30 September 2007

Tag-o-rama

Greetings all, this post is coming to you live from the school holidays in the Northern Territory, we only get 6 working days, but that will do to revive us, even with a chicken pox outbreak (the children are vaccinated, i am a pharmacologist at heart, so it should be mild & so far, number 2 has the most glamorous pox you can imagine, so neat & well . . . perfect, just like her). Bring on 4th term i say & let's wrap up the year!!

Well i have been tagged a few times in the past weeks, so as i struggle to create new posts, i am combining them here. I'm not passing on the tags, as i'm so new to blogging & i think all the blogs i like have already accepted such awards. I hope that doesn't offend anyone, i love you all & think you're all fabulous & being tagged is fun . . . anyway, my nominators & i all have a twins theme in common, strange but true.

First up was the delightful Samantha in the US, from The Handmade Dress blog/ Little Dresses, who has the best motto i've ever heard "she who dies with the most fabric wins". As a patient & loving serviceman's wife (to a fire fighter) & mother of 3 so far, plus auntie to potentially zillions, including brand new twins Iris & Lily, i simply adore her - we have so much in common. She nominated me as a . . .
i think every blog i look at his this badge already, so just consider yourselves all rockers!!
Next, the darling Fiona from Dragonfly Crafts in Australia, tagged me to do the letters of my name, with some meaning. Fiona is a fraternal twin & she's nothing like her sister, although they're great pals. I love the name of her blog as dragon flies are a huge symbol of the change of seasons in the Northern Territory. So here goes J E N N I E, yes that is my full name . . .
J is for jovial, i'm pretty happy, quick to smile & even quicker to giggle, especially at myself
E is for energy, i work out every day to make it through every day & to lose the baby blubber
N is for nice, i try to be nice & only surround myself with nice people
N is for numbers, i did pure maths at Uni & love numbers, spatial maths & geometry, N for nerd??
I is for invention, love necessity being the mother of it, otherwise i would never have started sewing
E is for everything, i have a long list of things to achieve each day & love it when 'everything' is done
Finally, the gorgeous Angelique, currently based in Noumea with her husband & 6y.o. twins (the sensible boy/ girl type) with the blog No Life Without Wife, tagged me with the 8 things/ facts/ habits about you . . . so here are 8 things you never needed to know about moi. I thought i'd do more about where i came from, as my blog is pretty current & reveals who i am now, with my children, habits & quirks.
1. I always knew i wanted to be a wife, mother & have 4 children, but i was academic & wanted a career in pharmacology or forensics (long before CSI thank you, i tried to get school work experience with the Sydney Coroner). I hadn't thought out how to have both, the finer details like funding this life etc. I was caught up in the mid 90's mix of feminism, independence, money & girl power, yet was an auntie & loved my neices & nephews - so much more fun & uncomplicated than office politics!!
2. I grew up on Sydney's leafy North Shore, in a beautiful big home, with great parents, 2 brothers & a sister. It was a beautiful childhood, strict, safe & sheltered, full of homemade goodness, as my mother was the original 1950's housewife. All our food was cooked from scratch with lots of home grown vegetables & herbs. Mum handmade our clothes, often matching (Von Trapp style) which we considered at the time, was the height of daggyness.
3. I come from a family of very focused & determined people. We all have 3-4 children each & run our own businesses. My eldest brother is rocket scientist, next brother is a doctor & anesthetist, my sister a ballerina (retired) so our big family get togethers are very interesting & diverse with our chosen paths in life, plus 14 children. Dad was a naval commander, so perhaps the discipline in all it's different forms, rubbed off on us.
4. My husband is the most important person in my life. I think you can say that out loud & let your children know. My husband was here first & my love for him is different for the love we have for our children. My mother made that clear to us & would support Dad in his decisions, which were always pretty fair - we'd have to put reasons for & against if we wanted to go to a party & waste valuable study time. My parents have been married for 50 years & still hold hands & run errands together. I can certainly see the value in keeping a marriage alive as once the children have grown up & left home, it's just the two of you again.
5. I'm a workaholic. I pretend i'm not by finding time for school duties and making my husband feel like he has my full attention in the evenings, then work for hours after he's asleep. I have been in paid employment since i was 12. First job was as a kitchen hand & ironing/ pressing table clothes for a catering firm, which i did all through high school. So no silver spoon after all!!
6. Silver Spoon comment aside, my family loves to travel. I was lucky enough to go around the world 12 times before i started Uni, with my 13th trip being the honeymoon. My mum was a farm girl from England, so she's travelled a long way since marrying an Australian sailor on Christmas Eve in 1955. Europe is my favourite place, the history, architecture, culture, food, hotel room treats, I love it all. I do have a thing for Disneyland though, all of them.
7. I never believed in love at first sight until i laid my eyes on my husband. I was 19 & trying to get out of an 18month relationship the coward's way - meeting someone else. I did what most girls that age do - fall in love with someone at work. I had joined the Army Reserve at Uni, a clueless officer cadet, i was a tom boy at heart & it was a great balance to my other super girlie part time job. Plus it was fun running around the bush in boy's clothes learning about what makes men tick, guns truly do nothing for me. So dating my instructor was a 'fling' & 13 years later, i still say to him, "if you didn't ask me out, i would have had such a crush on you". He was so charismatic, tall, handsome & excellent at his job. It was a natural progression for him to finally join the regular Army a year later, aged 24.
8. I love anyone is who is fabulous at what they do. You know, world championship sports, business leaders, world changing politians, amazing artists, obviously clever crafters & parents who do a fantastic job. All my best friends are in those categories, be it brilliant stylists, mothers, dentists or bank directors. I know it's a luxury to truly love what you do for a living, however, under the right circumstances, you can make it happen. I love my life, it's dynamic with growing children & personalities, my husband's career & deployments to war zones, where Posie & Edna&AliceMay are going, our next interstate move. It's very interesting & so far from where i ever imagined i would be. With plenty of hard work, experience & positivity, i'd like to teach our 4 children to be open to where life might take you. To know what you want, but sometimes you don't know what you want until you have it, then run with it.
Love Posie

