Father's Day G I V E A W A Y & some follow up . . .

Greetings all,

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful husband (Soldier) & proud father of 4 . . . & to both our retired fathers - Grandad (Naval Commander) & Pa (Plumber) who collectively have 23 grandchildren who think they are awesome!! 
I figured now was as good a time as any for a fabric G I V E A W A Y, 3 prizes of 4 fat quarters each up for grabs, mixed up from the Japanese printed bolts in the last post.  Ok, so it's a completely non-fatherly giveaway but hey, don't we mummies do the real heavy lifting in the families??  My darling husband has been around for only 1 or 2 actual Father's Day celebrations in 11 years, such is life in the Army.  I do all the heavy lifting & fabric makes me very happy indeed, it's a beautiful distraction from the daily worries for my children's father!!

As my handsome soldier is bush walking & having a desert picnic with his work mates overseas this Father's Day, we'll wait until he is home to celebrate.  Did you know my husband has only been home for 2 weeks this entire year??  My children really miss him. 
He is not in any of these images (i'll reveal him one day, when he retires maybe??) i just pinched them from the Defence Media Website which is loaded with snaps of our troops + the funerals for our latest fallen soldiers.  Very heart breaking indeed, my thoughts are with their families this weekend.

My husband . . . all he ever wanted to be was a father.  He is a fantastic one, mastering the delicate balance of discipline, patience & repsect with plenty of cuddles, tickles & love.  Needless to say, he is our whole world!!  He just has this incredible sense of responsibility, thus chosing to be a soldier & wanting a large family.  He really makes a difference in this world, with our happy, well adjusted children & helping bring peace to countries in turmoil where women & children don't have choices or rights.  Of course we miss him, but we love him enough to let him do this work.  We love you long time handsome soldier.   

G I V E A W A Y rules are simple, become a fun person who follows this blog & leave a comment here.  Entries close Sunday 12th September (after my double market weekend), 3 uber lucky winners drawn randomly by unbias children.  You don't have to be a mummy or daddy, just a friendly crafty type or gift the giveaway to someone you love.  Feel free to suggest a colour or theme you'd like, don't be shy - there are French, Babushka, Owls, African Animals, Bikes, Story Book - or let me surprise you!! 

 Now for some follow up on other posts lately . . . seems the post on talking about sex to your children proved positive & interesting, a conversation starter if you will.  I got more emails than comments, some of you are a bit too polite for cyber company.  If Father's Day isn't a good enough reason to realise that your children are going to wonder one day how they got here (especially after they understand that mums have the babies in their bellies, but what does daddy have to do with it all??)  I encourage you to be honest, matter of fact & don't be afraid to say "& that's all you need to know for now".

I'm really sorry to hear so many of you have Father's Day stalls at your schools with crap gifts, i think it's such a shame, it's not hard to make a profit to buy/ donate some decent chocolates, marinades & plants!!  Oh & put a raffle together too, sell the tickets as extra profit spinner.  I should hire myself out!! 

 Have a lovely Sunday with your families, we have 2 children's birthday parties on (can you believe it, first one at 9.30a.m. at Lazer Zone then a lunch time home party??)  Yes ladies, i'm taking hand sewing to do in the car, no doubt, hiding from the rain!!  Love Posie

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

surrounded by lovely pretty things & kindness, lucky me . . .

Greetings all,
'tis a busy week in the delivery department of my business.  Retro Grandad (Corrie's father) kindly couriered down this haul of fabrics for me from her new range in store at Retro Mummy . . . canNOT wait to patchwork & make super pretty things with these prints.

Then this lovely surprise, a thoughtful 'just because' kind of 'thinking of you' parcel of love from Tracey at Knicky Knacks.  Love it, thanks so much, just all round gorgeousness (magnets, fabric, lace, buttons, hearts, ahhhh).

How much fun are these oversized novelty pegs??  They are meant to hang on the wall & use as a giant, well, peg, but i think upside down holding up postcards at my market stall is a better way to play with them.  Also in the mail - the rest of my shopping from Europe (which i couldn't carry myself) including this pretty compact from Clinique.  Too pretty to use!!

Finally, another bloggy surprise gift in the mail (yes people, i'm feeling the love) from Tania McCartney in her stationery giveaway surprise.  How incredibly sweet from a super ace author & gal pal. 

