the unglamorous side of designing . . .

Greetings all,

Ever wonder how designer's really work in their studios??  I dream of having a beautiful big old vintage cutting table, suitable shelving & storage - i'm using up as much of my stock as possible so when we do finally move into our homestead, it's with a small stash of materials & clutter.  I have a fantastic studio, don't get me wrong, but i often find myself cutting on the floor . . .

 I may be in my pyjama pants, in the middle of the day.  Ok, so if i wear a skirt on the school run, i can't get comfortable on the floor, so i change.  Like my new leopard print cardigan??  Another must wear for we designers in cold studios, the mighty cardigan.  Oh from that angle it looks more like leopard slug, sorry, just showing what i see!! 

 Truth is, i get easily distracted, especially when making lunch & picking salad ingredients from my herb garden.  I'll wander off & water the plants, play with my puppy & compost the willow-vine-crowns my children make.  They look so pretty but they don't 'dry' well, or i'd keep them as wreaths. 

 I'm a bit of a stickler for being on time for the afternoon school run, especially as our car parks at both primary & high school are hyper competitive, so i normally knock off early, toss a magazine in the car & read while i'm parked outside school.  My 4th graders can see my car from their class room & call out to me, it's so cute!!  They have a patient teacher.  Actually she often tosses forgotten lunch boxes & jackets out the window to me. 

You might consider the lounging about on the floor cutting fabric in jammie pants a bit lazy, not a real job??  It's all about comfort & efficiency for me, steady production lines whatever it takes.  If that means hand sewing on the lounge watching The Hills on a Friday early afternoon, i'll do it. 

Can anyone explain The Hills to me??  We watched it in Italy last year (one of the only English speaking shows) & i can't tell if it's scripted, acted, reality or why i worry??  I think it's real but my husband insists with the camera angles, it has to be directed.  I know, why does he care either??  We pride ourselves on loathing reality television but the fashion & lifestyle these young girls have, fascinates me.  FYI Lauren is my husband's favourite, she's so adorable & i simply don't understand Audrina, Heidi is beyond hope & why isn't Whitney on it enough, she's the most sensible one.  Love Posie

i'm grateful for . . . giving myself the weekend off

Greetings all,

How am i, glad you asked.  Feeling achey, run down & exhausted, even my hair hurts right now, so i'm allowing myself to relax this weekend with little on the 'to do' list other than get through some magazines & maybe some knitting/ lounge craft??

I dragged my lethargic body to school this morning & drove home via the newsagency (stalking Mollie Makes before my subscription commences with issue 5).  This Dolls magazine purchase is pure "buying a magazine because of what is on the cover" marketing genius, look at those eyes, she had to come home with me + 2 free magazines!!

 Also in 'free magazine with purchase' mode, came these build/ design/ decorate a house choices making 5 magazines for $20!!

 They can go on top of this pile of magazines . . . backed up from the school holidays, i had such big plans to relax more & read/ flick/ indulge but gazed lovingly at my husband instead.  Feeling like i do right now, they'll all get devoured shortly.  I really liked Marion from the little bits of MasterChef i caught, so her cookbook fell into my trolley this week.  She's so inviting & friendly, i hope her recipes are basic & my basic level.

 I'm not fluey or viral, just tummy achey & extremely tired, i'm not sleeping well??  Argh.  My hands are all but paralysed from carpal tunnel & i think i'll have to consider surgery more seriously one day sooner than later.

 In the mean time, i've been playing around with some TYPO letters . . .

 i've closed my website down (after 10 years) so i can catch my breath & will reopen for a few weeks each season, i can not tell you how much pressure that has lifted.  In the 'custom design' section where you can choose a fabric & a product to be made up, i think it might be cute to rename it "Pick&Mix".

 How cool is the mirrored 'M'??

Wishing you energised weekends, lucky you for having a spark.  Me, i'm telling myself it's ok to recognise i need a rest, we've already had a big week with SRC/ class captain inductions & a certain high schooler has been awarded the Semester 1 Academic Award, very proud!!  5 more weeks until my next husband visit, yahoo.  He really is in the Army you know, not prison, it just feels like it sometimes with him interstate & all.  Can you see all of this building up on my shoulders??  

Maxabella Loves asks what we're grateful for each Saturday, i'm sharing my weekend off from everything other than essential mothering, my children can talk among themselves while i put my feet up.  Love Posie
PS any school sewing class horror stories, comment here to win a cool crafty prize & celebrate my 400th post!!
PPS many thanks for the encouraging comments on the wardrobe revamp in the last post, we've gone with honey yellow & beeswaz polish with brushed steel knobs, to be revealed in a post soon.

our creative space 'hooking & knitting'

Greetings all,

Wow, what a fantastic lesson with Kylie from Mealy&i - i can officially crochet a Granny Square!!  I have a lot to master - tension, shape, consistency . . . but how exciting, it's so much fun & we made good use of my new selection of hooks & bundles of yarn.