23 September 2007

My Little World

As seen in Meet Me At Mike's "hello hooters"
check out the owl in the tree on this fabric swatch singletGreetings all, just a little filler inner post today as I'm not at the markets & have been super busy. I only ever planned to do 3 posts a month, but geesh, i'm struggling to keep up with that tall order. I'll let the images do the talking, a lot of sweet ideas from my customers, taking advantage of the custom design option at Posie. There are some very clever ladies out there who either can't sew or fear they won't wear or use something they made themselves. Then there are the mummies after the dream baby bag & soft furnishings, they give me the measurements or colour scheme & away i sew.
Sonia's Play Mat (patchwork top in Oriental pink, green & white) it looked super gorgeous once it was all hand quilted & edged. It's now on holidays with a very lucky little girl. Finished product image is trapped in the camera, maybe next post??
Anthea's pram satchel - with perfect strap length
The super stylish Tina from Sweet Pea Collection makes herself gorgeous clothes (it also helps that she looks like a super model) but she's always wondering what people are really thinking when they ask if she made the clothes she is wearing herself. I can assure you, they are thinking "that looks amazing". I'm not kidding, Tina can make something new to wear to school - BEFORE she takes her children to school that morning.
My gorgeous customer Jean requested i make her a black top with Penny Wheels, so i made her a matching wristlet for fun. I was telling Tina, & she giggled saying she had just made something similar for a new store in Sydney. Great minds hey!! Or is it "fools never differ??"
What else has happened in the past couple of weeks - i've moved my studio from the small sewing room to the empty space in the lounge, for the impending interstate move & Christmas rush, revealing i have way too much fabric; i started back with my personal trainer, Sophie Hawken, who is fresh back from the World Championships with a silver medal in the Triathalon (she's very kind to us mummy types who are obviously not professional athletes); still doing markets when my husband is home to babysit on Sundays & constantly building up/ replacing stock; it was our 3 daughters' school concert - so cute - everything from ball room dancing to 60's hippy music; i shipped lots of new products down to Meet Me At Mike's for their current & future store - opening in October; plus parcels of love to Singapore & France.
new Edna&Alice May body suits
more market cosmetic purses
Viva la France
new studio, table top envy girls & yes, i use all 3 sewing machines every day
too much fabric, non?? But wait, there is more . . .
We have a moving date for our relocation from Darwin to Canberra, between Christmas & New Year, as you do with 4 young children, "let's drive right down the red centre in the middle of a desert Summer", good times. I love Darwin but really looking forward to starting over again, moving with as little as possible, older children & checking out the market scene in Canberra (the Old Bus Depot markets are first on my list). This week, Peggy-Jean's Melissa will start helping me with product & order preparation, oh to share ideas & work & giggle all day (well during preschool hours) will be so fun. We had a date night last week, sooo many new concept coming Posie's way, delicious Chinese for dinner & whoopps, a 2a.m. finish. Then it's school holidays (usual blur or swimming). I think you'll forgive me for being tardy in my posts. Lots to do, enjoy, love Posie neglected child - i found my son like this after i moved the studio in a 6 hour marathon, bless him

