In and Out.

Out: My FlowerPress Brooch swap.

My doily brooch, some small love heart brooches, some Australian animal chocolates, a little purse I made and a Foxs Lane card.

Out: The Green Sleeves dress,

...a little appliqued t'shirt (it's always nice to add a little surprise) and Foxs Lane card, all tied up with a vintage sheet selvage ribbon.

Out: The Second Blue Flower dress,

...a little t'shirt surprise, a Foxs Lane card, all tied up with a vintage sheet selvage ribbon.

In: The most divine doily tea towel from gorgeous Susie at Flower Press. It's a caravan prezzie. Hooray!! Thank you so much Susie, I adore it. xx

Out: A bunch of interchangeable circular knitting needles Mary lent me when I was trying to decide on a brand. How ace is blogland! Thanks Mary.

Out: A doily brooch and a couple of love heart brooches for Miss Jennie just because.

I often wonder if the post office people draw straws when they see me coming.

Have you had any fun mail lately? Hope so.

And be honest, were you hoping this post was about something a bit more exciting?

See ya! x

Stamp-a-licious.

So I'd love it if you could turn to the closest person over the age of about six and ask them if they collect stamps...if the answer is YES, then stamp on their foot and tell them 'there's one for your collection'. If they say NO, then stamp on their foot and tell them 'there's one to start your collection'.

Can you tell we're on school holidays?!

Can you tell I'm over the moon excited about my new Foxs Lane stamps?!

Chantal made them. Isn't she the cleverest. Aren't they amazing. How cool that she made me a summer and a winter dress. And they look like the dresses I make, down to the ruffles and florals and the granny pockets. I am now prepared for all seasons. Love!

I think I'd better put aside some time to sew some stock for my shop, so I can package up my orders and decorate them with my new stamps. Eeeeeeeeep I can hardly wait.

Chantal has an Etsy store here and you can contact her at chantal_j@hotmail.com if you want her to make her your own custom made stamp like I did. And you totally should, they are so ace.

And yesterday, being the school holidays and all, I took my three girlies to the movies and to buy some essentials in town. When we got out of the car I realised that we all had the same shoes on. Is that ok? As the official style police of this family I have decided that it is. Especially as they are all same, same but different. But I draw the line at that. NO matching hoodies, or t'shirts or anything else for that matter.

Do you do that, dress your kids the same as you? Do you all have the same look? Farmer Bren does have his own pair of Converse too, just in case you were wondering.

I think my family have a look. We like layers. Dresses and skirts and tops and tunics and cardis over jeans. Most of the time Jazzy and Pepper and I dress like that, although they are all colourful and I am not. Indi does too but with her own type of skater girl edge. I guess we all fit together.

So a very happy Thursday to you my online friends. Thank you so much for your comments on my last post. I found them so interesting to read and think about.

Bye for now. X

10 things about pants.

1) I wear pants every day. I always wear a dress or skirt over the top though to cover my bum. Sometimes I wear tights but I don't love tights because they remind me of the itchy ones I used to have to wear to school.

2) I hate trying on pants in shops. I don't even look at pants in shops. The pants that end up living in my wardrobe/floordrobe have been handed down to me, I have had for ever and ever or are one of the two pairs of jeans I have bought in the last five years.

3) The other day a man popped in to buy eggs. It was the weekend and I was home alone with the girls and I went out to the cool room in the shed and got him his eggs. Later on I was told that I had a big hole in the bum of my jammie pants and he would have seen that I had black knickers on.

4) My sewing idol and friend Kath says that her favourite thing to sew is pants.

5) I dress my girls (well the ones that let me choose their clothes) in pants and skirts and dresses every day. I love this look on kids and it is so practical too.

6) I made these pants this morning to use up some of the smaller scraps in my basket and to try to make some bottoms as fun as the tops and dresses I've been sewing. I think they'd look great with a dress over the top. Something colourful or even a denim pini.

7) I don't like any of the words that mean pants. I don't like the word trousers, or slacks or pantaloons or bottoms.

8) I will never make or buy a pair of day time pants without a pocket or something on the bum. Except leggings. Leggings are ok without bum pockets. But whatever you do, please don't get me started on jeggings.

