Monday, November 29, 2010

Tea Leaves.

After just over two months I am thrilled to report that I have cast off, darned in the ends and sewn on the buttons of my Tea Leaves cardi.

I love, love, love this pattern, I love this colour and I love the buttons I bought at a garage sale years ago and saved for something special.

I am so tempted to cast on another one straight away in grey.

Huge and enormous thanks must go to Ms Nandi for the extra ball of Forest. You are the best!!

All cardi details here.

I'm a bit flat today after the dramas of the weekend. I keep wandering around the house in circles starting things and then moving onto something else. Its terribly cold and windy which doesn't help.

So that's it for me for now.

I hope we all have a great week.
I hope something really exciting and fun happens too.

See ya!

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Grateful!

Today I am grateful for all of the above!

I'm grateful for my Farmer Boy, for my three gorgeous girls, for where we live and how we live, for what we do, for after dinner walks through the bush, for wild flowers, for warm evenings, for song, for love.

It doesn't get much better than this.

Its funny how sometimes all there is are the weeds and the falling over and the fighting, but then on other days everything clicks into place and it all just works. I'm not going to question why, I'm just so pleased that it sometimes it does.

What are you grateful for today?
More here.
Have a wonderful weekend.
And don't forget to check out the free postage in my shop.

See ya!

Friday, November 26, 2010

Printed T's 4 sale!

Hello!

How's it going?

I had such a great morning this morning. I had breakfast with an old friend of mine who I haven't caught up with in ages. I was her brides maid and my kids were her flower girls when she got married, I was with her when she birthed her baby. But still for some reason or other its been a long time between lattes (or champas).

There was so much to catch up on. So much has changed. But still I was relieved that nothing has changed between us. We chatted for ages and then I came home all inspired to do some screen printing and look what I found when I went to get my supplies...a whole pile of t's I printed last year.

I printed the trees here, the owls here, the caravans here and the seals here.

So, here's the thing: I want to move them quickly and you need hand made prezzies for the end of the year. So I have popped them in my shop at $16 each with free postage to anywhere in Australia.

That's right!
There are lots of designs and colours and free postage in Australia!!

I'll be adding more over the weekend too, I've just run out of time to photograph them.

I hope you have a great weekend!
I hope you get to catch up with an old friend soon too. Its such fun!

And for all those who emailed asking where to buy Solvy, I'm so sorry but mine was gifted to me and I have no idea where to find more. Maybe try your local craft shop.

See ya!

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Their scrappy space! (How to Solvy)

A few days ago I was trying to get some sewing done and my girls were playing on the floor behind me, rummaging around in my rubbish bin and my scraps drawer. They wanted me to sew this and pin that and I wanted them to be a bit more self sufficient.

Then I had a brain wave!

Last year at a craft night at Jodie's house, she gave me a packet of this stuff called Solvy. I vaguely remember her talking about it being some sort of water soluble stabiliser, but couldn't remember the exact details. After a bit of googling around they (we) got to work.

We laid out a strip of Solvy on the carpet and then they rummaged around and covered it with scraps of all shapes and sizes. They tried to make sure that each bit was touching another bit, and that there weren't many gaps.

Then they laid another bit of Solvy on top and made a sandwich.

At this stage we pinned and pinned and pinned the layers together.

And then I lowered the feed dogs on Nina Bernina and sewed and stitched and doodled and drew all over every bit of the length. They stood behind me telling me what to draw...a spiral...a flower...my name...

Then they took the stitched length to the sink where they washed it. At this stage the Solvy became jelly like and then dissolved like magic. They helped it along a bit in the beginning with a paint brush but soon realised they didn't have to be so gentle. Then they squished and wrung the water onto every bit.

And then we hung it on the line to dry.

And admired their art work.

This gorgeous scarf was made entirely from scraps!

It has been worn non stop since it was dry.

We have two more in various stages of completion and a couple of orders from teachers.

This is such a great kiddy craft activity. I highly recommend it.

What's going on in your space today?

I hope your day is a happy, scrappy one!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

The Fancy Flower Dress.

Good morning!
What's going on in your world today?

Its been pretty warm for the past few days so the boys have been starting work at 8am. We've been taking them morning tea after the school drop off and they are dusty and hot after slashing and ploughing and mowing for a few hours.

