sold! and a question for those of you with the skills to refashion....

Hi there!

Thanks for popping by!

This past couple of weeks have been rather exciting and eventful on the summerpickles front, with the first pickles stock ever (a bunch of vintage button rings) going into a real live shop - Retrospections in Cammeray in NSW! And the first ever summerpickles stock actually selling in a real live shop! Very exciting indeed! The very lovely Justine from Retrospections is going to take some pics of the stock in the shop, and once she has done that, I will post them here... Thanks Justine for giving summerpickles a go!

On another front, I have been crafting up a storm - something about not having to study during the week (hooray for uni break!) has left my evenings all, well, relaxed! I have been making summer shorts for the gherkin like a woman possessed, crocheting like mad, and getting back in touch with my vintage button collection, which has been sitting unloved for some time.

I have even gotten to the point where I may brave making some clothes for me! Yep, happy to be a sporadic amateur all-rounder-type crafter, but making clothes for me has always completely freaked me out - perhaps it goes back to the days of failing term after term of Home Economics in years 7 & 8 with (I kid you not) a very stern teacher, Mrs Button (her real name, truly!). Now for some advice please, from all of you crafty peoples...

This shirt/dress/something? (apologies for the quality of the photo - a mobile phone photo taken in an opshop change room!) I found last time I was pregnant - I was going to a flashback fashion party, and as a woman recently knocked up it worked - it was stretchy, it was comfy, it was perfect. I found it in the stash the other day, and discovered that I love the fabric. I would like to make it into a skirt.... As a skirt (or, as a shirt pulled down around my hips!) it fits, it looks okay, but my fashion sewing skills stretch only to the idea of just chopping it across the body under the armpits and making a casing for some elastic... Is this horrific, a crime against thrifting, or would it be ok?

Thanks everyone, hope to hear from you all with fine advice soon! In the meantime, have fun everyone! (only three more work days for me til Christmas break - yippee!)

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

haven't fallen off the face of the earth... just busy snuggling...

Thankyou to all for your lovely warm wishes and welcome to our little pickles, Liam.

All is going well... we have been having some tricky times with breastfeeding but we are persevering and all is improving each day, so we take it as a good sign that we will get there. I am surviving on anywhere from 2-5 hours of sleep over a 24 hour period (including the day naps), so things like cleaning, baking, sewing etc have really gone out the window... instead my days look a lot like this photo... add in changing nappies, feeding, calming an unhappy little boy and training a very unsettled dog, and you probably get the picture.

It is by far the hardest thing I have ever had to do but it is wonderful.

Thankyou again for all of your warm thoughts and wishes, and I will keep you posted! Oh, and I also have some gorgeous gifts I want to show and tell, but that will have to wait to another time (just stealing in this post between feeds). I have selected the pattern for my baby swap, just haven't started sewing yet, but once I have I will show and tell here, of course.

Hope you and those you love are all well and happy. I won't make it to the craft fair this year - disappointing as I had planned to catch up with Diana Chalk and Bethan Short again - but those of you who get there, enjoy every second!

Have fun xo

ps. Oh! and hooray for 30 years of IVF... I think they are celebrating this milestone today. Without ART we would never have had our darling little man Liam. Hooray for modern medicine. Have a lovely week everyone! x

pps. Oh, and h&b - yes, you were right, Liam measured 53cm, not 5cm! ;)

oh my... the postie came today with a parcel...

parcel in the post.... thankyou!
Originally uploaded by summer pickles

I was so excited to see the return address on the back belonged to Martine from greenolive. Martine is a fabulous Melbourne crafter and flickr/blog friend who does some of the most beautiful work... if you haven't checked out her work as yet, you should - you can take more of a peek here , here and here.

Martine knitted our soon to arrive Baby Pickles the most divine baby blanket in gorgeous colours which complement the new teal wall in bub's room beautifully!

Thankyou so much Martine, it is just so soft and gorgeous, beautiful and lovely - all things a baby blanket should be! I can't imagine our little one ever wanting to let it go! (I hope it was ok to open it before bub arrives... I couldn't wait!)

