hiding out

Things have been unusually quiet on the blog, but incredibly busy none-the-less. It's been a mad whirlwind ten days since leaving on our holiday to Jindabyne snowy mountains. The holiday unexpectedly took us to the 12 Apostles via the Great Ocean Road, Torquay and Melbourne. Nothing like a 10 hour detour in each direction to liven your spirits!

And I certainly don't want to fail to mention the Tim Burton exhibit at the ACMI. Every so often, I browse the web or watch TV and see something that I must do. Usually it's rather impulsive and usually it involves at least nine hours of travel. (remember the otters? and the spontaneous trip to Osaka?) So when I saw mention of the opening of a Tim Burton exhibit on the news a few months ago, I took note. I told Craig that I'd like to see it at the museum before it closes in October. Oh, and .... ummm... the museum is actually in Melbourne, so we'll need to journey...

When the snow disappointed us, we gathered the bags and headed down to Victoria. If you are reading this, Craig, thank you for being the most wonderful understanding and adventurous husband in the whole world. You rock.

During that time, I finally managed to put the finish touches on my hexagon quilt. She's overdue for a photoshoot, but I want to take her somewhere special for her final camera snaps.

We followed the holiday up with Mathilda's Market in Lane Cove which was absolutely fantastic. It was a wonderful crowd. People were friendly and happy. I enjoyed it more than any market that I've ever done. The day started with my part-time help and fellow member of fabric addicts anonymous coming to make sense of my cluttered table. Sheridan is a pro at market setup and helped me turn a pile of bolts, boxes and toys into things that actually looked good and sold throughout the day! She's pretty ace and I hope she'll want to help me again in the future.

The market was absolutely terrific and as usual a bit of a learning curve. While I sold heaps of fabric and toys, the dresses and keychains weren't as popular. Patterns were a big hit and the dresses were perfect samples, so I'll put the effort into the win category. The photos above are from the 12th and final dress that I took to the market. Twelve dresses weren't enough variety for my customers. I didn't have the right size for most people. I didn't make multiples in the same fabrics. I made each dress special and I enjoyed making each one. So while twelve was not enough for many people, twelve was just right for me.

Some of the dresses and blouses are now in the online shop and I'll be listing more later. And so I've finally caught my breath. Started on some quilt bee blocks which I'll save for another post and am starting to recover. It's been a whirlwind, but it's been wonderful.