Mt Martha Inspiration

With the end of the boys footy season I am delighted to say my focus is back where it is happiest, with my fabrics and quilt design. A trip with the girls for a long weekend energised my direction for the rest of the year. A location of great inspiration was Mt Martha on the Peninsula. An incredible cafe called Lilo was the perfect transition to green. I spoke with the delightful owner who has transformed to this eatery to eclectic combination of all the has been reinvented and so incredibly cool. The highlight is a mural on the back wall that was photograph taken by her friend of a friend. Simply Gorgeous! Where else would a Podpal be?

You are never too young....

Christmas in August (deferred from July) we relaxed with Bing Crosby's White Christmas gently playing in the background and with the excitement of an innocent toddler on Christmas Day our anticipation grew....at last it was here time to 'Pass the Parcel'.

Nine of us gorgeous Patchie Girls had dined earlier in a private room at the Boathouse and then retired to the gorgeous Flora's for dessert. On reflection we could have almost skipped the dinner part and have gone straight to china cups of tea and indulgent dessert. The subject of the 'Pass the Parcel' was never far from conversation and the list provided has not been looked at even by those who collected the treasure - the anticipation and mystery of the parcel was brewing just like Flora's tea.

The fate of the cards would determine the order we would unwrap this surprise package. The lowest number would be the one to unveil the first layer. After way too much chocolate and tea we moved to the front room, suitable decorated with Floras collection of Santas. Barb was first to go and with comments as to the attention to detail that bestowed the package and the gorgeous wrapping she began - all eyes glued to ever fold and crease to get a glimpse of the first treasure. It was the most incredible contemporary bird sticky tape holder - in a word - divine. Claire was to follow and again we were focused on her reading of the poem that appeared on each layer and her fingers as she unwrapped the second layer - to reveal quirky postage stamp pins- fabulous!. We were all commenting as to how gorgeous each of the items were, how the poems added to the intrigue and when it came to our turn not one member of the group was disappointed. The delight on the face of our matriarch and host encapsulated all of the emotion everyone felt on the night as she revealed her little cat ruler.

Other goodies included a knitting needle bracelet, I love knitting badge, makeup mirror with a funky sewing machine picture on the back, a bag, knitted cakes (a personal favourite) animal wooden paper clips and last but not least a wooden stamp the said 'Homemade'. Our Tracey was the recipient of the last gift and had only earlier that evening explained how she had seen a stamp for shortbread she was admiring that said 'Homemade' - how incredibly serendipidis. Amongst the Oooos and Ahhhhs as we shared our gifts consensus was that this would continue as an annual event.

The anticipation and the quality of the gifts received impressed all and this innovative idea by Sonia from Bobs Boutique is to be applauded. After only a brief conversation with Sonia she had managed to choose gifts that were fun, high quality and encapsulated all we enjoy as a group. We will all dream of the time we were young girls again, revisited if only for a few hours and the childish excitement only besotted on a child by a 'Pass the Parcel' You are never to old to indulge a little childhood reflection and fantasy.

Pass the parcel - Christmas in July

If you have been reading my blog about Bendigo you may remember the delightful 'Pass the Parcels' produced by Bob's Boutique. Well we have one for our Christmas in July. Can't wait to open it... Ho Ho Ho.....

Designer Podpals

Here are the two new Popals in the quest for the perfect Podpal. These two I added to my store at Madeit.com.au. Follow the stores to Toffee and Wren. These were created with funky designer fabrics i picked up from Patchwork on Central Park in Malvern. One of my favourite stores and well worth a trip for a fabric fix and a good cuppa in the shop next door.

Bendigo and Bob Boutique

Day Trippin with the family. Yes we took a Sunday (with no football) and left at 10:00am for a Sunday drive. If I was the gorgeous 50's wife I would have got up early baked and packed the picnic! My morning was more like - up at 9:30am in the shower and pick up takeaway coffee from the local cafe - Mama Linas - still just as delightful. In the new car, turned on the heated seat(yes, this is still a novelty.) we headed up the Calder freeway to Bendigo. High tech boys in the back with hot chocolate (yes, from Mama Linas) and iPods. We drove into town with gasps from the back seat from the boys as to how big that church really is! I did not remember how big the whole town was let alone that glorious church. We drove around it, packed with cars - mass must have been on and found ourselves parked near the botanical gardens. Great car park - the old prayer 'Hail Mary full of grace, help us find a parking space' paid off - must have been that huge Church again!
Not sure what we were going to do really, we walked along the main street and ducked into the visitors centre. Deciding to check out the local market we began to wander past all the incredible architecture (all the time wishing I hadn't left my camera at home). To my surprise we passed a store called 'Bob Boutique' and its design was familiar to me but no recollection at the time. As we headed to the market - which was a car club - Big Yawn!! I suggested I return to 'Bobs' and they can look at the cars. Yes - Win Win!!!! As soon as I strolled through the door - flashback - I had seen the ad in Frankie magazine. This store is now in my top 5 - My head is still spinning from all of the quirky and funky stock - oh to have hundreds of dollars. All the little retro goodies, slightly odd stuffed toys, artwork and my favourite the Blythe doll postcard. A photo of some of the little goodies I bought today are hear for you to see. I met my boys just as I had completed my purchase and headed to a cafe called Bar Zurk for lunch, I would highly recommend it - order the pie! We did the tourist thing for another couple of hours then headed home. I had an "amazing adventure in the land of Bob"

Ta Da - My Reindeer!!

