Best Week Ever

Well this week on Etsy has delivered some very lovely surprises. First I was very, very lucky to be mentioned in the Etsy Finds From a Land Down Under here. I can not quite believe that I was among such wonderful Australian talent. But to top it up today the garland I blogged about in my last post made it to the front page today. Wow, what a week. Back to school tomorrow and back to the sewing machine.

Happy Australia Day to you all!

That Time Of Year

Yep, it's that time of year when all the hearts come out and its time to remember those we hold close to our hearts. In celebration of my love of hand screen printed fabric I have been finally been able to make good use of some small pieces of Pippijoe's Daisy fabric that I just knew one day I would find something special to use them for. Presenting..... my heart garland. Available in my etsy store now. I just wish I had a bright, breezy widow to photograph it on (all my widows have ugly security screens) to show how pretty it is. But anyway I made do with screeching at the girls to hold the garland still while I photographed it against a boring old wall. Doesn't quite do it justice though.

And keeping with the whole heart theme is a pretty heart purse that is also in my etsy shop. The fabric is the heart fabric by Carly Schwerdt from Umbrella Prints. The colour is Storm Boy Blue. I think it is the whole name of the colour that I love too as Storm Boy was one of my favourite books as a child.

BIDM Banner

Today my custom made banner arrived for the BrisStyle Market. I am so excited. I have had the absolute pleasure of working with the very talented etsy seller Love Letter Collage in the design of my banner. Nothing was too much trouble and the banner was designed just the way I wanted it and all in super quick time too. I think anyone who has the patience for that kind of fiddly work is amazing. The letters get pegged up simply on string. I am hoping the dark blue colours will contrast nicely against the white table cloth. Check out another of Love Letter Collage's other beautiful work bellow.

(image from here)

November Is.....

Well today is the 1st of November. Just over a month till the most exciting date of the year. No it's not Christmas I'm thinking of but the BrisStyle BIDM market. Market preps are in full swing, with the sweat shop girls (aka the children) being bribed with much chocolate for their assistance.

The 1st of November also starts the month of "Movember". Movember aims to raise awareness of two very serious men's health issues - prostate cancer and depression. Check out the official site for all the info of how you can get involved with all the Movember goings on. I am choosing not to grow a Mo (not such a lovely look on a girl) but maybe I shall craft a Mo instead and donate the proceeds of the sale to the cause. Maybe you too want to get involved with some crafty Mos. If you want some inspiration here are some of my favourite Etsy Mustaches:

Wool Felt Mustache by chickbabyrose

The Minature Tiny Mustache Pick by thesmallobject

Super cute Moustache Gloves by wifeofbrian

Little Bits of Nice

(image from here)

Lots of bits of niceness going on at the moment. Well that's what I'm telling myself. I was very lucky to win the very lovely brooch by RE-read the other week. You can go and check out the very talented RE-read's goodies at the upcoming Finders Keepers Market in Brisbane next weekend.

Above is a picture of the lovely Fleur who I found all packaged up on my door step last week. She is so sweet how she lies on her belly and looks down at you. My sister made her for my Birthday. It was such a lovely surprise as I had no idea. My sister hand sews every stitch of the bears she makes and they last forever.

Above is a picture of some of the bits I'm getting ready for the BrisStyle Christmas Market. It is lovely to use up all the scrap pieces of fabric that I haven't been able to part with.

Some new fabrics from Ink & Spindle. Yay! I can't quite believe that they have only been around for a year. Happy First Birthday Ink & Spindle.

On a wee bit of an exciting note, I'm involved the the 30 Days of Giveaways Style Collective/Frankie promotion. Every day in November Style Collective will be giving away a prize from 30 Indie Designers. Above is my messenger bag that is up for grabs.

My etsy store has also had a little face lift too. New banner and all designed by the lovely Kate from LalaRose.

Lovely Break

Why is it that holidays always have to go so fast? The girls and I have just gotten back from the most lovely week down the coast at Burleigh Heads. So much fun to be had. Walking, swimming, more swimming, markets, parks, Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, loads of fish and chips and many, many ice creams.

Cait and Moo exploring the rock pools. Hours of fun.

Some members of the family, namely Cait chose to be adventurous holiday activities climbing up on the high ropes course with the birds at Currumbin. It was such a pity that I didn't wear closed in shoes to join in the joy of being harnessed in meters above the ground.

I on the other hand was content to join in this lot in lots of laziness.

Look, we even got a sneak look at her babe.

On another pretty interesting handmade note, Burleigh had quite a few lovely shops selling handmade wears. What a treat. The girls are so funny to take shopping now and can pick handmade a mile off and make sure everyone in the shop knew that they had seen things for sale on etsy or that they were handmade. My favorite shops were Raggedy Anne and Love From Lucy.

The Small Ones

Well they're finally ready - my new collection of small purses. Theses purses are just a little smaller then the others that I traditionally make. They close with a 10 cm zip instead of a 12 cm zip. I've also sourced some new hand screen printed fabrics. It is amazing how talented these textile designers are. I've had so much fun working on this new collection to add to my etsy shop.

