Busy, busy, busy.

I've nearly let go of the blog again already. Oops.

I'm sewing up a storm ready for a couple of pre-Christmas markets in Novemember. I'll be at Niche (details below) and The Market in the Masonic Temple, Sandy Bay Rd on Sunday Nov 13th, 10 -3.  I'll be upstairs and would love visitors!

Northern folk, I'd love visitors at Niche too.  Friday nights the bar is open and last time they had a very good special on Ninth Island Sparkling. Perfect for relaxed Friday night browsing!

Thanks Tortoise Mum for prodding me into action!  I will do my best to blog!

Oh, and some other recent news, lovely, bubbly, cheery Min at Content has a bunch of brooches, earrings, headbands, bobby pins and a few other things of mine for sale.  Such a beautiful shop to spend some time exploring.

Recuperation

We're back from a week at Binalong Bay. So beautiful and relaxing - just what we needed. Arj even slept well most nights and miraculously had two sleeps a day. Now we're back and slipping straight back into our pattern of illnesses - snotty noses and coughs agaaaaain. Arrrgh.

It's a great season for wildflowers. The Tassie coastal bush was looking spectacular and reminded me of WA. The kids had a great time on the beach and I (cos I'm tough!) had a couple of swims.

I'm gearing up for a last push at making for Niche market which starts on Friday (4-8pm on Friday (with a bar!) and 10 -4 on Saturday). It's going to be fun and I have a big bunch of clothes, hair thingies, t-shirts, headbands, sewing kits, brooches and even some Christmas decorations. Come and have a chat if you can - I'll be sneaking a glass of wine behind my stall!

A few not very good photos of our Niche Market stall. Ignore the disembodied legs in the corner - she's hiding - but not particularly well! We did a better set up on the Sunday and had a less cluttered look with more height on the table but, of course, I forgot to take any photos. I'm hoping someone will have some. Also forgot to take any of all the other lovely stalls.**

Gemma and I had a great time chatting - with each other, with customers, with other stall holders and the lovely Selina (Multi tasking organiser extraordinaire) and with our lovely Mums who were around a lot!

It's been a huge weekend with lots on for the Junction Regional Arts Festival too. We've been out to the Festival both nights and this arvo. So tired. More info soon.

** Also forgot Mum and Dad were going to babysit so we could go out for dinner tonight. Went to sleep and woke up when Sam had already cooked. Damn. Damn. We needed a 'date night' badly.

Nearly time

Busy, busy, busy. I wanted to show off a few new things I've been making in preparation for Niche but they haven't made it in front of the camera yet. It's going to be a great market I think. Loads of makers that are new to Niche and a lot of more familiar faces too.

I've got some new tops and dresses, some cool tees for boys, belts for boys and girls, cute bibs and lots of hair thingies. I'll also have some pretty brooches for the more grown up girls amongst us and a bunch of the new cosmetic bag sewing kits. I hope to have some bunting sewing kits too - pre-cut triangles, binding and instructions. A great, simple project with very impressive results and ideal for beginner sewers including kids. Perfect to make for a nursery (maybe when the nesting instinct hits!), child's room or for reusable party decorations.

I just haven't had the time to make as much stock as I wanted (particularly for boys) but I'll be taking some fabric samples so if you're interested in ordering something just ask for a look.

I'm looking forward to hanging out with Gemma and choosing one of her lovely dresses for my dress loving princess/mermaid. I've come to the realisation that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em and that we just need a vast collection of dresses and skirts.

News just in

Black Eyed Susie, in conjunction with Loz and Dinny will be at Niche. Yay. Hmmm, better go tie myself to the sewing machine.

Niche had two venues this time, the Art school at Inveresk and the Boathouse. We'll be hanging out in the Boathouse. For details go to the Niche blog. Hope to see you there! I'm looking forward to all the chatting and catching up. And drinking coffees and doing a spot of shopping and hopefully, eating some Hungry Kitty cakes again.

Yawning but smiling

Man, I'm tired ... but happy. Had a great three days at Niche Market. I really enjoyed getting back into sewing (although there's no way I could keep up the pace) and the buzz of the market. There were loads of lovely stalls and sellers and I neglected to take photos of their stalls again. I'll point you to some blogs as things come up - I'm sure someone has taken lovely shots.

Lots of friends visited, new friends were made and I've had the most social three days. Just great!

I'm hoping to photograph and list some of the things I have in stock still this week but no promises. I have to catch up on some of the very neglected housework.

Gearing up...

