Butterflies and beanies.

Two nights ago I crocheted this beanie using Amanda's latest pattern. She is such a clever cookie that Amanda is. I can quite confidently say that out of all the girlie beanie's I have crocheted, this little number is my favourite. Its quick and easy too.

After my last project took two months to complete, it is wonderful to start and finish something in one night.

Details here.

Yesterday we had a meeting with a woman who we might do some work with. She showed us her figures and gave us loads of examples of what she does and how she does it, but what really won me over was how lovely and accommodating she was of my three year old who didn't really want to be there. She gave her pens and paper, she included her in the conversation and sent her/us home with some gorgeous olives, cheeses, dips and other fancy produce made in the area.

Last night I started another one of Amanda's beanies in the blue cotton with the purple waiting patiently to be next. Ooh, I wonder how it would look with a crocheted flower on the side.

And this morning we are painting each others' faces (her's is above, you are not going to see mine!), my butterfly is eating her very gourmet morning tea and I am about to bring all the soggy washing in from the line (summer? what summer?) and chuck it on a spin cycle.

What are you up to?

Have a wonderful day.

See ya!

Tea Leaves.

After just over two months I am thrilled to report that I have cast off, darned in the ends and sewn on the buttons of my Tea Leaves cardi.

I love, love, love this pattern, I love this colour and I love the buttons I bought at a garage sale years ago and saved for something special.

I am so tempted to cast on another one straight away in grey.

Huge and enormous thanks must go to Ms Nandi for the extra ball of Forest. You are the best!!

All cardi details here.

I'm a bit flat today after the dramas of the weekend. I keep wandering around the house in circles starting things and then moving onto something else. Its terribly cold and windy which doesn't help.

So that's it for me for now.

I hope we all have a great week.

I hope something really exciting and fun happens too.

See ya!

Grateful!

Today I am grateful for all of the above!

I'm grateful for my Farmer Boy, for my three gorgeous girls, for where we live and how we live, for what we do, for after dinner walks through the bush, for wild flowers, for warm evenings, for song, for love.

It doesn't get much better than this.

Its funny how sometimes all there is are the weeds and the falling over and the fighting, but then on other days everything clicks into place and it all just works. I'm not going to question why, I'm just so pleased that it sometimes it does.

What are you grateful for today?

More here.

Have a wonderful weekend.

And don't forget to check out the free postage in my shop.

See ya!

Printed T's 4 sale!

Hello!

How's it going?

I had such a great morning this morning. I had breakfast with an old friend of mine who I haven't caught up with in ages. I was her brides maid and my kids were her flower girls when she got married, I was with her when she birthed her baby. But still for some reason or other its been a long time between lattes (or champas).

There was so much to catch up on. So much has changed. But still I was relieved that nothing has changed between us. We chatted for ages and then I came home all inspired to do some screen printing and look what I found when I went to get my supplies...a whole pile of t's I printed last year.

I printed the trees here, the owls here, the caravans here and the seals here.

So, here's the thing: I want to move them quickly and you need hand made prezzies for the end of the year. So I have popped them in my shop at $16 each with free postage to anywhere in Australia.

That's right!

There are lots of designs and colours and free postage in Australia!!

I'll be adding more over the weekend too, I've just run out of time to photograph them.

I hope you have a great weekend!

I hope you get to catch up with an old friend soon too. Its such fun!

And for all those who emailed asking where to buy Solvy, I'm so sorry but mine was gifted to me and I have no idea where to find more. Maybe try your local craft shop.

See ya!

Their scrappy space! (How to Solvy)

A few days ago I was trying to get some sewing done and my girls were playing on the floor behind me, rummaging around in my rubbish bin and my scraps drawer. They wanted me to sew this and pin that and I wanted them to be a bit more self sufficient.

Then I had a brain wave!

Last year at a craft night at Jodie's house, she gave me a packet of this stuff called Solvy. I vaguely remember her talking about it being some sort of water soluble stabiliser, but couldn't remember the exact details. After a bit of googling around they (we) got to work.

We laid out a strip of Solvy on the carpet and then they rummaged around and covered it with scraps of all shapes and sizes. They tried to make sure that each bit was touching another bit, and that there weren't many gaps.

