New belts

A few new belts are now available on Etsy and Made It. Cute!

Just had to post this photo. Chloe seems to like the idea of being a model now (well at least, for a couple of minutes and one outfit's worth which means it takes days to get new photos). She loves the close up shot.

I've been busily trying to get a few things that have been in my head for months up and going. Particularly some winter clothes for Chloe which may or may not end up in the shops. I bought some green wool coating on line in the hope that it would be a soft, muted sort of green. This may have been my worst internet buying mistake ever. It's more of a radioactive, toxic waste sort of green. It wasn't the vendors fault. There photo is actually fairly true to colour. I must have just had a moment when my desire to believe was too strong. I'm thinking of buying some blue dye and attempting to make it useable. Anyone got any tips for me??

This is a little box pleat skirt I've been meaning to make for ages. The fabric is a soft babywale cord. Very bright and cheery for dull days. Chloe initially refused even to try it on but loves it now. Lots of colours to look at.





In other news, the latest oft reported saying in our house is "I need to watch Maisy." I'm happy Charlie and Lola are back on in the mornings, cheery 70s theme song and cute fabrics used in the animation. What more could I ask for in a kids show?

Parties and tsk tsk

With the slowness of my bloggin lately you'd be excused for thinking nothing is happening in our household or in Black Eyed Susie. You'd be close but not quite right!

We had the first of Chloe's good friends' second birthday party on the weekend and I got some of Kristen Doran's great Matyroshka print linen to make a present. The largest of the dolls has a zipper in the back and is a little purse for carrying the other dolls. This is a blatant copy of Kristen's idea but I'm sure she wouldn't mind. To be honest the birthday girls wasn't as impressed as her mum - but that's OK. Mum's need something too!


We popped into the local Wood Design Centre market in the morning before the party and met Gemma of Loz and Dinny. I'd been meaning to make Chloe a new dress but hadn't had the inspiration or the will and so this little dress from Loz and Dinny was just perfect. It got so many compliments at the party that I started to feel just a tiny bit envious that I hadn't made it. Not a great photo, Chloe has it pulled down a bit and you can't see the wide polka dot hem which looks great.



Needless to say I've had to soak it to get the beautiful homemade ice cream out.

The party was a great success and Chloe has been talking about it all week.

Last week I was totally flattered to see that one of my designs was featured by Tiel on tsk tsk along with a bunch of other great Australian handmade items. Tiel does amazing stuff - I'm totally in awe - if you haven't seen it go take a look here.

Thanks

Thank you for all the lovely welcome home messages - I WILL blog properly tomorrow. I promise. Things have been busy and very Chloe orientated this week. She is currently obsessed with buttons. If she sees the lap top open she gets a crazy gleam in her I and says "more buttons, more buttons." No point even attempting to log on while she is with me!

We are also having a few issues with "Mummy's buttons (the sewing machine buttons and overlocker tension knobs)." I'll be having to do a lot of fiddling with the tensions when I get sewing again.

We went to a lovely friend's 30th birthday last night. So exciting to go to an adult party - I can't remember the last one! Happy Birthday Bec!

I got to sleep in!

Don't forget to enter the hair tie giveaway below!




Sam and I spent our first night away from Chloe on Saturday. I must admit I felt very strange to be without her. We didn't go far. Just to a historic farmstead called Brickendon about half an hour (or less) away. We had a tiny one bedroom cottage with an open fire, we made ourselves a picnic for dinner and drank merlot in front of the fire then slept in until 9.30. Ah, remember the days when a 9.30 rise was fairly normal for the weekend!

Chloe had a great time with her grandparents but was very unhappy after we returned. She cried and cried and didn't want anybody near her but me. I felt terrible about how vulnerable she must have been feeling.

We went to see Playschool live this morning and Chloe was so, so excited it was amazing. I've never seen her like it before. She still wanted to be on me the whole time and I'm exhausted. I was pummelled, trodden on, shoved and bashed for the entire hour. Crazy. Nice to see her so happy though. She said "happy, happy, happy."