There's only a few weeks left of school for the year but my girls have been spending many days at home. They are tired and need some time out and me and Pepper are glad for the company. It also means I can get a bit of sewing done and I have a bigger sized model on hand. Its win win really.
I think Cath sent me that embroidered bit of flower a while back and its been sitting above my sewing machine begging to be sewn onto something. Not just anything mind you. It had to stand out and be made a fuss of. Featured. Framed. Now it is.

Its in my shop.

I'm off to make cupcakes with the girlies.

I hope your day is ace!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

My shop.

Hello!

I've had quite a few emails recently asking me about my shop so I thought instead of answering them all individually, I would post what I thought here and then if you have anything to add about your experience you could do so too.

I love to sew! I love making little dresses and tops and skirts and although I have three gorgeous girls to dress, they can only fit so many clothes in their wardrobes. I guess this is what made me think that I needed an outlet for the extras.

After A LOT of thought and agonising and discussion with anyone who would listen to me, I came to the conclusion that my sewing is my 'me time' and that I didn't want to turn it into a business and take the fun out of it.

I had been approached by a few shops but didn't like the idea that the shopkeeper would add at least 100% markup making my clothes quite expensive.

I also thought about markets, but we do so many farmers' markets every month and I didn't want to shlep my family around to more.

So I decided on an online shop.

To be honest I've never bought anything online so I have no experience using any of the different online shops out there. My decision to go with Big Cartel was mainly based on the satisfaction of a few of my friends who use it. I also thought that the people who would buy things from my shop would most likely come from my blog and I liked the fact that it felt less like a shop in an enormous shopping centre and more like a corner store.

And so far I'm happy!

I've been open for just over a month, I've sold some stuff, its easy to add more when I feel like it and it just sits there the rest of the time. There's no pressure to update and its cheap and I don't have to wash anyone's faces or be polite.

I guess I would like it if the item could be marked as 'sold' when it has been sold rather than waiting for me to go in and change it, and I am still really unsure of my prices and often wonder why the things I thought would run out the door don't always.

I have also found working out postage costs a bit mind bending so I've just popped two or three dollars ontop of the price of the item to cover the shipping. So in effect, postage is included in the cost that you see.

I have noticed that when I do shop posts on my blog that things sell better, but I definitely don't want that to be the focus of my blog.

But if you know a little girl who would look gorgeous in The Blue Lady Dress, then you know where you can buy it. I don't know why but I think its the best dress I have ever made. I love the white linen of the table cloth and the embroidered girls and the mismatched sleeves.

So how about you?

Have you visited my shop? Do you like my shop? What do you think of my prices? Do you have your own shop? Do you like it? Do you sell lots? What else?

Oh and I've hijacked Susie's Flower Press blog today too.
You should check it out.
I've held her down and made her answer her own Show and Tell questions.
Looks like she did a great job of it too.

Have a happy Tuesday. XX

Monday, November 22, 2010

At my house...

At my house today Indi told Pepper she looked like an elf.
Yes I am, replied Pepper, I am the elphabet!

At my house this morning Jazzy was furious with Indi and wrote Indis stooped on the ladder of their bunk bed.

Indi was mad, Bren made her clean it off, Pepper supervised the cleaning and I stayed right out of it. Truthfully I was a little excited to see Jazzy expressing herself with the written word.

At my house today Indi asked me to make an appointment with my hairdresser for her for after school. She says I have stolen her haircut and she wants it back. Phew, it seems that I am not the daggy mother just yet.

At my house today I got an email from a gorgeous kid's clothing company asking if they could check us out and possibly shoot a catalogue here next year. Not daggy at all. Fun!

Hope you have a great week this week at your house. XX

Sunday, November 21, 2010

This weekend...

This weekend we drove to Melbourne and back to go to a festival on Saturday.

This weekend we spent the whole of Sunday at home.
We ate, we did the farm chores, we sewed up some softies using Indi's new sewing machine, we played on the trapeze and the trampoline, we hung around and relaxed.

This weekend I finished my two test knits for Tikki's new pattern Darwinia.
I knitted Jazzy's dress in BWM cotton and Pepper's baby doll in Woolganics.
I like the look and feel of the wool one much better.
I love this pattern.

Details for Jazzy's here and Pepper's here.