Hugs from all of the Pickles clan xo

ps. and thankyou again to lovely Deb at work, who surprised me with this lovely little dog (in the background)!

published!

Exciting news... it is released! Many of you may not remember that I was approached last year by Affa to show and tell summerpickles necklaces in her DIY craft book. Well, it has been released! And very soon there will be a copy of this book travelling its way all the way to Australia so I can ever-so-casually pop it onto the coffee table... so exciting! Some of the creations within the book look just beautiful... I am truly honoured to be a part of this book!

Thanks Affa x

So, now I am feeling well, inspired and crafty again... where are those buttons???

So, whaddaya think?

Hello again!

Okay, I am after your opinion, so please stop lurking and leave a comment! What do you think of the new look of this blog? And what do you think of the new summer pickles banner?

The new logo and banner were designed by my incredibly talented and gorgeous sister in law Kylie, you can visit her website here

I will be totally honest and say I love it! Kylie has managed to capture my love of colour, fun and has also given a nod to my use of buttons. I am totally thrilled! But what do you think? Drop me a line and let me know.

Chat soon x

James Brown

James Brown
Originally uploaded by summer pickles

My new love.... and what an amazing pressie from my gorgeous hubby!!!

This is James Brown the Pug. What a delight!

(for those of you who don't know, I have been in love with pugs for at least ten years.... I am in doggie heaven!) xx

where on earth have I been all this time?

Ignoring you? No.

Well, no, not really! I have been selling our house (or at least trying to!) and then have been traipsing off all over Aus to various family events and get togethers. So, to spare you the details, here is some of what I have been up to, in pictures...

OOOPS! Blogger images not working today.... so here are the links to the photos anyway (but probably easiest to wait for the mosaic!)

1. on the move, 2. the boys, 3. in love, 4. tyges, han and paul, 5. the house, 6. buddies, 8. paul han crop, 9. jye and hannah (fairy godmother)

Also, while I am here, a very big thankyou to all of you for being so supportive of my crafting adventures. I am thrilled to see more positive feedback about my toile bag, so watch this space... they will be appearing in my etsy soon, hopefully in time for Christmas!

Will be back very soon with more updates (and once the house sells I will be back into crafting again - yippee!)

I will chat again soon, promise! xx

ps. be sure to pop back in on Friday, as I have caught up with mum and dad and their photo albums, so have more delightful flashback photos to share! Oddly enough, still no photos of my first dog, Barkly, though.

pay it forward, and thankyou!

Well, we have had the first open inspection for our house (! - people inspecting our renovations) and now I have limited opportunities to get the sewing machine out (can't make a mess when we have people potentially popping in at any time to get building inspections, an additional look-through etc etc...).

BUT, I have discovered that if I set my mind to it, between the Saturday lunchtime inspection, and going out on Saturday night, I can whip a little something up (with a little - actually, no, a lot - help from my friend Martine... and the hubby). But more on that later...

Firstly, to announce the winner of the pay it forward craft exchange. I am so sorry that this took me so long. So, drumroll please.... after writing everyone's name on a button, and getting hubby to draw one out, we have a winner.... Linny T! Congrats Linny, you will be receiving a little piece of summer pickles something in the post in November!

Now, about the top.... after much confusion about the top, Martine at greenolive popped in to my flickr page and gave me instructions of her own, which worked beautifully. The hubby was involved by standing near by, making incredibly helpful grunting noises, scratching his head and repeating small sections of the instructions again and again and again (this sounds sarcastic, but it truly was helpful).

So, thanks everyone for all of your help (if this did not come in the form of sewing directions, but in the form of understanding and shared confusion, this was just as good!). And in case you had not guessed, that's it, at the start of this post. I am feeling a wee bit proud of myself right now... (oh, and the lining is a fuschia pink... gorgeous!)

Chat soon,
xo

ps. sorry for missing the Melbs etsy catch up today gals... just remembered about 2 hours ago... this house stuff has completely taken over my brain at the moment. I am very disappointed, and kicking myself a little... hope to see you all there next month.