New things

A couple of new dresses. Not new designs, just new fabrics. I'm desperate to get onto some new ideas at the moment but I have to work through my current orders first. Then I may need a little rest!

Little Jenny Wren

Little Jenny Wren is an Etsy seller who makes stunningly beautiful dolls. She was featured in the same Babyology Storque article as Black Eyed Susie and I recently discovered she lives in the same city as us. I think it's just great that two Launceston sellers were featured and I'm really very tempted to comission a doll for Chloe's birthday or Christmas. The dolls are eco-friendly which makes them even more tempting. The only difficulty would be deciding on the details as you'll see if you have a look here. Jenny also has a blog here.

Woohoo!

Wow, two exciting things have happened this morning and it's not even 8.30 yet! Maybe the day will just keep getting better! I have an item on the front page of Etsy for the first time ever! It is one of my denim skirts and it was chosen by Kimiko. I hope this is a milestone that will inspire me to improve my photos enough to get on the front page more often!

And, the lovely Mandi from Babyology featured a Black Eyed Susie dress in an article she wrote for Etsy on Australian kids products. Go take a look, Lucy from Lucy's Place and Two Little Banshees are featured as well!

So what can make the day even better? We're going out to local vegetarian cafe Fresh for brekkie. Yum, yum. And then I'm popping in to see if Suzanne at Cocoon needs anymore hair ties. She always makes me happy!

New duds, New shop!

A couple of new models in my denim dresses and wide leg cords. I'm particularily happy with these fabric combinations and have snaffled one of the dresses for Chloe. It suits her!

These will only be available at Leeloo and should be up on the site this coming Monday. Have a bit of a browse on Leeloo - there is some cool stuff on there. You may recognise some of the makers from Etsy and Made It.

Edited to add: Oops, I'm a bit early with this! Monday the 28th will be when they are available!

Busy, busy, busy!

I've got the theme tune from Gordon the Garden Gnome (ABC Kids in the morning sometime) in my head almost constantly these days.

Busy, busy, busy. It's off to work we go, we've got to dig the garden and etc, etc, etc. So let's get mucky, put your puddlebusters on, with Gordon the Garden Gnome.

It's driving me somewhat bonkers.

But it's true. I am busy. I've been working on wholesale orders for a couple of weeks now. The only lull has been waiting for fabric to arrive (some new stuff - pictures soon). I'm getting through it and I must admit, I find it really satisfying to be busy.

Off to the coast

We made a spur of the moment decision to go to the north coast for the weekend. We went for long walks on the beach, swam in the pool (indoor and heated of course!) and ate lots of nice food. It was nice to get away - that's the only way I can manage to stay off Etsy (it's addictive you know) - and just spend some time relaxing and playing together.


The only bit of work I did was a very, very quick photoshoot with Chloe. These are some of the results. Makes it hard to see the clothes!


What a cutie! And she's working the camera - true model material! She's been wearing that necklace non-stop for about 72 hours now. As soon as I take it off for bed she whips it back on again.

Finally

I've been feeling frustrated because I haven't been able to get anything new made for Black Eyed Susie for a while. Finally I made this sweet dress. I love it. I love the contrast of the large dark blue and ivory daisy print with the smaller oval and rectangle red print. OK, some may say it's a bit busy but I just think it's oh so cute!



I want to get Chloe some red tights or leggings and a red polo neck now.



I'm finding photgraphing my clothes difficult now we are in winter. It's really way to cold to put Chloe in a dress (without the leggings etc) and I do want to show the dresses as they can look in summer as well as winter. Also, the spot in my house that I have always used to photgraph the clothes flat just doesn't get enough light even on the brightest day now. So whilst I love the dress, I'm disappointed in the pictures. I need to find some better options.

Kitchen fun

For anyone in need of some inspiration go take a look at this. Fortytworoads, on Etsy, sell a tutorial for making a great play kitchen using cardboard. It looks so cool and lends itself to a bit of fun for the maker- imagine the pretty curtains you could choose, or colour schemes. A cute matching apron could be made too.

