Mini Break to Melbourne

Well it's been a busy couple of weeks - What Women Want Event, Mothers' Day, Handmade Hobart Market and life in general. Today I have been busy cleaning the house - boring I know! I am happy to say that I feel quite satisfied though as I have also prepared dinner for tomorrow night (ready to put in the slow cooker in the morning), the school lunches are packed, banana choc-chip muffins have been baked and my bags are packed, ready for my trip to Melbourne in the morning.

I'm off to see Mamma Mia with my sister-in-law at Her Majesty's Theatre. I'm looking forward to the show, some "girl time", catching up with my brother for dinner and of course shopping! I'm only going for one night but I'm sure I'll enjoy my "mini break".

I'll be sure to post at the end of the week about my trip and also the last couple of weeks goings-on. Bye for now. Hope everyone is having a great week!

The Beautiful Milla

At the recent Mathilda's Market here in Hobart I met a lovely customer who had purchased one of my Reversible Crossover Pinafore Tops for her daughter, after seeing a photo on my Facebook page.

She loved them so much that she purchased another pinafore top in the grey/red pinspot with flower applique for her gorgeous daughter Milla. Here's a picture of Milla wearing the top whilst at the park - so cute!

Samantha has also started her own photography business - MarS Photography. For more information, you can follow her blog and become a fan on Facebook.

Fairy Cupcakes & Anzacs

Today my hubbie spent most of the day in the kitchen - bless him!

He made Fairy Cupcakes by request (Emma & Sophie helped). We all had a go at decorating them

with yummy cream cheese icing & sprinkles.

And some "giant" Anzac biscuits! Lest we forget.

Hope everyone's had a lovely weekend!

On the Menu Tonight

Slow-Cooked Ginger Beef - This is really yummy!

Recipe from a "Fresh" Woolworths Newsletter June 2009

Serves 4-6

You will need:

800g gravy beef

1 onion, chopped

2 tbsp plain flour

500ml beef stock

1 tbsp tomato puree

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp brown sugar

3 bay leaves

1 tbsp crushed ginger

Method:

1. Seal beef in frying pan and then transfer to a slow cooker turned to low.

2. Add onion and flour and mix to coat the meat.

3. Add all other ingredients and salt & pepper to taste. Give the dish a quick stir and pop lid on.

4. Cook for 8hrs in the slow cooker or alternatively cook for 2hrs at 190 degrees Cel. in a heavy based oven proof pot.

5. Serve with potato mash (or a mix of root veges. ie potato & sweet potato), some greens and crusty bread - yum!

PS. I also add some carrot & mushrooms to the dish to bulk it out. I normally set my slow cooker to high and only cook for 4hrs.

Oh & we just had to have some dessert as well. So my hubbie whipped up a yummy Apple & Mixed Berry Crumble with Cream & Ice cream!

Mini Me Designs - Designer Kids Clothing Sale

I recently became a fan of Mini Me Designs on Facebook. The duo of Kylie & Amanda produce beautiful handmade kids giftware and wall art, including canvases, name plaques, one of a kind night lights and other accessories.

The website showcases their lovely range of products and you can also shop online here.

Kylie is currently having a sale on Facebook at the moment selling beautiful children's clothing & footwear at 50-70% off the retail price. Brands include: Minihaha, Papoose, Willow & Finn, Finnigan Finn, Walnut, Ouch, Pure Baby & Marquise.

I am very excited as I purchased a number of items for my girls and can't wait till the parcel arrives next week. The sale is for a limited time only so go and check it out quick before everything is gone!

What a great way to stock up the wardrobe with designer clothing at a fraction of the price!

What DO Women Want?

A question we all ask ourselves regularly - I know I do.

Right now I want my head to clear so I can get back into some sewing for more upcoming events/markets. I have been struck down for a week now with a shocking headache and fuzzy/vague head. I experienced something similar after the birth of my second child and for a full 3mths I was dizzy. The room was constantly spinning and it was terribly difficult to concentrate on anything. At the time it was thought to be hormonal but I never really got a proper answer from anyone.

As for this time around, it may well be a virus that's going around at the moment (I'm hoping) and I'm heading to the GP next week to get it all checked out.

So other than that.... what else do I want? I want more time with my friends & family, I want people to be more accepting of others, I want to enjoy every day, I want good health and more energy and I'm sure there are many more things I could add.

If you would like to enjoy some time out with your mum, sister, girlfriends and help a great cause, then there is a great fundraising event happening next month.