05 September 2007

National Reading Day Book Parade

Some mothers dread this, but to me, this is what motherhood is all about - making costumes for book week, fancy dress parties, theme days at school, you name it, i have a ball creating something for every event. Today was National Reading Day & this week is Literacy Week in Australia. So my little girls decided to go as Kim Possible (cheerleader come crime fighting cartoon character on Saturday Disney, not sure she's featured in a book??); Jesse the Yodeling Cowgirl from Toy Story (we have the book so it's true) & our super creative one, choose to go as a vintage mermaid from a Lucie Attwell book (said book was a gift from my dearest customer Jean, a Transition teacher here in the NT). Due to the nature of girl child number 3's rather risque bikini clad ensemble, we won't be posting close ups on this post. Instead i have taken some arty shots of the mermaid tail detail, encrusted with $2 brooches. Now i can boast, i won, er, i mean, she won BEST COSTUME!! Personally i thought the Jesse costume was pretty fabulous, 101 ways with cowboy print fabric & faux large yellow buttons, a $2 skivvy & fusible web. I said to my husband, "maybe the judges thought it was shop bought" to which he replied "you keep telling yourself that Jen." Special mention to said husband for painting the straw hat red last night, but i stayed up until midnight adding the white stitching detail. Their hair looked better before we left the house, so try to picture that in your mind, like the Jesse hair was pulled back into a plait, which has kind of gone all wrong here . . .
Now more about the delightful Jean - she designed this top with a little touch of Cath Kidston, & the idea of the ribbon bow. As a washing maniac, i made her bow detachable, with a press stud, so it's removeable for washing (nasty stud is hidden under the pretty vintage button).
Last week was a Solar Eclipse, so my husband dragged a couple of children who were still awake, to show them this spectacle & take some snaps. This is taken with the high power lens (or as i refer to it "the penis" as it's seriously phallic). I have a head cold so can't even think if that is the correct spelling.
Finally, my mother's new bag. My poor Mummy is in London & Dad sent me an urgent SMS saying her Posie Tote had been stolen. Now i have had customers email me before saying "my car was stolen & used in a ram raid, but fear not, my Posie Tote was OK" before, but for my mother to have her bag stolen - it's more than just the bag. It's her whole life. Dad's SMS read something like this, remember they are on the other side of the world & supposedly travelling light . . . "disaster, Mum's bag stolen, with purses, assorted pens that don't work, hankies, pills, car keys, house keys, garage controls, gate controls, driver's license & all credit cards". What?? My parents travel around Europe with all the keys & controls for their home in Sydney?? They even get a hire car to the airport?? I laughed harder than my shock. Plus, Dad has a thing about Mum's bag being full of pens that don't work, drives him nuts. So this is the replacement, a Melanie size tote with a zip & assorted purses. I shipped it to Hong Kong, their next destination on their way home. Oh, if you see anyone carrying a bag just like this in London, they might be the theif!! Love Posie