thursday

Today I began sewing at around three o'clock.

Ive finally finished your custom order Jennie! Thanks for being so very patient while I muddled about.

Ill be uploading this to Etsy or MadeIt sometime tonight. Let me know your preference?

I have little booties too, now handstitched and ready for market day. They are made using all of my old scraps of fabric and offcuts of embroideries.

This is the inside lining so they are more like two pairs in one really.

Its now back to the machine for me..

wednesday dreams

Its quiet here and a bit gloomy outside.

After an early morning airport send off the Mr's parents are on their way home to NZ and we all just needed to sleep in. I finally got up at 12. I was dreaming I was choking. I hate that. Especially when I got caught making choking sounds. 

The Mr's dreams are way weirder.

Yesterday he dreamt I was a squid. He found me in the ocean (of course) and said he couldnt cook me cos he thought I was too cute so he kept me. We swam around together for a while, he remembered being fascinated watching how deep I could swim and all the time I was growing bigger, then I became me. We had a good laugh over this with Mum and Dad last night, he elaborated at all the right places and had us in stitches, there was mention of 'bigger fish in the sea' and something about a groper, but were all left wondering what it meant.

 I, on reflection, think this...

The Mr, apart from being a keen fisherman feels as if he has found 'me'.

I mean squids are attractive right? Right?

 Or was it the fact they were preparing it on Masterchef, (his favourite show).

I think he is reaching a time in his life that has him appreciating his family and me and all that goes with the huge juggling act that is life as we know it.

 Our life has been full to overflowing lately, like the ocean, like our house.

Full of unusual moments like when he stopped me in the hallway, the house full of his family, stealing a moment to tell me that he was proud of me. Like when he wanted me to 'show and tell' my stuff to his parents, which I couldnt do on demand but they saw bits and pieces anyway while they were here. In celebrating Mum and Dad's 50th we have found many other things to celebrate. We are happy to have our son and new wife and daughter living with us even though it means we may have to find a new home.

Somehow it will all work because we will make it work.

In the middle of this chaos I have been preparing for Craft Hatch. Something ive never done before and never thought id be able to achieve let alone in the middle of everything. I cant tell you how much I needed to be by myself this last two weeks, even just to think clearly.

 It has come down to these final three days.

I have realised something. If I can still manage to produce some Little Tree Kids pieces while there is so much going on then I know I can aim high. I have done a rough count last night and so far 24 jackets are on the go in various stages, some finished and some only cut out. I only need 6 more

for there to be 30 to take to market. Too high to aim you think? Well.... I do need to do boots and slippers and some knits too.

The good news is ive started more slippers.

 

This is called the full production stage.

shop update - eskimos

Im updating the shop today even though these eskimos are meant for the market on saturday.

Its my thing. It has the effect of keeping me going if I feel like slowing down my sewing. To have the anticipation of seeing if they get snapped up gives me a slow buzz during the week. Plus there was that time when I sewed all week and then whisked the eskimos off to market only to have no record of what the sold ones looked like.

So here are three that were started a few weeks ago that I didnt get to finish until today.

Im loving the yellowy cream embroidered cotton on the back of this latest pink and blue.

So wintery and rich and buttery.

I think I must be hungry.

Lasagne is being made for dinner at my place by the chef, Navarh. Which is so appreciated cos then I can chill out and sew and have a tipple of ginger wine while im at it. We are checking out some larger rental properties as well this week but thats a story for another day.

Whats on the menu at yours tonight? 

monday

Today I worked on a custom order wrap dress for Chloe.

Im happy things are becoming a bit more streamlined now that I have all the size patterns for the wrap dresses and eskimos. Im still working on the lumberjacket pattern sizings and am yet to

sew the first sample. 

Things have been selling fairly constantly from the shops of late.

At this rate though ill have no stock left for saturday. Eeeek.

Lucky ive been able to sew today.

I got up early (for me) and headed straight to the kitchen table to cut out eskimos

 and ill be going all week. Im gonna say out loud that im hoping for a miracle and will get at least 10 jackets done plus a few knits and juniper boots for the market table.

Heres hoping...

things are getting ridiculous

So I finished this eskimo late last night and was going to upload it first thing this morning but thought id check my emails before logging into etsy cos sometimes its really deadly in there and I get stuck looking at all the pretty pictures especially when im being lazy and dont wish to get up before the Mr has made me a cup of tea.

Can you guess what im going to say next?

Someone wanted just this size in just this colour so yes! you guessed it! it sold before I had a chance to upload it to etsy!

Pretty happy with that. And the lady even wants to come and pick it up on saturday at my next market experience. Ill be at Craft Hatch from 10am held at the City Library on Flinders Lane in case youre wondering what to do with yourself. Come say hi if youre in the neighbourhood...

our creative space

This is a bit of a catch up post.

Eleesa and I managed to have a sewing day together the other week. Funny I cant recall if it was last week or the week before? Im a shocker with dates at the best of times so im not surprising anyone here.

She was working on a custom order for some couch cushions.

I began my day with a bit of jean taking in and then led into some serious eskimo stitching.

I have so many asking for size ones that im quite literally stunned.

Until now I havent even bothered drafting a pattern for this size.

Ill be on the hunt for more bias edgings while im out and about this weekend in anticipation for

spring wrap dresses.

Did you know im still being asked for these and its wintertime?

Odd but nice.

im in peppermint magazine

Lets play rewind shall we? To two or so weeks back?

I feel better now

 otherwise id have to start at the end and im not very good at telling any story after the fact. I prefer to live in the here and now when I write.

Many of you already know im in Peppermint Magazine!

Much thanks

to those who alerted me as for some reason unbeknown to even me I thought I was in next months issue.

Yep thats my eskimo jacket right there on that page!

I found out right before the spam comments got the better of my uploader

and then my Blogger dashboard crashed.

I was going to fix it when I got the chance but I never did, you see.

I have written a few posts that would have been pictureless and that just

isnt going to happen on my pages.

Now for the real goss.

Weve been celebrating again.

This time it was on a mammoth scale.

It has been a couple of weeks of chaos of airport pickups and drop offs with the MR's family, there was some trouble with a volcano, not thinking it would all come to pass.

But before we knew it we were weekending at a holiday house with all five boys and their families,

 mum and dad, plus our lot of four with their babies.

That makes 21. Eeek! This is the first time our family has all been together in one place for five years!

15 people squeezed into our little two bedroomed home on various nights amid transits.

And a wonderful fantastical time was had by all. 

I did plan to blog in the dark with no-one watching but I was having way too much fun really to bother with those evil spammers.

I did feel like screaming into a pillow at times but hey, I can control myself when I really need to.

I feel like screaming now that im left with mess too difficult to control when ones tired, even for me.

Did you know my nickname is Whirlwind Wendy to those close to me?

Well it is.

I dont feel like a whirlwind right now although if a whirlwind came and blasted

all the bedding back into the cupboards, all the dishes back into the shelves, all the people still here back home (sorry mum and dad but didnt the party finish a week ago?) then I would be content to sleep for three whole days.

I would

probably

dream about

my unfinished sewing though.