Can Portland do nothing wrong??

OK. I confess. I am an etsy fiend! I need to stay away from the site as I am bound to get stuck there for ages, scrolling through all the handmade and vintage goodies. Recently I started on a quest for lots of quirky brooches and as always happens, got sidetracked and bumped into this absolutely stunning camisole by CLF Claire la Faye - of Portland Oregon. Her beautiful range of frocks, gowns and camisoles can be found in her etsy store, and at her website.

Clair's creations have been worn by those glamour queens, Dita Von Teese, Courtney Love and Christina Aguilera and now I have my own beautiful piece of her imagination! I can't wait to wear this coral camisole with vintage lace out on the town - might need to plan a hot date out with my husband before Christmas!

I already think if I was to move to America, I'd want to live in Portland Oregon - imagine being surrounded by inspired people like Clair and the girls from Queen Bee Creations - and the fact that it's such a bicycle friendly city is a bonus too!

MADE IT love

I just love receiving goodies in the mail. Last week I ordered some cute little designs from my new friend Bec of  RadishandRuth at MadeIt.com.au. She designs and creates gorgeous little felt and fabric based pieces and my heart got stuck on the Kokka Musical and Red Apple Upcycled fabric brooches.

Apart from the thrill of getting one-of-a-kind items, the other thing I love about purchasing from markets is the care the seller takes in presenting their wares. Look at what I saw when I opened my parcel....

 I could hardly bear to open these beautiful packages - 

which were completed with sweet little felted bobby pins.

But of course - the best was yet to come, I received these on Friday and have already worn both of them!

You can check out Bec's Madeit store and her RadishandRuth blog for lots of felted and fabric treasures (you might see some familiar packaging on one of her recent posts!)

Things to do in the car

I’ve been sewing a cute little outfit for my friend’s 1 year old daughter for Christmas – had this project planned and everything purchase a good 6 weeks ago – but why do it in 6 weeks when you can to do it in 3 days??

I’ll tell you why – at this time of year all bets are off!

Anyway I was putting the finishing touches on the cute little bonnet in the car on the way over there yesterday, in fact, that 1 hour trip was quite productive…

 don't worry, it's a lite!

 

Lacey's bonnet

 girls were born to multitask

Now, if only I had a full-time driver at my disposal, imagine how much more I could get done!

It's a wrap

How's your Christmas gift list going? We’ve found that as long as you prepare in advance, a hamper of goodies can be the best solution – and making said goodies and putting it all together can be lots of fun too, so this year we’ve come up with another homemade hamper idea.

Marinated Kalamata Olives
Spiced Onion Chutney

Biscotti

Spiced Cherries

It's such a pleasure shopping for the tasty ingredients at the local shops and farmers market!

The best thing is that each gift can be given individually as well, solving all our gift giving dilemmas of all sizes!

Each gift will be presented in a brown paper gift bag or a basket - always with a big bow and a gorgeous letterpress gift tag from Ruby Victoria...

Have I forgotten anything?

Me I sew

Spring in Melbourne is just gorgeous but still very unpredictable. There may be a strong burst of sunshine in the afternoon but it will then rain for 20 minutes before the clouds break up and sunshine returns. Maybe that’s why I’ve been knocked over with another cold in the past few days. But enough about that. I’ve also been very very busy over the last few weeks. I like that because I’m being inspired and my mind is occupied, but too busy to blog about my adventures is no good. Here I go catching up again…

I have had so much joy with the sewing machine as I whipped up a travel set from 2 entirely free patterns I found on the web and also used a bag I already have as a guide.

Isn’t it true that some things are born out of necessity, bringing my clothes to work on Mondays, I didn’t want my wardrobe on show for all in the office to see. I started searching for a garment bag I liked and found absolutely nothing. Nada. Zippo. So I turned to my old favourite Florence Broadhurst to see if she could inspire me – her range of fabrics and wallpaper is available exclusively through Signature Prints in Sydney and now and then they have a remnants sale of 1 or 2 metre lengths It was my lucky day – the Japanese Blue Ikeda fabric was just $60 a metre! (that’s less than half price).

Here is the result…

Garment Bag Instructions

Toiletry Bag Instructions

My own design!

As I wrote this I sneaked a peek back at the Signature Prints sale – this set would look so lovely in The Cranes – Light Rouge and Palms in Purple – if only I went away more often to justify it, but still, there are some gorgeous gift ideas right here too..

Speaking of gifts, my second project was this cute teddy bear for a 1st birthday coming up on Christmas day. I’ve made the larger bear for Lacey’s mum Deborah, and now she’ll have her very own – this will be the true test of my sewing strength, will a really short child be able to pull this one apart?

This is for Lacey

and here is my first one - Deborah's!

I’ve recently bought a bunch of retro clothing patterns and am keen to get some done in time for summer – Tamra will also be making one of the dresses and we’re going to check out the big sale at Spotlight Braybrook this Thursday night! Not to mention a Yarraville fabric sale I just discovered coming up in November!

It was my boss’s birthday last week so I made my trusty Lemon and Lime Tart from The Naked Chef and dazzled everyone in the office! Travis has been so helpful during my wrestles with MS Access so I decided to make him one too – he took it to work today, I wonder how that went down the with boys?