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Thursday 10am - 5pm Friday 10am - 5pm Saturday 10am - 4pm

The Crafty Squirrel

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The Crafty Squirrel

Morgan Wills • The Crafty Squirrel
Vintage • Textiles • Handmade
Ballarat Studio Shop + 24/7 Online
Curated Craft Tours — Japan, France & Hobart

The Crafty Squirrel is the little corner shop and studio of designer/maker Morgan Wills.

17/10/2026

Only in Japan! 🇯🇵🐿️💕

Where else would you find miniature wooden houses in a gachapon machine, cats dressed up for Halloween, a group of beautiful Maiko on their way to the theatre for dance rehearsal, and peach curry on the lunch menu?!

Just a few of the wonderful little surprises we’ve stumbled across over the past couple of days!

Of course, there’s been plenty of stitching, exploring beautiful old streets, admiring traditional craftsmanship and discovering gorgeous textiles.

We’ve stitched, shopped, wandered, laughed, eaten lots of delicious food and been happily sidetracked more times than I can count.

And that’s one of the things I love most about Japan. You never quite know what’s waiting around the next corner!

A few more happy snaps from our Kyoto & Beyond adventures with The Crafty Squirrel. ❤️🐿️

15/10/2026

A little bit of this, a little bit of that… and a whole lot of Kyoto! 🇯🇵🐿️💙

We’ve been busy little squirrels these past couple of days!

Wandering through Kyoto’s streets, poking our noses into beautiful little shops, admiring traditional craftsmanship, discovering gorgeous textiles, threads and ceramics, and generally getting distracted by just about everything!

There have been beautiful old buildings, delicious Japanese treats, a few shopping bags, plenty of laughter and lots of those little moments that make travelling together so much fun.

One of my favourite things about these tours is watching everyone discover something different. What catches one person’s eye might be something another would walk straight past. And before you know it, we’re all gathered around admiring another little treasure!

It’s been a lovely couple of days exploring Kyoto with this wonderful bunch of ladies, and there’s still so much more to come.

A few happy snaps from our wanderings… consider this your little peek into life on tour with The Crafty Squirrel! ❤️

13/10/2026

The crafty squirrels have landed in Kyoto! 🐿️🇯🇵❤️

I’m back in beautiful Kyoto with a fabulous group of 12 ladies, ready for 10 days of exploring, creating, discovering and, of course, a little shopping!

Yesterday was all about settling in and finding our feet as we wandered through the streets of Kyoto. We admired beautiful textiles, discovered tempting little shops and found plenty of lovely things along the way.

And, as anyone who has travelled with me before will know, I have one very important rule: if your heart skips a beat, you need to buy it! (Forever the enabler!) 😂

There’s plenty of crafty goodness and exciting adventures ahead, along with opportunities to discover Japan’s art, architecture and craftsmanship—and lots of time to appreciate the beautiful aesthetic woven through everyday life here.

We can’t wait to see what delights the days ahead will bring. Join us as we explore Kyoto and beyond! 💕🇯🇵

Morgan x

10/10/2026

📣 PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT! 🐿️✈️🇯🇵

The Crafty Squirrel will be OPEN TODAY until 4pm!

We’ll then be CLOSED until Thursday 5 November while we’re off exploring Japan on our Kyoto & Beyond Craft Tour! 🇯🇵🧵🪡

Pop in and say hello before I go, otherwise I look forward to seeing you in November with lots of lovely new treasures from Japan!

💕 Fancy joining me in Japan next year?

We currently have just FOUR priority booking places available on our Kyoto & Beyond Craft Tour in October 2027!

If you’re keen to come along and would like to know more, please get in touch. I’d love to hear from you!

Morgan x 💕

01/10/2026

Hello from the shop! 🐿️❤️ It feels so lovely to be back amongst all my favourite little treasures again.

After two wonderful weeks in Hobart, I’m home in Ballarat and back behind the counter at The Crafty Squirrel today. I’ll be here for the next three days, and again next week.

I’ve come back to lots of lovely new goodies waiting to be unpacked, shelves to replenish and treasures to find homes for… so things may look a little different every time you pop in! ✨

Come in, say hello and have a good old-fashioned rummage — there’s always something tucked away waiting to be discovered. 🧵✂️🍄🐿️

Open
Thursday & Friday 10am–5pm
Saturday 10am–4pm

27/09/2026

As I pack my bags and prepare to head home today, I’ve been reflecting on what a wonderful couple of weeks it has been here in Hobart. 🌸

Two Crafty Squirrel retreats, two fabulous groups of women, and days filled with making, stitching, learning, exploring, beautiful food and plenty of laughter.

We’ve been welcomed into studios and creative spaces, learnt from incredibly generous makers and teachers, discovered more about Japanese craft and culture, wandered through beautiful gardens and shops, and come home each day with our heads full of inspiration — and our bags perhaps a little fuller too! 😉

What I love most about these retreats is seeing a group of people, many of whom arrive not knowing one another, settle in and share the experience together. Friendships are made, stories are exchanged and there is always so much encouragement around the table.

