sometimes blog post titles stump me...

It's true, I can sit here for ages trying to come up with a catchy title and end up drifting off to play Spider Solitaire.... again......

Looks like Craft Hope on Etsy has really taken off, they've had 1,174 sales so far. Isnt' that wonderful!
Another fabric purchase arrived in the post the other day. This time from Tessuti who sells ex-designer fabrics, usually from the previous season. They're not cheap so I only bought 2 half metre cuts, but who could resist those bunnies? Still have to decide what I'll do with it though.
Any Australian over the age of say, 25, grew up with Skippy the Bush Kangaroo. And so many Australian children in the 70's ate their meals off a Skippy plate. I did, and so did Ant. Neither of us have our Skippy plates any more so when we were driving past Recycled Relix the other day and saw one in the window then we had to have it, no questions asked.

Tamsyn can now have her own Skippy plate too.

I may be a bit quiet in the blogosphere over the next few days. I have to take my computer in to be serviced and 'cleaned up' (Mum had hers done last week and she said it's like having a brand new computer!), so Ant and I will be fighting over the laptop. Let's see who wins......

craft hope

Just a quick post. Like a lot of people out there I've been wanting to help with the terrible situation in Haiti, but like the Bushfire Relief project that was so successful last year I wanted to find a crafty way. Reading Syko's blog today, she has a link to an Etsy shop that has been set up with proceeds going to Doctors Without Borders. If anyone has items to donate and sell, click on the picture/button above for all the details.

the hiatus is over

Now to get my blogging butt into gear...

The Christmas and New Years period was great, with lots of relaxing and family time. With that comes sewing of course and the wee girl didn't miss out on her share.
The dress in the foreground was actually a purchase from the very talented Gemma of Loz and Dinny fame, snapped up at Niche in November. It's been perfect for these hot summer days we've been having of late. The other dress I made from a pattern in the Amy Butler book 'Little Stitches for Little Ones', which has been perfect too. Some may recall I made the nappy bag from this book, and to be honest I don't really like the instructions for the patterns - not that easy to follow. Fortunately the dress was so simple I didn't need the instructions. The pink fabric is a Heather Bailey and even though Tamsyn isn't a pink girl (her skin is too pale like her Mum), this one is pretty good, especially with the grey bodice. I enjoyed making this one so much that I made a Christmas dress as well, must take a photo of it too.
When family asked me what I wanted for Christmas this year I said fabric (or a Spotlight gift voucher - already spent!!). One of Ant's aunties, who has very good taste, gave me this grey linen and contrasting orange flower print. It wasn't long before I whipped up this tunic style dress and it too has been perfect in the hot weather, worn with black 3/4 leggings underneath. It's huge though, like even too big for me. But I wanted something I could be a bit lazy in, and to tell the truth I cut it out a bit larger because the pattern pieces were cut to my pre pregnancy size and I didn't want to waste such lovely linen. Still working on that size reduction thing, getting there slowly.....

I had to wash the little wooden dog the other day because someone spewed on it, later on when I came back into the kitchen the sight made me go a bit gooey so I had to capture it. :)

words aren't always necessary

So let's just enjoy the view...
... and the clothes I've been making for her...
... that's my clever bunny.

end of an era

We've sold my little house. I was 31 when I bought this house in July 2000. It came to represent a new beginning and hope for the future, it did that and more. It became my friend.

So it has served it's purpose and I'm moving on, so to speak. I moved out of the house nearly 5 years ago and had been renting it to another family member, but I still pruned the roses each year (in the garden that I made) and kept in touch with the place. Now I'm saying goodbye for good.
Our weekends are pretty much taken up with trips to Bruny Island, as this is the peak harvest time. My time there is mostly taken up with looking after Tamsyn, naturally. But it's nice, we go for walks with the old pram with wheels that were never made for dirt tracks but hey, it's good exercise and I still get time to sit and knit.
Which is nice.
The weather is usually a bit cooler in Tasmania leading up to Christmas, so this gave me a chance to try out Tamsyn's jumper. It's a little bit big still, but oh, she does look so sweet in it.

six months

This wee girl is becoming less and less 'wee'. Now when I see newborns I think they're so very tiny, and said newborn may even be bigger than Tamsyn when she was born. *sigh* It's true, half of me wants her to grow and the other half wants her to remain a wee babe.

So, as the weather is warming up and the bright light of the Australian sun is being true to it's word, sun hats were in order. I made the green lady bug one first (another Ottobre pattern) and then had to make the brown one to go with her pretty dress.
Then I decided that some of the bibs she has were either ugly or worse for wear (a few hand-me-downs). So I traced a pattern from one of her bibs and made a few using some Japanese Kokka fabric which comes in a lovely linen/cotton blend. I backed the bibs with 2 layers of nappy flannel which works well, but when I backed a Prints Charming one with a cut up bit of bath towel it worked even better. So now I want to go bib crazy, but will have to stock up on more poppers soon. I find that they work so much better than velcro, which after a few washes starts to curl and can scratch the back of Tamsyn's neck.
My model likes to 'ham it up' for the photo shoot....
And because this girl is growing she is also trying to crawl, and can shuffle backwards until she runs into something. She will tuck a knee up under her tummy but hasn't worked out the rest of it yet. Therefore overalls were in order (more Ottobre goodness). I was in my favourite sewing shop the other day and literally pounced on this matroyshka fabric in a very fine cord. It swims on her at the moment but I'm hoping that by the time crawling is mastered it'll fit her nicely, and I'm sure there'll be patches on the knees before too long. Nice...

Mini Fest 2009

Our Moke is still mid-restoration, but thankfully we had the use of my sisters Mini (far right). Even though purists will argue that the 'new Mini' is just not in league with the old Mini, it didn't stop us from joining in with the fun.

There were some serious Moke enthusiasts who came from the mainland (mostly Victorian - one from NSW too!), so they took a few days to soak in some of the sights Tasmania has to offer. The above photo is on top of Mt Wellington.

Mini's from all eras were welcomed, and seeing how Renee was in Melbourne we took her Mini to help boost the numbers. The organisers were very pleased with the turnout - just over 300 Minis and 20 Mokes participated. And it didn't rain.
There was even some motoring greats, such as this Bathurst winner. (yes, I am a rev head...)
The Mokes looked pretty impressive....
... before being let loose on the streets of Hobart.
And Tamsyn? Well let's just say that I that this maybe the beginning of a long love affair with Minis.
The girl had a ball.

More info about Mini Fest here.