My green room

I don't get out into my garden as much as I should, but we have been starting to prepare the front yard for the planting of pumpkin seedlings in November. The pumpkin normally goes nuts in the front yard and covers the whole yard with pumpkin vines and leaves, it keeps the rest of the plants alive during the hot months and we generally get about 20+ pumpkins for salads throughout summer.

Our garden is designed to hide weeds, you can only see them if you look close! We have little meandering paths of slate throughout the garden from north to south and a formal path from east to west.

Our cherry blossom flower around Tori's birthday *smiles* we have three in our garden two out the front and one out the back.

Lots of ground covers rather than lawn ... I nabbed this yellow flower cutting from my inlaws garden, popped it in the ground and voila! It grew!

We moved one of our cherry blossoms a few months back, she is just flowering now. She suffered last year ... so we are in a more shady position out the back this year and hopefully the summer won't be so harsh to her.

My aquilegia seemed to survive the winter and is about to flower. I love these as they remind me of Mimbari space ships ...

The bees love the lavender, but because it is near the front door we might have to move or even remove the lavender bushes.

My old roses tower over my iris patch that needs to be dug up and divided. The irises have really taken to this part of the garden.

That is my green room ... I look onto this garden from my creative space! You can see the Konstant Kaos sign in the window above. We have ordered a security door from overwrought in Daylesford, when this arrives we will probably live with the front door open and a breeze going through the house. Two indoor cats does restrict you a bit if you don't have a security door.

New things to play with!

Look what the Australia Post man delivered this morning! A box!

I was perplexed as to what it was because I have been trying to be very good with my online purchases lately. I got so excited when I opened it up and I saw what it was ..

I was very excited when these arrived ... little buttons to sell at my Northside Makers Market stall on th 10th of October ... Jennie from Mrs Beckinsale made a point a while back that every stall should have "pocket money items" things that little kids can buy for $1 or $2 ...

When I ordered 100 I thought that would be a lot! But looking at them now, there really isn't that much! I oohed and ahhed about how to actually do buttons. Sticky Institute in Melbourne has a service where you can go in there and use their badge maker, but I would need to find the time to actually go in there. Or I could hire one and spend all weekend making badges, but then I wouldn't be sewing or blogging. So, I ended up engaging the services of KungFuCowgirl on etsy to make them up for me. Very happy with the result and delivery time.

KungFuCowGirl also made me some sample fridge magnets!

They look fabulous on my fridge ... next to all of my photo's!

Look how young I look there! I really have had long hair for far too long!

I'll have to make a few sets up for my etsy store, just deciding which ones to put together!

A Blanket for Tori (Part 1)

My daughter attends childcare two days a week and she has recently been moved into the toddlers room. At nap time, all the kids go and get their "sleep blankets" and then settle down for their naps. We had one of these light green cotton comfort blankets kicking around at home from when she was a baby, so she has been using this. At the end of the nap, the kids stuff the blanket back into the pillow slip that it lives in and then they go back to their lockers.

Feeling that the blanket was a bit daggy and "baby like", and not wanting to food the bill for a new blanky, I decided to take off the satin trim and replace it with something a little more funky.

I had some quarters from the moda "spooktacular" range that I bought from spiceberrycottage on etsy. Technically the print is part of a halloween range, but I wanted something that would go with the green, but not took too wishy washy.

We decided on the black with orange and green dots. Although the greens are not the same colour, they tend to blend at the size that they are. From the 25cm of fabric that I had, I could cut 5 lengths of a 3 1/2 inch sash which was enough to go around the cotton blanket. I then pressed them in half and then attached to one side. Pinned and then hand stitched the other side.

Once I was happy with the "look" of it, I attached the other sides to the blanket. The corners are not sexy, but will do!

Hopefully TV time tomorrow will result in a finished blanket, then it is onto Part 2 of my "Blanket for Tori" project.

Spiders and Butterflies

I have no idea what this Russian web site is talking about, but I love the glasses. Unique ...

Reminds me of the gorgeous Echino Spring Line by Etsuko Furuya fabric that I bought from Fabric Worm on etsy a few weeks back (they are good operators).

I am hoping to make some interesting things from it for the Northside Makers Market on the 10th of October ... mark your diaries

I steam Mac

I am loving this poster that I stumbled across

... at $15 US for a poster, with $10 US postage to Australia, I think that everyone should have one. I have ordered mine and look forward to it arriving soonish!

Origami Tea

Image via Fubiz

Came across this interesting web site, Fubiz, with interesting links, just the thing that I need when I have to catch up on lots of work.

