amber find

you well & truly know by now

that i like a little coloured glass

& its all the better when its a thrifty find

 the other week, little op shop hop

with a friend .... oooooh

top shelf, tippy toes to reach it

would be 30cm+ & is just lovely

i've googled the edb or dbe logo

but with no profound discoveries

love it

see how nicely it fits in

with previous thrifty goodies

t'was a whole $3 ... yep

plus the thrill of the hunt of course

photo tricks

lots of firsts this summer

fun with friends

at 'our' riBer

 love this pic above
it has us all in it! plus ....

have you spotted the

'trick' yet??

have another look ....
and here are a few other very clever ones ...

 how you ask??? ahhhhh .... very tricky hey!
 clever iphones

thanks ellen!! great fun

wk 5 :: 52

a portrait of my boy

once a week

every week

for 2014

 5 :: 52

summer time fun

sparkling water

hot hot temps

swim little fish swim

wk 4 :: 52

a portrait of my boy

once a week

every week

for 2014

 4 :: 52

drawing & painting

a lion in our little smARTy's studio

wonderful times

blanket

organic

bamboo

blanket

made for Max

without knowing it i got the colour combo 'right'

grow strong little man

the 52 project

one

two

& three

of fifty two

1 :: 52

a portrait of my boy

once a week

every week

for 2014

2 :: 52

joining in

on wednesdays

practising simplicity

the 52 project-2014

3 :: 52

ahhhh yes i know it isn't wednesday but

it was so hot!! study was like an oven so .....

summer village

our summer time

has been filled with the sunshine beyond

the great divide

days spent in & around the muddy waters

of "our" murray river

& some sandy days at a 'beach house'

 love the 'village' that surrounds us

i often reference the saying

'it takes a village to raise a child'

but even more than that ....

to me our village is made up 

of more than the people

its the time spent creating wonderful memories

its the knowing people

& in that being loved in return

meshed, just like scrabble letters!

some wonderful memories from the last few weeks

of cricket games

1sts on the riBer

boogie boarding

bean bag tossing

card games

black gold fish

lost teeth

music

super stacks

some free style'n patchwork

knee board coaching

tennis hits

doggies back home

camp fires

hobbit-ing

6 degrees of separation discoveries

building, gap filling, painting & wiring walls

hanging doors & stuffing insulation

& water skiing of course!

(yes that is me further up!)

yep

my cup runneth over

 enJOY your journey

she with the most ...

 so it started sometime a while back
with going halves in a whole lot

of lovely quality quilting cottons

& a great bulk buy of 'ribbons' which we spied as really bias binding!

yay ....

 then there was 4ths in

THE great big thread haul

which was a bit of a gamble
but for what we paid we figured

that if we went on face value plus one extra that was good value

whoooo hooo ... lets just say it was most certainly worth it!

each of us almost have the entire colour set!!

 & halves in this lovely lot too

& then there was some craziness

with a whole lot of denim & other lovelies

just had to be

yep there was a happy dance or so
you can even see the amazing micro suede
i made my cape from on the top of the pallet pile!

little people squeezed in between the rolls
there was some pink fur stroked all the way home!
.... and now to sew it up!
oh & do you think i might have a lifetime supply of thread perhaps!
i think so!!

fair stash & repros

 so you know

a girl has 'got-to-have' a great fabric stash hey!?

there may have been some great sales on lately ...

my deliberate fabric selection has changed a lot in the last year

i've gone from thinking fabric for items for markets

to sewing more clothing items for me

with some 'tweaking' to the fabric shopping list

in order to 'make' for a friend's new shop being opened in feb

very excited about that

so this bundle may have made its way home with me this week

some for me & some to sew to sell

stay tuned hey!

now back on the topic of 'stashing'

there's some innate desire to stash & own & treasure

with those who sew

sometimes the stashing can get in the way of the making

for women is it the 'gatherer' instinct

is it something to do with the temptation of the 'great sale'?

but i have to say that i love that when i 'need' to problem solve

a design element i can turn to my stash & the answer is there!

lucky me ....

so in the big furniture & sorting re-shuffle that happened

about our home last year with the completion & set-up of 'the studio'

we moved this fabulous wardrobe into my sewing room

(yes i am completely spoilt as i have an art studio & a sewing room!)

we've had this piece for years & its had a variety of uses

was a fantastic op shop buy a few years ago

my FIL fitted the shelves for me

there's a beveled mirror on each door as well

.... & since sewing more clothing having a mirror 

in your sewing room .... is very very handy!

i spent 3 evenings collecting all my fabrics from assorted storage

unfolded, pressed & refolded & sorted

yep ... totally worth it!

so when i say i've raided the 'top shelf'

i mean it .... dualities!

great story behind these little fishies
..... swim fishes swim along the grainline!

i have purchased lots of fabric on line in the past but this

last year has brought on much more expensive 'shipping' to australia

so yeah ..... not so much! to make it worth it you really need to buy bulk

& that's just not always necessary .....

and as well as that i've found more & more

that i like the thrill of finding & handling fabrics

that has a lot to do with the making clothing change

so rathdowne remnants & spotty & darn cheap fabrics

have been more frequented 

..... with no encouragement from others!?

their advice is gold

my recent spotty splash out - top pic

have you been to spotlight lately & seen there

vintage linen range? called?

well i did spot some IG discussion & some disapproval

of Spotty's choice here to reproduce these designs

for people who know 'fabric' to us they are

one of the designs from Denyse Schmidt's

Flea Market Fancy Free Spirit range 

from some years back by Westminster Fibers

 yeah that's true ..... but its also not

they are designs used early last century

that have no 'copy right' & may be used for reproduction

kind of makes you feel like you've been cheated a little huh!

can you spot the difference between them?

which is which?

left :: spotlight version in stores now - linen

right :: flea market fancy - quilters cotton

the spotty one being a linen is slightly more grainy looking of course

i love this design & i have absolutely NO issue with it being reproduced

& with the recent 40% off it made it very afforable

i only bought x1m & am now wishing i'd bought more

i came across this same reproduction issue a few years ago

when i found a little plate in an op shop 

with another fabric design that i know well & adore

i did .... i wrote to 'amy' ..... she/or one of her staff kindly wrote back to me

saying they'd investigate ... they did & explained

they also asked for my postal address ....

lucky me was sent some ab patterns of my choice!!

so no getting upset peoples .....

we do not live in an ideas vacuum

there really are very few 'original' ideas out there

support our bricks & mortar stores .... we need them

but what i would like to see happen

is some kind of coding as to where the fabrics were

'grown' ..... i'd love to know there fair-trade ratings!!

my village

love the 'village' reference

the people in our village are like gold

they make our lives

little slide show of some of what happened

in our village in 2013

its a good thing to look back to help you look forward

happy days ahead

enJOY your journey