Welcome back to blog land, live from Canberra!!

Greetings all, this time from Canberra, Australia's national capital. Just in case you forget, they have it on nearly every sign, building & advertisement, "national this, nation's that". Plus the enormous parliament house & surrounds is hard to miss - especially if you get lost on one of the circuits around town, or take the wrong exit off a round about, only to find yourself at another round about, like you're trapped in a pin ball machine. It's very easy to loose your bearings here, lots of bridges over the same river, you can spiral out of control. Plus for me, it's with 4 children in the car pointing out the 'crocodiles' in the lake or debate on sharks. Being stylish nerds, they love the Art Galleries, Museums & Questacon, especially the Aboriginal exhibits wondering why it's all so new to other people, as our children are Northern Territory born & bred, it's so familiar to them.

It's been a lovely4 months (3 in the house) since we found ourselves in Canberra, a fantastic town for people who don't like to spend much time at home - there is always some festival, event or park concert on!! We live in the countryside in the north of the Australian Capital Territory, with farms & paddocks of horses, sheep, cows & Kangaroos, the whole way to school. It still makes me giggle when we drive along the airport road, that it's literally an airport in a sheep paddock, making it very Australian indeed. We do miss Darwin, it's easy lifestyle, friendly folk & warm Tropical weather, so far i think we've had everything but snow thrown at us in Canberra. I like Winter wear, so it's fine by me, but the children are reluctant to rug up, or embrace pyjamas, so once we start getting below zero, we'll see!!

While it's a very conservative town, people wear an alarming amount of black or grey clothing, not dissimilar to Melbourne, i've done a few markets now & my lovely customers find my products interesting, colourful & fun. Currently i'm just doing the Old Bus Depot Markets in Kingston the last Sunday of the month & Hall Markets at Hall Showground the first Sunday of the month. I must admit, the outdoor Darwin market scene has left me feeling far more comfortable at Hall Markets with their rural feel out in the middle of a paddock with the marquee. Spookily enough, about half a dozen customers at the first market, which i hadn't adverstised that i was going to be there, had read about me, or knew who i was, in the least stalkerish kind of way. I've even made pals with some of these first customers, especially the fellow mummies. So thanks to all those lovely articals & products featuring in Shop 4 Kids, Shop Til You Drop, Cosmopolitan, Total Girl & the like, i felt rather chuffed. Sometimes when we mummies have all our children at school & work alone at home in a studio, you have no clue who might be reading up or about to order from you, so this was a really lovely reception.

So this is my second year of having the 3 girls in Primary School & the boy in PreSchool, 3 days per week, i can't tell you how efficient i am in the new super size studio (read: we don't have 2 lounge suites or dining settings, so all our furniture is in the living room/ open plan mega room with kitchen & doors to the back garden). So i baggsed the so called formal lounge/ dining area at the front of the house as mine, it's easy for couriers, fantastic natural lighting & makes for a sweet show room, all at the same time!!

Over the blog break my super clever husband, web designer novice, redesigned the entire website & we added the much awaited ToY sHoP (especially by our children). I will be promoting that once it's complete, maybe mid year . . . & final exciting news is that we have adopted a new German Shepherd. He's 10 weeks old & just about to hop in the car to collect the children. Best Easter Gift the bunny could have brought us. We had to put our eldery Shepherd down when we left Darwin in January, so this little puppy has really filled the hole in our hearts. We have a new laptop for the business, i officially fried my 3rd laptop in as many years, so now we lease them, much better financial option as we're left with a metal brick at the end . . . anyway, once i figure out how the use the new camera software, i'll add some snaps. Said puppy has just run off with some thread, so i'll chase him down - i.e. follow the lime green thread around the kitchen. He's an outdoor puppy, but has to know how to behave inside, just in case the Winter is too cold, snowy & blowy. Plus he's my new best friend. Tally ho blog land, i'll be back shortly, promise. 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

Pay It Forward, indeed . . .

