Shoulder Ties, cake and fairies

These dresses seemed to be a firm favourite on the market circuit last summer. Some beautiful new fabrics for them this season ... I love cotton voile - it is my absolute favourite. I am still squeezing Edie into her size 1 shoulder tie dress ... as a top ... I'm not making her flash her knickers in public or anything like that. Anyways ... she does that of her own accord. Public rolly pollies are de rigeur.

It's been a magical weekend. I got excitedly summoned from my sewing frenzy to eat this ...

and yesterday we all got to go to the magical fairy garden party as a fundraiser for the Clifford Craig Foundation. I realised at the last minute we had no suitable fairy wings ... and wings were the ticket to a free icecream ... so I whipped some up using some stiff vintage, flocked organza I have kicking around in the 'I love it, but what to do?' pile. They had a white elephant stall there- and I picked up some booty - will post later! The garden was to die for ... made me get all inspired so I bought a stack of pot plants from their plant stall too! Just a quick post - back to turning straps and shirring elastic. Don't be jealous.

Dad Craft

Yesterday was all about Dad Craft. With the man on holidays, it has given me some much needed (and sorely appreciated time) for market preparation - Niche and the market- hobart. The man is well versed in the need for cwaft ... the wee girl likes her craft, or as she prefers, cwafting. So with these shells collected last week from lazy beachcombing at Binalong Bay, the dad embarked on his own special version of Dude Craft... (making sure he had a mug of freshly brewed coffee in his favourite mug, lovingly pilfered from his Nan - the former champion Bowls afficionado).
The results were nothing short of impressive ... and it even matched the vintage shell cabochon hair slide I made earlier ... available at this year's round of markets (yes that was a SHAMELESS plug).

In the bag...

Yesterday morning the man officially started holidays - his final hand-in complete. Yesterday morning after breakfast and coffee I started to sew...market preparation has begun in earnest. Yesterday it was all about the skirt. Today ... it was all about the library bag. With the door to 'the back room' open, the sun shining and the wee girl dropping in and out to have a dance, a jump on the bed, or a fondle of the fabric - I thought to myself ... life is grand. Grander even still when you come up to the house for lunch and find it accompanied with a vase of freshly picked flowers from our garden.

Gardening by the Riot Act

Our garden (or parts of it) is looking all Spring lovely. The herbs have gone bananas (no actual bananas, just beserk) and my random cuttings of daisies have bloomed. And then there are those irises. The irises that must have overheard Dunc and my conversation a few weeks back, where we whinged that if they didn't bloom this year after squatting on prime garden land for the past two years ... they were destined for eviction. Amazing what a little fear can inspire in flora. They are glorious.

PS thank you for all your kind words re: craft fairgate. All is calm. Normalcy returned. Glue still in place. Sponge baths, de rigeur.