social commentary Sunday . . . 'teaching an old dog new craft tricks'

Greetings all,

I'm always impressed when people acquire new skills, later this week i'll be all impressed with myself, i hope!!  I'm SO excited . . . i'm re-learning how to knit & from chain stitch beginner level . . . how to crochet!!  Kylie from Mealy&i is an absolute sweetheart & offered to teach me (& my 4 children, not sure she knew that was part of the deal but i'm guessing they'll be re-teaching me a few minutes after Kylie leaves).  What a great school holiday activity (yes, we in Canberra have another whole week to go). 

Today i went shopping for the 'tools & equipment' - i guess in time i'll use every one of these different sizes??  The bulk packs were too good a deal to refuse. 

 Art Viva Tasmanian Oak knitting needles from my stock at Shop Handmade.

 I could only find ugly wool on sale, so i sucked up the price & bought what i thought was pretty.  I guessed which would be suitable ply & acrylic balance of the yarns (so many variations).

I just find crochet hooks the strangest things - to me they look like they are ready to have a chat to you.  I assume all crafters talk to themselves, i do, i'm very agreeable, just like these 9mm & 10mm hooks. 

So wish me well, i am prone to not hold things correctly & i'm sure adding knitting & crochet to my skill set will only make my carpal tunnel syndrome groan (in both hands, since my mid 20s, i like to overachieve like that).  Oh well, sleeping in metal hand splints for the last 10 years is just one of sexier boudoir looks i covet.  Have crafty weeks & do try something new soon.  I'll be back with some results for show & tell, i hope.  Eeek, love Posie

i can sing a rainbow, um, i can make a rainbow

Greetings all,

Well i can't sing a rainbow, i have an awful singing voice (tone deaf & fortunately i know it) but i can see all the colours of the rainbow around me right now . . . which is handy as it's ONE stressful week with major production for Handmade Market on Saturday.  An impressive list of bloggers are coming as new stall holders or visitors, including Maxabella Loves - thanks for your support!! 

Last night i picked up my girls from a sleep over at a friend's farm in Murrumbateman (thanks for all the lovely comments about the last post on twins, yes, i embrace my good fortune!!) & look what they have been busy picking . . .

crabapples in varying degrees of ripeness & . . .  

 quinces, my nightime photography not doing their greeness justice.

 Then home to finish off a rainbow of products for the market, like children's necklaces.

 Just in time, a shipment of amazing craft-enabling Tasmanian Oak knitting needles.

 Lounge craft = hand stitching penny wheels & buttons onto headbands.

 A splash of pastel, i'm thinking of doing up lucky dip jars with pom poms, bias, ric, rac, ribbon & other trim, plus buttons for a basket of fun on my stall.  Brilliant way to share the love & offer up cost price haberdashery i can finally part with.

 Today was spent making . . . 300 Liberty of London badges.  I cut the fabric sitting in the car park outside school each afternoon last week & now i've sorted them into sets, plus some singles.  I have this fabulous 1950s travel case to display all my Liberty printed goodies in, including hair clips, hair slides & buttons too.  Kind of hoping it will be a show stopper. 

 I've made 16 tulle ruffled bottom bloomers, they took ALL Saturday & i'll thread the elastic in the carpark outside school this week (you safety pin the ends together, then do a mega elastic sewing session in one hit when you're next at a machine).  Pricing these is difficult, they use expensive materials & take at least an hour a pair to create (as i restitch the tulle ruffles to the actual fabric).  I've done 3 sizes but want to try to do another dozen, especially in the larger sizes.

 Last market i didn't take headbands, new hair clips, coin purses or cosmetic purses - um, 4 of my biggest sellers, so this time i've come prepared with a tonne of each.  The Hello Kitty fabrics sell well at Shop Handmade & the new hair clips will all be in Liberty prints!!

Another no brainer product i've managed to neglect for a while are simple gift tags, i normally have them with fabric but this time i'm doing stamps - vintage, Euro & quirky - in an 8 for $5 pack, mixed up colours & styles.
Phew, yes, exhausting & a very busy week ahead, but making the most of my rainbowy outlook, or i'd crack under the pressure i put myself under.  I need to cut about 100m of fabric to feel like i have filled up my baskets from the last market.  Have a beautiful & colourful week too, love Posie
PS the winner of the Handmade Business Summit All Inclusive Pass for this Friday in Canberra is Fiona, who is just starting up a small business now, Congratulations, you were randomly selected by Julie, Queen of Handmade, thank you to everyone for entering!!

