phew, more fabrics in the store

Oh dear, I feel like I've been glued to the computer for the last 24 hours! Emails to answer, craft shows to organise, craft classes to finalise and of course new fabrics for the store! I've added 10 new fabrics this morning and here are some of my favourites........cute little village by Trefle for Kokka, a lovely double gauze that will make adorable pj's and quilts.



sweet bambi and cute things for girls



and you can't say no to cute little mushrooms! Imagine this as binding on a quilt....adorable



and I just got a call that 2 more Lecien fabrics are arriving tomorrow! And I still haven't received one of my huge kokka/cosmo fabric orders so I expect that soon too......ahhh drowning in fabric!

handmade market debrief

phew! we're back! exhausted and we still need to unpack the car after such a busy weekend away. We headed down to canberra on saturday morning and checked into our hotel. It was lovely and flashy and everything was going fine until about 12 huge bikies from a notorious gang checked in, you couldn't miss their gang name as it was all over their jackets! ahhhhh my worst nightmare and you could just see the faces on the other guests! I was terrified when they all got out on our level. Retro Daddy made small chat in the lift reassuring me they were lovely but decided not to tell me they were in canberra for a wake for someone who died a year ago. The next morning he joked to me did I hear the guns going off in the night...not funny retro daddy but they were harmless! We were up early sunday to set up for handmade and thought the venue was gorgeous....



we had a nice corner spot, tucked away from the main room and it proved a perfect location as there was gridlock throughout the day in the main room! In fact I've never been to a market that busy before! It was just crazy busy but if you're a stallholder that is the kind of busy you like! people were 2 to 3 deep at times trying to look at our stall and our bargain baskets proved very popular. Nothing like packing up and having lots more space in your bags



We always rearrange our tables slightly different at each market and this time invested in a $27 card table from bunnings which created a nice little L shape and gave us more room. Thanks jennie for the tip! I'm bringing that baby to every market with me



The tree was gorgeous and we got lots of comments on it and the hats were hugely popular! My mum and I just need to work overtime this week to top up before allie's this weekend in mosman and make sure we cover all sizes and popular colours.



I did manage to work the room a few times and got some lovely goodies I'll show you tomorrow when everything is unpacked, my washing is all done and I've fully recovered. We did the masters exhibition yesterday which was fabulous but also tiring because the twins are not huge fans of queues and we had a torrential downpour while in the queue. Keira on the other hand absolutely loved it and wants to be an artist and turn our house into her own gallery!



So this was my best market in terms of sales by a huge amount and it's all going to the bank today for my poor credit card which always seems to have a new fabric invoice on it!!!! A huge thank you to Julie and her helpers (Ros & Rachel) who made the day run sooo smoothly and are obviously doing a great job with this popular market. I think 10,000 people through the door is success in itself!!! We'll be down for handmade again without a doubt and Sydney ladies who love handmade should definitely make a day of it! It was also great to see so many familiar faces too like posie patchwork, ensparkle ceramics, paperklip, gifts created, please eloise, summerblossom (rochelle is keira's new bff) and more. Big thank you to katia my stall buddy and her hubby Mark because 2 big men packing up the car makes pack up a breeze!!!! And thanks katia for letting me use your photos as I didn't have time to take any myself!!!

me and the camera

I love my new camera but the thought of me getting in front of the camera is not my idea of fun. I've known since Monday that I needed to take a picture of myself this week and of course I've left it till the very end of the week face up to the camera!



So with my gorgeous grandmother's flower garden quilt hung over the door and a touch of make up retro daddy got to work.....and about 20 photos later we got two I can live with!!!!!



phew, off to the magazine they go! It was much more fun collecting everyone else's photos for the job than taking my own!

just in time...

oh dear, more fabric to cut! I'm not quite sure whether it's a good thing to have this fabric arrive today....... but I'm sure by Sunday when I'm at the market I'll be glad it arrived just in time.



I love it all and I think I catered for the boys well with 3 new boy fabrics in blues, reds and whites.



and the words are in swedish! thanks ladies for telling me!



and this cream chum chum bear fabric is very retro cute and would make adorable wall hangings, appliques and quilts.



