a day trip with fabric on my mind

Greetings all,

I have a brother & a sister both born on the same day, many years apart.  Seeing my sister is only 200km away (compared to the birthday brother who is 1000km away) i opted to visit my near by Bowral sibling. 
It's such a lovely trip from Canberra, we stop to get up close with the cows . . .

 made the poor decision to take our German Shepherd . . .

 who sat between/ on the twins in the centre row!!

 But all the while, in the car, i was dreaming of the fabrics which arrived earlier this week.

 I don't think there is a Babushka fabric i have been able to resist!!

 I can not wait to sew with these sewing themed fabrics!!

Have yourselves a lovely wrap up to the week.  We're crusising into school holidays (finally), it's starting to get very cold here in Canberra . . . which reminds me - i need to purchase the Winter uniform for high school.  Kind of dreading the tights part of the ensemble, i constantly ruined my expensive official/  school/ regulation Winter tights, must have driven my mother crazy!!  I remember having to put nail polish on the ladders to prevent them from going the full length of my leg.  Classy but handy.  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  

making a list & checking it twice

Greetings all,

Seeing a lot of last-minute-Christmas-wrapping-decorating-baking-shopping posts going on in blogland.  I'm almost there in the wrapping department, just double checking all the neices & nephews are covered & goodies express posted today (love prepaid bags!!)  I'll see many in Sydney after Christmas but some gorgeous pesky ones still have birthdays this week & require birthday gifts which i believe should be seperate & on-the-birth-day!!

 Thank goodness for handmade, for many reasons - handmade gifts are unique, original, special, beautiful & . . . hard to pick the price of (super handy for the how-much-did-my-sister-in-law-spend-on-my-child-this-year corporate types!!)

 Check out the detail, i love this Karin's work - designer Sum of Mum at Shop Handmade.  Our Health Minister bought some too, hope that hasn't spoilt her nephew & niece's gift surprise this year!!  Knowing zero of my family members read my blog, i know i'm safe.  

Have you ever seen such such realistic felt bananas in your life??!!  I'm hungry just looking at these, Sunday Brunch anyone??
So apart from the teenage nephews, are all getting a vintage Tshirt from America, i'm done, all sorted, just the wrapping & tagging to do.  Oh & a huge 196 piece patchwork quilt for a customer this week.  Sew sew sew.  Have happy weeks everyone, love Posie

Anyone for tennis??

Greetings all,
An innocent invitation to a 'boy's sports party' had me thinking "how can i make it more glamorous for my daughter??"  I know, we can make it fancy dress, she can go as Maria Sharapova of course!!  This outfit $14 from Target + $6 Nike Sweatband.  I was going to make pom poms for her 'tennis socks' but drew the line at perhaps trying too hard??  Non?? 

So i typed up a SHARAPOVA to iron transfer across the back of her $4 Tshirt & "Singles Champion, Oscar's Birthday Grand Slam 2010" across the front (Oscar is of course, the birthday boy).  My first attempt at iron transfer in ages, i need practise!!  TIP: type up in Word, then cut & paste into Paint & flip it, for the mirror image printing!!
I can not tell you how many hours it took me on the internet to find such useful advice, remember, i'm on a new inexpensive basic laptop, as the burglars took my fancy one with InDesign, PhotoShop etc on it.  I'm clutching at straws with my software here.

A selection of my girls' ribbons from their school athletics carnival.  They didn't hand out all the long distance ones, so there are more blue ones coming.  I promise i was an unbaised time keeper!!  My boy has to wait 2 more  l  o  n  g  years before he's old enough to race competitively!!  FYI he did win every novelty race year 1 held, but look at who he has grown up chasing . . . my husband & i were very sporty too!!  All this glory has them competing at North Canberra this week, from 800m at the crack of dawn to the relays at the end, longest day ever!!  I especially love watching the long jump.  

Are you like me - you do a quick once over the house before you go to bed, fluff cushions & straighten up paperwork . . . look at the surprise my son left on the lounge.  Like a Babushka explosion!!

My children having a Saturday night treat in jammies!!

Have lovely Sundays everyone!!  Love Posie

Not Waving, Drowning . . . in Festivities

Greeting Christmas maniacs, I'm here, just flat out . . . i have the last 3 markets of the year in the next 8 days (all at Nightcliff if you're Darwin locals, tomorrow Sunday, Thursday evening & next Sunday) then it's finally Christmas!! I also have 4 children on school holidays, heat stroke, a husband interstate for a wedding (congratulations Rob & Lisa, we love you guys!!) & an entire house to pack up for our impending move to Canberra. Of course, as you do all of this, you keep one eye on the weather, just in case a cyclone decides to blow all my packing boxes away!!
All a little crazy, i'm chasing my tail & i only finished our extended family Christmas shopping on Friday, poof, mailed off & in the hands of Australia Post now. We don't do Christmas gifts for our siblings anymore, but those grandparents, 19 nieces & nephews & our own children sure add up, especially with some having birthdays in December & January. We do seperate gifts, but post them all at the same time. I still have 5 more Posie orders PLUS 3 Edna&Alice May orders to complete this week - they're coming, i promise . . . a see a few more very late nights this week. I think our twinnies turned 6 this week?? I baked two birthday cakes in the shape of 6's plus 4 dozen cupcakes for 3 different class parties, it's all a bit of a blur.
I ran some Christmas Specials on the Posie website during the month of November. After emailing about 10% of my customers, the response was so huge, i couldn't alert any more potential customers or cope with more orders. Next year, with trusty Melissa from Peggy-Jean by my side, we will plan for such an explosion & start preparing mid year & offer ready made goods to compliment the custom made, to take the pressure off. Thanks everyone who ordered, it has made for a fantastic end to the year, especially as both Posie & Edna will be shut down for the entire month of January 2008, as we move interstate & are held up in a hotel for 4 weeks. I can relax then, ahhh, deep breath & rest.
Finally & MOST importantly to you blog readers, the competition . . . i will list all the entries, as some ideas were left as comments, some emailed & some mentioned at my market stall - gee you all have excellent imaginations & concepts, love it!! I will announce the winner(s) & see to creating something special for the silly season. There are reasons for & against a few products, like other companies already specialising in that particular range of goods, manufacturing & production issues, postage etc, so i have a lot to analyse. Thank you all for your interest, it's been brilliant!! Love Posie