EDIT: just found this drawing on my sewing machine from my rainbow boy!!  The children were drawing & painting up a storm today.  Bliss. 

listening to my body & what's saying (screaming)

Greetings all,
Are you also having a very wet weekend??  Well it's hot chocolates & movies on here today. 
I can't believe i'm relaxed enough to take a break from sewing (read: clean the house from top to bottom, cook & bake) when . . . a) i've been so unwell due to that silly finger; b) i have orders & stock to make for Shop & Handmade Market; c) i have a motherload of submissions for Handmade Living & d) my husband is away on what seems an endless trip to the desert, i'm the answer to every car/ toilet/ child & dog issue which arises.  I mean, a week on anti biotics, the children's toilet stopped flushing, the car wouldn't start & our dog has been barking!!  But my finger's better now (thanks for your comments, all so kind, yes an infection under the nail, took me down, hard!!)  I'm also listening to my body & what's it's screaming out is "slow down".  I have a lot of responsibilities with home, children & business, without any back up, even so, i created all of this . . . i can slow it down as well. 
It's also this time of the quarter where Handmade Market is a week away - on Saturday 5th June (June i know, already??) so my well timed deliveries of fabric, knitting needles, hair clips & buttons start pouring in.  Yes, there will be a GIVEAWAY shortly!!  I just know i won't be able to sew as much as i normally would for the market, but with the back up of the Shop Handmade (open 6 days) the pressure to perform on market day has been raised a little.  So this market i'm more 'handmade craft enabler' than handmade by Posie.

. . . another 50 pairs of Tasmanian oak knitting needle goodness + 10 more tubes with sets of 3 or 4 pairs . . .

. . . lovely Katie from MissChiefMaker & gorgeous Rachel from Mr Mudge at the Biggest Morning Tea on Thursday, on the verandah of the Forrest Hotel, good luck with your baby Rachel - doesn't she look fabulous 3rd time round & 7 months pregnant . . .
After the Morning Tea (they raised over $5K!!) I took myself out for lunch & to the War Memorial.  I just had a bout of missing my husband, thinking about losing my mother-in-law to breast cancer, my finger hurt, i missed my girls on school camp, i didn't want to go home & just found out this new Army exhibit opened . . . so i bravely went in.  Going to a War Memorial is NOT an easy task when your husband is at war, i can assure you!! 

I won't try to describe helicopters, vehicles or the camp as i am sure i'll be wrong.  Some Army wives practically manage their husbands careers, know every course/ base/ detail/ weapon & every movement.  Me, well, i listen out for the date he's coming back home to us, where he is & how he's travelling only makes it real & i like to play pretend, that he's not in danger.

This was a nice way to end the exhibit, with an image of Sabi, the explosives dog who was MIA for over a year, now back on duty. 
So this week it's serious work for the Handmade Market, working at Shop every day, meetings with Handmade Living & that's right, parenting, feeding, loving 4 primary schoolers.  Have lovely weeks everyone & stay tuned for the GIVEAWAY on Thursday, love Posie

Happy Mother's Day - make a weekend of it ladies!!

Greetings all,
Well it's Mother's Day this Sunday in Australia, wishing you all a lovely day!!  We had a blast at the Mother's Day stall at school, made a small fortune for the P&C (um, 5 times the profit they used to make before i took over, if i can blow my own trumpet for a moment, toot toot). 

After 6 hours of selling gifts to excited primary schoolers, i went in for a 4 hour shift at Shop Handmade where i was met with this beautiful huge vase of flowers, organised by my husband for my Mother's Day, ahhhhh, love you far away soldier!!

 How awesome are our customers & a record sales day too - even when i left after 8p.m. there were STILL 20 people in store, sipping champagne, munching hot snacks from Sour Cherry & such a buzz in the air.  Well done Julie & Rachel, love you ladies, Happy Mother's Day to you both!!

Here is my space in the Shop, a wardrobe, top, shelves, racks the lot, plus the cot filled with patchwork quilts & coming soon, more cushions!!  The Art Viva knitting needles are a hit too.

Gorgeous lovely dolls from Tiny Concept, wow, to think these 3 Babushkas had any hope of being sold to customers beyond the Shop Girls was just ridiculous.  Silly me thought they'd be ace for my 3 girls but my son is a bit of a fan, bless him, does he have ANY other choice being raised in this house??!!

After a big night out it was an early morning off to Goulburn NSW, famous for it's Big Merino & big it is, aka Rambo!!  Check it out, a reinforced concrete shrine to the sheep (in particular fleece & wool) industry.  You can't climb up & look out through the eyes anymore, bugger.

How impressive is the 1888 wool press in the Merino museum, for a numbers freak like me, love that date!!  I started my business in 1999.  Anyway, i had to keep telling my son it was a Merino as in sheep bred for fleece & meat, NOT a casino.  FYI i was raised Methodist & we don't gamble!!  I also studied permuations at Uni, you can't beat the casino, so to avoid disappointment, i don't even buy scratch'n'win cards, just in case you thought, hmmmm, bet that Posie leaves her children in the casino car park . . .

