busy, busy.

I have to admit this will be very random, mainly because my past week has been chock-a-block full of very varied events...so I am just jotting stuff down. I will be back into some kind of routine after the school holidays and will write properly once more but for now here is my happenings...what I have been seeing and doing...

Aside from dusting. And then dusting again- I have had lots and lots on...

The always lovely Avid Reader little market was a great night again. I love seeing friends pop in and catching up with the other stall holders each time is sweet. And of course the customers, each visit or purchase is so appreciated, truly.

And then there was the high tea. Pretty little teaspoons...fine bone china...little cakes....ahhh. The dust may have blown in outside but within the beautful De Maloy house it was clean, cool and serene. It was a great and successful event, I am so glad I was able to go. And I now have proof of my theory that 'it is so much more elegant to stuff your face on tiny cakes and scones', do you agree?

Fire hazard or birthday cake?After this birthday I am 'as old as a fossil' my kids charmingly tell me. Indeed, 'I must have known dinosaurs as a child.' The wit of the young!

Putting my horrid(but loveable) boys aside, I also recieved this most special birthday gift-a sweet silver chair necklace by artist Victoria Mason. It's so whimsical and naive, I love it.

Audrey rocks too, she's my fab friends' little purple piano plonking princess.

I am loving Brisbane right now, the weather is so sunny(and thankfully dust free for the last few days-yay!) So we have been getting out-a lot-to the galleries, museums, markets, etc.

We are loving seeing the cute insects out and about(this one befriended Lu at Northey Street.)

The gallery with its outside sculpture was brilliant to climb on.

The GOMA Easton Pearson exhibition has a fun kids area, designing fashion, which my 2 noisy boisys loved!?!

And last but not least, I am so excited about these fat juicy looking fellas-my tomato plants are loaded with these and they are finally ripening! Yum!

xKate

high tea venue change

This lovely frocked up lady on a lawn is the face behind the high tea to see...what a cute retro dress, huh?! (Photo by Renata.)

I have a quick spot of news-if you are going to the high tea to see there has been a change of venue. It is now going to be held indoors at De Maloy House, 90 Margaret Street, Toowoomba. The weather has been very gusty and dusty so it will be much sweeter to be indoors.

Also there is another event next week, a Blackstar street party on Thomas Street, West end.

Friendly, warm, funny and funky seem to be the words that pop into my head when I think of past Blackstar events and markets...

It is part of the Brisbane festival and there will be performances from local musicians including the very gifted Matthew Palmer and many others. Blackstar cafe is the driving force behind it and markets and kids area etc, are all being organised by the dynamic duo Vonney and Marty.

I will be there with my bits and bobs and hope to also have a little bit of my own very clever boys work available too!

now keep scrolling down...

too cute!

So next Friday from 5.30 til 10 pm c'mon along if you'd like to support West Ends beautiful and diverse street culture. And tonight is the Avid Reader market too...phew, that's all folks!

xKate

spring or summer?

I have a wedding coming up, a lovely spring wedding in the new farm park, which will be delightful and flowery and all those sugary sweet things so I am happy to attend...but this red frock above is my 'wedding guest dress.' And since I last wore it has strangely shrunken...a whole size!! I was swanning about in it in my backyard for some photos and it was uncomfortably tight. In fact just about all my summer clothes seem littler...well, it's a mystery, I might eat some choccy and think about it.

This is my native raspberry bush. Its onto it's second season and not a fruit to be found. Pretty leaves though? Maybe the global warming style warm weather is messing with it? It messed with my state of mind the last few days, it's just SO darn hot! I miss spring!

Luckilly we live near the beach, so we headed off and found ourselves some good spots in the shady trees and took in in the breeze...

and enjoyed some sweet sights. My little ones always show me dear little things.

...and my house is never short of a vase of these with Luka on "sun flower" picking duty.

I don't have the heart to tell him they aren't sunflowers!

I am rambling on about my lads because they are actually four hours away right now, laughing it up at the beach with their grandparents and I miss them.

But it's a great chance to get some work happening and look-it what I did with those plain balls of wall!

Very multi coloured. Very lovely.

So the steps I followed as told to me by the lovely Kelly from Tangled yarns in New farm;

Soak wool in 50% vinegar and water solution for a couple hours(she said overnight-I am not that patient)

Place on gladwrap-outside the house as this is messy stuff-and splosh food dye over the yarn.(I used blue, yellow and cochineal on the already coloured wools). You can use a dropper or a paintbrush.

Wrap them securely in the gladwrap.

Steam them in a stove top steamer for about an hour. Or if you are part of the modern world use your microwave! Rinse very well and hang in the shade to dry.

And voila!

I hope to see some new faces at the Avid market this Friday and also at the high tea on Saturday, exciting!

xkate

spring flowers

It has been so warm, it sort of feels like we missed spring. But at least I am not missing out on spring flowers(with the high tea in Toowoomba next weekend) and these pretty things have been blossoming...

excuse my pride but I do really love playing with these as photography subjects!