This weekend Jazzy filled an entire book with little characters she designed, Indi made everyone dinner and Pepper flitted around the place playing with everyone and everything she could find.

This weekend I wore a top I found in the back of my cupboard that Bren says reminds him of a t'towel, I got my hair chopped into a style that I wont have to style and I tried my hardest to sew with the girls without taking over or getting frustrated or frustrating them.

This weekend the laundry dried quickly on the line.
For once I wont be scrambling around for bits of school uniform tomorrow morning.

This weekend we marvelled at the enormous amount of fruit that has set in the orchards and hope that the frosts, hail and birds spare us this year.

This weekend the girls made the most gorgeous fairy ring for the fairies to come and dance in.

This weekend I realised that I have started looking out for snakes when I am walking around the farm. UGH!

This weekend I learnt that toothpaste is the best way to remove permanent texta from white boards.

This weekend I remembered that pesto is the besto!

This weekend we watched Robin Hood and I surprised myself by enjoying it.

This weekend a song about growing up made everyone in our family cry.

This weekend is coming to an end and our house looks like a bomb has gone off in it, but I feel happy and rested and ready for the week to come.

Have you had a good weekend?
I hope so. XX

Friday, November 19, 2010

Why blog??

Just like that I've forgotten why I blog.

A few days ago Bren made me take everything out of the office/sewing room that we share, he rearranged the furniture, and then we put it all back again. All of a sudden I had space and organisation and order. I also had room to bring my lap top in from the kitchen table.

But instead of making me want to sew/blog more, its done quite the opposite.

The sewing is all wrong. I keep cutting out bits of fabrics and sewing them together only to realise that they don't work and aren't the look I was after.

And taking the blog thing out of the family shared space and putting it somewhere out of the way has separated it from my life somehow. It seems foreign and somehow I don't get it so much any more. One minute I am overloaded with things to talk about and the next I am sitting here with photos loaded onto a post not knowing how to talk about them.

How weird.

All of a sudden it seems so separate from real life. It seems like I can't remember why I blog or what my blog voice sounds like.

I'm most probably over thinking things as per the usual. When I read my last post to Bren he said he couldn't believe I had so much of that stuff rattling around in my head. When I asked him what he had in his head he listed a bunch of irrigation equations, stuff we have to do for our organics inspection, wages, plans for the block across the road, gorse control, getting an intern, a thought about making a stand for his iPhone to take pics through the lens of his microscope, the egg deliveries and a zillion other farmy odds and ends.

Today I'm thinking about planning a day trip over the weekend, maybe getting a fringe cut today, Indi's best friend vs the gang issues, dinner tonight, knitting, Jazzy's ballet outfit for her concert, Pepper's baby talk, dying wool, a birthday prezzy for this evening, the state of this house, my shop, the possibility that I could have time alone with my farmer boy this afternoon, his Mum's birthday, the washing, how cold I am...I could go on and on...

So I'm going to sign off now and get on with it and see what happens next.

Have you ever forgotten why you blog? I wonder.

Have a happy and sunshiney weekend y'all. XX

Ps. oops, I almost forgot, I'm over at Thea's gorgeous blog today being the Friday Follower.
Pss. I'll tell you how we made the scarf in the picture above one day soon.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

10 years & 20 birthdays.

So birthday season is over here for another year and now I have officially been a mother for 10 years and have celebrated 20 of my children's birthdays. Wow!

For some reason all these milestones have hit me hard this year. I feel like I need to take shallow breaths or I'll cry. Actually, I think the end of birthday season around here always has me processing stuff and quite emotional. It doesn't surprise me at all to check the date of my nest post, my biggest emotional post to date, and to see that I wrote it on this very date last year.

So here are 20 of the things I am thinking about being a mother in no particular order:

That you cannot plan anything about parenting from the birth you would ideally like, to the way your child will behave in any situation, to how much you will achieve on any given day.

That being a mother has made me at times feel higher than the sky and so full of happiness and then at other times so crappy and grumpy and irritated. There is so much love and pride and gooeyness but then so much guilt and loss of control.

That I don't need a huge amount of sleep all the time, but I do need some quiet. There is always so much talk and so many stories and so many questions that at times I feel I can't think at all anymore.

