snap it 'straight lines'

Greetings all,

For a curvy gal i like my straight lines!!  Playing along with Faith Hope & a Whole Lotta Love's Snap It 'straight lines' today, i give you some of the liney goodness i snapped around my home this morning.  I love stripes, diagonals, chevrons & ticking, above all . . . texture.

 Country Road cushion; ice cream buckets; Lilly & Lolly child's blanket.

Hexagon florals; cookbooks on high rotation; Country Road children's socks.

Vintage straw collection; striped washi tape; Country Road cushion.

Note to self: venture outside Country Road for all my fashion & decor needs!!

 Laura Ashley throw; Army housing dining room blinds; Country Road cushion.

Adirondack chair; Army housing kitchen blinds; Piano keys.

Country Road felt cushion; Army housing fence palings; Kikki-K note paper. 

Like the black & white twist on this collage, i know, i try, hard!!

This my friends . . . is the Trenery block striped scarf which has kept my neck warm all Winter & is a great way to blend a brown/ grey/ black wardrobe.  Growing up the rule was you would NEVER wear brown & black together, i.e. black shoes with a brown belt or handbag.  Seriously, who cares??  I spent the Winter in 3 different maxi skirts (dark brown, light grey & dark grey) with cream/ caramel/ black cardigans in black low heeled leather boots or brown Converse sneakers.  All a bit drab but hey, i spent much of this Winter at home, cosy, with the animals.  

Now, bring on a colourful Spring, i'm ready!!  Love Posie

my creative space . . . 'craft retreat'

Greetings all,

I strongly believe the nicest community in blogland is we crafty folks.  Sure there are those protective of their images, patterns, products, & others who complain about people stealing their ideas . . . yet for most of us, we blog to share.  Even better, lots of us attend all manner of blog based events focused on craft, like Sew It Together.  It's positively the most pleasant way to meet fellow crafty bloggers, sitting at classes & around tables with our needles & fabrics, crochet & knitting, chattering away.  Shock horror, the average age is below 40!!

When SIT was in Canberra a weekend ago, i sat next to Julie from Relish, a fellow Canberra girl whom i'd met briefly at handmade markets - too busy to chat - so this was my chance to talk her ear off.  I couldn't help but covet this pretty hexagon pencil case which she received in a swap (craft swaps are amazing, they even involve a dance!!) 

 At the bigger craft retreats/ events, there are sponsored goodie bags & lucky door prizes.  Last year at SIT i was one of the last pulled out of the hat, yet thrilled to pick up a prize from pin-up-girl Gillian of Silly Gilly - vintage sewing goodies - this year i hit the jackpot & scored a 'Wendy' Polly Pratt dress ($176) which basically voided the cost of the craft weekend, as i was going to purchase a dress anyway.  

If you love a beautifully made dress in stunning fabrics, check out Anna's Polly Pratt blog & sale, with dresses at $100, starts Friday night: ends Sunday 8p.m.!!  Thank you Anna, love you & the generous pretty fabric donation to Aussie Hero Quilts for our girlie soldiers serving overseas.    

The Saturday night of SIT included more pop up shopping stalls (including a $2FQ clearance sale from me, that was like Boxing Day sales, thank you ladies!!) & i picked up fabrics from other stalls, sharing the love, along with more of Claire's Craft Schmaft patterns.  FYI Claire is looking for pattern testers right now!!

 The Sunday of the SIT weekend was a paint & stencil class.  I was so impressed with what Sheridan of Sew It Together had learned from Lotta Jansdotter herself, i quickly ordered the same Lotta hard plastic stencils on line & they have already arrived!! 

 I had a little stitching planned for today, however, i just did a big slip over at the shops this morning (while holding my husband's hand, i slid down his side, he let me go) in new ankle boots from the Trenery sale, damn new leather soles & jarred my tennis elbow.  He just stood there looking at me on the floor, trying to work out what happened . . . especially confused as i was laughing.  So it's an icepack, Mollie & Frankie for me instead.  

 So do consider joining in a blog event that suits your interests, you're guaranteed to meet lovely like minded folks & enjoy.  For more creative spaces, check out Village Voices My Creative Space today, love Posie

the twilight zone time of year

Greetings all,

Don't you find this time of year a bit like the Twilight Zone, stuck in no man's land, exhausted without direction??  Full belly from Christmas, family overload & sale shopping . . . if you can get off the lounge, afternoon naps, who lives like this??  It's actually difficult to move forward when you're all planned out & feeling so lazy without an agenda.

A little replay of our Christmas . . . children waited for me to watch them open their Santa sacks (i've never had a child wake before 7a.m. even at Christmas!!)  Lots of family phone calls, while i made iced tea & mango crushes . . .

 we had pancakes & croissants while the boy finished off each of his sisters' drinks!!

 Fun & games until someone gets burnt!!  Quick call to my brother for a complimentary Christmas Day burns victim consultation on my 3rd girl who spent 20 minutes with her upper arm under cold running water. 

 Lunch was Italiano style - simple & delicious, but with hiccups - i put the smoked salmon out first . . . my son ate the entire platter before anyone even sat down & there were tears as we all missed handsome soldier.  Then huge scoops of gelato in waffle cones, completely untraditional but it was truly all about fun for the children.  

