social commentary Sunday . . . 'teaching an old dog new craft tricks'

Greetings all,

I'm always impressed when people acquire new skills, later this week i'll be all impressed with myself, i hope!!  I'm SO excited . . . i'm re-learning how to knit & from chain stitch beginner level . . . how to crochet!!  Kylie from Mealy&i is an absolute sweetheart & offered to teach me (& my 4 children, not sure she knew that was part of the deal but i'm guessing they'll be re-teaching me a few minutes after Kylie leaves).  What a great school holiday activity (yes, we in Canberra have another whole week to go). 

Today i went shopping for the 'tools & equipment' - i guess in time i'll use every one of these different sizes??  The bulk packs were too good a deal to refuse. 

 Art Viva Tasmanian Oak knitting needles from my stock at Shop Handmade.

 I could only find ugly wool on sale, so i sucked up the price & bought what i thought was pretty.  I guessed which would be suitable ply & acrylic balance of the yarns (so many variations).

I just find crochet hooks the strangest things - to me they look like they are ready to have a chat to you.  I assume all crafters talk to themselves, i do, i'm very agreeable, just like these 9mm & 10mm hooks. 

So wish me well, i am prone to not hold things correctly & i'm sure adding knitting & crochet to my skill set will only make my carpal tunnel syndrome groan (in both hands, since my mid 20s, i like to overachieve like that).  Oh well, sleeping in metal hand splints for the last 10 years is just one of sexier boudoir looks i covet.  Have crafty weeks & do try something new soon.  I'll be back with some results for show & tell, i hope.  Eeek, love Posie

i can sing a rainbow, um, i can make a rainbow

Greetings all,

Well i can't sing a rainbow, i have an awful singing voice (tone deaf & fortunately i know it) but i can see all the colours of the rainbow around me right now . . . which is handy as it's ONE stressful week with major production for Handmade Market on Saturday.  An impressive list of bloggers are coming as new stall holders or visitors, including Maxabella Loves - thanks for your support!! 

Last night i picked up my girls from a sleep over at a friend's farm in Murrumbateman (thanks for all the lovely comments about the last post on twins, yes, i embrace my good fortune!!) & look what they have been busy picking . . .

crabapples in varying degrees of ripeness & . . .  

 quinces, my nightime photography not doing their greeness justice.

 Then home to finish off a rainbow of products for the market, like children's necklaces.

 Just in time, a shipment of amazing craft-enabling Tasmanian Oak knitting needles.

 Lounge craft = hand stitching penny wheels & buttons onto headbands.

 A splash of pastel, i'm thinking of doing up lucky dip jars with pom poms, bias, ric, rac, ribbon & other trim, plus buttons for a basket of fun on my stall.  Brilliant way to share the love & offer up cost price haberdashery i can finally part with.

 Today was spent making . . . 300 Liberty of London badges.  I cut the fabric sitting in the car park outside school each afternoon last week & now i've sorted them into sets, plus some singles.  I have this fabulous 1950s travel case to display all my Liberty printed goodies in, including hair clips, hair slides & buttons too.  Kind of hoping it will be a show stopper. 

 I've made 16 tulle ruffled bottom bloomers, they took ALL Saturday & i'll thread the elastic in the carpark outside school this week (you safety pin the ends together, then do a mega elastic sewing session in one hit when you're next at a machine).  Pricing these is difficult, they use expensive materials & take at least an hour a pair to create (as i restitch the tulle ruffles to the actual fabric).  I've done 3 sizes but want to try to do another dozen, especially in the larger sizes.

 Last market i didn't take headbands, new hair clips, coin purses or cosmetic purses - um, 4 of my biggest sellers, so this time i've come prepared with a tonne of each.  The Hello Kitty fabrics sell well at Shop Handmade & the new hair clips will all be in Liberty prints!!

Another no brainer product i've managed to neglect for a while are simple gift tags, i normally have them with fabric but this time i'm doing stamps - vintage, Euro & quirky - in an 8 for $5 pack, mixed up colours & styles.
Phew, yes, exhausting & a very busy week ahead, but making the most of my rainbowy outlook, or i'd crack under the pressure i put myself under.  I need to cut about 100m of fabric to feel like i have filled up my baskets from the last market.  Have a beautiful & colourful week too, love Posie
PS the winner of the Handmade Business Summit All Inclusive Pass for this Friday in Canberra is Fiona, who is just starting up a small business now, Congratulations, you were randomly selected by Julie, Queen of Handmade, thank you to everyone for entering!!

