Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you have a wonderful, safe and happy New Year's Eve and 2010 brings all of your dreams to fruition. I have such hopes and dreams for 2010 - I can't wait to set them all in motion...

Bring on 2010 - woot!! Can't wait...

Off to partayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy...

Happy New Year!

Post Christmas & Pre New Year

This is the only photo of my 2009 home made plum pudding. I thought I took a range of them (from every fruity angle), but, alas - this is the only proof of the pudding. I am so proud of myself - I am not a 'natural' cook, so making a plum pudding according to the Stir Up Sunday ritual, feeding it every week and then steaming it again on Christmas Day for it to work out...well, a minor miracle!

We have had a wonderful week. Friends, family, pottering away on the house, sleeping, drinking, relaxing, dreaming and thinking of our goals for 2010. I have so many of them - personally, professionally and spiritually.

There is much to talk about and much to think on for the coming year. I have been gearing up and sorting myself out - literally. Buy the book Sorted! - it's sorted my brain out so well. I have been decluttering everything in my life - whether it be my environment, time, goals, drawers - everything! It really is true - the cleaner and neater your environment, the simpler it is to plan and project your future.

This is just a pop in blog post - I'll be back for more in the coming days. Thank you for your Christmas wishes!

Happy New Year everyone!

It's time for family and rest...

Image from Frankie magazine, Dec 2008

Ahem. Apparently it's Christmas Day this Friday. Gosh - no one told me it would come up this quickly!

I am taking a break from ye olde blog and Twitter. I may pop in and say hello every now and then but I really want to spend this extra special time with family and friends and resting up for 2010.

The website will remain open - yes, we are still posting! - throughout the festive season....and I'll keep uploading new stock when I can...

Until my next post - may you all have a wonderful Christmas filled with much laughter and joy, have a safe New Years celebration and thank you all for visiting our blog in 2009. I have a blast writing it.

Merry Christmas to all!...and, to all, a goodnight!

Poodle and vintage fabric envy

The 50s textile designers loved using poodles in their fabric design.

I pity the boxer dog in the corner on the above advert taken from a 1950s American Fabrics magazine. He wishes he had an owner who wore Lorraine gabardine, obviously.

Vintage fabric that takes your breath away...

The first one is a 50s polished cotton chintz - yes, chintz. It's not the usual polished cotton - same weight but the polish is heavier without the cotton being a sateen. And it's got a classic rockabilly wiggle dress print - love it! I have popped it up on the website here.

The second is couture brocade, vintage late 60s. Beuaitufl lime yellow, pale blue and white face with a the same colourway (in different parts) on the underside. I love it. It's the last piece of a bolt I have had for a very long time...yes, I covet too much :). I'll put it on the website on Monday...

Vintage fabric pillow lust...

I came across this image via Quest Twenty Eight. The cushion is made by Emma Loves Retro. It made me want to make vintage fabric cushions instantly. Boy - I can't wait 'til I do my sewing class in the New Year. It's (almost) embarrassing having a husband who can sew - and you can't!

I also put some more new stock up onto the website today - here's just a snippet of what's in our new arrivals section...

Have a great pre-Christmas weekend!

New vintage fabrics on the website...

Here are some fabric I put up on the website today - enjoy! More coming your way tomorrow...

What I am listening to...

Wow. What a voice.

Some more vintage fabric love...

It was 40 degrees today. Too. Darn. Hot. I don't like extreme heat - I am more a 22 degrees type of girl. Even a 19 degrees kind of girl. Anything not requiring laying like a lizard on a rock as I feel useless doing that. Much prefer the lazing in the shade enjoying a cool breeze...and, yes, I loved skipping as a little girl...all around the back streets in Brunswick in Melbourne...

Gorgeous 1940s cotton rayons & crepes on website

I know I have already posted today but I forgot to tell you about these lovely vintage fabrics I put on the website today. They are super soft and light as a feather cotton rayons from the 1940s - the top two are crepes and the bottom is a plain weave. All bolts are more than 2.5m, too - so there's lots of fabric still left on them!

Christmas is all a blur...

We did our first drive around to look at the Christmas lights last night. The first of many nights when the kids stay up 'til 9pm and we zoom around ooooohhhing and aaaaahhhhing over decorations and flashes of colour. Logan wanted the camera in the back - these are his photos. Blurry memories. And do you think the toddler would sleep in when he didn't get to sleep until past 10pm? Oh no. Not this toddler. Up and at it at the crack of dawn...yawn...

Some more vintage fabric delight

Is it just me or are you getting tired, too? This Christmas business is full on - I am running around finishing preparations (we always host the family), we're wrapping vintage fabric orders ASAP to ensure the parcels have the best shot at getting around Australia before Christmas and, on top of that, we have two very excited boys who are addicted to Santa...we did our first drive around at dusk to see all of the house lights. Phew.

