email me on Ixchelbunny@yahoo.com.au or ixchel@rabbit.com.au

RABBIT ON !

((hugs))

Charly


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Friday, July 13, 2012

Life is like a box of chocolates...


Pippi, our beautiful angel
Wooshing away, dyeing up a storm, spinning , packing and making flyers and in amongst it all, life goes on here on the farm. There are still animals to feed and groom and to be looked after, meals to cook, bread to bake. Lucky the weather has been so cold and wet here that gardening has come to a stand still. I am happy to say that my moat digging, bridge building and step making before the grand deluge that is rearing its ugly head now has paid off: no more slipping and sliding for me ! yeah!

Like I said: Life goes on ..but not for everybody.....  A very sad thing happened this week that I want to share with you: our beloved Pippi died from Floppy Bunny Syndrome on Tuesday night . I gave her critical care and kept her warm but she was too old to “bounce back to health” and she died in my arms. I am still devastated . She was such a sweet girl with beautiful smoke grey hair and always so gentle and calm. She was also a cover girl for Grass Roots Magazine in 2005 ! She was much loved and we will miss her dearly. RIP sweet Pippi
On a more happy note: I discovered Bear has a secret: in the right light you can see he has a shape of a heart just above his tail ! So cute! 
 


I am sure that when we are not looking he shows off what he is wearing underneath his fur coat….;)

Super Bear !
For this weeks blog I have dyed you up some camelbunny silk. There is only a very limited supply of this super spesh blend so you have to be quick to snaffle successfully. Last weeks blog has been totally sold out in no time and there are so many orders I have to fill for these neutrals with a twist after Bendigo show. I will definitely put more neutrals with a twist on my regular updates. I use them all the time for my plying with variegated hand dyed tops because you get so much yardage and you do not dilute the beautiful colours of the variegated , rather enhance them. So yes, there wil be more of that after the Bendigo show. I have dyed up some LUSH tops in the neutrals with a twist range but they are still drying and will be ready for the Bendigo show ! they are looking amazing as well with those gorgeous pearlescent Tencel streaks, cashmere and angora flowing through the organic 18micron merino…drrrooooooool! Anyway… Well, Have fun looking at what I have been dyeing up this week for you !
How To Order:You can email me on ixchel at rabbit dot com dot au or message me on facebook or ravelry where I am Ixchelbunny. I will email you right back with all your order details and payment methods. Any questions? Please don’t hesitate to ask! Always happy to enable.

Thank you so much for your help and support !
(((HUGS)))
Charly

Camelbunny Silk Tops


baby camel - peace silk-angora bunny (50-45-5) 50 grams AU$19
Hand dyed with passion , spins like a dream with softness, lustre and gorgeous new colourways! Amazing to spin and felt and heaven to wear ! !



Amor Amour-sold-




Platypus Stream



Bunny Playtime



Cool Jazz-1left-





Zen Master (dyed with Walnut) -sold-




Chocolate dream -sold-

Soul Bowl -SOLD-



Kangaroo Hop -sold-


Wishing on a Star -sold-


Bamboleo


Steel


Funky


Rose Petal -sold-


Dates to Remember:

Bunny Spin in at the Ixchel Fibre Farm (11am-4pm)
Every Third Saturday and every fourth Thursday of the month!
Saturday August 18th, 11am-4pm and
Thursday August 23rd,)   11am – 4pm

Bring a plate to share your wheel or spindle, knitting or crochet, yourself and a smile and have a fun day out amongst bunnies and friends ! Please contact me to secure a spot ! Bunny food like cabbage, bok choi or broccoli is always welcome as well ! : the bunnies will cuddle you more for it ;D



The Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show 2012
Friday 20th-Sunday 22nd of July
I will be in the Flower (bunny) shed again this year with heaps of new fluffy stuff and in full bunny regalia !!
This year it is even going to BIGGER and more HUGE than ever !!! Come join the Happy Fibre Family at the Flower Power Bunny Shed at the Bendigo Show grounds. You can found me and heaps of other super creative and interesting spinning and knitting and craft people there. The Flower Power Bunny shed is the shed right at the end of the woolcraft sheds. Just go left immediately after the entrance gates and keep walking straight to the end (follow the carrots and the bunnies ! )
Join me in all the fun ! There will be a huge amount of new blends and fibres to choose from and lst but not least: There are prizes to be won!!!!! Spend over $75 and win a $150 fibre or yarn pack!!!  and more !!

DRESS LIKE A BUNNY AND WIN A PRIZE!

The woolcraft schedule is published and the IxCHeL Fibre farm is sponsoring a catergory this year in the handspun yarn classes in Natural Animal Fibres class 23 and 24 !!! We feel it is very important to get the word out . Angora fibre and cashmere and mohair and alpaca and baby camel is amazing to spin, felt, weave, embellish and crochet with! Start planning and working on your entry for the show and get your art work out there for everybody tot admire and win prizes !! yeah ! What could be better eh?
Check out the website here for more details : www.sheepshow.com and for questions relating to the woolcraft schedule and more contact Dot Vallence at Dotv5 at optusnet dot com dot au

Any questions or special requests?
Contact me on Ravelry where I am Ixchelbunny,
message me on facebook
or email me on Ixchelbunny@yahoo.com.au or ixchel@rabbit.com.au


RABBIT ON !

((hugs))
Charly

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