In particular, this wonderful concept of Origami Tea ... should this be called Peace Tea? Further investigation reveals that it is a Russian designer Nathalia Ponomareva who has invented this concept. Similar to the Chinese tea bags that expand into Chrysanthemums and other floral arrangements.

I love dark strong tea (everyday Yellow Label) or organic peppermint tea, and a friend just introduced me to Twining's Lady Grey. I drink far too much tea!

What is your favourite tea?

Get Well Soon!

via contrarymary

The whole family has been down with a bad case of gastro for a few days.

We ended up canceling Tori's 2nd birthday event on Sunday because she was chucking up, which was a good call because by Monday lunchtime we all had what she had. So after a trip to the RCH where Tori had to be drip fed some re-hydration liquid, she is back to normal but Andreas and I are still lagging behind.

So hopefully I can return to my crafty self soonish, because I am on teaching holidays at the moment and I am meant to be relaxing and crafting!

Tori turns 2

It has been an amazingly busy week. The last week of school term for my classes, busy processing Northside Makers memberships and Market stall applications and also Tori turned 2!

I still can't believe that my little girl, my baby, turned two this week. What a ride is has been.

We had a gorgeous dinner with middle eastern influences for dinner that my lovely husband cooked. At our family dinner we had the grandparents, Tori's godmother and Tim. My brother rang from Japan and it was a casual evening with lots of laughs.

Tori's Oma made her a frog cake for her birthday. The black outlines were done in licorice with green icing and a custard filling ... yum.

For her birthday we bought her some Totoro merchandise and some Play Doh cutters to go with her Play Doh afternoon that she will have on Sunday with a few of her close friends.

I love the magic that Totoro brings her, she loves to look in the trees for Totoro and whenever it is windy, it is him making the wind. We are hoping that one day we will get over to Japan to visit the Totoro Forest (Sayama Hills Forest on the outskirts of Tokyo). There is a save Totoro Fund initiative and also the Art of Totoro book which was auctioned off last year. I believe they are doing a re-print of the books next year to raise more money.

Darwin the Dinosaur

While doing a quick search around the internet I came across the following site WolfDreamer off the hook. Lots of great softie crochet patterns.

I am quite liking Darwin the Dinosaur ... the pattern can be bought via her etsy shop!

Halloween Fabrics

Halloween is right around the corner, so in a moment of weakness I ordered some fabric from Spiceberry Cottage via etsy, some Moda Spooktacular fabric. Quick delivery, good condition and I am in love with the purple Moda bat fabric.

Not quite sure what I should make, but I am enjoying looking at them and daydreaming of what I could do if I had a few hours to myself in my sewing room.

Friday Finds: Tori's Birthday

My daughter turns two next week and so I thought she would be the theme of my friday finds.

1. Little Red Riding hood cloak by herflyinghorses. Lots of lovely dress up clothing at this site. I particularly liked this red riding hood cloak.

2. Alphabet Cookie Cutters by craftingsupplies. She loves cooking with her Nanna and Oma. I grab a pack of these for when she is starting to recognise alphabet letters.

3. My Neighbour Totoro 1inch button badges by vindrewski. Tori is competely obsessed by my neighbour Totoro and we have already purchased a collection of Totoro stuff from the internet for her birthday.

4. White Cherry Blossom Headband by Lupin. I love lupin's stuff, so delicate. We have cherry blossoms planted out the front and the back of the house and they bloom around her birthday each year.

5. Groovy vintage inspired potty pants or training pants by vintage lucys. We are getting to that stage now of thinking about potty training.

The Young Victoria

Went off last night to see "The Young Victoria" at the Balwyn Palace Cinema. After doing most of a day at teaching I did the run from St. Kilda to Northcote to change and do house stuff, then to Port Melbourne to pick up my hubby then to Dandenong to have dinner and pick up my daughter then to Northcote to put her to bed, then to Balywn for the movie ... I alone contribute far too much emissions to global warming ...

I love my period drama's. The costumes always make me want to rush home and pull out the Janome, the opulence makes me want to re-decorate my house and the drama makes me want to read more about the historical period. I intently watch for details in the background and it is always on the second watching that I can sit down, relax and enjoy the cinematic ride.

Young Victoria is a movie about a Young Queen Victoria and her relationship with Prince Albert. A lovely "blue rinse" movie. Not enough sexual references to make it a chick flick, no action to get the boys along, just drama. Although there was a "Mr. Darcy moment" when Prince Albert is standing there in a wet shirt ...