So off to finish my jobs, buy a few last minute supplies, pick up little miss from preschool, grab an early dinner in manly then back to my jobs and packing! Fabrics will be with me on Sunday at Handmade and in the store on monday....

still sewing

Please excuse my lack of blog posts! There are so many things to organise before we leave for Canberra but top priority is finishing my sewing. I always like to finish sewing a day or two before the market to give me time to do the smaller projects, cut fabric, pack everything for market, pack everything for the trip and children and make sure we are ready to go!



and here is some proof I have been busy sewing....2 days worth of trimming under my feet. I'll fix it all up tonight when I officially call it quits sewing dresses and get to work on my other jobs before Saturday.......



and no I haven't forgotten about my giveaway either, I'll draw a winner tonight!

still loving my tree

with retro daddy home this week I'm enjoying a rare moment to sew at 9am on a weekday! It doesn't happen very often and I hope this is what it will be like when all my lovelies are off at school....which seems like decades away right now.



and while I'm sewing I am also admiring my new tree which looks great filled with little hats and hair ties! Still a few more hats and things to go on but it was definitely one of my best buys this year.

my new tree

thank you from the bottom of my heart for your kind words. They have meant so much to me. Life is always busy here and it keeps my mind off things. There is so much to get ready for including Handmade next Saturday in Canberra. I popped into a lovely shop today for a small display and walked out with this huge tree which is almost as tall as I am!



It will be perfect for all of our little accessories! We are finding we are getting stuck for space at markets so with a bit of clever rearranging of our table, clothesrack and baskets on the floor we hope this allows us to get some things off our table and makes our stall looks pretty! Best of all I paid $65 instead of the full retail price of $150 due to a small break that you can hardly see. Retro Daddy was impressed, because as you know it's very important to highlight the savings to your husband and not how much you spend!

cashmerino and cancer

Bendigo have just released a gorgeous new yarn called Melody! A blend of merino, cashmere and microfibre and is going to be the most perfect substitute for Debbie Bliss cashmerino in so many of the Debbie Bliss patterns I love! It's a fraction of the price and there are some lovely colours so I'm off to quickly find some patterns and work out how much I need.



I desperately need some cheering up and retail therapy after devastating news last night from my mum whose cancer has spread. She is so amazingly positive and upbeat and doesn't want everyone crying for her but I'm afraid that's all I want to do. So, I plan to get her some lovely new yarns in her favourite colours and keep her busy crocheting......those of you who pray I know will keep her in your prayers.

yes, I sew!

new readers of my blog might think all I do is use my slow cooker and do markets! But, I do sew, really I do! With handmade around the corner I've been cutting up dresses and getting to work on another 20 to take down with me.. here are a few waiting for binding ties. Oh I do love Darla fabric and when Wynona of ivy designs had a couple of bolts to sell I almost took the whole lot from her hands! Sadly, Wynona lost her blog, it's vanished, gone, so here's hoping she gets a new one up and running again!!!!



Now with all this sewing planned, I'm thrilled that retro daddy starts 3 weeks holiday on monday! woohoo! He has such an exciting destination planned.....our house! No last minute plans anywhere exciting as I committed to a japanese exchange student over the same period but I'm looking forward to having some help on the home front!!!! I'm thinking special dinners (like japanese tempura and katsu), some shopping on my own, a few trips in to the magazine for some planning and of course family time!!

do you scrapbook or love papercraft?

do you live in sydney and want to volunteer for Stitches & Craft show on the 14th-18th April? I'm looking for some fun and friendly volunteers for a craft bar sponsored by Notebook magazine! The projects and all materials are provided and you get to teach them to a number of ladies who come up to the bar and pick a project!


there will be a friendly teacher there with you and we need 2 volunteers per day!!!! Just one day is all you need to do and you'll get a free entry pass to the show, a goody bag from Notebook including a free one year subscription to the magazine (wow! thank you Notebook!!!!), $100 for your time and energy and of course a fun day doing something you love...I'll be there at the bar one or two days too.


