Boxing day reflections

Huge sigh of relief - Christmas day is over.  It was brilliant but big as always - too much of everything - emotions, food, alcohol, pressies....  Boxing Day is always welcome for being so low key.  Husband and I alone at home - A prone a lot of the time watching the cricket, me doing what I seem to like doing most of all for relaxation - sewing away.  Made a shoulder bag to take to NZ and a nice spotty top.  Managed also a walk and a swim and a sort of house tidy up.  Lots of ham fillups.  Still thinking of that wonderful salad Claire made up for us yesterday - spinach leaves, pecan nuts, raspberries and persian feta.  Was yum yum.  Bruce's hovering, whizzing, flashing, alien spaceship gizmos the big hit of Xmas - must track some down for James and Zach for the NZ trip.   Bye for now... take care.

House titivation

Phew - now all the millymaking sewing and markets are over for the year I am concentrating on getting the house ready for our Christmas guests. We realised we've made do without an outside light near the front door for over a year now but better not have the rellies struggling around in the dark trying to find their way to our front door this Christmas. I've ordered a groovy new outdoor light today from an online store selling lighting of every description. Don't you just love online shopping - too easy.

That reminds me - I really must create a website next year for our millymaker products.  Put that on the new year's resolution list... watch this space.

All over red rover

Whahooooo! The market was a great success on Sunday.  A slow start but then it went crazy for a few hours, before a steady stream of shoppers throughout the afternoon.  Sue and I were very pleasantly surprised by how much we made. 

Thanks once again to the lovely girls who run the market - Rebecca, Holly and Heather. Having eftpos available at the market was a great addition.  It was interesting being upstairs in the masonic temple - a bit musty with some strange little dressing rooms with hanging robes in them (what on earth really goes on in these places!!) - but otherwise a great space to share with some very nice people on the other stalls and all our fabulous customers. Thank you to Sue, Shauna, Noella and Helen  - my fellow millymakers, and to all the nice people from my work who came along and supported me.

I am going to give all away my few remaining bags to friends and charity and start the slate clean in 2010 - new ideas, new endeavours. For the moment I feel quite exhausted and all 'sewed out'.  I think it's time to give the Husky a break and to get outside to play in the vegie garden, to go bushwalking, kayaking, swimming too I hope.  Best wishes for a merry Christmas if I don't get to post another blog before then. Chin Chin.

Sue before the shoppers arrived

One week until the Xmas market

Planned to sew up a storm this weekend but really too much happening.  Chelsea's 6th birthday, Christmas shopping, family visits, and general life-decluttering-pre-Christmas mission... Ah well, what will be will be - we have lots of stock already and it's all about having fun being creative really.  Here's a sample of some shiny packaged goods waiting to be unleashed at the hobart market next Sunday 13 December at the Masonic Lodge, Hobart.  Might see you there?

We will be selling tote bags (each a one-off), the millydilly pouch bags (great inexpensive gift idea for dog walkers, party goers and new mums), Shauna's beautiful lino cut, individually hand-painted cards (each one a work of art in themselves - they look amazing framed) and Noella's quirky jewellery and 'intriguing sleeves'.

Five months in the life of our oak tree

Yes we love our oak tree.  It's one of the reasons we bought our house.  Last summer when it was very very dry we noticed all the leaves were curling and turning crispy brown and we thought for a while that the tree might perish.  I watered it solidly for weeks and it came good.  It has been great to see it do it's thing again this spring - obviously without any damage from the drought.  We think our oak tree is between 40 and 50 years old.

16 November  2009

25 October 2009

10 October 2009

 

20 September 2009

4 June 2009

I feel heroic

We managed it!  Husband and I finally constructed our Freedom slide bookshelving arrangement on the weekend.  Only took us about three hours and not a cross word between us. We have sworn, however, that if we ever buy anything in a flatpack again we'll pay the store to assemble it for us.  So here it is - ta dah.  Now I need to buy some lovely woven baskets to fill in some of the cubicles.  Funny how one retail purchase always necessitates another...

Have been in production of the  millydilly bag. These are little pouch type bags which you tie up and wear around your waist or hips  - perfect for walking the dog, going out dancing, travelling etc.  They look great worn over both pants or skirts.  It's less than three week to our market stall on 13 December at the Masonic Lodge, Hobart. See http://themarkethobart.com.au/ for more info.

Hullo again - still here

Whoops - I have been too busy to update this blog. It's that crazy time of year again  - social life getting busier, Christmas shopping to do, neglected house work and repairs to catch up on and of course the jungle of the garden needing taming after all the recent rain and jack-and-the-beanstalk growth. 

Outside our newly constructed (thank you Bruce) no-dig-raised-vegie-bed has needed lots of 'filling up' with layers of animal manures, newspapers, garden clippings, straw, compost etc. Inside the flat pack containing our new bookshelf from Freedom still sitting in the sunroom six weeks after buying it. Guilt guilt guilt - every time I trip over it but no time or energy to tackle that one yet. Opportunities to sew have been hard to squeeze into my weekends even though all I really want to do is play endlessly with my new sewing machine and overlocker!  Boo working nine to five, boo housework...

On Saturday evening caught up with Noella (birthday girl) and her market stall at the Hobart Fringe Festival.  She was selling some of my purses, a couple of bags and a new design I was trialling for a small dilly milly bag which ties around the waist.  Whoo hoo - all bags sold and lots of the purses too.  Planning on staring production of the milly dilly next weekend.

Yesterday Sue and I visited the first Christmas designers market at the Masonic Temple in Hobart to get a taste for what it is going to be like for our market stall in December.  Gosh was it busy - hard to even get near a stall.  Great to see but the pressure is on now to make more things. In the afternoon I did manage to whip up one bag in the afternoon using some lovely material bought in Burnt Street, Seaforth on a recent trip to Sydney.

Piling in the new vegie garden layers

Showing off our lovely oak tree again - green leaves are darkening every day

(PS Don't let this serene scene deceive you. This is the presentable area of the garden - the other side is where the jungle is taking over)