The December wrap up ...

Happy Christmas all - hope you got festive. Christmas day turned out to be a very cruisy end to what has been a rather crazy December. After markets and visits from friends and family it was lovely to kick back on the actual big day and down a glass or two of sparkling burgandy with the man, the girl and the Loz. But December was a goody ... we had our first craft night - a meeting of the dark arts of craft - talk about the full body craft massage ...so so relaxing - Eve hosted the evening and has us hooked for life - she made marbled cake and orange flavoured biscuits and poured us cups of tea whilst we beavered. Mrs Smith worked on her quilt; Marree sewed beautiful tree decs and Eve origamied a little corner of paradise ... so much so that Mrs Smith crossed the floor and got a little instruction in the dark paper arts.and I did a new lino cut for gift tags ... no photo ... It was hard handling a camera and cake and tea, and not cut myself with my sharp tools ...you know what I'm saying?? I walked out of there so relaxed ... maybe a craft option should be supplied in the day spa package. Needless to say we've booked in another session.

and then I have been part of a chutney swap. I got this awesome chilli jam from Bianca over here. thank you x. I could get used to this kin of carry on.

The rest of December saw me hunched over Helga the Husqvana madly sewing stock for markets and getting those xmas orders sorted. These guys (below) were special orders destined for flight across Bass Strait. Felt good to make something new


I hand delivered the final two dresses on the 23rd here. We got a tour - it was amazing... I want to stay there. I would be happy just to eat in their beautiful barn.
Job done and thoughts turned to xmas - our xmas. Edie's second and our first in Tassie and our new home. So special. Watching Edie with her presents was just so lovely. She's book mad, so everytime a book appeared we had to read it there and then.

She was curious about everything...

and lunch under the hollyhock (which flowered especially for Xmas) in a makeshift bedouin-esque tent went down a treat.
I wish you all so much for the festive season and beyond. May we all continue to follow the paths that make us most happy so that that joy may be in turn passed on one hundred fold to those we love and those we meet.

Baby loves Babycino; Mumma loves Vintage

Ah... her first babycino at the lovely Hobart cafe Tricycle at the Arts Centre down Salamanca way. She hoed in with her vintage Canberra spoon whilst my needle gently sewed some final rosettes for the Mother's market. She has a Black Eyed Susie clip in hair. She doesn't know it's there. I tricked her. Otherwise she'd have pulled it out. Her cast is now off. It was more of an ordeal than the injury. The rotary saw me-jiggy was sooo loud as it ominously approached, spinning like something a Mad Max movie would strap to the side of a vehicle. Edie was screaming, and I mean screaming. I had to hold her little arm down, Dunc held her ... neither looked at each other for fear of bursting into uncontrollable sympathy screaming. After being so happy in the waiting room, when we finally reappeared sans cast but with very post-distressed wee one everyone's faces seemed to share the trauma.

Anyways I have been remiss. I have not been sharing. I am in the naughty bin. I have had so many amazing little vintage finds, gifts and swaps and I have not shown them. But this is changing. It starts frtom today - each post I'm sharing the vintage love. Starting with this cheeky tip off from the lovely Phoebe. She's into roller derby. They are starting a league in Tassie. More on that later. She emailed me to go get some. Orange and blue, she said. Go and check it out. So I did. Below.

...and some cheeky Esk Market finds. Love the caravan curtains. Makes me feel like a road trip, sipping a travel mug of tea whilst the traffic banks up.
Will post more soon - I have been given some vintage treats from very generous people.

Meander

I love the ocean. Now that I live away from it, when I glimpse it my heart jumps a little. Ocean air makes me feel all relaxed and I feel the clarity creeping back. Lazy drives with friends and family. Inspiring meanderings. New oceans and places bring new thoughts. Recharged.

Thank you windy

Many thanks to all who dropped by my stall at Hobart's Mother's Market with kind comments and happy smiles. Up on that breeziest of hills it was lovely to meet you all. And to those who took away a little something, before it blew away...thank you again. Excuse the blogging break, just filling a few orders and enjoying family time x

Finding your Niche

Ok ... I am a little stretched preparing for the Mothers Market. Let's just say I am taking a little sewing break to pop a few thoughts here before heading back to Helga the Husqvana (Jan the Janome is on the blink ...but there my friends is another story) I keep speaking softly to Jan who is now in the other room so she doesn't feel like I've abandoned her for Loz's machine (which luckily just happened to be down here!!) Anyways no time for whit ... just a little pictorial tour of what was just a lovely, lovely weekend and market... walk with me...
Here is Niche in all its splendor in the fabulous UTAS School of Architecture

Here is the lovely Selena, organiser extraordinaire of Niche in a lovely dress with a lovely little girl - hey, that's my daughter!The 'Green Forest' dress on the left is the dress I swapped for ...This amazing purse! Score, my friends, score! I love it - I held it in front of me like skippy the kangaroo for alot of the day - thank you, Rachael.

