Merry Christmas All

Wishing you all the most joyful Christmas 2010... I hope it will be all you wish for & may you have your own little Christmas miracle of some sorts.
I'm spending a week in Albury NSW with my Husband's family, the weather is beautiful, not too hot & we are looking forward to Christmas Day.

Pretty puddings

We had a Christmas Shopping Night as a fundraiser for my son's primary school, so I thought I would make a few drawstring fabric pouches that I had seen in a Japanese craft book from Lark. I had an idea that they would be great as reusable Christmas wrapping...they fit a 750gr Christmas pudding perfectly or as seen in the photo below they look great with biscuits in them...a nice Chrissy gift.

A friend took them down to Sydney to show celebrity gourmet baker Simmone Logue, she loved them & ordered 20 for her Double Bay & Cammeray stores...yippee! Yep so I have become quite quick at whipping these little guys up. I have also put some in my Etsy shop for you guys to buy if interested.

Christmas biscuits as a gift in pretty christmas pouch.

Reverse side of Christmasy pouch.

pretty florals..great to reuse after Christmas for makeup or jewellery.

How are you all surviving the lead up to Christmas? We are getting quite excited here, tree is up & decorated by the kids..we also have many solar powered Christmas lights this year.

bag lady....bird lady

My first sean-the-prawn handbags looking very Nana...I think that is a good thing ,don't you? Hoops and fabrics are all upcycled...oops except the lining of the pinky one, thats a recently purchased quilters cotton.

Little bit of surface interest, got to love some vintage embroidery.

All fully lined with pretty old worldy micro florals. The pussycat hooks on which the bags are hanging in my hallway were a purchase from Anthropologie in NYC. I bought them during a holiday there year 2000. I fell in love with NY & even more so with Anthropologie, lucky they don't have a store in my neighbourhood, I would be stone broke.

Here is a snapshot of one of my chooks this one is Yoko, she is not the sharpest tack but a good little layer none the less. We often let our chookys out in the afternoon to scratch around the fruit trees. I would love to hear if any of you have chooks & let me know what mischief they get up to at your place.

faeries in my garden

I was a busy little sew & sew leading up to our spring holiday period, snipping & stitching, mixing & matching prints & patterns...sewing machine working flat chat to build up some stock to go into Mooch inside to try to snapple sales from some happy holiday makers..... Success was had, I received a great response to my springy floral themed frocks. Yippee!

Before I rushed the dresses over to Mooch I phoned my lovely friend/photographer extraordinaire Lisa to see if by chance she was nearby with her camera on hand, & blow me down she was & coincidentally that day she was keeping an eye on a posse fashionista faeries with supermodel talents. Lisa loaded the fashion faeries into her shiny silver modern day combi van & arrived at my place in no time at all.
Lisa has just started up her very own blog..Hooray about time I say!! Lisa's blog overflowing with samples of her super photographic talents & even some beautiful photos of sean-the-prawn goodies.
Below are some of Lisa's photos capturing sean-the-prawn springiness, not to mention my visiting frolicking faeries.

Beautiful faery in blue folksy tea dress

pretty fun filled faery in brown, orange folksy tea dress

fashion faeries in petal frenzy mode

dreamiest little faery of them all in Grafton jacaranda souvenir tea dress.

Kia Ora & Bonjour

I have been in a cushion making frenzy lately & I must say that I'm absolutely loving making them. I went out & bought a stack of different sized inserts a week ago & since then I've been unstoppable. It is fun cutting up little snippets of my ever increasing stash of vintage florals & even more fun playing around with the different combinations. These little mummas have already gone to join Big Blue at Moochinside.

Kia Ora Kiwis...yep believe it or not, a New Zealand frock Bros. This little dress would be great on a 10 -12yr old, although it could possibly be worn by a teenager or as a top for a foxy mumma . I realise there is a bit of Mumma talk going on this post..must be the day for it.

Upcycled from a vintage tablecloth of the tourista kind..I thought this was kind of fun & summery...I also see it as homage to my beautiful Grandma Lily, an ever proud Kiwi who used get up & do the Hakka before watching televised football games.

Dress now retailing at Moochinside along with recent cushion extravaganzas.