A heartfelt thank you to every wonderful person and small business who welcomed us, taught us, fed us and helped make these past two weeks so special. And, of course, thank you to the fabulous women who trusted me to bring them to Hobart for a Crafty Squirrel adventure. 💕

I’m heading home today feeling very grateful — and with lots of lovely memories from Tasmania.

Next stop is Ballarat and a couple of weeks back at The Crafty Squirrel before the suitcase comes out again and I head to Japan for our Kyoto & Beyond tour. 🇯🇵

But for now… thank you Hobart. It’s been an absolute joy. 🌸💙

26/09/2026

Same same… but different! 🙃

One of the lovely things about running our Hobart Craft Retreat back-to-back is seeing how the same itinerary takes on a completely different personality with a new group of creative women.

The last couple of days have taken us out to New Norfolk for a morning of fossicking and treasure hunting, followed by an afternoon with Briony and her wonderful team at Wild Stitch Studios.

A table full of fabric scraps, threads and little treasures soon became the most fabulous collection of boro inspired needle books — and not one remotely like another. That’s the magic of putting a group of creative people around a table together. 🧵

Yesterday we were welcomed by Minako san and her team at the Sakura Japanese Cultural Centre for an afternoon of Japanese culture, wagashi, matcha and the great fun of being dressed in kimono and haori. 🌸🇯🇵

I may have visited these places twice in the space of two weeks, but it certainly doesn’t feel like the same retreat twice. Different personalities, different conversations, different creations and plenty of new laughs along the way.

And somehow… we’ve reached our final day already! 💕

24/09/2026

Day Two of our Hobart Craft Retreat 🧵🇯🇵❤️

It’s always a treat to step into Jan’s world at Wafu Works, surrounded by beautiful Japanese textiles, stories and treasures.

We spent the morning learning about Japanese textile history before settling in for a little sit-and-stitch session, where we learnt about semamori and stitched our own small pieces. 🪡

After a delicious Japanese lunch, we spent the afternoon with the very clever Mahdi Mahdi Chandler making fabulous Japanese-inspired hand-bound journals. 📚✨

Our semamori pieces from the morning were incorporated into our journals, bringing the two workshops together and making each one completely unique — perfect for writing, drawing, sketching and recording future adventures.

We finished the day with a seafood dinner together before heading home after another very full day in Hobart. What fun! 💙🐿️🇯🇵

23/09/2026

And we’re off again! 🧵🦉✨

Yesterday was Day One of our second Hobart Japanese Craft Retreat, and what a gorgeous way to begin.

We spent the afternoon with the lovely Kiyomi at her beautiful Sashiko Design shop, surrounded by Japanese fabrics, textiles and plenty of temptation! Then it was time to settle in around the big table for our first workshop together — stitching the sweetest little Japanese owls.

As you can see, they each developed their own rather wonderful personality! 🦉❤️

Such a fun first afternoon with this fabulous new group of Crafty Squirrels. Lots of stitching, chatting, laughing and, naturally, a little bit of shopping!

Hobart Retreat No. 2 is officially underway… 🐿️🧵🇯🇵

20/09/2026

All good things must come to an end… 🥹💙

And what a fabulous few days we’ve had! Our first Hobart Japanese Craft Retreat has officially come to a close, and it really has been such a wonderful group — lots of making, learning, laughing and, of course, plenty of chatting along the way!

Our last couple of days were jam-packed with Japanese-inspired goodness. 🇯🇵✨

We spent a gorgeous morning with Minako at the Sakura Japanese Cultural Centre, making Japanese sweets and trying our hand at origami, before dressing up in yukata and haori and enjoying a beautiful tea ceremony.

The following day was all about indigo and sashiko with Sarah from The Little Japanese Haberdashery. We spent the morning learning about indigo and experimenting with different dyeing techniques — there’s always a little bit of magic in seeing those blues emerge! 💙 After a delicious lunch, it was needles and threads out for an afternoon of sashiko, turning our stitching into the cutest little pincushion tins.

Then, before we knew it, it was time for our farewell dinner — delicious food, lots of laughs and a chance to celebrate five very crafty days together.

Thank you to this fabulous bunch for embracing everything with such enthusiasm and making our first retreat so much fun. 🐿️❤️

Retreat No. 1 is done and dusted… but we’re not finished yet!

Stay tuned for same same, but different when Retreat No. 2 kicks off on Wednesday! ✂️🧵💙

Address

Cnr Errard & Urquhart Streets
Ballarat, VIC
3350

Opening Hours

Thursday	10am - 5pm
Friday	10am - 5pm
Saturday	10am - 4pm

Website

https://www.thecraftysquirrel.com.au/index.html

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