come along & join me at the Canberra Creatives Mini Market

Greetings all,

What a brilliant way for me to share & sell off the remainder of my fabric store supplies . . . 

at a mini market & craft de-stash!!  

Imagine a dozen of Canberra's best crafters, selling off their fabrics & craft supplies . . . spread over eight huge tables of craft glory, in a cute little convenient venue.  Bring your children, there will be a craft class, delicious snacks & the friendliest people in the business!!

As i move the supplies & materials i wish to keep for future projects, over to the farm, ready for the shearing shed studio renovation . . . i have piles & piles of top quality fabrics cut & ready to sell off, at huge discounts, for another crafter to enjoy.

My fabric themes include . . .

vintage . retro . animals . robots . babushkas . children . games . fairy tales . pin up girls

 toys . roses . space . farms . paper dolls . transport & many more!!

Think designer international fabric brands & top quality fabrics from Kokka, Michael Miller, Alexander Henry, Amy Butler, Anna Maria Horner, Sis Boom & Cath Kidston + local designers Kristen Doran, Thea&Sami, PippiJoe & Saffron Craig.  I'm selling the big time gorgeous patterns, colours, screen prints . . . emptying the bolts & the prices are fantastic!!  Love Posie

my 500th post & the reasons why i blog

Greetings all,
Yay, 500 posts on this modest little blog of mine, thank you all for joining me on this ride.
I blog for different reasons at different times: to share sewing projects; to record children's milestones; to prove to myself i can cook; to play around with decorating ideas; & far too often, to throw up aspects of my daily life to keep my husband up to date with what we're doing, as he's far far away from home.  Sure i could email & send photos privately but he likes the atmosphere of this blog & reading your friendly comments.

 So i'm a 36 year old housewife & mother of 4 children aged 8 to 13, i've spent collectively 6 years (& counting) raising them completely alone, no grandparents on hand to help & most often 4500km from my home town of Sydney.  My husband has missed 12 of our 14 wedding anniversaries so far & we have 2 more years of living apart to go!!  

 Please don't feel sorry for us, we have big plans & a wonderful future together.  I learned to be incredibly independent young mum, trust my choices, rely on myself, i am strict with my children so behaviour is widely predictable & i am a drama-avoider.  It's a lot of work, especially as our children have strong personalities - they do challenge me & since they were tiny babies, they've asked a million questions about anything & everything - my key - i answered them all (6 years of university has been useful afterall).  I have bucket loads of patience.
My cheeky children saw the photo of the barbed wire from my husband's base in Afghanistan & said "you can be honest Mum, is Daddy really in prison??"  If nothing else, we have plenty of laughter!!

 So what is this blog - Army wife??  Large family??  Crafter??  Home maker??  Mummy blogger??  It's a bit of anything & everything as i'm all of those things.  While i ride out the Summer with swollen hands waiting for a thorough diagnosis on my carpal tunnel syndrome & surgery confirmation (from an orthopaedic surgeon, not that moronic neurologist) i am stitching some hexagons together for a quilt top . . .

 along with lots of slow cooking from scratch, it's not a trendy new movement to me, it's how my mother rolled, only she didn't invite children to help her, where i encourage my children to help.  My first born aced non-elective cooking in year 7, so she has mad skills in the kitchen.  I do still have a crappy Army issue oven in our Defence house to cook with, so hardly the dream kitchen. 

 Of course my blog will include more & more action & antics from the children, like our 3rd girl here doing her best Anna Wintour (US Vogue editor) impersonation.  Ok, all of my children need hair cuts but that can wait until first week of school in February, Summer holidays are for swimming & unkept hair. 

Now, what better way to celebrate this bloggie milestone than by heading off to a birthday morning tea with a platter of banana bread, for a gorgeous girl i met through blogs & our love of textiles.  I used a French banana bread recipe as i know she covets provincial flavour & style.  Have a gorgeous day & happy blogging out there everyone, it's the nicest place in social media.  Love Posie

slow sewing kind of Sunday

Greetings all,

Oh my aching body!!  My head feels like it has a tight swimming cap on it, eyes streaming, blocked ears, my throat tickles & the roof of my mouth itches.  You guessed it, a head cold.  Argh!!    

But that's nothing compared to a dear friend who had to drop off her daughter with me yesterday as her son had a concussion from rugby (like . . . no idea why he was in football gear or who he was) & race to hospital.   All i had was the produce from the morning Farmer's Market & empty cupboards, so i scratched together something to make us all feel better + freshly squeezed orange juice (with lemon & lime!!)

