Good morning Winter

Frost on top of the car

I hope my garden survives the winter - and my current lack of attention!

Good morning Ballarat! Well, the sun is shining, the skies are clear but it is cold and crisp. This morning we woke to a blanket of frost over the garden and cars. What a sight - pretty but freezing. Thank goodness we have an awesome heater. 

Today is the beginning of my first winter in Ballarat. Everyone has warned me about how cold it gets here (at least five degrees cooler than Melbourne I'm told). So when my pals in Melbourne are freezing at 7 degrees - just think of me here at 2 degrees! 

Thankfully for me - I make scarves and blankets for a living - which seems absolutely perfect for this kind of climate. The best part of winter for me is deciding which colour Cast offs scarf to wear for the day!

My husband Sam and I have been working really hard the last few weeks trying to get the shop renovation complete. A succession of very late nights are starting to take its toll - but now that the walls have all had an undercoat - I can really start to see it all coming together. I don't think I will quite believe it - when it is all done.

My little corner shop 'The Crafty Squirrel' now has its own website, blog and facebook page for you to check out. Also too in the coming weeks I will be releasing a whole new range of craft and sewing based products under the Crafty Squirrel label. You can get a sneak peek at a couple of these new products this Saturday when The Crafty Squirrel and I have a stall at the fabulous Daylesford Makers Market! Love to see you there.

Shinto Shrines

Various photos I took on my travels.......

A page from my Pilgrimage book...

When I was in Japan, I spent a lot of time travelling around the countryside visiting Shinto Shrines. It was something that I had not thought of doing prior to visiting (I was more interested in shopping if I am absolutely honest!) however from the moment I caught a glimpse of my first Shrine and stepped through the gates into the grounds I was struck by sacred space.

The delightful Jizō statues with their little red hats and bibs greeted me along meandering paths leading me to enormous old trees and small forests planted hundreds of years ago. The great feeling of tranquility within these grounds was so nourishing that even as I write, I remember the feeling.

Shinto shrines are the dwellings of the kami, the Shinto "gods". Kami are gods or spirits that represent objects or concepts like trees, rivers, the sun, rocks, food, and fertility.

This resonates with me as in the Maori tradition - Mana is the term used to describe the presence of spirits in nature and its phenomena. Mountains, forests, rain, wind, lightning and sometimes animals were thought to be charged with spiritual power, a power whose worldly manifestations were worshiped.

There are a lot of rituals involved when visiting temples and shrines in Japan. Mainly I remember cleansing my hands and mouth, lighting incense sticks and directing the smoke towards me, taking my shoes off when going inside, offering a donation, and taking a few moments to really be there. 

and another.....

Somewhere along my travels I purchased a pilgrimage book. Once you have one of these books, anytime you visit a famous temple or shrine, you will find a small office that will stamp your book and write some calligraphy on a page. The stamps are almost always red, and feature a design unique to the temple. I have collected 11 stamps in my book. I am looking forward to the day when I can visit Japan again and collect some more.

Tucked in on Mothers Day

Home made Devonshire tea - Yum-o!

I had one wish for Mothers Day. I asked my two children – Kitty 6½ and Milo 2½ to come in to bed this morning and give me a big kiss and a cuddle. To snuggle in with me all toasty and warm and half asleep. This is one of my favourite times of the day. Most days I only get one of them in with me – these days it is usually Milo but as they grow it seems to happen less and less. It seems there are more interesting things to do than to hop into bed with Mum for a snuggle.

My other wish was for my husband Sam to make me a cup of coffee in bed and for me to be able to actually stay in bed to drink it. Both of these wishes were granted and so I felt truly happy. I was also blessed as both Kitty and Milo presented me with very special gifts as did my lovely husband.

I knew Kitty was up to something when she asked me if it would be ok to take the $5 she had received from GG (Great Grandma Mavis) for Easter to school to spend. Spend on what I asked? Then I remembered about the Mothers Day stall they were having at school and realised what she was up to. Of course she had more than a little trouble keeping her purchase a secret. “Mummy – you don’t have a money box do you?” and “Mummy – your second favourite colour is pink isn’t it?” (It isn’t but what Mother would say no!). So this morning I was presented with a very sweet pink ceramic love heart shaped money box. She was so chuffed to give it to me and I declared that it would be just the perfect size to collect $2 coins in. Thank you Kitty.

