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

favourite markets coming up! 4th june 2011

I know, I am now living in Sydney, but my very favourite markets are coming up again in sunny Brunswick.

Yep, the sisters' market is on 4th june melbourne people, so be sure to get there! Be tempted by the gorgeous bags by the very lovely Carla of emotional baggage or the very beautiful (and sometimes a wee bit cheeky!) ceramic design from and o designs (and of course plenty more).

Brunswick Town Hall
10am-4pm
Saturday 4th June.

Enjoy, lucky Melbourners!
xo

ps. anyone in NSW know any local (good) markets up near Sydney?

time for a pickles update

hooray for holidays at home

Okay, so it is time. Long past time in fact for an update on the goings on in the pickles household.

The Gherkin is turning into a big boy, right in front of our very eyes, with new words popping out each day (he now would have at least 30 words, but probably more - ex-speechie mum is quite proud!). He sings songs - twinkle twinkle and baa baa black sheep, and can ride his push-along bike. And tonight (very exciting!) he said wee-wee and wee-ed on the bathroom floor, then stopped, said it again, wee-ed again. Our baby boy is growing up! He knows exactly what he wants, is throwing big tanties, full face down on the floor, trying to jump on the kitchen chairs, and loves rubbing noses (nose kisses) with his mum. And I am convinced he thinks I am his special girlfriend - heaven knows we have had enough kisses involving tongue (his, not mine, obviously!) for him to start to think this might be the case!

Hooray for babies, but hooray hooray hooray for seeing little people becoming themselves.

Poor little Gherkin, we had such a big long list for him over our three week tourists-in-our-own-town holidays... moving to a big boy bed (well, a mattress on the floor), and toilet training. And even more plans afoot for the doggie-child of the household.... in the end we got the boy onto a single mattress in his new ginormous bedroom... and gave up on the toilet training. But the dog will lie down on the floor (all the way down) as long as you are holding food. Oh well. Later.

xo

Oh! and for those of you who are wondering... Mr Pickles and Bump Pickles are also doing spendidly... x

things have been quiet...

Okay, so I promised I would be back very soon and then I disappeared again.

Since I've been gone though, I've been busy, I promise! I have finished (well, nearly), two UFOs - one dress for a little girl born in the same week as the gherkin - just need to work out how to do buttonholes! and one doll, who now just needs hair, eyes and a tutu (very important that she get the tutu!). I have also sacrifices another spectacular 1980s teatowel, this time to become a fabulous sunhat. Photos will come soon....

And sleeping.

I have been taking absolutely every opportunity to grab some zzzz's. I have been exhausted!

And, well, I really thought perhaps it had something to do with dusting myself off, picking myself up and climbing back onto the roundabout that is fertility treatment again(hurrah), but, well, after just two cycles, we are expecting another little pickle. We feel extremely fortunate - it took us two years to have our little gherkin, and this little pickle has decided to join us quickly. Now fifteen weeks along, and all going swimmingly.

So I hope you'll forgive the silence?

On another very exciting note, someone very lovely wants to stock summerpickles rings in her real live shop! More news on this next time.

And, another gorgeous bloggy friend has launched her new website, which features photos of our gorgeous little gherkin Check our the site - her photos are just beautiful - we are so happy we took the gherkin out for a day with her and will be doing it all again very soon.

Chat soon, and take care,
xo

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...

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!!!

I'm incredibly excited!!!

our gorgeous hallway, originally uploaded by summer pickles.

Check out our gorgeous new hallway!

Sooo excited that we are getting closer to this house being done.... only floor sanding and polishing, some plaster patching, light fitting selection and installation (I am thinking about the ikea knappa light for the hallway... what do you think?) and painting to go!

And being only 34 weeks well-and-truly-up-the-duff I feel like we might actually get it all done on time for bub's big arrival, too! (It's not just the hallway that's progressing... our nursery is making some serious headway too). We will even have the furniture in the room in two weeks... Yippee!

Anyway, now that the carpenter has gone, I am going to see if I can still pop in on Miss Cinti at My Poppet... will have missed her biggest morning tea (you can make a donation to the Cancer Council here), but it would be lovely to get there to meet her and check out My Poppet!

Have a lovely day everyone!
xo

ah, melbourne!

I know, I have gone on about Melbourne in the past, but here I go again.... am thinking this might be a regular feature on this blog, so I hope you will be happy to read these mini-tributes to a beautiful city!