Thanks so much - i know having my mobile & purse stolen on the wharf in Venice in July, a burglary at home in August & last weekend - running out of fuel in the car, i've had a rather bumpy run of late.  Alas, my husband is safe & wrapping up his deployment!!  I can't help but think my ridiculously positive attitude towards my husband in a war zone, 4 children & all their homework/ parties/ sports/ personalities/ bedrooms/ mess/ meals/ school, my busy work & then anything that just happens to go wrong along the way . . . is the best way to get through my life.  I know my life is not for everyone, i do get sick of being strong & on my own, making every decision for the family & putting engine oil in the car!!  By the time my husband returns he will have been away from home for 9 months this year, i know THIS YEAR!!  I can not tell you how exicted the children are - he is their hero & he's the love of my life.  I am bursting into smiles & have a little skip in my step, ahhh, we're on the homeward stretch, once we wrap up the school term & two markets, then i can start planning his home coming. 
Thanks for hanging in there with me everyone & bring on SPRING!!  Love Posie

ever run out of fuel in your car, i've joined the club . . .

Greetings all,
OK, so one of the dumber things i've done in 17 years of driving . . . with my reserve fuel tank not pumping into the main in the Landcruiser 4WD for a couple of months, i've been living off one tank & until now, haven't mismanaged the distance i could get on the fuel light!!  I thought i'd wait until i was halfway between children's parties in Canberra & Bowral, with 4 children sugared up on lolly bags, as the perfect time to try it.  I know, i said dumb!!  Better yet, i did it in style . . . with a dying mobile phone & just 2km from the service station i was going to fill up at, next to the Big Merino Rambo in Goulburn.
Small mercy that i literally konked out at an emergency phone & pull over bay where the children could play & wait patiently.  I was advised there was a 2 hour minimum wait, so i mentioned i had 4 children . . . the operator asked "did you say 4 or 5 children??" & i responded "does it matter??"  I waited 3 hours, hmmmmm . . .

So i put my feet up, relaxed & watched the children catch tadpoles, go exploring, make nice with the new German Shepherd teddy i bought my son yesterday & waited to see who was first to misjudge their leap over the creek & fall in.

One by one they'd come back to the car for a rest, warm up, blow some bubbles (only time i've ever been glad that bubbles were included in a lolly bag) & i have to say, there was the moral dilema of whether i use the water bottles i efficiently packed for the trip, to wash their sticky lolly fingers or save them from dehydration!!  I loathe lollies, i loathe sticky fingers even more.

So while i pondered life's big questions - who is this French VC that this rest stop is named after, i should research him; i really should polish my boots & take better care of them; what is Bear Grylls real name; which of my children will end up the tallest; did they ever find Miranda from 'Picnic At Hanging Rock'; my husband would never run out of fuel; my husband would never have a flat mobile phone battery; why doesn't anything ever go wrong when my husband is around; i should lose some weight; i could just doze off to sleep in this sunshine; why did my eldest daughter happen to have the SAS Survival Guide on her (thanks Sindy) & say so matter of factly "mum, i knew you'd have us stranded one day & we'd have to survive somehow". . . before i knew it, the NRMA man was here with fuel. 

So i put it to the children, should we continue to the party (for my nephew) & arrive 3 hours late, or go home??  Well there was no way they were missing out on seeing their cousins or telling them their harrowing tale of survival on the side of the Hume Highway, so we journeyed on.  I had used the last breath of mobile phone battery to call my sister to explain my situation - yes, i called her before the NRMA, you know, priorities & out of courtesy.  Very glad we did, 'twas a lovely post-party-early-dinner with the family & smooth 200km trip home. 
Let this be a lesson to all of you, the fuel light doesn't come on just to look pretty!!  Love Posie