EDIT: just found this drawing on my sewing machine from my rainbow boy!!  The children were drawing & painting up a storm today.  Bliss. 

little rainbow bursts everywhere i look

Greetings all,

I love colour in my life & clearly it steers my shopping habits - i have a taste for colour in the craft supplies i buy.  There are little rainbow busts of colour everywhere i look in my studio.

 I think this is my full collection of washi tape.

 Deal of the year, yes, already . . . festive rainbow paper chain, $1 from Typo, hell yeah!!

 Colourful pins in a Lark knitted toadstool.

 Love some colourful coordinating bias detail.

 Fabric covered buttons, a huge success for my business!!

 So easy to stitch up a rainbow.

 Subtle colours on pretty woven ribbons.

 Hand painted colourful knitting needle ends.

 Ever need an excuse to buy more coloured twine??

 Disturbing??  Serial killer sewing maniac!!

 All happy rainbows in my studio prison - yes - that's the attractive grill which was put up after the burglary.  Amazing what $1 in festive rainbow paperchains can do to make it better.

Add some colour to your life, it's so easy & more often than not, tasteful!!  Oh imagine what i'll do after living in Army Housing & not being able to paint a wall for like 15 years, when we build our own home??  Fear not, i'm a blue & white girl, the house will be tame, you can always add colour with accessories like cushions, art & vases. 
Today i'm back at Shop Handmade, very excited, i know EXCITED to go back to work, but it's only a couple of days in the Shop for me these school holidays (while my husband does the dutiful Tuesday movie trips with the children) until school goes back on 7th & 8th of February!!
Speaking of movies, if you want some free tickets, Tangled giveaway still going!!  The lucky 10 IKEA lifestyle book giveaway winners of the book to be announced a.s.a.p.  Love Posie

My Creative Space 'warm up at the markets this winter' G I V E A W A Y

Greetings all,

The weeks are wizzing by & da dah, it's the quarterly Handmade Market in Canberra this Saturday.  I have to say i'm eerily relaxed about this market . . . & the hair clips circles which are forming on my studio floor??  Too busy to ponder why, how, who??
Very excitingly, i had an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald today for an Arts feature about my story book badges, why i love vintage books & if books can survive the new electronic age.  She asked what my pre-motherhood/ badge making career was (pharmacology) & i mentioned that my husband was the reader in the family & that he takes books to war.  Suddenly he seemed much more interesting & stole the limelight as the interview swung around to soldiers being prolific readers who carry books with their ammunition!! 

So this week's Creative Space is about a G I V E A W A Y & sharing the love of designers who i support & will ALL be available on my market stall this Saturday.  With Winter in the air my stall will be quite cosy this market, with knitting needles & woolly goodness. 

Art Viva Knitting needles; Japanese printed quirky fabric; Sheep's Clothing beanies & scarflettes; Yardage Design; Tania McCartney books + Kristen Doran Designs - her full range of screen printed & softie pattern awesomeness. 
Remember, this market i'm a 'craft enabler' as i haven't had time to sew lately with my work at Shop Handmade (which is a runaway success for my business)!!  So i'm helping others to get into DIY handmade.Oh & the G I V E A W A Y - how about 2 pairs of Tasmanian Oak knitting needles, 2 sets of fabric hair clips, a dozen fabric covered buttons & 6 fat eighths of amazing Japanese printed fabrics??!!  I might even throw in some story book badges for good measure.  Good luck!!
Just join in the 'fun people who like Posie' to follow this blog & leave a comment here (international entries welcome).  Winner announced at next Thursday's Creative Space with their booty all on display, ready to be shipped off to their wonderland. Back to my packaging, wish me luck, brrrrrr, think warm thoughts, love Posie

listening to my body & what's saying (screaming)