Drop me an email if it sounds like your cup of tea......corrie_sebire@hotmail.com. These images come courtesy of the cricut website and now I want a one of their latest machines...oh the possibilities.....
UPDATED IF YOU LIVE IN MELBOURNE AND PAPERCRAFT OR CANBERRA AND SEW DROP ME AN EMAIL TOO!!!!!!!

yay for julie

here is my lovely sister-in-law Julie's first project for Moda bakeshop!!! woohoo!


and hunky dory is such a gorgeous fabric range! Well done, Julie!

keeping busy and brownies

I know I haven't been blogging as much as normal! Today, I've just focused on catching up on the homefront which has included lots of washing, folding, groceries, cleaning, making salmon cakes for dinner and spending some time catching up on keira's handwriting!!! Somehow, we also managed to find some time to make brownies while the babies were napping!


nothing makes your home smell nicer than a batch of good brownies in the oven..... and nothing tastes better for afternoon tea either. But I'll be the first to admit when you're not watching your waistline it's pretty easy to eat a whole row of the brownie yourself....as seen here.



I can't find where I put my recipe on my blog but here it is in case you missed it last time....I've been making this recipe since I was a single girl living in london!

200g dark cooking chocolate (broken into small pieces)
100g butter (cubed)
1 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cup SR flour

Melt the butter and chocolate over a low heat in a saucepan or microwave stirring often. Place in bowl and cool slightly, add sugar, eggs and flour stirring gently after each addition. Pour into lined square cake tin and bake in 180 degree oven for about 25-30 minutes until top and sides are crispy and centre is cooked but still slightly gooey. Leave to cool in pan (if you can resist),then slice and enjoy!

too tired to type

that would be me last night as 9.30-4.30 for a market just killed me! It was a lovely day, quiet, but we still managed to pull in sales and my scarf is almost finished!



the atmosphere was lovely and we particularly enjoyed the sausage sizzle for lunch, cupcakes, gelato, 2nd hand books and katia relived her childhood with some pink fairy floss! I've started taking some lovely hand dyed yarn from celia with me and I came home with 2 balls for my miss tillie. It's a perfect complement to the needles and saves us from sounding like a broken record explaining what the needles are!



Keira came home with a gorgeous necklace from six in a row and although they don't have a webstore yet they will be at handmade in canberra this month. I think mummy needs one too.



and I got a gorgeous new shirt from ollie and max who were soooo lovely! I am wearing it today and already want another one next week as this could be new maternity wardrobe! I swore I wouldn't wear leggings this pregnancy as I'm not proud of my legs but I've got to say all the little button details on the shirt make it a perfect wardrobe staple and its so comfy! oh so comfy!



All in all a nice day but I just couldn't move off the couch last night and wanted to eat the whole pizza on my own I was so ravenous! I now have a 2 week mini break before handmade and will be a busy bee sewing to top up my stock and cutting more new fabrics as I know you canberra ladies love the fabrics

first knit of the season

well it's been a little chilly in sydney lately so I got out the needles and a skein of lovely handspun merino from lush yarn.....from the big basket I won at the last stitches and craft show! Wow that was a good prize!



I cast on 16 stitches and am doing a simple seed stitch of k1, p1 for the pattern which gives it a nice knobbly look and shows off the pretty colours and texture of the handspun.



I figured if I eased myself into a scarf then I can get stuck into the next projects on my to do list which include a pink crossover top for keira's ballet classes, a whisper cardigan for myself and hoodies for the twinnies!

and another market....

I have promised retro daddy I have some little breaks in between markets going forward, but lately it seems I'm doing them back to back. So, if you're in sydney I'll be at the Holy Family Art & Craft Show at Holy Family Catholic Primary School, Lindfield this Saturday from 9.30-4.30. The address is 2-4 Highfield Road. I love a good school fete and this one is extra special with an art show and boutique stallholders as well as all the usual stalls like books, bric a brac, 2nd hand clothes, cakes, rides and more.