Greetings all, look what the wonderful & super clever Jade from My Art Is My Outlet sent as her Pay It Foward goods from a recent competition on her blog. How super lovely, every piece in the parcel was beautifully made & carefully thought out. Adorable, right down to the sweet card. I took the gorgeous wristlet purse to a Tupperware Party (yes, i'm on the cycle) on Saturday & received lots of ooohhhss & aaahhhsss. The detailed pin cushion is my favourite, makes sewing so enjoyable. The children were drawn to it instantly, so i had to fight for it. Thanks Jade!! Now it's my turn to return the favour. I'm thinking of making it into a little competition, so here goes . . . as Posie has always had a strong focus on custom design from the beginning & the product range has grown steadily over 5 years thanks to fantastic customer suggestions. So i put it to you bloggers to please suggest a new product for Posie to launch with the website make over in January 2008. It can be a rehash of a current product - like a different style bag or detailing on a cushion, most importantly, it will be named after you!! So thinking caps on, i do have lots of things on the drawing board, so great minds might think alike?? Please leave your suggestions as comments to this post & my favourite 3 ideas (it might end up being 3 new products??!!) will receive that product(s) made for them in December. My background is patchwork & hand stitching, plus i draft my own patterns, so make the descriptions nice & clear, or just suggest the concept like "i need somewhere to put my potatoes". Posie was created out of frustration of not being able to find what i wanted in stores, so vent away . . . love Posie
EDIT - competition will run during the whole month of November, so feel free to offer more than one idea!! x x J

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

Something to do in Melbourne today

A lovely Melbourne mummy named Susan has a message for you about a great craft fair today . . .
Susan is dabbling with a new business named Suby Designs, in between parenting & physiotherapy. The blog link is on the right, click there for more details & enticing product images.
So go along to . . . Brunswick Kindergarten, Glenlyon Road, Brunswick VIC Australia Saturday 13th October, from 10am-4pm.
I met Susan at my market stall in Nightcliff NT when she was holidaying with her husband & little girls, we hit it off & i sent some fabric to her to make some goodies for the Kindergarten Craft Fair. Sounds like lots of fun, so please get out there. I just knew Susan was a fellow scientist, lots of us frustrated geeks let loose with fabric & get creative, especially with patchworking.
Sorry for the late notice about the craft fair, this week's distraction - we've had 3 more children struck down with chicken pox, all vaccinated, so hoping it's another light dose like patient zero 2 weeks ago. Yes, a fun fun fun week ahead of me. Love Posie

Tag-o-rama

Greetings all, this post is coming to you live from the school holidays in the Northern Territory, we only get 6 working days, but that will do to revive us, even with a chicken pox outbreak (the children are vaccinated, i am a pharmacologist at heart, so it should be mild & so far, number 2 has the most glamorous pox you can imagine, so neat & well . . . perfect, just like her). Bring on 4th term i say & let's wrap up the year!!

Well i have been tagged a few times in the past weeks, so as i struggle to create new posts, i am combining them here. I'm not passing on the tags, as i'm so new to blogging & i think all the blogs i like have already accepted such awards. I hope that doesn't offend anyone, i love you all & think you're all fabulous & being tagged is fun . . . anyway, my nominators & i all have a twins theme in common, strange but true.

First up was the delightful Samantha in the US, from The Handmade Dress blog/ Little Dresses, who has the best motto i've ever heard "she who dies with the most fabric wins". As a patient & loving serviceman's wife (to a fire fighter) & mother of 3 so far, plus auntie to potentially zillions, including brand new twins Iris & Lily, i simply adore her - we have so much in common. She nominated me as a . . .

i think every blog i look at his this badge already, so just consider yourselves all rockers!!

Next, the darling Fiona from Dragonfly Crafts in Australia, tagged me to do the letters of my name, with some meaning. Fiona is a fraternal twin & she's nothing like her sister, although they're great pals. I love the name of her blog as dragon flies are a huge symbol of the change of seasons in the Northern Territory. So here goes J E N N I E, yes that is my full name . . .

