Friday

It's a rainy old day here in Daylesford and after a busy, crazy kind of week I'm looking forward to the weekend. Mark & I are off to the wedding of a good friend of ours in Shepparton where Mark will be Best Man. Although there is alot of organising and some distruption for our kids I'm really looking forward to being there to share in the wedding of James & Della, and also catching up with friends who we don't see much of.

Meanwhile I've been having fun matching up several new cardi's,

with some pretty, summery/spring vintage florals.

Love this purple one!

And finishing off bunnies, in between trying to sort out the chaos in the house, remember who has what music lesson when, planning for market, making dates for garlic watering and harvest, checking on the duckies, trying to remember to breathe etc.

As a soothing distraction I'm loving the colours that surround me (does that sentence make sense?) A new blanket from an oppie in Ballarat,

Some fantastic spotty fabric from..yep Spotlight! 

 This one is destined to become a sailor girl bunny!

                                         

And I'm thinking a cute Christmas bunny or two, too!

This week our kids have been learning all about Mary Mackillop at school. I've been learning about her too and all the amazing things she did in her life.

She really was a remarkable woman who had such a drive to help those in need.  The children performed a very moving piece at assembly dedicated to Mary Mackillop, as part of their learning. I love that they are taught to value this sense of giving to others, the importance of helping & caring for the community. Speaking of school, I'm also thinking today of my Charlotte who has her last classes today.

I'm a little teary thinking that this part of her journey is nearing an end. I'm such an emotional, sentimental girl sometimes! Love you Char x

Anyway, time to go and get the gang from school & kinder and get on with enjoying the rest of Friday! What are you up to on the weekend? Hope it's a fun one, see you soon xo

ps: hi from Shorty

My Creative Space

My space is a little ears up & crazy lately but I'm finding inspiration from all over...dreams, my kids, blogland, real life, our ducks, the clouds and the landscapes of the country where we live. Taking photo's is a great release for me and I get alot of happiness & satisfaction from capturing what is ordinary or unusual, shapes & shadows, faces & places, patterns & moods.

Things that move me or show me something in a different light. I'm also really hooked on sky, maybe I should have been a bird.

But it's good to just sit and make something too. Yesterday I suddenly felt the need to make a bunny for our new nephew, Finn.

A bunny without button eyes, sort of flat and soft, not too firm. I chose some beautiful grey alpaca blanket & teamed it with green & white spots.

I've been putting Green bunny together while staying at this girls house...

She has jetted off to Singapore for the wedding of a friend. Sunday & Lucy & I are staying over night and having some Girl Time, city style.

School holidays can be pretty consuming but I have managed to squeeze in a bit of sewing whilst carrying lots of creative thoughts in my head. I'm still loving the idea of making some scrap quilts and have been gathering bits & pieces from my collection of vintage fabrics. I've also added to the collection lately with some great finds from some super duper ace op shops. I'm loving country op shops and am thinking of putting together a book/guide to the op shops of country Victoria. Do you think I could handle the research? I reckon I could...

Ok, so I've also been wearing my red shirt and feeling pretty....electric! Red is not the colour to wear when you are wanting to hide from the world. It does do wonders for your spirits though! I encourage you all to get that dirty white item out of the wardrobe and into the dye pot. Pronto!

Meanwhile this little lady has been finished and has been sent off to her new home. She has a little necklace with her initial on it and an extra pair of pink knitted shorts. I hope she arrives safely and gets lots of cuddles.

So that's it from me this week...what are you up to? I'm off to check out lots of other creative spaces now...I really look forward to Thursdays, I love the variety & originality and of course the camaraderie of MCS, it always make me smile. Hope you have a happy day, see you soon xo

My Creative Space

At the last Maker's Market a lovely woman asked me to make two Bunnies in Beds for her twin daughters. The bunnies are to be special birthday presents for the girls are turning three in early February.

Fast forward to the end of January and guess who is a bit absent minded? Yep, but I'm on the job & am whipping up those bunnies as we speak.


Cutting them out and choosing fabric for their ears & skirts.

Oh & juggling four end- of- school- holiday- bored & tetchy kids. Lets just say that the conditions are not ideal for clearing thinking, organised making!
Good thing I've got the nights to sew too.

Tomorrow we'll get the Jigsaw out and make the beds. And paint them. And make up the bedding - little patchwork bedspreads I think!

So, it's going to be a busy few days but I"m so excited to be making twin bunnies! Yippee! Hope you are having a creative day, for more spaces pop over here xo

My Creative Space

Yes..more buttons! A return trip to my favourite opshop unearthed a few more special buttons and the original button tin. Yay!

Isn't it a busy time of year?? I haved been having that oh my god feeling when I think about all that I want to achieve over the next few weeks. I have three things due for my class, our garlic needs harvesting as of next week and then there's the makers market. (Oh, and a family to look after!) I must remember to breathe, calm down, breathe.

Today I am in market mode and it's time to make some more bunnies.

