The Crafty Squirrel

Its been a BIG year folks and to wrap it up I've decided to give you more opportunities to visit us this Christmas! We will be OPEN everyday now until Christmas Eve! Monday to Friday 10am to 5pm and Saturday & Sunday 10am to 4pm.

We will then be CLOSED for the summer break and reopen on Thursday 2 February 2017.

I wish you all the very best for the festive season and would like to thnak you for your patronage and support over the year. I couldn't do what I do without you all! Merry Craftmas! Ho Ho Ho!

Morgan xx

The Crafty Squirrel Tokyo Tour!

Hello - Konnichiwa! Hope this finds you all well! Life has been somewhat head down at the Crafty Squirrel HQ this year with our most recent pop up being at the Australasian Quilt Convention (AQC) in Melbourne in April. We had a fabulous time and loved catching up with our lovely regular visitors and meeting lots of new faces who have made the journey to Ballarat to visit the studio shop.

Behind the scenes we have been working on some (cross our fingers) wonderfully crafty workshop ideas that we hope to host in the coming months but the most exciting news of all is our treasure hunting trip to Japan and the announcement that we will soon be running crafty tours of Tokyo with the first one happening in May 2017.

If you follow along on Facebook or Instagram you can see a sneak peek of some of the places I visit (but not all of course....you have to come on the tour to see that!). If you are interested in finding out more please send me an email to info@thecraftysquirrel.com.au and I will add your name to the mailing list so that you will hear first!

There will be limited spaces and I can guarantee it will be lots of FUN! If you've always wanted to visit Tokyo and you love all sorts of crafts - particularly fabric, paper and wool based hobbies than this is the tour for you! I look forward to you joining me on the journey! Morgan x

Christmas Trading Hours

There's only 5 Fridays until Christmas! So just as a reminder - I will be open for trading on the following dates:

Friday 20 Nov - 10am to 5pm
Sat 21 Nov 10am to 4pm
Thurs 26 Nov 10am to 5pm
Fri 27 Nov 10am to 5pm
Thur 3 Dec CLOSED - at the Big Design Market
Fri 4 Dec CLOSED - at the Big Design Market
Sat 5 Dec CLOSED - at the Big Design Market
Thurs 10 Dec 10am to 5pm
Fri 11 Dec 10am to 8pm - late night shopping
Sat 12 Dec 10am to 4pm
Thurs 17 Dec 10am to 5pm
Fri 18 Dec 10am to 5pm
Sat 19 Dec 10am to 4pm
Wed 23 Dec 10am to 5pm
Thurs 24 Dec 10am to 5pm - we will then be
CLOSED reopening on Thursday 28 January 2016.

Hope to see lots of you over the next few weeks!

Happy 4th Birthday SALE!

The Crafty Squirrel is turning 4 and what better way to celebrate than to have a SALE! The sale will run over two weeks in store only. 30% off storewide - excluding Sonny angels. Sale on 25, 26, 27 June & 2, 3, 4 July. Store opening hours are Thurs & Fri 10am to 5pm and Sat 10am to 4pm. Yippee!

Visit me at the AQC!

Free hand screen printed calico bag with the first 12 purchases over $150

It's been a great start to 2015 with lots of opportunities to sew and get creative with my beloved vintage sheet collection! The flavour at the moment seems to be cushions and I have recently come up with a new kit that utilises improvisational piecing from the scrap basket in my studio. I love how it turned out so much I am tempted to make a quilt using this technique - super fun and simple. Once you start you don't want to stop! The other new cushion design I have is one made using squares from my vintage sheet charm pack. A sweet patchwork flower would brighten up any couch or bed don't you think?

New vintage sheet cushions - kits and patterns.

All of this behind the scenes preparation has lead me to my first ever venture into the Australasian Quilt Convention in Melbourne otherwise known as the AQC.

I'm excited to say that I will be popping up there with all my vintage sheet goodness PLUS lots of goodies from the shop. The fair opens on Thursday 16 April at 10am and runs through to 4.30pm on Sunday 19 April. For more details - check out their website here.

