snow on the way.

well, i'm here. in toronto, canada. i thought i might be lucky enough to escape the snow this time. i ruined some rather lovely boots the last time i graced these streets. who would have thought the salt could do that? anywho, they tell me to rug up tonight. apparently we are going to get some rather chilly weather and perhaps a little snow too. 5 feet in fact. i guess i'm going to have to tip toe everywhere now!

work is going well over here, it's a buzzing office at the moment. full of fast paced sales and noisy chatter. i kinda like it here. at night i have been working, working, working. with aus waking up just as we put our feet in front of the sopranos i havent had a chance to slow down. tongiht i plan on shopping at the eaton centre. yeah! i have already consumed way to much popcorn. i hardly think that it's the kinda thing you should be eating for dinner (where did i get that idea onegirl?)



must bring some of that home with me :)

my apartment is about a 5 minute walk from the office, which is probably another reason that i have been working late. i miss coming home to ben and maggie and gets hugs all round. on monday night i walked across from my apartment to a bar & grill and sat happily reading, ploughing through steak and drinking canadian beer. i felt just like a local, albeit a little lonely.

this weekend i want to hit the toronto market for some serious finds. i am also going to search of a rotary cutter. it's about time i grew up. the hand cutting was driving me bonkers! on friday night it will be drinks with work friends which i am rather excited about. there's nothing like a good aul drink after a bloody long week. no doubt i will have some hairy tale to tell after all that. til then, as a lovely friend of mine used to say, peace out.

canada.

just a short note to let y'all know that i am heading to canada this sunday for work. that doesnt mean i won't be able to add the odd post every now and then (although it does get crazy crazy in that ofice) no doubt i will have plenty o good eating and drinking occasions to talk about. i will miss ben terribly and my little mag-star. *sad me* stay in touch and as the old saying goes 'i'll keep ya posted'

my inspiration.

well, as promised i have the first two drafts of the maggie doll (a kiddies pressie handmade with love and based on my extra cute kelpie pup maggie).

as you will see from the first go, i experimented with rather large ears. maggie has massive ears, ben always says she uses them to slow herself down. she also has extra special markings which i have also tried to replica - still not sure about that one! ideally i want it to be symbolic of maggie but also a little stylized.

see how unimpressed maggie is with my first attempt:



as you can see, the more i played with this, the better it started to look. do you think it needs eyes?



onto other exciting news! as you may, or may not know, ben and i got engaged in august. we wanted to have the whole family together to celebrate and get to know each other a little better. on saturday we hauled all the furniture out of the living room and set up a long table complete with baby's breath flowers and candles. the food was moroccan - and delicious! - and everyone came barr bens lovely sister bridgette who had a wedding. how we managed to fit everyone into the same room at the same time is beyond me! my family are so loud and so crazy i was delighted when they got along famously with bens family (equally loud & funny) it was a very special night for ben and i. here is a picture of us, enjoying a quiet moment together in the madness of it all.



in addition to a wonderful night, i was also given my engagement ring. ben is soooo beautiful! me bought me the ring of my dreams and made me the happiest little veggiemite around. thank you my wonderful future husband, i look forward to spending the rest of my life with you.

loggin' on.

just a quick one to let everyone know that i am getting closer and closer to opening my esty shop online. here i hope to display my sewing talents for all to enjoy. i am currently working on a maggie inspired soft toy for little kids. wonderful plush baby blankets for the newest member in your life and cute cute cute tote bags. as with most things, i am sure that i will be inspired more as time moves on and hopefully have a few other special items for sale. *phew* getting enough things together is proving time consuming but with a little effort and a whole lot of material, i am sure i will get there.

in the interim i will be heading to canada and to ireland and to the UK - hello family and jenny (cant wait to see you all) this may hiccup my shop plans but only for a brief week or two. i will bust my butt on my return and make the most of the wonderful world of online shopping.

tune in tomorrow when i show you the second draft of the maggie doll which is not quiet there (needs bigger ears) but is essentially going to be the design. have a good night! xx

ode to wee wonderfuls.