The "What Women Want" - Make-A-Wish Foundation Event is being held on Sunday 2nd May at Moorilla from 2pm to 5pm.

Enjoy an afternoon of Fashion and High Tea. There will be around 50 stalls, displaying fashion, jewellery, accessories, craft, giftware, beauty, children's clothing and more. There will also be a fashion parade showcasing clothing from Ci Simon and Beau Monde. There is also lucky door and raffle prizes to be won. All money raised on the day will be used to grant the wishes of children with life threatening illnesses in Southern Tasmania.

Tickets are $35 each and include a complimentary drink on arrival, high tea, a lucky dip gift and flower. There are no door sales, so tickets must be purchased in advance. For more information and to book tickets just go to the Moorilla website.

I will be there with my Sunday's Child range of children's clothing and accessories along with many other wonderful and creative stall holders. We would love to see you all there.

Attitude is Everything

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home.

The remarkable thing is, we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude.

I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.” - Charles R. Swindoll quotes

What will your attitude be today, tomorrow and beyond?

New Designs

At the recent Mathilda's Market I debuted another couple of new designs. As our internet was down for the 2 days leading up to Mathilda's, I was unable to show them prior to the market, so here they are now.

The new Reversible Crossover Pinafore Top in Grey with Red Spot Applique Flowers. The flowers are securely fused then zig zag stitched and embellished with buttons. The reverse side of the pinafore is the red spot fabric.

For the boys, I have a new applique tee - the "Mini Cars". This is another lovely japanese fabric from Retromummy which is fused onto denim which is then fused and zig zag stitched onto a red tee.

Now that Easter is all but over, I will be busy with some more new items, so stay tuned. Hoping you've all had a lovely, relaxing Easter break with family & friends.

Featured in Mathilda's Market Blog

Photo courtesy of Mathilda's Market blog.

The lovely Anne, Founder & Organiser of Mathilda's Market, clearly fell in love with Hobart - and who could blame her!

She has blogged about her time here and of course the market itself - I even got a mention. Thank you Anne - you are an amazing, energetic woman, who I greatly admire. Keep up the good work.

I look forward to the next Mathilda's here in Hobart, being even bigger & better!

A Very Happy Easter!

I received a lovely call today from the office at my daughters' school, informing me that she had won prize No. 36 in the school's Easter Raffle.

Every year the school has a Free Dress day leading up to Easter, where the donation is not a gold coin but an easter egg. They then sell tickets for the raffle to win a pack of easter eggs. This year the school had an amazing amount of chocolates donated and they were able to offer 47 prizes to the children. In years gone by they only had 1st, 2nd & 3rd prizes but they have recently changed it to small baskets or parcels of easter eggs in order to give more children the chance to win a prize (and really who needs a washing basket full of chocolate anyway?). Well maybe that would come in handy - mmmmmm chocolate!!!!

So here is my beautiful daughter with her lovely package of an Easter Bunny and chocolate eggs.

And guess what she had for afternoon tea .......!

Before & After.....

Well after a busy week last week in the lead up to Mathilda's Market, my sewing space had become rather untidy. As I don't have a "sewing room", all my items are made on my dining room table. I am lucky to have a large 2mtr long table which is great to lay out fabric on for cutting etc. but as you can imagine the more horizontal space you have, you just seem to cover it with "stuff".

Needless to say, my table was a right mess after Saturday, made worse by the fact that I had walked in the door on Saturday afternoon and pretty much dumped everything on or around the table and it was still that way on Monday!

I don't have any "before" photos to show you as I am .. well.. too embarrassed! I did however finally tidy up, pack away all my stock from the market, fabrics still to be sewn, threads, buttons, blank tees and general "bits & bobs" yesterday. So now it looks like this .....

Much better I think! What do you think of my ironing board cover? I am very partial to red & I just couldn't go past this when I saw it in Habitat recently.

So now that things are back to normal and I can actually see my table, we can even enjoy a seated family dinner around it. That hasn't happened much of late, due to a lot of market prep going on. I am planning to be much more organised in the hope of not having to do multiple late nights in the lead up to any further markets. I really do need 8-9hrs sleep per night to feel normal and be able to function properly. Hats off to others out there who can operate on less - I don't know how you do it!

I managed to get to 2 orders yesterday and today, and I have another 2 to finish and send off tomorrow prior to Easter. I will be away for a couple of days at our shack for a well deserved break and last go at some summer weather, before the cooler days set in.