I will have a number of show specials too -

Buy a Vintage Charm Pack ($96) and receive my new vintage flower cushion pattern ($15) for free.
Free shipping on retro style sewing boxes (save $20) over the 4 days both online and at the fair.
Receive a free hand printed calico bag with all purchases over $150 (limited to the first 12)

I will be located at stand no. 70 in the middle of the beautiful Royal Exhibition Buildings, Carlton Gardens. If you are lucky enough to be able to visit - make sure you come and say Hi!

Vintage Sheet Charm Pack by The Crafty Squirrel.

New vintage sheet cushion kit.

Visit me at The Big Design Market!

Limited edition vintage tablecloth stools by Morgan Wills

Vintage sheet Apple Pincushions by Morgan Wills

Vintage Sheet Scarves by Morgan Wills

www.thebigdesignmarket.com

I felt like I had all the time in the world and then I blinked and here we are hurtling towards the end of the year, the festive season and all the busy-ness that comes with it!

I've been working for quite a few months now behind the scenes in preparation for the Big Design Market on lots of old favourites and lovely new things that I can't wait to share with you all.

This will be the third one they have held and the third time I have done it - so I know that I needed to make lots and lots and LOTS of stock! Lucky I have a wonderful team of 'helpers' who have got me to the finish line. I bump in tomorrow and the market opens at 10am on Friday. I am trading under my design label Morgan Wills and can be found at stand E17. I hope to see you all there!
Morgan x

Life at the Crafty Squirrel HQ

Support Small Business Day - Saturday 4 October 2014

The Crafty Squirrel HQ - with yarn bombed pole.

The Crafty Squirrel at the Melbourne Craft & Quilt Fair - June 2014

We are finalists in the CGU Commerce Ballarat Business Excellence Awards!

We won! Pictured here with Mr Squirrel - my number one fan and supporter!

It’s been a massive year so far at the Crafty Squirrel HQ – with lots of really amazing things happening! I recently turned the BIG 40 and I feel as though this milestone has brought with it many opportunities to celebrate the hard work that has gone in to building my small business over the last 10 years.

For the first time in June I had a stall at the Melbourne Craft & Quilt Fair at the Convention & Exhibition Centre and was delighted to meet so many of you! This was such a great success I have booked in again for next year – mark the 23 to 26 July 2015 in your diaries! Subsequent day trips up to visit the store have been many and I have loved having the opportunity to share my work and the treasures in store with you all.

In recent times I was named a finalist in the CGU Commerce Ballarat – Business Excellence Awards in the inaugural Creative Industries category. I went on to win this category and was totally blown away by the whole experience! Amazing and such an honour!

I was also asked recently by the Small Business Victoria team to be part of their publicity campaign for Support Small Business Day coming up this Saturday – 4 October. We had such a fabulous time in store last year with this fantastic initiative and we are gearing up again for it to be a fun day with lots of giveaways and special offers.

The outpouring of kind words and support across Instagram & Facebook when I was asked to remove my yarn bombing on the pole outside the store was impressive! Whilst it has still not been resolved – I anticipate that it will get to stay…fingers crossed everybody!

Behind the scenes I have been designing and working on a number of new products that will be launched at The Big Design Market on the 5, 6 & 7 December at the Royal Exhibition Buildings, Carlton. This is a must visit event for Christmas shopping!

Whether it’s in store or at an event – I really love meeting you all, make sure to say hello!

Until next time – happy crafting!

Morgan xx

Come and visit us at the Craft & Quilt Fair!

It's been slightly nuts around here (pardon the pun) over the last couple of months as I have been preparing lots of new products to launch at my first ever Craft & Quilt fair in Melbourne - opening this Thursday at 9am!