Milo – thanks to his time spent at childcare – had with the help of his carers painted a little terracotta pot and planted it up with something that I am assuming if it likes its current spot on the kitchen window sill, will eventually flower. So very cute. Thank you Milo.

And well – from my most appreciative husband – I, as usual have been totally spoilt. The gift was a gorgeous book called ‘Tucked in’ by Meredith Gaston. Enjoyed most thoroughly as I sat up in bed with my freshly brewed cup of coffee. Then croissants for breakfast – a family outing and ride on a gorgeous old steam train thanks to the Heritage Festival that is on this weekend in Ballarat. Home for homemade Devonshire tea with scones made from the Country Women’s Association cookbook and now as I sit writing this – the most delicious smells of a homemade feast using a pumpkin grown in our garden are wafting out to me.

I truly feel loved and appreciated today. I must remember this and eek out memories of it over the year ahead! It has been a busy week – full of small ‘Mother’ milestones. For Milo – it was showing me that he was able to ‘jump’ with both feet off the ground like a ‘big boy’ and for Kitty it is her first wobbly tooth (well actually 2! The bottom front 2!) – so I suppose if we are lucky the tooth fairy may just pay us a visit or two this week.

To my own Mother, Step Mother, Mother in laws, Grandmothers and all those women over the years that have been and still are like Mothers to me. I thank you for your love and support. Happy Mothers Day! 

Out & About

I have been locked away now for quite a number of weeks – in my studio that is! Trying to get my head around how many orders I had to fill for all the retailers who decided that they wanted my Cast offs winter woollies and more for their store. Finally I think I have hit the point where I can see beyond filling those orders and slowly but surely I am able to turn my attention to other matters. First cab off the rank really is my new corner shop - The Crafty Squirrel! The renovations are coming along nicely - very slowly mind you but they are happening!

My lovely husband Sam – has turned his hand at a spot of rendering on the walls and next Thursday the floor people are coming to lay the most gorgeous vintage style red marmoleum! I had thought of laying floorboards but then decided that I would go with something different – I can’t wait to see what it looks like!

Before I can really fully turn my attention on the shop though – I have a couple of markets to attend! Yay for markets! I always love having a stall at markets – catching up with my crafty crew, chatting with customers and generally getting out of my studio!
It’s one thing to make and make and make and entirely another to actually go out and sell all that has been made!

I am very excited also to be making my debut at the Daylesford Makers Market this weekend – this is a market that I have wanted to participate in for ages – so finally my time has come and I will be there on Easter Saturday from 10am to 3pm! The weather is supposed to be quite lovely on Saturday – so do think of going on a drive to the country for a spot of lunch and gorgeous handmade shopping. You can’t go wrong really! If I wasn’t doing the market – this is exactly what I would like to be doing!

Then on Wed I am off to Melbourne for a few days to participate in Magnolia Square at Malvern Town Hall on Thurs 28 April 10am - 9pm, Fri 29 April 10am - 5pm and Sat 30 April 10am - 4pm. I love Mag Sq! I always look forward to catching up with my regular customers and doing a spot of shopping myself! If I can get away from my stall that is! The other thing I really love about Mag Sq is Bloom. About 12 months ago Nic MacIsaac the founder of Magnolia Square and myself came up with the idea for Bloom as a way to showcase emerging designers in a way that lets them take a small step and test the waters so to speak before becoming a fully fledged Magnolia Square retailer. If you are interested in finding out more about Bloom and how you can get involved you can here.

Well that’s about all from me for the moment – I best be off back to the studio to finish off my market preparations. I hope you all have a lovely Easter long week-end and some well earned R&R! I am looking forward to the Easter Bunny paying us a visit – hopefully there will be a dark chocolate egg for me! Yum Yum!

