To market, to market!

Been spending the nights this week tidying up loose ends before the Goodwood Christmas Market tomorrow! I'm very excited - it's been two years since I did a market. I kinda miss it, but I also appreciate having full time work... not sure I could manage both!

So, my box is packed, I've stamped paper bags and I think I have everything we need piled by the front door! I'm really looking forward to spending the day with my lovely friends Vanessa and Linda - lots of gossiping!!!
Hope the weatherman was wrong...

And I finally finished this little guy - he's been my fall-back craft for months now...

Too early???!

I have to admit, I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!! So how could I miss the opportunity to watch the Pageant and put up our tree?! At least I waited until the manchild was home from his sleepover...
And another thing - it IS November ( he reminded me of the year we put it up in October.......)

Turns out I'm a lazy blogger...

... but I do have excuses! (I'm very good at excuses!!!) I have been focussed on getting all the loose ends wrapped up in preparation for the Goodwood Market on November 28th - it's a bit away, I know, but I haven't done a market in 12 months and I want to be VERY organised! I have made cards to put all the brooches on and thought about pricing ( the bit I dislike the most) and now have about 50ish finished, ready to sell brooches!

I have also been working very hard at my real job - yr 12 assessment time up until this Friday then yr 11 begins. I hate this time of year! On the up side - I have been inspired by one of my students who has been sewing pjs... came home full of ideas last night and whipped up a pair of shorts from a pillow case I found in the back of this mess (next holiday's project!!) -



The cotton shorts have that lovely worn feel to them that old linen gets. It reminds me of sleeping at grandma's! Now I'm trying to work out a design for a top from the other pillow case.



I have also been busy collecting bits and pieces for my latest addiction - gluing together pieces of crockery to create new treasures! I was a bit surprised when I bought Burda yesterday and found they have an article about the same thing! I like mine more though...

I upset one little old opshop lady last week. She commented that a lovely plate I bought was a Meakin, and I explained that I was going to glue things to it... she was stunned! But I did find other Meakin pieces which had been my ma's to use with it - at least I kept to a theme!!!





I have another project about to get underway - my 'Ramona was a waitress dress', a little tribute to Paul *sigh* Dempsey. No idea what I will sew it out of - love some suggestions, though! I will definitely make the blue version with topstitching. Funny how my taste in old patterns is changing as I get older - no way would I have looked twice at this pattern even last year!!

Little home improvements (and something to show for the holidays!)

This week I hung my latest aquisitions - two beautiful digital illustrations from Art&Ghosts...
This quote kind of sets the tone for her work -
"Up until the age of seven, Art&Ghosts rather fancied that she was actually a small sycamore tree instead of real person."
Quirky, hey?!! Take a look at her portfolio - very beautiful images!

Anyway, the bottom image got me thinking - bunting. There's sure not enough of it in the right places! Like my bedroom, for starters. And, given the number of unattached bits kicking around the sewing room, most other rooms in my house!
I can recommend it as a quick way to get rid of fabric - in no time at all I had worked my way through a great big pile of pieces I'd been hanging onto for too long.



I also managed to get out this week to spend my October IKEA allowance!! No, really!!)
Instead of what I went for, I came home with this! Now the budgie lives on top of a wine rack which used to be here, instead of a rickety piece of shelving I built one night 10 years ago.
Everybody's happy!!
(Oh, and the tin on the bottom shelf has nut loaf in it - it was a busy day!!)


And one last thing - I just wanted to show off this painting that L did during the arts and crafts afternoon we had at Victor! He has his own unique sense of humour!!

Lazy Days...

I love the weekend... but who doesn't? Gooey eggs for brekky then off to see lovely things at the Bowerbird Bazaar. How wonderful to see so much talent in one space!!! Can't wait for the next one.

Holiday Treasures

We spent a wind-swept four days at Victor Harbour to start off the school holidays in proper holiday mode for a change... Travelled down in two cars so the man of the house could get back to work on Monday and I could stay on a bit longer with the little guy.


We went whale-watching every day, sometimes twice a day, and were extremely excited to see whales on three occasions!!! As an adult, I feel a bit saddened that there are so few things to be truly excited about anymore - this kinda made up for that!! I was jumping around like a silly thing, while 12yr old watched me warily, checking that noboby else had noticed my behaviour...
Come on though - we were 50 metres from a WHALE!!! How often does that happen?!?


Another highlight was investigating the little old main street of Port Elliot. We found junk shops, book shops, cake shops and a shop that was all three in one! Paradise!!

I bought this...

and these (the bundle for $3 - bargain!!)...


and several treasures from Little Bird at Elliot, which comes highly recommended!

When we got back to our house, instead of doing the studying I'd planned, I made more of these...

I guess you could say it was a pretty productive few days - for a holiday!

Wish you could smell these....

I've been trying to buy stocks for 3 weeks now...
I'm always the customer AFTER they sell the last bunch.

The manchild got in the car not knowing I'd been flower-shopping and asked what the gingerbread smell was!!! I never thought of it, but they really do smell like gingerbread!

P is away in Las Vegas for 2 weeks, so I've been keeping myself
entertained in the evenings... it's starting to wear thin! I resorted to tidying cupboards last night.
(See - anything can be a distraction from writing essays.
Particularly now we have a six week extension!!!)

Buried in the depths, I found a stack of my grandma's old teacups. Last Boxing Day she had all the girls in the family over to choose from a selection of her treasures, so she could see what we loved while she is still around!



Apart from these pretties, my other favourite possession now is a fabulous 1950s swan vase - something I have adored since childhood.



Even on the interwebs, I have not seen another one as beautiful. And I also got some turkey salt and pepper shakers... apparently there's kitsch and then there's UGLY! (sorry for the crappy photo)



And while we're talking bird collections, here's my latest treasure. It's my treat for staying behind and NOT having a drinking, gambling holiday!