market hype & last chance to enter the latest G I V E A W A Y

Greetings all,
Elated. Excited. Exhausted.  That sums up my weekend.  Just elated that Handmade Market was such a huge success, despite my lack of sewing lately due to the demand of Shop Handmade & orders, i had such a sparse stall but boy did i have a big fabric sale.  I'm so excited about Christmas, the potential is huge, i'll start sewing in the school holidays, purely for Christmas markets!!  Exhausted as quite frankly, 10 hours of market trade & the set up, pack up, unpack & repack twice - oh yes, TWICE as i had to repack the car this afternoon with all the stock from Gifts Created, Almond Tree Frames, Little Slave & props pinched from the Shop for the Handmade Market . . . coming soon to Shop Handmade . . . The Red Thread - as if i couldn't resist a boy Ooshka for my son which he bought before Mathilda's Market ever started today, i have all Lisa's stock in the car.  Hmmmm . . . can i resist??  Why yes i should as i do have the patterns & bought extra Ooshka faces for my daughters as a school holiday project. 

That is the gorgeous Sashikha from Indigo Elephant, all round fabulous lady.  Two of her elephants found a way home with us, plus a bunch of hair clips, oh & hopefully she'll have stock in Shop Handmade soon too!!  No pressue Sash!! 

More Ooshka faces so i can now make 3 for my daughters.  I always seem to take a billion shots of Lisa's The Red Thread stall each market, i just think it's too adorable.

At Mathilda's Market today . . . Almond Tree Frames, face painting (my son is a German Shepherd), Red Jam (also at Shop Handmade) & my huge condensed sale baskets which were restocked after being demolished at Handmade Market on Saturday, plus the $15 cradle without the stand. 
If you do markets, i can not encourage you enough to do a blog too.  I have the most lovely customers say they read my blog, wish they had found my Revolve finds first & the nicest comment you can ever get "oh, you are just like your blog in real life".  Who has time to be fake anyway??

Alrighty, time to remind my children who i am, different ones have been coming to different markets.  Let's just say my plan to give them $15 to last them all day was a complete underestimate of their ability to eat organic chocolate, fancy cup cakes, buy softies & my favourite . . . present me with a bunch of flowers to say they love me . . . only the cash was from my float??!!  Hmmmmm . . . clever!!

Funny story for you . . . some cool girls came up & oohhed & aahhed about my fabrics & products, then invited me to a market next weekend.  Yippee, more about that later,as i'm not sure i can fit it in around my children's party plans.  Let's just say one bought some cute mini skull fabric & i asked what she was going to make with that particular print & she replied "i'm making pasties to go over the dancers' nipples at my burlesque show".  Whoever said a FQ of fabric isn't big enough for a project never thought of that!! 

Last chance to enter the latest Posie G I V E A W A Y of new Japanese fabric prints!!  Have lovely weeks, i'm back at Shop, clearly this weekend hasn't worn me out enough.  Love Posie
PS Sorry no images from Handmade Market, the fact i don't have time to go to the bathroom during that event clearly shows i don't have time for happy snaps.  Check out the Handmade website for all the goodness.  Actually don't, i look huge!!  I'm off to the treadmill as clearly i have stock to make & weight to lose before the next Handmade Market, i wonder if i could hand stitch while i run, hmmmmm . . .

My Creative Space 'happiness is . . . bolts of Japanese prints'

Greetings all,
'tis a late Creative Space . . . I've been running around collecting gifts all week for the school's Father's Day Stall (plants, gourmet sauces, chocolates - i refused to allow crap gifts for people's hard earned $5-10).  Then i had a lovely interuption to my P&C duties to remind myself i have a business too.  18 bolts of Japanese fabric heaven, ahhhh, bring on the Spring & Summer for lovely colourful sewing.

Amazingly enough, it took a whole day before i ripped the plastic off these bolts, oh, so lovely, quality, texture, double gauze, cotton & canvas, each a delight.

With 10 years of professional sewing with designer imported prints like these, i added some fun 60's feel mushroom styles in the mix, just like curtains you'd see in a rumpus room!!  Just fantastic!!

As i make lots of tiny products too (badges, coin purses, applique swatches) i find these small repeat patterns simply glorious.  Do owls ever disappoint??