let's talk about sex . . . to your children

Greetings all,
So this is an image-less post for obvious reasons, 'tis not that kind of blog!!  I have no idea how my crafty mummy following types will take this post, but i think it's a decent community announcement to be prepared for the inevitable!!  I'm a pretty open & chatty kind of gal, I get asked by other parents frequently, how i explain sex to my children.  I'll just preface this entire post with 'me' doing all the talking as my husband is never put in this situation, it's always me, usually while driving or trapped somewhere & unable to be vague, pretend i didn't hear them or escape.
My children have left me zero wriggle space on this topic & i have always been honest & speedy in answering all their questions about anything, why make talking about sex awkward or different??  I'm very much sex-is-a-normal-part-of-life & my mother told me NOTHING, trust me, what my sister told me was alarming.  So i'd rather give my children clear facts or goodness knows what they'll hear in the playground??!!  I would also like to think that when my girls grow up & do have sex, if he turns out to be the wrong guy for them, they're not guilted into this but-i-had-sex-i-must-love-him ridiculous situation, but cut their losses & leave.  I don't think that is tarty, i think it's realistic & will save them time wasted on Mr Not-So-Fantastic (ditto for my son, but somehow boys are judged differently??!!)  For this reason i never started my 'how are babies made' answer with 'when a man loves a woman . . .' but from the scientific angle of sperm & eggs, just not including how exactly the sperm hooks up with the egg.  At the time, that wasn't important in the story as they were like 4 years old.  Yes, they were quite young when they were interested - but they wanted some details & to them, it was just as important as how bubbles were created!!  This basic eggy explanation was extremely useful as . . . at our preschool there were children who had 2 mums, so it was a great way to show the children of lesbians were completely normal (sorry i'm so mainstream), they were made of sperm & eggs like everyone else, just with the help of a bit of science. 
What prompted this idea for a post??  Well tonight, trapped in the car of course, my middle daughter turned to me & frankly asked "mum, do you enjoy sex??"  Now for some background . . . my husband & i have a very affectionate relationship at home, we don't jump each other's bones in the middle of the lounge room but we certainly kiss & cuddle in front of the children.  The children often say "gosh you must love mummy" etc, it's quite sweet, i think it's a lovely example of a loving marriage.  They have asked us if we have sex & i say "yes we do", honest & normal answer, it's all they want & then the next question will be about food or pets, the sex topic is over!! 
I have been put on the spot before with indirect questions i didn't see coming about sex.  For example, the time daughter 3 asked innocently enough "how do horses make babies" to which i responded as naturally as possible "the stallion hops on the mare's back, like a piggy back" & left the 'actual' finer details vague.  This explanation was quickly followed up with "does daddy hop on your back when you have sex" & like lightening, i responded with "no silly, that would hurt my back".  I thought my whitty response was brilliant!! 
Also in their cross questioning i've been asked how many times i dated daddy before we had sex.  Luckily i could answer this honestly, i was able to resist him for 25 dates, i know, that sounds medieval now, especially as i was at Uni & he was my i'm-going-to-date-someone-completely-different-perhaps-a-bad-boy & thought this totally hot young soldier was the most gorgeous man i'd ever laid eyes on. 
My sister & i talk about this topic - how to explain sex, relationships & the like, to our young children, should boys get a different explanation to girls??  It's lop sided that is for sure.  So while i'm still a work-in-progress on the topic, i had better get my act together as we start high school shortly & i'm sure a whole new can of wormy questions comes my way when i least expect it.  What i love is that my children feel so incredibly free to ask me anything!!  If they do ask something a bit too full on, i give them an outline & then a "that's all you need to know right now for your age" & they are happy with that. 
For those of you with younger children, you have all this ahead of you.  I'd start thinking & discussing how you do want your children to learn about sex now, so when you get those questions - you're ready & you don't have a car accident or make them feel uncomfortable for asking!!  I warn you, you won't see the question coming or have much time to think on your feet!! 
Have great weekends, we have 3-4 children at each of 4 different parties spanning 600km, um, i have sewing to do & planned to relax (ha!!) . . . hope this post was helpful, i'm quite interested to know your thoughts!!  Love Posie

my creative space 'quest for a simple dress'

Greetings all,

Gosh, i don't like leaving more than a couple of days between posts, but really, what a whirlwind week.  After the election BBQ i literally laid on heat packs all Sunday, every bone aching & cold.  I'm doing all 5 days at Shop Handmade this week so Julie can move into her new home & i'm madly quilting at night for 2 quilts which require over 300 squares.  Not to mention the worry about our soldiers in Afghanistan!!
I felt like taking a break & creating a simple, quick & fun line of Summer dresses for markets & Shop.  What better for a 'creative space' post??!!  I've never done the ribbon-neck dresses, too much competition.  I like a classic shell top & A line style dress but i'm trying to simplify a design (read: quick).  As a self-taught-seamstress (remember i wasted 6 years at Uni studying drugs & brains) i prefer to draft my own patterns to my ability. 