9) Part of the reason for making these pants today was to use up some of the smaller pieces of Michelle's scraps. Check out her blog to see what she made from the fabric before it became my scraps.

10) I loved making these pants but the fit was a bit of a question mark. I have made lots of dresses and skirts and can pretty easily work out how to size them, but pants are a bit of an unknown. In the end I made some and had to wait until the girls got home from school to see who they fitted. Jazzy! Size 6/7.

I hope you've got some fancy pants to wear this weekend and somewhere fun to wear them to.

See ya. ♥♥♥♥

ps. They're in my shop.

pp. 10 beanie things here.

Sewing & selling & shopping.

I was walking through the most gorgeous shop the other day when all of a sudden those familiar thoughts started talking to me. They were saying things like: Hey I could sell my stuff here. My little dresses would look so great hanging up on these racks. How wonderful would it feel to see my clothes as part of this stunning collection...

But pretty soon after it started, it stopped. I don't have to have that conversation in my head anymore. Now I have my own shop.

And I love having my own online shop.

I love that I get to make whatever I want, how I want, whenever I want, as the inspiration drives me.

I love that the customer pays the price I think is right rather than double that.

I love that I 'know' so many of the little princesses my dresses are going to live with and I love the interactions and stories and feedback and photos I get from their Mamas/Grandmothers/friends who buy them.

Blog posts like Vic's and Catherine's make my day!

I love that I have my own paypal account with my own money in it. As anyone who runs their own business knows, often you don't actually get paid a wage for the work you do. So I feel happy and guilt free spending a little bit here and there on some craft supplies. Some yummy hand dyed yarn, a knitting pattern, a Foxs Lane stamp or a book, I've earned them myself. Yay!

So I guess this is just an enormous thank you to everyone who has bought something from my shop, has commented on something I've made, has been supportive, has suggested something or sent me something that they thought I could use.

Thank you Vicki for the parcel of doilies.

Must be off now. Indi gets home from camp in an hour and I still have to make her bed and make her favourite dinner.

So do you buy online? Do you have your own little shop? How's it going?

Bye for now. X

Weekend end.

This weekend we walked through the top orchard and picked some apples and pears and quinces. We filled a crate but left most of them on the trees to ripen some more.

We hung upside down and sang songs that I used to sing when I was little. We drew with chalk and ate toasted sandwiches for lunch and we practised tricks on the trapeze.

We walked around the farm and were carried and we weeded the vegie garden. We painted a bit of the caravan and knitted a couple of rows. We've washed and labeled and packed Indi up for camp tomorrow.

We hung out at The Hepburn Folk Festival where Farmer Bren took some film and then later edited the footage into a little film. Its made him so happy working on that film and that's made me pretty happy too.

And I made another small dress. Ha! Did you think I was going to do an entire post without a dress?

The Blue Granny Pocket Dress.

Its in my shop if you were wondering.

Its got a granny pocket for treasure collecting.

All clothes must have pockets these days according to Miss Pepper.

And this one has long sleeves because although the days are bright and sunny, they can get chilly when the sun goes behind the clouds.

What have you been up to?

I hope this coming week is a fantabulous one for all of us!

I hope some really exciting things happen.

Bye for now. X

A Dress.

Just the other day I was saying to Bren that I felt so uninspired in the sewing department. I've been knitting like crazy, but I didn't remember the last time I had reached into my vintage sheet pile or made something just because.

This morning we drove to Melbourne to do the egg drop offs because our delivery guy is on holidays. Afterwards we popped into a shopping centre for some retail action. The girls each had a list of a few basics that they needed and I was happy to get all the shopping done in one go.

Well I have no idea if its me or the current fashion, but we didn't find anything except shoes. It seems I have lots of family fashion don'ts these days. I don't like branded clothes, clothes with characters on them, slogan clothes, shiny clothes, too tight clothes, slutty clothes, clothes I can make easily, fluorescent clothes, fussy clothes, clothes with tacky machine embroidery, white clothes...gosh, somebody stop me now.

