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. :)

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

Made'n Thornbury Market Today...

Thread Den Market Day...

 

Finally I have been afforded a quiet little moment to sit down and relax in my newly arranged lounge room and post about the North Melbourne Market day last Sunday, which was hosted by Thread Den.

The Thread Den girls were so very welcoming and the amazing Lithuanian club was all abuzz with good cheer as another beautiful sunny day was delivered to Melbourne.

The venue was a large maze of rooms, so the market was spread out front and back and upstairs and through the halls.  My stall was in the ballroom which had chandelier lighting and was a perfect atmosphere for selling vintage clothes as well as handmade crafts.

As I am living alone with my son now and am sometimes sewing to 2am- I tend to lose perspective on what I'm actually creating and wonder if people will appreciate the end of my labours.  But what I loved about the market was that people were genuinely encouraging and my toys were well received.  I think it is important to get such positive feedback.

I was particularly thankful when a wide eyed 7 year old exclaimed that this little Monsieur on the left was the most beautiful toy ever.

Cheeky Little Monsters buttons sold consistently over the course of the day but probably not as crazily as I imagined.  I had 2 large suitcases of them and my favorite selection in this lovely 50's basket.  Children really liked them, so I was often selling one button from here or there and it reminded me of my own childhood button fettish, I was obsessed by their shiny sparkling goodness.  I still am obsessed if the truth be known, particularly if they are of the vintage persuasion. I do believe that these buttons will find their place in the future somehow and someday.

I sold some of my collection of vintage clothes as well.  This is my personal collection, so it was wrought with emotional difficulty when the time came to price them.  I found myself telling people when my son had worn a particular item and what we had done that day.  But I know I cannot keep everything forever, so it is wonderful to know that others will appreciate the beauty and elegance of a garment that was designed 30 or 40 years ago and is still going strong. 

For some extraordinarily daft reason I forgot to photograph my handmade shirring dresses, which look like this but were in different fabrics. There was one dress made from lovely light Japanese cotton that had splashes of violet coloured flowers that I wanted to show you.  Ah alas I cannot.  But I think I will go searching for the fabric again because it was incredibly beautiful and quite 50's looking.  When I showed this fabric to my best friend she said that she had actually dreamed of her daughter wearing the very same fabric when she was pregnant!!!!!!!

So there in lies a snippet of my time at the market.  I believe everyone else had a great day as well, but I cannot be sure as I was pretty much bound to my table for the day except for a brief wander around.  I did however love the calendars by Able and Game and the beautiful table set up of  Spin Spin Handmade. 

Any market that combines my two greatest loves- Vintage and Handmade, has found a friend in me. :)

Thread Den Market this Sunday...

Come along and say hi to me this Sunday at the North Melbourne market presented by the lovely girls at Thread Den.   I will be selling some of my handmade toys and dresses as well as some of the cutest vintage clothes ever.  I will also be selling  Cheeky Little Monster's Amazing vintage button collection.

It would be so very lovely to see you there. x