Merry Christmas...

Well it has been a travesty but my little laptop has been struggling along far too slowly for me to upload anything, so I have been quietly wrapping my gifts and biding my time.  Then suddenly a friend of mine appeared and 'defragged' my computer???? Amazing, absolutely amazing.  And now ever so fast again.  Thankyou.

Where I left off was the Made In Thornbury Market, which went really well considering I was in a terrible position.  (Facing the back wall- practically invisible).   It is a very friendly and gracious market and the people that did notice my little stall were very warm and encouraging.

I chatted a little with the other crafters but was able to have long chats with Felicity from Flicketty Splits, who fantastically let me ramble on and on about absolutely nothing in particular.

Now time has gone on and Christmas is nearing way too fast. I'm exploring lots of crafty options this Christmas. A teepee cubby house, dresses, shorts and also I finally perfected my

Little Red Riding Hood doll.

 

On Sunday I had the pleasure of lovely company for my Annual Christmas Drinks which I combined with my Annual Croquet Match.  And I did run with the Kitsch Kringle idea.  It was pretty funny, but not quite as funny as last years Krap Kringle which has made its way into my Top 10 Funniest Moments ever list.

 Thats Little Jim and me with our Kitsch Kringles.  Priceless I know!

I'm very proud to announce that I only needed to buy one Shopping Centre gift this Christmas. Which was an electric grill for my nephew to make his delicious tosdadas on.  All the rest are handmade gifts or gifts that support small business.  Our Christmas tree was purchased from the Brotherhood of St Laurence and Little Jim's toys are again made from sustainable materials such as this Plan Toy which is an ethical company. 

Some time ago I alighted to the fact that giving friends and family beautiful gourmet food and fine wines is always a winner and this year I have boxed up a pile of gifts from Outback Pride, which is a fabulous business providing jobs and training for Indigenous Australians.

They make beautiful jars of  pickles, relishes and spreads amongst other things all made from native bush food grown in outback communities. You can purchase them from Oxfam.   I also discovered my local Naturapath sells beautifully packaged and delicious Organic toasted Muesli. All in recycled materials. The idea of giving natural, healthy and beautiful foods as gifts makes me feel extra good and I'm happy to say that there is no pre Christmas stress in my life.

I'm reading Peter Singers 'The Life You Can Save' at the moment.

Peter Singer is a beautiful writer, speaker and philosopher.  His lectures on Ethics are esteemed the world over and in this book he reminds us as individuals about how we can modestly save a life from poverty. If we all take up his challenge individually then collectively as a Nation we can achieve much. And we can do more than we think.  Read more about his vision here. Or here if you wish to take up the challenge.
Peter Singer will be giving a talk at Melbourne University about 'What responsibilites do Australians owe the global poor' on February 16 2010.

Christmas is a good time for us all to think about how much we have, how fortunate we are and about how we can help others too. There is no greater evidence of this than the effigies and Nativity scenes all around us at this time- as Mary and Joseph are the most famous refugees in all of history.

I would like to leave you all with a little Christmas wish list that a crafter like myself would be extremely excited by.

•  Oxfam Christmas Decorations (now half price). Stunning and proceeds go to a great cause.
  

• Subscription to Frankie Magazine  A magazine to your door = Yeah! Plus one that features other crafters, double yeah!
  

• Honeyweather and Speight Dolls House. Made from recycled cardboard. For the child within, you can never be too old for something so beautiful and handmade.
  

• La Creuset cookware I'm told it's the best and makes cooking pure unadulterated joy. Now this one is an expensive gift but you can spread the love by cooking for friends, family, neighbors and cooking for them Forever as this cookware lasts a lifetime.  No more throwing away crappy pots!

• Barkcloth.  The most challenging gift of all to find, but this is like the Holy Grail of fabric for a crafter or lover of vintage, the most beloved and coveted fabric imaginable.  Buy it on Ebay or buy it here. Buy it anywhere you can.  Don't ever feel weird about buying second hand.

Merry Christmas to everyone and hopefully will catch you sometime before the New Year. x

So much to talk about...

Have arrived back in Melbourne at last and my cosy little home is still standing and Kameko the Birman is meowing louder than even I remember. Travelling to Europe is extremely exciting, amazing architecture, galleries, designers, shoes..... I have so much to share with you all. But firstly just wanted to say that we Melbournians are freaking awesome too, especially in the arena of fashion and craft and the wonders of Handmade. Our blogs are being read and loved in the Northern Hemisphere just like in the south, so it is a very exciting time. I am also excited to see that upon my return there is a new Northside Makers Collective which I can't wait to join and a new market for us all to share our crafty passions.

As I was allergic to the internet during my time away (distracted me from time in the sunshine), I have much to catch you up on so will endeavor to devote serious time to that, whilst sewing and running around after my 2.5 year old whose body clock refuses to adjust after flying into the future. So for now I will just share a little with you.

There is a really beautiful Boutique in Paris called Manoush, check out their website the clothes are just ridiculously divine. I love this shirt modelled here by Betty from my favourite fashion blog Le Blog de Betty . Some of the more beautiful clothes in Paris and Spain this summer were in delicate fabrics with lovely frills and buttons. Above knee dresses with large pockets and balloon hems were also very big. It is a wonderful feeling to be wearing new clothes in Paris and picnicing in the Jardin des Tuileries or under the Eiffel with cheese and wine, such a stunning city.

This is one of my favourite dresses from London's eponymous All Saints Spitalfields label. I could easily handle being dressed from head to toe in their amazing clothes. I'm loving their soft leather and fabrics and military style boots and the way they contrast amazingly together. I wore an All Saints dress to a party yesterday and people commented on it all night.

Shopping in the UK gave me so much joy. Toast (above) have some really cute things to suit a Melbourne autumn/winter. Camden market has fantastic affordable vintage as well as anything you could ever possibly imagine. Portabello rd market was so popular on a Saturday morning that I could barely take the stroller through the street. But Spitalfields market was my favourite for handmade.

Photo's courtesy of the very cool Beyond Retro website, it is my dream store where I bought the most fantastic 80's boots made from leather and suede AND corduroy lining. My 3 loves in one boot!

The two awesome UK knitwear and textile designers from Studio Roam make the most divine blankets for little ones using natural and sustainable materials. They also can personalise baby blankets for newborns with name and date of birth using the finest Scottish cashmere. Something that you would truly keep forever.

And lastly in Amsterdam De Sprookjeskamer-Fairytale and Dottie Shop is a little gem of a store that caught my eye from a tram and I had to get off and walk around in circles for a while until I found it again because I'm totally obsessed with polka dots. I bought the little shoes above for my Godchild to dress up in, but would have bought so much more if I had any room left in my case. More of these fabulous things after I have some sleep. Until then....