Rupert Friend who played Prince Albert did a lovely job and of course Emily Blunt who played Queen Victoria did a wonderful role. If you recognise her, she was from The Devil Wears Prada. I found myself saying "Bob" every time Miranda Richardson came onto the screen. I am not sure that the character worked well for her. We chuckled when Jim Broadbent appeared as King William, a very fitting role!

Enjoyable movie for a weeknight. I have found other period dramas to stimulate more conversation afterwards than this one, but I am sure that it will be popular in the UK. It doesn't offend anyone, no contraversial statements just lovely costumes.

Made n Thornbury Wrap Up

With the roller coaster which was Made n Thornbury followed by Fathers Day, I haven't had a moment to post about my day! The thing that I love about Made n Thornbury is that there is a small collection of stall owners, all of which are women in business (or micro business).

Such a lovely supportive group of chicks in biz. Mrs Beckinsale was there with her Tram Cushions, Curlypops with her lovely brooches and also Felicity or Flickitysplitts with her Cattacus Softies.

New to Konstant Kaos was my coin/key wallets. D ring on the side for hanging off chains, hook to link keys onto and big enough to keep a licence.

I tried some different fabrics and my dracula, frankenstein and computer circuit wallets sold the quickest!

Got to meet some new groovy people. My neighbour was Liz from Loophole Community Centre. They are doing such fun stuff at Loophole, check them out!

My stash for the day included some lovely calling cards from Pivotal Xpressions, brooch from Finki Handmade, teddy brooch from Very Cherry Stew and the doily with scissors screen printed on it from Liz from Loophole.

Come and visit me at Made n Thornbury Market

It has been a busy week teaching, sewing, caring for Tori.

I have been looking forward to this market all week. The Made n Thornbury market is a gorgeous intimate makers market with a great bunch of women who all run micro-businesses.

Hoping that you can make it, even if it is just to say hello. I noticed that a few houses down from the Market will also have organised garage sales on that day, so the street will be buzzing!

There will be plenty of crafty people there including Pivotal Xpressions, Finki, Mrs Beckinsale, Flickettysplits, Cheeky Little Monsters and Curlypops.

Shh ... don't tell Dad

I've had a productive morning working away making little coin/key pouches for Dads for the Made n Thornbury market on Saturday. A few prototypes down the track and I think I am happy with the sizings, finishing and the pattern that I drafted. Getting the top to sit right was a bit fiddly, but I think I worked out a good way of doing it.

Using some different hardware to a zip, they have a snap opening on the top. A bit larger than my other coin pouches, you can also fit your keys into the front. I only have 10 pieces of the hardware to use for these pouches ... so I am trying to choose fabric that Dad's will like!

Cross Stich can be sexy

I have a thing for monochromatic craft. Konstant Kaos has a definate colour palette. I don't really go for the linen/pastel look, the main colours that I work with are black, red and white.

via The Six Week Boutique

So I was very excited to see that Design Sponge had a link to the cutest cross stitches by Tamara at The Six Week Boutique. I don't really go for the traditional looking cross stitches, I like them a bit more funky.

Credit Crunch cross stitch via Bugs and Fishes

Another fabulous site is the radical cross stitch site.

Stop Climate Change Cross stitch via radical cross stitch

Zoe in Edinborough (from my mother country) has a great blog post pointing to some other groovy cross stitch samplers such as the one below by Lupin.

via Conversation Pieces

The wheels on the train ...

I have been quite industrious today, sewing away making some basic stock items for Made n Thornbury this afternoon after I got home from my teaching "day" job. On a Tuesday I am home at lunchtime (well, around 2ish) and then I get a few hours of sewing done before picking my husband up from work and then driving to my inlaws to have dinner with my daughter. A long day.

My list of "things to make for a market if I have time" is always quite long and I try and stock up on things that I think people might buy based on sales of the last few markets.

This Sunday of course, is Fathers Day. So I have tried to have my "manly hat" on while sewing. Trains seem to be the order of the day for my husband at the moment, so I thought I would knock up a few things using some realistic train fabric that I picked up a few weeks back. Would you buy this for your Dad if you were a kid?

I try to re-stock the things that sold at the last market and introduce at least one new item. I made a prototype for my "new" item this afternoon, there is still a bit of work to go, making sure the measurements are right and that it sits right ... all will be revealed.

These pencil cases seem to be a hit amongst little people. Their little hands can grab a hold of the cord and pull it shut or open. I only have limited supply of this fabric, so once these are sold on the weekend that will probably be it!