So, some of you may remember my writing about Melbourne as a city with soul previously, and about my love of the little laneways with amazing secrets!

Well, this past week was no exception! I was fortunate enough last Wednesday, to go to the famous spiegeltent with some gorgeous friends, to see croque monsieur (wonderful Melbs band... see them if you get the opportunity!). Fab venue, fantastic music... just wonderful (though we wished there was dancing space, as we felt a bit held back by the seating!).


Then, after a brilliant time at the spiegeltent, we went in search of a restaurant one of our friends had heard of, but which none of us had been to.... gill's diner!

Gills Diner is a new favourite. It is NEW and hidden away down a little laneway in the city. The food is divine ! I had squids ink linguine with salted cod and potatoes... oh, so delicious! My friends had the gnocchi al forno (amazing), the fish of the day (melt in your mouth) and the spaghetti marinara (more marinara than spaghetti). We were also fortunate enough to receive a taste of the rabbit wrapped in proscuitto which was just beautiful... can't wait to return! (and very reasonably priced! under $20 a main). I should mention too that the staff were amazing... we could have stayed all night.

Ah, Melbourne. (I am in love).

xx

lovely places in my favourite city of melbourne .... and thanks

I was on my way to a work do the other day and found this gorgeous shop hidden away in a little laneway... I love Melbourne! Happiness hiding round every corner...

Thankyou too to those of you who wished me congratulations and who seemed to be as excited as I was last week when I was on the front page of etsy.... it was so lovely to have the support of all you lovely people out on blogland! And thankyou too of course to my very first purchaser!

(Oh, and about flashback friday... sorry everyone, think it's going to be flashback sunday at this rate! I have to find more photos...)

happy saturday xo

LOVELY weekend... fell completely in love with a very small boy!

What a lovely weekend with our gorgeous vistors!!! Have to admit that I completely fell in love with 8 month old Jye who is JUST divine (and who won amazing brownie points by also loving douglas the monkey). Have included a photo here.

We went factory shopping on the Saturday, Andrew's Hamburgers (Melbourne institution, highly recommended+++) for dinner, off to the St Kilda Markets on Sunday and then out for a lazy lunch of tapas etc on Sunday afternoon... just a great, relaxed weekend with my oldest friend on the planet (not in terms of her years, but in terms of lifetime friend... I have known her since she was born).

So, thankyou Fi, Pete and Jye for the visit.... we had a LOVELY time!!! More photos on my flickr site...
xoxo

ps for you crafters, I am working on a quirky angel (the one I dreamt about) so will post a photo as soon as I finish! xx

making a room a hideaway

hello again

working on improving things in the bedroom this weekend (not what you might be thinking)... looking out for fabric or a new quilt cover (we still haven't purchased a new cover since we re-painted... ages ago now). I miss having a lovely little hideaway where I can snuggle up with a good book on a weekend... so work needs to be done before we get into the depths of winter!

I did though find this website, and think some of these hangings by bride&wolfe might just brighten up our coffee coloured walls. We bought some pistachio coloured sheets last week, which look beautiful... not it is just for the covers, the cushions and then the walls (I am way too excited by this I know!).


I had a crappy day on friday, so the lovely hubby bought me roses, which were just incredibly beautiful, have included some pictures here.... beautiful aren't they? and they (surprisingly) smelt divine as well.







Anyway, just a short one tonight.. more later... oh! and went to the Rose St Market yesterday, which was terrific and the other stallholders lovely - they complimented Kaz on her clips (summer pickles fruit!) and we started talking... might be looking at a stall soonish!

Have a beautiful week,
xx

how about a creative (craft) circle?

hi again!

I have been thinking in the last couple of days... how about a craft circle? I really love the thought of women sitting around, eating, drinking, sketching, sewing, knitting, crocheting, papercrafting? I think I might try to set something up... am going to run the idea past a few of my crafty girlfriends and see what they think.

I found these handy hints on how to start a knitting group on another website (awful name for an organisation... so negative!) and will have a little ponder about it.

I am heading out this afternoon to the Rose St Market in sunny Melbourne this afternoon, will let you know how it goes.

Beautiful weather down here - we are very lucky... Sydney is dealing with some terrible storms at the moment - have a look here if you are interested.

chat soon,
xx