J is for jovial, i'm pretty happy, quick to smile & even quicker to giggle, especially at myself

E is for energy, i work out every day to make it through every day & to lose the baby blubber

N is for nice, i try to be nice & only surround myself with nice people

N is for numbers, i did pure maths at Uni & love numbers, spatial maths & geometry, N for nerd??

I is for invention, love necessity being the mother of it, otherwise i would never have started sewing

E is for everything, i have a long list of things to achieve each day & love it when 'everything' is done

Finally, the gorgeous Angelique, currently based in Noumea with her husband & 6y.o. twins (the sensible boy/ girl type) with the blog No Life Without Wife, tagged me with the 8 things/ facts/ habits about you . . . so here are 8 things you never needed to know about moi. I thought i'd do more about where i came from, as my blog is pretty current & reveals who i am now, with my children, habits & quirks.

1. I always knew i wanted to be a wife, mother & have 4 children, but i was academic & wanted a career in pharmacology or forensics (long before CSI thank you, i tried to get school work experience with the Sydney Coroner). I hadn't thought out how to have both, the finer details like funding this life etc. I was caught up in the mid 90's mix of feminism, independence, money & girl power, yet was an auntie & loved my neices & nephews - so much more fun & uncomplicated than office politics!!

2. I grew up on Sydney's leafy North Shore, in a beautiful big home, with great parents, 2 brothers & a sister. It was a beautiful childhood, strict, safe & sheltered, full of homemade goodness, as my mother was the original 1950's housewife. All our food was cooked from scratch with lots of home grown vegetables & herbs. Mum handmade our clothes, often matching (Von Trapp style) which we considered at the time, was the height of daggyness.

3. I come from a family of very focused & determined people. We all have 3-4 children each & run our own businesses. My eldest brother is rocket scientist, next brother is a doctor & anesthetist, my sister a ballerina (retired) so our big family get togethers are very interesting & diverse with our chosen paths in life, plus 14 children. Dad was a naval commander, so perhaps the discipline in all it's different forms, rubbed off on us.

4. My husband is the most important person in my life. I think you can say that out loud & let your children know. My husband was here first & my love for him is different for the love we have for our children. My mother made that clear to us & would support Dad in his decisions, which were always pretty fair - we'd have to put reasons for & against if we wanted to go to a party & waste valuable study time. My parents have been married for 50 years & still hold hands & run errands together. I can certainly see the value in keeping a marriage alive as once the children have grown up & left home, it's just the two of you again.

5. I'm a workaholic. I pretend i'm not by finding time for school duties and making my husband feel like he has my full attention in the evenings, then work for hours after he's asleep. I have been in paid employment since i was 12. First job was as a kitchen hand & ironing/ pressing table clothes for a catering firm, which i did all through high school. So no silver spoon after all!!

6. Silver Spoon comment aside, my family loves to travel. I was lucky enough to go around the world 12 times before i started Uni, with my 13th trip being the honeymoon. My mum was a farm girl from England, so she's travelled a long way since marrying an Australian sailor on Christmas Eve in 1955. Europe is my favourite place, the history, architecture, culture, food, hotel room treats, I love it all. I do have a thing for Disneyland though, all of them.

7. I never believed in love at first sight until i laid my eyes on my husband. I was 19 & trying to get out of an 18month relationship the coward's way - meeting someone else. I did what most girls that age do - fall in love with someone at work. I had joined the Army Reserve at Uni, a clueless officer cadet, i was a tom boy at heart & it was a great balance to my other super girlie part time job. Plus it was fun running around the bush in boy's clothes learning about what makes men tick, guns truly do nothing for me. So dating my instructor was a 'fling' & 13 years later, i still say to him, "if you didn't ask me out, i would have had such a crush on you". He was so charismatic, tall, handsome & excellent at his job. It was a natural progression for him to finally join the regular Army a year later, aged 24.