I don't think we'll close over the Christmas break - we'll see how we're travelling. I still have so much vintage fabric to put up this week - I am hoping to get a lot up tomorrow...this is one of my favourites arriving on the website next!

Inspiration stash packs - want smaller remnants?

Lucienne Day, Miscellany, my own collection soon to be Retro Age collection!

Our stash and scrap packs are always so popular - so popular I had to remove them from the site for several months! They are now back and are hot little items...but this brings me to another idea. The stash are a larger size, the scrap pieces are around 15cm aquare - but is there a need for smaller scraps? I have a tonne (seriously - around six 150l bins worth, at minimum) of smaller pieces - probably around the 2" square to strips to...well, all sorts of sizes. Apart from me learning to sew (hi ho - in the NY!) I don't really know what to do with them. I could sell them on the website by the 100g, 250g, 500g and above and it would be pot luck what you would receive (still gorgeous 1930s to 1970s fabrics) - but are they wanted?

I have a lot of stock sitting here coming your way soon. Verner Panton, Lucienne Day and Heals, to name a few. I am so excited to be finally releasing these hard to come by rarities! I am starting afresh in the New Year...so stand by for a blitzing 2010...

Have a lovely week, everyone!

What a happy anniversary day!

I have had a lovely day - and there is more to come!

Today is our anniversary...on this day, 11 years ago, I met the man of my dreams for some drinkies at Young and Jacksons in Melbourne. We worked for the same company for a year but had only met each other two weeks previous. I was within three weeks of leaving for a two-year teaching tour in Japan, he was within months of going back to New Zealand. Thousands of days later we are still together and have spent only six night apart - and that was when I gave birth to our boys and then spent two night in hospital getting my gallbladder removed. Had someone told me that night would change the rest of my life I would never have believed them - but, that being said, we are the products of definite love at first sight - no two ways about it. Happy 11th anniversay, babe!

This fabric really reflects my day - bright, beautiful, with a colourful spark. I love the fabric - I have been coveting it but the bolt is going up on the website this week. I think we have around 10m of it - and, yes, it's original 1940s rayon crepe...gorgeous....

PS. And I loved seeing our fabrics in the Herald Sun Home magazine today - it is always so wonderful to see our customers and their creations in print - woot!

Vintage socks - wherefore art thou?

Vinnlands made by Lisa, originally uploaded by hyena-in-petticoats.

I have long admired Hyena-in-Petticoats...she has a fabulous crafty eye, a great love of colour and she's downright (swearingly) earthy! Love it.

I love, love, love this photo. Not only does that sock have a crackin' colour but that design just oooooooozzzzzzzzzzzessss comfy Winter hotness, don't you think? Makes me want to slap on a pair right this minute.

It made me wonder - we can find vintage underwear, vintage lingerie and vintage stockings - but where are all those hand-knitted socks from decades past? Is there a museum keeping our sock history preserved?...(or should that be preserving our sock history??)...

I dig this vintage fabric dress

vintage fabric round 3, originally uploaded by * Oink *.

I don't get the whole Blythe thing. I get the Barbie thing (if you're a little girlie) but not the adult love doll thing. I think I left my girliness behind at university...oh dear. I still like lego, though :)

This dress is super cute, don't you think?

Hot and not...

I have been a fan of Loobylu's blog for a loooonggg time - can't remember when I first came across it, but I did the break thing with her and then rejoiced when she came back...now all I need to do is win one of Claire's stuffed toys on ebay and I'll be a very happy reader :)

Claire does 'what's hot and not' of a Wednesday...as I didn't have any blog plans this evening I thought I'd join in...

HOT
My creative juices are flowing and I am getting a lot of ideas - hot, I say!
I have rearranged my area of the workspace to make it more homely - very hot!
We have almost finished painting one bedroom - thank goodness hot!
We have had a wonderful year and we have a lot of be grateful for - hot, hot, hot!
The Dalai Lama in Australia - hot!
I have been baking a storm and everything is turning our perfectly - hot stuff!
I have finished our Christmas shopping - yee har hot!

NOT
I am on new medication for my stomach and it is making me very tired. So not hot.
We have a leaking sky light that is hopefully being fixed by a very expensive roof dude. Very not hot.
We can't keep up with the renovations. Uncomfortably not hot.
My front yard is bare and my backyard is overgrown. Messy not hot.
Premier Brumby not meeting Dalai Lama - lame not hot.

There's much more to write but that first NOT is getting in the way - to rest, I go...

Where are the vintage dressing gowns?

Where oh where is this luxury gone? Where oh where has this design gone? Where am I to find a dressing gown so I can stand just as wonderfully as this woman is? Look at those buttons. Look at those cuffs. I can just imagine what the satin feels like and how it moves when she walks.