Here is Rachael's stall full of Franrosie goodness. Salivate.
Here is my new dress I made especially for Niche ... but now they have all gone so none to take to the Mother's Market ... but they get another new guy - so even, OK. But enough about me ... here is a whirlwind of some but not all the stalls - I always got a little side tracked when taking photos...

Rebecca Roth's beautiful resin rings
A tantalising morsel of Tara Badcock's amazing goodies ... just a little tea cosy snippet. Look at those beautiful flowers from her mother's garden!

Cupcake goodness with Naomi and Brendan from Mrs G. Yes I got my rocky road... it was better than I remembered.
Jo Pinckiewicz from Perfecto Interiors - her prints were just so so lovely.
The beautiful Vee with her softies from The Purple Finch

and here is Nadia from St Giles manning (or womaning) Hideyo's warren of bag, print and origami joy.
these were Ann Youl's most divine ribbons. OK so not everyone - I didn't even mention the plum puddings, Indeco, children's hats, chocolates by Kate ... aaah! ...but a good snippet, no?

It really was such a lovely market... I was so thankful to be involved. It just had .... well a beautiful energy created by stallholders and customers alike. I cannot thank Selena and the team at St Giles enough. It was an absolute pleasure to be involved and to feel that I helped out such a worthy organisation just a wee bit.

I must fly. I have procrastinated enough. I have to get back to work...get these fingers stitching

Niche Market

Today I have been at Niche Market and I will be there tomorrow. It is a fundraiser for St Giles a wonderful organisation that helps Tasmanian kids with disabilities. There is some really wonderful goods there - 20% of all sales go to St Giles - retail therapy with a conscience, my friends - win win. To name but a few - there's Franrosie with beautiful handbags, purses and other leather delights (we did a cheeky swap - dress for new fancy wallet, I am so very excited!), The Purple Finch's scrumptious softies are there, the divine and delectable work of Tara Badcock Paris, Rebecca Roth's resin jewellery, beautiful origami and printing from Hideyo and Joanna Pinckiewicz handprinted joy ... and those cupcakes from Mrs G - I'm buying rocky road tomorrow ...it's going to get ugly, ug-er-ly. - and that's not even everyone!

Loz and Dinny have some new dresses ... I've been doing apocolyptic sewing ... dressmaking like there's no tomorrow - but it was a busy day so my stall is looking a little deflated. But I did manage to get a few of the red 'Blythe' dresses done. (the grey fabric I ordered for them didn't arrive in time - but that may have actually been a blessing as I really don't think the little sweat shop could have gone any faster). Why 'Blythe'? - Loz used to sew this dress for my little sister Blythe back in the dark and distant late 70s. Loz had kept the pattern and has passed it onto me. Vintage goodwill.

I will take some more photos tomorrow ...but here is a peek (I cannot vouch for quality - my vision is blurry from late night sewing) I meant to take photos of other stalls but I left my short-term memory somewhere and cannot locate it. There's this little number...the bumblebee-esque
and the red and grey 'Blythe' dress in repose with tricyle... there is red and pink colourway too but no photo. I tried to enhance this image to improve it's quality ...something tells me I should stick to sewing...
but here is the beautiful tricycle stamp Duncan made for me which is part of pocket detail- came up a treat.

Come to the market ...you know you want to...

Broken Wing

An eventful weekend... my little girl had a topple ... it was one of those 'I only turned my back for a moment' moments. Dunc saw her fall in slow motion. I was upstairs. A few tears then business as usual bustling around. But each time she steadied herself with her hands she had a little whimper - then her new morning word came 'sore' as she pointed to her wrist - so we thought it best to get it checked out. At emergency we thought we may be just overzealous parents .. Edie is working the room, smiles all 'round, waves. But the x-rays said otherwise - green stick fracture, three weeks in a cast. Dunc welled up - father's guilt - there will be days like this - a lifetime of wanting to coat her in cotton wool - save her from the disappointments and falls - broken wings do heal, parents' hearts just get bigger.

Stepford Muriels et al

By all accounts the Muriel breeding program down here in Tasmania is going very well. We have gone from one lone Muriel to three in as many weeks. They felt that as a trio they were better able to strut their stuff at the recent Civic Homespun Market. Lets face it, good things come in trios - Charlies Angels, Indiana Jones and Philip Pullman's Dark Materials. Chocolate is not so good in threes .. it is better in bulk.So apart from blog entries, much has been happening here. I have been making my first forays into lino printing fabric .. so exciting that the whole family wanted in, in, in. Just look at that concentration...
...and since Dunc is on holidays, we have been attacking our back yard. It is a bit of a saga - but lets just say 30cm deep compacted road base on black plastic covering the whole back yard meant the only form of digging that is going to happen is with a dingo digger thingame bob (cat). But we can smell the garden beds and vegies...soon, my friends, soon.

