a month of moments - late (late)

Pregnant again (that is, last year, not again-again!), I wanted to make a place to welcome our newest family member. I knew he was going to be boy number three, but still wanted a space that was not too boyish, that was, well, lovely to be in. So, months of pinning images of other nurseries, lights, crochet works etc all resulted in this:




It's not a classic boy room but I love it for my wee pickle. Love the Helen Dardik print that ties all the colours in the room together and makes it fun. The other two prints we have in the room are also etsy finds, from seven star and nevertheless. Oh! and we also have a typography-style print designed by my very talented designy sis in law, with all of baby pickles' vital statistics.

[Oh, and of course my beautiful Billee the oobee by Leslie Keating - Billee has now been a very special companion for all three of our baby boys].

I was going to post this on the thirteenth for a month of - late, but I am, well, running late. You see, the mobile/lampshade is still incomplete - I still have to rethread the crochet motifs onto that magical invisible quilting thread, and have about another dozen that need threading. Oh, and the mat. Still unfinished - I have the binding half done... nearly there! Whilst searching for the binding I found some pre-cut baby short pieces on my wip pile for little pickle (now two) - if I sew these this week they may just fit baby pickle.

It seems that not only can I not complete my crafty projects on time, I also can't blog about them on time! Anyone else out there guilty of the same crime?

Perhaps an appropriate crime though for a post titled "late"... ;)

Chat soon xo

country crafts

Hello!

Our new country home town has more events, festivals, shows than we would ever have thought possible for a town of less than two thousand people. One event recently saw the local crafters - the "needles and natter" group - coming out to present some of their works.

 

Lots of "standard" country wares - face washers with crocheted edging, knitted baby booties, crocheted toys. Also among them was a tablecloth work-in-progress by Diane Workman - a collection of doileys that she is handsewing together to make a tablecloth. I have had things like this pinned for some time, with a plan to eventually doing something similar, but never had I considered handsewing! This is truly a labour of love, and even as a work in progress, on its oversized quilting hoop, looked just gorgeous. Makes my fingers itchy! Must get crafting... xo 

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

a date for the diaries

Two Blue Birdies Resin Brooch by Madz has Runaway

I know, it seems a bit too soon to be booking special outings for Feb already, but those of you who haven't checked out the sisters market as yet, really should put this date in the diary. And those of you who have been once before, well, you should probably go again! The sisters market returns to the Brunswick Town Hall on 7th Feb 09... to check out the stallholders go here. This is a fantastic market, but those with prams beware, it can get rather squishy... much easier to pop the boy in the baby bjorn.

I am yet to leave empty handed, having been three times... my last purchases were from this lovely lady (I bought two of her gorgeous resin brooches - just beautiful).

So... get the pens out and scribble it in the diaries... and perhaps I'll see you there?

xo

one gi-normous catch up post

Well, hello there!

Thanks to those of you who hadn't totally given up on me... I am still here! And with news to share. So here we go, in no order of importance...

The gherkin is now five months old. The photo above is just a home happy snap of the kind of boy we are fortunate enough to live with every day. Life has been an absolute joy with the gherk' of late, and I won't bore you all with gushing on this blog, as I promised this would from now on be all about craft and melbourne and all things non-baby, but oh my, he is soooo delightful at the moment. If you need more gushing you can go to a pug and a handful of pickles

We were fortunate enough to have the very lovely, generous and extremely talented h&b take some delicious photos of our little man a few weeks back. I haven't posted any of the photos here, as I sort of feel as though it should be h&b's reveal, but let me just say they are beautiful. So incredibly gorgeous. And yes, her home is as amazing as it looks in the photos (I was curious! and not at all disappointed). Thankyou lovely for using our little man as a model for a day!

I am another year older... well, not really, but you know what I mean! An odd number (good), but not a prime number (so could be better). Just another step closer to forty.... I had a lovely day, cruising around Brunswick East with the gherkin and Mr Pickles, just hanging out and thinking how my life had changed in the past five years... marriage, two homes (and renovations), our boy, and rapid whitening of my hair...