I want those vintage days back again.

Winding down for Christmas...

I absolutely love this time of year. I always have - and I hope I always will. We get into the Christmas spirit in late November with the preparation for the plum pudding, put our tree and lights up on December 1 and then slowly add decorations inside and outside the house right up until Christmas Day. By the time Santa arrives our eldest is delirious with anticipation - there is nothing quite like waking up on Christmas Day to two little faces beaming before diving under the tree - and then welcoming family and friends with good cheer and hugs and sitting down and enjoying Christmas lunch and Christmas dinner. And then you have to cheer in the New Year!

Given my year of ill health I am winding down early this year. I am calling it 'pacing' - we're not closing, but I am not working for hours on end each day, either (Justin is - ha ha!). I want to take some time out to enjoy this month, recharge my batteries for January (oh - do I have ideas!) and generally just take like at a slower pace. This year has gone way too quickly. I want to slow it down a bit.

Is life a blur for you, too? Or have you mastered the art of quiet contemplation and slow minutes?

Do you do NY resolutions? I don't - usually. But I already have two on a NY list. One is - slow down to smell the roses. Oh yes, please!

Yes - we buy vintage fabric - and you can sell with us, too!

This weekend has been very busy and oh so productive. I am reading my Sorted book and doing all sorts of stuff around the house - good that I'm doing something but bad that it is without direction. Note to self to start in one room and stay there until it's complete!

We have removed 95% of the sold fabrics from the website - the first time we've been able to do this task in at least a couple of months. Phew! What is sold has sold in the past few days - so apologies if you go looking for that fab piece and it's off somewhere else :)

**We have had a lot of people contacting us regarding purchasing vintage fabrics - yes, we do buy vintage fabrics! We purchase from all around Australia, big and small lots. And, yes, if you have lots of lovely fabric you would prefer to sell yourself we can help you with that, too! You are more than welcome to list them on our website :)

If you could believe I have more than 30 fabrics to go up - and they just keep sitting and sitting! I think the rushing around for Christmas and other things are getting to us - we want to list them but can't find the motivation. I am working on it for tomorrow, I promise...

Have a lovely week!

PS. Happy Birthday, Mum! It was my Mum's 61st birthday today - we had a lovely day. I baked all morning - two delicious egg and bacon homemade pies and a sweet chocolate cake with chocolate icing - yum! I think we made her day quite memorable...I can't believe she is 61, though. The little girl in me remembers her with Nana Mouskouri hair and glasses and 70s flares. If she is aging it means I am, too. Oh dear.

Website maintenance

web_maintenance_pic, originally uploaded by supereinhard@att.net.

We have had a very busy couple of months! We had a wonderful sale open to our subscribers - subscribe for the next sale! - and we've been busy locally with the Christmas build up. This weekend is the first opportunity we've had to clean up the website inventory - so that's what we'll be up to. Come early next week the site should have only a handful of sold stock (we have doubles we're trying to find in storage!) and the rest will be for sale...

Think of us removing more than 200 listings...oh, what joy!

Have a great weekend - I'll pop back in tomorrow...

And the vintage fabric scrap pack winners are....drum roll!

And the first winner is.....Ruby-Jo! Congratulations!

Her commend: I love scrap fabric because well...I love fabric. Scrap fabric forces you to think of ideas that you might not have come up with if you had a large piece of it.

And the second winner is...jodesmac! Congratulations, too!

Her commend: I (particularly) love scrap (vintage) fabric because i make kids t-shirts with a vintage look. I love creating a little bit of nostalgia with just a little bit of fabric, it goodness and cuteness.

I shall get in touch with both of you to get your details - or, if you read this first, feel free to email us :) - we hope you love your scrap packs!

Quilting with scrap vintage fabrics

Cretonnes, originally uploaded by pompomrouge.

I love the look of this quilt. I tried quilting years ago (by hand - I had to be traditional), but by the time I finished a pillow the novelty had worn off. Now I am looking at it again and the creative bug has got me. Aren't the designs and colours in this quilt amazing???

I am drawing the winner of the inspiration swatch pack soon - winner announced tomorrow!

Five easy ways to get organised!

I won Sorted on Peta's blog last week and it arrived in the mail today. I love it already - it's chock-a-block (am I channelling Steve Irwin?) full of handy hints to make life so much easier. I also signed up for the Sorted email and that was also full of wonderful ideas, like the following...

Make finding things easy

Are you forever losing your keys, wallet, mobile or sunglasses? The easy solution is to create a 'landing strip' near the front door at home (a hallway is perfect). Or if you're at work, the return on your desk or atop the filing cabinet is a good spot too.

The trick here is consistency. Always place these items in the same spot and you'll never waste time or energy looking for them again! A small shelf or hooks near the door can also be a good way to go. Frustrating, time wasting problem: easy solution!