I was contacted by the organisers about this market and with 20% of all sales going to the school and charities it's a great cause and was a no brainer! I'm also excited to see one of my favourite shirt dress labels Ollie & Max will be there as well as betty & lola, tres divin and many more. I definitely need another ollie & max dress in my wardrobe with my growing tummy....

what craft do you want to learn in 2010?

what craft are you going to learn this year??? For me it's got to be cake decorating, I haven't been the best at making little sugar flowers in cake decorating classes but I'd love to decorate cupcakes and cookies like the professionals....inspired by peggy porschen who does the MOST amazing cakes and cookies in London....


So I'd love you to go and comment here and tell notebook what you'd like to learn this year......they are launching amazing craft classes this year and perhaps this has been my little magazine project I've been secretly helping with......

slow cooker love

oh slow cooker, you have become my new best friend in the kitchen! Last night you did a delicious leek and potato soup for us and tonight.....vegetable and lentil rogan josh served on basmati rice from the rice cooker. This was my first bowl and I did go back for seconds as it was so delicious.....



you'll need
1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped
1 cup frozen peas
3 small potatoes/1 large potato, peeled and chopped
1 onion chopped
1 can lentils, drained (making it easy on myself)
1 jar rogan josh simmer sauce (you didn't think I actually made it from scratch did you??)
1 jar water (gives you a nice sauce)
1 Tbsp sugar (optional but mine needed it)

Just pop it all in the slow cooker, stir, and I cooked on high for 4 hours and then low for another hour till retro daddy got home. Basmati rice gave it the most perfect indian flavour and there isn't much left for lunches.



and I enjoyed my curry opposite my big kids who were all eating on their own! The twins have just graduated to the big table and eating on their own. I am so proud of them when I see them all together, laughing and sharing their dinner as finn prefers to clear tillie's plate before his own.



next step for the twins.......cutlery!

purchases....

this is me being restrained!!!! I still have another large order of kokka arriving this month so try not to overdo it with purchases when I know there are big bills coming my way. First up, the super nice ladies behind me had these super cute sophie giraffes which is the first little thing I've bought for baby number 4



next up I became very popular with keira with these sparkly trainers! Just what every little girl will want for their 4th birthday....I couldn't get her size so she has a bit of growing to do and keeps trying them on every few hours to see if she's grown....awwwwwww. Apparently the lady before me bought 7 pairs! yikes!



for my mum and myself I bought some sweet japanese notebooks from paperklip, we compared travel notes on canberra and it just goes to show I need to walk the room as I never made it to this lovely stall while I was at Canberra Mathilda's but everything was lovely and I'll definitely be back again for more goodies next time.



and my only other purchases (see, so restrained) were cupcakes and they have all gone now! I hope there are plenty more cupcake stalls at my future markets!! You really need to set aside a good hour to walk the room and take it all in but I loved the variety of stalls yesterday and hope all the customers felt the same way!

another day, another market

wow! what an amazing market and turnout! I started the day trying to earn wife of the year award by making scrambled eggs for hubby before we jumped in the car early to head off for market. I felt mean making him get up at 6am after a week interstate for work and a cold.... but we got there! The market was sooooo busy, there was plenty of pram gridlock going on during busy times.



I had a lovely neighbour helen and her tempting wares....I'm definitely in the market for more of her gorgeous items and she indulged in some fabric too! I see a future sewer in the making here.....



and this is a very bad photo of very good cupcakes! I bought 12 and came home with enough for dessert tonight and they were so delicious and very popular today with everyone!



claire was there with her gorgeous owls.....and her hubby was even on hand to help out! She was also located right next to a tempting store.....it was cookies for her!



and I got to meet the gorgeous wynona of ivy designs.....we'd been emailing for a while and it's sooo nice to put a face to a name and say hi! Oh her stall was gorgeous and I'm definitely going to need one of these dolls for keira's 4th birthday this year