Look at these cute 'stage' examples Kylie made for the lesson demonstration & my very first square, glee!!

 It's so darn magical how a circle becomes a square!!

 Kylie had to teach us to knit before i finished my square, so i am not 100% certain i finished it off properly, might have to consult a tutorial + it's a great excuse to catch up with Kylie again & build on my crochet skill set??

 Pretty pleased with myself, it was so much fun!!

 The purpley one is Kylie's handy work, note tension perfection & man she's speedy!!

 All the children got involved, some stopping at chain stitch & making bracelets as their current crochet lesson limit for the school holidays. 

 Then the knitting lesson commenced in the early afternoon - yes, middle daughter declared it a pyjama day & remained in her Peter Alexanders, knitting in comfort.

 My keen French knitting 3rd daughter was very excited to learn knitting too.  Children really only need those 20cm long needles, the ones i brought along were way too long, she's not knitting a blanket, just learning!!

I soon discovered, even after a good 20 years of zero knitting to my name, i picked it up like riding a bike!!  I'm just playing, i want the skills to share with my children, not to knit commercially.  I was thrilled with how quickly it came back to me, even casting on with my hands (Kylie showed me how to cast on with my thumb & 1 needle, which i excelled at, handy when i have to cast on for 4 children too!!)   
Thank you Kylie, you are a delightful teacher & dear patient friend, i'm loving my new lounge craft hobby.  No doubt there is more crochet & knitting action over at Kootoyoo & Our Creative Space this Thursday.  Special mention to Kirsty at Kootoyoo (Queen of tiny crochet perfection) - my youngest daughter wanted to start crochet with a 2mm hook & i said "oh, you're aiming at Kootoyoo dizzy heights already".  Love Posie   

my creative space 'framed embroidery'

Greetings all,

In my quest to find more hand stitching projects to do on the lounge at night next to my husband (who has coincidentally gone interstate again) i picked out these goodies + some embroidery tape & linen cloth to create some simple festive & homey inspired framed embroideries.  It's a nod to the way Red Stitch Designs uses natural colours with a hint of red & white to create beautiful things.

 I'm not happy with my embroidered letters, certainly NOT kootoyoo standard, which i had to do backwards as the embroidery tape (acting as my guide) is on the back of the linen.  More practise required & better laid out plans, i totally winged this & you can tell it's freestyle embroidery.  

The frames are very shallow, as in, they are box frames but the glass is positioned at the back so i struggled to put it all back together with the layer of linen & thread - the tree is stuck to the outside of the glass.  Oh well, the glass wasn't necessarily the feature, i just loved the idea of a frame with some stitching & a wooden ornament.  Concept in progress.  I have other natural shades of linen; red & white frames + different ornaments, words, felt & embroidery threads to trial.  Shall keep me busy for a while.  Next time i'll polish the glass too, damn finger prints!! 
Happy creative spacing, love Posie

for the love of stationery

Greetings all,
Like most, i'm a big fan of stationery & packaging.  With Christmas markets looming, i have a few tricks up my sleeve for subtle customer reminders for seasonal gift buying - like laminating the sheets of gorgeous Christmas wrap from Kikki-K (double sided, love that) & hanging them from my market stall (so they can spin & show of both festive sides).  Aces!!
I couldn't resist the goodies from Typo too, those stacking boxes (set of 5) are not $25 for extra large, $20 for large, $15 for medium & so on, i got the LOT for $14.95!!  I'm going back for more today as they are fabulous for holding stock & this particular print has an international flavour with Eiffle Towers & Statues of Liberty in small reptitive print!!

Shock horror gasp, i spent Sunday tidying up my studio & there is a floor afterall.  I treated myself to a new sticky tape dispenser, note pads, clutch purse (totally unrelated to my studio) & to start my Christmas cards.  I have a market on Thursday, little 3 hour event at Canberra Airport (Brindabella Park to be precise) so i'm madly trying to make stock in the evenings after a fun day at Shop Handmade with Rachel.  It's hard to resist my husband so i'm doing hand sewing next to him (lounge craft) rather than being in my studio (& watching reruns of OffSpring, why Nina, WHY??)  I'm pretty torn, husband vs OffSpring & all.
Have a lovely week, i'm still only able to upload one image at a time, so expect single-imagey posts for a while.  Love Posie
PS thanks for your thoughtful comments to my last post - i think it's fascinating this whole teen thing.

my creative space 'handstitched lampshade cover'

Greetings all,
Remember these free lampshades i got from Revolve a few MCS posts ago, tossed in with that cabinette??  I finally got around to covering them & put them in the girls' bedrooms.
I have THOSE kind of children who can't resist fooling around, like pretending to be a lampshade??!!  Trust me, she was very quiet & still, our 3rd daughter makes a good floor lamp.

 it was 10C yesterday so my children were in bikinis with no where to swim

 imagine this sweet print in a pink, red & white bedroom

 making crude measurements, circle sewing is always deceptively greedy with fabric

Ok, so this is NOT the Babushka print, instead it's the one my eldest daughter chose, she just loved the greens in this fabric.  I hand stitched them completely from the comfort of my lounge - tacked the hem then turned it over & anchored the top & bottom in place to the wire, easy peasy speedy project. 
Happy Creative Spacing, thanks Kirsty for hosting.  Love Posie

a bit of fluff & fun for the whole family . . .