 I set myself a very basic sewing task today (in my sneezey haze) - wheat & lavendar heat packs/ bags.  I purchased 10kg of wheat on Friday & made up 10 bags today, for Shop Handmade tomorrow.  The lavender is grown locally, purchased from the markets too.

 I like my wheat bags large thanks, so i made square & rectangle versions, all neatly lined & quadruple stitched, as you don't want a kilo of wheat spilling out the sides.

 A range from my Japanese lovely heavy linens . . .

 & some in Australian screen prints - Thea & Sami, PippiJoe & Kristen Doran.

 Much to my surprise, my sweet 3rd born presented me with a picnic lunch on the floor of my studio.  It was a bit woody for a high tea but such a lovely feast & kind thought.

 So i'm spending the evening tucked up on the lounge, ready for a night of good television (seeing i rarely sit down, i have no idea what Sunday night offers) sipping orange juice & nibbling wooden painted cup cakes, while under new heat packs.  I'm not hungry eventhough my tummy feels empty, oh it aches & cramps.

Ok so i stalk my children at night & sometimes take photos of them sleeping - my little fella fell alseep on the lounge last night, i could just eat him up.  Look at that lucky complexion & i adore how he & our middle girl still sleep with their hands tucked under their heads.  Also note my son has poked his head through an arm hole on my camel wool wrap, surely there is a brooch pricking him in the back??  I hope i sleep like him tonight, love Posie
PS I have a cute paper bag giveaway too, due to it's unexpected popularity, i've increased it to a main prize & 5 runners up, you bloggie types really do like your paper, stickers & twine!!

i'm grateful for 'sticks, stones & fly fishing - a self imposed long weekend'

Greetings all,

Oh boy, what a gorgeous long weekend our family just enjoyed.  My husband & i dropped the children at school on Friday (we slowed the car down to 40km/h & pushed them lovingly) then a spot of shopping for fishing lures & high tailing it down this gorgeous tree lined driveway to Poacher's Pantry for lunch, the famous smoked meat goods shop & restaurant.

We dined inside next to the fire & alongside the pantry, we shopped from our seats, brilliant!! 

 Remembering we had children, we headed back into the city to pick them all up from school & then headed straight down the Barton Highway to Gundagai.

 Spending time with my husband's best mate & his lovely family is one of my favourite things in the world.  After a delicious lamb curry dinner, the children baked scones.

 The best behaved child gets to lick the beaters, that's the rule!!

 Time to explore the 100 year old house where they live part time in Gundagai.  The children are wearing gloves because a) they are weird & b) husband's best mate is a butcher & has standards when preparing food for other people. 

 Our nerdy high schooler brought her parachute experiment to test in the grand old stairwell.  We deprive her of any great heights at home as we live in a single level home.

 The house has 2 levels they don't use - check out this pantry on the middle level!!  Now that is my kind of pantry, room for a lounge??

Our boy found the gym, pumping those muscles before a day of fishing.

 Then i spied this old school table & seat in the hallway, i want it - perhaps without the brick, but i could upcycle that lamp, channelling Thea&Sami??

 Before we went fishing, the men took the children for a walk down the old railway lines & found this tea pot tree, native to Gundagai.

Rounding up the children we headed for the Tumut River.

 Do you think this ended well??

 My husband's best mate teaching our eldest daughter to fly fish.

 It was about this time i realised this little girl had her top on backwards, she had flipped the necklace over & didn't have a care in the world.

 Handsome soldier hunting wild beasts for our lunch.

 Behold the lucky rainbow trout catch-of-the-day who was quickly returned to the river, after everyone had a pat of him.  I'm surprised with all the stones the children were throwing & skimming on the river, there were any fish hanging around at all.

 "Look mum, i can still go deeper!!"  I'm just thrilled he realised if he tucked the faux socks at the top of his gum boots inside, they wouldn't get wet.  One minute later, his boots were filled with water anyway & drying by the fire, along with his jeans & socks!!

 I love watching how our children play together, then one by one, branch off to do their own thing.  This one was a tad Lord of the Rings, building her own fire.

 We provided much entertainment for these Angus cows.

 Running with sticks & towards fire no less!!

 Much excitement when we found some wild bush melons & check that cow pattie!!

 Little bit thrilled my beloved scissors brand Fiskars also make axes!!

 Why did a bother with jeans & gum boots, everyone left in knickers!!?? 

 I spent a wee while lying on the picnic rug, under a gum tree, looking up to this beautiful sky.