Do it now!

Will your task take less than two minutes? Do it now. I personally love to flick all the quick, easy little jobs out of the way so I can properly on the bigger stuff. It's a sure-fire way to help increase your focus on larger projects

Get real about your shopping habits

Do you find yourself purchasing items just because they're cheap rather than because you really need them? I made this mistake back in April when I purchased a beautiful pair of black patent, Moschino stilletto heels in Target in America for a tiny $7. Apart from probably being sweatshop produced (I feel bad about that), I remember I said to my friend at the time, "it doesn't matter if I never wear them, they are such a bargain".

Well guess what? It does matter. Despite those shoes being an incredible purchase, I am not a high heel wearer unless it's a very dressy affair. But I didn't even wear these shoes the glamorous wedding I attended on Saturday!

This tip is plain and simple: just cos it's cheap, doesn't mean you should buy it. Unwanted possessions = clutter and it's just another item adding to the pile you have to dispose of. It's easier to avoid gleaning than to have to declutter later.

More prepping for Christmas

Ok, you are seriously running out of time! Get cracking with your Christmas prep. Here's a few more suggestions of things to attend to:

• purchase of any non-perishable entertaining items; alcohol, chips, soft drinks, serviettes, etc
• order of ham/turkey etc from the butchers.
  
• finish sending your christmas cards
• put the decorations up (and diarise to take them down in January!)
• finalise travel and accommodation arrangements

Preventative measures

Louis Pasteur said "Fortune favours the prepared mind." So much of being organised, to me, is about being pro-active and preventing stresses, avoiding time wasters and deflecting possible expenses. It's easy when you know how!

A good example of planning ahead to avoid a drama of something as simple as a keyboard cover for your computer. I'm afraid I have spilt a drink over my keyboard in the past, and bingo, that just cost me $90 plus the time and energy to purchase the replacement.

Be proactive and protect your keyboard! Learn from my mistake! It's a simple investment and prices start from around $15...
www.protectcovers.com
www.kbcovers.com
www.iskin.com/protouch_apple_keyboard/

I hope you like the little hints from Lissanne of Sorted - the book really has inspired me to 'clean up my act' so to speak...life really is so much better without clutter and with good planning!

Last days to win vintage fabric!

Vintage scrap pack - sold out...

Just a quick blog today - sorry! I have tonnes to show you but not the time today - so I thought I would leave a friendly reminder to leave a comment to win a vintage fabric scrap pack here!

Dancing Sunday away...

IMG_0011, originally uploaded by myglorydaze.

It felt like I was dancing all day, but in actual fact we were rushing about finishing flatterning our front garden for some dirt and rock deliveries, finishing our courtyard for a pending pergola and paving and then...yes....drum roll, please....I cooked the plum pudding. Five hours after putting it on to the low boil we had a house smelling like Christmas and a delicious soft plum pudding cooling in the pot. It'll be 'fed' until Christmas Day (brandy is the food of choice) and then devoured with custard and cream...

As I found this pic on Flickr I'll put the plum pudding recipe up on the blog seperately...

Lots of new fabrics coming your way this week - I have finally booked them all in! Yes - some were in storage for more than three years...but...well, I got there in the end!

Stir Up Sunday - a new family tradition...

Photo of plum pudding recipe - Frankie magazine, issue Nov/Dec 2008

I made my first plum pudding for Christmas last year. I had grown up with a family friend making our plum pudding - in muslin, with coinage - and when she passed a couple of years back we started to purchase our plum pudding. No matter how nice the puddings were it just wasn't the same...

Lo and behold I entered the amazing world of Frankie last year and in the Nov/Dec 2008 edition they had a wonderful plum pudding recipe. I don't know why but I decided to make it. The older I get the more sentimental I get (and I was already sentimental) - but I thought the ritual of making the plum pudding could start a new family tradition. I was so proud I took a photo on Christmas Day...it tasted just a lovely as it looked :) I'll write the recipe out tomorrow and post it on the blog...



This year I decided to find out when the right time was to make the plum pudding. I came across Stir Up Sunday. Even though I am a Buddhist this seemed like such a wonderful ritual and tradition - the family time, the sharing in the stirring of the plum pudding mixture, the official start to Christmas etc. Sunday 29 November is Stir Up Sunday this year so today I set about cutting my fruit and peel with the help of all of the boys so it had overnight to bathe in the brandy. We're ready for Stir Up Sunday tomorrow and the 'steaming of the pudd'...I can't wait.

Vintage Fabric Birdhouses

Vintage Fabric Birdhouses, originally uploaded by gretchen ciccotti.

But before I start my tranquil evening (see post below) I just had to show you these amazing bird houses! Gretchen has the most amazing creative talent! Click on the link to visit her Flickr and enjoy her world...