I also got some inspiration from my lovely local op shops when I went for a mid week visit with my sweet friend Melania. She has an appreciation for retro styled goodies (so good to have an op shop companion) and we discovered the prettiest knitting needles. She bought a bundle of anodised aluminium ones which I didn't even know existed-they were so cool that even though I rarely knit I was tempted too! I did however bring home some lovely velvet and other gorgeous sewing bits and bobs which will quickly find their way into something, a clutch, brooch...something deserving.

Crocheting flowers is the most relaxing and lovely thing to do, especially working with beautiful wool. This one above is decorated with felt and a glass bead from the gem world shop but it is the glorious coloured yarn which inspired me.

So much creation has been going on my stocks of wool were depleted. 3 balls of woolganic yarn came home today-it is great to be able to purchase Australian 100%certified organic merino wool.

Here are the colours I chose-

pretty already but they are presently soaking in a mixture of 50-50 water and vinegar ready to be over dyed tomorrow! I am loving multi coloured wools and so I am going to have a play with these.

So hopefully there will be some new pictures up here soon of the results of my dyeing experimentation...

xKate

high tea to see

Spring flowers, lovely tea, stunning frocks, vintage crockery, delightful baked treats...no, no its not my over active imagination, although this is an event like something out of my best day dreams!

I am heading down to Toowoomba soon for the most fabulous event...and to add a few items to the collection of goodies available in the silent auction. A couple of brooches, a clutch, plus more are going to be up for auction, so if you need a reason to justify a splurge, here's a good one!

I would love to see this event be a huge success...please if you possibly can attend, do, I am sure it will be wonderful fun and your money will go to such a worthy cause.

High Tea to see! September 26th, 3-5pm, Boyce garden estate Toowoomba.

'An afternoon of fine food, gourmet tea and tantalising music to raise funds for CBM, curing cataract blindness. '

CBM is a aid organisation whose values mention desiring 'an inclusive world in which all persons with disabilities enjoy their human rights and achieve their full potential. CBM addresses poverty as a cause, and a consequence, of disability, and works in partnership to create a society for all.'

'Prizes for the best dressed in retro garden party attire.

To book your ticket email highteatosee@hotmail.com or you can buy them directly from Bon Amici Cafe, Margaret St, Toowoomba

Book your ticket soon to avoid missing out.

For those travelling to Toowoomba this weekend is part of the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers, so you can make a weekend of it.'

xKate

riverfire

It was so sweet of the Brisbane council to celebrate the opening of my online outlets by having some fireworks...hah, ha(you just come here for the jokes!) These kind of events are not environmentally friendly but gosh... they were so pretty.

And listening to the oooohs of little kids as the pyrotechnics light up the Brisbane city skyline was a joy.

I have added some more items to my online shops at etsy and made it, so if you are after a brooch and can't get along to the next Avid Market,

do check out my new online collections.

xKate

spring joys

Hello spring! You've sprung and how happy I am to see you!

I donned my prettiest vintage print skirt yesterday and had a self proclaimed 'weekend' day off.

And glorious it was...

Kicked off by Sharing breakfast at Sassafras cafe in Paddington. (I recommend the french toast with caramelised apples, mmm-I added berries to my order too.)

Then off to do some "pudge walking-off". Further up the road visited the beautiful Paddington Antiques centre with it's incredible ultramarine ceiling (which alone is worth a visit. )

Each time I visit I always marvel at the hilarious and stylish retro items...

And am always tempted by all sorts of beautiful, weird and wonderful objects. But I contented myself with just trying on a hat or two...

Does anyone else wish it was still the fashion to always wear hats? And 50's ones at that?

After our exhausting stroll, refreshments were gathered at the Java cafe next door...

I bought a new packet of chai tea. I really enjoy the wild chai blend, it has such a lovely mix of spices and is not clove heavy, which turns me off a lot of chai blends.

The days also included these

...op shops($11 for a full bag of antique centre styled goods..heh, heh) and beer(at the Merthyr street bowls club-best views of river) and wine and pasta and mushrooms and dvds and oh...it was a great day.

So apart from having a day off I have been mostly working and looking after my youngest fella. He's been in the wars, as the expression goes with a badly sprained ankle and now a respiratory infection. But being a home based craft worker has its advantages, with being able to be there for him a calming thing.

Joyfully and meaningfully the work still goes on,

and keeps me going on and these new additions

are available online via the lovely craft sites etsy and made it.

xKate

good things!

I have been sewing like a mad thing and wish I had a wee bit more time to share some thoughts, but here is a taste of what I have been up to, and a hint about an event coming up! Beside my far flung friends' teapot is a new baggy-featuring a felt pom pom made by my youngest fella!

So think tea, loveliness and restoring sight and have a guess...this tea cozy below is going to be up for grabs along with a couple of brooches, but sigh, I must dash,

more soon,

xKate