money raised

Well, what an incredible community of crafty women, one I feel very proud to be part of, who would have thought we could raise nearly $100,000.

paul kelly is right, from little things, big things grow.

Take a look at this moving tribute to Jordan Rice, who lost lost his life to save his younger brother, who couldn't swim. And to everyone else who has endured hardships as a result of these floods.

Thankyou Jimbo and Aimee for writing this song and sharing.

blueberry picking

Well it's close to 40degrees today, we have not had much of a summer, but today in the heat we decided to go blueberry picking.



It actually was cooler in around the bushes.



Tomorrow, I will post about how useful these gathering apron's are.

Jim picked over three kilo's, I said maybe next year he could get a job as a picker.

Those yearly rituals, how the children look forward to them with much delight.

in the mail

Look what arrived in the mail for me today, aren't those button-brooches so sweet.

The illustrations are done by Mandy Sutcliffe and her shop is belle&boo. Look at those faces, I could just squish them!

With the pound so good at the moment for us Aussie shoppers, I also bought some of her beautiful clothing, I will take photo's of miss alice in her coat soon.

And more exciting news, I just started making my( okay alice's) doll through a virtual classroom with the lovely Juliane over at froken skicklig, her dolls are amazing, they truly seem to come to life, it's like they are whispering come play with me.

As soon as she's done you'll get to meet her.

the winners

Tamara, quilary and melisa, you have all won, I will email you all tonight with details.
Thankyou everyone for digging deep, If you missed out on your bid you still have time to enter into a raffle, click on the link for queensland floods victims, and it will take you to a list of participating bloggers.

Open for business

It's open, finally, my new fabric shop bloom fine fabrics and trims.

The plan was to have a shop at our house, we have a big house, and so the dinning room and sitting room with it's big beautiful arch window would be the place. I got a beautiful cypress long table made by my good friend Andrew, also lovely white armchairs, to sink into whilst getting inspired, and shelving made to house the fabrics.

The plan was to do sewing retreats, where people come for a morning or a full day, to learn how to make a girls twirly skirt, corduroy pant's for a boy, kid's backpack, ladies peasant blouse, etc, because what I have noticed over the years, is that there are lot's of people who would like to sew, but lack the condfidence to actually 'do it'.

There would be homemade cakes for morning tea, out on the verandah, over looking the garden, and I imagined lot's of chatter, with show and tell, and sewing.

Then I thought, if it went well, I would shift it to the woolshed, and my thoughts went dreaming of how I could do up the woolshed.....

Well the week before opening, we had quickly, but not hastily, decided that the children needed to go to another school, and the school we had decided on was an hour away.

Which means, that we needed to find some where to live during the week. For the last six months, it's been hard to find inner quietness, my mind has had so many thoughts to deal with.

sigh, and of course my shop would have to go on hold.

So while enjoying our summer holiday's here(In one place), I thought I would revisit the idea of a shop again, at the moment it will be an online shop, and hopefully one day a bricks and mortar shop.

I love fabrics, and this idea came about because there is lack of beautiful fabrics for apparel sewing(well, where I live). Some quilting fabric is fine, it depends on the application, but to make a blouse or flowing dress you need drape & width.

I also decided that I was not going to buy anything made in china, because of child and slave labour, which means I had to source fabric elsewhere.

What some fabric companies are doing is inspiring, where heading in the right direction.

There's free postage within Australia.

May these fabrics inspire you.

footnote: The queensland flood auction ending time has been put forward, it will now close at 9.00pm monday night.

Queensland flood relief auctions

This week, we have watched with tears in our eyes, of the dreadful flood crisis that engulfed south east Queensland and Brisbane.

So much death and destruction. It's heartbreaking.

Click on the link for a moving tribute gallery of the Queensland flood disaster.

A group of creative women in the blog world have launched a flood refief auction, that runs for one week and will finish on monday 24th at midnight.

Up for auction from my new shop - bloom, is one metre of fabric and one metre of ribbon of your choice.

The three highest bidders will each recieve 1 metre each of fabric and ribbon.

Postage is free in Australia, and capped at $6.00 for international winners. The postage is an donation as well, so if overseas, please add the postage amount to your donation.

how this auction works:

You can place a bid by leaving a comment, please include your email address.
Your bid must be in whole dollar increments.
At the close of auction, I will contact the three winners. The winners will pay the winning amount directly into:
Premiers disaster relief appeal and send me proof of payment via email.

You can see more wonderful auctions by clicking the flood appeal button on the right hand side of this screen.

Thankyou for your generosity.

Queensland flood relief auctions, ribbon, part 1

1. woven ribbon from Europe. 15mm, love and peace ribbon, design by luzia pimpinella

2. woven ribbon from Europe. 15mm, my favourite ribbon, little red riding hood. design by luzia pimpinella

3. woven ribbon from europe, 16mm, eastwind, this band is inspired by the colours of the world. design by luzia pimpinella.

4. woven ribbon from Europe. 15mm, perfect for soccer fans, design by hamburger lieber

5. woven ribbon from europe. 15mm, gumboot's, umbrella's and mouse's adorn this ribbon, design by mymaki

Queensland flood relief auctions, fabric. part 2

1. Beautiful cotton poplin fabric from Europe, mauve print of birds, flowers and bow's, white background.140cm wide

2. beautiful cotton poplin fabric from Europe. patchwork squares of checks, dot'sand birds on a tree. red and white, would look lovely as a little girls twirly skirt.140cm wide

3.Stunning large flower print, cotton knit with a touch of elastic, from Europe, 150cm wide

4. Classic European style print,cotton knit with a touch of elastic, from Europe, sky blue background 150cm wide

5. Classic european style print, cotton knit with a touch of elastic, from Europe, peacocks galore on a white background 150cm wide.

Photo's from christmas day

Christmas morning excitment.

Alice with her baby doll serena. I think serena deserves her own page, more to come.

Jim wanted a mantra ray, so I thought that it lends itself as a cushion, Jim declared the night before christmas, that he wanted a mantra ray the year before, (include a big sigh from jim here) and he was still waiting. Nothing like a bit of guilt to get me sewing.

Alice with her Nanna.