cottage industry... have i mentioned my visit?

Probably have forgotten to mention that I visited Cottage Industry when I was last in sunny Melbs. Cottage Industry is the baby of the lovely Pene, and is where I spotted my first ever in real life doily tree....



[sigh] Lovely!

I had almost completely forgotten about this visit until just the other day when on holidays with all of my boys, and flicking through a pile of my sister's old inside out magazines, and found a photo of the lovely Pene herself!

The article was just okay - more of a pictorial than the sort of article I was interested to read about this gorgeous woman... her blog is so warm. But that said the photos were lovely and the shop itself on Gertrude St is just beautiful... if you are anywhere near Melbourne it is well worth the pop in to Cottage Industry. (And I wish you luck in any efforts to leave the store without one of the vintage teatowel ottomans...)
xx

to teatowel, with love xo

new boardies!, originally uploaded by summer pickles.

Come with me. Transport yourself back to a time when all things "Oz" were great. When the height of fashion was a Jenny Kee jumper, a fimo koala and cockatoo necklace, a white Ken Done tracksuit. Once there, you will find one of these - a gorgeous teatowel, celebrating all things Gold Coast - gaudy parrots, beaches lined with highrises, tiny bikinis...

Now, come on back to the present day and here I am, stumbling across that same teatowel at a local garage sale. Buying it for just fifty cents. And madly hurrying home to start sewing these fantastic boardshorts (modelled by our very own, very gorgeous gherkin).

These were easy! And I reckon they're pretty fab.

Thankyou to tinyhappy for convincing me pants would be easy (i have had this post favourited for a looong time, waiting for babies and courage), Kath for this post with the how tos and for Miss Cinti for the inspiration provided by her lovely tea towel dresses.

Hooray for blogland, the eighties, the gold coast and all things vintage! (And of course for very gorgeous baby models!) Now, to the opshops!

xo

thankyou blogland

Okay, so was out there catching up with some favourite bloggers this evening, and loving every second.

Seemed to be a bit of a theme tonight, finding out little gems about my favourite people and asking myself some questions along the way. I do love how blogland can change how I think, feel, interact with blogland and the "real world".

Thanks to the very lovely drewzel of blogportion i discovered 43things... and did the personality test. And discovered (not very surprisingly really) that I am a "spiritual romantic builder". I always love personality tests... love answering questions, thinking about what my answers might be...sometimes discovering things along the way. But here is where 43 things loses it for me... the next thing you have to do is to make a list (oh dear). While the list making works very well for some, for me, to make a list of my dreams and aspirations and to tick them off one by one... doesn't sound so romantic? But I am still interested enough to see if I can find the book (in a library) and voyeuristic enough to read about other people's goals, dreams, "things".

I have also spent this evening catching up with other favourite people who love to answer questions, via the fab interviews by the very lovely fairlie. Bundles of giggles, and so interesting to hear more about some people who I feel I know at least a little through the wonderful place that is blogland (and now feel I know that little bit better).

And this evening I have been getting teary reading some of your posts... some of you write so beautifully, and straight from the heart.

I am not a great writer, but still enjoy my little blogging life, and thank those of you who are out there for being fun, entertaining and open (and occasionally visiting here). Thankyou gorgeous people. It is sometimes a long time between visits, but I still love popping in. And hopefully in 2009 we will get to know each other even better.

Hope to catch up again soon xo

such a well behaved little pug! ... and a work in progress...

such a well behaved little pug!
Originally uploaded by summer pickles

Sometimes our litle dog just surprises us... As he did tonight, when he sat (yes, he is sitting in this photo) on the end cushion of the lounge and just watched me arrange all of these fabric pieces, trying to decide on a layout for bub's quilt. No picking up a piece and running down the hallway, no walking all over them, no licking them to try to get any loose threads... What a good little dog!

I am trying to make a quilt for floor time for our very-soon-to-arrive baby, without any of the usual quilting tools. It will be a four block, nine patch quilt (after some searching on on the good ol' internerd I think this is what quilters would call it?). After some handy hints from Lara though, I am seriously considering buying myself a cutting mat, rotary cutter and transparent ruler. If you haven't seen Lara's quilt yet, you might like to check it out here.

Perhaps with the right tools my quilts might be a bit more successful - better than when I rely on a dodgy paper template and a pair of scissors?

Will post an update when I get closer to completion...

Have fun everyone!
xo

what i did yesterday... stitches and craft show

Image from http://www.livingcreatively.com.au/Whats-Next.html

I happily spent all of yesterday at the Stitches and Craft Show. And what a great way to spend a day! I don't have too much time to post (am taking afternoon tea from uni study... eurgh... power in healthcare organisations), so will just present the highlights...

1. Meeting the very beautiful Fi from dear fii , who is just as lovely in real life as she is in blogland. Fi was showing and telling some of her button accessories, which include some of the most gorgeous bracelets and brooches. (Check out my very favourite brooch at this post)
2. Meeting a bundle of other gorgeous crafters - totally unplanned and delightful, including nicole, stephanie, justine, kristen, angela, bianca and many others whose names I have completely forgotten (sorry everyone else!)
3. Seeing the most gorgeous garden made by crafters on the living creatively level of the show.
4. Finding some excellent fabric (when I get my camera back from hubby I will post pics) - gorgeous bright, patterned flannel which might just make the perfect wraps for our little wintertime family addition.
5. Learning about bloglines which I have now set up
6. Catching up with the lovely and very generous diana chalk again (remember, I went to one of her workshops last year?), who kindly answered some of my questions about cloth doll fingers and upside-down dolls.
7. Shopping (and staying under-budget!) - a Bethan Short cloth doll pattern (bethan still doesn't seem to have a website), an Anne Clemens cloth doll pattern, four handbag handles (I will learn to make bags this year... maybe from nicole), an embroidery hoop and a dozen papermache eggs for decorating this easter... am thinking I might use the idea by dear fii to try to cover the eggs with fabric... will let you know how it works out!

Oh, and I have successfully toilet trained the dog in his new routine, and also been studying like crazy! Whew! Now I just have to eat something, do some washing, clean the kitchen and do the grocery shopping.

Happy Sunday everyone x