I am already planning some new items to be available at upcoming markets - such as peasant dresses, additional applique tee designs & more kids goodie bags. I am trying to come up with a catchy name for these bags, so if anyone has any ideas, they would be greatly appreciated.

Anyway, I think that's enough for now. I have more posts to do, which I hope to get to tonight, but the sewing is the priority for now!

Mathilda's Market - What a Day!

What a fantastic day at the inaugural Hobart Mathilda's Market. It was an early start (6am), following on from a late night (1am) in final preparation for the market. My lovely mum came along to help me unload & take the car away so I didn't have to worry about parking for the day.

The venue - the Hobart Function & Conference Centre provided a lovely setting for the market, enhanced by the beautiful backdrop of the Hobart waterfront.

At 9am sharp we were greeted by a busy rush of people through the doors, which continued almost the entire day until close at 1pm.

I had prime position opposite the entrance, next to the lovely Dannielle & Monique from b.box who made the trip to Hobart with their families, especially for the market. They both bought one of my fabric knotty necklaces & Monique a Bird Tee for her daughter.

Behind me was my regular "market buddy" Courtney & her daughter Indy from Silver Nutmeg & A Golden Pear. They did wonderfully well and even sold out of some of their products. It is always a pleasure to share the market experience with special people and it was lovely to have them as my neighbours again. Indy is such a sweetie & did a great job selling & manning the stall. She also helped out as a bit of a buddy/babysitter for my girls during the day - thanks Indy!

I also met Jocelyn from Bye Bye Birdie (another visitor from the mainland), who had a lovely collection of goodies including cards, vintage pinafores, smock dresses, skirts and more. I hope you had a great day and it was lovely to meet you & your sister-in-law.

I really enjoyed the day, even though it was pretty much "flat chat" the entire time. I received wonderful feedback about my products, had an amazing number of sales and some orders as well. I sold over half of my long sleeve girls tees and pinafores, most of my fabric knotty necklaces and all of my marble & dinosaur goodie bags.

The market had a modern, contemporary and stylish feel about it with background music, face painting and arts & crafts for the kids. The organisers Anne, Danielle & Robin did a wonderful job with the set up & promotion of the event, as the customers just kept coming - not that I'm complaining though.

I'd like to thank all the lovely stallholders, especially those around me who provided me with conversation & companionship during the day and the wonderful customers for their support & encouragement.

To those customers who I took orders from today, I am keen to get those done and sent to you this week so look out for the postie!

Over Easter I plan to update my website with lots more product photos and set up my online store so that you can shop online from the comfort of your lounge!

I would definitely recommend the Mathilda's Market to anyone looking for unique, stylish, handmade or limited run children's products and to any stallholders looking to be apart of the market - it is definitely well worth it!

The next Mathilda's Market is scheduled for Saturday 17th July.

Emma the "Cougar"

Sophie the "Lion"

Marvellous Market Finds

Just taking a quick break in between all my sewing to post photos of my purchases from Handmade Hobart last Saturday.

I bought a beautiful Tea Pot Bookmark from Rosie at Notions, which came on a cute little card with a recipe for Strawberry Jam.

I also bought a lovely Craft Goodie Bag from Courtney at Silver Nutmeg & A Golden Pear. I just love Courtney's eclectic range of items and it has been a pleasure to meet and get to know her at the recent markets I have attended.

Look out for these two creative stallholders at this Saturday's inaugural Mathilda's Market here in Hobart.

Well back to it, I hope to post photos of my newest creations for the market either today or tomorrow - stay tuned!

Handmade Hobart Market Day

Well the day came, mild & overcast but that wasn't going to stop us from enjoying it. The beautiful St Mary's College was the backdrop for this month's Handmade Hobart "Special Election Day Open Air Market".

My hubbie came to help me setup - especially the borrowed gazebo (thanks Conrad's), and I was very appreciative of the help. My mum also did a great job entertaining the girls and taking them home early when it all got a bit too much - thanks Mum.

We had a steady flow of people thru the market all day, thanks in part I'm sure, to St Peter's Hall being a polling location for the State Election.

It was great to be positioned next to Courtney from Silver Nutmeg & A Golden Pear once again. I just love her colourful, eclectic array of items - skirts, bags, button hair accessories, softies, goodie bags, brooches & more. I couldn't resist buying a lovely "Craft Goodie Bag" for Emma (photo to come). Courtney's daughter Indy was also there to help out her mum and she was lovely to chat to.