Crafty Gals

Teegs and Lara – Ink and Spindle 

Kirsteene – Scrumptious Productions 

Michelle – Kids with Crayons 

Tamara – Retro Print Revival 

Pia – Pia Handmade 

Amelia – Milkwood Design 

Kelly and Heidi – Heavenly Creatures 

Shannon – Rabbit and the Duck 

Gaye – Gaye Abandon, Body parts 

Pip – Pip & Maude

Jo – Frankie & Ray 

Liz – Betty Jo 

Well – what a week end I had! I am totally exhausted today – but all in the name of good fun of course!

Saturday saw me back at the good old Maribyrnong Makers Market – where even though I have only been gone a few months it was like the long lost reunion! It was really great to catch up with everyone again. The lovely stallholders who make the market what it is – the volunteer Committee members who tirelessly work to put on a good show and of course all the visitors who come back time and time again – bringing friends along who have never been or just showing their support by buying everyone’s wares.

Pretty much the whole day was busy – which means that time goes super fast and everyone is chatty and happy. I am really looking forward to the next one which isn’t until September! If you haven’t been before – I highly recommend putting Sat 17 Sept in your diaries and making the effort to come along to see what it’s all about.

Sunday saw me out for a lovely breakfast at Happy River with friends and then off to Finders Keepers at Shed 4 down at the Docklands.

I always love visiting markets – lot’s of the time of course I am having a stall myself and so it is hard to get around and catch up with all my lovely crafty pals. This time – whilst I had planned to have a stall at Finders Keepers – it ended up being too much for me to manage and really if I am honest it was much more fun to visit everyone and have a lovely chin-wag. If you have met me before you know I am pretty much always up for a chat – I really do love meeting people and sharing stories about our creative lives and how we juggle them with the multitude of other things that life distracts us with.

The thing I think that really strikes me when I do get this opportunity to catch up with the girls – is how no matter where we are at with our businesses be they small, big or anywhere in between – we all go through similar experiences and come up against things that can stop us in our tracks or challenge us in the creative path that we have chosen for ourselves. The one thing I think I came away with yesterday as I drove up the highway to my new country home – was how I felt part of a gang.

A gang of women who are really strong, creative, clever, amazing multi-taskers and who like me have chosen to live their lives for the freedom it gives them and for the satisfaction that comes from turning your hand to the craft that makes your heart sing.

Keep up the good work girls! It was great to catch up!

Sewing Machines

When I was a girl my Mother sewed all the time. There are loads of photos of me as a chubby little toddler with reddish curls – dressed in gingham nappy pants and little matching apron like smocks with cute little iron on motifs on the front.

As I got older there were ballet costumes, party dresses and then for my 9th birthday a blue velour dressing gown with frills around the neck and bottom of the sleeves. How grown up I felt swishing around in that dressing gown! Funnily enough not that long ago Mum and I were fossicking in an op shop somewhere and we came across the vintage pattern for that dressing gown – what a hoot!

So of course as children are want to do – from the get go I bugged my Mother to let me use her sewing machine. Mum told me stories about when she was a girl and how back then she used to use her Mothers sewing machine to re-fashion hand me down clothing into something she could wear, shortening skirt lengths and turning dresses into tops and so on.

It’s only natural then that my daughter Kitty is hot on my heels. She received her first sewing machine at the tender age of 5 – a gorgeous vintage children’s Singer (thanks Kath!) and has gone on to be given a number of other children’s sewing machines to practice on. The thing is there is never quite anything like your Mothers sewing machine – so as soon as she sees me get to work she wants to make things on MY machine! To her credit – she is actually pretty good at it and as my machine is finger operated as opposed to foot operated – she seems to find it easier than I did to sew on. I always remember that my feet were never quite long enough to reach the pedal properly!

When I first started my business – I used a beautiful old vintage machine I had found in an op shop for $25 and later an egg shell blue 60’s machine (which weighs an absolute tonne).  As the business progressed and I needed to use fancier stitches I had to upgrade to a modern machine. Of course I haven’t looked back. Lots of what I do and make today is thanks to my trusty sewing machine. Thanks to Mum for having the patience to give me a go all those years ago and thanks to my High School Textiles teacher Helen Amor – who I have seen recently at various markets I attend – and have been able to reminisce with about the various projects I worked on at school! Particularly the embroidered Mum 4 Dad oven mitt!

Congratulations too to Lioness Lady who has won my 100th Blog post giveaway! Congratulations!

100th Blog post GIVEAWAY!

