So Tread Softly...

share my thursday?

image: daily medicine

Got to knock this cold on the head! Thank you for all of your getting well tips.

image: antique and vintage fabric strips ready for corsage cuffs

image: more sewing - linen messenger bag with vintage tablecloth lining

image: 5 minutes for a flick through Selvedge

A subscription to this fabulous publication was a birthday present from Mr TS

image: Trumpet after a night on the tiles

images: corsage cuffs complete

image: preparing dinner

image: late night pricing and packing ready for Saturday's Fair

Until next time...

fresh designs

I'm still here - busy beavering away in my studio trying to make enough stock for the 2nd Martinborough Fair that takes place on Saturday. Today I have a sore throat and feel a bit achey which, really isn't welcome, so out came the echinacea. Do you swear by it? I do. Let's hope it works - the last thing I need this week is to be sick as I've planned out every spare minute.

I've been working on some new Agnes Coy handmades including these simple Quotation Pillows (click the picture to enlarge):

'For most of history, Anonymous was a woman.' Virginia Woolf

(I've always been a huge fan of hers)

' Make it a rule of life never to regret and never to look back.' Katherine Mansfield

I've also made a handful of little felted stick pin brooches - again, very simple but I kind of like it like that!

Thank you for the comments you left on the last post. It seems that we don't often do things just for ourselves so the new sewing class got a big thumbs up from many of you - always appreciated.

Until next time...

indulgent sewing

I'm lucky enough to have two and a half days a week in my sewing studio. The thing is, those days right now are pretty much taken up with making things for the website, up and coming fairs and shop orders, that there's rarely time for me to make things for myself. I've come to the conclusion of late that now that I've hit 41(did I really say that out loud?!) I can no longer wear cheap clothes! They just look...well...cheap on me! Expensive, well cut, expertly sewn clothes however, suit me just fine. I've never been able to justify spending $150 on a skirt and so I decided to enroll on a dress making course at our local college. The first session was yesterday.

I dragged a couple of girlfriends along with me so it's an evening I think I'll always look forward to. Pure indulgence. Making stuff just for me. Expensive well cut looking stuff - I hope!

Lunch on the porch today in the sunshine with this book that Janelle kindly lent me. It's filled with some nice little projects, especially if  you're a beginner when it comes to sewing. A wonderfully friendly book that I might just invest in. It has some ideas that my niece might like to try out when she next comes to stay.

Until next time...

my 100th post

I was just checking my blog statistics and it seems that this will be my 100th post! Who'd have thought it! Hoorah!

Caireen tagged me a few days ago to take part in the meme that's doing the rounds right now. If I understand correctly, I have to list some archived posts that relate to the following themes:

• family
• friends
• yourself
• who you are
• something you love
• anything

I enjoy blogging but I do tend to be a little guarded about personal stuff, especially when it comes to the anonymity of my family and friends. However, I love a challenge so let's see what I come up with...

~family~ my immediate family live on the other side of the world - they are so important to me. Here, my immediate family is compact and bijoux. I like it that way. Here we are.

~friends~ like minded women friends are so important to me and not only because they give me stuff!

~yourself~ this is a piece about me the perfectionist - although not so much now since this post I'm pleased to say.

~who you are~ this post says a few things about me. I'm a list lady! Can't do without 'em!

~something you love~ Friday evenings and being with this man.

~anything~ these pictures still make me laugh!

If anyone else would like to join in then consider yourself tagged!

image: petone beach

on your marks, get set...

image: linen + ric rac

So if you've been reading my blog for a while you will no doubt be aware of my love of linen. I adore working with it so for me, today was a happy day as my linen order arrived. Natural linen, two weights, metres and metres of it, can't wait to cut into it. I also received a birthday parcel from my folks and wound around the gifts was more ivory ric rac that I girl will ever need. It will last me years - yep, there's that much of it! Need to conjure up a linen and ric rac design pretty sharpish!

So, with all of my supplies in place, tomorrow I start making for the final Martinborough Fair on the 1st March. Deadlines work well for me - I start and I don't stop until the day. Nothing else gets done, emails don't get written and friends are neglected but it's just for a short period of time so they tend to forgive me. So as from tomorrow, it's head down, regular life on hold and no stopping until the 1st!

Until next time...

shared moments - a friend

My goodness, so many birthday wishes! Thank you so much for your lovely comments yesterday. It was also great to hear that many of you have enjoyed the Shared Moments over the past few weeks. I have to say that I've enjoyed it also. I'm not one for posting everyday but because it was simply an image and a line of text, it was no trouble at all. I think that a few Shared Moments will be popping up every now and then on the blog. Please do feel free to join in with me.

A very good friend of mine, Gesine, emailed me yesterday to share a couple of her own moments with me and she's happy for me to share them with you. She lives in the town that I moved here from, as does the fabulous gigibird who, would you believe, was my neighbour. Here in Wairarapa we're pretty much landlocked and I do really miss the sea. Thank goodness we have rivers close by. I miss this...

image: rustington beach, uk

image: rustington beach huts

Gesine and I met when we were 10 or 11. Her family had a holiday home in our village and somehow we met. When she returned to Germany at the end of each summer we'd write to each other. Actually, she was so much better than me at writing. I spent a few weeks with her one year in her country and she took me to her school...then, after a few more years, we kind of lost touch. Four years ago after a chance meeting, we were back in touch again. In fact, she's just been out to visit us which was just lovely.

I'm grateful that I know you Gesine. Thank you for sharing your special moments - they made my day!

Until next time you guys...

shared moments 10.02

image: today is my birthday

image: and here's to many more

so today marks the end of 'shared moments' although I will pop back tomorrow to tie up all the loose ends so to speak - must get back to the celebrations...

shared moments 09/02

image: house hunting again - we're ready for a long term project and this one looks promising - very promising!

shared moments 08/02

image: today I treated myself to a new tunic

shared moments 07/02

image: browsing for inspiration