The Three Gifts...

Today I was spontaneously given 3 mysterious gifts by my son.

A little yellow car hidden within the pages of  a Peter Singer book.

A book that has absolutely nothing to do with crochet wrapped in crochet.

 

And my remote control sandwiched between the pages of 

The Science of Parenting.

Now the very fact that he has 'gifted' me with objects that I do, actually, already own- is beside the point.

Is is after all the thought that counts.

Nonetheless this third and final gift really captured my imagination this morning. I particularly loved the symbolic gesture that would have one searching out good parenting ideas only to find the television remote control is the answer.

How many times have I let ABC Kids or a DVD like Toy Story babysit my son while I sneak off for some sewing time?????? Well lets just say it has happened more than once. Particularly around a market week.

But ssshhh don't tell anyone, just concentrate on my awesome gifts.

Now I just need to find a place to put them.

To Market to Market...

  The Thornbury Market was on again yesterday and I did quite well, despite the rain.

I famously forgot to photograph my stall until after I had made sales (will I ever learn?) but I really enjoyed the day and loved the social atmosphere of the new location.  Due to the hall being renovated the stalls were set up in the Thornbury Womens Neighborhood House.  Which has a little play area, so the children were vastly happy.  Happy children make for relaxed parents and many of the visitors to my stall were chatty and shared great ideas with me about my Thornbury community.  Met some lovely new people too.

And we like that. 

My 'Valentine inspired but not necessarily Valentine' cards sold like hot cakes.
These little Kokka prints are so adorable.  I'm going to make more one day.

I was left with one however to give to a certain special someone???

The Bee rattles sold well again. I know this is a terrible photo, but hey- lucky there is a one at all! Some things were sold without me ever having a picture of them.

I truly love the Birds and the Bees.

The birds had little squeakers inside them.

  

This little madam didn't sell.  I cannot understand why? I'm in love with her.  

Her name is Iris, she is intelligent and well educated and important in the science community. 

But she has a wild side, oh my she certainly does.

She is most famous for saying "E=MC Hammer".

And she just whispered to me (as many people do) that I should start an Etsy store.  

Well Iris we will have to see about that....

This little Red Riding Hood was sold to a doll collector.  Always an honour when someone that already has many dolls can make room for one more.  I know she will be well cared for and it makes me feel shiney.

 

My summer frocks never sell well on rainy cold Melbourne days.  There is just something about that phenomena, if I was selling woolly scarves they would have been a hit. 

I totally understand though, when I was a young girl I could never dress my dolls in woolens during the summer or my Barbies in their bathers on a cold Gippsland autumnal day.

But I sold a pretty green dress and will not need to sew any more of these for the North Melbourne Market in 2 weeks and I'm quietly relieved about that. 

I really love Thornbury, I wish it had a bigger market where all of us Thornbury crafters could have a stall at the same time.  There are so many of us.  It is craft central here. :)

Made n Thornbury Market Time....

Come along and support women in small business at the Made n Thornbury market tomorrow.  It is always a small but bustling place to chill out and meet new people and crafters. Hope to see you there. :)

Creative Space XIII...

Today I have quite a bit to sew for the Made n Thornbury Market this Saturday, including dresses for dolls, little bird and bee rattles and hopefully I will have time to craft some Valentine's cards too.

 

I was hoping to complete most of said sewing yesterday but we had a terrible accident in the house.

My son acquired a 4 inch iron burn on his gorgeous little leg.  I feel so hideous about it.

He somehow climbed up onto the table where the iron was resting and even though he just touched his calf to it for a second, the strip of burn was incredibly painful for him.

The worst thing about it is I had gone to great pains to keep him out of that room all morning.  I repeatedly mentioned that the iron was on in there and it was safer to play in the lounge.  But in some kind of reckless 3 year old abandon he made a run for it and insisted on remaining in the room, so I moved the iron to an out of the way table, but alas....

I turned my back for a second to the sewing machine and then for some reason he climbed.  He will probably regret that climb for the rest of his life, as it will most likely scar.  It looks so sore and nasty.

I cannot even believe it happened.  I feel all the Catholic guilt in the world, I feel all the jewish guilt, even though I'm neither Catholic or Jewish.  I feel all the guilt of mankind.  

That beautiful little leg.  Scarred. And its all my fault.