School holidays start today eeeek...Not off to a good start with both kids with gastric flu..one almost recovered & the other in full throttle..gloves, antibacterial wipes loads of disinfectant..washing machine working overtime. Fingers crossed we'll be out of the danger zone within 24hrs.
Have a great fun filled weekend & enjoy School Holidays New South Welsh folk.

big blue

Hey, I have just added cushions to the sean-the-prawn repertoire & I'm loving the result.
The one pictured is a large size approx 60cm x 60cm, made from all upcycled vintage cottons & lace. On the front a gorgeous vintage hand embroidered doily..not I can not claim to have done that handiwork. Anyway it is tagged & at the lovely Mooch Inside waiting to be loved & taken to a good home.

weekend treasures

My latest pride & joy...I couldn't resist buying this gorgeous old shopping trolley at Saturday's French Market. I have always thought that these are super cool & wonderfully practical, a common site when I was a child. Grannies could be seen everywhere dragging these around town on their weekly shopping days. I will probably store my vintage fabrics in mine...one day I may even be brave enough to leave the house with it.

I found these fab aprons in a local Charity shop last Friday. Great bright 60's florals made by someone's Nana no doubt....it could have even been mine.

Here are some more of the wonderful goodies purchased at the local annual French Market on Saturday.( Although it has a moderately French atmosphere, the organiser is named Marion French, it is located at her quaint little farmhouse & surrounding gardens). Lovely vintage tablecloths, braids, Sylko threads & British made fasteners.

I had such a fun time...maybe spent a little too much money

North to Alaska

I know it is not the prettiest of shots, but I've been wanting to share this sun hat with you for a while now. In the corner of my sewing area I have a have an old 1930's kitchen dresser in which I store a lot of my fabrics, bits & bobs... on top of the dresser I display some of my ever increasing collection of vintage vases & this gorgeous 1950's straw sun hat, which belonged to a very dear old lady that I once knew. Don't know if I shall ever wear it, it looks too good on display..I would hate to damage it.

reversible vintage style bolero jacket with handmade fabric brooch.

Autumn daisy dress

Rosie Picnic dress

I have been a very industrious little sew & sew of late...busy completing these garments for a custom order for a little girl way up north in Alaska. I can't tell you how excited I am to have an order from so far away...seems quite exotic to me since I am located at the bottom of the globe...although we Aussies like to think that we really are at the top of the World, it's just that everybody else got it wrong.

3 dresses..3 bears...2 hats & a quilt

I found this picture of The Three Bears way up the top of my old wardrobe at my parents house...such a humble little thing it was, just a cheap print backed on some old boxboard....but oh so many memories from my childhood attached to that picture. I thought to do it justice & honour the part it played in my prettying up my bedroom for all those years, I have recently had it cleaned up & framed. It now takes its place in my three year old daughter's bedroom..now making new memories for her.
I dropped in at Mooch Inside last Thursday to say hello to the lovely Margie & Kath who are busy uploading oodles of photos to get their online shop up & running...I believe it is only a week or so away. Come on girls, it is such a tease knowing just how close you are. While I was over there I thought I'd snap a shot of some sean-the-prawn goodies on display, some awaiting pickup & others just waiting to be loved. I have had a few custom orders of late...it is nice to be popular.
Hoping this week ahead will be a good one for you.

sweet lime, sunfrocks & sunsets

Dresses waiting to be completed.

My little sunfrocks are totally made from upcycled fabrics & they have been selling really well of late , so I had better get a wriggle on to get these babies finished. I retail them at a fab local store named Mooch Inside which stocks gorgeous art, lifestyle items & super spunky fashion. Mooch inside is very soon to get their online shop up & running ..Yippeee!!

Sweet limes from our garden.

It has been a great year for citrus fruit...washington navels, valencias & blood oranges. We also had loads of mandarins & these Tahitian limes all picked from the trees in our back garden....Mojito anyone??

My corner view at sundown.

This is the view at the end of my street. I snapped this shot at sundown about a week ago when walking home around the Bay, I disturbed the three pelicans who were eating scraps of fish left behind by local fishermen & they took off across the water. Ahhh serenity, I love living here!

summer dress on a winter's day

It is a cold winter's day here where I live, one hours drive north of Sydney on the east coast of Australia. The temperature reached a high of 14 degrees Celsius. I know you Northern Hemisphere folk must be laughing at the notion of that being a cold day, but it has been grey & threatening to rain all day. It may sound all very bleak, but alas the wattle tree is flowering at my front door & all is screaming out golden & sunny in my view.

I just love wattle with it's cute little fluffy balls of yellow & it's tiny weenie buds ready to burst. It really does cheer me up & bring a lot of life (bees & native birds) into the garden this time of year. All that yellow provides a great backdrop on which to hang one of my latest dresses that I have designed & made. It's a little girls (size 3) summer dress in a light weight flocked voile.

