hi ho

Hello people! Sorry I've been missing in action but there have been road trips and strained backs, unpacking and panic attacks (just kidding). You may have got a bit suspicious when there was no Saturday morning post and even more suspicious if you came into the shop to find Dell in my usual Saturday place behind the counter.
I had to fit in a trip up to see our Northern Queens of Craft before Finders Keepers and before The Wedding. My Op-Shopping Compadre is being made an honest woman this morning- hence last week's wedding dress hullabaloo (wedding dress fabric below, printed linen)- and I will be hanging at the Registry Office and partaking of a high tea at the Windsor Hotel before finally getting my head and arse in gear for FK which opens this Friday evening.
I have a ridiculous amount to do and pack before we bump it all in on Friday afternoon. I hope my back holds out, I managed on Thursday evening to reach out to pick something up off the stairs and strain my diaphragm right in the section where all the rib breaks happened in the bike accident. One of those weird little movements that seems to do more harm than you would think possible. Breathing and moving were a little (!) painful for a few days there and I thought 'that's the end of my opera career'. Apart from a few twinges it seems to have come good though.
I picked up some amazing work from our star crocheter Ann, we have large Afghan throws that she has made extra big for us and a clutch of her fabulous tea cosies, some of these pieces won awards at country shows! Our friend Marnie has also made some crochet hats and she'll hopefully be sending down some Miss Mousie toys soon. And Kerry knitted up a storm and now we have buckets of hedgehogs and bees and mice again. They won't all be in the shop today as it'll take me a little while to unpack them all.
I better dash I have a mass of things to do before I throw on my glad-rags and head off to the Wedding.
The shop is a mess.

mittens, kittens, flitting

I spent hours on Saturday tagging and pricing our hand knitted beanies and these super gorgeous children's gloves and mittens. As the gingerbread heart were running a bit low I thought it would be nice to have a change and replaced them with the mitts. So the winterfication of the Cottage is slowly happening. If you want mittens for your kittens you better be quick as we have a limited number.
Jethro is still in a strange mood and some bright spark suggested he needed a pet.... like a kitten. I am so not going down that path. I think he is just having one of his 'growth spurts' where he burns about the house and causes havoc for Dell in the mornings by hiding from her. Yesterday he wouldn't come out from hiding so she let some customers in and of course he came out to make sweet love to the nice Irishman Dell was serving- he really needs a male role model in his life. Do you know where I can get one?
OK, better scoot. Need to get to Preston and back ASAP, I have a wedding dress to finish.

not very bright

Dumb as a box of hair (as a certain feathered friend of mine likes to say).
Six degrees of stupid.
Idiot, idiot, idiot.
I've managed to spend two days and a bit fluffing around with a pattern that should have been simple but I managed to make it complex and oh so very wrong. Late in the afternoon I realised that I should stop trying to make it 'right' and scrap it and start afresh. Which I did and an hour later I had an almost perfect fitting toile. Is there a moral here? Yep. Sometimes you need to go back to the beginning, two wrongs (or twenty) just don't/won't make a right.
But most of all I feel like a right stupid twat.
I have errands to run in the morning and then I will spend the rest of the day cutting and sewing.
I did manage to get a pile of mohair hot water bottle covers made in between pulling my hair out in frustration. That's a big plus.

it all came crashing down.....

I know how Humpty feels.
It was a hard day yesterday and not hugely productive, would have been better if my brain actually worked.
Perhaps I had a slight case of 'holiday hangover' and a touch of the 'go slow procrastinations'. I have no excuse for procrastinating and not putting my nose to the grindstone- I have two huge deadlines to meet at the start and end of next week and I need to pull my finger out, crank it up and get moving.
OK. Today I will make phone calls, sort out the final pattern adjustments for Jen's dress, buy the lining and zip and get sewing. I will also cut out some more stock, sew up some more stock and finish some more stock. If I don't get a few bits and pieces finished by the end of the day you can berate me sternly, that will be something to look forward to!
Time to get dressed and out of the house.

