The Sophie Tea Party Dress

Oh my goodness I am so excited about this!!  It definitely feels good when you work so hard to create something and then see it all come together so well  :)    Liane from Master & Miss contacted me a while ago about creating an illustration for a pattern after being inspired by watching her daughter play with tea cups.

I went pretty crazy with it and ended up doing quite a detailed design with lots of differently patterned teacups and pots.  Liane used it for this gorgeous Sophie dress made in pure organic cotton jersey - I love the dress she designed for it - so pretty and practical.    Sigh!  Big smiles around here at the moment  :)

New Work for Tirtil Kids Bookshop

Some more work for the wonderful Tirtil Kids Bookshop in Istanbul.

Yashar in his new retro racing car tee

Here are a few shots of Yashar on his new scooter in his Master & Miss Retro Racing Car T Shirt!   Scooters seem to be the thing at pre school at the moment and Yashar was so so excited to get one! 

 And he was so excited to learn how to use it too...definitely one of the best things about being his mum - seeing that face when he looks up and says 'I can do it!!'   I am also loving that he is so proud to be wearing the tee with my illustration on it.  Big smiles around here at the moment  :)

Yashar showing some scooter boy attitude! 

To get your Istanbul fix...

It's no secret...we are missing Istanbul - we loved living there - it's an amazing city, full of contrasts and with an exciting energy all it's own.   And if you are missing getting your fix of of Istanbul here now that we are in Australia, or if you just love truly beautiful writing and photos, then you need to head over here.   My Philosofia is a blog written by the very talented Innes Welbourne, whom you can read about more here and in the Elle Magazine Turkey profile of him here.   Innes captures the essence of Istanbul beautifully, exploring the hidden nooks and crannies of the city and visiting and photographing all the places and people you wish you had the guts to!

These are just some of my favourite photos taken by Innes that are on my philosofia.

A hidden glimpse through a half open gate.  Yenikoy.  From the post Churches: Glimpses into a different times.

SLANTED SHADOWS AND PLENTY OF LOCAL COLOR ENLIVEN AN ALLEYWAY OUTSIDE A MOSQUE from the post Karakoy: Long shadows, deep colour.

KARAKÖY QUAY, MID-MORNING from the post Volumes of Silence:  Part I

RUGS FROM ALL OVER ANATOLIA AWAITING A NEW LIFE from the post Dhoku:  Rugs Reborn

NEW CAFES AND SHOPS ARE APPEARING IN FORMERLY RUN DOWN BUILDINGS from the post  Karakoy: Long shadows, deep colour.

Commuters on the way to Eminonu from the post Vapur 1: Timeless travel

ESCAPING THE MIDDAY CRUSH. FROM THE BOSPHORUS TO THE SEA OF MARMARA from the post Volumes of Silence: Part II

PIANO PLAYER AND SINGER STEAL PHOTOGRAPHER’S HAT, LOSE THEMSELVES IN
THE MOMENT from the post Sefahathane: Thickening the Beyoglu Atmosphere

Inside one of Mimar Sinan's mosques from the post 24 Hours on the Golden Horn

I was lucky enough to become good friends with Innes and his wonderful wife Sevim and his gorgeous daughter, that the blog was named for - Sofia.  I did this illustration for Innes a while back - inspired by Alchemy - which Innes writes about here - and especially Thoth and Hermes Trismegistus.  It was definitely a departure from my usual illustrations - something  I really enjoyed getting in to.

     

Work for Master & Miss organic children's clothing

Wow!   I have been waiting for a long time to share this with you ...one of the projects that has been keeping me busy is the illustration work I have been doing for a wonderful new organic children's label called Master & Miss.  Master & Miss create 100% Australian made, organic clothes and blankets for 0 to 5 year olds and the bonus is the label has a wonderful owner, Liane Shannon, who is warm, friendly and fantastic to work with! 
 

I am so excited to have some of my designs printed on onsies and t-shirts (and some more things to come soon!)  I have been working on quite a range of illustrations for Liane that are then screen printed on organic cotton.   She also has a beautiful range of basics in great designs and lots of colours - I'm in love with all the skirts she has for girls!!  I can totally see these over some cute tights for Autumn or Spring.   I also know that Liane has lots of plans for her label, so be sure to check back there often to see what's new.

I have some photos of Yashar in his new tshirt with the retro racing car on it - I'll be sure to post them soon.

Snowy days in Turkey

This is a photo Sena (our friend and partner for Hamamist) quickly snapped on her way into central Turkey to meet with some of our loomers.  Looks amazing don't you think!  I'm glad they made the long trip safely!  Apparently Turkey is having one of the snowiest Winters in a long long time.

As you can probably guess by how often I am posting here things have been busy!  We have some new designs for hamamist - including hand towels and bathrobes - yay! 

And we have been updating some current designs and adding more colours too.  One of my new favourites is the updated Kapadokya Design (below) - now the stripes are in a natural linen colour instead of the cream they were previously. I think now it really reflects better the actual place it was named after (which, by the way, if you haven't been there, is a 'must visit once in your life' type of place- I have never seen anything like it - such a unique and amazing landscape) - if you are interested also check out this beautiful photo of Kapadokya. 

And there are many new things on the horizon, which I will be sure to share here as soon as possible - I promise!  :) 

Have a great weekend!

First Day at Pre-School

...sigh!   An exciting and nervous day...for me.  He loved it!

Recent work for Children's Bookstore - Tirtil Kids

You might have guessed that I have been busy again...and not quite able to keep up with everything!!

This is some recent work that I have been doing for Tirtil Kids - the wonderful children's book store in Istanbul. 

This one above was a bit of a challenge -it took me a while to figure out how to communicate this message in illustration - but I was really happy with the final concept  :)

They are doing so many exciting things at the moment - I am so impressed everytime I hear from them!!  The one above was for a reading done by actress and singer Şevval Sam.

Above was the little gingerbread village I did for the holiday season.

I hope you are all well and enjoying a great start to the year!

a summery christmas

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year! Ours was very different from the past 2 wintery ones we had in Istanbul!

We headed down to Melbourne to spend time with family, including a beautiful break down on the Surf Coast - where Yashar had fun at the beach with his cousins.  This was one early evening we went down to the beach.  The weather was nice but, as usual, the ocean was cold!...it is definitely no mediterranean  :)

So I got Yashar all rugged up to turn those lips back from blue to pink after his swim.

Coffee Sack Cushion Covers

 
I mentioned last post about some of the people we met at the Bondi market, one of which was the maker (along with his wife) of these beautiful coffee sack cushion covers.  I loved them, and was so happy I got to take one home with me! 

I had thought I would just take a quick photo of it on the couch, but I got carried away (haha!  what's new??) ...and I liked how it sat with the hamam towels (these ones are the Istanbul and Alacati designs) - so many lovely textures!  I think I want to just have piles of linen around the house  ;)     You can find the Coffee Sack Cushions online here at Coffee Sack Design.   The blanket (at the bottom of the pile) is one I bought just before we left Turkey from Zara Home.