ok, i know i've been a bit distant lately, aloof and quiet. i've been busily trying to perfect my baby blankets with my trusty old sewing machine. every weekend ben and i have been saying no to invites and cleaning the house, cooking or sewing (bens practises guitar). it has been bliss. like a much needed break, i have sought some quiet time. work is hectic, hectic, hectic and when it comes to the weekend i find myself needing more and more of a slow paced life. am i getting old?

as such i have found time to trial the pattern of wee wonderful, and true to the name this little pattern 'pointy kitty' did not disappoint. i was trying to create my own design based on my kelpie maggie that i can sell in my etsy shop when i get it up and running, but it didnt really work.

so, i went back to basics and started with the pointy kitty design to learn some fun tricks on how to hide stuffing openings and make legs and arms fluid. it was a treat!!! thank you for sharing your very very cute patterns. its a joy to make these and give them to friends as gifts. i only hope one day i can make my pattern with as much perfection.

and now for the reveal.....my pointy kitty with fabric bought lovingly from patchwork on central park.



oh, and this moment i would like to wish onegirl a very happy birthday. may the next year be as lovely and creative as you are. you're an inspiration!

one sunny saturday.

on our little trek around melbourne looking for properties ben and i ventured out to king lake. it's always been a dream of ours to own a piece of land, quietly nestled somewhere. a stretch of australia that we can call our own and maggie can call her playground. the real estate surge in the city as made us consider our options and we thought 'why not?'.

on saturday morning as the sun started to beam down (it was going to be 32 degrees) ben and i took the long drive from greensborough out to king lake. on the way there we came upon st andrew's market. we had to stop. obviously. we jumped out and took a stroll. ben found some fantastic music. i found coffee. we wandered around eating a damn fine falafel pita and soaking up the sun.

that's when i found a little stall run by a sweet chick. she had so many cute handmade things. it was refreshing to see something real. i rifled through her fabric basket and sifted through the apron draw and came out of there with these two lovely pieces.

fabric. just the way i like....



cute apron - could not resist!



i strongly recommend not only the market, but the beautiful trip out there. st andrews, king lake, eltham *sigh* so lovely. so quiet. so full of good finds. in the end we looked at the property we had considered and loved it. logistically though it would probably be a nightmare. perhaps when we're a bit older, and wiser and carrying a few nippers. then we might have reason to up and leave the bright lights on the inner city. so, you know what that means, don't you? back to the search...

real estate. a real state.

righto, i'm not going to bark on about it. oh, ok. i am going to bark on about it. real estate. is anyone else looking at property right now? it's friggin ridiculous out there. hoards of people are squeezing past each other during inspections of tiny one bedroom shacks that are lucky to be alive and are so close to the train line they could actually double as a platform. it's madness. complete. utter. madness.

ben and i, as you may or may not have gathered, have started the search. the lord of the rings didn't take this long. we have waded through print outs of possible hopefuls only to arrive at the home either disappointed by the fact that it is attached to nineteen other villas or that the price has suddenly jumped right out of our range.

what bothers me is that i am sure every other person out there is feeling just like us. desperate. hungry. perhaps even a little mad. we would jump up and down and throw caution to the wind and probably pay more for a place than our good sense should let us. and if we're all doing the same thing? complete kaos my good friends. complete kaos.

to add salt to the wound we actually love the area we are living in now. it's a highly sought after area, especially by one religion in particular, and as such the prices on a 2 bedroom mess is closer to half a million than it is to SOLD!

i'm feeling very despondent. very let down. i thought australia was the lucky country? where you could have a big old pool out the back and parsley growing in your garden. where your kids could play on the street without having to wear an etag and dogs can run free all day long. Are we going to end up like San Fransisco? A town with such a terrible real estate crisis that people will actually write a letter to the owner stating their plight in order to win the bid? (i've already tried it!)

we just want a house. just a small one. nothing fancy. something with little windows and a busted up kitchen in need of love. something to rest in and laugh in. a small lawn for my maggie and a garage for my ben. it seems in this town, those small wants are too much to ask.