 Someone got a sequin pineapple purse (we watched The September Issue on Boxing Day, poses were struck).  I have devoured Vogue since i was a young girl, i find high fashion utterly fascinating.  I'm so far from a model, but what an interesting life, one of my girls would like to model.

 Could not believe my luck at the Country Road sale, the ONLY pair of moccasins they had were red & in my size, yay!!  My girls acted like porters & carried the shopping, so cute, especially as i loaded them up on 6 new beach towels & homewares.  Also picked up the kaftan i had on my ultimate gift list, $80 off!!

 Slightly in shock my first born wears a size 39 shoe, she's not quite 13!!  I've had to hunt down suitable flat ladies shoes for her since she was 9, i wait for sales - she did well today.  Thrilled with my new foxy shoulder bag from Hive & this oversized beach hat from Trenery.  I am not a hat person, but who cares in Summer??  Time to done the Miu Mius.

So i spent my 36th Christmas afternoon, dozing on the lounge reading the new cookbooks the children received, putting a disected shark will full plastic anatomy together . . . listening to a storm pelting the roof, wearing new Peter Alexander slippers, i felt so OLD!!  As the children got bikes early for Christmas, their gifts were few & practical - like clothes, educational toys & VS hair dryers - how much fun is 'the big hair styler', it rolls & spins & doesn't tangle!! 

Thanks for the gorgeous well wishes this Christmas, i've been able to chat & Skype my husband a couple of times each day, takes the sting out of missing him.  We've also found a property i like & he's agreed to consider, yahoo!!  It's smaller (about 70 acres) & below our budget, in a great location.  Progress!!  Love Posie

it's my birthday . . .

Greetings all,
Yippee, it's birthday time, not my blog, but ME!!  Having a blast, especially with my husband sending flowers on Valentine's Day & flying home for my birthday.  It's been a great week, month, year already!!  So what did i get (read: buy myself) . . .
a new day handbag (my night handbags don't see much action, they sleep safely in their Oroton dust bags).  I wanted something fun to replace my small Fossil green leather satchel, due for retirement.  I went to the regular Fossil store, didn't really see anything that suited me, so went to the outlet & picked up this beauty plus 2 new purses, all on sale.  I love it, it's small with excellent internal pockets & it's sweet how my children plait the tassels while i drive (or they suffer through another school meeting or information night). 

 I've always wanted a simple angular hat stand in the hall, can't believe my husband let me get this, as his dream is a full on mud room in our homestead plans . . . but this is fabulous & does the trick.

 I'm very easy to please, my love for Sheridan coloured bath towels lives on - can you believe one still exists from the original half dozen we bought when we got married!!  So when David Jones had 30% off Sheridan this week, we picked up these for the children's bathroom, so soft & fast drying!!  We chose gorgeous grey ones for our ensuite, slowly replacing the towels in the house.  I like rainbows for the children, matchy matchy for us.

 When handsome soldier was visiting we did a big lap of the Canberra Centre & i picked up this cute lantern, i am a bit of a lantern addict.

 My parents sent me Country Road vouchers for my birthday which i cleverly timed with my "spend $300 get $100 off" coupon, picked up a new anorak, maxi skirt & knit top.  Then headed to Trenery with my complimentary "Happy Birthday $30 voucher" & got this cute scarf for the $10 balance.  My husband bought me the camel coloured cape, how cute is a wool cape in Winter??

Darling Sindy (not her real name) sent me a Country Style subscription, love it, will put my feet up tonight & start reading, after i sign about 25 notes which i've dug up out of school bags!!  Thanks Sindy, it will be inspirational for our farm planning style.

 How happy does this blue tin jug make you feel??

 I've always loved flowers, fresh from the garden.  As a child i'd follow my English grandfather around, pruning & nurturing our garden on his visits to Australia.  He was a professional gardener at a huge estate house in Yorkshire, a very proud man indeed, but so willing to answer all my questions cheerfully & flick worms at me.  He would constantly look at the sky & say "look how blue it is, all that blue".   

 Finally, this is me, aged 36 & feeling pretty grown up.  I've never worried much about my age as the baby of my family, i've always felt youngish.  Well . . . until i walked into Esprit yesterday morning, looking for Tshirts for my daughter's year 7 camp.  The sales assistant burst out from behind me with a loud & ambitious "hello, can i help you" & i said "i'm just looking at extra small Tshirts for my eldest daughter".  She said "your daughter, i'm guessing, she's 20??"  OH YOU GUESSED WRONG SALES ASSISTANT!!  Of course my husband was in his own private hell, in a clothing store, sitting on the 'boyfriend chair' outside the change rooms & didn't hear it.  I thought, oh, i was feeling pretty hip today in my maxi skirt & cute cardigan, no, i look old enough to have adult children.  I did find a XS T, it was reduced from $40 to $12.45 so i took it & ran.  I told handsome soldier on the way out of the store & he laughed so hard i thought his head was going to explode.  

So i thought i'd come home & show the world that i really don't care, this is me, no make up, aged 36 & so long as my husband still thinks i'm beautiful, that's all i need!!  Judging from the fact my high schooler lets me get out of the car, hug & kiss her each morning & afternoon, i'm feeling pretty hip too.  Love Posie