the Handmade Market come down . . .

Greetings all,
Thanks for all the best wishes for the Saturday Handmade Market, you're all so sweet, especially to follow up with emails & asking if i was in a post-market-coma as no blog post yet.  Yes, tired but truth is, i leant my camera memory stick to Tania McCartney (who is responsible for these images which i stole from the Handmade blog) & i haven't downloaded my own yet!!  We like to share at Handmade!! 
Here is a quick whip around from the day, starting with my smaller-than-usual-cosy-managable stall, Danielle Kathleen, Little Slave, Retro Mummy & Schmooks.  I went into this market remarkably calm & with my heavy work load of late (Shop Handmade, Posie on line, Edna&AliceMay wholesale & all those children of mine) i decided to be more craft enabler with fabric, buttons, badges & cards.  Gosh it lifted the pressure, i thoroughly enjoyed the day, even went to the bathroom TWICE & took my middle daughter who came home with her 3rd Allana C giraffe & enjoyed cupcakes, pop corn, chatting to designers . . . it was glorious weather & with a lighter Winter crowd than the regular 10 000 market goers, it was fabulous & another success!!
Thanks again for all those who came along, sent well wishes, are supplying Shop Handmade, working on a submissions for Handmade Living & just all round loving supporters of the Handmade movement.  I'm having a ball & will be dragged kicking & screaming from Canberra at the end of the year.  My husband is teasing me about coming back to Canberra soon, i just kind of want to skip the leaving bit!! 
If you missed the Market - come to the Shop, it's busier than ever, over 100 designers in Shop & new stock arriving daily!!
Want some gorgeous knitting needles & craft goodies, don't miss the G I V E A W A Y in the last post.  Winner to be announced on Thursday.  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

Happy New Year 2010

Greetings all,

Wishing you all a fabulous NYE & fantastic 2010. I don't usually list resolutions as running a family of 6, i put them first & worry about myself later. Please don't think i'm feeling sorry for myself, i'm not, i know my children will be independent & living their own lives before i blink & i'll have too much time to think about myself, i rather enjoy the motherhood cycle. However, after 2009 gave me a taste of a whole year of 4 children in 30 hours of primary school each week - i know i have more pockets of time up my sleeve for my old favourites of Yoga, salads & quilting.

Yes, quilting - i might run a successful patchwork business but really only have time now for orders, or "quilting for cash" as my husband refers to it, instead of filling my home with my own handmade efforts. So, top of my list & kicking off 2010 is this patchwork quilt for my husband's new man lounge (King Furniture Delta II in pear upholstery) so i went with butch blues, greens, a good dose of Amy Butler fabrics including her old fabulous prints which i've been hoarding since she started designing fabric . . . better yet, i whipped it up in 24 hours from scratch. As it's for our home, a lovely old king size Sheridan sheet went on the back & edges. Granted it's a fully machined, basic 30cm square block pattern, alas, does the trick with pure wool wadding from Retro Mummy (Hi Corrie, so great to see you at Christmas in Sydney).

check out the gorgeous weather here today, hard to believe an hour after this shot, it was raining!!

Well 2010 has the potential to be my busiest & most successful year of Posie yet, what with Handmade Market being so incredible here in Canberra & my new website. With my business plan from 2001 loosely describing a life of 4 children in primary school & a large productive studio; constant orders & high end markets; a wholesale label stocked in over a dozen stores; awesome website & regular media coverage come 2010 . . . well it's a scary reality, it's actually come true!! I feel so lucky, sure i've worked hard but i'm proud that my passion is still my driving force. It seemed all so vague & un-real dreaming all this up . . . i feel so humble my life has turned out this way with husband, children, career etc. Best of all i have avoided returning to the real world (pharmacology or some lab coat clad science based job) & made a go of working from home.

As for my resolutions, i don't drink or smoke, so have to start with the other super obvious one . . . i still have weight to lose. Such a bummer to gain weight AFTER having babies?? Turns out it was just carbs, oh how i love carbs & how they love my belly & thighs back. So i'll continue with Tony Ferguson, over 10kg down & i'm ready to drop the next 10!! So losing weight, tick!! How typical for a woman to want to lose weight.

I want to add to that more exercise, by this i mean my love of Yoga, which not only tones you but relaxes you, so i will get back to this . . . tomorrow. I think i'll do it after school, with the children or while they do homework, as they like to join in & hell, i can still call out spelling words & multitask while in many poses, so . . . daily yoga, tick!!

Eating better, ties in with weight loss & yoga of course, but my husband bought me a most excellent cook book which i'll review shortly. So did you know it's much better to eat fresh pasta, than dry, so while pasta is not my favourite of carbs, it's an easy one for the family so i'm going to start making my own pasta. My husband makes excellent homemade pasta with the KitchenAid (along with sausages, icecream, the man can make anything!!) but i would like to rival him, i'm keen & willing. Also ties in with our faboulous herb garden & almost-ripe tomatoes in the garden. Make more of my own food from scratch, tick!!

I'm thinking those biggies shall do the trick, better for me & the family. It does mean i'll be cutting back on all but fundraising in my volunteer P&C schedule (sorry school). I will appreciate our local area better by walking our dog further each day & getting back on my bicycle, which i loved in Darwin. So a long daily walk bike ride with or without the puppy & children is so going to happen!!

As for business wishes, well don't want to give away any secrets as i have big plans BIG IDEAS coming, alas, i want to grow Edna&AliceMay & have her in more stores, finish off the Posie site by mid January & sort out the studio for a bumper 2010 year of production.

Wishing you all every success in the world, love Posie