On the other side of me was the lovely Rosie from Notions. I just love her unique fabric covered button accessories especially the wonderful packaging. I also purchased a "Teapot Bookmark" complete with Strawberry Jam Recipe Card (photo to come).

The girls couldn't resist a cupcake each from the very creative Maddie of Maddie's Cupcake Creations. I was able to get a photo of Emma's "Pink Pig" cupcake however Sophie was very eager to open hers and I didn't manage to get a very good photo - oh well!

I had some lovely comments from customers and made quite a number of sales, so I was very happy to have been at the market. I have applied to be included in their next 2 day market being held on the 15th & 16th May and will hopefully hear back from them soon. Thanks also to Penni, Sue & Marg who organise the event.

And of course a big thank you to everyone who came to help & support me and the other stallholders today - it was a great day!

Hope to see you all again at my next market location - Mathilda's Market next Saturday 27th March.

The beautiful St Mary's College

Sunday's Child Stall

The lovely Indy at her mum's stall - Silver Nutmeg & A Golden Pear

Notions - Fabric Covered Button Goodness by Rosie

Pink Pig - Emma's pick from Maddie's Cupcakes

The Black Sheep - Sophie's pick from Maddie's Cupcakes

(moved too fast for me to get a good shot!)

Final Market Prep

Well I am feeling far more relaxed this time around. All the sewing is done and I am just finishing tags & some signage. Some lovely friends are coming around tonight with a gazebo for me to borrow tomorrow (seeing as we will be outside), and we will be making some homemade pizzas for tea - yum! So I definitely need to get everything done before tonight so I'm not up until the wee small hours.

Hopefully we will have some lovely weather for the Handmade Hobart Market. Don't forget you can vote at St Peter's Hall and then come and shop at the market!

Handmade Hobart

Saturday 20th March

10am to 3pm

St Mary's College Netball Courts

Harrington St, Hobart

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Long Sleeve Tees for Girls & Boys - $30

Reversible Pinafore Tops - $50

Goodie Bags - Marbles, Toy Dinosaurs & Fairy Princess

All $10

At My House

Well there's a lot of sewing happening at my house this week in preparation for the Handmade Hobart Market this Saturday.

Yesterday & today I have been focussing on Girls Long Sleeve Tees. I really love my "Bird" design and I have it in both red & pink spots. I have also used the lovely Babushka fabric I purchased from Retromummy in another simple circle design with ribbon embellishment. All my long sleeve tees are $30.

Play along here & tell us what's happening at your house this week.

Babushka Circle Tee - $30

Pink Spots Bird Tee - $30

Red Spots Bird Tee - $30

Boys Winter Range

I have started creating some Boys Long Sleeve Tees for my upcoming markets. They feature stylish fabrics with applique on both the front & back of the tees and are available in Sizes 1-6.

The first design is using a beautiful Japanese Imported linen/cotton blend fabric in Aqua Blue called "Classic Cars". The fabric is fused & secured to the tee with a zig zag stitch in co-ordinating thread. I also have this fabric in hot pink and will be making some girls white long sleeve tees.

The second design is a combination of red spot & ivory drill circles with accent stitching. The fabric is also fused and stitched using straight stitch. The applique is designed to fray at the edges slightly. This design will also be available in blue spot fabric on white tees.

All long sleeve tees are $30 each.

Aqua Classic Car Long Sleeve Boys Tee - front

Aqua Classic Car Long Sleeve Boys Tee - back

Red Spot Circle Boys Long Sleeve Tee - front

Red Spot Circle Boys Long Sleeve Tee - front & back

A Chance Meeting....

Just when I thought my day/weekend was heading south (had to take my dog to the vet this morning and she has to have a short operation this afternoon!), I stumbled upon a good friend's partner & daughter in town. They live in Brisbane, so it was a bit of a surprise!

Then we were able to meet up for a lovely coffee in the sun, have a chat and catch up on all the goss. I hadn't even told her about Sunday's Child and my creations so it was lovely to swap news. Her biggest news was that she is expecting another child in July and is already 5mths pregnant. It's really funny but with her past pregnancies I've always found out at the 5mth mark - weird!

Here she is pictured with her son Arhcie who is 16mths old - what a cutie! Thanks Peta, it was so lovely to be able to catch up "out of the blue" - it was obviously meant to be.

My Creative Space ....

I'm busy making Boys L/sleeve Tees for my upcoming markets. I love this Echino "Cars" fabric from Japan, gorgeous quality and so stylish!

To see other creative spaces visit Kootoyoo.