of eggs and feline antics

I've been a little obsessed with Heston Blumenthal's egg cooking methods this weekend, well, Easter and eggs go hand-in-hand don't they? It's been a bit of food weekend starting with lunch at Casa Birdwood on Friday, lamb tagine dinner at Chez Westgarth last night, egg experiments dotted in between and a bit of cake bakery (Italian almond, chocolate and sultana torte and Evan's ye olde appley cake).  I was also spoilt with eggs of the chocolate variety from some luv-er-ly people and a delivery of pavlova too (this afternoon's treat I think).
The phone has been ringing off its stand all day but I am purposefully avoiding it. The shop isn't open and I can't even go in to do chores I had planned in case people start battering the door down. I know there are shops open all over town but sometimes we retailers need a bit of peace and quiet. I love our longer shopping hours at the same time as hating the mentality of 'open all hours'. We don't work on the same timetable here as the big department stores and if we did we would probably be as nasty and grumpy as they are.
I'm also dealing with a furry housemate who has decided to be a complete and utter prat for the last four days and will have the spray bottle turned on him soon if he continues with some of his bratty-brat-brat antics. I think it is his cool weather flourish before settling down to a Winter hibernation. It damn well better be over soon. The photo below was taken before he put is crazy pants on the other day. Even though it has been a quiet weekend I am now tired and grumpy from interrupted sleep, not how I planned a restful Easter weekend.

jesus promised kebabs

After a lovely quiet Good Friday lunch out in 'Birdwood' yesterday I came home all dozy and slow..... and to the shocking realisation that I had miscalculated and in fact I have one less week than I thought to make a wedding dress and get everything ready for Finders Keepers. As you can imagine I mentally ran around like a chicken with its head cut off, I could feel my brain ping-ponging about in my skull. Serious mess up there. The main problem being how the hell I am going to fit in two days run up country to pick up stock.
Anyway, first things first, I need to get through a shop Saturday and then I can sit and plan an attack. I have a habit of taking way too much stock to the market so perhaps this time less will be more!
I did a very crappy window display last night featuring the new run of digital print tapestry cushions. I've changed the make on them and now we have, instead of piping and linen back, beautiful German cotton velvet on the reverse, they are pretty lush and some will still be done with our lovely Swedish raw linen as well. This is only the first batch, there is a total of 35 designs at the moment with more on the way.  About two fifths of the range in, I ran out of zips on Thursday afternoon- see I can't help myself, more is never enough.
Anyway, shop is open today, please drop by. We have more of the little ceramic rabbits/hares in, so forego the chocolate and grab one, we have little boxes for them to go in and they are really rather lovely. Also a new shipment of pianola shades has just come in, all sizes and now that the nights are drawing in it's time to light up the house. Perhaps I need to do a window display full of vintage lampbases and shades, maybe next month.
I do love Easter, it's so much more relaxed than Xmas. I love that Haigh's Chocolates have to hire security men for the Block Arcade store, it amuses me greatly. I think a long lie in tomorrow might be on the cards.

toiling

Sorry for being a bit AWOL from the blog for the last few days but I've been a bit busy. Flitting here, flitting there, getting this done, not getting that done, going to meetings, stirring dyepots, tagging gloves, working in the despatch division of PenCorp... ahhh what a glamorous life this is.
I woke this morning to the hissing of gas burners outside my window. It has been an amazing hot air balloon season and I love being able to throw back the curtain and watch them float passed. 'Dreamy' as Miss Ramona often says. It's been that usual last blast of Melbourne autumnal warmth (forecast for 30ºC on Good Friday which is just ridiculous) but the light has been a little hazy and whilst I find a dash of melancholia to it I do love this time of year.

I'm having a little bit of a melt-down at the moment, mild and not too overwhelming, as we have Finders Keepers coming up at  the Exhibition Buildings in a couple of weeks and guess who feels very unprepared. Are you coming? What do you want me to take? Crapola, I wish it was a bit longer away. I have a wedding dress to make before then too!
The new digital cushion prints are coming off the machine at Frankie and Swiss any time now which is pretty exciting. I've chosen a huge batch of tapestries and there is some very funny ones in the collection, crying 80s Pierrots, 1970s children, bullfighters and flamenco dancers, just you wait! And hopefully there will be some purses too. I have more tapestries to photograph so it looks like this range might explode!

On the subject of Easter opening hours, we will be closed Good Friday and Easter Monday (and Easter Sunday of course but we are always closed Sundays.... except for the 20 minutes I opened for a Vintage Tour last Sunday and got flooded with people). Saturday will be as usual, 11am to 5pm. Don't forget to come in and pick up some little ceramic bunnies or tin toys for your chocophobic friends and family. If you can't make it in we can Express Post to you (if you are in the right zones) today so you will get your Easter goodies tomorrow. If you want anything sent you need to get in touch with us by phone before 3pm today so we make the post office in time.