8. I love anyone is who is fabulous at what they do. You know, world championship sports, business leaders, world changing politians, amazing artists, obviously clever crafters & parents who do a fantastic job. All my best friends are in those categories, be it brilliant stylists, mothers, dentists or bank directors. I know it's a luxury to truly love what you do for a living, however, under the right circumstances, you can make it happen. I love my life, it's dynamic with growing children & personalities, my husband's career & deployments to war zones, where Posie & Edna&AliceMay are going, our next interstate move. It's very interesting & so far from where i ever imagined i would be. With plenty of hard work, experience & positivity, i'd like to teach our 4 children to be open to where life might take you. To know what you want, but sometimes you don't know what you want until you have it, then run with it.

Love Posie

My Little World

As seen in Meet Me At Mike's "hello hooters"

check out the owl in the tree on this fabric swatch singletGreetings all, just a little filler inner post today as I'm not at the markets & have been super busy. I only ever planned to do 3 posts a month, but geesh, i'm struggling to keep up with that tall order. I'll let the images do the talking, a lot of sweet ideas from my customers, taking advantage of the custom design option at Posie. There are some very clever ladies out there who either can't sew or fear they won't wear or use something they made themselves. Then there are the mummies after the dream baby bag & soft furnishings, they give me the measurements or colour scheme & away i sew.

Sonia's Play Mat (patchwork top in Oriental pink, green & white) it looked super gorgeous once it was all hand quilted & edged. It's now on holidays with a very lucky little girl. Finished product image is trapped in the camera, maybe next post??
Anthea's pram satchel - with perfect strap length

The super stylish Tina from Sweet Pea Collection makes herself gorgeous clothes (it also helps that she looks like a super model) but she's always wondering what people are really thinking when they ask if she made the clothes she is wearing herself. I can assure you, they are thinking "that looks amazing". I'm not kidding, Tina can make something new to wear to school - BEFORE she takes her children to school that morning.

My gorgeous customer Jean requested i make her a black top with Penny Wheels, so i made her a matching wristlet for fun. I was telling Tina, & she giggled saying she had just made something similar for a new store in Sydney. Great minds hey!! Or is it "fools never differ??"

What else has happened in the past couple of weeks - i've moved my studio from the small sewing room to the empty space in the lounge, for the impending interstate move & Christmas rush, revealing i have way too much fabric; i started back with my personal trainer, Sophie Hawken, who is fresh back from the World Championships with a silver medal in the Triathalon (she's very kind to us mummy types who are obviously not professional athletes); still doing markets when my husband is home to babysit on Sundays & constantly building up/ replacing stock; it was our 3 daughters' school concert - so cute - everything from ball room dancing to 60's hippy music; i shipped lots of new products down to Meet Me At Mike's for their current & future store - opening in October; plus parcels of love to Singapore & France.

new Edna&Alice May body suits

more market cosmetic purses

Viva la France

new studio, table top envy girls & yes, i use all 3 sewing machines every day

too much fabric, non?? But wait, there is more . . .

We have a moving date for our relocation from Darwin to Canberra, between Christmas & New Year, as you do with 4 young children, "let's drive right down the red centre in the middle of a desert Summer", good times. I love Darwin but really looking forward to starting over again, moving with as little as possible, older children & checking out the market scene in Canberra (the Old Bus Depot markets are first on my list). This week, Peggy-Jean's Melissa will start helping me with product & order preparation, oh to share ideas & work & giggle all day (well during preschool hours) will be so fun. We had a date night last week, sooo many new concept coming Posie's way, delicious Chinese for dinner & whoopps, a 2a.m. finish. Then it's school holidays (usual blur or swimming). I think you'll forgive me for being tardy in my posts. Lots to do, enjoy, love Posie neglected child - i found my son like this after i moved the studio in a 6 hour marathon, bless him