There are quite a few sewing shops in Goulburn, i found these Singer tins, fabulous aren't they??  Well let's just say, after they kindly let my son use the bathroom at the 2nd shop - i had to buy something & due to the unpleasant smell he left, we shall never return!!
I treated my boy to a ram at the Big Merino tourist shop.  I asked him what he might like to name his sheep (so hoping he'd chose something Australian like 'Dag' or 'Jumbuck') & after much thought he annouced to the Shop . . . "I'm going to call him 'Naguwakyta' which means 'thirsty' in Japanese."  What??  I am sure they will remember that freaky son of mine in Goulburn for a long time!!Now for my all time favourite sheep joke (you need to know in advance that 'dags' are the bits of poo which stick to the fleece around a sheep's bottom & in Australia a 'dag' is a friendly/ joking name to call someone when they are being a bit of a moron, silly or well, a bit of a dag) . . .
Question: have you ever been to a party up a sheep's bottom??  No??

Answer: well you must have been one of the dags hanging around outside!!If you don't think that is funny, not sure i can still be friends with you!!

Finally, on a classier note, some lovely things for Mother's Day - yes, i have goodies coming from the children but these bolts of Thea & Sami screen prints arrived & make me happy.  They will be for sale at Handmade Market + used in the Handmade Living book (applications close Monday 10th May - approvals announced by 14th May, little extension for you crafty folks) & look at the gorgeous tea towel Thea sent with my order, ahhh, thanks Thea!!  See how it matches my other self purchased gifts - the Red Stitch talking pears & Yardage Design apron from Shop Handmade.  With all the colour in my life, i do love a good monotone & natural linen.

Have lovely weekends, everyone, love Posie

market stall merchandising . . . i'm going with my Euro theme

Greetings all,
Busy sewing up a storm this week for Handmade Canberra's UpMarket on Sunday, very excited as it's the first for the year.  It's normally on a Saturday & the next 3 are all Saturdays, but i can't tell you how handy it is to have a day up my sleeve to pack & prepare.  Then it will be time to crash on Sunday night, revive myself for Easter Egg decorating at school on Monday. 
So check out this handy wooden medicine cabinette i bought at our local Revolve centre at the tip, $25 & it's a fantastic size.  I instantly thought of laying it on a table, open & using it as a craft  First Aid supply centre at markets.  So i've filled it with . . .

Art Viva 1960's newspaper tubes (60mm & 40mm), Dumpling Dynasty sewing kits, Cavallini stamp kits, Jurianne Matter paper craft, children's learn to sew card kits, Lark knitted pin cushions, Craft Books, Tres Divin ribbons & MT washi masking tapes in all their pretty colours from Japan. So now i have all the non-handmade-by-me things in one spot!! I'm allowed to sell these things as they promote your own sewing & handmade, the rest of my stall is fabric & handmade products - um, all 4 trestle tables worth!!

Onto themes . . . i've continued with my Euro direction & purchased a subtle Eiffel Tower & matching planters to display products & look eye catching on my stall.  They will be filled with products in French fabrics.  Also used a damaged hula hoop, wrapped in pale pink polka dot fabric & with 7 x $2 sticks of faux flowers from a $2 shop, i tied them to the hoop with organza ribbons to make a pretty hanging feature for the centre of my marquee.  Can't wait to put it up!!

I'm using up some gorgeous European prints from AGES ago, time to share them.

Of course it's the weekend before Easter so i have some Lark knitted eggs to sell & the cute wooden bunny is from Bed, Bath & Table (they're having 30% off Easter things in store).  The lovely open handled basket was a whopping $2 from Revolve!!  Also, see that huge tool box, it was $5 from Revolve & is still empty, trying to work out the perfect product to display in there.  Finally, more $5 letters from Typo, to spell out POSIE on my table.  I'm aware i bought a T for the I, i thought an upside T would be more stable as the table gets bumped.  Um, realised the P is not self standing, so P is propped up by a cute wooden mushroom, ahhhh, thank goodness for blue tack!!

 
Yippee, new Kristen Doran prints, love her!!

This is how Canberra looked on the way to school . . . brrrr . . .

 

only to look like this an hour later??!!  Canberra pretty much has beautiful blue skies all year round, even when it snows, looks gorgeous until you go outside & loose feeling in your toes. 

So i went shopping on the way back to school - um, shoes $130 original price, but i got ALL of this haul, killer peep toe heels & cute grey sneakers for me; hat, body wash, black sequin beret & silver headband for my girls, the lot was $80!!  Nothing like a further 30% off all sale items at Sportsgirl.  The black shoes are really comfortable too, i can reach the top shelf in the pantry now!!
Have happy weeks everyone, see you at My Creative Space on Thursday, until then, sew sew sew.  Love Posie