OK - my job is done!
Isn't he cute - still a bit tricky to stuff and well I know the antlers are just a little floppy - but he does have personality.

I'm knitting a Reindeer!

I'm knitting a reindeer!!! Yep I opened my big mouth at Patchie.

I have mentioned the adorable Patchie girls before and the lovely Flora showed us a knitting pattern of the cutest little reindeer. In discussion is said" Wouldn't it be great if we all did one for Patchie Christmas - we could have all of Santa's Reindeer as well as our nativity treasures" The Nativity Set was previously knitted by Barb (B1) - who by the way will not entertain doing that one again!!) With a unanimous "Yes I'll be in it." We are collectively knitting a reindeer each. A simple statement I thought - until you look closely at the pattern.............. to say some of the pieces look a little like ET or some other alien is an understatement. Still it has created a little excitement - although one night there I walked in and i think my name was a little muddy! I fixed that by putting the kettle on.

I've actually sewn a Knitting Needle Roll to organise my knitting needles. No.1 in avoiding the actual knitting of the reindeer.

I have also sewn three Rolls for Crochet Hooks. No2. in avoiding the actual knitting of the reindeer.

Thought I should avoid N0.3 and just start knitting. I now finished all of my pieces( with the expertise and direction of the Patchie Knitters). Sewing them up may be a different kettle of fish...............B1 and I are going to do this together next week. Given she is the expert knitter of the group and she has reservations, I am a little worried.

Confession: In between knitting I did finish the top of a quilt that is a little 'out there' and my husband actually loves it...............you just never know do you!

I had a dream.....

I had a dream....(Yes it is Susan Boyle playing on my iPod - I know its a little daggy but she is very good). My good friend Mez and I finally pulled our finger out and we headed to Flemington Market to sell some of our homemade goodies. It started with an application to the market organizers to which we received a reply three days prior to market day. We were approved(as if there was any doubt!) then we had to build up a little stock (Yes, i was sewing frantically the day before - apparently this is quite normal) the a practice run at putting up the tent that I had dusted off from the back of the garage. We used to set up the tent when my two boys were toddlers - generally over the wading pool. My darling husband was sitting in the kitchen smirking at our efforts. I must say, with no instructions(we found those later) we got the tent up in approx. 25 minutes. Not bad! We were good to go. We borrowed a table from Mez' sister. Mez made bunting, business cards and a table cloth. I put together a couple of aprons and we looked fabulous.

With the thermos packed and chocolate in the bag we set off......

As we drove to the market clouds in the distant were looking ominous - however with naive excitement we were looking forward to our first day out with our goodies. Unable to read the market map of where our stall was properly on my iPod(grrrrr technology sometimes - don't get me wrong I adore my iPod - but it like a sewing machine knows when your in a hurry!) we asked a fellow stallholder for directions. Mez sped to the location........

We set up on time and were looking pretty good as a few people browsed passed. Little did we know that those browsing in the early hours would be a sign of how few were to attend the market on the day. We had bought some sewing to do and sat back with cups of coffee (from the trusty flask) and began to relax and just enjoy the day......

A few people looked, kids thought the Podpals were cool and then it happened.....our first sale - Mez sold some of her dilly bags - all was not lost!!

Fellow stallholders were saying"Don't judge sales or interest in our products by today - its the worst day of the year for market - no one has extra dollars to spend after the back to school costs and this was the odd weekend of the year". WISH SOME HAD TOLD US THAT BEFORE!!! We calmed after the initial shock ans sat back to enjoy a relaxing day out. We took turns browsing the market. The rain had stayed away and in fact it grew quite hot towards the end of the market (good thing we had that tent!). The day really was quite lovely.

Just when I thought I would go home with every Podpal I had bought with me - a dear friend arrived and without prompting she purchased a pretty purple Podpal for her daughter.

Although we didn't make our millions(well lets face it - barely enough for lunch) and at times we felt a little despondent - We had made it to Market!

Patchie Christmas Challenge

Thought it was about time to update my blog. I have a few little goodies to share with you. Patchie challenge for last year was to make a Christmas decoration you had not made before. My little treasure turned out even better than expected. Using fabulous fabrics from Patchwork on Central Park, Gj's, a few swarovski crystals and a star shaped paper clip I created this Christmas Tree. Title- Yo Yo Yo.

We unveiled our creations at the Patchie Christmas dinner.



My gorgeous friend Mez created a song! Yes a song. This was printed on a calico star we could all hang on the tree. This has now become the groups anthem. There were voices singing our new song with gusto. If truth be known it was more like bellowing than singing but we had had a few bubbles! Other examples included bunting and a YoYo garland. All fabulous.
Another incredibly creative gift was a piece of china holding the most perfect posie of flowers. Absolutely the most beautiful bunch of flowers I had ever seen. Delightful berries, delicate old English roses and other tiny petals so beautifully tied together.

Patchie Christmas Dinner is always a highlight. Everyone loves to come home with a selection of creative gifts. My gift to the gorgeous Patchie girls this year was homemade gift tags with a little glitter (ofcourse!)