Anyhow, we came home from Melbourne, Bren went out to mow, the girls started some sort of game and I pulled out an old sheet and drew a pattern onto it and sewed a dress. A simple, girly, cotton, comfy, light, summery dress.

She loves it. The big girls do too.

I've drawn a pattern off it to make some more in other colours and patterns.

It looks like it passes the running away from Mum and her annoying photo shoots too.

So my sewing inspiration might have come out of hibernation after all. Yay!

I'm off now to pack our emergency fire kits. If its not pouring with rain here, it seems its HOT with wild winds.

So how about you? Have you had any luck shopping for kids' clothes lately? Do you have crazy clothing rules like me? Do shopping excursions make you dash for your machine too? Have you got plans for New Years' Eve? How would you dress up your bike if you had to? What are you having for dinner tonight?

Happy eve before New Years' Eve. XX

Where I'm at.

I feel like I'm all over the place at the moment. Little bits scattered here and there.

I'm so tired after two big nights in a row. One spent drinking fancy cocktails and eating gorgeous food with my boy and the other driving down dark, windy roads somewhere out the back of anywhere to pick up Jazzy who had changed her mind about a sleepover at midnight after the lights had been turned off.

She's so sad today at the thought of her besties waking up together and having adventures today without her.

Indi is cutting out and colouring in paper dollies for her birthday party invitations. After weeks of agonising over the guest list, she's decided on the six old faves and I must say I'm pleased too.

Bren and the boys have revolutionised the egg department and now all of a sudden they have so much more time. Time for all the projects we always dreamed of but never believed there would actually be time for. First off they've been leveling the ground for a kitchen garden. Yay! I am beside myself excited to have vegies and herbs right outside the front door rather than down in the paddocks.

And Miss Pepper said she's tired of trying on clothes for me these days. She wants me to keep being her bunny rabbit and to eat the carrot she's trying to feed me.

I've cut out a pile of these smocks and am slowly sewing them together. Pepper lives in the four I made for her last year. They are the most practical things in her wardrobe. The one that is too small for her is hanging on a hook as decoration.

This one is made from vintage sheets and lace, a tree I screen printed last year and some crocheted ric rac around the hem to finish it off.

The Tree Dress is now in my shop.

I'm off now to cuddle Jazzy, check the details with Indi, discuss sleepers versus bricks for the garden beds with Bren and eat Pepper's carrots. And in between all that I'll be washing school uniforms, making lunch and knitting some more leaves (top pic), a quick project is a good project today.

I wonder if its the wind.

Happy Sunday. X

Farmer Bren says...

This morning my farm boy took a look at me making the girl's school lunches and said he'd quite like to blog bomb my blog with photos of me in my grey, holey trackies, a stripey hoody, ugg boots and my hair all piled on top of my head. Apparently I did not look very glamorous.

Its almost been a whole year since he came up with the words blogutation and blie and it probably was time for a new one.

He says that where yarn bombing is using knitting and crochet pieces to decorate and make a statement in public spaces, blog bombing takes real, unedited, photos or video of a blogger perhaps not looking or acting their best and uploads them without permission onto their blog for the whole blogworld to see.

This morning my farmer boy told me the list of the things I had to do today was nothing, barely even a list compared to his, even though mine included make a dress for Indi to wear to a wedding on Sunday, pack everyone up for farmer's market in Melbourne tomorrow, throw together a small, family party for Pepper for Sunday, wash, cook, shop, clean, make a birthday present for Pepper for Sunday...

Funny how when I explained to him how long each thing on my list was going to take he offered to finish work early so he could help out and pick the girls up from school. Love him.

And finally, Farmer Bren said that there is no way he could decide on the two grateful giveaway winners so he asked me to ask Mr Random generator thingy who he thought should win. Lucky he didn't ask me, I thought they were all wonderful and worthy of fabric.

Soooooooooo without further ado, according to the random generator the winners are:

Levin; I'm grateful for people like you who make me feel 'normal'. People who make me realise that it's okay to get frustrated with your family, to want to have time away from them, to need to be alone. That these feelings don't make me a bad mother - just human. And I am also extremely grateful for my family - both the one I have created and the one that created me - I get so much love and support and encouragement and it's absolutely priceless :)

and

Megan K: Oh how I would love to raid your fabric stash Kate! Now that would be something I'd be grateful for :)
Right now I'm feeling grateful for the past three days of absolutely stunning sunshine, just in time for my big girl's birthday, after weeks of heavy rain.