Blue Doll Purse - fabric by Mikodesign

Little Red Flower Purse - fabric by Hollabee

Small Spring Purse - fabric by Melbomba

Olive Doll Purse - fabric by Mikodesign

Small Blue Bird Purse - fabric by Melbomba

The last two photos are of the the little coin purses I've been worked on too. I'm still tossing up wether I will pop these on etsy or leave them for the next markets I do. They looked so sweet all standing up together.

Etsy Ekka Extravaganza!

Yay, it's Ekka time again in Brisbane.  To celebrate the BrisStyle team are having a massive sale.  A perfect way to celebrate the goodness of the Ekka, save some cash and avoid the crowds by shopping at home.  To see the BrisStyle contingent that is participating go to here.

Making

A new fretwork bag from Thea & Sami's most wonderful fabric.  I adore this print so much.  The last bag I made with this fabric was given to a very dear friend for her 40th birthday.  Thea was so generous with her time when I ordered several metres of this fabric the other week.  It was printed super quick at a  time when she was busy moving studios.  Just beautiful!  

Little no sew envelopes from this pattern.  So much fun.  

Yummy bread rolls.  The recipe can be found here.  This recipe turns out so well.  I cooked some up yesterday for lunch when I had five children to feed.  It was the first time there was silence all day.  Warm, sweet straight out of the oven goodness.  I had mine with butter and strawberry jam.  Sorry no pics of the finished product as no one would wait long enough.  

I have also signed up to SoopSee.  I really like the idea of having my etsy shop, blog and bits and pieces together.  This is the link to Little Mary Moo's Place.  Shall see how it goes.  

Hand Written

With all the electronic communication that we use now it makes the few hand written notes I receive just that little bit more special.  A few weeks ago after a ten hour shift I came home on a very cold night to an extremely lovely hand written note from an etsy customer.  What a lovely surprise!  She was thanking me for a purse that she had brought.  I was so chuffed that someone would take the time and effort to send me a thank you note.  I get such pleasure from selling my wares on etsy and this was just so unexpected and so special.  

Above is another hand written note I received the other week from my youngest.  Out of the three girls, Moo is the one that loves to sew the most.  I was in my room one morning when I received the above note (please excuse the seven year old spelling attempts).  Moo had been sewing a bag and had gone just a little crooked on the seam.  Miss perfectionist was not happy at all.  There taped to this note was the little bag itself.  So I introduced Moo to the pleasures of the seam ripper along with the need to mutter bugger, damn, crap while unpicking.  This note makes me smile every time I see it, so it is now being used as my bookmark.  

Sweet Front Page

(Image from here)

My Sweet Mustard Organic Seeds purse made it to the front page.  Huge thank you to this lovely Brisbane girl for letting me know.    The fabric used in this purse is from the very beautiful hand screen printed Seeds range by Hollabee from Ink & Spindle.  This colour way is beautiful.  I love how it is a little different from what is traditionally available.  Happy Days.  

Full Steam Ahead

Hooray, a week of crafting has been had.  Well little snatches of crafty time may be a better description.  Above is a new purse made with the seeds range by Hollabee from Ink & Spindle.  I love this colour way and the fabric texture stood up really nicely with some interfacing and the structure of the purse.  

Above is a new bag I made for me.  I wanted a bigger bag to take to the BrisStyle Markets as I have a feeling I may make a few purchases.  I also needed a new bag to take to work on the train to fit my lunch, a jumper, book and all the other essential crapola.  I was over lugging two bags with me, so this was my solution.  I used the seeds range again from Hollabee.  I adore the charcoal colour way and it goes so well with the black denim.  

Ok, so I may have been a little slower then usual on the crafting front but I did go and source myself a new sewing table.  It is huge 1.5 m square, so there is plenty of room for us all to sit and create.  More often then not most the chairs and stools in the house find there way to position around it.  I picked it up at a seconds store and because it has a crack 1/3 of the way down, the table didn't cost much at all.  But I don't mind about the crack.  Some things that are a little broken turn out to be our most treasured.  I'm thinking about just gluing a tape measure along the crack to cover it up, hmmm what do you think?   So with the new table, the dining table is now free.  I thought this would mean more space for actual meals but I was wrong.  The sewing machine might now how its own space but the dining room table is now just space for more crafting.  Oh well, more inside picnics and eating at the bench to come.  

Have a lovely weekend all!  

The Best Place To Be This Weekend

Now could there be any better place to go tomorrow!  I am so excited about the BrisStyle Market.  Going on the success of the last BrisStyle Market, I'm sure this one could be equally if not more fantastic.  No stall for me this time but I am going to get a head start on my Christmas shopping this year.  There will be plenty of handmade goodness to get me well on my way to being organised for once.  I wish all the stall holders the best of luck (they won't need it though because all their stalls will be beautiful for sure).  

