Christmas Artist Market

A completed Christmas Stocking with remnants of vintage & new fabric in offbeat colourings for Christmas (orange, blue, red, yellow) not in traditional red & green colours.

Christmas Comes Early

I casually commit to the Artist Market months in advance then become quite jittery when the Market gets closer & have to cross town to use Kate's machine. Since threading up my machine, (christmas present ) I am mesmerized with it, and in busy making mode.

Lucille & Arabella's Gallery

My little artists have brushes & paints out before breakfast and Lucille busily paints throughout the day. Looking forward to Lucille's kinder designs next year.

My Little Lady

Audrey enjoys the backyard in her bouncer, watching the branches move, watching the girls on their bikes, watching their ballet concerts (she cant wait to join in). We love mornings in the garden and our backyard concerts (`I'm a Little Teapot' by Lucille & `Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star' by Bella). After lots of clapping I am urged to drop a coin donation in their concert jar. Money raised is often spent at a charity shop on thrifted treasure.

Family Holiday

We have had a lovely break at Rhyll: a little town with a beautiful inlet / general store / boatyard / jetty, close to Cowes / Phillip Island. We went to the Koala Conservation Centre, the Penguin Parade, lots of walks to the beach, Cowes : to buy a Birthday Cake for Kate `Happy Birthday Auntie Kate'. It was fun: Shane went fishing and caught a little flathead, not enough to feed the family: the local fish & chippies were good. The kids didn't want to come home. Nana came out with some classic comments, that kept us laughing all weekend. Cute House: Captain Locks Cottage: great for a big tribe. On the last night, Lucille & Arabella had a candlelit chicken nugget dinner.

Mini Masterchefs

My girls love baking. They love mixing, licking, beating, double dipping & arguing about who is in charge of mixing & licking. There is the usual jostling for best position, a fall & a clunk on the head, but gingerbread biscuits make everything better. I clean the flour covered floor & have a cup of tea with the girls continuously dunking & dropping their gingerbread biscuits in. Not exactly what I would call relaxing but delicious!

Audrey : 6 Months Old ( in one more week )

My Little Red Riding Hood is almost 6 months old, time is flying ( insert sad face ) as I try to absorb every last detail of Audrey as a baby. I keep filling my blog with baby Audrey, but will add some photos of Lucille and Arabella soon. Lucille is very quirky and confident with her own home-butchered haircut at the moment.

Out & About

We have been out of the social loop for two weeks, but now Lucille is back to her best and I have caught up with the basket loads of washing it is time to have some fun - library, bakery and bumping into Postman Pat (one of our favourite ABC characters, along with Angelina Ballerina, Benjamin Bear & Olivia & Playschool: too much T.V time of late).

Winter

Lots of crafting for L & B while Audrey and I enjoy many cups of tea. I consider myself a crafty type, I enjoy making toilet roll binoculars, bedroom cubby houses & cut out dolls, but after many consecutive days of rain & craft, also confined to home (Lucille unwell) I am all crafted out.

Homebodies

Amongst the craft & hibernation I have taken lots of great photos of my Audrey growing up. Here is Audrey having her measurements taken - health centre imaginary play.

Collecting

I love collecting anything old, antique & quirky. Recently, Kate's neighbour, Rosemary kindly gave me a large range of vintage buttons. Last week, I bought another antique child's bed from an op shop. In time, I will need a bigger house or the fibro beach cottage that I dream about. I am looking forward to going op shopping without children in tow so I can have a thorough look & hopefully find some buried treasure. I haven't had much luck lately, the girls have been high maintenance, and we have only bought lame bric-a-brac that Lucille couldn't live without. Has anyone found any hidden gems at op shops lately, or anything interesting on Ebay? I often find lovely light fittings on Ebay (vintage & art deco) but I have no need for them.

Lovely Audrey

Audrey May Graham : 4 months old.

Her chubby thighs have the cutest creases and dimples. She squeals with laughter when we undress her for bath time. She gets lots of bumps & knocks from the older girls, but is very brave. Her favourite book is 'Whe are going on a Bear Hunt'. We can't imagine life without Audrey.

Calling All Sausage Dogs

The girls are crazy about sausage dogs. They chased this dog a mile for a cuddle. We are going to collect sausage dog photos and post them on our blog. 'Juliet' our neighbours dachshund is next on our list.

Cute

What were my hobbies before I had children???? Dressing my girls is now one of my favourite hobbies: disturbing but true. Bella lets me dress her in a coordinated manner, Lucille has her own mismatched ideas - a combination of Punky Brewster meets Pippy Longstocking. It is her own magical style that makes Lucille : Lucille.

Creating

A completed button bag for the Christmas Artist Market : beetroot red knitted bag & vintage buttons.

Artist Market Morning Tea

Audrey & Rachel

We all had a great time at Emma's house. I enjoyed a cup of tea and 'market talk', while the girls set up a farmyard and completely inhaled a slab of brownie - while I wasn't looking - very embarrassing.

Eve, Verity & Lola

Emma organises the Artist market and makes amazing jewellery www.emmabartle.com.au. I am going to give the next market a miss (Friday 10 September). As the weeks whirl by, I barely manage to mend a dress in 8 weeks, but will clean my sewing bench and commit to the Christmas Market (Friday 10 December).

I love, love, love Emma's furniture / antiques / vintage wares, e.g. the pouffe (op shop bargain). I hear the Ballarat Antique Auctions are good, and there is a scruffy antique shop, called Basil & Gertrude, in Castlemaine that I like the sound of.

I am looking for a pouffe

Fun & Games

A game of Eye Spy with my Big Eye.

The Chook Yard: BOK, BOK, BOK, COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO

We will have Free Range Eggs from the girls chooks in the coming months. Nan's mother hen, and the five young chickens are growing beautifully, and are very content in the brilliant chook house that Caleb designed & built. Our contribution was the chook yard art. However, we have recently discovered that three of our feathered friends are roosters. Any ideas what we should do with them?

A RARE QUIET MOMENT

Claudia, Audrey, Henrietta, Arabella & Lucille all composed and relaxed for my first blog photo