Greetings all,
Are you also having a very wet weekend??  Well it's hot chocolates & movies on here today. 
I can't believe i'm relaxed enough to take a break from sewing (read: clean the house from top to bottom, cook & bake) when . . . a) i've been so unwell due to that silly finger; b) i have orders & stock to make for Shop & Handmade Market; c) i have a motherload of submissions for Handmade Living & d) my husband is away on what seems an endless trip to the desert, i'm the answer to every car/ toilet/ child & dog issue which arises.  I mean, a week on anti biotics, the children's toilet stopped flushing, the car wouldn't start & our dog has been barking!!  But my finger's better now (thanks for your comments, all so kind, yes an infection under the nail, took me down, hard!!)  I'm also listening to my body & what's it's screaming out is "slow down".  I have a lot of responsibilities with home, children & business, without any back up, even so, i created all of this . . . i can slow it down as well. 
It's also this time of the quarter where Handmade Market is a week away - on Saturday 5th June (June i know, already??) so my well timed deliveries of fabric, knitting needles, hair clips & buttons start pouring in.  Yes, there will be a GIVEAWAY shortly!!  I just know i won't be able to sew as much as i normally would for the market, but with the back up of the Shop Handmade (open 6 days) the pressure to perform on market day has been raised a little.  So this market i'm more 'handmade craft enabler' than handmade by Posie.

. . . another 50 pairs of Tasmanian oak knitting needle goodness + 10 more tubes with sets of 3 or 4 pairs . . .

. . . lovely Katie from MissChiefMaker & gorgeous Rachel from Mr Mudge at the Biggest Morning Tea on Thursday, on the verandah of the Forrest Hotel, good luck with your baby Rachel - doesn't she look fabulous 3rd time round & 7 months pregnant . . .
After the Morning Tea (they raised over $5K!!) I took myself out for lunch & to the War Memorial.  I just had a bout of missing my husband, thinking about losing my mother-in-law to breast cancer, my finger hurt, i missed my girls on school camp, i didn't want to go home & just found out this new Army exhibit opened . . . so i bravely went in.  Going to a War Memorial is NOT an easy task when your husband is at war, i can assure you!! 

I won't try to describe helicopters, vehicles or the camp as i am sure i'll be wrong.  Some Army wives practically manage their husbands careers, know every course/ base/ detail/ weapon & every movement.  Me, well, i listen out for the date he's coming back home to us, where he is & how he's travelling only makes it real & i like to play pretend, that he's not in danger.

This was a nice way to end the exhibit, with an image of Sabi, the explosives dog who was MIA for over a year, now back on duty. 
So this week it's serious work for the Handmade Market, working at Shop every day, meetings with Handmade Living & that's right, parenting, feeding, loving 4 primary schoolers.  Have lovely weeks everyone & stay tuned for the GIVEAWAY on Thursday, love Posie

My Creative Space 'market preparation for the family'

Greetings all,

Phew, another Thursday & round of the Creative Space game as sponsored by kootoyoo . . . & nice prompt for my quiet blogging since my husband's surprise return (after 7 weeks in the wilderness).  He couldn't have come home early, at a busier time for me!!  Inbetween looking longingly into his eyes i have been in the studio preparing for Mathilda's Market this Sunday here in Canberra.  With lots of interstate stalls coming, it's really made me up my game & get super productive & creative. 
It has been a big week for the family too.  Our eldest met the Elisabeth Blackburn, Nobel Laureate in Physiology and Medicine; the Prime Minister (he has soft lady hands) & became House Captain at school - just in time for the swimming carnival where i'll rehash my pom pom making skills.  Also, keep everything in the household a float has been a test of my organisation skills . . . read on . . .

a few more quilts for the market

to be quilted tomorrow

some folk stickers; & penny wheels which need buttons for headbands

magnets for the Elleni May shop

some hair clips for ChildPlay

remembering to take knitting needles to the market

turning all this research, images, snow flakes & flags into . . .

O Canada O Canada &

Whistler Mountain (Olympic assignments for year 3 twins)

in my spare time, i'll make homemade pasta

my husband made the sauces for lasagne

it tasted as good as it looked & half for the freezer

look at those layers . . . & the salad cancels out the calories

also made a double batch of pasta dough, now who rolls the better tagliatelle??
(top left corner, was NOT my effort!!) 

all so i can be here on Sunday!!

Have great weeks everyone, love Posie