a lovely dainty Sunday morning High Tea, ahhhhhh . . .

Greetings all,

Phew, all but ONE pre-Christmas committment is over, relief!!  Well i have 3 patchwork quilt orders but that's different, they're can-do-in-studio-no-make-up-or-high-heels things.  Today was the delicious, delicate & delightful Handmade Living High Tea at Dalton's Books Store. 
Considering this weekend alone i've driven an extra 100km to rescue my husband who broke down off the Federal Highway (ruptured hose, cost $4 to fix) but got splattered in coolant; worked on 3 seperate P&C fundraisers & got covered in BBQ grease at two of them; attended a fancy book launch; Christmas Tree chopping & walked into 3 seperate spider webs; baked & picked flowers; created 2 terrariums; taxied children to birthday parties . . . it was nice to finally do something lady like, calm, quiet . . . a High Tea.

. . . beautiful food . . .  

. . . designer project tables . . . 

. . . lovely people . . .

Rachel - Shop Handmade, Julie - Shop Handmade, Handmade Living & Handmade Market, Tania - author Handmade Living, Tina - illustrator of Handmade Living.

I'm off to shower, after the final windy shift at the hardware store BBQ fundraiser this afternoon my hair is all knotty & i just feel blah, everything aches.  Back on the diet tomorrow; i've got the teacher's gifts sorted; more stock for Shop Handmade & 2 lunch dates with my husband SET IN STONE this week.  Will be lovely as next weekend my twinnies are having a bunch of friends sleep over (kill me now) to watch Gremlins - remember that movie??!! 
Have great weeks, love Posie

what i don't know about Alligator Snapping Turtles isn't worth knowing . . .

Greetings all,
Now that is a blog post title you don't see every day!!  Let me explain.  I am raising my girls with exposure to . . . a work environment like this with beautiful handmade dolls from Tiny Concept, who keep following me home . . . gorgeous new born babies like Josiah from Grace Designs . . .

we love girlie accessories like Little Slave bangles & lovely potions from Highland Habitat . . .

my girls can run like the wind or at least chase other girls running faster than the wind . . . as seen at yesterday's regional Cross Country where my 3 girls all ran so well, like ladies . . .

Ok, so the boy isn't that into it, bless his 6 year old-ness, not yet eligible to compete in any representational athletics . . . anyway, this is a post about my girls . . .

& biggest princess of them all had to catch up on beauty sleep after all that ferocious exercise . . .

our house is filled with flowers - this lot from my parents who felt sorry for me being alone with 4 children on Mother's Day (sounds like a punishment, actually it's my 8th one without father of said children around to spoil me, but may i refer you back to the previous post, he also sent huge bouquet of flowers this year in his absense) . . . my parents felt even more sorry for me when i said i was mopping the floors in my nightie when the young man delivered the flowers to me early Sunday morning . . . anyway, my point is . . . my girls are growing up in this lovely lady like environment, so tell me why they chose the following topics for this year's Rostrum Speeches . . . Guinness Book of World Records; Alligator Snapping Turtles & da dah Crocodile Jaws.  What??  Why not the origin of fairy tales, who shot Versace or the history of polka dots . . . no, they went for alarmingly boyish butch scary themes.  Or as my husband would say "they'll make great girlfriends".  He thinks that is funny until i remind him a boyfriend would be invovled!!
For the uninitiated, Rostrum is a speech competition when children make 2-3 minute speeches (in round one stage) to go onto state/ territory finals, by which stage they are putting on English accents, making wide eye excitement & pompus hand gestures Bindi Irwin style.  No, i didn't like the girls who did public speaking at school much either.  Just wondering, when given the choice, do your children pick wildly bizarre topics to research??  Or do you surrender, go with their happy choices & learn something??  FYI Did you know crocodiles have the stongest jaws of all animals??  You probably did, yes, 12 times stronger bite than a Great White Shark.  But did you know you can hold their jaws closed with your finger tips??  Crocodiles' jaw opening muscles are so weak, they won't be able to overpower you, even the big 7m salties (see my Darwin NT speak there??)  Why yes!!  Just useful information like when i learned last year while studying 12 different types of horrifying spiders, that Funnel Web Spiders actually can't jump, what a relief!!  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