But how sweet is this ... Jen over at Pretty Little Pictures just gave me this wee award. Her blog is gorgeous - she makes very cool clothes and has all lovely vintage things, gush, gush. So I have to

1. list 6 things that make me happy 2. Pass the award onto other kreative bloggers (making sure you leave a comment to tell them) 3. link back to the person who gave you the award.

Happiness is:

1. Cooking up a storm for friends and then eating together - good food, good conversation and laughter - food of the gods, my friends.

2. Surprises - I love a good surprise - Dunc once steamed open a pack of my favourite chocolate ginger, hid a pair of gorgeous green amber earrings in there, resealed it and then posted it to me for an Easter when we were apart. I stumbled on them when I had sat down with the intention of mowing the entire bag of chocolate in one sitting over a cup of tea.

3. Hearing Edie's new words. Her brain must expand during the night - first thing in the morning she comes out with a couple of new words. This morning it was 'soft' as she stroked my skin - beautiful!

4. Feeding the creative part of your soul. It is only when I take that part of me off the back burner and allow it to be, that I realise that something important was missing.

5. Having a good belly laugh.

6. Feeling like a small part of the bigger picture. I love feeling connected to my community and my world. Things can go horribly wrong and there may much that is horrible on this planet but what is amazing, is that when you start investing in creating joy, respect and love around you it seems to come back to you from some of the most unlikely places...tenfold.

So to Ethel loves Fred and Hoppo Bumbo you get a Kreative Blogger award from me!

Oh and Claire also passed on this cool little tag - Go to the closest book to you, not necessarily the book you have just read, or your favourite, but the closest. Turn to page 56 and copy out the 5th line, followed by the next 2 to 5 lines.

Sitting next to me, on my desk is Florence Broadhurst: Her secret and extraordinary lives by Helen O'Neill. Page 56 is a picture of her beautiful Arabian Birds wallpaper so I'll go to 57...'She announced that she wanted to become Australia's Ambassadress and launched a competition to find a national dress. The press lapped it up.'

The woman was a chameleon and a true eccentric and her approach to design and business whilst out there really does inspire you take your passion and to just get out there and get amongst it. I would love to see what Jen is reading...

It's been a long entry but an overdue one...now to get amongst it xx

Muse

I've crept down my ricketty stairs early this morning to do some work while my little family are still in the land of nod. Does your heart ever feel more full than getting the chance to watch those you love slumber? I feel all inspired...

Finding your Niche

Fresh off the press... this makes me feel all excited and christmassy-like. It's never too early to feel festive!

Introducing...

Meet Muriel. She made her stunning debut at Evandale Market this Sunday. She is the first of a growing family - soon to be six sisters! She took a few serious nose dives in the very windy weather but once weighted down she modelled her apron with aplomb! She may be made of ply and dowell but this girl is no shop dummy. She is no 'make me a supermodel'. She is made. By Duncan. He is one mean guy when armed with a jigsaw. Pinocchio has nothing on Muriel.So Evandale...Vee of The Purple Finch and I shared a stall (and some tasty snacks) and managed to stop our stuff being blown away to Oz. Edie also got a little treat - a gorgeous Owl softie which she has been cuddling and saying 'hoo hoo' ever since. We were so lucky to be across from the most glorious maker of cupcakes, rocky road and other goodies - Mrs G ... I can recommend the turkish delight cupcake and the rocky road was die for - I mean I dream of it. I'm a rocky road kinda gal. Sorry I don't have a link.

Thanks to those who swung by with lovely words and those who took something home x This weekend it's off to the Civic Homespun Market - check out the right hand side bar for details!

Little Red Dress

I have been working on this idea for a while in my head. I finally sewed it all up yesterday for Edie. I am thrilled with the outcome.

We took the dress for a test run in Princes Park. I'd be drooling too if I got to ride on my Daddy's shoulders on a beautiful spring morning in my fancy new dress!I will get some of these together in sizes 1 - 3 for the end of the month. There will be other colours ... but you'll have to wait and see xx

Let me introduce you to my logo and swing tag image. This photo was taken around 1960. My mother (affectionately called Loz) and my Grandmother (Dinny) are modelling out the front of their house the shift dresses my Mum has just sewn. The little girl in the background is my Mum's first cousin with the family dog, Flip. Mum is about 15. She laughs at her do. Plenty of hair roller action there ladies and gentlemen!

I will be pedalling my wares this Sunday at the Evandale Market only 15mins from Launceston, Tasmania. Drop by. Bring chocolate.

My favourite model in the dress that kicked of this crazy scheme ... ...beautiful 100% cotton sateen featuring fabric from Heather Ross' 'Lightning Bugs...' collection.