I have been working on a few pieces for a handicraft project to be initiated in Afghanistan by a wonderful charity named Mahboba's Promise. They will be taking my designs & samples along with those of a couple of close friends of mine over to Afghanistan where Mahboba has set up schools, orphanages for children & refuges & a workroom for Afghan war widows. The idea is for the women to sew & embroider garments & home ware pieces to allow them to be financially self sufficient & to maintain their traditional handicraft skills. It is only early days for this project & it will be a steep learning curve for all involved.
One of the friends of which I am working with on the Mahbobas Handicraft Project is Jane of Focalpoint Home. Jane has just started her own blog Focalpoint Home & I would love you to pay her a visit & offer a little encouragement , even advice if you wish. Jane is super clever...a trained Interior designer & florist (her beautiful work above) & she now has a successful business importing gorgeous pieces from Tunisia. Go Janey!!

holidays...pumpkins..& pretty pancakes

My Son with his snow buddy.

Hi there, just when you thought I had dropped of the face of the blogging earth....I'm Back!!
We took a weeks holiday & it was such a great thing to do this time of year to break up that mid year bogged down feeling. My husband's youngest brother has become engaged to be married & finally had a party to celebrate..so we drove near 700kms to visit his family in Albury N.S.W. A lovely time was had catching up with family & looking around town. My children had so much fun with their cousins, especially the day we drove another 120kms from Albury to Falls Creek for a day in the snow. It was the first time ever seeing snow for our kids & they loved playing in it for hours. We hired some toboggans which we gave an absolute huge workout going up & down a snow covered gentle slope...I kept stealing them from the kids to do some crazy stunt tobogganing. We even built a snowman & decorated him with pebbles & my beanie...which resulted in me having a bit of a cold damp head for the rest of the afternoon..well worth it though.

Home grown pumpkin

Why am I showing you a photo of a pumpkin? Well because I grew it myself in my own backyard. It was quite an accident to be growing pumpkins as I dug a big hole in the earth to plant a banana tree & threw a heap of vegetable scraps in the ground to give it a kick start, which it did but also a few weeks later started to sprout a vigorous pumpkin vine. Delicious tasting soup & a couple of serves of yummy roast veggies came from this little baby.

The pottery dog looking thingy in the background is named Herbie & was a part of my 1970's childhood. He is from South America & is used to grow alfalfa sprouts. You fill him with water & then place seeds in the groves on his exterior. Within no time the seeds sprout & you can harvest them for salads & sandwiches..Lots of fun!!

Butterfly pancake.

Can you believe your eyes?! My husband is great at making pancakes, & being the creative soul that he is, he loves giving a bit of a twist to the traditional. He often makes spider or jellyfish shapes for the kids but I think this is one of his best... the butterfly. All done by turning the pan to run the mixture in the right directions...love it!!

Things of beauty

We have had our fair share of rainy days lately..great for the vege patch but not so great for Mum's of young children. Anyway, this morning was lovely & sunny, just perfect for a wander around my backyard for a little self garden admiration. I couldn't help myself, I had to snip off a couple of my dahlias to bring inside. They really bring the house alive & I love how they look in this little Japanese vase that was an op shop find last year. The colours in this photo give me a bit of a Frida Kahlo, Mexican vibe. What do you think??
Glad I brightened up the house as down comes the rain again!!

I love these tiles, they are all handmade & painted in Tunisia (North Africa). The colours are so exotic & dreamy, & these ones in particular have an amazing crackled glass glazing that give them a lovely lustrous finish. A great friend of mine Jane Tryon, imports them & many other beautiful items into Australia through her business Focal Point Designs. Jane's fiance is from Tunisia & he has just been back there buying up stock to fill their gorgeous gallery/ shop Bouddi Gallery at Hardy's Bay. The shop is very near to my house so I'm often grabbing a coffee & dropping by for a chat & a look at any new stock she may have. It's great to have some pretty places to visit in our sleepy little seaside suburb.
I have been a little distracted recently with family life & community responsibilities kicking in...I really must get cracking on my little label...more sean-the-prawn soon, I promise!!

I've got a golden ticket

My beautiful boy turned 7 yesterday and he had a party straight after school with his classmates & some others at the local park. It was a lovely sunny afternoon with about 25 or more children running around, playing in the park, blowing bubbles and eating way too many lollies from the faulty pinata that fell to the ground and was clubbed to death. The cake was yet once again another masterpiece made entirely by my husband, who I would have to say is extremely cake proud & tries to up the anti each year. This year he surprised our son with a Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory (Roald Dahl) cake, he even made a faux Wonka Bar with golden ticket inside!! Crazy stuff but very well appreciated. 7 is a great age. I remember being 7 & telling my Grandmother that I wanted to stay that age forever...sometimes I believe I have..well, I'm sure my inner child is 7.