So that's where I'm at, sewing, lamenting.... I have 10 toys for the market and 6 dresses.  I'm certainly not the most prolific of crafters, but then again sometimes less is more.....??

Please tell me sometimes less is more.

And then go visit Kirsty for more Creative Spaces :)

Mad Hatters Third...

We celebrated the Third Birthday of my son Mihali Jim recently with a Mad Hatters Tea Party.

It started with an invitation.

 

And then a costume...

 

  I found the invite image many moons ago whilst traversing cyber space looking for a sneak preview of Tim Burtons Alice in Wonderland opening soon.

The White Rabbit costume was fun to make.  I used a vintage suit that Little Jim wore to my neice's wedding and removed the sleeves to make a vest.  I embroidered the clock face and then made the ears knowing he would wear them only momentarily.

 

He wore them only momentarily....

 I am very particular about cakes.  Some would say I'm too particular.  I grew up with a Mother who constantly baked an amazing assortment of cakes, pavlovas and slices.  Every day in my school lunch there would be Golden Wattle cake or Lemon slice...and endless list of culinary delights.  

As a consequence of this- cakes need to be exceptional for me to take an interest in them.

Which is why I asked BB to make the Birthday Cake.  

This is BB...

She made her famous Chocolate Pavlova.

Its neither too sweet or too chocolatey.

Not too much cream, just the right amount of raspberries.

It is perfect. 

It is freaking delicious.

But I didn't have enough cake to go around. (Sigh!)

 

So it was lucky that my amazing Rachel helped me make other cakes.

Giant chocolate cupcakes with ganache and tiny hearts.

We had an Alice.

The beautiful Lucia in her wisdom was able to masterfully aid the 3 year olds at game time.

We also had a Mad Hatter and the Red Queen of course.

(BB made Aunty Rosie's top hat, it is an extraordinary work of millinery achievement.)

I also made a top hat, but out of cardboard and not so much of an achievement. Although it is still structurally maintained it is covered in tiny cake hand prints.

The Birthday boy somewhat suffered from Character confusion.  He was the white rabbit one minute then he was Buzz Lightyear and then suddenly Mad Buzz.

He loves dressing up at the moment.  Sometimes he has 5 superhero changes a day.

  

There was also Pin the Smile on the Cheshire.  This was really fun.  I had pass the parcel as well but unfortunately had to cancel Mad Dancing and Musical Chairs as it was 35 degrees and we were Meeeeeeeeelting.

Mihali Jim received an amazing array of lovely toys. Manni and I gave him the Plan Toys railway from Eco Toys and friends gave him matching wooden toys to go with it.

But it was simply this Woody doll from Aunty Rosie that won his heart that day and every other since the moment he opened it.

I am often woken at 3am to the sound of Woody crawling into bed beside me.

He says cowboy stuff when you pull the string.

It was a wonderful day, full of yummy food and family and friends, spritely little ones and crazy hats and way too much Sparkling wine.

A most memorable day indeed.

Creative Space XII...

(For April's Creative Space please go Here, Cheers)

Today I am bone tired, I have been feeling this way for weeks now but it is only today that I decided to visit my GP and plead with her to take my tiredness away. She said that I may be tired for one of 3 reasons-

1. I have a virus.
2. I am an exhausted mother to a spirited 3 year old.
3. I have borderline chronic fatigue.

Arrrggghhh, in other words she has absolutely no idea why I'm tired and is grasping at straws and blood tests and why did I not just go and get a reiki or acupuncture instead??????? Sometimes when I'm talking to my Doctor I see a look come over her face which spreads from the corners of her eyes right up through her crinkled forehead and seems to suggest that she thinks I'm a mental case. "Mmmggghhh right, I see" she says with her sidelong doubtful-yet-curious eyebrow furrow.  What goes on behind my Doctor's eyes (countless lonely nights gorging chocolate in pajamas or torrid swingers nights) I can only imagine, but what I really wanted was some kind of magic pill not a psychological assessment.

Anyway today's creative space consists of lying on the couch watching Toy Story 2 for the 30th time and printing out swing tags for my little Shirring dresses which I have been slowly (and what I'm saying is s-l-o-w-l-y) making for a few weeks now. Mostly I'm just laying on my couch with my head thrown back and my hand to my brow being pathetic.  Sigh! 

But there is a compelling sense of completion in the pinning on of those swing tags.  There really is.

Please go and visit some actual Creative Genius spaces at Kootoyoo.