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.

baby turns 3

My little girl turned 3 last Friday...where have those last three years gone? She loves being three & constantly tells me she is now three. It is quite cute really. We had a birthday party last Friday afternoon with quite a few of her preschool friends & their older siblings.
My lovely husband once again made his little girl another fabulous birthday cake..this year Maisy Mouse. Our daughter was totally entranced as were the other party goers, they couldn't wait to rip into it & they did.
For her birthday I bought her the lovely Pippi Longstocking book illustrated by Lauren Child and some truely awesome clothing from the wonderful Emma at HazyJane.