Melbourne Show Stall Makers' Market...

 My frantic schedule::
up at 5.30am to drive to Melbourne
8.15am helped set up Gathering stall
10.00am - customers
4.30 pm - Melb Show declared closed because of disastrous weather
5.00 pm - closure and pack up
6.00 pm - got soaked on way to car
7.30 pm - ready for glass of wine and couch !

 Some set up pictures

"A woman has to live her life, or live to repent not having lived it."  D.H. Lawrence

My psychiatrist...

...told me I was crazy and I said I want a second opinion.  He said okay, you’re ugly too.

Got to love Rodney Dangerfield

Vintage art

I love these montages from 'Vintage by color', by a Swedish photographer Hilda Grahnat  http://www.grahnat.se/. Other albums and product design conceived by the artist are well worth a visit.
I especially love this one since it contains many elements which resonate with me, the Monkees album especially and the overall green color just drew my eye.

Happy Birthday to me...la la la la la la

Having a great birthday because family and friends have sent me much love, so thank you for making my day special.  When we were teenagers and had a birthday my sister or brother or someone else in the family would play (very loudly) usually quite early in the morning, The Beatles song Birthday recorded at Abbey Road on 18 September 1968 (I was 13)

You say it's your birthday
It's my birthday too--yeah
They say it's your birthday
We're gonna have a good time
I'm glad it's your birthday
Happy birthday to you.

....and just to hear the opening riff always makes me feel happy and special.


On a completely different note, I love this picture by artist Thomas Barbey, don't know why, it just speaks to me...I think he is brilliant.

Having a good read...

...or at least thinking about having a good read always puts me in a good mood.  The perfect setting: a cosy chair in front of the fire. The ingredients:  a good book (goes without saying) good reading posture (cushions tucked into wherever you need them) a book bean bag (don't laugh, they're brilliant) cup of tea to right elbow with or without biscuit of choice.

..she looks a little bit like Alice, doesn't she?

"There are two motives for reading a book; one, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it." — Bertrand Russell

A veritable Virgo month of birthdays..

...a big happy birthday to my lovely mum and also my friend Anita who celebrate birthdays today on this 19th day of September.  Have a great day both of you and think happy, calm thoughts.  Banish those working woes, and do something just for you today.  

Read an old favourite....                                                                   eat something yummy!

 Buy something nice with your birthday money

New Black & White pouches

...very classy look, I love B&W.  Inside is very dotty.  What do you think of my arty farty pics?

Bayonne, France ...way down South

(1st photo removed on the advice of Marie who says it is Provence, NOT Bayonne)

I am inspired by the lovely town of Bayonne in the south of France, in the region called Aquitania (how romantic does that sound?) where our French relatives live just outside of in Urt.  Honestly, how lucky are they? 

If I concentrate really hard, I can pretend I'm there...

"Modesty is my Best Quality" (comedian Jack Benny)

So on that note I am doing a bit of showing off my newest creations which have been fun to make....

...well when I say, fun, I mean the fun part is choosing the colours, what goes with that lining fabric and will that zip enhance the look, etc.  Then the making part is, well...not to put too fine a point on it...hard work.  But still heaps more fun than say, cleaning the toilet or doing the tax return.
I now have an ever-expanding collection of big and small pouches ready for the off -- The stall at the Maker's Alley of the Melbourne Show on 28 September.   See what you think..

After all that sewing, I'm in the mood for some more humour, from Phyllis Diller..

"My photographs don't do me justice, they just look like me!"   

I helped make 700 pasties yesterday..

...Yes, Sunday 11 Sept was the great pastie-making day to raise money for Cancer.  We, the Balladonors Relay for Life team chopped vegies, mixed all by hand, cut out pastry circles, egg-washed, folded and baked. Our team are all exhausted today but it was well worth it and we had a lot of fun. We estimate we have made $2,000 to donate, so it was a great effort. 

"Happiness does not come from doing easy work but from the afterglow of satisfaction that comes after the achievement of a difficult task that demanded our best."  Theodore Rubin

How true!  

Another quote from one of the funniest men that ever lived

"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening, but this wasn't it."

Oh for a studio of my own..

...just pining for my own space, with a room for everything and everything in its place! 
My fantasy work space would have:

1. Shiny racks for hanging all my materials in colour-coordinated splendour (currently threatening to burst out of their plastic box-on-wheels under the trestle table)
2. A large corkboard combination whiteboard where I could try out colours of fabric swatches against zips, braids and ric rac (momentarily all shoved into various sized shoe boxes on an overhead shelf).
3. Storage for voluminous metres of snowy interfacings and pellon (stuffed into the spare room wardrobe)
4. A designer chair for sewing that doesn't make a "clunk" sound whenever I madly careen around the room (think pinball machine) from sewing machine to trestle, to ironing board and back again (do I sound mad yet?)
5. Storage for all my finished bags and hats, and then some
6. Buttons in colour-coordinated containers at the ready (hang on, I already have those, I am a Virgo after all)
7. An iPod dock for music while I work
8. While we're at it, an Espresso machine (we are talking fantasy here)
9. A computer desk for composing my blog and downloading photos of my creations.
10. There's probably more I can dream up, I'll keep you posted.

What would your dream space be?  For reading, writing, drawing, dreaming, creating or sewing?
I'd like to hear from you, please reply.

The Paisley Twins - Pretty & Practical

Mad, mad, mad about paisley!   Hi all, yes I've been busy again working on 2 new variations to my denim combo bag.  They are great casual bags and very roomy with 2 big interior pockets and a magnetic catch hidden in the flap. They would make great student bags for uni, etc and have generous straps for wearing either over the shoulder or across the body.  They look great with jeans and have a relaxed but classy feel.

"Spring has Sprung, the grass is ris, I wonder where the birdies is.."

This saying always makes me laugh, and according to Wiki -

While frequently attributed to Ogden Nash or E.E. Cummings, the author of this amusing nonsense - known as "Spring In The Bronx" - is Anonymous.
========================
Spring is sprung, the grass is ris.
I wonders where the birdies is.
They say the birds is on the wing.
Ain't that absurd?
I always thought the wing was on the bird.

Another photo of my daffodils to enjoy.