Speaking of hair, I am much much much happier with my hair now... went back to my old salon across the other side of town (I know, ridiculous, but, note to Brunswick hairdressers -you were a real disappointment) and now I feel like myself again. Also in this photo? My new favourite toy from Mr Pickles to celebrate my ageing. It's a Canon and I am in love.

Other news... I have been getting out and about...

* to Bendigo (my first time... oh my, the architecture there!!! my camera battery was flat though from snapping hundreds of photos of the boys, so no photos of buildings this time round

* to Ceres a few times

* to ikea for a very important highchair purchase

Oh! and of course I have been CRAFTING!

You saw the doll in my last post... well, poor thing got ditched. She will remain an u.f.o. until I come up with an outfit I am satisfied with. In the meantime I have finished June, who is now the doll of the very beautiful Mae of onegirl fame (and Leslie has been lovely enough to post some photos of the very gorgeous Mae with June on her flickr).

Oh! and we are having a handmade Christmas in the pickles family this year (grandparents, bubs, aunts, cousins, brother, mums, dads all creating for one another - lovely! if a little challenging...), so I do have loads of other WIPs in progress, but not sure if the family checks this blog... I wonder if it's safe to show and tell here????

Anyway, that should be enough for one post, will catch up again soon, promise!
xo


ps. coming to a post soon... our recipe for banana and date loaf (much more like a cake... yum), a brunswick east eatery update (woohoo!) and santa photo dilemmas...

it's here!

man club meeting
Originally uploaded by summer pickles

A very big thankyou to the lovely Leslie for our very gorgeous oobee blankie, which arrived in the post at the end of last week, and which you can see on the right of this photo (I have taken my sorry time getting this post up - sorry Leslie).

It is just gorgeous. Will have to try to take some detailed pictures later, so I can show you it properly, but at the moment the gherkin is asleep, so am trying not to disturb. I love Lesli'e fabric choices, they are just always gorgeous.

If you feel like shopping, then I would absolutely recommend popping into Leslie's shop ... just filled with beautiful, and beautifully made objects. We are really lucky now to have both an oobee and an oobee blankie for the gherkin.... if Leslie makes more windsees I might have to get one of those too...

Thanks so much Leslie, this was such a gorgeous swap gift. My return gift to you and your lovely little one is in progress... am aiming to have it to you by end of next week. (Leslie --- I may have sneak peeks here in the interim... so feel free to steer clear for a week!) xo

a date for your diaries...

Good morning!

Received this reminder via email this morning and had to share... and realised that I had neglected to tell you about my recent visit to this market! The first sisters' market I attended was with my mum in law around I think the ?end of May and I loved it... there were some terrific new designers/artists/crafters there who I had not met or encountered before, which was very exciting! And just down the road from home. It would be worth popping this one into your diary for 2nd August... let me know if you plan on being there - depending on how I am going with bub, I might be heading there again, and it would be lovely to catch up!

One of my very favourite finds at this market was the lovely Carla from emotional baggage . I honestly don't intend to turn this blog into a how-to-shop-locally-and-find-gorgeous-things guide, but I had to show and tell. Carla has one of the neatest websites I have seen in a long time, where you can design your own bag, by selecting the style, fabric, leather etc...and then you get a picture of what it will all look like once together! Love it.

This is my brand new, arrived last night carry all bag, for keeping all of the baby stuff together when out and about, in theory, but also just because I really really love it and will get loads of use out of it!). And the lining is striped, which is just gorgeous, with multiple pockets... I would have taken a photo of the inside except that I have packed the bag now with gear for the hospital.

Thanks Carla for making this in time for bub's arrival, and for dropping it off last night... it was lovely to have another brief chat with you, and in case I didn't say this enough last night, I really love this bag!!!