Continuing on with my LOVE of vintage sheets - I will be releasing a super special Vintage Charm Pack which contains 64 different 101/2 inch squares for all sorts of crafty projects - or you can use the free pattern included and sew them all together into your very own vintage quilt. I've also put together an easy as 1, 2, 3 DIY Vintage sheet Bunting Kit and and have some lovely mixed packs of 21/2" hexagons plus lots more!

Opening hours are 9am to 5pm - Thursday 26 to Sunday 29 June. Hope to see you there!

Vintage Sheet Bunting

Charm Square Quilt

Help us de-stash!

Its been a busy start to the year at the Crafty Squirrel HQ and before we get very excited about having our first ever stall at the Craft and Quilt Fair, Melbourne in late June - we are getting super duper excited about the fact that on Sunday we are joining together with a few other crafty crew to empty our studios and have a good old de-stash! SO.....if you like vintage and new patchwork fabrics, vintage habedashery, assorted craft items, books, gifts and more - then you best pop in at our pop up this Sunday 8am to 1pm at the Ballarat Showgrounds. See you there!

Vintage Sheets and The Big Design Market!

Cast offs Vintage Tunic Top by Morgan Wills

Piles of vintage sheets becoming cushions & quilts

Funnily enough I consider myself a bit of a squirrel when it comes to gathering all manner of craft related bits and bobs I think I may be able to use in my work. I’m passionate about re-purposing, recycling and generally up-cycling discarded fabrics into new and loved products. I’ve been working with felted woollen jumpers for many years now – turning them into scarves, blankets, Babushka dolls and more.

In my travels over the years, collecting materials from here there and everywhere – I somewhere along the way discovered vintage sheets from the 60’s & 70’s. It was the floral patterns and colours that particularly caught my eye and let’s face it - I was a child of the 70’s – so there is a good dose of nostalgia associated with them – I think it was inevitable that I started to collect them!

The piles grew and grew - as I kept stacking them up in the corner of my studio. I knew that one day they would become a new product and last year I started to dip into them when I produced my ‘Cute as a button’ range of cushions, pincushions and rattles.

In recent months they have had my full attention as I have been working on an idea for turning them into vintage inspired quilts and women’s clothing. When my clever quilting friend Emma from Ballarat Patchwork closed her store I knew she would be the one to work with me on bringing the quilts and quilt kits to life – collaborating has been fun! The two sample quilt designs – Circles & Squares and Chevron pattern are almost finished and will be available for purchase as pre-cut kits with full instructions and ready to sew.

The beginning of my women’s clothing range has been inspired by styles I like to wear myself. My first design is a loose fitting tunic style top with pockets (I love pockets!) and will be made in small (10 to 12), medium (14 to 16) and large (16 plus). I love the fact that the beauty of using vintage fabrics means you won’t see anyone else wearing the same top as you!

So there you have it! It’s been a long process in design and prototyping to get to the product launch stage and I’m delighted to say that these and lots of other crafty bits and bobs I have made and gathered will be available on my stand at the Big Design Market on the 6, 7, & 8 December at the Royal Exhibition Buildings, Carlton Gardens.

I look forward to seeing you there! Morgan x

Exciting news this month!

The Crafty Squirrel had a little feature in this months CountryStyle Magazine! Yay!

What a wonderful way to meet a whole new bunch of lovely creative customers!

Its been very busy here at the Crafty Squirrel HQ because of this and also because I am gearing up for two fabulous markets this weekend.

On Friday (4 Oct) from 6pm to 10pm and Saturday (5 Oct) from 10am to 5pm you can find me at The wonderful Melbourne Finders Keepers market at the Royal Exhibition Building, Carlton Gardens.

AND! On Sunday (6 Oct) you can find me popping up at The Design Exchange market in the Mining Exchange, Lydiard Street, Ballarat from 10am to 4pm.

What a busy Squirrel! Hope to see you out and about this weekend! x

Visit us at the Maribyrnong Makers Market!

Every year in September I have a big Spring Sale at my favourite market - the Maribyrnong Makers Market.
Put it in your diary and make a day of it! Love to see you there!

Visit me at the Lark Garage Sale!