Time is a bit short here at the moment so we went to the toy library and hired a plastic toy kitchen. I still plan to make the cardboard one sometime.

Fortytworoads also has a blog and there are sometime photos of finished kitchens there.

Pink and Frilly

I was never much of a girly, girl. I always wanted to be out with the boys building cubby houses and that sort of thing. I don't see girly movies or read girly books and, as you can see from Black Eyed Susie Clothes, I don't go in for pink frilliness. So now, have a look at this!

I'm not quite sure what came over me. I saw a bunch of little fairies in town the other day and decided I must make three little tutus for Chloe and her friends. I'm quite enjoying this bit of light relief from my more serious sewing.

The white tulle is leftover from my wedding dress, it's beautiful, soft and shimmery. The pink is new and I'm using satin blanket binding for the waist casing. I also bought the fabric flowers to rip apart and sew little clumps of them on the skirts.

This should get rid of any pink flowery urges for at least a few months.

Go check out the blog of Kristen Doran (producer of stunning handprinted fabric and crafts) to see loads of photos of local shop Cocoon. It's beautiful. You'll also get to see Kristen's beautiful things.

Splish, splash, splurge.

I had a minor splurge yesterday. Chloe and I go to swimming lessons once a week and our bathers are starting to get very tired. In fact I worry that mine may disintegrate in the not too distant future! Anyway I saw these and just couldn't resist. It is nice buying bathers for someone you can be sure they'll look good on. The hunt for some for me will not be so easy!

Colours

I love the way my stock rack looks. So bright and cheery. It inspires me to keep going. I plan to organise my fabric stocks on a rack soon so that they are more visible - I run the risk of forgetting about some great new fabrics I've bought. If I can see them it encourages me to think of new ideas for them.

Three little girls and one clever husband

Sam spent part of his weekend making this chalkoard easel for Chloe. I'm very impressed with it.

Today Chloe and her two best friends gave it a good workout. I wasn't brave enough to get out the paper and paint with three toddlers yet. Maybe tomorrow Chloe and I will have a painting session. Chloe is so into drawing and sticking at the moment I wonder if she has her mummys love of creating. She draws little squiggles and says they are fish (or, at least, pish).

I finished the blouse, but not until it was too dark to get a photo. It does look great on Chloe but really, if I'm honest could do with a bit more perfecting. I'll try to get a photo tomorrow.

Winter in the park

I'm not exaggerating when I say that of all the photos taken of me since Chloe's birth there have been about 3 that I haven't been horrified by. This one is OK so I thought I'd post it - 3 decent photos in 18 months doesn't make for many chances!

This is Chloe and I at one of the local parks. I'm desperately trying to make a reluctant Chloe hold my hand so she doesn't end up in with the goldfish.

Chloe was actually jumping off the step which was another little milestone.

In shop news, I've put some teeny, tiny, little birdie hair ties up. Perfect for little girls pony or pig tails. I'm excited you see - I managed to get Chloe's hair into a little pony tail for the first time. She looked so sweet and was very proud.

Work in progress

Well, it's been a long few weeks. I'm finally feeling back to normal but I think Chloe is getting ill again. Poor thing, she's been so delicate today.

I have so many ideas of things I'd like to add to my shop. There is just never enough time. I know that's a common refrain - it's just how it is.

The red blouse above is a work in progress and if you look closely you can see where I goofed the binding. I think it's pretty cute though and I'm feeling inspired to perfect it. I just love red on Chloe. Today I got her some black leggings and she has some funky little black boots. They'd be perfect with this. Maybe tomorrow I'll get to it - it's been a work in progress for quite some time!

Accessorising

Every morning Chloe puts on her beads. She just loves them and when she catches sight of herself in a mirror she looks so proud. She also love hats and shoes. Particularly shoes. She is most impressed with her new black boots and will point down at them and say "shooooo."

I have a weakness for cute hair clips so today when she wore her new denim skirt for the first time she had her red beads, red hair clips and black boots to match. She was very pleased!