What to Do

(Image from here)

So poor old Brisbane was very, very wet yesterday.  In celebration of the torrential rain I brought this little pendent from Rain Cloud Studio.  Super cute.  My delemar today is whether work or school will be going ahead.  I got a wee bit of a panicked phone call at 11.30 yesterday from the girl's school that it was going under and they were evacuating.  So much excitement to be had.  The tuckshop ladies even made sure the kids got their tuckshop orders before they evacuated, how sweet is that.  As I was leaving the Principal was saying that school may not be on tomorrow.  Littlest Moo is adamant that there is no school on (hm wishful thinking maybe).  So do we get ready for school and work and chance it or stay in bed for the day?  It has stopped raining now so I'm kind of thinking it will all be on.  

Treasures in the Mail

I got home from work last night to very excitedly find this beautiful pendant from the very talented Eliza from ElvenHair waiting for me in the mail.  It was all specially wrapped up.  I love the colours in the wood.  Eliza is raising funds for her very sweet medical assistant dog Gem who needs an operation on her leg.  So it is well worth the effort to buy some lovely wooden treasures and support such a wonderful couple.    

It has been poring rain here today so I've had the time to finish of this bag for a lovely BrisStyle girl.  It has been a lovely day of cubbies, pancakes, pizza and sewing.  Life would be a dream if everyday could be so sweet.  

The Upside of Insomnia

Ok can someone please reset my body clock.  I have the most awful habit of waking at 3 to 4 am at the moment.  I am terrible at getting back to sleep, it takes me hours and by that time I have to get up and start the day anyway.  There are a few upsides though.  I like the darkness and quite of the house.  A coffee in peace, while reading emails and checking out blog happenings.  Also time to cut out patterns and fuse interfacing.  

After the Stitches and Craft show I have had a surge of inspiration.  I have done very little bag sewing this year but the Fretwork fabric by Brisbane boutique textile designer Thea & Sami was just needing to be turned into a messenger bag.  I had this one all cut out and ready to go by 6 am yesterday morning.  I love red and denim - I guess I have said that before though.  I am so very happy with how this turned out.  This bag was popped into my etsy shop this morning.  

Busy Busy

(photo from here)

I've been keeping myself busy making some little bits and pieces for this most wonderful shop.  Tangled Yarns is a new shop in Newstead that stocks the most amazing range of yarns and so much other goodness that goes with handmade.  To walk in here, you feel like you are walking into another world - one where handmade rules!  The shop is so bright and airy and there is so much wonderful colour and texture that it is very hard to walk back out the door and go home, definitely not a shop you can just pop in and out of.  So now I am so very lucky to have some purses and pencil cases from Little Mary Moo's Place stocked in Tangled Yarns.  Hooray!  

Off to the Stitches and Craft show today, can't believe that I've been able to make it as it is the last day of the show.  More Hooray!  There are so many BrisStyle girls that have been busy at the show and from the sounds of it they all have been a huge success but that comes as no surprise.  I just hope that they have some of their handmade goods left for me to buy.

The other thing that has been keeping me hugely busy is my eldest Little Moo who has had gymnastics competitions the last two weekends.  I have lived in a fog of glitter spray.  I apologise in advance for the brag (not usually my style) but on such a very exciting note - she qualified for State Championships!  She trains so hard and puts in so much effort it is nice to see it pay off and for there to be some icing on the cake.  These girls are so brave.  They get out there and do these amazing routines with judges watching every little thing and then they are given a score for it.  I was also very impressed with the fantastic sportsmanship buy all the girls that were in her team.  They all cheered each other on and were there with a shoulder to lean on when things weren't going so great.  I have no photos of my own as my hand shakes to much - there is always a little part of me that wants to yell out "young lady you get down from there before you hurt yourself!"  but luckily for everyone I don't.  But there are photos here and here of her in action.  

Visitors and More Goodness at Little Mary Moo's Place

Look at the sweet little visitor we had at Little Mary Moo's Place last night.  About seven o'clock Cait walked down the hall to her room and there peeking out from the internal door from the garage was this little fellow.  When she called me to come and have a look at the frog in the house I thought she was pulling my leg as we have never even seen a green tree frog around let alone trying to hop down the hall.  But there he was sitting there just like he'd been invited for a cup of tea.  

After much oohing and or look isn't he so cute business from the four girls at Little Mary Moo's Place as well as a little bit of a flash photography session he decided to go and hide behind a folded up deck chair in the garage.  Luckily he decided to jump onto the chair and I was able to carry him outside to the grass on the chair.  

On a sewing note, Cait, my eldest made this very nifty purse over the holiday break.  It has a very cool ipod pocket at the front constructed from a scrap of Pippijoe fabric.  Cait made it all herself except the zipper.  

On a very exciting note I received a wonderful gift over the week from Sydney Etsy seller  Flower Press.  I brought one of Flower Press's hand screen printed tea towels for a friend as a house warming present and Flower Press very generously sent me two tea towels that had been printed slightly off center to play with.  How very lucky am I!  These are so beautiful.  Flower Press also has a wonderful blog that is well worth spending some time at.