Greetings all,

Do you ever stop your children in their tracks with your handy craft??  I had mine spell bound this evening when i decided to switch from my studio sewing machine, to some cosy lounge craft & making pom poms. 
I had picked up these sweet soft balls of pretty coloured wool mid week with the intention of making pom poms for headbands.  So i pinched some cardboard from a project one of my girls was working on (later found out it was actually important, ooppss) i cut out doughnuts (a champagne flute made a good measure to trace) & i started poking wool round & round & round & round.  As i got to the end of the thread which i cleverly doubled over to do the job in half the time, i tried to remember how i used to make them as a child.  I don't like following instructions & i like making my own patterns & templates, so i winged it!!

Somehow i managed to cut the wool edges & tie it all together without it falling to pieces & da dah, pom poms + a round of applause from my wide eyed children!!  How could i possibly have gone so long in life without this joy??

Of course, there were instant requests for pom pom scarves & toys, giant novelty pom poms & more, clearly i appeared to know what i was doing.  I think in the light of day, i'll try my luck at larger sizes, so i can do triple pom pom headbands (different colour & size pom pom combinations) & see how time saving it is to do quadruple ply.  Personally, i just like saying the word Pom Pom!!  Or Pomme Pomme, oh la la. 
Thanks for all your well wishes about me being unwell yesterday.  As suspected, i was only down for one day with my sore throat, it didn't eventuate into anything & was nothing a giant hot chocolate couldn't soothe today at Shop Handmade, ahhhhhh.  We're very lucky in this household, the children rarely get ill either, they're much more likely to endure a sports injury!!  They have never been runny nose or coughy, vomity bug type of children, yet they run around barefoot in knickers in Winter in freezing CANBERRA!!  It's zero when we head to school each morning, do you think any of them wear their school jackets??  Maybe we all should do that??!!  Brrrr, no thanks.  Have happy weekends everyone.  Love Posie

lounge craft & what you can do in your jammies

Greetings all,
Well looks like another rainy weekend here in Canberra.  Naturally that means my husband must stand in the rain to watch rugby with mates late into the night.  So what does Posie do when she's snuggled up in new Peter Alexander pyjamas home alone on a Friday night??  Hand stitching, badge making & anything you can comfortably do from the lounge.  I didn't mind sewing my heart out late at night in the studio to meet orders in my 20s, but not anymore.  Built for comfort thanks!!  I'd like to promote the new 'Lounge Craft' movement. 
With a neat badge order for ChildPlay, i thought i'd make the badges on the lounge, with the machines balancing on my husband's giant hardback original 1960's Australia Woman's Weekly cookbook.  What more could you want, great tools, a decent movie, access to amazing fabrics, plus 4 happy children tucked away in bed - exhausted from their school swimming carnival & House Captain duties . . . i went pom pom & balloon mad & was an official time keeper, great job if you can get it, sooo much easier than being a time keeper at the athletics as they are trapped in the pool & stop at the end . . . my girls swam 12 races between them, doing it for the house points.  Very proud mama. 

my MUCH loved apple green coloured 25mm badge machine & resulting badges . . .

my practical-coloured bronze 35mm badge machine which does key rings & magnets too . . .

ah, for the love of wireless internet, King Furniture lounges, new jammies & waffle blankets!!

Rather than drive all over the ACT yesterday (we live in the north, school in the south, swimming carnival in the west & you have to be turning 8 in 2010 or older to compete) - our 6y.o. son had a treat, a day off school & went to see Alice in Wonderland with Daddy. He loved it, my husband wasn't so wrapped. There were a couple of moments at the end when the boy climbed onto Daddy's lap but certainly no more scary than a Harry Potter & certainly more colourful & exciting!! 

During the week, after my in-laws left, my husband & i went to see Valentine's Day, great movie, i enjoyed it much more than Love Actually.  Yes, i cried, doing a lot of that this week!!  Actually after the movie i burst into tears in the food court, i'm sure the people at the next table thought 'that guy is breaking up her in a public place so she won't freak out' rather than i'm just so incredibly sad my husband is about to go away again, after 7 weeks away already this year!!  Yes, it's the first week of March, what else is new to an Army wife?? 

Have yourselves cosy weekends if you're chilly or wet outside.  We'll be baking, shopping, farewelling & then you'll see a WHOLE lot more from the Posie lounge with lonely weekends for the next 6-7 months.  Love Posie