So this is simple, but still quite labour intensive with bias around arm & neck holes.  I like contrast colours, I would normally do something clashing, but green on green was too sweet to resist.

I also like a bit of weight in the bottom of a dress, to stiffen it & hold the shape, not to mention . . . preventing any Marilyn Monroe-esque dress-blowing-up-over-little-girl's-head-look . . . not cool.  So i did a triple row of stitching with a contrast fabric on the bottom inside, me likes!!  You can't quite tell from this image but it has a key hole back too.  See, i try to do simple but like detail & little surprises. 

Again, when i'm happy with a production design, i'll use clashing thread colour for the stitching.  I think either make stitching invisible or do rows to accent, stitch like you mean it!!

Now this short dress for say a size 3, used half a metre (the inside bottom band which adds weight also acts as a false hem, so no wasted feature fabric in the length) but it does leave some giant triangles of fabric as off cuts.  I was playing around at swirling them up, gathering them or twisting them up to make some sort of brooch adornment for the dress . . . still messing around with that.  I'd love to perfect a dress in a plain fabric with such accessories, one day, maybe for older sizes??  Do i make it detachable or stitched in place??  I can't bring myself to ever leave raw edges or stitch things on that can't handle a 9kg heavy duty wash & spin dry.
In the mean time, i'll keep fiddling.  This 'dress' sample will serve as a cute top for my girls with jeans.  Just for reference, it fits my 6y.o. son beautifully!! 
Thanks again to all you lovely ladies who sms, email, called or popped by Shop to see if my husband was safe overseas, you're all so thoughtful.  To lose 3 soldiers in a few days has been really horrible & my heart breaks for those families.  Oh to have my handsome soldier back in my arms with our children again, something to cherish.  Love Posie

deception . . . count the ways . . .

Greetings all,
Well i thought 'deception' might be an interesting title for this day - a federal election no less, quite suitable.  Just thinking how many forms of deception, good, bad & surprising there are.
Starting with this purple patchwork quilt i made from scratch after dinner last night for an early morning pick up.  The customer brief was 'lots of purple', keep it plain & to use a few childhood shots for a 6x6 patchwork quilt for a 21st today.  Done!!  The photo transfer paper worked quite well.  It's actually quite detailed, alas, smoke & mirrors people!!

So i was up at 6a.m. for the school BBQ & cake stall, selling snacks to voters.  Can i please point out - we were on high wind watch & snow alert, yet I still got out of bed to volunteer!!  After planning, shopping, organising & setting up, the day ran smoothly, we sold a zillion sausages & cup cakes, coffee & drinks.  What's the deception, well i see this as easy (even with a migraine, sleep deprivation & dragging 4 children along) but it's actually a lot of work, i just keep being told i make these events low stress & fun.  Yippee.  That is one of those 'perception is reality' deceptions, where i appear to have it all together. 
I'm quite good at making life look easy, but i can assure you, having a husband at war & hearing the news we lost 2 more soldiers, well it breaks my heart & worries me to my core.  In order to not worry the children, i keep how much it affects me, to myself.  I certainly talk to them about what happens, i've never hidden the news from them, they are proud of what their daddy does & are also realistic about the danger.  Alas, my husband is my whole world, these soldiers who were killed yesterday, they were someone's whole world too.   

Now for a sneaky 6y.o. deception . . . as you can imagine, my priority upon arriving home was to shower, get BBQ grease off my face & smoke out of my hair, so i let the children play the Wii.  My eldest daughter went home with another family today, so my son took this opportunity to log on as her Mii on the Wii & play some new games - terribly - in her name.  Then he logged on as himself, played brilliantly & beat all her scores??  He likes his name at the top of the highest score board.  I think that's kind of evil genius deception.  Thankfully, he puts this much competitive energy into his spelling, maths & sport too!!
So after being school-parent-of-the-year today, i glanced over at the reason i do all this P&C stuff, my children, only to find 2 sitting on the roof of my car, one sticking a cup cake to the inside of the windscreen & one completely missing.  I looked at one mother (whose child was leaning out of my car window throwing a ball) & yes, people were watching . . . i said "imagine being the mothers of those children".  I can't even bother to defend my children's actions!! 
Have less political Sundays everyone, love Posie