Happenings

I know, I missed a week blogging, my aim is to blog every week but sometimes it's just not possible!! I think I need to plan my blog posts and pre- prepare so that way when times are busy I can still post on time!

A lot has been happening around here! Best of all the weather has cooled so I have more energy to work! We've even pulled out our doonas (duvets) so we can snuggle up at night! Love that!!!

School is back, so the morning school run has begun! 

Lulu decided to do some DIY and decorated her science ring binder. She was totally inspired by Jordan Clark, such a clever young college student. You can see her blog here and should definitely check out her You Tube videos here.

I had a market stall in town last Sunday. That was lovely and fun to see some of my other creative friends, it's great to catch up on what they've been doing over the summer. This lovely handmade market is held once a month in the Vecchia Pescheria (old fishery). The benches are marble and all uneven from centuries of fish selling!

Of course growth chart making is never far off. The last few I've made have been really fun and a challenge as I had to tackle some new theme requests. I was very pleased with the results!

I have a very talented friend Io & bianca (who I've mentioned before) who creates beautiful ceramics.  A visit to her instagram page is a must! Lately she has been painting her ceramics more, they are stunning, and she has started to do little watercolour paintings. I saw Carla at dinner and told her how much I loved her paintings and how much I would love to learn to use watercolours. I find them very intimidating though! We organised to meet a her house which was quite a challenging task with all our kids activities! I went yesterday, even though Carla had a fever, she insisted I pop round for a mini lesson! So kind!

When I arrived we swapped belated birthday gifts. We are always late with our gifts as we always like to give each other something we've created and/or supplies!

I gave Carla a stitched wall decor piece I made for her. She loves white, anything old and bunnies. I gave a sneak peek of this piece in a previous blog post where you can see what inspired me!

From Carla I received so lovely handpainted ceramic hanging decorations, a gorgeous much (to add to my large collection) and a watercolour set - paint brush, paper and watercolours. Such an amazing and thoughtful gift! 

I just loved watching her paint her gorgeous little designs and had a chuckle at my efforts! Mine aren't finished yet, I may or may not post those depending on how they turn out! Here are a couple Carla painted!

What has everyone been up to lately, any creating????

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It's hot!

I don't know about you guys but the summer is sweltering here in Italy! It's hot, hot, hot! I don't go to the beach much here, it's a little bit ikky!! There are plenty of seagulls flying around but no sound of the ocean! The water is flat, shallow and warm and the sand is brown. No place for a true blue Aussie when we are used to beaches like this!!!

So how do we cope????? Whilst my daughter goes off to the pool with her friends, I stay inside a lot working on things I love, creative things of course! Fans are blaring and follow me around the house, sometimes two at a time! We also drink a lot of these!

Funnily enough with the heat we've been suffering I've been working on Christmas projects ( amongst other things)! Crazy I know!

It really is Christmas in July! 

I just finished these stockings for a client, loving the way they turned out! Today they are being shipped and will be on their way across the pond to their new home!

That's not all! To continue on the Christmassy theme (feeling a little crazy!) I wrote, and released two new Christmas patterns! New patterns in my shop have been a long time coming so these new patterns are a reason to CELEBRATE! They are now available in my Etsy shop

You can add a whole lot of CUTENESS to your Christmas tree, Christmas wrapping, stocking fillers and gift giving with the gorgeous, SUPER easy to make patterns!


Being Australian it's not odd to think of Christmas when it's hot! I don't know if I prefer a cold Chrissy or hot one??? I think I like both , mind you if I were garanteed of a white Christmas I might love that a little more! 

What's your preference- a hot or cold Christmas?

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Bunny pillow pattern

My new bunny pillow pdf pattern is here! It's super cute and easy to make!

A wonderful gift for a new born, birthday or even make them as Easter gifts. Rather than 'bon nuit' you could stamp or embroider the child's name to make it a more personal gift.

I made them in soft pretty colours but they also look fabulous in bright, cheery colours! To adapt the pattern for a boy applique stars rather than flowers!

The pattern can be enlarged to make a larger pillow or reduced to make a smaller bunny, fill it with lavender! It could also be appliqued onto a quilt or bag. It's such a versatile pattern!

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Growth chart for Matea Noelle

I recently completed this growth chart for Matea Noelle. It's my standard design but I wanted to share it as I hadn't this colour combination before: plum, mustard yellow, black and white. Instead of black and white I used charcoal grey and off white as I like them better. In the end I thought the colours in this chart turned out really well. A little modern vintage!

I was tidying up my very messy work table the other day and found some of the embroidery threads I've been using and they reminded me of the growth chart. What a lovely colour combination!

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Merry Christmas

I know I'm a little late but MERRY CHISTMAS to all! I've been working everyday at my Christmas market hence my tardiness!!!

It's been a wonderful experience, so much fun and I've met some wonderful people. It doesn't finish until the 6th January so there's a lot of work still to be done.

One wonderful creative person I've met is Maura of 'La Piuma Blu' (the Blue Feather), you can visit her Facebook page here. She makes beautiful items decorations and wall hangings with fil de fer. They are very pretty, delicate and whimsical and she will customise them for you with whatever theme, fairy tale, colours, names and so on. Maura also speaks a little English so had no problem with comunicating!

Here are a few goodies I purchased for myself, then I had to buy some more as gifts as I couldn't resist!

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Christmas market San Marino

This weekend was the first of several at the 'Natale delle Meraviglie' in San Marino. It was a beautiful sunny weekend but very, very cold! We had characteristic wooden houses in which to display our products. This is the view down the street

The amazing view over the Valle Marecchia towards San Leo, and yes that's snow you can see!

Putting together my stall was not an easy feat! I was in such a state of confusion it took me from 8am-12 pm to finally feel like I was in order! Thanks goodness my 10 year old daughter was there with me to help, advise and tell me off when panicking!!!

Here is my stall finally organised, Sunday I switched things up a little! I think I was able to improve my display. When you see all your goods on display like this you realise just how much work you've done then the exhaustion sets in!

At the end of the day, Sunday we had a spectacular sunset to end off a fun and successful weekend! Now it's back to woking on orders and restocking for the next weekends in San Marino. I'll be there 12-13 Dec, 19-20 Dec, 24-25-26-27 Dec, 31st Dec and then 1st Jan- 6th Jan.

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Great idea!

I just recently finished this order for a customer. Large drawstring bags to hold diapers, a piant brush holder and pencil roll with zipper pouch at one end. I love the way they turned out and such a great idea. Lulu has altready put her order in for a pencil roll ( oh and a kantha duffle bag)!

 Large drawstring bags to hold toddler nappies

 Paint brush and pencil rolls

 Paint brush roll

 Pencil roll

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Growth chart for Stella

 

 I recently made this growth chart for Stella, she loves pandas and the song 'You are my sunshine'. I have to admit I was really excited ti di something with pandas they are so cute! I think this would have to be my all time favourite growth chart!

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Christmas sewing

I've been madly Christmas sewing for my San Marino market, so exciting. The other day I made these sweet ornaments. Last week I made a whole lot of garlands which I will post next. These are available in my shop

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