How time flies! 

To celebrate reaching my 100th blog post I am running a little give away! 

All you have to do to win your very own Rainbow Cast offs scarf is post a comment on my blog telling me what colour you most like to wear. 

It’s that easy!

  

In every colour imaginable the beauty of Cast offs is that regardless of the colours in season – you can always wear your colour.

Stay wonderfully warm and woolly!

The competition will close on Thursday 24 March 8pm EST. The winner will be drawn via random.org and announced on my blog on Friday 25 March. The winner will also be notified via email - so make sure you leave your email address with your comment if you are not signed in. Giveaway is open to Australian residents only.

Harvest time

Acorns ripe for the picking......

Shop renovations are underway!

As I sit here writing I can smell the most heavenly scent of home made pesto. Yum-o! The prospect of dinner is always good – but when you know the dinner has been created out of the bounty’s of your garden – it is even better!

Life is good – if somewhat hectic at the moment. The shop is undergoing quite the renovation and looks like a bomb hit it. We have certain deadlines of when things like walls need to be finished before the floor people can come and before the floor people can come the roof plumber needs to come and whilst this is all happening the Electrician needs to come and re-wire bits and then whilst he is here the Carpenter may as well come and build me a new front door and fix one of the leaky windows……you get the drift I ‘m sure.

The goal is for the shop to open at the end of May….lets hope that is the case because I have stock arriving here there and everywhere and quite frankly I just want to unpack already. I am sick of living out of boxes and having to open 20 boxes just to find the one thing that I am looking for!

On that note…..I must be off…dinner is being served (thank you kind man of the house).

And thank you to my gorgeous squirrel children who went acorn collecting on my behalf today. I love acorns!

Almost ready...yum!

Grow cob grow!

Scarf Admiration

General Edition Cast offs Scarves

The first product in my range that I ever made to sell was my Cast offs Scarves. Way back in 2004 I was playing around with some felted woollen jumpers that I had and I made one for my lovely husband Sam. He was chuffed and wore it all through the winter. I was chuffed that he wore it and that people asked him about it and commented on it.

A bit later down the track when I was pregnant with our daughter Kitty – I made her a baby cot blanket using a similar idea. One thing led to another and before I knew it my squirrel instincts had kicked in and I was collecting woollen jumpers here, there and everywhere. All these years later – my Cast offs scarves have evolved to become a true winter staple.

You won’t often see me without one on – and now that I have made the move to a colder climate – I think they will become even more of a permanent fixture! Funnily enough the customers I have met who have bought my scarves have all said similar things - in that they do not take them off during winter because they get so attached to them and then there are the poor souls that have misplaced them or heaven forbid left them on the train by accident and come to visit me at the market to share their story. I know tears have been shed over lost scarves.

Necklace Scarves from Body parts - Gaye Abandon

The thing is – I know of lots of other crafty types who also make scarves. My two favourites would have to be Gaye from Gaye Abandon who has become super well known for her lovely circles necklace scarf and Jo from Frankie and Ray who has designed and knits her own neck warmers out of the most gorgeous coloured wools and who also plays around with jumper felt and various fabric combos to great success.

I think one can never have too many scarves in their wardrobe – there is nothing quite like jazzing up your outfit with something that looks fantastic and keeps you toasty at the same time!

Stay wonderfully warm and woolly!

Frankie & Ray Scarf by the lovely Jo Dunsimur

Knitted by Jo from Frankie & Ray

Back to reality

Mum & I celebrating on the opening night of the show!

Well – here I am back home again after a whirlwind week in Sydney exhibiting once more at Life in Style trade fair. One of the best parts of my trip was all the lovely re-orders I have taken from my existing stockists and the overwhelming number of new orders I have taken from new retailers! Boy o boy am I going to be busy!! Still the best bit is that my winter woolly things like the Cast offs scarves, baby blankets and my new giant rainbow throw have all been very well received. Bring on winter I say!

My First in Style showcase!

