Showing posts with label shop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shop. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

A match made in Clem-heaven

When your favourite thing to cook is gingerbread bikkies, and your favourite toy is Miffy, does it get any better than Miffy gingerbreads?

Excuse the dry lips




I bought the cutters last year and meant to give them to Clem for Christmas, but put them away 'safely' and forgot. But when he asked to make 'gingers' today I remembered and I wish I had captured the look on his face when he first saw them. Anyway, a success! They are nifty little cutters (that I bought for a ridiculously - like crazily - small amount of money on Amazon or something) where there's a second piece that both makes the print on top and pushes the dough out of the cutter.

Actually, it did get better than just making Miffy Gingers. He 'made a shop' and sold a bunch of them up on the street corner and made five dollars! (Thank you, lovely neighbours.)

- Jane x

Monday, October 28, 2013

pictures of lately

I've been trying to get around to blogging without a lot of success lately - school holidays and general, you know, stuff. So here's a bunch of pictures with a few words. No particular order, just how they came out of iPhoto.

This one turned six. He insists that overnight he became unable to fit into quite a few of his clothes.

I've been learning the basics of grading patterns up in size, because my sister-in-law wanted a Washi Dress and we sure owe her big time for loads of boy-looking-after lately.


Clem had a party with a bunch of little school friends at home. He wanted me to make him a Miffy cake, which I think he may have had every year since he turned one. Dear boy, I would make you a Miffy cake every year as long as I live, if you asked for it.

The party was very, very noisy, except when we offered large bowls of strawberries and blueberries. Seriously. Quieter than cake or honey crackles. Impressive.

Big boys had fun with party balloons.



The baby chicks hatched on the day of Clem's party. Even when this one was just fresh out of the egg I thought something was not right with its eyes.

I am fairly certain it was blind, poor dear. It got along okay huddling under the mamas for a couple of days. Andy gave it a name - Jerome - which was probably asking for trouble. As the other chicks became more adventurous and the mothers walked around with them more, they sensed Jerome was not robust. They turned on him. It was very sad, but quick. I picked him up, held him, Andy made sure he was not suffering and we buried him. Luckily this was when the boys were all at school. We told them what happened but I am glad they did not see it. Life and death in the backyard.
I made this 'Gathering Apron' by Sew Liberated, essentially as a sample for the shop but also because I think it's adorable and I totally want it for myself. It's in natural linen, which really this pattern just begs for. I had plans to do a really corny photoshoot with me wearing it and a bunch of baby chicks peeping out of the big pocket, but it never happened.


The rest of the chicks are thriving. Out of twelve eggs there are six surviving chicks which isn't a great hatch rate, but never mind. We are suspecting we have two roosters and three hens here, and the one that my mum and dad's chook hatched is also a girl (fingers crossed). These photos were taken about a week ago. The chicks are already a whole lot bigger again and have a lot more feather development.


Jumping to grab food from its mum.
Plomp. Look at that little wing! I could watch the chicks just about all day.
This scary, dangerous gum tree that has been overhanging out backyard is in the process of being removed. At long last. Yay. Will think no more of difficult process it has taken to get there.
I found a skink in our laundry. The laundry skink. I love the way they shape themselves to a surface: a rock, a hand. Smooth and slinky, now a garden skink.

Well. That was random, as Jasper would say.

- Jane x

Monday, May 6, 2013

a 12 year old! (and a very insistent 5 year old)



Well this dear glowing face turned 12 last week. Charlie is much loved by his youngest brother, who insisted on taking his own pocket money to Haighs to buy Charlie some chocolate as a gift.

Charlie loves to draw and I bought him 'Drawing and Painting Imaginary Animals' by Carla Sonheim which is a simply delightful and inspiring book. The bedroom he shares with Jasper features some fabulous wall cracks that, as the book demonstrates, can be wonderful starting points for all kinds of illustrations!

He also asked for, and received, more Tintin books. I think I have talked him into letting me cut and style his hair like Tintin for Book Week at school this year :)

Charlie is a happy soul, enjoys his own company and doesn't ask for much. Which is fortunate really because he has two very squeaky wheels for younger brothers. Clem has been pestering me incessantly for new pyjamas ever since he laid eyes on the fabric he is wearing above, in our shop. And so, during quiet moments at the shop, on Charlie's birthday, I found myself sewing pyjamas for Clem (sorry Charlie). He put them on as soon as he saw them (after school on Friday, in the shop) and wore them non-stop until mid Saturday afternoon. Pestering + appreciation = happy Clem + happy Mama. And a happy 5 year old means a happier whole family, really.




The printed knit is organic cotton/spandex by Lillestoff and the stripe is some Farbenmix from my stash. Top pattern - Ottobre Best T-shirts, legs from Growing Up Sew Liberated, a rough combination of size 2 width and size 4 length with added seam allowance and cuffs. I just love soft, stretchy, forgiving knits! And I do wish I could rock a pair of stripey leggings like he does.

- Jane x





Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Shop!

Last Saturday, Fiona, my partner-in-scary-shop-venture and I, opened The Drapery to the public for the very first time!
We put out the A-frame and opened the doors and no fireworks went off and there was not a crowd of a thousand waiting to barge in and it was all a bit anti-climactic of course, this very moment.

The first to walk in were Andy and the boys about half an hour later. But as the day passed, people came by. Lovely people, not all blood relatives of ours, just enough to feel busy but not totally overwhelmed, and we made a decent amount of sales.

We had loads of lovely comments that reaffirmed the reasons we opened the shop in the first place: Adelaide really needs a new sewing shop, there are no decent fabric shops left, you want to get in and feel the fabric, and so forth. Heck, this gamble of ours may actually be a success!





There is tweaking to be done, and more stock to order in (now that we have a little money starting to come in to help pay for it all!) and learning to happen (like, really, the way our cash register calculates fabric meterage is just not intuitive or even, apparently, logical). But it was fun! And we pretty much grinned our heads off the entire day, and for some time afterwards. In fact we were both so energised by the experience that we each cut fabric to take home and launch into more sewing projects... shop samples to display and wear!
Because our kids and Fiona's kids are on school holidays (last week and this week) we're just opening again this Saturday, then more 'proper' hours next week when school goes back. A good way to ease into it, really.

And I would just like to say here, hooray for Dads, because Fiona's awesome Dad made our shop counter, above, from recycled timber, and my awesome Dad made the A-frame you can see in the first picture, mostly from gum tree branches from my parents' block in the hills. Hooray for Dads!

If you are reading this and you are in Adelaide and would like to come by The Drapery, we're open 10 - 4 again this Saturday. And we really must get around to starting up The Drapery's own blog. One step at a time, hey.

- Jane x

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Everyone looks better in a Laurel Wreath








Hey, how about some laughably basic instructions on how to make your own Laurel Wreath? Cut two longish bay (laurel) twigs and join them together. I used sticky tape. Wear. Feel Roman.

Thanks lovely commenters on the last post for your encouraging excitement about the new shop. I will write up a proper post about it soon, but briefly, I am blessed with the most awesome, talented and delightful business partner, Fiona. Together we aim to bring to Adelaide the kind of sewing shop that we feel is desperately lacking in our city: beautiful garment and craft fabrics with an emphasis on natural, organic and sustainable fibres, together with indie designer patterns, inspiring books, sewing classes and more. After months and months and months of planning, it's really happening. We're very excited but it's scary and opening up a shop costs a lot, cripes! Retail... a whole new world. More details soon.

- Jane x
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