Not to get attached to any plan or arrangement because there is always a good chance that someone will be vomiting or have lice or have disgusting ulcers on their tongue.

That children who fight like wild animals one minute, will defend each other fiercely and adore each other the next.

Never to make the same meal twice in a row. Just because they loved it and said it was their favourite food one day, doesn't mean they'll eat it again the next.

That no matter how much I want them to slow down and stop growing up, they have other plans and are in such a rush and so excited to get there. They are so proud of their new, tall height marks on the wall, while I am stuck staring at the ones closest to the floor.

That I really should make the most of and enjoy the fact that they still think I am cool and want to tell me everything.

That when I am tired and distracted so are they.

That when I am happy and focused completely on them, that it will break any bad mood and bring them up with me.

That even though we feel like we have given them the building blocks to be good, polite, sensible decision making girls, that sometimes their behaviours will surprise us.

That when we give them a little bit of sugar they want more and more and more.

That when discussing my children's school yard and friendship goings on, it takes me right back to mine and is hard to separate.

That I will never cross everything off my list or see the bottom of my washing pile.

That I never give myself credit for the little things like getting the big girls to school on time with lunches packed and uniforms washed, but am quick to be critical of myself for getting cross when I had to ask them for the sixth time to put their shoes on and made them sandwiches with shop bought bread.

That as much as I adore them, sometimes I want to shut the door on them and sit in my office alone and sew.

That as chaotic as our family life is, I am still dealing with all the nest stuff. Most of the time it is in the background but at at other times it feels enormous.

That preparing meals is the hardest part of being a mother for me. I could get so much more done if I never had to consider food.

That one on one, undivided attention, and loud music and dancing can fix almost any bad situation.

That I am the luckiest girl in the world and that my three girls are awesome.

There is so much more going on in my head right now but I've gotta go and lice comb Pepper's hair. AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! She was scratching like mad in bed with me this morning and all I could think of was that it was such perfect bike riding and picnic weather...

Monday, November 15, 2010

Our Indi is 10!!!!

I could go on and on about this girl, but I thought on this special occasion I'd let her tell you herself.

So here she is...our beautiful birthday girl...

Name? Indigo Apple.

Do you have any nicknames? Indi, Indi Bindi, Go Go, Skipping Girl, YouTube Girl, Bum-Head, Ind, Crazy and B'day Girl.

What is your favourite food? Sushi, sushi, sushi, Italian.

What is your favourite school subject? Art and music and writing.

What is your favourite song? I love music too much to choose just one song.

What is your favourite iPhone app (on M and D's phone)? Cut the Rope and Avatar.

Who is your favourite boy? Dad!

What is your favourite ice-cream flavour? Lemon gelati.

Who is your favourite singer? Taylor Swift.

What is your favourite thing to wear? My cousin's old jeans and my high top runners.

What is your favourite thing to do? Listen to music.

What are you looking forward to in the future? Our caravan adventure next year.

What book are you reading? The Dragon Keeper.

What is your favourite lolly? Sherbet bombs and sour lollies.

What do you want to be when you grow up? Not quite famous as a singer/songwriter.

What is your favourite thing out of everything we grow here at Daylesford Organics? Fuji apples.

What do you hate? When singers put swear words in their songs.

What do you love? My family.

What makes you cry? Seeing Jazzy and Pepper cry.

What makes you happy? Watching how proud Pepper is of her art work.

What are you great at? Singing.

What would you like to be better at? Playing guitar and drinking water.

Where is your happy place? Vising Bella the tree.

What do you love? My family.

If you had one wish what would it be? To record my music in a proper recording studio with headphones and a microphone and a mixing desk and all the proper gear.

Happy Birthday Indi Bindi!!
We think you rock!

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Then & now.

