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autumn holiday

Hope everyone had a great Easter/holiday break. Ours was busy, but fun. I think I'm still coming down from the garage sale we held on Saturday - and all the cleaning, cleaning, cleaning that it entailed. So glad that's over. Yesterday we had a family lunch at the Botanic Gardens, and I hauled everyone along on my annual pilgrimage to the dahlia garden, which is always in full bloom around Easter. It got me thinking of favourite colours and combinations. I've lost all momentum with Audrey's quilt (ahem), but this red/orange/pink combination got me thinking of maybe tackling another in these colours instead.

But that will have to wait, because tomorrow we're off on a pilgrimage of another kind - our first proper holiday in over two years, a roadtrip to Melbourne to visit my Dad. I can't tell you how thrilled I am to be actually leaving the state! Although, the prospect of a long drive with a 3 year old has me wondering at this late stage if we are, in fact, insane. Does anyone have any long-trip-with-preschooler tips?

I won't have much email/web access, if any, while I'm away (can you see me twitching already?) so I'll be catching up on as much of that as I can today. I'll respond to any shop/toy enquiries as soon as possible on my return. Thanks for your kindness & patience. Back in a couple of weeks, friends! xo

le shoppe

Thanks so much to everyone who bought a toy when I updated my shop this afternoon. I'm still sorting through things, and hope that I have responded to everyone who emailed about a toy today. They did go fairly speedily this time. Actually, let's not mince words - I'm amazed, excited and humbled. Unfortunately there was a little confusion while my fingers flew about simultaneously trying to respond to emails and update typepad. But we got there in the end. I am planning a separate website for this stuff (one day!), but in the interim I'm wondering if I should transfer the whole shebang to etsy. Perhaps there's someone who can please tell me... does etsy's checkout prevent multiple sales of a one-of-a-kind item? As it is, I list toys on typepad, and then mark that post as sold when someone emails me with interest in a toy. So there's inevitably a lapse between when I receive an email and when I get to update typepad, and, well, hence the confusion. Selling the the things I love to make is such a blessing, and I am so grateful to everyone who stops by here to offer support, and those who buy a toy. The last thing I want to do is confuse you guys.

Anyway. This here is Juliet, one of the lassies I've been making. I've been playing around with the girl's frocks and am really pleased with her smock-dress. It's just a variation on something I've done before, but this fastens at the top with snaps. And the boy monkeys. Now the weather is cooler and winter tweeds are coming into fabric shops, I really need to hold myself back from hoarding tweed for the boys. It's a good thing I usually only buy minimum cuts.

Oh, and apologies to anyone waiting on an email from me. I'm onto it. I've been having some problems with my email on and off over the last couple of weeks - a problem that is hopefully sorted now. If I recently haven't responded to an email that I should have, please let me know as things have been going missing left, right and centre. Thanks!

dusty in here

The big, old shed in our backyard has been slowly crumbling for years. We've always known that its days were numbered, but recently, when two large pailings fell of it's side and the window caved in (thankfully propped up by some boxes on the inside, oh yes!), we realised we needed to act sooner rather than later. Time to clean it out and knock it down. This shed has been a repository for our stuff and the stuff of our family and friends for years, so it's taken quite a lot of sifting through the dust and cobwebs. Next weekend, we are having a garage sale, so yesterday we had another clean out. Aside from a whole lot of rubbish, er 'stuff' that we will hopefully sell, I found some colourful treasures: some of my Enid Blyton books from childhood! I can't wait to share these with Audrey.

And some china, given to me by my Nan a few years ago. Knowing I like old things, she gave me lots of the usual rosy/floral suspects, but this paisley one is my favourite pattern. It also has a matching teacup and saucer. Here's a close up if you're interested. I was so happy to rediscover these!

Oh, and completely unrelated, but here are cupcakes, as promised. Made for our little friend M who turned one on Saturday. You've all seen these before, right? Marshmallows cut in half, and the edges pinched together to make petals. So easy.

Now, back to the dust.