Big thank to you to everyone who came and said hi and to all the new people I got to meet! Also to my lovely helper Katia, I just couldn't do markets without you and I'm so glad you had a great day too.......we make a good team if I do say so myself! Now it's time to feed the twins, order the chinese takeaway and rest my weary feet! I'll show you my purchases tomorrow...I tried to be restrained!!!!!!

last minute preparations & giveaway

the day before market is always left for last minute jobs! This afternoon it will be ironing, last of the crochet hats to finish, checking I have enough fabric cut, more price tags and cutting new fabric that I totally forgotten I'd ordered last year! I think these fabrics will be perfect for winter tunics, dresses and skirts and am going to take them as one metre pieces tomorrow at a special price! I wish I had the time to whip up a few skirts before then but it's just not going to happen!



I'm even thinking a wrap skirt for myself and my growing tummy from the bottom 2 fabrics would be perfect this winter. I promise not to go matchy matchy with keira though! And since I haven't done a giveaway in ages how about I give away 1 metre of your choice from these fabrics. Leave a comment before next Friday afternoon with what you'll make with it and you're in the draw!!! See you tomorrow at Mathilda's!

a good week

well it's turning into a good week! I have a big order of super cute cosmo and kokka fabric coming my way and hopefully it will be here by saturday for mathilda's! You'll find my stall directly opposite the cupcake stall.....dangerous spot and I think it's fair to say I'll have a cupcake or two for morning tea!



it's also a good week because my scan went well today. I really am a worrier and was prepared for the worst but baby is there with a good strong heartbeat, growing and spot on for dates which has been a huge relief.

lotus love

I'm finally tackling orders from Allie's and Mathilda's this week! Today I had to make an urgent dress for a birthday girl and get it out in the post. Lotus is definitely one of my favourite fabric ranges....I think I'm kind of sad to see this fabric go and I had to search my whole stash for the contrasting fabric but got there in the end!



I'm also helping out one of my favourite magazines with a project they are starting. I am enjoying it so much and thankfully can do all my work tonight from the comfort of my couch.....wireless internet I think I love you, no wait, I do love you!

verna

I am definitely a charm square addict! I've ordered more for the store and markets....here is the latest delivery, Verna by kate spain!



expect to see a small quilt this week....

canberra wrap up

Well we're back, I have big bags under my eyes this morning as we are all so tired but we had a great weekend away! Canberra has changed so much since I moved away but in a good way. The city is much more cosmopolitan and whole shopping centres have popped up since I'd last been down there. The twins are creatures of habit and spending their first night away from home didn't quite go to plan but we survived and will brave it again!



The hyatt was a gorgeous venue for mathilda's. I was running solo for this market so was a busy bee setting up and didn't talk to anyone for fear of not being ready when doors opened! First through the door were two of my old canberra buddies which was so sweet of them, and it was nice to see some familiar faces especially from other stallholders like helen, sophie and jennie! I was also behind the gorgeous koolaman designs who are so lovely! Of course, all the stallholders I met and got to talk to were lovely!Big thank you to sophie who walked over at just the right time letting me get a well deserved toilet break!!



No dramas except that everyone had $50 notes and my float quickly disappeared! I borrowed jennie's lovely daughter to do a muffin and lemonade run which provided some more change and I have oodles of $50 notes in my wallet (for a change)! Each market I'm doing more sales and I also learn something new which helps me get better too. I love selling in person and people are just so nice which makes it a special day.



All in all a good weekend, thank you canberra ladies and blog readers who came to say hi! Look forward to the next one....hopefully by then I have found the perfect tablecloth which doesn't crush even after you've ironed it that morning!!! Yikes!



the only downside was the killer back pain I've had since friday, my Dr has checked me over this morning and thinks everything is fine but I have another scan booked for wednesday and need to sit tight till then. Baby, you are scaring me!!! I'm a worrier by nature and have been here before with a sad ending so am leaving it in God's hands now. Plus I have the twins here with me today to keep my mind off things, finn pulled off his nappy, did a wee and leaned over to smell it and almost fell face first into it which was pretty funny, he thought so too!!!! They keep me smiling and seeing the bigger picture!