So it was a weekend of gourmet food, home baking, children running free, country air & only confirms our family desire to move out of the city to stake our claim on some land outside of Canberra, so every weekend is like this.  Tomorrow my husband leaves us again, he's back in Brisbane & on course (minimal phone contact) & we won't see him until the July school holidays, sigh.  It was a nice little holiday with him home this past week, now back to reality.  Only 19 months to go in our 3 years of living apart, i think we should have a little party in July when we're over half way!!

To see what everyone else is Grateful For this weekend, check out Maxabella Loves.  Have gorgeous weeks everyone, love Posie
Oh & don't forget this great Lego giveaway i have running for just one more week!!

i'm grateful for 'bloggie friends IN REAL LIFE'

Greetings all,
Wow, what a trip to Queensland i had.  To meet your bloggie friends for real & for true is just a blast.  First up was Thea from Thea&Sami blog screen printing in Capalaba, i love her, we had so much fun & boy is she a great teacher.

 We had a delicious lunch by the water too, oh yum, thank Thea.  Had to drag myself away, then drove back to my family in the rain & pitch black, dreaming of my boot load of remnants. 

 I took brownies & a bunch of organic goodies from Canberra.

Then off Bulimba, a lovely high end part of Brisbane on the river, to meet lovely Simone from Beach Vintage blog, at her delicious Just Plain Gorgeous store.  I had the image of Simone with her long blonde hair from her blog in my mind & found her in a stunning blue floral dress behind the counter. 

 I couldn't get all the things i didn't buy the first time out of my mind, so we went returned.

 Yes, this was my oilcloth emergency on Easter Sunday!!  Thanks Simone, gorgeous to meet you & i love your store, first place i'm going next time i'm in Brisbane.

Ah, Kylie from Mealy&i blog, a dear Army wife i've been friends with for many years, we caught up in March in Sydney at Sew It Together & again last week on ANZAC Day in South Bank Brisbane.  I forgot to take new photos of us, Kylie always looks fabulous.

True to form & just after Kylie's husband asked which child is the accident prone one . . . we glanced over to find the child in question getting medical assistance from the Life Guard.  She'd taken a chunk out of her knee.  Kylie did a great post about ANZAC day, her soldier & meeting up with us here.

 On my way back to Canberra, i took the New England Highway home & had tee'd up to meet Brenda from Hoo Are You Lookin' At blog as i'm a huge fan & collector of her gorgeous products from Red Stitch Designs.

 We met in a park in Tamworth, ha, sounds like some cyber date meeting in a public place, just in case.  We hit it off immediately & our children just ran off & played together.  So easy, ah, Brenda, i adore you.

 So glad i'm not the only one with children who have to play in water at any opportunity.  Look at the beautiful blue bird i was given, oh Brenda, you are too adorable!!

 Now the only way i could drag myself away from Brenda . . . i was off to Plain English in Scone.  I went there 6 years ago.  I did the Sydney to Brisbane round trip to spend 3 days with my husband while he had a long weekend on course, with 4 children under 6 . . . i found this divine store.  I should mention my children travel really well & long trips driving solo doesn't bother me.  I took the Pacific Highway up & allowed 5 driving days for this 3000km trip.

 OMG, a car space right out the front, how lucky!!??

 As the girls put their shoes on, my son ran ahead & delivered the bad news "Mum, the door is locked" followed up with "Mum, the sign says it's closed on Wednesdays" & the cruel blow "Mum, the shop couldn't be MORE closed". 

 So maybe next time & i'm dragging Tina Rubie from Rubies' Place blog to meet me there, as we couldn't catch up this trip but we're both totally in love with this particular country decor store.

On the final leg, from Sydney to Canberra, i caught up with my best bloggie friend Corrie from Retro Mummy.  We chatted twins, life with 4 children, schools, fabric, blogs, design, houses & living down in this part of the world (she's a Canberra girl living in Sydney wanting to move to Bowral, which is kind of in between).  Small little fact - our fathers were in the Navy together, so Corrie & i have probably known each other for more than 30 years, reunited by blogs!! 

Look at Miss Elodie, now 6 months, she's going to be tall like her Retro Daddy.
So i'm very grateful this week to be able to meet all these amazing bloggers in real life.  My handmade world of design & motherhood allows me to meet many bloggers at markets & Shop Handmade, i'm super lucky (see the list on the right side bar) & my Queensland holiday was very relaxing, only made better by meeting my favourite bloggers who are now new friends.  Love Posie