Vintage roses..custom hat heading for Germany.

Front view of Coffee & Roses fully reversable sun hat. West German pottery vase in background.
Back view of hat taken amongst my frangipani trees.

A couple of weeks ago there was an Etsy Conversation email waiting for me. It was a request for a custom made version of one of my vintage style reversable sunhats. How exciting my first Etsy custom request, & all the way from a lovely lady in Germany. The customer told me that she would like a hat in pinks & creams, so I hit the op shops & trawled through my fabric stash until I had some options to photograph & email to her. She suggested her favourite two from a list of eight possible choices, then told me her hat size/ head measurement & boomshanka the hat was complete in six days. I have posted it up on my Etsy store today for her to purchase. I hope she likes it!? I do.

while we are on the subject..

Pincushions, pincushions flying around the globe..will they get the love they need nobody knows!(don't be alarmed...this not a serious attempt at poetry).

This is the sweet little pincushion I made for the Foxs Lane pincushion swap. I made this little lovely for Little Betty Designs whom I'm told loves the colour red. Firstly I patched together a lot of my off cuts, then I stitched the heart shape & stuffed. After that I stitched ribbon around the outer edge, made a cutiepie ribbon & button bow, then lastly decided (too much is never enough) it needed some cream coloured running stitch detail. I was very pleased with myself for posting it off 4days before the deadline.

Above is the totally spunky pincushion that I managed to win in a dorothy bills give away. Thanks so much Eleesa, I love everything about it. The green vintage fabric is just the kind of thing I weekly scour the op shops for. Lady you have a great style!

hooray, hooray...it's here!

Extra groovy pincushion from Kootoyoo

Goodies...I'm a lucky old ducky!

I met the postie on the way to my letterbox, he had fanged past on his motorbike which disappointed me..I thought oh well fingers crossed maybe tomorrow. BUT, he hopped off his bike & proceeded to walk towards our place calling out "presents, presents"! Yippee! I told him about the pincushion swap, how I had sent one that I had made & that I had been waiting on this little treasure. Mike the Postie said he was very good a making pincushions when he was a young'n. The back of the brown paper package said it was from Kootoyoo...coolness! one of my faves.

Thank you Kootoyoo for the mind blowing bucket of popcorn pincushion. I love how you have stitched together the red & white strips of fabric to make stripes, the way you have stitched the puffy white popcorn shapes at the top, the Aunty Cookie face at the base, & the real popcorn pinheads..very surreal, Salvador Dali would be proud. So very kind of you to add the goodies: love the handmade retro glasses case, very handy as I am a four eyes. The little concertina fabric covered note book is also gorgeous. Thank you x 1000. You have truly made my day.I was jumping up & down with excitement. Thanks also to Kate of foxs lane for organising this mega swaparama, my first ever & totaly enjoyable.

Chasing butterflies.

Great little pink linen vintage tea towel find in immaculate condition just begging to be stitched up into a little pretty frock. I'm loving this print, it is everything I love especially the white daisies which used to be a bit of a signature of mine. I backed this one with a sweet yellow cotton gingham which gives it a kind of 1950's feel. Mmm makes me feel like a frolic in a meadow chasing butterflies.

Charlie Quilt...I'm loving it!

decorative hand stitching in green & cream thread

quilt laid out on the outdoor table on our front deck.

Dropped this quilt off to the gorgeous local store & gallery Mooch Inside on Saturday morning & I couldn't wait to show it off to the lovely ladies there. I think out of all the cot quilts I have made to date,this one is definitely my favourite. I love the bright sunny colours & the Japanese red riding hood print. Thanks to my neighbour & friend Charles for gifting me his favourite old shirt so I could chop it up into 6"& 6" squares. It is the most beautiful orange sateen weave cotton with white Asian style chrysanthemums printed....this makes the quilt even more special as I love it when things have a past life.

Pretty frocks...some with brooches

Handmade blue brooch Daisy dress with blue trims

Red check with floral

Little handmade brooch

New frocks from the House of sean-the-prawn....girly & sweet reminiscent of days gone by.

My Northern Hemisphere friends have had an impact on me with all their Spring talk, for I've gone floral mad. Come to think of it wouldn't be nice to be Spring all year round.

All dresses have been made from recycled vintage prints & trims. Drawstring waists & elasticated necklines & sleeves will allow for a long period of wear. This dress will take you from a size 3yrs through to a size 6yrs. My tall, slender 6yr old niece wears the same size dress as my daughter that just turned 3. The 6yr old wears it as a smock style long top over pants & it looks great.

Hooray...I've finished them! Let's hope they go to a good home.