Please contact me with your details lovely ladies and I'll pop your fabric in the post on Monday.

The apron dress Jazzy is wearing in the pics is in my shop. And this photo shoot showed me how impossible taking photos of her for my blog is going to be now that she has her very own camera.

Have a wonderful and happy weekend out there.

The Stripey Flower dress.

I had a feeling Miss Pepper was playing with a bigger imaginary animal than usual yesterday when I watched her duck her head to fit through the front door as we were leaving. When we got to the car she confirmed my suspicion when she asked me to put carrots on my shopping list because her horse was hungry.

When we got into town she insisted we take turns riding her horse. First she galloped up the aisles of the organic shop and then I had to. Yes, we live in a small town. Yes, people were probably looking and wondering but no, she didn't make me neigh and for that I was grateful.

The rest of the shopping trip was pretty uneventful. She rode, or walked, or fed her horse and I sometimes rode but mostly encouraged her to leave him outside the shops.

Then while we were walking back to our car, all of a sudden she burst out crying. Really crying. I think there may have even been a few tears.

I couldn't work out what had happened as she was happy and chatty one minute and sobbing the next.

Until she told me her naughty horse had bitten her on the hand. Naughty horsey!!

I consoled her and then we agreed that from now on the naughty horse should probably wait for us in the car.

Imagine Dave the fruit shop guy's face when he was informed in the most serious voice that Miss Pepper's naughty horse had bitten her and that he was waiting in the car for an apple to eat.

She keeps me on my toes that one.

The Stripey Flower dress is made from vintage sheet bits, op shopped denim and bias binding and a gifted zipper. Everything but the thread is stitched around the bottom of the dress. If you want a closer look, its in my shop.

Have a fab day y'all. XX

PS. today's email count is 2,856. That's 136 less than yesterday.

Saltanas & nuts.

Yesterday Miss Jazzy fell off the monkey bars at school and fractured a bone in her elbow. We spent the whole afternoon and night in Ballarat emergency waiting to hear if she'd need surgery. She wasn't allowed to eat or drink just in case. It was awful, awful, awful. She was sore and anxious and hungry and begging for sultanas and nuts. Just a few. Please. How will they know? Just a couple and I promise I wont ask for any more.

We drove home at midnight without surgery, with a back slab cast, exhausted and emotional.

Today we are taking it easy. She is watching a movie and eating a bowl full of sultanas and nuts and I am slowly working out how to load items into my new online shop. Slowly.

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have my very own online shop.

The wonderful and talented and clever Cath set it up.

Thanks Cath!!

You can visit it if you like, its http://everythingbutthethread.bigcartel.com/.

Let me know what you think.

I am so new to this and ANY suggestions/feedback will be most welcome.

And finally, a huge thanks for all the gorgeous comments and emails you guys have been leaving. I read many of them on my phone at the hospital last night and they really lightened my mood and made me smile. I promise to get my blogtober bum into gear and come and visit you really soon.

I hope your Tuesday is a happy and drama free one.

XX

Sunday Sunday.

Its Sunday morning.

Bren is picking vegies for the farm shop, Indi is at Lola's house and Jazzy and Pepper are making an extravagant sand tea party outside.

I am dyeing some yarn.

It looks more grey than the charcoal I had hoped for, but I like it.

It reminds me a bit of Bren's dreadlocks when we first met.

He had 81 of them. He still has them in a box under the house.

I wonder if the girls would like to see them.

Yesterday we were hanging out here, when a woman admired Pepper's tree dress.

When I told her I had made it she asked if I could make some stock for her to sell in her shop.

I was pretty excited!

The girls were far too busy choosing a lolly to care.

Today I'm crocheting butterflies and motifs trying to work out the best way to winterfy my dresses. I want to keep sewing with the vintage linens and maybe mix in some denim or cord, long sleeves and lots of crochet embellishments.

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. XX