This means a trip to the Creswick Woollen Mills to choose some more blanket offcuts. They always have something new and it's fun to try and match the patterns with vintage fabrics. The fawn coloured one is a favourite, it seems to work well with the softer colours of old pillowcase materials.

Laid out like this the bunny shapes, without ears, remind me of paper chain dolls.

One bunny has ears, and a pretty blue skirt.

I think the dark tweed will be a boy bunny. Knitted green overalls maybe?

This little patchwork piece is also bunny related. It is for the Daylesford Maker's Market...I wonder what it will be?

Are you having a creative day?

Don't have to many oh my god moments, ok?! For more spaces pop over here xo

Garage Sale madness...

Saturday morning at our house was relatively quiet. Mark took Bill & Lucy to the footy on Friday night and stayed in Melbourne so I was home with only two. A change of dynamics and numbers sure makes a difference! This seemed the perfect opportunity to cruise some garage sales, the girls grabbed their pocket money & purses and we were off!

It was truly a magnificent morning. A million happy endorphins raced through me as I found treasure after treasure. The girls were a tad more contained but nevertheless happy with their finds. This blue fan, which looks a bit dangerous I admit, was such a lovely blue that it had to come home with me, a tin of pencils, all sharpened, some sweet fabric & a bunch of old teaspoons. (I think I have Second Handitis. Careful, it's contagious.)

It was fabric galore which is just as well as I am in full swing with sewing at the moment.

A crazy owl tea cosy!

This dear boy & his doggie has seen better days but is so sweet.

As we pulled up at the last garage sale it didn't look promising. A couple of big cardboard boxes in the driveway...hmmm. But we got out anyway and found some lovely surprises. The boxes were full of old sheets and linens, fabrics and pillowcases. I dug down to the bottom and found this amazing technicolour crocheted blanket!!

After it was washed and hung on the line the chooks looked out in amazement! What colour, what movement!! Squawk!!!!!!

This little item caught my eye too. The gentleman who sold it to me had a laugh when I wondered out loud what Mark would think if I was in the gay mood?

"Well Love,we're in the right town for that!!" Ha!

There were other lovely items such as the pretty cross stitched house that Sunday chose for her room, the little box of badges & the Holly Hobbie sheets, wow! After such fun in the morning it was off to Ballarat for ballet and out to lunch with friends. In the late afternoon Mark & the kids returned and Sunday & I headed down to Melbourne for the night. Charlotte & I went out for some gnocchi & pizza and then on to look at books. Besides being semi stalked in the bookshop it was fun. (Being a serial chatterer can get you into trouble!) Then it was back to Fitzroy where I fell into bed, exhausted after all that driving, treasure hunting, touring Victoria etc. What a great day.

In the morning I got to see Charlotte's latest art work for school and then....she made me a ring!

Staying at Mum's is always relaxing and I like having a look around her bits and pieces. I found this felt picture I made for her when I was about 9. I remember it took ages and I couldn't fnish my hair or foot!

Too quickly it was time to go. A stop at Bourkies Bakehouse in Woodend was a high priority,. They have delicious old style cakes and pastries which are out of this world. I'm a big fan of the apple shortcakes and vanilla slices but everything is good. Home again and back into the swing of busy family life. Baths, nit treatments, washing to be sorted, cuddles, dinner on, dogs fed, chooks put to bed, stories, another weekend comes to an end. Hope yours was good too xo

ps. thanks to everyone for your kind comments on my last post. I am feeling alot better, thankyou! xo

Since last we met...

...I have been up to all manner of things. Such as having so much fun in Ballarat today with the lovely Charlotte! We took the car in to be repaired and then went on the hunt for adventures. This quest took us into a very large store (that shall remain nameless) where we came across some very dangerous and tempting fabric. We managed to capture some of this naughty fabric and it is being turned into delightful cushions by the aforementioned Charlotte. Look! How sweet!!

I also snaffled some for myself which will be appearing soon in some new bunnies. I love the vintage patterns.

We also found our way into another store of the large kind where we sat and sat and sat until we found a couch that was just right. Yes, after several months of looking and talking and measuring we finally decided on our new couch! It's coming home to mumma in about 4 weeks, just long enough to get the fireplace situation sorted out in le lounge. (That's another story that involves a bloke called Bushy, a chimney & and a whole lot of bricks....)

Recently I was lucky enough to come across this gorgeous crocheted flower bracelet/wrist decoration. Isn't it special? So is the person who made it, the very talented Kate. I bought this brooch too as a present - but I think it's going to be hard to part with..

So, what else? Oh, yes!! Yesterday I opened my Etsy Dandelion shop! How exciting. It is a modest little shop but it's early days and I can't wait to start making some new bunnies to fill the shelves. I will be adding to it over the next few days and I'll add a link to my next post. Thanks Charlotte for helping me to set it up, you are a star.

Talking of excitement... Billy's Circus class had their amazing Circus Show last night!! yay!! I was so sad to miss it as I had to stay home with a tired Rosie but I did get to see this fabulous mo! Go Bill! I'm not usually a fan of moustaches but this one gets my vote. See you soon x ps here are some more to tickle your fancy...(that's fancy by the way...)