our creative space . . . 'a pudding kind of day'

Greetings all,

It's wet, it's cold & it's a pupil free day in Canberra so i'm home with all 4 children & quite frankly nothing better to do than bake them a self saucing pudding, chocolate & everything.

No, until now i'd never heard of a pupil free day - on a Thursday, in the middle of term 3, what?? 

Anyway, voila, pudding is done, not quite on the window sill of my homestead kitchen fantasy, but on the drainer of my Army house, please don't examine the windows.

If the children are to have a Department of Education sanctioned day off school, they may as well be spoiled.  I was spoiled yesterday with some tulips from Tania McCartney!!  Oh stay tuned, i'll be doing a giveaway for her latest book in a fortnight. 

 A day without school runs & children begging to have a pyjama day - i should be tidying my studio, look at my sewing machine . . .

 sorting out what is in these bags - all those blue fabrics were taken to Brisbane & back in the school holidays, i was meant to cut them up for a hexagon quilt, still untouched . . .

 & putting fabric back on racks, i'm such a lazy fabric librarian!!

 Instead, i went to the gym, then the accountant (in that order, poor bloke) & have been having fun with the children.  Not very creative but damn meaningful.  I'm being lured back to the lounge, after i dish out servings of pudding for afternoon tea (if you know me, my children rarely ever get afternoon tea or pudding or dessert, so their heads are exploding with joy).  Me, well i'm on an eating plan, so i'll just sniff their chocolatey bowls of deliciousness & lick the serving spoon.
Check out Our Creative Space for other creative pursuits, beyond pudding & messy studio floors, love Posie

my creative space 'from the factory floor'

Greetings all,

Ah, Thursday again, i lost 3 days this week to a migraine & actually in the heat, i felt extra dizzy even though i was drinking water like a fish.  Somehow i managed to make 18 pairs of pants for the Shop so i actually have stock to sell. 

 So live from the factory floor (which is what it's like during mass production in the studio) this is what you'll find . . . disgruntled & non compliant models . . . 

 a pile of trousers which need pressing . . .

 oh, i grabbed a passing 9y.o. girl as a suitable model for boy's size 4 pants . . . no she wouldn't put down the rhino & lift up the pink Tshirt . . .

 i am so in love with these fabrics, i'm going to make myself some skirts . . .

 i'd even like this print in a dress!!

 Australia Day is over for another year, we enjoyed this Lamington Swiss Roll, yumbo!!

 Special mention to Toni from Make it Perfect, who put on this amazing effort to band together handmade raffles, auctions & donations . . .

big pats on your backs everyone who created or entered or just donated!!  Pretty excited that this little blog raised $775 from the auction & raffle, i was part of the whopping The Red Thread mega raffle prize (by donation of fabric, not winning, sigh) which raised $3260!!  I entered dozens of auctions & raffles, i won some hair clips, yippee, my girls will be wrapped.  Who says blogging is daggy or weird, NOT Queenslanders who are going to benefit. 
Happy Creative Spaces everyone, thanks Kirsty for hosting, love Posie

i'm grateful for . . . my husband & children & flexible life

Greetings all,

Joining in with Maxabella Love's I'm Grateful For this Saturday . . . i know it's a cliche to be grateful for your husband & children but man, the way my husband handled my parents yesterday was a dream. 
We had simple plans to take them to The Poacher's Pantry, world famous smoked game shop/ restuarant/ vineyard/ beautiful farm outside of Canberra, then Shop Handmade, simple, non??  Then my Dad jumped in the car & straight up said "show me this land you want to buy".  So we started the trip, only to have the school ring at 10a.m. "we've had a McClelland take a tumble, she's in sick bay" so we turned the car around to scoop number 3 up.  Turned into a 250km trip but my husband kept driving & driving.  I took car craft, thank goodness, i made over 40 headbands in the 3rd row of the car, i know my place!!

 We tripped out to the farm we want to buy, THEN onto Poacher's, which i can assure you, Miss-Grazed-Hands-Elbow-Knees was not disappointed.  She's our meat lover & ordered lamb chops for lunch, as you do when you're 9, then ate all the rabbit, kangaroo etc off our platters. 

 When we found out the year 6 dinner/ dance ensemble now required a mask (kill me) my husband & big girl started creating this, just the two of them, with enamel paint.  Nothing like watching handsome soldier with his girls, sequins, glitter & feathers!!

 She even let me (as she decided i too could be useful) to make her dress for the dinner/ dance.  I only stuck 2 pins into her directly, we're still on good terms!!  This is saving me $200 on a new dress which wouldn't fit her properly as she's so petite.

 I mean, who wouldn't be extra grateful for a husband who leaves your stove top looking like this after each meal??  He also polishes my leather shoes, ahhh, love some aspects of Army & it's anal cleaning ways!!

 Check this out, my girls are great mates (this won't change in their teens, i've ordered them not to ever stop loving each other) having a sleepover at home!!

I'm truly grateful for my flexible life, i've withdrawn from today's market, so i can spend more time with my family, take my parents to see our beautiful Shop Handmade & help my brother out.  It's stressful, it's hard, it's sad, Alzheimer's just sucks.  Have to say, having a child with us yesterday was a nice ice breaker, as she's by far the sweet one, she played along with being called the wrong name all day & never stopped smiling at her grandmother. 
Lots of follow up posts required on the dress, mask, Poacher's Pantry & healing those grazed body parts!!
To hear more grateful people appreciate how lucky they are, check out Maxabella + don't miss out on a super cool giveaway below!!  Love Posie

you have to laugh at your sewing mistakes . . .

Greetings all,

During my sewing marathon on Saturday - let's just say about 20 pairs of trousers & shorts turned out like the pair in the bottom of the image (sans elastic) . . .  but one got through my speed sewing & not only resulted in the print being upside down, but, well, really . . . really . . . really . . . just wrong with a capital R!!

As i make clothes in stages when i'm in production line sewing, i overlock them in bulk, so this pair could only be saved by cutting the entire seams off & making them a size smaller (wasn't wasting that precious Japanese printed fabric!!)  I couldn't stop laughing, i mean, SO wrong!!  The children tried them on to parade my error, after 10 hours of solid sewing, it was deliriously funny.  Tee hee, love Posie

My Creative Space 'what's in my front door way'

Greetings all,
Don't you love peeking into people's doorways??  Well if you were nosey & walked past my front door, this is what you'd find this week . . .

cushions for baby Chloe to be collected by daddy Tom . . .

Chloe's mum Corinne requested buttons on the back . . .

it wasn't until i bought this Brother Innovis 600 sewing machine that i was ever confident with my button holes (machine recommended by Corrie from Retro Mummy - she knows her stuff, we both got them for Mother's Day last year, thanks husbands!!) 

goodies returned from Cosmo Pregnancy magazine shoot . . .

was a busy week & everything got piled up . . .

with samples spilling out onto the floor . . .

Indeed a busy week . . . i picked up two new stores/ stockists for my wholesale label Edna&AliceMay, wrote P&C reports, drafted Winter Olympic assignment x 2 for twins, hosted 3 sleep overs, as well as sewing up a storm for upcoming markets.  Does your front door way look like a mini shop too??  FYI my studio is just in the front doorway to the left!!  Must sort it all . . . tomorrow.  Was fun playing My Creative Space this week kootoyoo!!  Love Posie