After a couple of solid days of taking orders – I slipped away and left Mum on the stand whilst I went on a treasure hunting excursion with lovely Allison. What an interesting experience it was to be a shopper at the trade fair instead of a seller! Thank goodness I had Allison with me – who has a fantastic eye and of course lots of experience! On Saturday we spent the whole day at the Home & Giving Fair at the Sydney Showgrounds where we traipsed up and down each aisle – searching for goodies (to much success I might add) and then on Sunday we spent most of the day at the Reed Gift Fair at Darling Harbour. In the end exhausted but happy we got back to Life in Style just in time to finish off orders with exhibitors there and pack up our stands! Now I just can’t wait to get all the goodies that I ordered delivered! The Crafty Squirrel is going to be chock block full of vintage crafty goodness!

Fabulous Team Lark! Dean, Allison and Paul

One of my super favourite bits in relation to getting out and about is of course the opportunity to catch up with all the amazing crafty and clever peeps I meet in my travels. I have massive admiration for all these wonderfully creative people who all have super good taste I might add. How lovely it is to be surrounded by such a supportive and imaginative community. It certainly makes life more interesting!

After all this trade show business – Mum and I took the day off to explore around Newtown before we flew home. Unfortunately because it was Monday a lot of the shops (like Newspaper Taxi) I wanted to go to were closed which was a bummer. Still I got to pop into Made 590 which I have been wanting to visit for ages and was delighted to find that Christina was in and up for a bit of a chat. What a shop! Definitely add to your must go to next time you are in Sydney list – it is fantastic! Also too, a wee spot of vintage haberdashery shopping was done – so I really did feel like it was a super successful trip!

Now I just have to fill all those orders I took!

The gorgeous Belinda from Babushka Baby

The very talented Jarren from Temono

Shabana and her beautiful silver and ceramic jewellery

The lovely Amber from Down to the Woods – giant freckle anyone?

Clever Caitlin from Little Lamb

The talent behind Knuffle Kid – Emma!

Christina – the gorgeous Made 590 Queen!

Made 590 – one of the coolest shops in Sydney

Once a Squirrel….always a Squirrel….

My op shop Squirrel lamp - he sealed the deal!

 Have you ever heard of the theory that each person has an animal totem in terms of personality traits? Most of my life I have thought of myself as a cat. I have always had pet cats (whom I have thought of as my babies) and I am a Leo born in the year of the tiger. Increasingly however I have realised that I am also very much a Squirrel! And a crafty one at that!

Over the last few weeks in Ballarat I have managed to pay a visit to many of the fantastic op shops that are to be found around town. And what riches there are to be discovered! During these times of searching and gathering treasures I have been hard at work trying to think of a good name for my new shop…lots of names have popped into my head, been road tested on my family and friends and then discarded for one reason or another - until the day I came up with ‘The Crafty Squirrel’. The whole family said ‘Yes!’ and the more I thought about it – the more I knew it was right. So ‘The Crafty Squirrel’ it is!

Some lovely girly squirrels from one of the Squirrel books I found.

Of course the day I truly settled on the name I went out op shopping and found 3 squirrel related items – 2 books and a little squirrel night light. I knew I was definitely on the right track and ever since I have been finding all sorts of wonderful vintage haberdashery items to sell in the shop!

When I researched Squirrel totems on the internet – this is what I came up with…..it was slightly too close to home really….but maybe that is a good thing!

The gathering power of the Squirrel is a great gift. (That’s what I think J) It teaches us balance within the circle of gathering and giving out.  

They remind us that in our quest for our goals, it is vital to make time for play and socialising. Squirrels teach us to conserve our energy for times of need.  

If your totem is Squirrel or a Squirrel has recently entered your life - lighten your load of things that are unnecessary – things that you have gathered in the past and may be cluttering your life – thoughts, worries, and stresses. (Sounds like a plan…)

Squirrels are also the totem of action. Ask yourself - are you too active, not active enough, afraid of enough, hung up on accumulating and collecting. (ok, ok….maybe just a little….thank goodness I am opening a shop! Then everyone gets to benefit from my squirrel ways!)  

Squirrel people tend to be a little erratic – trying to do many things at once. (No…really!?) Take the time to stop and listen to your inner self – and don’t forget to play! (AOK!!)

This is just a small collection of my amazing knitting needles for the shop.

I couldn't believe my luck when I found this...original box and all!

A small selection of vintage haberdashery from my travels...