.. for Niche. It's going to be a great market with a huge list of exciting stalls.

Nostalgia

More on Niche soon. I'd like to show you some of the other stallholders but didn't get a chance to get photos so I'll try to show some examples of their designs soon.

First though, I wanted to post a couple of photos of our current house. It's so tidy at the moment and it's the perfect time to show you! Even my work room is tidy - totally unheard of. I'll get a photo of it to show you tomorrow.

These are some of the photos the agent took of our house and they're making me the tiniest bit sad to be leaving. We've put so much work and love into this house. It's crazy to be nostalgic before we even leave!



We built this deck when I was pregnant with Chloe. There are some huge beams underneath that I had to help lift and hold in place for Sam. We have some photos of a huge bellied me banging nails into the decking. I get so much satisfaction out of making things - be it dresses or decks!


Chloe's room is perhaps my favourite in the house. It is a calm, restful room and sometimes I feel like going to have a little afternoon nap in her bed.


This red laminex table is a favourite thing. It has been a multi-purpose dining, cutting and miscellaneous stuff storage spot here so unfortunately that meant it could often be almost hidden! In the new house it may become a dedicated work table or it may get pride of place on the covered verandah - I'm leaning towards this option. That red needs to be seen.


This is our lovely sunny lounge room. I love the paint colour and am keeping the name stored in my head for the new place.

Niche

Just a quick post - I know I've been a slacker with the blogging!

Today was the first day of "Niche - All wrapped up" the market in support of St Giles at the University of Tasmania Art School in Launceston. Above are a couple of photos of my stall taken by Jen (with a much lovelier camera and a much better eye for photos than me). Thank you!

I was nervous and hadn't managed to fit in a practice stall set up so just had to do it cold this morning. I was really happy with how it turned out. It needs a little tidy up in the photos but that's a good thing. It means people were looking. I had a great day and may be sold on this market thing. So exciting to chat with customers and other makers.

There are so many amazing stalls at Niche. If you're in or near Launceston do pop in tomorrow. You'll love it! I'm hoping to manage a little shopping tomorrow too!

Yikes

Things here at the "House of Black Eyed Susie" are what you might call, in a charitable mood, chaotic. If I let you see into the work room you may feel your charitable mood slipping away and you may feel compelled to call it a disaster area.

We have less than three weeks untils settlement date for our new house (Yay, yay, yay!), we need to get this house on the market asap and it's only a week until Niche Market. I'm desperately sewing but finding myself procrastinating with cleaning walls and packing boxes both of which need done so maybe it's not true procrastination, just a very ineffective way to get everything done. Sam (and I when I need another break from sewing) is painting some window frames that I started stripping a very long time ago and never finished. We also some finishing off to do on the verandah that we replaced about a year ago and have to paint the lounge room as the wall behind a heater we had removed wasn't painted. Nevermind the garden - cutting the grass will be as good as it gets. Poor Chloe is stuck in the middle of all this thinking "What on earth is going on?" She's so obsessed with Maisy at the moment that we've been resorting to the TV quite a lot. I just tell myslef it's OK, it's just a couple of weeks until she has a great new garden and house to explore. I'm sure that'll break the TV habit.

I did have some photos to show you but my camera has currently taken itself into hiding and I don't blame it really. I bet it's found a nice cosy spot under some of my fabric piles.



I'll be taking whatever clothing I have ready, including a range of dresses, pants and skirts (and the two new cord dresses pictured - perfect for winter), to Niche. I'll also have a bunch of belts, some in new fabrics. I had a little fun at Seworld yesterday (when I should have been sewing or cleaning or painting) and if I had the camera I'd show you my haul. Just gorgeous. There will be a few purses for the grown ups (photos will come one day) and a big bunch of hair ties and clips in new fabrics. Maybe some badges too if I get that far. Fun!

I've realised recently that my ideas and plans are always far, far ahead of my current capabilities so I reserve the right to go back in these promises at any moment!

Niche Market

I'm very excited to be taking part in my first market and even prouder that it's such a lovely one with such wonderful makers involved. Go take a look at the Niche blog for info on stall holders.

Even better, Niche is a fundraising venture so a portion of stall takings will go to St Giles which is a wonderful charity that provides all sorts of therapy for kids who need it.

Niche is on from 10am to 4 pm on Saturday the 2nd and Sunday the 3rd of May at the Academy of Arts at Inveresk in Launceston. A perfect place to pick up a Mother's Day present or something for yourself! I must start dropping large hints.