Then they laid another bit of Solvy on top and made a sandwich.

At this stage we pinned and pinned and pinned the layers together.

And then I lowered the feed dogs on Nina Bernina and sewed and stitched and doodled and drew all over every bit of the length. They stood behind me telling me what to draw...a spiral...a flower...my name...

Then they took the stitched length to the sink where they washed it. At this stage the Solvy became jelly like and then dissolved like magic. They helped it along a bit in the beginning with a paint brush but soon realised they didn't have to be so gentle. Then they squished and wrung the water onto every bit.

And then we hung it on the line to dry.

And admired their art work.

This gorgeous scarf was made entirely from scraps!

It has been worn non stop since it was dry.

We have two more in various stages of completion and a couple of orders from teachers.

This is such a great kiddy craft activity. I highly recommend it.

What's going on in your space today?

I hope your day is a happy, scrappy one!

The Fancy Flower Dress.

Good morning!

What's going on in your world today?

Its been pretty warm for the past few days so the boys have been starting work at 8am. We've been taking them morning tea after the school drop off and they are dusty and hot after slashing and ploughing and mowing for a few hours.

There's only a few weeks left of school for the year but my girls have been spending many days at home. They are tired and need some time out and me and Pepper are glad for the company. It also means I can get a bit of sewing done and I have a bigger sized model on hand. Its win win really.

This is The Fancy Flower Dress.

I think Cath sent me that embroidered bit of flower a while back and its been sitting above my sewing machine begging to be sewn onto something. Not just anything mind you. It had to stand out and be made a fuss of. Featured. Framed. Now it is.

Its in my shop.

I'm off to make cupcakes with the girlies.

I hope your day is ace!

My shop.

Hello!

I've had quite a few emails recently asking me about my shop so I thought instead of answering them all individually, I would post what I thought here and then if you have anything to add about your experience you could do so too.

I love to sew! I love making little dresses and tops and skirts and although I have three gorgeous girls to dress, they can only fit so many clothes in their wardrobes. I guess this is what made me think that I needed an outlet for the extras.

After A LOT of thought and agonising and discussion with anyone who would listen to me, I came to the conclusion that my sewing is my 'me time' and that I didn't want to turn it into a business and take the fun out of it.

I had been approached by a few shops but didn't like the idea that the shopkeeper would add at least 100% markup making my clothes quite expensive.

I also thought about markets, but we do so many farmers' markets every month and I didn't want to shlep my family around to more.

So I decided on an online shop.

To be honest I've never bought anything online so I have no experience using any of the different online shops out there. My decision to go with Big Cartel was mainly based on the satisfaction of a few of my friends who use it. I also thought that the people who would buy things from my shop would most likely come from my blog and I liked the fact that it felt less like a shop in an enormous shopping centre and more like a corner store.

And so far I'm happy!

I've been open for just over a month, I've sold some stuff, its easy to add more when I feel like it and it just sits there the rest of the time. There's no pressure to update and its cheap and I don't have to wash anyone's faces or be polite.

I guess I would like it if the item could be marked as 'sold' when it has been sold rather than waiting for me to go in and change it, and I am still really unsure of my prices and often wonder why the things I thought would run out the door don't always.

I have also found working out postage costs a bit mind bending so I've just popped two or three dollars ontop of the price of the item to cover the shipping. So in effect, postage is included in the cost that you see.

I have noticed that when I do shop posts on my blog that things sell better, but I definitely don't want that to be the focus of my blog.

But if you know a little girl who would look gorgeous in The Blue Lady Dress, then you know where you can buy it. I don't know why but I think its the best dress I have ever made. I love the white linen of the table cloth and the embroidered girls and the mismatched sleeves.

So how about you?

Have you visited my shop? Do you like my shop? What do you think of my prices? Do you have your own shop? Do you like it? Do you sell lots? What else?

Oh and I've hijacked Susie's Flower Press blog today too.

You should check it out.

I've held her down and made her answer her own Show and Tell questions.

Looks like she did a great job of it too.

Have a happy Tuesday. XX