I've spent the last few weeks having a big cleanup! What a job! But guess what? The results of all of this sorting out and tidying up are going to be for sale at the Lark Garage Sale!

For those of you who came a couple of years ago - you will know how great the Lark sales are - worth a lovely drive to Daylesford for!

I'll have lots of samples and seconds from my own ranges, crafty bits & bobs, a few vintage treasures and discontinued shop stock.

Come along and snap up a bargain next Saturday - the 20 July from 10am to 3pm.

Because I will be in Daylesford all day the Crafty Squirrel shop will be closed for the day.

Definitely not to be missed! Love to see you there!

Happy Birthday Sale!

Aren't Birthdays the best!

Did you know that coming up this weekend is the Crafty Squirrels 2nd Birthday? Yippee - I say!

To celebrate this wonderful milestone I am holding a special 30% off sale both in store and online for two days only!

The online sale will begin on Friday 28 June at 9am and will finish at 12midnight on the Saturday 29 June.
Just hop over to the shop and enter the code Happybirthday at the checkout!

And for those lucky squirrels who live close enough to Ballarat - well you can come in store and help me celebrate!

Opening hours are:
10am to 5pm Friday & 10am to 4pm Saturday.

Vintage Apron of the Day

Some of the favourites from Vintage Apron of the Day

Mavis, Bill & family circa 1944

I have been collecting vintage aprons for quite a few years now and for the last year and a half I have been celebrating – Vintage Apron ofthe Day every Friday that I work in the shop.

Each week I choose a different one from the collection and celebrate it for the day. There is something so very practical about aprons but it is the fabrics and trims and various pocket combinations that particularly tickle my fancy.

I love thinking about the person who made them and whether they were given as a gift, made by the wearer or bought from a store. Often they have been loved but sometimes they are starched and brand new as if they were kept for good. It’s funny to think of such a practical everyday item being kept for good. Perhaps the owners had lots of aprons some of which got more wear than others.

Often people ask me where the things I have in my collections or have in the shop come from. Increasingly I tell them that ‘they find me’. By that I mean that I seem to have an uncanny knack for treasures presenting themselves to me in my travels at op shops, garage sales, auctions, antique shops and trash & treasure type markets. But more often than not these days I meet people in the shop or at a market who strike up a conversation with me about what I love and then offer to give me things that they in turn have inherited or no longer want. Of course I always say – yes please!

Mavis' apron

This week though was slightly different…this week I inherited a lifetime of sewing bits & bobs and various treasures from Mavis. Mavis - affectionately known as GG (Great Grandma) is the mother of my Mother-in-law and will be 95 this year (Born 1 Dec 1918).

Whenever I see her GG loves to tell me a story about her younger years. She was many things, amongst them all a seamstress. She was also of the mindset that everything should be saved – because you never know when you might need it. You can imagine than what treasures she had stashed away for a rainy day, particularly too, as she had lived in the same house for 60 years.

Amongst the boxes I came across a gorgeous apron and thought how appropriate it would be to wear for this week’s vintage apron of the day. I would guess that she has made this herself in the 1940s/50s.

I also asked her a couple of questions –

What is your favourite colour – Red (great minds think alike)

Favourite decade for fashion - the forties when she was married (1940)

Dish she most liked to make – Sweet & Sour chicken (Yum)

Thank you GG for your generosity and kind heart. This vintage apron of the week is dedicated to you!

Mavis and Bill circa 1939

I've been hanging out with Instagram

Cute as a Button cushions from my new range

The Crafty Squirrel & Morgan Wills stall at Finders Keepers

It is probably not surprising to you all, that I think of myself as a visual person. I am totally won over by certain colour combinations, smitten with a pattern discovered on a vintage fabric or just totally inspired by the treasures I find in my travels and the trinkets I choose to surround myself with.

So...when I finally succumbed to Instagram - I realised how delightfully addictive it is to celebrate and share my take on the world via images.