  • Ten years ago it was the day after Indi's due date.
  • Ten years ago we lived in Melbourne in a small house in a street called Emo. There were no Emo's then, only goths.
  • Ten years ago we had a tiny vegie garden in the back yard.
  • Ten years ago everyone was pretty convinced we were having a boy.
  • Ten years ago I bought stacks of op shop singlets and onesies and grow suits, dyed them every colour of the rainbow and appliqued them with all sorts of pictures.
  • Ten years ago I was still riding my bike to and from my job at a fashion accessory company.
  • Ten years ago I wore skater runners and my hair was gingery.
  • Ten years ago we shared one car, a red Toyota Hilux, but barley drove it.
  • Ten years ago we walked Pixie at the park every day.
  • Ten years and two days ago we changed from being a couple, to a family and from people to parents.
  • Today Indi is preparing for six of her best friends to come over to sleep the night and celebrate her tenth birthday.
  • Today my barista was at a farmers' market in Melbourne, so I took my three girls out for coffee and Indi read them an entire book.
  • Today it is raining, it is pouring and the old man must be snoring.
  • Today I am trying to remain focused on the birthday girl but I can't help but think of myself and the transformation I have undertaken in the past ten years.
  • Today the birthday girl is way too grown up for Mama lead party games but has a private list of music to listen to, cool activities to play and fun food to eat.
  • Today the two little girls are so over excited that I had to put them down for a nap.
  • Today I am wearing gum boots and listening to Suzanne Vega.
  • Today I am cooking and clearing lots of space for them to sleep in just in case it is too wet and cold for them to stay in the caravan per plan.
  • Today I borrowed Sex And The City 2 for me and Bren to watch in bed while they are running amok.
  • Today if you are in the Southern part of Australia you can watch us on Mercurio's Menu on channel 7 at 5.30pm.
Happy weekend everyone. XX

Thursday, November 11, 2010

My creative space.

My creative space this week is green, green, green.

There's my second go at pattern testing Tikki's new knit.

I'm using Woolganics, organic wool in the Gondwana colour way and I am smitten. Its the most gorgeous wool I have ever worked with, both the colour and the texture. Of course I love that it's Australian and organic too.

I love how this pattern is knitting up and am most excited to finish it.

There's my Tea Leaves cardi.

Thank you for all your offers and suggestions about where to find another ball of BWM Forest. After posting my request on the BWM forum on Ravelry, I found a gorgeous woman who is going to deliver a ball to Bren at his stall at the Collingwood Children's Farm farmers' market this Saturday. She was even happy to swap wool for organic veg! Fancy that!

Oh Ravelry how I love you!

And finally, there's my Tikki KAL.

Now this one is really a bit of fun.
KAL stands for knit-a-long. Each week Ms Georgie releases a few lines of a pattern and the 200+ members who have signed up, knit those bits of pattern with no idea as to what we are in fact knitting.

That's right! It is a mystery pattern. We were told the amount of yarn we needed, and given the option of a boy pattern or a girl pattern, and a range of sizes and the rest is one big mystery.

The picture above is my step one completed and I have step two ready to go but it looks complicated and so I am waiting for a quiet moment (ha!) so I can concentrate.

Does this sound fun to you or have I become a knitting geek?

So there you have it. Green, green, green.

What's up in your creative space today?

Have a happy Thursday y'all. X

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Desperately seeking Forest!

What's cooking good looking?

The sun is shining and we are having a lovely morning this morning.

The washing is drying, the apple cake is baking, Jazzy is obsessed with that song 'anything you can do I can do better', Indi has gone to school late because she was busy finishing off her crane that can lift some wood 10cm off the table, Pepper is slowing me r-i-g-h-t down because she insists that she's Pixie and has to crawl everywhere and Bren and the boys are responsible for the wild and loud noise that is coming from the shed.

And me? I'm good too. I feel like things are speeding up towards the end of the year, I feel like my 'to do' list is so long that the things on the end of it are never going to see the light of day, I feel like being everything to everyone sometimes has me forgetting to breathe but truthfully I probably wouldn't have it any other way.

And I'm sewing a seam here and a seam there, so I'm happy.

If you think your Little Miss would look gorgeous in this Tree Dress 2, you can find it in my shop.

Oh and the desperately seeking Forest thing?
Well it seems that Bendigo Woollen Mills have delivered my order, but the ball of Luxury in Forest colour is currently unavailable. The ball that I needed, whereas the rest of the order I just wanted. The ball that I must use if I ever want to finish the sleeves and button band of my Tea Leaves cardi.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, I am wondering if one of you guys has a ball, or a bit of a ball, of BWM Luxury in Forest that you could spare. I would LOVE to buy it off you if you do. Or, alternatively I could send you mine if and when it arrives.

Are you having a happy and sunshiny day??
Are you ticking your way through your list?
I hope so.

See ya!

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