So as i put my feet up tonight (that is a joke) & reflect on the busy day that is selling Father's Day gifts to over 200 children . . . i'll starting thinking up what i'm going to do with this new bounty of fabric.  I want simple pants & cute skirts as the priority products - for the Handmade Market next Saturday (deep breaths as i'm not ready, keeping stock levels up at Shop Handmade is keeping me busy enough) + the usual gazillion fat quarters i'll take for sale.  Just like last market, with a husband away, 4 children to raise properly, working at Shop & school volunteer work, i've got to be happy with a smaller stocked stall.  Right now that is managable - half the effort = half the stress!!  Watch out for the Christmas Market though, my husband is hinting at taking a couple of months off, oh, imagine my productivity, then again, he's a wonderful distraction??!! 

Have peace, love & happy weekends people, i see a give away on the horizon . . . after Handmade Market please, oh did i mention Mathilda's is also on next week in Canberra, sure, a double, why not, i haven't cracked yet!!  Then i can have a break down & glide into school holidays.  Love Posie

i love the earth & other confessions . . .

Greetings all,
As i prepare for Handmade Market this Saturday, i'm finding hand stitching is a very relaxing way to end the day.  I'm using 'odd' hair clips to hold my jersey & fleece baby wraps together while i bind the edges with pretty embroidery thread.  First day of Winter here in Canberra, it was glorious, sunshine, warm, delightful, but baby's still need their wraps!!  Here's one for the boys, Robot March with blue spots on the reverse.

Now, i promise i love the earth & i'm anti plastic when i can be (don't mess with my Tupperware obsession though) . . . my children don't use plastic bags at school, they have small lunch boxes, i'm a saint.  But when it comes to selling fabric products which can spoil with dust/ dirt/ storage/ grubby fingers at a market, i have to use cello bags.  In order to not waste the plastic, i use different sizes for different things & check out the variety available!!

While i'm making confessions about my business practises . . . i also use child labour!!  Just for the record, this particular child just loves to be near me & she didn't have to do this, or line them up so neatly, she's just orderly. 

& this boy chose to sleep inside his doona cover for some strange reason last night!!  Ok ok, i make my children sleep on the floor & lease out their beds for extra cash, alright!!

This puppy is our guard dog, he sleeps in the hall way at night in Winter & gets to wear an Alpaca overcoat for luxe - no animals are harmed in protecting our family, he lives better than we do!! 
Finally, this donkey has proven quite handy at delivering messages.  Our 3rd daughter is finding it very hard to cope without Daddy.  She doesn't like to draw attention to herself & i feel, this was her indirect way of communicating her emotions.  She tucked this note in donkey's peg mouth, looked at me, tears welled up in her eyes & we hugged for an hour, bless her.  Handsome Soldier called tonight after a long absense from communication & we had a lot of catching up to do, from explaining why there is a new starter motor in the car & my finger crisis to confirming we have all toilets flushing again & the girls came home from camp.  Exciting stuff!!  Love Posie

Round & Round the Merry Go Round of Life

Greetings, i hope it's sunny & shining in your life where you are, we're waiting for rain . . . hello Monsoons, where are you?? It's certainly hot & humid, the frogs are croaking & ready for the down pour.

I've finally got all the chicken pox children back to school, that was a fun month with a 4 child relay. Thanks to the vaccinations, they all got varying cases from very mild/ princess pox, to pretty dreadful. That's when we realised our son wasn't vaccinated, you know, we were busy. Sorry baby boy, we do love you & you have been very brave for a 3 1/2 year old, not to scratch.
In the mean time, i've done some new products for super fabulous Pip of Meet Me At Mike's new store in Fitzroy.

NEW fabric packs - ones making up a yard & smaller fabrix fix packs with story book panels

3 panel breakfast cushion covers in lots of Summery goodness
Then sewing up a storm for the lovely Tanya, of Lily&Agathe fame in France, with sweet French product translations, by my darling friend Ines on the reverse of the removable tags. Lots of rattle cubes & tote bags. Have a look at their on line store for extra special Christmas gifts, with genuine vintage fabrics & lots of love.
original Bonne Nuit Les Petites & Noddy fabric
we were already MASSIVE Noddy fans, thanks to my English Mummy
I've always loved fabric covered & trimmed lampshades, these went with a cowboy, gingham & denim patchwork quilt order earlier this year. I will be adding lampshades to Posie in the new year.

all ironed & glued in place, then hand stitched, for a lucky little cowboy
Have fabulous weeks everybody!! Mydarling husband is home after a nice round trip of the Northern Territory (yes, they hit a kangeroo, actually it was already road kill & there was no damage to the car) so we're having a lovely family weekend with happy, healthy children again. Keeping it simple staying at home, except for a Tupperware Party, preschool learning day & open day at the local Steiner School on Saturday & i will do the local Sunday markets. Hey, we've quit ballet!! Love Posie