Taking snapshots of my every day is like creating a visual diary - a scrapbook of moments in time and a wonderful way to remember the road traveled.

I would love for you to join me on my journey.

Morgan x.

Vintage fabrics in the studio

The children created this one day in the backyard

My stand at The Big Design Market - Dec 2012

Thrift shop Fuzzy Felt find...

Treasure hunting on my beach holiday!

Merry Christmas and late night shopping!

We're on the home straight now my lovelies and I'm here to tell you that there are only two days left to pop into the Crafty Squirrel shop. This Friday (21 Dec) I am celebrating this very festive time of year by opening until 8pm and for all of you that would care to join me for a christmas drink - please do! I will be serving a glass of sparkles from 6pm to 8pm on Friday. Then on Saturday I will open from 10am to 4pm as per usual.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to say a really big heartfelt THANK YOU. Thank you to all of my gorgeous customers and the many amazing supporters I have met over the course of this year. I couldn't do what I do without your support and friendship and I feel blessed to spend my days really doing what makes my heart sing.

I hope you all have a wonderful restful break with your families (I know I will be!) and I look forward to sharing 2013 with you all! The shop will re-open for trading on Friday 3 Feb 2013.

Wrap up - The Big Design Market

It has been very busy here at the Crafty Squirrel headquarters of late because for the last few months in the lead up to Christmas I have been filling my wholesale and online orders, managing shop sales, setting up pop up shops and going to markets.

All in all - flat chat really. So it was a big call to shut the shop and pack everything up and head on down to the first ever 'Big Design Market' held over 3 days at the Royal Exhibition Buildings in Carlton Gardens.

And BIG it was! Over 170 designers from around Australia and internationally came along to sell their wares - it was an amazing honour to be side by side with some of the best creative designer/makers around.

To say it was a HUGE success would be an understatement...apparently they had a massive 33,000 customers come through the doors over the 3 days....and I must admit by the end of it I had almost sold out of everything I had brought with me and was so tired I could hardly speak!

Here are a few snaps of the stand for those that couldn’t make it!

And for those of you who live in or around Ballarat – you can see me at my last market for the year – The Design Exchange, on this Sunday (16 Dec) at the Mining Exchange on Lydiard Street, Ballarat from 10am to 4pm OR visit the shop on Fridays 10am to 5pm and Saturdays 10am to 4pm. Last day of trading for the year is Sat 22 December.

Visit me at the POP UP Shop Ballarat!

I’m very very excited to be participating in my first ever POP-UP SHOP!

And guess what? It officially opens tomorrow!

The brain wave of two talented ladies I know Laura Day and Lisa Cressey - the inaugural POP-UP SHOP will be a curated retail showcase of the Ballarat and surrounds best hand-made products.

I spent a bit of time there today setting up and I must say – there are definitely some treasures to be had!

The POP-UP SHOP will be open for 7 days, from Friday 30 November to Sunday 9 December. It will be held at the Backspace Gallery in the heart of Ballarat’s cultural precinct - Huyghue House, Alfred Deakin Place @ Camp Street & Police Lane, Ballarat.

Pop-Up Shop treasures!

Friday 30th November:

11am to 4pm Lunchtime Launch

Get an exclusive preview of the Ballarat POP-UP SHOP at the Friday Lunchtime Launch. Grab a delicious Sweet Decadence brown-bag lunch, enjoy some lively entertainment, and kick-start your holiday gift-giving during your midday break AND from 6pm to 8pm – come along and join in the fun with a glass of sparkles at the Gala Evening Opening.

Other opening times are as follows:

Saturday 1st December: 12noon to 4pm

Sunday 2nd December: 12noon to 4pm

Thursday 6th December: 12noon to 4pm

Friday 7th December: 12noon to 4pm (re-open 6pm to 8pm for Xmas Fair)

Saturday 8th December: 12noon to 4pm

Sunday 9th December: 12noon to 4pm

I hope you can come along and support Ballarat’s Creatives. I just know that this is the beginning of a fabulous annual affair!